You Are Not Alone

Cassandra and Jane, both looking sleek and elegant as usual, sit in their large, tastefully decorated apartment overlooking the Hudson River. They search for photographs of Amanda Evinger, who only a few days ago threw herself underneath a subway train, to use for her memorial service. As soon as they found out about her death, they secretly searched her apartment and stole her laptop.

Cassandra and Jane have a close group of friends, one of whom is an internet security specialist. With her help, they accessed the laptop. They found no indication that Amanda spilled any of their secrets in the days leading up to her death, but they cannot be sure. They invite everyone they can to the memorial, hoping to use its guest book to investigate Amanda’s contacts.

Shay cannot seem to shake her sense of unease, and images of the woman’s eyes just before she leapt to her death haunt her. She botches an important job interview because she is so distracted, but she is too fixated on the woman who died by suicide to care much about the interview.

Cassandra and Jane are at work. They own a boutique public relations firm and run it together. They receive a call from Stacey, their cybersecurity expert and the one who hacked into Amanda’s laptop: A woman whom they cannot identify visited Amanda’s building. She laid one yellow zinnia on Amanda’s doorstep and then left. Cassandra and Jane are determined to figure out her identity.

Shay contemplates death by suicide statistics. She writes them down in a data book she keeps, filled with information that might prove useful later. She then visits her friend Mel, a new mom who is just about to return to work after maternity leave. Shay and Mel talk about the woman who died by suicide, and Shay confesses that she went to the woman’s apartment. The woman was called Amanda, and Shay is contemplating also going to her memorial service.

Mel cautions her not to re-traumatize herself. Shay knows that Mel is right, but she cannot shake her feelings of sadness and anxiety. She has become unable to ride the subway and thinks about Amanda constantly.

An hour before Amanda’s service begins, five women gather to mourn her in a private room at the Rosewood Club. Stacey is there, as are Daphne, who owns a chic boutique in the West Village, and Beth, who is a defense attorney. They are upset and wish that they could have done something to help Amanda, but they do realize that she reacted badly to their “experience” together. They are worried that she talked to someone about their group and what they do together.

Additionally, the necklace Amanda was wearing, a copy of the one they all wear, was not found on her body. It contains a small tracking device, although only Jane and Cassandra know this. The device is in a nearby apartment. They vow to figure out who has the necklace now.

They also show the other women the photograph of the woman who visited Amanda’s apartment. They formulate a plan to gather information from the mourners, hoping that Amanda did not spill any of their secrets.

Ten Days Ago

Amanda is in bed. She desperately wants to escape the people who are pursuing her. She knows that they will never leave her alone. As she tries to figure out how to run away, she hears the noise of a key unlocking her apartment door. Then, she hears a voice: “Amanda,” it says. “We know that you’re in here” (30).

Shay knows that out of all deaths by suicide, 50% are impulsive. She is consumed by thoughts of Amanda as she works her temp job. Still, she tries to do her best on the project.

After work, she finds herself drawn to Amanda’s memorial service. She meets both Cassandra and Jane there. She is struck by their magnetism, Cassandra’s in particular. When questioned how she knew Amanda, Shay lies and says that the two had the same veterinarian. She immediately regrets the falsehood, but there is nothing she can do. When Cassandra gives her a business card and tells her to call if she needs someone to talk to, Shay knows instantly that she will take her up on the offer.

During their brief encounter with her, Cassandra and Jane learned that Shay is a bad liar and that she has a strange attachment to Amanda. They have one of their employees, Valerie, tail her after the memorial.

Shay eats alone in a restaurant and goes straight home, an apartment building that is the location pinged by Amanda’s GPS tracker necklace. Cassandra calls and tells her that a police detective contacted Daphne, not about Amanda, but about a man whom she went on a date with 10 months prior.

Ten Months Ago

One of Daphne’s customers sets her up on a blind date with James. Although she initially finds him charming and attractive, the date goes horribly wrong and he brutally rapes her. Fearing that no one will believe her story, she does not report the attack.

Not long after, she meets Cassandra and Jane at her shop. They quickly become repeat customers and then ask her to their apartment for drinks. She becomes the sixth member of their official “circle” shortly thereafter.

Anxiety dominates Shay’s days, and she alters her habits to avoid the subway. She decides to seek professional help and finds a therapist. Therapy does not prove useful. Shay still suffers from nightmares and buys Ambien, a sleeping pill, from a shady website. One day she finds a small necklace in her apartment: It is the one she picked up from the subway platform right after Amanda jumped. She is sure that the necklace was hers.

Cassandra and Jane gather as much information as possible about Shay’s life, sorting through the electronic footprint that she has left online. They follow her and investigate her family. They uncover a treasure trove of information about her, but cannot find her link to Amanda. They continue to have Shay followed and are aware that she is talking to the police.

Shay meets with Detective Williams to give her Amanda’s necklace. She is teary-eyed and emotional, and the detective suggests that she talk to someone about her feelings. Shay hopes to talk to Sean when she gets home, but he is hanging out with Jody. She feels utterly alone.

Shay makes breakfast and leaves for work. As she walks, she is startled to see a woman who looks exactly like Amanda. She is even wearing the green dress Amanda had on the day she died. Shay follows her down into a subway station, but then has a panic attack and begins to hyperventilate. She looks up and the woman is gone.

She is still in the throes of her attack, but when she looks up again she sees Cassandra and Jane. What a coincidence, she thinks. The women can see that she is in a state of extreme distress and suggest they stop to talk. Shay decides to call work and tell them that she’ll be late: She cannot miss an opportunity to spend time with Cassandra and Jane.

Cassandra, Jane, and Shay head to a nearby café. Shay, still tearful, admits to them that she didn’t really know Amanda well. She does not admit to the lie about the vet, but she does share that they hadn’t actually met and that her grief is perhaps disproportionate.

The sisters know from the tracking device that Shay gave the necklace to the police, but they still don’t know how she got it or what else she might be lying about. She already lied to them about how she knew Amanda, so perhaps there are other pieces of information that she is not sharing. Cassandra idly wishes Stacey was there to check Shay’s phone. She thinks about Daphne and James. They’d tracked his phone also, which is how they found Daphne. They’d wanted to punish James for a long time, and Daphne had provided an excellent opportunity to do so.