Question Q

[Jonetta]

Derek receives a certified letter from Victoria, arranged to be sent in the event of her death, that outlined everything she’d been forced to do and by whom. She also made it clear her feelings for him were genuine. How big of a difference do you think this makes for him, despite her duplicity? Why do you think they refrained from killing Maeve as they’d threatened to do?

[Sharon]

I think the ultimate plan was to use Maeve at some point to get something from Derek. Victoria's letter made Derek stop doubting himself, and her feelings. She confirmed that their love was real, and he wasn't used. It would be easier to explain to Maeve how much her mother loved them in the future.

[Lauren]

I'm glad for Derek that now he knows she truly loved him. This also ties up the case very neatly, which is very Deus Ex Machina.

I still have no idea why they kidnapped Maeve to begin with...

[Anita]

Victoria's letter showed Derek that what they had was real and that she loved him and baby Maeve and tried to protect them. Unfortunately, her efforts weren't enough. I agree that they were planning to use baby Maeve somehow to get Derek to cooperate with them, but it would have been hard to do with all the publicity. Except Bertha Ray lived under a rock and wasn't even aware that the baby had been kidnapped.

[Jonetta]

Lauren wrote: "I'm glad for Derek that now he knows she truly loved him. This also ties up the case very neatly, which is very Deus Ex Machina.

I still have no idea why they kidnapped Maeve to begin with..."

I looked at my notes from the first time I read the book almost ten years ago and had the same question about Maeve.

[Jonetta]

It made sense to me that Victoria would have created an “in the event of my death” letter. After all, her father was killed when he quit and turned over evidence to a lawyer. The lawyer was killed when Valerie/Victoria confronted Arnie so she learned from that. She was being threatened even more after she had the baby and wasn’t giving them anything so she had to know her time was almost up.

It’s a great gift to Derek to have it confirmed that her feelings for him were genuine. What an awful thing to do to someone.