Hidden Bodies

At a premier, Joe meets Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux, who treat him like an equal. He gets his Professor Joe photos at a shoot for The Pantry’s book club, which will be altered, although they will be based on his likeness.

Calvin is in debt after getting charged with a citation for Driving Under the Influence, and Joe helps him with an outline for Ghost Food Truck, although he won’t help him pitch it.

Joe meets with Forty, who is extremely high as he thanks him for the additional writing. He says that the actress Amy Adams is apparently interested in The Mess. After their conversation, Joe writes a speech for Love after her charity wins another award.

At home, that night, Love complains about a co-worker, Sam, but says again that hating someone is never worthwhile. Then her mother calls to tell her that Forty is dead.

Joe learns that a car hit Forty while he was crossing the street. The woman who was driving, Julie Santos, had been on her way to see the hotel where Pretty Woman was filmed. Forty was jaywalking when she hit him. Eternally grateful to her, Joe finds Julie on Facebook and considers starting a religion around her.

While he gets fitted for a suit for Forty’s funeral, Joe realizes that Love doesn’t know what to do now that she doesn’t have to worry about her brother. Joe decides the write a passionate elegy for Forty, knowing that it will help Love move on and that she will praise him for it.

At the funeral, Joe cries during the video tribute, which is set to the song “The Big Top,” by Michael Penn. Joe then asks for a moment of silence. During the eulogy, he talks about a book called Life’s Dominion. The book’s central question is, “What is the right choice?” (406). He sees the crowd whispering, moved by his words and passion. The actress Amy Adams nods along as Joe notices that Reese Witherspoon is crying.

Joe closes by saying that even though Forty called him Professor, Forty was his professor. Afterwards, everyone wants to meet Joe. Joaquin Phoenix invites him for a drink and Barry asks if he like cigars. He wants them to work together. Joe is thrilled because his speech has changed his life and he never even had to kill Forty. Susan Sarandon hugs him. That night, he decides to wait four weeks before telling Love that he wants to continue Forty’s work.

There is mist on the beach when Joe goes out to run. He hears a whimpering dog just as he sees someone throwing a ball for it. It is Amy Adam, the ex-girlfriend he came to LA for in vengeance. Joe tackles her and holds her down. She apologizes about the money but says he must have known she was in it for herself. However, Joe didn’t know. Like Beck, he sees Amy as merely another woman who didn’t love him back.

He asks why she left him the Charlotte & Charles book, and the note inside of it. She left it because he is sad, lonely, and desperate for someone to change his life. He lets her up and they talk about their last night in Rhode Island. Amy thought he would discover that she had already listed books she had stolen from Mooney’s when she caught Joe looking at her phone, which was why she reacted so abruptly. Joe realizes all he and Amy ever did together was mock people and have sex. He sees bruises on her neck from where he grabbed her. He wonders if he should kill her but decides against it. Joe realizes that he feels sorry for Amy as she gets up and walks away.

Joe proposes to Love at Taco Bell and they talk about the baby’s room. He tells her he wants to write a script called Fakers and she is supportive. Then she asks if they can watch the eulogy again that night. Joe goes to the bathroom. When he comes out, the place is empty.

His phone rings when he goes into the women’s bathroom, checking to see if Love is there. He suspects that the cops are making her call him. When he goes outside, a policeman arrests him for the murders of Guinevere Beck and Peach Salinger. Joe sees Love nearby, crying. He knows he will be able to get out of it now that he is a rich person.

Joe thinks that Detective Peter Brinks and the NYPD are “not like the feminist bloggers” (427). They will not be dissuaded if they believe they have a case. He learns that the Brinks followed Dr. Angevine’s leads and found that Joe’s alias “Danny Fox” does not exist. Officer Nico saw a picture of the real “Spencer Hewitt” in a sailing magazine and realized it was not the “Spencer Hewett” he saved from the car wreck. Officer Nico went to the garage that fixed Joe’s Buick after the crash. The car was registered to Mr. Mooney, Joe’s boss and the real Spencer Hewett’s uncle. Mr. Mooney told Officer Nico that it was Joe driving the car, not Spencer.

Nico then found Joe on Facebook. The Salingers knew him as the delivery guy and the guy from the bar. Nico showed Dr. Angevine a photo of Joe and asked if it was the person Dr. Angevine knows as Danny Fox.

Joe has a lawyer named Edmund. There is no actual evidence yet, only the existence of pseudonyms. The newspapers are calling him “Killer Joe,” a title whose unoriginality annoys Joe. Joe can sense that Detective Carr, Brinks’s associate, has new information that he is dying to share. He wonders if they know anything about Fincher’s disappearance in Cabo. They also suspect him of Henderson’s death.

Carr breaks his silence and asks why Love hated someone named Brian, and when Joe protests, he says a text from Love proves it. Joe feels trapped. Brian was a fake name he invented when he was trying to get Captain Dave to let him use the boat. Carr asks when Love met “Brian.” Joe says he doesn’t remember “Brian’s” last name. He says he barely knows “Brian,” and that Love doesn’t hate him, because Love doesn’t hate anyone. This trips Carr up, and Joe knows that the police are chasing false leads, planted by Love.

Joe feels safe again. He knows he was a good killer, and he focuses on the word was. He now considers himself retired. He also thinks that he will enjoy the solitude of jail if he has to wait there for a trial. In his cell, he imagines his baby. He believes that he will be free soon.