Pieces of Her

The narrative cuts to the past. Jane has a dream that she is playing piano. She wakes up in Edwin and Clara’s farmhouse. Andrew is in the kitchen with Paula, and they discuss his illness openly for the first time. Jane wants to take Andrew to a hospital, but Paula will not let her. Nick has already left, and is on his way to New York. Jane looks at the Polaroids of herself, beaten, on a table, and the reader learns that Nick was the one who had beaten her, not her father, because she had been pregnant (which caused her to miscarry). He had then used the photographs to motivate Andrew into committing to his plan, subscribing Jane’s injuries to their father. Jane and Paula get into an argument, and Jane knocks Paula unconscious. She convinces Andrew that they have to escape and takes him to a hospital, telling him that Nick said to do so. He says he knows this is not true and asks for Jane’s forgiveness. Andrew tells Jane to leave him at the hospital and escape, but she stays by his bedside, even after the police arrive.

The Queller siblings’ older brother, Jasper, arrives at the hospital and tells Jane that a bomb went off at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. He also informs her that the FBI learned Nick Harp’s real name is Clayton Morrow, and that he had stolen the real Nick’s identity when the man overdosed. Jasper tells Jane that she has to make a deal with the FBI, or go to prison. Jane confronts Jasper about his business fraud (and connection to Nick, of which she was not privy to), telling him that Nick has proof of it. Jasper did not know this and says that they should blame the fraud on Andrew, as he will die soon. Jane threatens to go public with the information and turn herself in. Jasper threatens Jane and she tells him to leave, and that she never wants to see him again. Then, she tells the police officer guarding Andrew’s room that she will make a deal with the FBI before a bomb blows up in New York in three hours.

The narrative cuts to the present. Andy has been shot and is hiding in Edwin’s office, near his body. She hears Clara scream from the other side of the house. On the way to find her, Andy sees photographs of herself, as a toddler, on the wall. She thinks that Mike has found her, but instead, Paula is in the kitchen with an injured Clara. Laura is still speaking through the burner phone, and Paula picks it up to talk to her. She tells Laura to get her what she wants within two days, or she will kill Andy. She then knocks Andy unconscious.

When Andy wakes, she is bound in the trunk of a car. Paula takes Andy to a hotel room to wait for Laura. While they wait, Paula provides more details about Laura’s past. She informs Andy that Clara and Edwin took care of her infant self for the first two years of her life, and that Jane (Laura) had turned on the Army of the Changing World by making a deal with the FBI to get into the witness protection program. Andy also learns that Nick Harp is her biological father, and that he has been in jail for 30 years.

Paula reveals Mike is the US Marshal in charge of administering the witness protection program; this explains Mike’s forged documents and doctored pictures, as he is likely Laura’s handler. Andy asks what Paula wants from Laura. Paula wants the documents that prove Jasper’s fraud, as they will get him in trouble and make Nick eligible for parole. Andy knows that Jasper could just apologize and continue his life—that the rules Paula is playing by do not exist anymore. She wonders about Paula and Nick’s intelligence.

Laura finally arrives at the hotel room; she looks extremely fragile and is using a cane, her arm wrapped in a bandage. Paula ties Laura up and hits her with her gun. Andy realizes that Paula is out of bullets, and holds up six fingers to tell Laura. Laura fights back, and slices Paula’s neck with a razorblade she had hidden in her bandages; Paula dies.

Laura visits Nick at a minimum-security federal prison in Maryland. It is luxurious compared to most prisons, and Nick should not be there, due to the severity of his crimes, but he has used his charisma once again to his advantage. Laura was once in prison, too, as one of the requirements of her deal. Andy is with her outside the prison, and tells Laura that Clara, who survived Paula’s attack, is recovering. Laura reminds her not to tell Mike about Paula’s death. She also tells Andy what happened the night she killed the intruder: The police did come, but they found Mike, who had been attacked in the yard by the intruder. Laura told the police that Mike must have been the trespasser Andy had called in and, after the police left, she and Gordon disposed of the body. Mike followed Andy on her journey because he thought Laura was up to something and was looking for clues. All of the precautions Laura had taken over the years were to stop Jasper from finding her, but she realizes that his old crimes do not matter anymore. The statute of limitations has run out, and he is more popular than ever after his apology. Laura also admits, for the first time, that the real reason she quit playing the piano was because Nick was jealous of the time and commitment that music took.

Mike appears and Laura notices an attraction between him and Andy, which she does not like. The US Marshals outfit Laura with a wire because she is going to attempt to get Nick to confess that Paula was acting on his orders. When she enters the visiting room, Nick is there, as is an old piano in the corner of the room. She struggles with her old feelings for Nick as they talk but sets them aside. Laura tells Nick that she saw the correspondence between him and Paula, and understood the code, even if the FBI had not. Nick asks her where the gun in Oslo came from, and she admits that she smuggled the gun into Oslo and put it in the bathroom bag.

Laura unsuccessfully tries to get Nick to confess, as he asks her to play the piano. While she plays, he leans close, thinking he won’t be heard over the music, and admits to sending Paula to Edwin and Clara’s farmhouse. He also threatens her and Andy should they not help him get parole. When Laura is done with the song, she tells Nick that she will not help him and leaves. Later, Mike tells her that the confession will put Nick in a maximum-security prison. It is also revealed that putting the piano in the visiting room was Laura’s idea. Laura has already served her time for bringing the gun to Oslo; Nick did not know this. Laura and Andy leave the prison together.

In the car on the way home, Laura and Andy talk about Laura’s brother, Andrew, Andy’s namesake. Laura also wonders how she could have loved Nick, how she could have done crimes with him. She ultimately visited the prison to free herself from Nick, so that she could be rid of her past forever.