Learning About Alistair

The Woman in the Window

Anna’s effort to understand Alistair’s private life produces clues about secrecy but not proof of the crime she believes she witnessed.

increasing

Bearing strength in each event

decreasing

A Public Profile A Public Profile from "The Woman in the Window". Research from the Window A Professional Identity Anna searches for information about Alistair and learns about his consulting career.

Research from the Window A Professional Identity Anna searches for information about Alistair and learns about his consulting career. She already watches his household through her camera, so public facts become part of a private dossier. The Limits of Search The information explains his status but not his family relationships. Anna’s research encourages confidence without giving her access to the people behind the profile.

A Visit About Jane A Visit About Jane from "The Woman in the Window". Alistair Asks Questions An Unexpected Visitor Alistair comes to Anna’s door asking whether she has had visitors.

A Visit About Jane from "The Woman in the Window". Alistair Asks Questions An Unexpected Visitor Alistair comes to Anna’s door asking whether she has had visitors.

Alistair Asks Questions An Unexpected Visitor Alistair comes to Anna’s door asking whether she has had visitors. Anna lies and says she has been alone, though she has spent the evening with Jane. Suspicion Takes Shape His attention to the chessboard and his question about the candle make Anna wonder what he knows. She cannot yet interpret his concern accurately.

The Job That Vanished The Job That Vanished from "The Woman in the Window". A Career in Retreat A Call to the Former Office Anna learns that Alistair’s transfer did not proceed and that his employment ended weeks earlier.

The Job That Vanished from "The Woman in the Window". A Career in Retreat A Call to the Former Office Anna learns that Alistair’s transfer did not proceed and that his employment ended weeks earlier.

A Career in Retreat A Call to the Former Office Anna learns that Alistair’s transfer did not proceed and that his employment ended weeks earlier. The disruption hints at an undisclosed problem in his Boston work life. Gossip Without Confirmation His former assistant has never met Jane and knows little about the family. Anna gains a reason to investigate further, but no evidence that explains Katie’s fate.

A History of Compartmentalizing

Private Life Kept Apart An Unseen Wife The former assistant confirms that she has never met Jane, even after working with Alistair for months. Alistair appears to keep work and family separate. A Clue With Two Meanings The absence of a public trace makes Anna suspect that Jane may not exist. The same fact later fits a more ordinary explanation: Alistair’s deliberate secrecy.

A Violent Pattern Confirmed A Violent Pattern Confirmed from "The Woman in the Window". The Private Man Revealed Assault in Anna’s Kitchen Alistair attacks Anna after she asks about the woman in his house.

A Violent Pattern Confirmed from "The Woman in the Window". The Private Man Revealed Assault in Anna’s Kitchen Alistair attacks Anna after she asks about the woman in his house.

The Private Man Revealed Assault in Anna’s Kitchen Alistair attacks Anna after she asks about the woman in his house. His aggression confirms that her fear of him is not imagined, even though her earlier interpretation of the murder was wrong. Complicity Exposed After Ethan’s death, Alistair confesses to helping conceal Katie’s murder. His protective conduct toward his family also served to hide a killing.

October 28, shortly after the Russells move in

November 2, after Anna’s evening with Jane

November 7–8

November 8, during Anna’s call to Alistair’s former assistant

November 13–15