Claire
Number Six. The woman who runs the street.
Claire is one of the three narrators of Before She Was Gone. She has lived at number six on Wisteria Court for nine years with her husband, Tom, and she runs the street in every way that counts. She is at the kitchen window with her coffee before anyone else is up, she hosts every welcome party, and she has chaired the Wisteria Court Neighborhood Beautification Committee for five years.
When Quinn moves into number seven, Claire throws her a welcome party the same day. She notices two things that night: Quinn watches a room the way Claire does, and Tom goes completely still when Quinn walks in.
What we learn early
- She wears a dark green dress she bought last spring to every important occasion, with her hair up (Chapter 2).
- She keeps a few phone numbers Tom doesn't know about. One belongs to Peter (Chapter 4).
- She keeps a password-protected file on her laptop called Q (Chapter 4).
- Every morning she and Quinn raise their cups to each other across the low fence.
- Her best source on the street is Margaret Ellison.
In her own words
Spoilers ahead
The rest of this page covers the whole book, ending included.
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Her past with Sarah
Claire knew Sarah. Sarah once wrote her a birthday card and left notes under her windshield wiper asking about lunch on Thursday. Claire also met Sarah's younger sister two or three times, "before the campaign had properly begun" (Chapter 7). Over the months that followed, Claire turned Sarah's friends against her one at a time and paid Peter to watch her. Tom wanted Claire more than he wanted to defend Sarah, and he let it happen. Claire and Tom married in June, four months after Sarah's funeral.
What she does in the book
- Peter tells her Quinn is Rebecca Mercer, Sarah's sister, and that she has Sarah's journal (Chapter 9). Claire drops the phone and resolves that Tom "must never know."
- She counts two cups in the rack and learns Quinn was inside her house (Chapters 10 and 11).
- She tests Tom over a lamb dinner with the word "sister" and decides he doesn't know (Chapter 13). He does.
- Peter goes silent on her (Chapter 20), and she turns her watching on Tom.
- She takes Tom's keys, reads all 48 of his letters to Sarah, and burns them in the fireplace with his long matches (Chapter 24).
- She goes to number seven, tears out the November pages of Sarah's journal, and burns them while Quinn recites them from memory. She burns her own hand. Quinn holds it under cold water and tells her nobody will hear the story from her (Chapter 29).
Where she ends up
Tom leaves her in December. She tells the street he found "a place in the city for a while." Her right hand heals into a numb pink scar, and she wears a gardening glove to get the mail. Without anyone saying a word, the street goes cool on her: Helen takes over the committee, Margaret keeps her coat on during visits, and the Easter invitation comes late. Claire looks for whoever is behind it and can't find anyone. In the last pages she sits on her bench and raises her cup to the young woman moving into number seven, who never looks up.