The story opens at the Maloney residence as Mary Maloney—six months pregnant and glowing—waits for her husband, Patrick, to return home from his job as a police officer. She has carefully prepared for his arrival; two glasses stand at the ready, and fresh ice cubes fill the ice bucket, as she eagerly anticipates the sounds that herald his return. It is a Thursday night, the night the couple tends to go out to eat. Like the domestic scene Mary arranges for Patrick’s return, this Thursday night ritual is habitual and represents the couple’s penchant for routine and consistency.

As gravel crunches outside and Patrick’s key turns in the lock, Mary rises to greet her husband. She returns his coat to the closet, pours his drink, then joins him in the living room. Seated in their respective chairs, Mary returns to sewing and waits for Patrick to finish his drink. As she does, Mary considers her husband, detailing to the reader the depth and passion of the love she feels for him This emotional insight is juxtaposed with Patrick’s limited dialogue; he is brusque and snappish, with seemingly little regard for Mary’s efforts. In response to her concern for his health, he does the unexpected, downing his drink in one go, then immediately pouring another, stronger than the first.

Alarmed by this disruption to the pattern of their peaceful domesticity, Mary offers to pour Patrick another glass, fetch his slippers, and cook him dinner. Her attempts to put Patrick at ease seem to frustrate him further, and he tells her to sit down and listen. He then reveals that he plans to leave her and their unborn child. While he promises to ensure they are adequately cared for, his speech is cold and uncompromising, ending with the callous request that Mary put up little fuss for the sake of his job.

Dazed by this revelation, Mary reflexively returns to the familiar habits of everyday life and attempts to cope by making dinner. From the cellar freezer, she retrieves a leg of lamb. On the way to the kitchen, she passes Patrick, who rudely tells her not to make him dinner, for he is leaving. Impulsively, Mary arcs the leg of lamb high in the air and brings it crashing down onto the back of Patrick’s head, killing him. He wavers briefly before thudding to the floor. Quickly, the shock begins to fade, and Mary realizes what she has done. Her mind clears, and she begins to consider the ramifications of her actions. As a police officer’s wife, she is well aware of the consequences of murder. Concerned with the well-being of her unborn child, she realizes that she must disguise her guilt and begins to formulate an alibi.

She places the leg of lamb in the oven, then begins to put herself back together, fixing her hair and makeup, and practicing her behavior in the mirror. After composing herself, she leaves for the grocer’s under the guise of purchasing vegetables for dinner at home. There, she chats nonchalantly with the grocer, Sam, and maintains a convincing veil of casual ignorance. Her performance is so successful that, as she heads home, she begins to convince herself of her own innocence. Mary imagines the scene she will return home to, envisioning her husband, tired from a taxing day at work, waiting patiently in his chair for her to finish dinner. Returning home, she is, of course, actually greeted by Patrick’s dead body, contorted and growing cold. Rediscovering this grotesque scene sends Mary into convulsive sorrow, for after all, this was the man she...