Character Analysis
Head of the Class
Tracy is a former schoolteacher who has moved to the city with her husband, Detective David Mills. She's a happy homemaker: a good cook who loves her husband, her high-school sweetheart. You can see this in the way they greet each other: "Hi, loser." "Hi, idiot."
Aww, that's kind of sweet.
The problem is that Tracy hates living in the city. It's gross and full of crime, and their apartment shakes whenever a train goes by. She doesn't want to raise her child there. That's right: a baby. She's pregnant, but she hasn't told her husband yet. She doesn't want to stress him out while this big case is going on.
She asks Somerset for advice, and he tells her:
"If you don't keep the baby, I mean, if that's your decision, don't ever tell him that you were pregnant. But if you choose to have this baby, you spoil that kid every chance you get."
We don't get to find out what she decides because John Doe kills her, cuts off her head, and puts it in a box. It's like Pandora's Box … except the complete opposite. There is no hope in this box, just despair. When Somerset opens the box, he says, "John Doe has the upper hand." More like upper head—hey-oh.
What he means is that he knows Doe has taken away the person Mills most cares about. When Mills finds out, he flies into a rage and kills John Doe, but nothing can bring back his wife.