Stone Cold Fox

Gale Wallace-Leicester is a member of one of the super wealthy, “old money” families in the text, being the only child of the Wallace-Leicester family. She is Collin’s best friend, as they grew up together, and it is later revealed that she has been assisting Collin with his mental health for years. Gale’s appearance lacks effort, and Bea consistently criticizes Gale’s lack of fashion sense. Though Gale has a job in the art world, she mentions working her own schedule, implying a lack of ambition professionally. Most of Gale’s time in the novel is spent with the Case family, though only Haven and Collin appear to like Gale’s presence. Bea questions whether Chloe might help Gale, acknowledging that the shared social status of coming from wealthy families creates a bond of its own. Across the narrative, Gale’s dominant concern appears to be Collin, both romantically and socially, as she wants to protect Collin from manipulation while manipulating him herself. Like Bea and Bea’s mother, Gale is skilled in deception, and she has access to the wealth necessary to make investigation and subterfuge easy to deploy as needed.

Gale is the primary antagonist for most of the novel, as she presents the greatest threat to Bea’s plan to marry Collin. Her skills ultimately outmatch Bea’s, though Gale fails to account for both Bea and Bea’s mother’s penchant for violence. As Bea strikes Gale, Gale calls Bea’s violence predictable, exposing the main point of Gale’s hubris, assuming that neither Bea nor Bea’s mother would actually kill Gale. Likewise, Bea identifies Collin as an overlooked factor in Gale’s planning, as Gale is unable to fully manipulate Collin into leaving Bea, and Gale becomes rattled whenever Bea and Collin’s relationship progresses. Gale’s role in the novel is both to provide a nemesis with whom Bea can compete and as a representation of the power of “old money,” as Gale successfully tracks down Bea’s mother, gains access to Francis’s party, and almost ruins Bea’s plans.

Collin Case is the only son of Haven and Hayes Case, and he has two sisters, Chloe and Calliope. He is a young professional, like Bea, though his position with the Case Company, like Chloe’s, is explicitly a matter of keeping family members employed in executive positions. This implies that Collin may not be truly qualified for his job. Collin went to Harvard, one of the few schools deemed acceptable in his social circle, and Bea notes how Collin’s socialization is limited to largely other children of “old money” families, like Gale. Collin has depression, a mental health condition that he has dealt with periodically since childhood, and Gale serves as his pseudo-therapist, comforting him during depressive episodes. Bea is not the first woman outside the “old money” circle whom Collin has dated, and Bea suspects that Collin’s desire to date outside his social circle is part of a desire to rebel against his parents and the high society in which he was raised.

Collin’s role in the novel is largely as the object of both Gale and Bea’s desires. He functions as a representation of Bea’s success or failure in her pursuit of wealth, and most of Bea’s actions around Collin are tailored to manipulate him into loving her more. Collin does not reveal many desires of his own beyond marrying Bea and having children, as he does not display a sincere interest in his family’s company, nor does he seem to care about advancing his family name. Collin is a static character, meaning he does not change over the course of the novel, though, in the end, he does decide to start taking medication for his mental health, which Bea observes as beneficial to Collin’s wellbeing.

Syl, born Jane Wink, is Bea’s sister. Syl gets a job working as Collin’s assistant as part of Gale’s plan to try to get Bea to agree to a DNA test. Syl is, like Bea, attractive and intelligent, but she lacks the ruthlessness and ambition displayed by both Bea and their mother. Instead, Syl has a regular life, and she is engaged to John, who works at his family’s pizzeria. Bea often disparages Syl’s life as boring or below average, but Syl is portrayed as content with most aspects of her life. The one thing she openly expresses discontent about is that John refuses to set a date for their wedding. Syl provides a needed outlet for Bea, becoming her first real friend, though she has the ulterior motive of trying to get Bea to help her get their father out of prison.

Syl’s role in the novel is to refute Bea’s feeling that she is genetically predisposed to become malicious and cruel like her mother, as Syl possesses almost none of the deceptive nature both Bea and their mother show across the narrative. Syl is largely a static character, but Bea notes that Syl is trying to become more like Bea in the end, as she chooses to dump John and pursue their mother. Syl’s desire to become more like Bea reflects a desire for strength and ambition, rather than the cruelty Bea fears she may adopt. At the same time, Bea wants to become more like Syl, as Syl embodies the “good” end of a spectrum between “good” and “evil” in the novel. Syl’s good-natured attitude and optimism are further shown in her willingness to forgive Bea’s threats and her failure to follow through on her threat to accuse Collin of sexual assault.