Written by MichaelJune 6, 2021June 9, 2021

Episode 1079

Previously…
– After Jaq received another anonymous, threatening letter, Samantha offered to move in with them for protection.
– Sarah and Matt met with Landon to establish a plan for bringing down Zane and getting him away from Tori, once and for all.
– Tim and Claire went to Sonja’s house to confront her and find out the truth about TJ, but a neighbor told them she’d moved in the middle of the night.

In the break room in KBAY’s basement offices, Jaq Pearson leans one hip against the counter. They wear a slouchy cardigan and relaxed-fit khaki pants with a wide leg and an ankle-level crop as they hold a coffee mug in one hand and talk with Zane Tanaka.

“I was hoping it was just a one-time thing,” Jaq tells their coworker, “but when that second letter showed up…”

“That’s some scary shit,” Zane agrees as he pours himself more coffee. “Especially if they’re delivering them by hand and not mailing.”

“Right.” Jaq nods somberly. “Whoever it is, they’re coming right up to our house, basically…”

“You guys need to get one of those security cameras.”

“I know. That’s what Rosie said. I asked our landlord about putting one in.”

“Hey, if you need help installing it, just ask,” Zane says as he turns away from the coffee pot with his refilled mug.

“Thanks, Zane. The entire thing is really scary.” However, a hint of a smile appears on Jaq’s face as they add, “But Samantha has been great. She’s unofficially moving in just so I don’t feel alone.”

“That’s called being a good partner. Good for her for stepping up.”

“Yeah.” Jaq sips their coffee in thought for a moment. “She’s the best.”

“Have the cops found any leads?” he asks. “Fingerprints or anything?”

“Not a thing. Whoever’s doing this is being really careful.”

“Maybe installing a camera will make them stop.”

“Or step up their tactics to something more extreme.” Jaq swallows a lump in their throat. “I can’t believe someone would be this hateful. Just because I’m… different.”

“People are sickos,” Zane says. “You really don’t have any idea who could be doing this? Someone who’s threatened you before or has a bone to pick?”

Jaq hesitates. “Well…”

Zane leans in. “What? You do know who it is?”

After another moment, Jaq shakes their head. “No. Not really. Just an instinct… but it’s better if I don’t say.”

“Jaq–“

“I don’t want to unfairly accuse anyone when it’s just a hunch,” they say. “There’s no proof.”

“If you have a suspicion, you should tell someone. You should tell the cops.”

“Do you think? I don’t want to be responsible for the police going after someone–“

“Someone’s threatening your safety. Fuck that,” Zane says emphatically. “So who is it? Who’s leaving you those notes?”

Sabrina Gage climbs the stairs that lead to the second level of Edge of Winter Arena. Once there, she finds the door to the administrative office open, so she steps into the doorway and knocks politely — just as she sees Jason Fisher at his desk, the phone tucked between his ear and shoulder as he types something into his computer.

“I’ll see if I can find it for you right now,” he says to the caller. “Let me put you on hold for a quick minute.”

He presses a button and then sets the receiver down on the desk. He stands and addresses Sabrina:

“Hi. Last-minute call. I’ll be done in a second.”

“It’s okay,” she says. “I can come back in a few minutes. We don’t need to be at Alex and Trevor’s at 7 p.m. on the dot.”

“I’ll be done fast,” he says, as he swoops over to give her a quick kiss on the lips and then darts toward the back of the office, where a set of wide filing cabinets stand.

Sabrina watches adoringly as he moves away from her — he moves with a quickness that always amazes her, like he constantly has somewhere he needs to be, yet his body retains the grace of his skating days, never getting tangled or ahead of itself — and starts to dig in the filing cabinets. He rustles through one drawer, then another, and then pauses with what appears to be confusion. Finally, he resumes his search and emerges with a paper, which he regards with a victorious bob of his head before bringing it back to the desk.

He sits down in his chair again as he picks up the receiver and takes the call off hold.

“I’ve got it right here,” he tells the caller, and as he runs down whatever facts and figures the document contains, Sabrina busies herself by checking and clearing the notifications on her phone.

Soon, Jason is finishing the call and hanging up.

“Sorry about that,” he tells her as he rises from his chair again.

“No need to apologize,” Sabrina says. “It’s your job.”

“Guess so.” He goes back to the open filing cabinet, document in hand, and puts it back in its place… but he continues to linger over the open drawer, his expression inscrutable.

“What’s wrong?” she asks.

“It’s nothing. There’s just…” He picks up what appears to be a small stack of magazines from inside the filing cabinet, glances at them briefly, and then places them back where he found them. “I have no idea how these got in here.”

“Those cabinets have probably been in here for years, haven’t they?”

“Yeah.” With a final shrug, Jason closes the drawer. “Now… how about dinner? And have I told you how beautiful you look?”

Sabrina feels herself blushing, her cheeks growing warm, as Jason approaches her with his charming grin.

—–

“It was such whiplash,” Tim Fisher is saying. He sits in an armchair in his mother’s living room, across from Paula and Sarah, who are both seated on the sofa, listening to him recount the twists and turns of his and Claire‘s trip to Hawaii.

“There has to be some explanation for this,” Paula says, her voice stretched thin with concern.

“Yeah,” Sarah says. “The explanation is that Sonja was pregnant when she skipped town and hid Tim’s child from him.”

“It seems too crazy to believe,” Tim says. “The thought that I might have this son out there I didn’t even know about… After everything that happened with Travis and Spencer, I couldn’t have imagined something like this.”

“The fact that Claire heard her call the kid TJ is pretty damning,” Sarah responds. “That can’t be a coincidence.”

“But what can you do now?” Paula asks. “If Sonja left Kauai…”

Tim looks to his sister. “That’s where I need your help.”

“Give me whatever info you have,” Sarah tells him. “I’ll do everything I can to find her. I’ll start by going through birth records.”

“Thank you. I know this might be tough — I have no idea where she might’ve gone.”

“Let me see what I can do.”

“Thank you.” Tim looks at her with genuine gratitude. “I haven’t been able to think about anything else.”

“I can hardly blame you for that,” Paula says before letting out a loud sigh. “Sonja always seemed so nice. And so calm. I never would have imagined she’d do something like this.”

“It has to be because she’s scared of Loretta,” Tim says. “And that’s the other thing: I never would have guessed she was in cahoots with Loretta–“

“Or being blackmailed or manipulated by her,” Sarah cuts in.

“That’s probably more accurate,” he agrees. “I just wish she’d let us help her, rather than escaping in the dead of night.”

“I’m going to track her down for you,” Sarah says, “and, more importantly, that little boy.”

“Thanks,” Tim tells her. “I know you have a lot on your plate.”

“Well,” Sarah says, quickly glancing at her phone, which is resting on the wooden coffee table, “after tonight, I might have a little more free space.”

Paula’s head swivels toward Sarah with alarm. “What does that mean?”

“It means not to worry, because I have things under control,” Sarah replies. “I promise, I know what I’m doing.”

—–

“Come on,” Zane presses Jaq. “Do you really think you know?”

Jaq chews their lower lip for another moment, and then Diane Bishop comes blowing into the break room.

“Please tell me there’s coffee left,” she proclaims.

Jaq and Zane both step out of the way to show her that there is, in fact, coffee remaining in the pot. Diane hurriedly pours herself some.

“What’s wrong?” Jaq asks. “You seem… stressed.”

Diane shakes her head, as if attempting to shake away whatever is troubling her, and focuses on Jaq.

“How are you?” she asks. “Have those idiot police officers figured out who’s sending you those letters yet?”

“No,” Jaq says. “We were just talking about how Trevor agreed to install a security camera at the door. Maybe we can catch the person leaving the next letter.”

“If there is a next letter,” Diane says. “I’m hoping this all stops now.”

“At least Sam’s there with you now,” Zane chimes in.

Diane frowns. “I don’t like the idea of either of you potentially being in danger. At least you have that Finn guy there, too.”

“We’ll be okay,” Jaq says. “I really hope this is all over soon.”

“Me, too,” Diane says. Then she turns to Zane. “I was actually looking for you. You’re on the late shift tonight, aren’t you?”

“Unfortunately, yeah. Why?”

“My computer’s acting up again. I’m trying to edit some copy for tomorrow’s morning show and– well, let me just show you.”

Zane looks at Jaq and lifts his eyebrows. “This is why they pay me the big bucks.”

“Come to my office and I’ll show you,” Diane tells him.

“I’m going to hit the men’s room and then I’ll meet you there,” Zane says. He slugs down the rest of his coffee, places his mug in the sink, and exits.

“And I really do worry about both of you,” Diane says to Jaq. “If there’s anything at all I can do, let me know, okay?”

“Thank you,” Jaq replies with a sincere smile.

Coffee in hand, Diane steps out of the break room and returns to her office. She sets her coffee on the desk and then retrieves her iPhone from her purse. Checking to be sure that Zane hasn’t yet arrived, she quickly types out a text message:

Hoping the mess I just made of my computer will keep him busy for a few hours, minimum. The coast should be clear.

Grinning to herself, Diane sends the message to Sarah, then deletes it from her phone entirely.

—–

“Okay,” Trevor Brooks announces as he returns to the dining room of the bungalow where he and Alex Marshall reside. “I gave Chase his bath and convinced him we were definitely not doing anything fun, so he’s in bed and sleeping.”

“We hope,” his husband says with a laugh. He turns to Jason and Sabrina, who are sitting at the dark wood dining table with glasses of wine before them. “We’re in the thick of another ‘waking up every few hours just to see what my dads are doing’ phase.”

With widened eyes, Jason shakes his head. “I don’t exactly miss those days. Although in comparison to having a teenager…”

“How is all of that going?” Trevor asks as he fills a wine glass for himself over at the sideboard. “With Sophie accepting that the two of you are dating?”

Sabrina glances uneasily over at Jason.

“Right now, we’re keeping things separate,” Jason explains. “Giving her time to get used to the idea.”

“I really hope she comes around,” Sabrina says, a bit mournfully.

“She will,” Alex says reassuringly as he and Trevor join them at the table. “Dinner should be ready in about 15, by the way.”

“That’s great,” Jason says. “Thank you for cooking.”

“It’s nice to have guests,” Alex says. He reaches over and touches Trevor’s hand. “Between me being on deadline with my book, and Trevor working, and Chase — we haven’t been able to do a ton of socializing lately.”

“Plus being a landlord,” Sabrina says. “How are you finding that? Is it a lot of work?”

Trevor exhales loudly. “Something’s always popping up.”

Jason clocks the fleeting but unmistakable look of exasperation that flashes across Alex’s face and makes a mental note to chat with his friend in private later.

“I don’t know if Samantha has told you,” Trevor continues, looking toward Jason, “but someone’s been sending Jaq these– I guess threatening letters.”

“No, I hadn’t heard that,” Jason says with alarm. “What kind of threats?”

“Stuff like ‘Die, you sick freak!’ — there have been two,” Alex says. “And they weren’t mailed, which means someone’s dropping them off.”

“We’re installing one of those smart security cameras by the front door,” Trevor adds. “You know how the mailbox is right there — if it happens again, we should be able to see who’s doing it.”

“That’s really scary,” Sabrina says.

With eyebrows lifted, Alex says, “It sounds like something out of a movie: these notes with all the letters cut out of magazines. It’s a little freaky.”

Jason stiffens. “Like… all mismatched letters from different magazines and ads and stuff?”

“Exactly like that,” Trevor says. “I hope whoever does it stops already. Jaq seems terrified.”

Alex pushes out his chair. “I should go check on everything. Trevor, will you give me a hand?”

“Yeah, of course.” Trevor jumps up to join his husband, and they disappear into the kitchen.

Sabrina turns toward Jason, ready to say something, and then notices the frozen expression on his face.

“What’s wrong?” she asks.

“The way Trevor described those letters Jaq’s been getting–” He stops himself, not even sure if his own thoughts make sense. “The magazines I found in the filing cabinet — they had a bunch of letters cut out.”

“Why would they…?” Then Sabrina gasps. “You think Tempest put them there?”

“I don’t know. It’s crazy, but…”

“It can’t be Tempest sending Jaq those notes. Can it?” Sabrina asks with horror.

END OF EPISODE 1079

Are Jason and Sabrina on the right track?
Can Tim find Sonja and TJ and get the truth?
Will Sarah be able to pull off her plan?
Talk about it all in the comments below!

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