Previously…
– Sarah gave Landon a flash drive and a key to Tori and Zane’s apartment, in hopes that he would find information on Zane’s computer proving that he framed Tori for the database error at Objection.
– Diane planned to keep Zane busy at KBAY while Landon executed his mission. 
– Jason found magazines with cut-out letters hidden in a filing cabinet at the arena and wondered if they could be connected to the threats that Jaq has been receiving.

After they finish dinner, Jason Fisher and Sabrina Gage leave Alex and Trevor‘s house with a tension wrapped so tightly around them that they cannot even speak. It only intensifies once they climb into Jason’s car, sealed off from the rest of the world.

“You don’t think they had any idea, do you?” Jason asks as he sets the key fob in the center console.

“How could they have?” Sabrina responds. “They don’t know about the magazines.”

“I know. I’m worried I was acting weird and Alex will somehow figure it out. He’s smart like that.”

“I don’t think either of them had any idea,” she reassures him. “But do you really think Tempest would do something like that?”

He draws in a deep breath through his nose as the whole concept continues to zip through his mind wildly. The answer is no — he knows Tempest Banks well enough to believe that she would not send threatening notes to Jaq. Then again, however, he wouldn’t have expected her to lash out the way that she did when Diane crossed her a few years ago. 

“I want to believe that she wouldn’t,” he finally says. “But I don’t know. If she’s feeling that threatened by Jaq — if she wants Samantha back that badly…” He trails off, again picturing the magazines with letters randomly cut out of them that he found in the office’s filing cabinet earlier.

“So what are you gonna do?” Sabrina asks. 

Jason shakes his head uneasily. “They’re just magazines, right? If I drag the police into this…”

“It could be really bad for Tempest.”

“But Jaq’s safety is also on the line — and Samantha’s, if she’s living with them.”

“Yeah.”

After a long, uncertain beat of silence, Jason presses the button to start the car’s ignition. It rumbles to life all around them.

“I think I know what I have to do,” he says as he puts the car in drive.

—–

The elevator doors part, depositing Landon Esco onto the proper floor of the apartment building. He steps out and does his best to ignore the pesky flickering lightbulb overhead as he orients himself and finds the right apartment door. As he approaches it, his heart begins thudding even faster than it already was. 

He stops outside the door and double-checks — well, quintuple-checks, at least — that he has the necessary key on his key ring. Then he feels in his pocket to be sure that he has the flash drive Sarah gave him.

“You’ve got this,” he tells himself, though his heart is threatening to jump up into his throat. But he knows that he has to do this. It might be Tori‘s only chance to be free of Zane‘s grip, and Tori’s parents are counting on him.

“They’re counting on you, Landon,” he says aloud. “You’re the only hope.”

The only hope. The thought of that fills him with a sense of dread. What if he screws up? What if he can’t find what Sarah needs him to find on Zane’s computer? What if it only gets worse and worse, until Zane completely cuts Tori off from her family and destroys her chances of having a career?

“You have to get this right,” Landon says, and then he pulls out his keys again to find the correct one.

Before he can insert it into the door’s lock, however, he hears the elevator doors opening again. He pauses — and then is shocked to hear someone say his name.

“Landon! Is that you?”

He turns around to see Helen Chase standing there, carrying a large Tupperware.

“Oh. Uh. Mrs. Chase. Hi,” he says as he scrambles to put away the keys. “Funny running into you here.”

“I could say the same!” Helen declares. “Are you here to see Victoria?”

“Oh, um, yeah.” He does his best to smile and seem casual. “I was in the neighborhood and thought I’d, y’know, come by and say hi. How about you?”

“I made her some of my famous white-bean chili. Although, if I’m honest, that’s really just an excuse to come by. It’s been far too long since I’ve seen Victoria. I’m very overdue for a visit.”

“That’s great. I bet she’ll appreciate it.”

They stand there awkwardly for a moment.

“Well?” Helen asks. “Is she home? Have you knocked on the door yet?”

“No, I– um, I had just gotten here when you showed up,” he says. “I guess I’ll… knock now.”

“Go on. My hands are full!”

Landon turns toward the door and lifts his hand to knock, grimacing. How the hell am I gonna get rid of her?

“How did you even do this?!” Zane Tanaka asks with exasperation. He sits in the executive chair in Diane Bishop‘s office in the basement headquarters of the KBAY radio station; Diane stands across the room, arms folded in front of her tucked-in leopard-print blouse.

“You’re the I.T. expert, not me,” Diane says. “But I’m sorry. I don’t know if I got a virus, or what. It just started going crazy on me.”

Zane clicks the mouse a few more times, and although Diane cannot see the screen, she can tell from his face that he is not getting any of the results he’d hoped for.

“I guess it’s a good thing you were scheduled to work the late shift tonight,” she adds. “I don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t have your help.”

He remains tight-lipped as he stares at the screen, clicking around and occasionally typing again, until finally he sits back in the chair.

“Okay, I think I know what’s up,” he says. “And I think there’s a codec I can install that’ll fix it.”

“Really? That’s amazing. Will that take a long time?”

She does her best to seem stressed by her computer’s sorry state and the prospect of it taking a while to fix, when, in reality, she couldn’t be more pleased to have Zane consumed by this task. This should keep him occupied long enough for Sarah and Landon to pull off whatever plan they concocted together. 

“Here’s the thing,” Zane says. “I don’t have access to it here. But I know I have it on a flash drive at home.”

“Oh. Crap. Well, you can bring it tomorrow–“

“I’ll just run back there now.”

A shot of adrenaline goes through Diane. “But you’re working. You have to be here.”

“This is an errand so I can get my work done,” he says. “I can’t think of a much bigger priority than fixing the computer of one of the morning show’s cohosts.”

“It’s not that big a deal,” she says. “Finish your shift, and we can deal with it tomorrow.”

“I’m not scheduled tomorrow. Which means you’ll have to start all over, with a different I.T. person — who, frankly, probably won’t be as smart as me — and then you’ll go two whole days without a working computer.”

She shrugs. “I’ve got an iPhone. I’m good.”

“It’ll take me under an hour, round trip.” He stands from the chair. “I’ll have this fixed for you by the end of the night.”

He starts to move toward the door.

“Zane. Wait,” she says, feeling the panic escalate within herself.

“What?”

“I’d really prefer if you didn’t go. I, uh– I pulled some strings to get Jaq’s schedule moved around a little while back, and H.R. noticed, and if you leave without clocking out and then someone needs you and it comes back on me — it’s going to be more trouble than it’s worth.”

She sees him preparing to argue back, but instead he takes in a breath, as if fighting his annoyance.

“Please, don’t do anything that’s going to get me into trouble with the head honchos,” she says. “Can’t you at least see if you can find this codec thing online first?”

A few tense seconds pass before his shoulders drop, seemingly in defeat.

“Fine. Let me see if I can find it somewhere,” he says. “But you’re making this more complicated than it needs to be.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” she says. “But thanks for all your help, Zane. You have no idea how much I appreciate it.”

With a half-hearted wave, he departs. Diane waits until he is long gone before she closes the door and lets out a long, loud exhale. 

“That was way too close,” she mutters.

—–

“And then the teacher said the octopus was all mine!” Billy Fisher proclaims excitedly.

“I think she said you could keep the octopus at your desk for the rest of the week, didn’t she?” his mother adds.

Billy rolls his eyes all the way back into his head. “I guess.”

They are seated at the dinner table in Paula Fisher‘s home, with Paula, Matt, and Tori all gathered there, as well. A simple but appealing dinner of grilled chicken, corn on the cob, mashed potatoes, and salad is spread out in front of them.

“We’ve gotta get you to the aquarium to see a real octopus,” Matt chimes in.

“Maybe I could come along,” Tori offers. “I’ve been there a few times, Billy — I could show you around.”

The little boy lights up with excitement. “Really?”

“Let’s do it this summer,” she says.

“That’d be awesome,” Matt says to his daughter, who simply shrugs. 

“It’s so nice that we’re doing this,” Paula says from the head of the table. 

“I’m sorry Zane couldn’t make it,” Tori says. “He really is committed to making this all work. If he’d been able to change his schedule–“

Sarah swipes a hand through the air nonchalantly. “It all worked out. We’ll get time with Zane soon enough. It’s just nice to have all of us around the same table these days.”

Tori nods, clearly brimming with emotion. “It really is.”

Sarah can feel Paula’s gaze resting upon her from time to time, with an intensity that she has never been able to ignore. And when Sarah excuses herself to get the salt from the kitchen, she instinctively knows that Paula is going to follow her. Sure enough, just as she is opening the cupboard, she hears her mother’s footsteps enter the kitchen.

“I’ve got it,” Sarah says, pulling out the salt casually.

“Wait a minute,” Paula orders. “What is going on with you?”

“What do you mean?”

“Those comments you made to Tim before about — having more free time after tonight. That sounded a bit ominous.”

“Ominous? Mom, don’t worry about it.” 

Sarah tries to move past Paula, who lightly touches her arm to stop her.

“Does this have something to do with Tori being here tonight?” Paula asks.

“She’s here for dinner.”

“And Zane isn’t. Sarah, what’s going on?”

Paula’s all-too-familiar stare, famous in its intensity, burns into Sarah. She breaks her gaze, just like she used to do as a teenager, and turns back toward the dining room.

“Nothing is going on, Mom,” she says as breezily as she can. “Don’t worry.”

She returns to the dining room, and as much as she wishes she could feel as easy and carefree as she just tried to make herself sound, all she can think about is what kind of progress Landon is making at the apartment.

—–

Jason’s entire body feels tense as he knocks on the door. After doing so, he waits, stuffing his hands into his pockets and shuffling his feet uncomfortably until he hears the locks being undone from inside. 

Tempest Banks opens the door with a look of surprise on her face. “Jason… hi…”

“Hey,” he says. “Is Claire home?”

“No, she’s got a shift at the hospital. If you want me to call her–“

He shakes his head insistently. “It’s good we’re alone. You’re the one I need to talk to.”

Something akin to fear spreads over Tempest’s face. She wears an oversized t-shirt and gym shorts; her attire makes him even more aware that he is invading her home at an unusual hour to raise a very uncomfortable topic. He takes a deep breath to steel himself. 

“I found some magazines in the filing cabinet in the office earlier,” he says. “I didn’t think much of them at the time…”

“What kinda magazines?”

“A bunch of different ones. With letters cut out of them.”

She screws up her face. “And…?”

“I’m sure you’ve heard about the letters Jaq has been getting,” he says. “The threats.”

“The what now?”

He sighs. “Jaq has been receiving anonymous threats in the mail. Notes made up out of cutout letters from magazines.”

Tempest takes this in quietly, processing, and then her eyes nearly bulge out of her head. “You think cuz you found some magazines that I’m sending Jaq all kinda threats? Are you kidding me?”

“I’m only asking,” Jason says. “I’m sure you can see how this looks…”

“You are so out-of-pocket with this shit, Jason. You really think I would do some shit like that?”

“I don’t want to think it. But I had to come ask you–“

“Let me see these magazines! I bet I’ve never seen any of ’em in my life.”

“Sabrina went down to the office to put them in a plastic bag and put them away for safekeeping,” he explains.

“Like you two are the damn cops now?”

“I don’t want to tell the police if I don’t have to,” Jason says. “Nothing bad has happened to Jaq yet, aside from being pretty rattled. If the threats stop… no one has any reason to investigate further.”

Tempest folds her arms across her chest. “So if I don’t send any more of the letters I didn’t even send in the first place, you won’t turn me in to the cops? That’s real nice.”

“Tempest… only a few people have access to that filing cabinet. I know I’m not sending Jaq the letters.”

“So then it’s gotta be me? You can go–” With her index finger raised, she barely manages to stop herself. “You can get outta here with that mess.”

He locks eyes with her, hoping that he can express his deep regret about even having this conversation.

“I’m so sorry to come here and bring this up,” he says. “And if you swear to me that you didn’t send those letters–“

“I didn’t!”

“Then I’m choosing to believe you. Because I know you, and I trust you. But I had to ask.”

Emitting short, furious breaths through her nose, Tempest lets her gaze dart around the room, landing on the TV, the walls, the sofa — anything but him.

“I didn’t do it,” she says, a plaintive note of desperation now seeping into her voice.

Jason’s lips pull into a thin line as he nods again. “Okay, then. I’m sorry to have bothered you with this.”

He moves to the door and then looks back at her: “I’ll see you at work tomorrow.”

Arms still folded, Tempest merely grunts an inscrutable response as Jason lets himself out of the apartment.

—–

Landon goes through the motions of knocking on Tori and Zane’s door, knowing full well that neither of them is supposed to be at home right now. He waits — Helen right behind him with her container of chili in her arms — and then knocks again. 

“Guess they aren’t here,” he says.

“What a shame!” Helen declares. “I wanted to surprise Victoria. I assumed she would be home in the evening.” She looks down at the chili forlornly. “I hate for this to go to waste. Would you like it?”

“Can’t you just take it home?”

“Not to be too graphic, but my Don can’t have too much of this sort of thing, if you know what I mean,” she says, waving one hand in front of her nose with a devious grin.

“Oh. Wow. But I actually have some other errands to run, so I shouldn’t take it.”

Helen sighs. “I suppose I can freeze it and bring it back to Victoria some other time.”

“I bet she’d like that.” He claps his hands together. “Well, better get to it.”

She regards him with narrowed eyes. “Yes, we should. Are you coming?”

“Oh, um, I…”

Helen gasps. “I know what you’re doing, young man!”

“You do?!” Panic courses through Landon’s veins. “How?”

“You want to wait around for Victoria to get home, don’t  you? Are you… are you sweet on her?”

“Me? On Tori? No! No way!” He feels his face growing warm and knows that his cheeks are rapidly turning red. “I just had to– um, it doesn’t matter. Let’s go.”

“She is a very dear girl,” Helen says as Landon beelines for the elevator. “But I have to warn you — harboring feelings for someone whose heart belongs to another is a dangerous game.”

“I know,” Landon says as he pushes the elevator call button. “Don’t worry. It’s nothing like that.”

She looks him up and down and then winks. “If you say so.”

The elevator doors open, and Helen steps inside, the chili still in her hands. Landon follows, hoping he’ll quickly be able to lose her downstairs so that he can come back up and carry out his mission.

—–

While Zane is off scouring the web for the codec he needs, Diane goes to the ladies’ room, then returns to the break room for water. She sends Sarah a quick text to update her on how busy Zane is, deletes the text from her own phone, and then heads back to her office.

She sees that Zane is not there and figures that he must still be searching for that codec, so she moves around the desk to sit in her own chair. As much as she wishes she could go home, she knows that Sarah needs her help with keeping Zane occupied for however long it takes Landon to do what he needs to do.

Just as she sits down, she sees it — a Post-it note stuck to her computer monitor, with a message scrawled on it in black ink: Decided to run home to get what I need. BRB – Zane

Diane’s breath catches in her throat as she realizes what this means — and immediately wonders what she can do to stop this runaway train.

END OF EPISODE 1080

Will Diane be able to intercept Zane?
Are Zane and Landon on a collision course?
Was Jason wrong to question Tempest?
Discuss all this and more in the comments below!

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