Previously…
– With Spencer’s help, Elly obtained a recorded admission from Anatoli that he never tampered with her bar exam results.
– After Tori found the tracker he’d placed on her car, she tried to escape Zane but was knocked unconscious during a struggle. Zane tied her up and whisked her out of town.
– Sarah found a bottle of nail polish in Tori’s parking space and received a text from Tori’s phone (sent by Zane), making her believe that Tori and Zane had gone to elope.

Hazy streaks of early morning sun creep into the hotel room in Palo Alto, California. That’s what Elly Vanderbilt notices first — sunrise sneaking its way into her consciousness, although the open curtains aren’t doing much to ward it off. She feels groggy, weighed down by sleep that lies on top of her like a pile of rocks, a sleep that lasted far too long and yet managed not to be restful.

The bright green digits on the bedside alarm clock reveal that it is almost 6:00 a.m. How is it morning? she thinks as the evening prior comes floating back to her. She recalls confronting Anatoli, insisting that he meet her here, and getting him to admit the truth about her bar exam results — but not before Spencer leapt out of the closet and tackled him after Anatoli grabbed her.

A shudder goes through her as she relives the feeling of terror she felt at facing her former lover after all this time. Almost simultaneously, she experiences a wave of relief at the knowledge that she has proof, both in an e-mail and an audio recording, that Anatoli’s contact did not need to fix her bar exam, because she passed on her own.

“I passed,” she whispers to herself. “I really passed.”

“What?” a voice croaks, and Elly almost leaps out of the bed — and her skin — as she realizes that there is another person in, or rather on top of, the bed, pressed against her back.

“Jesus,” she says, rotating her neck enough so that she can see Spencer Ragan, fully dressed just as she is, out of her peripheral vision. “You scared the shit out of me.”

“What? Why?”

“Because I didn’t know you were there.”

“Yeah, I… we were lying here and you fell asleep, and I didn’t want to wake you up, so…”

“I can’t believe we slept all night.” Her cheek pressed into the pillow, she gazes out the window; from this vantage point, she can see the brightening horizon and the tops of several buildings. 

“I can’t believe we fucking got him,” Spencer says, and she can practically hear the self-satisfied grin that must be on his face. “Checkmate, motherfucker.”

“Yeah.” Elly takes a long moment to process this new reality again. It’s over. Loretta no longer has anything to hold over her. “Thanks again. Sorry I was…”

“You were overwhelmed, that’s all. It’s cool. I needed to crash myself.”

“Well… thank you. I mean it.”

“You’re welcome.”

She breathes in deeply as the fog of sleep slowly clears. The intimacy of this moment is strange — she didn’t intend to share a bed with Spencer, but waking up with him… 

“Oh my god,” she says suddenly.

“What?” he asks, confused and still sounding groggy.

She flicks her head toward him again. “Do you have a boner?!”

—–

A light patter of rainfall taps steadily against the window of the cabin. Zane Tanaka holds a small, chipped mug of coffee as he looks out the glass at the gloomy, early spring morning. He fights back a yawn, the result of his less-than-stellar night of sleep; it was more a series of short naps than anything. His mind was simply racing too busily to allow him much rest. 

He steps away from the window and goes to the round wooden table in the dining area, which almost-but-not-quite matches the wood on the cabin’s walls. Two iPhones sit on the table: his and Tori‘s. One of the many, many thoughts dominating his thoughts all night was what to do with the phones. Several times, he considered turning off hers, or both of them, so that they wouldn’t ping off nearby cell towers and allow anyone to track them down. But that would also look suspicious, and given that he texted Sarah from Tori’s phone to assure her everything is okay, he doesn’t want to do anything to contradict that story. 

They’ll think we ran away together, he tells himself. There’s no reason they wouldn’t think that.

He feels a painful sting of shame as he remembers grabbing Tori and accidentally shoving her after she found that GPS tracker on her car. All he wanted was to make her understand that he had done it for her own good, for their own good — so that he could protect her and keep outside forces from trying to divide them. And the fact that Landon would accuse him of hacking Objection Designs just to frame Tori for making errors at work–

Zane lets out a grunt, his right fist clenching tight at the mere thought.

He hears a faint, distant moan, and his blood pressure spikes. Quickly he moves to the entrance to the sole bedroom in the cabin. Standing in the open doorway, he sees Tori lying on the bed, her wrists and ankles still tied with cables. Nervously, he sips his still-scalding coffee and watches as her eyelids flutter and she tosses atop the blankets. 

“What the–?” she says suddenly, bolting upright — or trying to, as she realizes that her movements are restricted. 

Zane braces.

“Good morning,” he says.

Eyes wide, she shoots him a startled look as realization dawns on her.

“Zane. Zane?” She thrashes against her constraints, to no avail. “Why am I tied up?”

“Good. You’re here.”

Brent Taylor looks up from the large computer monitor, on which he has been doing his best to clear out his e-mail inbox; unfortunately, it seems that for every message he deletes or files away, another two appear. He scratches his temple at the sight of his ex-wife in the doorway of his office inside the King’s Bay Police Department.

“What are you doing here?” he asks Sarah Fisher Gray as she strides into the office.

“I went to your house, and Christian said you had already gone into work–“

“It’s early, Sarah.”

“I couldn’t sleep,” she says as she closes the office door. “This is serious. I need your help.”

In spite of how strange it is for her to be here at this very early hour, Brent sits up a little straighter in the leather desk chair as he takes in her tone. “What happened?”

“It’s Tori. I need you to get a warrant for her phone records.”

He can see the genuine concern — and weariness from a night spent not sleeping — all over her face.

“What? Why?” 

“She’s gone. We need to track her phone,” Sarah says with urgency. “Brent, please. Get a judge to issue a warrant this morning so we can find my daughter.”

Claire Fisher stands at the nurses’ station, leaning over the counter as she fills in information on a patient’s chart with a blue pen. A muffin sits beside her, with part of its wrapper peeled back so that she can occasionally pick off small pieces to eat in lieu of an actual breakfast. The reception area on the hospital’s emergency floor is blessedly calm at present, with a few doctors and nurses passing through the space and a single man waiting in the plastic chairs nearby.

“Nurse Fisher. How’s it going?” a voice asks, and she lifts her head to see Isaac Banks approaching from the opposite side of the nurses’ station. Wearing his white coat, the younger doctor smiles as he rounds the structure to join her.

“Good morning,” Claire replies. “Or whatever time it is.”

Isaac laughs. “It’s morning. You at the end of a shift?”

“Yeah, it’s been a long one. I’m done in an hour or so.” She holds up the muffin. “Want a piece? It’s chocolate.”

“Thanks, but I’m good.”

“How was your dinner with Tempest last night?” she asks.

“Really good. We went to Bill’s on the Pier — Tempest thought your son might be working, but he wasn’t there.”

“He was just getting back from a trip out of town,” Claire explains, breaking off another piece of the muffin. “I didn’t even know he had gone until I texted him…”

Isaac raises one eyebrow. “Sounds a little sketchy.”

“He was helping his dad with something. It’s just…” She trails off, knowing there is no need to burden Tempest’s brother with her disappointment — however valid or not it might be — that Tim went to Arizona to track down Sonja and TJ without telling her first. “It’s complicated. That’s all.”

“Well, I hope everything’s cool.”

“It is. Thanks.” She forces herself to smile and is about to change the subject when a loud scream sounds from somewhere down one of the corridors behind Claire — one of a few hallways that branch off from this central reception area.

“The hell was that?” Isaac asks, his body tensing up as they both turn to look. Another horrified sob, unmistakably female, flies through the air.

“That’s coming from the offices,” Claire says with alarm, as the attention of everyone around them goes toward that corridor.

—–

Elly quickly rolls to the edge of the bed and sits up.

“You do,” she says. “What are you, an animal?”

Spencer flips onto his stomach. “Who still says ‘boner’? What are you, 16?”

“Seems like you are!” Elly gestures with exasperation as she stands from the bed. “Way to read the room.”

“It’s not like I did it on purpose. I’m waking up! Because I spent the whole night here consoling you, which I guess you’ve already forgotten–“

“You’ve done your good deed for the decade,” she says. “Now go get your stuff.”

“What?”

“I’m going to change our flights so we can fly home early.”

“Oh. Okay.” He pulls himself to a sitting position. “What, you don’t want to spend the day showing me all your old law school haunts?”

“Yeah. No.” She locates her phone on the credenza. “I’ll find us some flights, okay?”

“Cool. I’m gonna go take a shower and get my stuff from my room — which, by the way, I paid for and didn’t even use, because I was here–“

“–hoping to get lucky–“

“–consoling you all night.” He stands up and tugs his shirt down. “I’ll meet you in the lobby?”

“Sure. I’ll text you the flight confirmation,” Elly says, phone in hand. 

“Great.” Spencer goes to the door and flips the lock. 

As he reaches for the handle, Elly calls out, “And Spencer?”

He sighs. “What?”

“Thank you. Seriously.”

They share a long moment of eye contact. 

“You’re welcome,” he says before slipping out of the room.

Elly watches the door close and hears the lock click into place. She sinks back down onto the edge of the bed, unable to get the sensation of him pressed against her out of her mind.

—–

In the cabin, Zane freezes. Although he is relieved to see Tori awake and seemingly okay, he has also been dreading this moment.

“Zane!” she shrieks, her voice straining with panic. “Why am I tied up?!”

“I had to,” he says. “I’m so sorry, Tori. I just had to get you out here–“

“Here? Where are we?” Her head goes from side to side, taking in the cabin for the first time. “What is this place?”

“Mount Hood. Like we talked about. This is the cabin I rented — our own private honeymoon–“

“Honeymoon?” Tori squints her eyes. “Did we–“

“Get married? No.” He sucks in a sharp breath but tries to hide his shock. “Do you… not remember…?”

“Remember what?”

Zane doesn’t even know how to respond.

“Why does my head hurt?” she asks. “And why am I tied up? Zane, you’re scaring me.”

“Don’t be scared,” he says as he rushes toward the bed. “Everything is fine. I promise. You don’t remember leaving King’s Bay?”

“No…” She pauses, her face still scrunched up in confusion. He can almost see the fog surrounding her brain. 

Oh my god, Zane realizes. A warm burst of excitement surges in his chest. 

“I went out to… to run an errand,” she says, and the hitch in her voice makes Zane realize that she does remember going to see Landon. And is lying to him about it. 

“You don’t… do you remember coming home? I had your bag packed.”

She contemplates that for a few seconds before shaking her head softly. 

“Ow,” she says. “My head.”

“Let me get you some ibuprofen. I packed some.”

“Okay. Could you…” She moves her bound wrists as best she can. “Why am I tied up, Zane? This is weird.”

“I promise, it’ll all make sense when I explain.”

“Please, just untie me!”

“Give me a second,” he says, reaching for her arms and unable to believe his luck. “I promise, Tori: there’s a good reason for all of this.”

—–

Brent rises from his seat, his own sense of panic soaring to meet Sarah’s.

“Let’s get a missing persons report in the system first,” he says. “How long has she been gone?”

“I’m not sure. Close to 24 hours now,” she says. “Landon Esco saw her yesterday morning.”

“Okay…” He hovers over the desk as he uses the computer’s mouse to navigate through the department’s system. “And that was the last contact anyone had with her?”

“Yeah. Mostly.”

“What do you mean, ‘mostly’?”

She tugs the sleeves of her quilted forest green fleece jacket over her hands. “Well… Billy called her, and she didn’t pick up or call him back, so I sent her a text.”

“And it went through? So her phone’s still on, or was. When was that?”

“Yesterday. Late afternoon, evening.” She pulls her iPhone from her purse to check the timestamp as she says, “And her response was really brief. Almost like a kiss-off.”

Brent pauses. “Her response?”

Sarah reads from the phone: “‘Taking some time away with Zane. Tell Billy I’ll call him soon.’ That’s all. And I found this nail polish in the parking spot where her car should be–“

“Nail polish? Sarah, I know you’re worried about her and this whole Zane thing–“

“She cannot marry that monster. Somehow he’s convinced her to elope–“

“–but Tori’s an adult. She’s communicated to you that she went away with her fiancé and that she’ll be in touch. I can’t get a judge to sign off on a warrant under these circumstances.”

“So lie!”

He levels a stern look at her. “And then, what, someone checks the records and notices that the police commander misrepresented the situation? You were a cop, Sarah. You know how bad that would look.”

“I’m also a P.I., and I know how bad it looks that my daughter apparently got into a fight with her friend and skipped town immediately afterward with a man who’s been desperate to cut her off from her loved ones,” she says. “Something is up, Brent. I can feel it.”

Before he can respond, his own phone buzzes to life atop the desk. He glances down and is surprised to see Claire’s name on the lit-up screen. Confused, he stabs the button on the side to send it to voicemail.

He turns his attention back to Sarah and, in a softer tone than before, tells her, “I’m with you, and I sympathize.”

“Then help me, Brent.”

“I’d love to. Really. But there’s no way I can get a warrant to try and track her phone records. Not this soon. What I recommend–“

He is again interrupted by the vibration of his phone. It clatters angrily against the desktop, and Claire’s name shows on the display again. 

“That’s weird,” he says, picking up the phone. “I should get this.”

Well aware of the demands of his job, Sarah nods and folds her arms as she strategizes how else to convince him to do what she needs him to do.

“Hi,” Brent says tensely into the phone. His last encounter with Claire was at this very station, when she lambasted him after he arrested Tempest for sending threatening notes to Jaq. He finds himself bracing for whatever his ex is calling to say to him now.

Sarah watches with confusion as Brent’s eyes widen.

“What the hell?” he says. “Are you serious?”

Sarah’s own law-enforcement instincts kick into gear as she observes him. She has no idea what the call is about, but she recognizes his reaction well.

“Jesus. Okay.” Brent swipes a hand over his face. “Thanks, Claire. I’ll get over there as fast as I can.”

“What’s wrong? Is Claire okay?” Sarah asks.

“Claire’s fine.” Brent looks dazed as he lowers the phone to his side. “It’s that doctor involved in our lawsuit — Dr. Longo.”

“What about him?”

“He was just found in his office,” Brent says with shock. “He’s dead.”

END OF EPISODE 1123

What does Dr. Longo’s death mean for Molly and Brent?
Will Zane be able to explain away Tori being tied up?
Should Elly and Spencer admit their mutual attraction?
Discuss all this and more in the comments below!

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