Previously…
– Dr. Longo was found dead in his office of an apparent suicide, but in private, Loretta celebrated having done away with the doctor who’d helped her make Molly and Brent think their baby had died at birth.
– After seeing the emergency alert about Tori’s kidnapping, Zane forced her back into the car at knifepoint and fled Mount Hood.
– Sarah and Matt raced out to Mount Hood to rescue their daughter, while Landon, Samantha, and Diane followed in another vehicle. 

The silence in the car is unbearable. Zane turned off the radio several miles back, after a furious outburst when the same Post Malone song they’d already heard twice came on again. The quiet between them feels so loaded, so heavy, and yet every time Tori thinks of something to say, she bites her tongue — because everything seems to make him angrier, and there doesn’t appear to be any negotiating with him. She attempts to focus on the signage on the side of the two-lane highway, signs that mark the passage of time and the growing distance between her and anyone who knows her. Every now and then, she checks the mirror on the passenger side of the vehicle, hoping that she might see a police car and could at least imagine that the alert issued by the King’s Bay PD worked. But she never does.

So she thinks. She sits there and chews the inside of her cheek and thinks as hard as she can about a way to outsmart Zane. He has relaxed ever so slightly, enough that he is simply holding the kitchen knife by his leg now. It crosses her mind that she could make a sudden move and plunge it into him, but if that goes wrong, she suspects it would all be over — he would stab her and be done with it. 

Just as she is despairing how barren the area around them looks, she spots a sign on the side of the road advertising gas and fast food off the upcoming exit. She sucks in a sharp breath in anticipation, hoping against hope that he might decide to pull off to use the restroom or get food or gas — despite still having well over a half-tank — but he doesn’t even slow for a moment. 

Tori does everything she can to suppress a sigh of frustration. But she sees one of the gas stations and a Jack in the Box only a few hundred yards off the rural highway. It is heartening to realize that there are businesses, and therefore people, so close. 

And then she knows what she has to do. 

Her eyes flick over toward the speedometer. Zane is doing upwards of 60 miles an hour — fast enough to keep making progress, but not so much so that he’s going to get pulled over. 

That’s a really fast car to jump from, she thinks nervously. She has no idea if a person can survive that, but it doesn’t seem impossible… and it seems like there is enough space between the yellow line on the side of the road and the metal guard rail…

Her hand curls around the door handle, and she realizes that her entire body is shaking. She wills herself to remain steady as the hand lingers on the handle.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Zane asks suddenly. 

The abrupt harshness of his voice sends a shiver through her body.

“What? Nothing.”

“The door.” His head swivels toward her; his eyes burn with madness. “You wouldn’t survive jumping.”

“You don’t know that.”

A caustic laugh spills out of his mouth. “Yeah, I do.” He presses down harder on the accelerator, still smirking at her.

“Zane–“

“Jumping would be a really stupid thing to do,” he sneers.

But all she can see is the back of the SUV in front of them, rapidly growing closer.

“Zane!” she screams before grabbing the wheel. She shoves it to the left, desperate to avoid running into the SUV.

Zane’s attention snaps back toward the road in the same moment that he also grabs the wheel and jerks it right. His foot slams on the brake.

“Let go!” he shouts, and the next thing Tori knows, the car is slamming into the metal rail on the side of the road.

—–

“Are you sure you don’t want any more?” Paula Fisher asks.

“I can’t eat any more food!” Sophie Fisher exclaims. Exasperated, the raven-haired teen sets her fork on the cake plate dramatically. 

“Me, neither,” her father agrees from across the dining room table. “That is a great chocolate cake, though, Mom.”

“I’m glad you enjoyed it,” Paula says from the head of the table, where she is hovering, full of anxious energy. “If you need anything else…”

“Just sit down and try to relax,” Jason tells her.

Paula places the cake plate on the table and lets out a heavy sigh. “I just feel so helpless, knowing Tori is out there with that maniac…”

“I know.” Jason stands and moves toward her. He wraps an arm around Paula. “But the police are out looking for them, and Sarah and Matt are on their way, too.”

“What if they’re hurt, too?” Paula asks in terror.

Jason squeezes her shoulder. “Let’s think positive thoughts.”

“Why did Tori want to marry him in the first place?” Sophie asks. “He’s not even fun-crazy.”

Paula and Jason exchange a look, but before either can muster a response, the doorbell rings. 

“Maybe it’s Brent or someone with news,” Paula says before rushing out of the dining room and through the living room toward the front door. Jason and Sophie trail behind her.

When Paula looks through the glass panels in the door, however, she does not see Brent, or any other police representative. Instead, she opens the door to reveal Helen and Don Chase.

“You must be a bundle of nerves,” Helen proclaims as she barges into the house, holding a pot with both hands. “Don and I wanted to bring you something in case you were all hungry.”

“I can’t eat any more!” Sophie tells her other grandmother with horror. 

“We’ve been stress-eating for hours,” Jason explains as he takes the pot from his former mother-in-law. “What is it?”

“My famous white-bean chili,” Helen says proudly.

“Helen thought that since her chili saved the day last time there was an issue with Zane,” Don elaborates, “that it might be good luck again this time.”

Helen scowls. “I do wish I could bash that monster over the head with this pot again — and this time, I certainly wouldn’t hold back!”

“Maybe you need to go help the cops, Grandma Helen,” Sophie says. 

“It would be nice if they recognized my help instead of targeting me, for once,” Helen says. “There hasn’t been any more news on Victoria?”

Paula finishes locking the door. “I’m afraid not.”

“We’re going to get good news soon,” Jason says. “I just know it.”

Brent Taylor sits behind his desk in his office inside the King’s Bay Police Department. Although he is doing his best to work his way through the stack of paperwork that he needs to review and sign, the police commander cannot focus on much of anything. When he hears the rapping of knuckles against the open door, he looks up readily, eager for a distraction.

“Sonja Kahele and her son were just moved to the safehouse,” Rosie Jimenez announces as she steps into the office. 

“Oh, great. Thank you for taking care of that.” Brent swipes a hand over his tired eyes. “Everything go okay?”

“Yeah, completely according to plan.” The uniformed officer folds her arms. “It’s the only way to keep them safe from Loretta Ragan — and honestly, I think it’s the only way for Tim to believe that Sonja won’t run again.”

“I’m sure.” 

“That woman needs to be stopped,” Rosie says. “Loretta, I mean. She’s terrorized so many people.”

“You don’t know the half of it,” Brent replies wearily, thinking back to Elly‘s warning that Loretta was trying to manipulate the outcome of the criminal proceedings against Molly for assaulting Dr. Longo. 

He absentmindedly checks his phone. 

“Still nothing on Tori?” Rosie asks.

Brent shakes his head. “That reverend out in Mount Hood confirmed that she and Zane were at his church. They must’ve bolted when the Endangered Person Alert went out–“

“But Tori wouldn’t have gone with him willingly. Or if she were there willingly, they would’ve called in to say the alert was a mistake.”

“Right. So he forced her to go somehow. I wish there were something else I could do…”

“…but you don’t have jurisdiction,” Rosie finishes the thought for him. “So that’d be a whole mess.”

“So here I am, waiting,” he says, again glancing at his frustratingly silent phone. “Thanks for the update on Sonja.”

“I’m just glad she and TJ are safe. And once Tori is safe, we need to focus on dealing with Loretta once and for all. I know Tim is determined to stop this reign of terror of hers.”

“So am I. And I think I might have an angle.”

“Really?” Rosie asks with great interest.

“We’ll see,” Brent says. “Let’s make sure Tori gets home safely — and then the next order of business is to cut Loretta off at the knees before she can hurt anyone else we care about.”

—–

“Stay to the left,” Sarah Fisher Gray says from the passenger seat of her husband’s truck. 

“Really?” Matt Gray replies. “The sign on the right says Mount Hood.”

“Yeah, but Zane wouldn’t stay in Mount Hood if he’s running from that alert. We need to go past the town.”

“Good call,” he says as he puts on the blinker and moves into the left lane. “What are we even gonna do if we catch up to them? We can’t run the car off the road.”

“We’ll figure that part out when we catch them.” Sarah stares straight ahead through the windshield, at the mercifully open highway ahead of them. “I just want to see her– to know she’s okay–“

“She’s gonna be okay,” Matt says.

She looks over at him and sees the emotion brimming in his face.

“She is,” Sarah tells him, as she reaches over and takes his right hand. “We’re going to make sure she is.”

—–

Landon Esco‘s hands grip his steering wheel tightly as he speeds down the freeway. Samantha Fisher sits in the passenger seat, and her mother is in the back of the sedan.

“We’re making really good time,” Samantha observes as they pass yet another exit on the way to Mount Hood. 

“I’m trying my best,” Landon says, remaining focused on the road ahead. 

“I found a few clusters of rental cabins in the area,” Diane announces from the backseat. She looks up from her phone. “Now I’m going through AirBnBs to see which ones are booked for this weekend.”

“Will it even show you that?” Samantha asks.

“It’s worth a shot.” Diane returns her attention to her iPhone. “Anything we can do to narrow down the possibilities should help.”

“Thanks for doing that,” Landon says. “I couldn’t have sat around at home knowing Tori was missing, or…” He trails off, overwhelmed by even the thought of what Zane might be doing to his friend right now.

“That bastard isn’t going to get away with this,” Diane says. “We’re going to make damn sure of that.”

—–

Everything seems fuzzy when Tori opens her eyes. As she attempts to blink away the haze at the edges of her vision, she becomes aware of a splitting headache that feels as if someone is hammering away at her skull. And when she cranes her neck to take in her surroundings, an undeniable soreness accompanies the movements. 

But it all comes back to her in quick flashes now: her grabbing the wheel to keep Zane from hitting the SUV; Zane reacting by trying to yank it back from her; the car smashing into the metal guard rail. The airbag sticks out from the dash, crowding her. 

She sucks in a panicked breath and looks to her left. Zane is slumped against the driver’s-side airbag. 

“Oh my god,” she says, struggling to comprehend everything that is happening. She can’t tell if he is breathing, but she sees that his right hand is empty, having dropped the knife. 

With her head still pounding, her trembling fingers undo her seatbelt and reach for the door handle. She staggers out of the car, disoriented as a Tesla glides by along the highway.

Some part of her wants, or needs, to know if Zane is still alive. But she knows that she cannot waste any more time. She hoists herself over the guard rail and hobbles, forcing her stiff, pained body to move, toward the gas station that seems both so close and so far away.

—–

“The good news is, you won’t have to cook dinner for days,” Jason says as he places Helen’s pot inside the refrigerator.

“Yes, that was very thoughtful of Helen and Don,” Paula replies, although she sounds as if she is thinking about anything but chili.

Jason closes the refrigerator and turns to his mother. “Tori’s gonna be okay, Mom.”

“I want to believe that. I really do. It’s just…” Paula exhales heavily. “That poor girl has been through so much. And Zane is so out-of-control. I always feared this was going to end badly.”

“It’s going to end fine. I just keep telling myself that,” he says before pulling his mother into an embrace.

“I’m so glad that you and Sophie are here. Jake and Mia insisted on taking Billy, and I know it’s good for him to spend time with Marcus, but the thought of being in an empty house waiting for news…”

“We’ll be here for as long as you need. And Sabrina sends her best. She wishes she could be here.”

The two step back from their hug.

“She should be,” Paula says. “She’s a very nice woman, Jason.”

In spite of the grim circumstances, he manages a smile. “She really is.”

“You can’t keep her and Sophie in separate boxes forever, you know.”

“I do know. I’m just trying to be conscientious — for both of their sakes.”

“And that’s very admirable,” Paula tells him, “but you also have a life to live, honey. Sophie will need to adjust to the idea of you being with someone who isn’t her mother — or Natalie.”

“You’re right,” he says, sounding exhausted even from the thought of attempting to have his daughter spend time with his girlfriend again. “I’m feeling so gun-shy about it, but I know you’re right.”

“Just like you keep telling me about Tori: it’s all going to work out fine,” she says, forcing as cheery a smile as she can.

—–

After Rosie leaves his office, Brent again attempts to work through the stack of papers on his desk. But he finds himself still unable to focus; in addition to his concern about Tori, thoughts of Loretta Ragan continue to plague him. Elly’s revelation that Loretta was trying to pull strings with regards to Dr. Longo and the lawsuit has been gnawing at him, and the urgency of needing to get Sonja and TJ hidden away has only amplified that. 

Again putting the paperwork aside, he logs into the department’s internal records system. With a few clicks of his mouse and a quick entry of his password, he is staring at the file from the scene at Dr. Longo’s office, where the doctor who delivered his and Molly’s child was found dead in an apparent suicide. 

He once more scans the details from the scene: the gunshot wound through the temple; the vague confession left in an open document on Longo’s computer screen. 

It was all my fault

Brent reads and re-reads the message. It could be interpreted so many ways, but in light of the fact that Longo and the hospital were facing a costly lawsuit over the death of Brent and Molly’s baby, it is easy enough to connect the dots. 

And this is when he notices a detail he hadn’t processed before. 

“That doesn’t make sense,” he whispers to himself as he reviews the information once again. 

A tingling sensation spreads through his body as he realizes what this means. 

“How could there be no fingerprints on the keyboard if Longo typed that note?” he questions aloud to his empty office. 

Because someone wiped the keyboard clean after typing it, his mind finishes for him. 

Brent leaps up from his chair. 

“That’s it,” he says. “Longo didn’t kill himself. Someone staged it to look like a suicide.”

And I know exactly who, he thinks as he grabs his phone to place a call.

—–

When Zane awakens, all he sees is a grayish-white mass. It consumes his field of vision, and all he think is that he has either gone blind or that this is what death looks like. As his head begins to clear, however, he realizes that it is the airbag and recalls the crash.

Panicked, he looks to his right. The passenger seat is empty, and the door hangs open. There is no sign of Tori.

“Shit,” he says. 

He struggles out of the car and scans the area. But he doesn’t see her anywhere. 

His heart rate quickens as a station wagon drives by. The car slows, and the driver is clearly checking out the accident scene, so Zane raises a hand to wave him off. It works.

His first instinct is to abandon the car and flee. But he doesn’t know how far he’ll be able to get without a vehicle, and if anyone happens to have witnessed the crash and called it in, the cops are going to have a very clear starting point for their search. And he feels a throbbing pain in his hip that makes him question how far he would even get on foot. He checks the front of the car and sees that, although the bumper is heavily damaged and one headlight is smashed, it doesn’t look as though the wheels have been compromised.

He finds the knife in the foot well and stabs it into the airbag. The bag begins to deflate, and Zane climbs back behind the wheel. And when he closes his eyes and offers up a silent prayer that the car will actually start, he finds that it does. 

Still, he hesitates another moment. The thought of just leaving Tori here, wherever she went, is devastating. He has fought so hard to be with her. And he knows that he could make her understand why he did what he did. 

I can come back for her, he thinks as he puts the car in reverse to pull away from the guard rail.

When he checks his rearview mirror, he has to do a double-take.

“No way,” he says as he jams the car into drive.

—–

“Look!” Sarah shouts. She points through the windshield. “Is that…”

“It’s Tori’s car,” Matt says, and he immediately presses down on the brake to bring the truck to a stop. 

Sarah leans as far forward as her seatbelt will allow. “Is she in there? Is she okay?”

But the car’s taillights illuminate, as it backs away from the railing, and then it shifts into drive. The next thing she and Matt know, Tori’s car is pulling a wide U-turn across the highway and speeding off in the direction from which they just came.

The sight of Zane’s face through the driver’s-side window is unmistakable.

“Follow them!” Sarah shouts, but Matt is already steering into a U-turn, ready to give chase.

END OF EPISODE 1129

What has become of Tori?
Will Sarah and Matt catch Zane?
Is Brent about to bust Loretta?
Talk about it all in the comments below!

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