Previously…
– After Landon was able to trace Sonja’s IP address, he and Tori headed for Idaho to track down her and TJ.
– The police investigated the arson that destroyed Sabrina’s apartment, but the only suspect — the sister of Sabrina’s late ex-boyfriend — was cleared of possible wrongdoing.
– Sabrina and Jason returned home to find that someone had painted the word ‘WHORE’ on her car.

The heater works hard against the Idaho cold, filling the car with a dull, uneven warmth. Snow drifts down in fat, lazy flakes, melting as soon as they land on the windshield. Landon Esco softly drums his fingers against the steering wheel; his eyes are fixed on the multi-unit home across the street. It’s a tired-looking place, with peeling white paint, a sagging porch out front, and squat, evergreen shrubs in need of pruning. An episode of one of his favorite podcasts, “How Did That Get Made?”, filters through the sound system courtesy of Landon’s phone, but neither he nor his passenger are paying much attention to it.

“I keep replaying it in my head,” Tori Gray says, while stifling a yawn, from the seat beside Landon. “Like, how did it go so wrong?”

Landon sighs sympathetically, turning his attention toward Tori. Throughout their overnight drive and during their early-morning stakeout of the address where Sonja Kahele‘s IP address led them, they have been unpacking Tori’s failed attempt to intervene in whatever is going on with her acquaintance, Lucy Champlain.

“Because she’s not ready to be helped,” Landon offers. “She needs to want to admit that she needs help — and admit that something’s wrong in the first place.”

Tori winces at the stiffness that comes with hours in a car seat; the two of them took turns driving so that they could each nap a little, though neither feels particularly well rested now. “You’re right. It just sucks. The last thing I wanted was to push her further away.”

He looks helplessly at her, wishing that he could alleviate the uneasiness she has been feeling since her encounter with Lucy last night at dinner. His pulse quickens as he stretches out his arm.

“Come here,” he says.

Tori looks at him with confusion. “What?”

“Here.” He wraps his arm around her shoulders and pulls her toward him. Though the center console sits between them, Tori relaxes into him, resting her head on his shoulder. Landon feels acutely aware of how intimate this is, and he tries to will his heartbeat to slow down as Tori’s blondish-brown hair brushes against his jawline.

“You never know,” he says, speaking as much for her benefit as for his own, in hopes it will get his own system to act normally despite this close contact. “Maybe she’ll, like, come back to you once the shock wears off and admit that she does need help. Or maybe she needed to hear that someone’s there to listen to her or help her with judgment, and that’ll be the push she needs to tell someone what’s really up. I dunno… it might need some time to bake, y’know?”

Several seconds pass. He wonders if he has said something to upset her, but when he  glances to his side, he realizes that Tori’s eyes are closed, and she is softly sleeping against him. He can hardly believe that this is happening, that they are so close physically, that Tori is so at ease with him.

Desperate not to move and wake her, Landon allows his attention to drift back to the podcast playing, as he looks out at the ramshackle white house, hoping for some sign of life so that he can determine his next move.

—–

Jason Fisher and Sabrina Gage sit at the kitchen table in Jason’s home, sipping on cups of coffee as the oven hums in the background, warming the breakfast burritos that Jason had in the freezer. Neither is particularly wide-eyed this morning, after the shock of returning home to find that Sabrina’s car had been vandalized, plus the ensuing visit from the police and restless night of sleep.

“Brent‘s gonna get this figured out,” Jason says as reassuringly as he can. He does have faith in his brother-in-law, but the fact that someone is targeting Sabrina to begin with has him rattled beyond belief.

“I hope so.” Sabrina hugs herself, rubbing her upper arms. “I’m scared, Jason. Someone wants to hurt me.”

He leans forward and reaches a hand toward her across the table. “And I won’t let them.”

Just as Sabrina takes his hand, they hear the front door opening. Sabrina jumps back nervously.

“It’s okay,” Jason says, nevertheless pushing back his chair and standing.

“You need to call the police!” a frantic voice hollers from the foyer, and moments later, Helen Chase bustles into the kitchen, with her granddaughter right behind her.

“What? Why?” Jason asks.

“Someone parked a junked car in your driveway with a vulgar word painted on it!” Helen says.

Jason and Sabrina exchange a look.

“It says ‘whore’ in big red letters,” Sophie adds with a giggle.

“Sophie, you know that’s Sabrina’s car,” Jason says. Again he takes Sabrina’s hand; this time she grips onto him tightly, as she remains in the chair.

Sophie shrugs. “It didn’t have that written on it before.”

“Someone vandalized it last night,” Sabrina explains. “The police came to take a report.”

Helen screws up her face. “My goodness. Could this be connected to the arson at your apartment?”

“That’s what we assume,” Jason says. “But the police already looked into the one suspect we could think of, and it doesn’t seem possible that she did it.”

“That lady in Iowa?” Sophie asks.

Sabrina nods. “Her alibi checked out.”

“Well, it doesn’t seem very safe that we have a dangerous lunatic coming to this house!” Helen declares, placing her hands on her hips. “Sabrina, I know we had our differences in the past, but you don’t strike me as someone with many enemies. Who could be doing these things?”

Suddenly, Sabrina gasps.

“What?” Jason asks.

“I know who’s doing this,” she says, her face going blank with shock.

—–

As Tori dozes against his shoulder, Landon does his best to walk mentally through the case at hand. Before he and Tori left King’s Bay, he had a talk with Sarah about strategy, and they agreed it would be best to wait for some sign of Sonja or TJ before making a move; showing up at their possible front door to ambush them could cause the entire encounter to end before it begins. Still, he finds it difficult to sit here, doing nothing, when it is entirely possible that Tim‘s son is just inside that home.

The podcast episode ends, and the app on Landon’s phone immediately jumps to a different podcast, and he immediately uses the volume control on his steering wheel to lower the volume. When he glances back at Tori, though, he finds that she is still asleep.

They remain like this for another few minutes, until Landon spots movement at the front of one of the units in the white building. First an inner door opens, and then the outer security door. Finally, a figure steps out from the home. Landon immediately recognizes the woman as Sonja Kahele, with her long, black hair spilling out from beneath a gray knit cap. A second later, a small hand grasps hers, and then out steps TJ, bundled up in a winter coat.

“That’s them!” Landon proclaims, shifting in his seat.

“What? What is it?” Tori asks groggily.

“Sorry,” he says. “Sonja and TJ are– they’re–” He points through the windshield, and Tori rubs her eyes and looks out at their targets.

“What do we do?” Tori murmurs.

Landon is already unfastening his seatbelt. “We move.”

Without waiting another beat, he throws open the car door and hurries toward Sonja and TJ.

“Sonja! Wait!” he calls, and both mother and child turn. Sonja’s whole body goes stiff with terror at being recognized.

“I’m from King’s Bay,” Landon says as he jogs toward them. “My name is Landon. My best friend is Travis Fisher.”

Sonja shakes her head, rather unconvincingly. “I– I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Sonja, I know who you are,” Landon tells her softly. “I don’t mean you any harm.”

“He’s telling the truth,” Tori says as she comes up behind Landon. “We came from King’s Bay to find you.”

A puff of cold white air tumbles out of Sonja’s mouth as she processes the sight of Tori.

“You’re Sarah’s daughter,” she says slowly. “Tori, right?”

“Yeah. My mom and Uncle Tim sent us.”

“Daddy?” TJ asks, looking up at Sonja. Landon can see the pain in her face, a clear tell that she regrets keeping the boy away from his father for so long.

“All we want is to bring TJ back home,” Landon says.

Sonja’s expression hardens, and she pushes TJ behind her. “We’re not going anywhere with you.”

—–

Three sets of eyes stare at Sabrina, awaiting whatever insight she has had.

“I feel silly even saying this,” she begins after a heavy pause, “but that guy from my photography classes at KBU. Robbie.”

Jason nods with understanding. “He was fixated on you. And spiteful.”

“It’s been so long, though,” Sabrina says, twisting her mouth. “Why would he still care?”

“Because he was unstable,” Jason responds.

“The same Robbie who hooked up with Christian?” Sophie asks.

Both Jason and Sabrina look toward her.

“Christian told me about it,” Sophie explains.

“Your cousin, Christian?” Helen interjects. “Why would someone who was involved with Christian be terrorizing Sabrina?”

Sophie excitedly says, “They both had a thing with him–“

“That’s not true,” Jason cuts her off. “Sabrina went to an art show with him as friends, and he got angry that she didn’t want it to go further.”

“Well, he certainly sounds like a sociopath!” Helen declares.

Nodding, Jason grabs his phone from the table. “We should let Brent know.”

“At least this is one thing they won’t be able to arrest me for!” Helen mutters as they all watch Jason dial.

—–

In the Idaho cold, Landon and Tori stand a few feet from Sonja as she hides TJ behind herself.

“Sonja, my uncle deserves to be a part of his son’s life,” Tori pleads. “You can’t live on the run forever.”

“That’s what you don’t understand,” Sonja insists. “I don’t have a choice.”

“Yes, you do,” Landon tells her. “Come back with us.”

“We can’t. That woman–“

“That’s what we want to tell you,” Landon interrupts her. “Loretta is…” He hesitates, looking at TJ as he peeks out from behind his mother. “She’s no more.”

“What do you mean?” Sonja asks in disbelief.

“We were hoping you’d seen it in the news,” Tori says. “She passed away.”

“What’s passed away?” TJ inquires.

Sonja pats his head. “It’s nothing for you to worry about, honey.” Then she returns her attention to Tori and Landon. “I… I hadn’t seen. Are you sure?”

“Very sure,” Landon says. “We promise.”

“Then, well…” Sonja touches a hand to her forehead. “That changes everything.”

“Then you’ll come with us?” Tori asks. “You’ll come back to King’s Bay?”

She and Landon look at Sonja hopefully, awaiting her response.

END OF EPISODE 1251

Can Sonja and TJ finally put down roots?
Will Tori and Landon make it to the next level?
Is Robbie the one threatening Sabrina?
Discuss it all in the comments below!