Previously…
– Travis’s trial for the murder of Loretta Ragan began, and the prosecution kicked things off by mounting a strong case.
– Conrad refrained from sharing his suspicions about Juanita Jimenez with Travis and Rosie.
– Despite her strange personality shifts, Sophie seemed to be losing time, barely remembering the Halloween party where she called herself “Shannon” at all.

Sabrina Gage stands by the living room window, peeking through the curtain at the surprisingly sunny March day. She quickly lets it fall as Jason Fisher enters the room.

“You’ve checked that window five times in the last hour,” he notes.

She turns. “I know. It’s just–” A beat passes. “It’s been quiet. Too quiet. That freaks me out.”

He crosses toward her, his movements and his tone gentle.

“It’s been a while. No calls, no notes, no… theatrics,” he tells her. “Maybe it’s over.”

She searches his face. “You don’t know that.”

“No.” He slips his arms around her waist. “But I do know this: I’m not letting anything happen to you.” He pulls her closer. It is protective, steady. She melts into his embrace.

After a few seconds, she leans back just enough to kiss him.

“Thank you,” she says quietly.

Then, from the hallway, a voice drifts in: “Um. I need opinions.”

They separate slightly, naturally, not guiltily. Sophie Fisher steps into the room, carrying a worn white box.

Jason freezes at the sight of it. “Is that…?”

“Yeah.” Sophie sets the box on the coffee table, almost reverent. “It was in the hall closet. Behind the photo albums.”

“What is it?” Sabrina asks, genuinely confused.

Sophie opens the box, revealing a pair of white ice skates. The leather is scuffed, and the blades still gleam after all these years.

“My mom‘s,” she explains. “I was thinking… maybe I could keep them in my room. On a shelf or something.”

Jason’s breath catches. He steps a little closer, stunned.

“I haven’t seen those in years,” he says.

“I remember you took them out once and showed me,” the teenager says.

He nods. “She loved those skates. I remember she once said the ice was the only place she felt light. Free. Until she had you, of course.”

Sophie winces at the corny sentiment.

“I think it’s a beautiful idea,” Sabrina comments.

Looking to her with surprise, Sophie says, “Thanks.” She picks up one of the skates. It’s heavier than it looks. She runs a finger along the blade — then grimaces slightly. A prick of red appears on her fingertip.

“Careful,” Jason says. He instinctively takes her hand. Sophie blinks, as if she didn’t realize she’d cut herself.

“It’s fine,” she says. “I guess I’m not that graceful.”

“I’ll get a band-aid,” Sabrina offers. She ducks out of the room before either can object.

“I think it’s a great idea, too,” Jason tells his daughter as he holds onto her hand. “As long as you feel ready for it.”

“Duh,” Sophie says with a typical teenage eyeroll.

“I think your mom would really like the idea.”

Sabrina returns from the hallway bathroom with a band-aid and hands it to Jason. As he applies it to Sophie’s finger, Sabrina picks up one of the white skates and marvels at it.

“I still can’t believe people are able to do the things they do on these,” she says. “Standing up and making it around the rink once is an achievement to me.”

Jason finishes wrapping the band-aid around Sophie’s finger.

“It’s so second-nature to me that it’s hard to imagine how it isn’t for some people,” he comments with a laugh as he moves to Sabrina’s side. He rests one hand on her shoulder and touches the other to the skate.

Sophie watches them, so casually close, Courtney’s skate in Sabrina’s hand. A low hum builds in her head, out of nowhere, but so persistent that it is as if it has been there all along. It isn’t sound, exactly, but tension — tension so heavy that it needs to take physical form.

The metal of the skate blade catches the light coming through the window.

Sophie squeezes her eyes closed. When she opens them, something has shifted.

—–

Rosie Jimenez steps carefully down the stairs that lead into the basement of the Fisher home, keeping her head tucked slightly to avoid banging it on the low ceiling.

“I brought coffees from Cassie’s,” she announces as she steps down into the main area of the basement and lifts her head. “Paula let me in. Thought the team could use reinforcements.” She holds up the carryout tray like a peace offering.

Sarah Fisher Gray and Landon Esco, who are clustered around the table that now serves as the hub of their private investigating operation, look up at her. A fraction of a second too slow, Sarah closes her laptop.

“You didn’t have to do that,” Sarah tells her.

“I wanted to,” Rosie explains. “We could all use the fuel. Could be a long day, right?”

“Thanks, Rosie,” Landon says as she hands him one of the cups. “How are you and Travis holding up?”

Rosie shrugs as she sets down the carrier and hands Sarah a coffee. “I thought a weekend might be a nice chance to catch our breath, with court not in session… but I just feel like I’m at loose ends. Travis was tossing and turning all night, so he’s napping now.”

“Good. He needs to rest,” Sarah says.

Rosie’s trained eye takes in the table, buried in paperwork: folders, legal pads, printouts, a crude timeline scrawled in Sharpie.

“Looks like FBI headquarters in here,” she observes.

Landon forces a smile. “Like we said, no stone left unturned.”

Rosie drifts closer, curiosity getting the better of her. Her gaze flicks across the papers — names, dates, call logs. Then she stops.

“Wait,” she says, placing her own decaf coffee down on the table.

She leans in. Sarah and Landon both tense.

“Is… that my mother‘s number?” Rosie asks.

A nervous look passes between the two private investigators. Something in the air shifts.

“Rosie,” Sarah begins.

“Why do you have these?” Rosie demands, her voice spiking. “Why are you looking into my mother?”

—–

Late morning sun drifts in through the half-open blinds, striping Conrad Halston‘s bedroom in pale golden hues. In the king-sized bed, Conrad shifts slightly, careful not to wake his companion — but she is already stirring anyway.

Sonja Kahele turns onto her side, propping her elbow on her pillow.

“Good morning,” she says sweetly.

“Morning.” He is unable to keep a grin off his face. “We slept in.”

Sonja turns again to check the time on her phone, which is resting on the nightstand. “Wow. We did.”

Conrad reaches out and gently touches her arm. “You don’t have to rush out, do you?”

“I suppose not,” Sonja says. “I appreciate Tim and Claire watching TJ… although I’m sure they don’t mind having Tim’s ex out of the house for a night, too.”

He chuckles quietly. “Maybe we could make this a regular thing, then. You know, to give them some space.”

“I think we all might enjoy that,” Sonja says, returning his grin.

In the next moment, however, Conrad’s expression turns dark.

“What?” she asks, but before he can even respond, she adds, “Your head is already in court on Monday morning, isn’t it?”

He exhales and drops his head back down onto the pillow. “I don’t know if it ever left.”

“You have to give yourself breaks.”

“The prosecution’s case is clean. I’ll give them that.”

She tilts her head. “What do you mean?”

“The D.A. is building it exactly the way they teach you in law school. Manner and cause of death, locked down. Travis’s presence at the scene — opportunity. And then Gabrielle, Loretta, all of that — motive.” He shakes his head. “It’s textbook. Clean. Jurors love clean.”

“But all you have to do is create reasonable doubt, right?”

He nods, a bit grimly. “Yeah.”

“And you will. You don’t have to dismantle the whole thing. Just knock a few bricks loose,” she says.

“I hope you’re right,” Conrad says as he stares at the ceiling.

Sonja lays her head on his chest and can feel his heart beating through the thin white t-shirt. “Then it’s good for you that I’m right a lot.”

He manages a wry laugh as they lie in the stillness together.

—–

Later, in Sophie’s bedroom on the second floor of the house, she arranges Courtney’s skates on the credenza that rests against one wall. She is fiddling with the placement when Jason knocks at the open door.

“Those look good in here,” he says.

She turns, inhaling sharply, and takes in the sight of him for a long moment. Then, fixing her face, she says, “Yeah. I think so, too.”

He nods, reassured.

“Sabrina’s going to make brunch,” he tells her. “Eggs and bacon and grits. You interested?”

She shrugs. “I’m not really hungry.”

He regards her with the concern of a father who has learned not to push too hard. “Okay, well, there’ll be food if you want any.”

“Cool.” Another beat passes before she adds, “Thanks, Dad.”

“No problem.” He regards the white skates again before leaving the room.

Sophie sits down on the edge of the bed. She runs her fingers over the tufted duvet. The image of Jason and Sabrina together, so close, Courtney’s skate between them, ripples through her mind.

“Grits,” she mutters. “Figures.”

She stands and crosses the room. The glint of the skate blades calls to her. She picks up one boot and again runs her finger, this time shielded by a band-aid, over the blade.

“Better enjoy them while you can, Sabrina,” she says, as a wicked smile curls her lips.

—–

The Fishers’ basement is so still and silent that a mere pin drop seems like it could shatter it all.

“My mother has nothing to do with this,” Rosie says.

“We’re not saying she does,” Landon replies.

“Then why are you going through her phone records?”

Sarah steps around the table. “Because there are holes. And we’re trying to figure out what fits into them.”

“We said, no stone left unturned,” Landon adds.

“There’s no stone to turn here,” Rosie says. “We’re not going to save Travis by, what, pinning this on my mother?”

With a sigh, Sarah pushes a sheet of paper toward Rosie. Streaks of yellow highlighter stand out against the white page.

“Your mother’s phone pings against a tower in Richmond Heights,” she explains. “Right around the time Loretta was having her hair done.”

Rosie grabs the paper and studies it closer.

“So she left the house,” Rosie says at last. “That’s not exactly incriminating.”

“No… but it does put her closer to the crime scene,” Landon says.

Overwhelmed, Rosie exhales. She continues analyzing the paper as if there is something that needs to be decoded that she simply hasn’t figured out yet.

“She wouldn’t do that to Travis,” she says. “Or me.”

“Maybe she thought she was helping you,” Sarah offers. “After what Loretta put the two of you through…”

The weight of possibility sinks in. Rosie sinks onto one of the old dining chairs around the table. “If you guys are right…”

“We don’t have much to go on yet,” Landon says. “But it’s a lead we need to pursue.”

Rosie presses her palms to her eyes, breathing hard. When she looks up again, something has changed.

“I need to track down Gia Vincent,” she announces.

“You’ve been trying, haven’t you?” Sarah asks.

“Not hard enough.” Rosie stands and slaps the printout onto the table. “Who else knows about this?”

“Only Conrad,” Landon tells her.

“Good. Keep it that way until absolutely necessary.” Rosie grabs her decaf and moves to the stairs. “I’ll be in touch.”

The gallop of footsteps soundtracks her departure from the basement. Sarah looks to Landon.

“That didn’t go as badly as I worried it might,” she says.

Landon shrugs. “Yeah. I was ready for a latte to the face.”

—–

Once upstairs, Rosie hurries out of the house, not even bothering to say goodbye to Paula, who must be in the kitchen. She quickly makes her way to her car and gets inside, but once in the driver’s seat, she doesn’t even turn on the ignition. Instead, she takes her phone from her purse and navigates to Google Flights.

“I need to be back by the time court resumes on Monday,” she mutters to herself as she scrolls through flight options. “But that’s plenty of time to get to New York, get some answers out of Gia, and make it home.”

Her fingers furiously work the phone’s screen as she books the first available flight.

END OF EPISODE 1295

Will Rosie find anything pivotal in New York?
Can Conrad create reasonable doubt without implicating Juanita?
What is Sophie going to do to Sabrina next?
Talk about it all in the comments below!