Previously...
- A woman claiming to be Sabrina Gage--the coma patient whose identity Shannon Parish stole years ago--arrived at Jason's office. Officer Jimenez arrested her. 
- The medical examiner informed Brent that there was no way to prove conclusively that the woman who was cremated several years ago was really Shannon. 
- Alex tried to reason with an angry Liam, who had the studio remove Alex as a writer on their film, but Liam refused to listen and headed off to Los Angeles.  

KING'S BAY POLICE PRECINCT

The station buzzes with activity, ringing phones and conversation and hurried footsteps all colliding in mid-air. When the front door opens, Officer Rosie Jimenez nudges a dark-haired woman inside.

"Follow me," Jimenez says, and the woman complies, hands bound behind her back.

"Let's get you booked," the officer says as they reach a counter. "Don't I get a phone call?" the woman calling herself Sabrina Gage asks, nearly breathless with a mixture of annoyance and panic. "Once we book you." Jimenez reaches for a doorknob but freezes when a voice calls out from across the lobby. "What the hell is going on?" Brent Taylor demands as he strides--the same slight limp as always noticeable--over the scuffed linoleum floor.

"This is her," Jimenez explains. "She showed up at the arena and said her name was Sabrina Gage--"

"That is my name!"

Brent gives the woman a good once-over. She is entirely unfamiliar to him; she has dark hair, big eyes, and a petite figure that does not at all remind him of the Shannon Parish who masqueraded around King's Bay calling herself Sabrina Gage. But the medical examiner's ominous warning, that there is no DNA to confirm that Shannon was actually the person cremated, echoes in his head.

"Jimenez. Over here." Brent snaps his fingers, and the young officer joins him several feet away from the handcuffed woman.

"What are you going to book her on?" he asks.

"She's a person of interest in the Sandy James murder."

"'Person of interest' doesn't equal 'suspect.' That's why we have something called questioning."

He sees Jimenez stammer, visibly flustered for a moment before she is able to compose herself enough to fire back, "She showed up out of nowhere and demanded to see Jason Fisher. We have no idea if she's dangerous. She's yapping about having the same name as a psycho you were trying to have dug up. Something's up here."

Brent considers all this, unsure if he is willing to concede that she might have a point.

"She's the definition of a flight risk," Jimenez says, clearly pleased to be landing this, "and I wasn't gonna be the one responsible for letting her get away."

* * * * *

While the two members of the police force have their private aside, the front door once again opens. Jason Fisher steps through it and surveys the area, trying to get a sense of where to go and what to do next. He almost immediately sees Brent talking with Rosie and, several feet away from them, the handcuffed woman standing near a counter.

"Mr. Fisher," she says, and even though he doesn't want to face her--doesn't even want to know that she exists, really--he is drawn toward her. 

"I'm sorry about all this," she says once he is nearer. "I shouldn't have surprised you the way I did. But I thought it would be better than calling you--so you could see I'm not her."

Jason's lips tighten into a straight line. He sees Brent peeking around Rosie, clocking the two of them talking. 

"How am I supposed to know that?" he shoots back. "Or that you aren't some copycat nutjob--?"

"I shouldn't have come," she says, cutting him off. Her gaze drops to the worn flooring. "I'm just at my wit's end. You have to understand--the time I lost--I'm trying to put my life back together. And it's been hard enough, but then to find out there was some crazy person out there using my name and doing horrible things…"

Her tone is plaintive, and Jason has to remind himself that someone trying to pull a sick stunt like this would be a great actor.

Luckily, Brent comes to his rescue.

"Miss Gage," he says pointedly, "you aren't going to be booked today." He holds a small key in his hand and swiftly uses it to undo Sabrina's handcuffs.

"So I can go?" she asks as she holds up her now-bare wrists.

"Yes. Though if you have a few minutes, it would be a huge help to us if you could answer some questions," Brent says.

She hesitates. "About what?"

"About a murder that was committed here not long ago."

"I don't know anything about that," she says. 

"There are some pieces of the puzzle that you might be able to help us put together." Brent sees her reluctance and adds, as casually as he can, "And if you do, we'll be more than happy to send you on your way."

"Okay." She nods, her dark hair bobbing and tapping on her shoulders. "Sure. I can do that."

"Great. Thanks." He beckons Jimenez over and tells her, "Why don't you take Miss Gage back to an interrogation room and page Detective Harris?"

With a huff that she doesn't quite manage to suppress, Rosie complies and leads Sabrina--or whoever she is--through a door. 

"You were really gonna let her walk out of here?" Jason asks Brent.

Brent shakes his head. "No way. But now she thinks she's doing us a favor. Thinks she's in control. That's what we want."

Jason eyes the closed door through which the two women just vanished. "Do you think she's really who she says she is? It's too weird--Sandy gets killed and this person turns up--"

"That's what I'm about to find out," Brent says, and then he opens the door and heads inside, too.

"I can't believe Liam would do that," Trevor Brooks says as he stares out the window at the tops of the other buildings in downtown King's Bay. "Or that the studio bought it."

"I can," Alex Marshall says. "He's the screenwriter. His agent made it sound like I'd be a pain in the ass to have around for production. The studio doesn't want to deal with that."

The two men are on their feet in Trevor's office, both too uneasy to make use of any of the chairs. Instead they take turns pacing over the gray carpet, leaning against the walls, and standing in front of the windows, as if performing some kind of elaborate but also very repetitive choreography.

Trevor turns back toward Alex. "I'm really sorry. This is all my fault."

Alex's immediate instinct is to tell him not to do that, not to feel that way, but his anger rises up and reminds him that it is. He kept the truth to himself, yes, but Trevor is the one who cheated on his fiancé--the one who made Alex an unwitting participant in his infidelity. 

"So that's it? He's going to L.A.?" Trevor asks.

"That's what he said. I don't know for how long."

"I'll talk to him. I'll get him to change his mind."

"He's not going to change his mind," Alex says, the image of Liam's vengeful sneer all too vivid in his head. 

"We'll see." Trevor grabs his iPhone from the desk, taps the screen a few times, and holds it to his ear. 

"Don't yell at him," Alex says. "That won't help." He waits with bated breath for something to happen.

"Voicemail," Trevor says, his face falling. 

"It's not like he would've listened anyway."

That ignites something in Trevor, who again taps on the screen and presses the phone to his ear. Alex goes to the window, knowing this is futile--but then he hears Trevor speak and swings around.

"Liam. Hey," Trevor says. "I know-- You have to hear me out. Please."

KING'S BAY POLICE PRECINCT

The room is simple: four cinderblock walls painted white, a wide mirror built into the one across from the gray metal door. When Brent enters, he finds the woman who's been calling herself Sabrina seated in a padded chair opposite Detective Harris, who has his hands folded atop the wooden table.

"Mind if I join you?" Brent asks.

"Go right ahead." Detective Harris, a thin man with a lupine face that stretches in front of him and comes together in a point, pats the empty chair beside himself.  Brent sits down and reaches into the folder he brought with him. "Miss Gage--okay if I call you Sabrina?" "Sure." She nods; there is a certain twitchiness about her--nothing extreme, but it is apparent to Brent that she is nervous. "Sabrina, did Detective Harris offer you some coffee or water?" Brent asks.

"Yeah. I'm fine. But thanks." 

"Good." Brent removes a sheet of printer paper from the folder he has in his hands. "Do you know who this is?"

He holds up the page and can see the moment when realization dawns upon Sabrina.

"That's her. Right?" She looks up at the two men for confirmation. "That woman--Shannon Parish."

"It is, yeah." Brent sets the paper down, face-up, and the face that he and everyone else came to know as "Sabrina Gage" stares up at him. She looks nothing like the person sitting across from him.

"And you've never met her?" he asks.

She shakes her head without hesitation. "I only woke up from my--I was in a coma. For seven years. I didn't wake up until two and a half years ago. She was dead long before that. Right?"

"Yes." Brent decides to keep it simple. Let her fill in some blanks herself, he thinks. "Have you ever been to King's Bay before?"

"No. I haven't even left Iowa until now."

"And what brings you here?"

"I wanted to talk to him--Mr. Fisher, I mean." She sighs heavily. "I was up for a job recently, and they did a background check, and everything that Shannon person did got dredged up again. I wanted to ask him to give a statement for the judge so I can get a new Social Security number."

Brent waits a beat before following up. Harris glances over at him, seemingly impatient--playing a role that Brent knows well.

"Why would you think Jason Fisher could help with that?" Harris asks.

Sabrina is thrown by the abruptness of his question. "I just thought--he can testify that I'm not her--"

"I understand," Brent interrupts. "It's okay, Sabrina." He reaches back into the folder and pulls out another printed photo. "What about this woman? Do you know who this is?"

He waits as patiently as he can, studying her face as she takes in the image of Sandy James.

OBJECTION DESIGNS

The silence on the line stretches on endlessly. Alex spins around and watches Trevor intently.

"Liam?" Trevor asks into the phone. "Are you there?"

"Yes," comes the stern reply.

"Please just listen to me."

"What, pray tell, would that do for me? I've done nothing besides listen to you and Alex for over two years. Look where that's gotten me." "This is all my fault," Trevor says. He locks eyes with Alex. "I'm the one who did this. I let Alex believe I was single when I came back to King's Bay. I slept with him and didn't tell him about you until I introduced the two of you. And then I begged him to keep quiet about what happened."  More silence.

"I'm very sorry for how this all played out," Trevor continues. "But it's my fault. Blame me, not Alex."

"That's rather touching, isn't it?" Liam says through the phone. "Trying to be the hero and come to poor Alex's rescue, eh?"

"That isn't--" Trevor stops, and he can tell that Alex clocks his optimism turning to panic. "I'm just saying, don't do anything you'll regret. You and Alex have worked so well together. Don't punish him for something I caused."

"I'm punishing Alex for what he did. I haven't quite figured out how to punish you, I'm afraid."

"Then focus on that! Punish me. This isn't Alex's fault."

"I'm sorry, Trevor, but I really have to be going," Liam says. "I have a flight to Los Angeles. Very important meetings and all that."

"Liam--"

"I really am sorry about all of this. I hope you gents will enjoy the movie when it's released."

The line goes dead. Even though it isn't as dramatic a shift as hearing a dial tone, like in the old days, Trevor is perfectly aware of the shift in the air coming across the connection. There is nothing there now. He checks the screen and sees that the call has been ended.

"He hung up on me," he tells Alex. 

Alex drops his head into his hands. "Oh my god. He's really not going to listen. I'm off the movie--"

"Maybe not."

"Maybe not? It sure as hell didn't sound like he was going to let you change his mind. And I already tried."

"He might just need time to cool off."

Alex's arms fall to his sides, and he stands numbly. 

"I'm so sorry about all of this," Trevor says. He moves forward, unsure what else to do, and wraps his arms around Alex.

But the contact only lasts a moment. Alex wriggles away from him and backs up.

"No," Alex says. 

"What? I just--"

"Thanks for trying." Alex doesn't even look at Trevor before he opens the door and hurries out of the office.

KING'S BAY POLICE PRECINCT

Jason taps his foot on the cement floor as he waits in a too-narrow chair in the lobby. At long last, that door he has been eyeing opens, and Brent emerges.

"What happened? Where is she?" Jason asks, bounding toward Brent.

"She's still back with Detective Harris. He's wrapping up a few things."

"Does she know anything? About Sandy?"

"I don't think so," Brent says. "I showed her a photo of Sandy to try and gauge her reaction. She genuinely seemed to have no idea who it was."

"So? Shannon was here for, like, two years and we had no idea it was her."

"And we had no idea what to look out for then, because we had no reason to think that was Shannon. This is… I had a body language expert on the other side of the two-way mirror. There was zero indication that Sabrina had any idea who was in that photo."

Jason drinks this in, unsure how to integrate it with his reality. The way this woman appeared--it was so strange, and it made him so sure that they were about to bust open the mystery of Sandy's death. 

"I have some calls in to folks in Iowa," Brent adds, "but my gut tells me that she's who she says she is."

"Then why is she here? I can't do a damn thing for her--"

"I'm not saying she's playing with a full deck. Just that she might have nothing to do with the stuff we're worried about." Brent pauses, bringing a hand up to stroke his stubbled chin. "I can even understand why she'd have this sort of morbid fascination with coming here. Imagine you woke up after all that time and found out some nutjob had taken your name and done those things--"

"Just get her out of here," Jason says, throwing up his hands. "Make her go back to Iowa and stay the hell away from me. Okay?"

"I can't ban her from the city. But I'm sure she'll be on her way once we're done here."

"Good. If I never have to hear the name Sabrina Gage again, it'll be too soon."

"Jason, just--"

"Just make her go away," Jason says before he hurries out of the station, unable to shake the eerie feeling that he has come face-to-face with a ghost.

END OF EPISODE #765

Is Sabrina really who she says she is?
Who holds the key to Sandy's murder?
What should Alex do next?
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