"Footprints"
Episode #777
Previously...
- Ryan married Danielle on his deathbed but left her a widow mere minutes later. Danielle struggled to hold it together during his funeral.
- Travis visited his birth mother, Kathleen Bundy, who reacted coolly to him. They traded e-mail addresses, but Travis was later disappointed when she failed to contact him.
- Brent pulled Sarah aside at Ryan's funeral and told her that there is an angle of the case he needs to discuss with her.
TIM FISHER'S HOUSE
After all the recent upheaval, Tim Fisher finds himself craving normalcy -- anything to offset all the mourning and worrying and grief of late. That is why, on this particular Saturday, he is all too happy to take shelter in one of the mundane tasks he usually dreads: mowing the lawn. With the King's Bay sun sitting high in the sky, he pushes the mower back and forth over the patch of green in front of his house.
He is nearing the end of the job when a white Ford Taurus station wagon slows to a stop at the curb. Tim continues mowing the lawn but keeps one eye on the car. Inside it, a blonde woman sits; she seems to be checking the address of his house against a slip of paper. When she steps out of the car, Tim kills the mower.
"Can I help you?" he calls out.
"Um, yes. I think so, anyway." Clad in black capri pants and a fuchsia top, she strides up the driveway. "I'm looking for Travis Fisher."
Tim cocks his head. "This is where he leaves. But he isn't home right now. Do you have something for him?"
She balls her hands and looks around. "Oh. Dang it. No, I-- I wanted to talk to him, that's all."
"What about? Is something the matter?" He sees her hesitance. "I'm his father."
The woman lets out a wry little chuckle. "Well, then we have something in common. I'm his mother."
"Oh. Wow. Kathleen, right?"
"Yeah."
He closes the distance between them and shakes her hand.
"It's good to meet you," she says, gazing up at the house. "Travis seems like a really great kid. I guess I owe you a thank-you for raising him so good."
"He's terrific. Was he expecting you? He's at work right now…"
"Oh. Shoot." Kathleen sighs. "No, I thought since it was a Saturday, I could surprise him. He e-mailed me and I kept starting to write back and never knew what the heck to say. But I should've let him know."
Tim pulls out his phone to check the time. "I'll tell you what. His shift is ending in half-an-hour. Do you want to come in and wait? I was going to open a beer to reward myself for mowing the lawn. If you'd like one, or some coffee…"
"A beer sounds great," she says with a smile, her lips pink with a gloss that might be a shade too bright for her.
Breathing in the scent of the fresh-cut grass, Tim looks over to the mower. "You know what? This can wait. I'll finish up once Travis gets home." He begins to lead the way inside the house.
"I'm real sorry about your-- I guess he must've been your brother," Kathleen says as they walk. "I read about it in the paper, and it's been all over the news on TV. That's kind of why I came. I wanted to tell Travis how sorry I was."
"Thank you," Tim says diplomatically. "Now let's go rustle up some of those beers."
MATT & SARAH GRAY'S HOUSE
"Tell me about this secret mission," Sarah Fisher Gray says as she shows her visitor into the kitchen.
Brent Taylor stops and places his hands on the back of one of the antique chairs at the table. "What if I told you there's a woman running around town claiming to be Sabrina Gage?"
Sarah practically does a double-take. "Excuse me?"
"Yep."
She stands over the island, recoiling from her shock. "And you're just mentioning this now why?"
"It's complicated," he says. "She showed up at the arena to see Jason after Sandy died. We brought her in for questioning. She says she's the woman who was in a coma and Shannon stole her identity."
"Okay…" Sarah pulls the pot off the coffee machine and holds it up. When Brent nods, she pulls two mugs from the cupboard. "Do you believe her? And why the hell would she just happen to turn up in King's Bay after Sandy was killed?"
"Hence the bringing her in for questioning. She insisted that when we filed the order to have Shannon exhumed, since we used Sabrina's name -- because it was Shannon's legal name by that point -- it turned up on a background check, and this has been causing problems for her ever since she came out of the coma, and this was the final straw."
Sarah fills both mugs with the coffee and watches the steam rise off them. "That's a little more plausible."
"Yeah. We had no reason to hold her, and she swore all she wanted was to get someone to, I don't know, sign an affidavit so she could move on with her life and get a job."
"But…"
"But she's still in town."
"Just hanging around, huh?" She hands him one of the mugs, knowing from years of experience that he always takes his coffee black.
"Apparently she found a job in the very short time she was here before."
Sarah adds milk to her coffee and stirs it. "Then where do I come into this?"
He sips the hot coffee as he chooses his words carefully. "I'm just saying -- if there were a woman lingering around town who had the same name as the nutjob who murdered my sister-in-law, and my brother and another woman had just been killed, and I were a skilled investigator…"
"Are you trying to hire me, Commander?"
"No. Not even close. The KBPD doesn't have any reason to hold Sabrina Gage or to investigate her in another state. But if a private investigator were concerned, she'd certainly be allowed to launch her own investigation."
"Ah-ha," Sarah says, nodding as she lifts the coffee mug to her lips. "What about the footprints? They're men's shoes, aren't they?"
Brent seems to consider that for a few seconds, and then he sets the mug on the table and pulls out his phone.
"Look at these," he says as he scrolls through photos. "This stays between the two of us--"
"Obviously."
"--but you couldn't find a more nondescript pair of men's shoes." He holds out the phone for Sarah to see the plain, tan, dressy shoes. "We were able to match the prints to the soles. They're sold at a bunch of big box stores. And the prints in Ryan's study weren't footsteps. It was like someone rubbed the shoes in blood and stamped them there."
"Then someone's really going out of his or her way to leave their mark."
Brent nods as he continues to study the photo.
"Ugh. I'd go on a killing spree if I had to wear those, too," Tori Gray comments as she breezes into the kitchen.
Brent quickly conceals the phone.
"Tori!" Sarah says as her daughter crosses to the refrigerator.
"Oh my god. It was a joke." Tori pulls a bottle of water from the fridge. "Everyone grieves in different ways -- isn't that what you said the other day?"
"Tori, I need you to do us a favor and pretend you didn't see that photo," Brent says. "I'm only sharing it with your mother as part of the investigation."
Tori mimes zipping up her lips. "Your secret's safe with me. What am I gonna do? Go sell a story to the King's Bay Chronicle that I saw a picture of some ugly shoes?"
"Let's just pretend none of this ever happened," Sarah says. "Hey, your dad asked if we wanted to meet him at the restaurant for dinner after his shift ends--"
"I have a date," Tori says, shaking her head as she drinks from the water bottle.
"With who?"
"Ian. That guy from Sigma Chi."
"Have I met him?"
"No!"
"When do I get to?"
"When you stop acting like such a mom." Tori screws the cap back onto the water. "Don't worry, Uncle Brent. I never saw any picture."
"Thanks," he says as the teenager leaves the kitchen.
Sarah sighs and then refocuses on Brent. "What about -- I know this sounds insane, but Jason said something about Helen Chase having a fight with Ryan the day he was killed."
"Danielle told me the same thing," Brent says. "But you don't think…?"
"No, it's nuts." Sarah picks up her mug from the island. "There's no way."
Outside the kitchen, Tori pauses, unable to ignore the thought that has wormed its way into her head.
MOLLY TAYLOR'S HOUSE
The familiar sounds of "Ode to Joy," delivered by a slightly hesitant hand, ring out from the living room. Molly Taylor sits at the kitchen table, her laptop and a stack of bills before her, enjoying the music despite the stops and starts.
"Try it one more time," she hears Danielle Taylor say.
"You play the other part," Christian tells her.
"I want you to try to do both." To Molly's ear, Danielle sounds edgy -- unsurprisingly.
"No, you do it!" Christian says, his voice getting screechy.
Molly is about to stand up and tell Christian to be more respectful toward his aunt when Danielle's response catches her off-guard.
"Just play the damn song!"
Molly hurries from the kitchen to the living room, where she finds Christian staring at Danielle slack-jawed.
"I'm sorry," Danielle says. "That wasn't fair of me--"
"Your aunt isn't feeling well," Molly says. "Why don't you give her some peace and quiet?"
"But I wanna play!" Christian says.
Molly places a hand on her son's shoulder. "You can play later. Let's let Aunt Danielle rest right now."
"I'm really sorry that I snapped at you," Danielle says softly.
Christian nods and then scurries out of the room.
Danielle's shoulders slump as she sighs. "I'm so sorry, Molly. That was out-of-line--"
"Believe me, I listened to him push your buttons for a good 20 minutes. It's not always the worst thing to shock them a little."
"Ugh," is all Danielle can say in response.
Molly sits on the piano bench beside her former sister-in-law. "I feel silly asking you how you're doing. But I'm not sure what else to say."
"No, I appreciate it. But how about you? Ryan was your brother--"
"And he was your husband. You barely even had time to let that sink in before he passed away. No one expects you to magically be okay."
Danielle stares at her, as if contemplating how true this is, before she finally says, "I just miss him. I keep thinking of things we had talked about doing, or things I wanted to suggest we do, and I can't make any sense of the fact that we don't get to do them."
"It's still so weird to think that he's gone," Molly says.
Danielle nods. "Yeah. And I don't know when it will stop being weird."
"Maybe never. But you'll get through this." She reaches over and hugs Danielle. "We all will. I promise."
TIM FISHER'S HOUSE
"That's one of the craziest stories I've ever heard," Kathleen says as she cradles the beer bottle between her hands.
"That's only the tip of the iceberg."
Tim and Kathleen sit on opposite ends of the sectional sofa in the living room. He has her undivided attention as he recaps the entire tale of how his and Claire's son was kidnapped as an infant, how Tim himself was held captive for years, and how they eventually found out that Travis wasn't their biological son.
"You guys should try and sell it to Hollywood," Kathleen says. "It sounds like a movie!"
Tim tips back his own beer bottle. As he swallows, they hear the front door open.
"Trav? Come in here," Tim calls out.
Moments later, Travis appears in the doorway, still wearing the white button-down and black pants from the coffee shop. He freezes when he spots Kathleen sitting there.
"Hi, Travis." She sets her bottle down on the table. "Sorry I didn't tell you I was coming."
"You couldn't even reply to my e-mail."
"Just hear her out," Tim says as he stands. "Kathleen came a long way to see you."
Travis's shoulders drop in defeat.
"I'll give you guys some time alone," Tim says. He heads out to the hallway.
Kathleen rises from the sofa. "I'm sorry I didn't write back to you. I kept starting to write something and then-- I don't know, I'm not good with words that way. Then I heard about your uncle and I thought I should come and see you. I'm sorry I didn't give you a heads-up."
"Guess I sprung a surprise visit on you, too," he admits.
Kathleen grins. "Hey, maybe I can take you to lunch? I bet you know some good places here."
"That'd be nice," he says. "Let me go get changed and we can go."
She sits back down, folding her hands in her lap. "That sounds good to me." She watches him dart out of the room and then hears the clamor of him flying up the stairs.
"He's had a rough few years," Tim says as he re-enters the room. "But he does want to get to know you."
"I just hope I don't screw it all up."
"You won't." He holds his beer bottle aloft. "Here's to fresh starts."
"To fresh starts," she says, lifting her own beer.
MATT & SARAH GRAY'S HOUSE
"Thanks for the coffee," Brent says as he slides the empty mug across the island.
"Don't thank me yet." Sarah sticks both mugs in the sink. "With any luck, I'll have some real information for you soon."
He holds up his palms. "Hey, you do what you need to do -- and if you happen to find out anything that could help the KBPD, I hope you'll let me know."
Sarah winks. "You can count on it."
"Great."
As if on cue, Billy's cries sound through the baby monitor.
"Looks like someone's up from his nap," Sarah says.
"Go check on him. I can see myself out."
"Thanks. I'll be in touch."
She rushes out of the kitchen and up the stairs toward the toddler, who is still crying. Brent pauses in the foyer to put on his shoes and is still tying them when Tori emerges from the living room.
"Uncle Brent," she says. "Wait a second."
He turns. "What's up?"
"I promise I wasn't eavesdropping--"
"But…" He stands up and crosses his arms.
"But I heard you guys mention Courtney's mom -- Helen?"
"We're just chatting, Tori. Your mom used to be a cop. We're kicking theories around -- none of this means anything--"
"I saw something," she says pointedly.
"Okay. You've got my attention."
"On New Year's Eve, right before we found out Sandy was dead. I was outside with my friends--"
"What were you doing outside?"
She fidgets and brushes back a lock of her brown hair. "My friend was having a cigarette."
"Your friend?"
"Yeah. Fee. She smokes. Look, my point is that we saw Helen outside."
Brent's eyes widen. "You what?"
"She came rushing outside for, like, a minute," Tori explains. "And then she went, like, bolting back inside."
"What was she doing?"
"I don't know. But I remember noticing her because I was worried she'd catch -- that she'd catch Fee."
"Mm-hmm," Brent says, deciding to let the flimsy cover story slide in light of this potentially important information.
"Anyway, she came out, and then she, like, had her phone out, and she went back inside. But we went in a few minutes later, and that was when they found Sandy."
"All right." He can tell that she wants to say more, speculate more openly, and decides to cut her off. "Thanks for letting me know, Tori."
"Do you think it means anything?"
"I'm not sure. But any information we have to form a fuller picture of who was doing what that night could be useful. So thanks." He reaches out and opens the front door. "And don't worry: I won't tell anyone about Fee and the cigarettes."
"Thanks."
Brent steps out of the house and closes the door behind himself. As dubious as he might be, Tori's revelation serves to establish one very important thing: that the woman who argued with Ryan on the day he was murdered was also not seated at the dinner table when Sandy James was killed. And that coincidence seems like too much to disregard.
END OF EPISODE #777
Should Brent investigate Helen further?
Will Sarah turn up anything on Sabrina?
Should Travis give Kathleen a chance?
Come on over to the Footprints Forum to discuss now!
