Episode #13

Wednesday, 5/9/07

Same Day, Early Evening

The Sterling Home, Living Room

“Well, I don’t need you to pay my own way.” Megan Harper shot her father a defiant stare. “Granny just left my a big ol’ trust fund in her will.”

“Apparently, you weren’t listening very well.” Ben Harper’s tone was stern and serious. “You don’t get all of that money until you’re thirty or until you get married and have a family. Until then, I administer the money. You don’t get a dime unless I approve it and I’m not giving you a penny until you prove to me that you can act like a responsible adult.”

“You can’t do this!”

“Watch me.”

Tom’s Apartment, Living Room

“The gun the police found can’t be yours if it’s been in your safe and you haven’t taken it out,” Amy Marriott pointed out as she continued to swirl the remaining ice cubes in her glass anxiously. “I don’t know why you’re worried.”

“Logically, I know the gun can’t be mine,” Dr. Tom Crawford agreed. “It couldn’t have just walked out of this apartment and into Meg’s garden and no one but me knew I even had a gun.”

“Tom, why do you have a gun?” She turned and looked at him curiously.

“Why does anyone have a gun? Protection.” But he wasn’t about to let her know what or whom he felt he needed to be protected from. “But my mind will rest easier knowing that the gun is where it’s supposed to be.”

As Amy sat on the couch, he hands clinched tightly around her glass, she watched as Tom walked over to a painting on the wall and pulled it back, revealing his secret safe. When he opened the safe, her mouth went dry. She’d give anything for another Scotch right then.

“My god,” Tom muttered in shock. “It’s… it’s gone. My locked box is gone.”

“Well, maybe you took it out and then misplaced it somewhere here in the apartment,” she reasoned, rising from the couch to go over to him so that she could inspect the safe herself. “You said you had some personal documents in the box. Maybe you took it out to look at them and then forgot to put it back in the safe.”

“No, I’d never be so careless with those papers. They’re too important to too many people.” His eyes stayed locked on the inside of the empty safe almost as if he believed that his missing box would magically appear. “And if that box is gone, those papers and my gun are gone, too.”

“What’s so important about those papers?” she asked, putting her hands on his shoulders, more to keep them from shaking with nervousness than to comfort a worried Tom. “What could be so important that you’d lock them away like that?”

“Nothing you need to worry about.” He shut the safe door and swallowed hard, his heart beginning to race.

They stood there in stunned silence for several long, tense moments until Amy “suddenly” realized the time.

“I… I hate to leave you like this, but I left Eric at soccer practice. He’s… he’s probably at home by now wondering where I am. I should… I should go.”

“It’s all right, Amy,” Tom nodded. “You need to go take care of your family stuff. I’ll worry about this.”

She leaned in a kissed him lightly on the cheek and then made a hasty exit. Once in the hallway of Tom’s building with his front door shut tightly behind her, she leaned against it and exhaled slowly, letting out all of the tension that had been building up inside her body ever since Tom had mentioned the locked box.

Amy took in another deep breath, stepping away from the door, and then began to walk down the hallway towards the elevator. Unfortunately, she was so consumed in her own thoughts, she never noticed the ominous shadow that extended down the hallway behind her nor did she hear the muffled footsteps of someone following her.

The Sterling Home, Living Room

“This is all your fault!” Megan spat at Vanessa, fire in her eyes. “You just had to cozy up to Daddy just like you’ve always done since we were kids. You are such a suck up!”

“I am not!” Vanessa Harper snapped back. “I really meant it when I said I thought it would be better if I moved home. Our family is going through a lot right now. You know that. Our grandmother just died. Someone killed her, Megan. Doesn’t that mean anything to you? I’d think that you’d at least want to be here for Dad.”

“Our grandmother was a mean old lady that no one liked. She drove Aunt Cal out of town. She had, what, six – seven husbands? They all left her for a reason!”

“Megan, that is enough!” Betsy Harper grabbed her daughter’s arm tightly. “You know, I thought your father was being a little too hard on you, but you’re behavior has proven that he’s absolutely right.”

“What is this? Gang up on Megan day?” She spun around on her heel towards her eldest sister Suzanne, narrowing her gaze. “You’re being awfully quiet over there. Enjoying the floor show?”

“Not particularly,” Suzanne Prentiss smirked, “but it’s had its moments.”

“Now, I want you to give me the keys, Megan.” Ben held out his hand.

“What?!”

“I want the keys to your car. I paid for it.”

“But you gave it to me for my 21st birthday! It was a gift! It’s mine!”

“And the title is in my name. Hand them over.”

Megan felt her jaw clinch as she snatched her pursue off of the side table and fished out her keys before turning them over.

“And since Vanessa said she’s moving back home, I’m going to sublet that apartment in Manhattan.”

“Where am I supposed to live?” Megan’s eyes were growing wide with panic. Her entire life was being taken away from her and she didn’t have the slightest idea why.

“You can live at home with me and your father like Vanessa’s going to do. Your old room is still there just like you left it,” Betsy explained, trying to be the comforting presence in the midst of her daughter’s personal tragedy.

“You can’t force me to live at home! You can’t trap me here in… in Thornhill!” she spat. “I’m an adult! I can live wherever I want to!”

“Yes, you can,” Ben agreed. “But I thought you’d appreciate living at home since it’s free. If you want to live somewhere else, that’s perfectly fine as long as you can pay for it.”

“How am I supposed to do that? You’ve cut off all my money!”

“Get a job,” he replied flatly. “That’s what most responsible adults do.”

“I can’t believe you’re doing this to me,” Megan began to pout. “Vanessa, this is all your fault! This is so not fair!” Unable to bear the sight of them any longer, she spun around and stormed out of the house leaving the rest of her family with the full knowledge that having Hurricane Megan permanently in their midst wasn’t exactly going to be a cakewalk for them, either.

Beaver Ridge Complex, Lobby

John Prentiss slammed his pencil down on the makeshift desk, leaned back in his chair, and raked his hands through his hair.

“I can’t understand why none of these numbers are coming out right,” he grumbled, full of frustration. “We’re grossly over budget and the project is only halfway finished. This is not what I came onboard to. What happened?”

“I’ll tell you what happened,” Alison Marriot sighed in her own frustration. “That witch my grandfather was married to – your wife’s grandmother Meg. That’s what happened. I knew my father should never have gone into a partnership with her on this. I was so happy when he managed to convince her to let him buy her out.”

“With my help,” he reminded. “If I hadn’t let you talk me into going into business with your father, he’d never have been able to buy out Meg’s part of Beaver Ridge. I don’t even know how he came up with the money to go into business with her to begin with.”

“We’ve had problems ever since.” She walked over behind him and leaned over his shoulder to get her own look at the problematic books. “I swear she’s behind all of it. She and Paulson were as thick as thieves from way back when she thought she was going to be the next first lady of the state.”

“This looked like such a sure thing when you first brought the idea of going into business with your father to me. I knew your father could be a little unreliable, but I saw the plans and books with my own eyes! Why did I even let you talk me into this?”

‘Maybe you were so easily convinced because you knew you’d have to spend time with me,” Alison proposed, running her index finger lightly down his cheek. “I’ve always had a way of talking you into things, even back in Vegas.”

“Stop it, Alison.” John swatted her hand away. He wasn’t in the mood to deal with her little games at the moment. She grimaced slightly at the blatant dismissal.

“Besides, when we met, you were running that casino. You seemed like a logical person to come in on this.”

“Well, logical isn’t one word I’d use to describe anything to do with this place right now. None of it makes sense.” He rose from his seat and walked around to the front of the desk. “The numbers aren’t adding up. Paulson’s giving us all grief.”

Alison stood in silence for several long minutes, her eyes locked on John before taking a deep breath. “What happened to us?”

“What? What do you mean?”

“I thought we had a good thing going in Vegas. We were so much alike. Then we came back to Rosehill and everything fell apart the moment you met Suzanne.” She sighed wistfully with memories of a time when things seemed nearly perfect for her. “Can’t say I really should’ve been surprised. I’ve seen a lot of relationships fall apart because of some stupid blonde.”

“Suzanne’s not like that, Alison, and you know it. What we had, it wasn’t real. Not like what I have with Suzanne.” He turned and looked at her. “I know I hurt you. I’m really sorry about that. I never meant to.” His apology was an honest one. He hadn’t meant to hurt Alison when he fell in love with Suzanne.

“When you met her you had to have her, didn’t you? Didn’t even matter to you that she was already married.”

“Do we really have to rehash all this? It was a long time ago. I wish we could just move on.”

“I told you, I have,” Alison reminded. “I’m seeing…” The ringing of her cell phone interrupted her. As she looked at the caller ID, she couldn’t resist the urge to smirk with satisfaction at the timing. “Hi, sweetheart. Yes, it’s so good to hear your voice.” She turned her back to John in a feigned attempt to act modest. “Later? Of course I can. I’ll see you then.”

As Alison finished her conversation with her new boyfriend, John’s eyes remained locked on her, almost burning a hole through her.