Previous recap: Retaliation (March 15, 2015)
Emily dreamed about federal agents separating her from her father when she'd been a child, and her thoughts shifted to the police taking Carl from Jack. Emily awakened with a start, and she apologized to Carl for dozing off. David appeared and asked if Carl had kept her up all night, and Emily fretted that Jack faced up to five years in prison for a DUI charge with a child in the car. Emily suspected Margaux had framed Jack in retaliation against Emily, but she thought tearing a child away from a parent was unforgivable. David lectured that revenge wasn't the way to deal with it, but Emily asserted that it was the only way, and she said she'd be back after the bail hearing.
At the police station, Jack asked if it was necessary to lead him around in handcuffs, and Officer Shaffer groused that someone might mistake Jack for a law-abiding citizen. The officer mentioned that the lab had lost Jack's blood sample, and Jack swore he was being set up, but Shaffer told him to save it for his lawyer. Jack was shocked to find his mother in the interrogation room, and Stevie explained that Emily had flown her in the night before. Jack insisted he hadn't consumed a drop of alcohol, and Stevie said she believed him. She assured him that the truth was on their side.
As Margaux waited for a checkup at the hospital, she congratulated Victoria on her inheritance. Victoria displayed a proposal for the new Daniel Grayson research wing, and Margaux mentioned that she had the hospital board meeting on her schedule. Victoria was sure the hospital needed the donation, but the board was struggling with naming the new wing after Daniel. Margaux offered to sway any remaining naysayers, and Victoria thought the unveiling of the wing would be the perfect moment to announce Margaux's pregnancy. A nurse entered and performed an ultrasound, and Victoria and Margaux were elated to hear the baby's heartbeat and see its image on the screen.
At the courthouse, Jack pleaded not guilty, but the prosecutor argued that Jack was a flight risk. Stevie countered that Jack was a loving father and a decorated law enforcement officer with ties to the community, and she requested that Jack be released on his own recognizance. The judge noted that it had been Jack's first offense, and she released him, but she appointed a social worker to assess his competence as a father. Jack panicked, but Stevie wasn't surprised, since the judge was facing a tough reelection. Emily angrily confronted Margaux about putting Jack in a position to lose his son, but Margaux huffed that Emily had started the war, so whatever happened to Jack was on Emily's hands.
Nolan startled Louise when he wished her a good morning, and she said she was making a recipe for a magic hangover cure for Lyman. She asked if Lyman was awake yet, but Nolan didn't know, and he reported that Emily had called to inform him that Jack was in trouble. Nolan headed for the door, but he found Ben and another officer there, and Ben said they needed to speak with Louise. Ben gently told her they had bad news, since a body had been found on the beach, and they'd confirmed it had been her brother. Louise feigned shock.
Ben inquired whether Louise had been with Lyman at the Fourth of July party, and Louise claimed that Lyman had had too much to drink, so she'd sent him home to sleep it off. She continued that Lyman hadn't been asleep when she'd returned home, and she'd scolded him for being a bad houseguest, but she'd figured he'd passed out after that. She began to sob, and she cried that they'd finally been getting along. Nolan mentioned that he'd been the one who'd had a problem with Lyman staying there, and Ben suggested they resume questioning once things had calmed down. Nolan comforted Louise.
Later, Emily griped that Margaux had been going after her friends, and Stevie suggested that Margaux had needed someone on the inside to pull off framing Jack. Nolan prepared to check Shaffer's financial records for a payoff, and Stevie contemplated how the Breathalyzer could have given an inaccurate result. Jack theorized that someone had spiked his juice at the bar, and he suggested they look at the security footage. Nolan pulled it up, and Emily recognized a man who had been at the warehouse with Margaux, but the video didn't clearly indicate whether the man had tampered with Jack's drink. Emily planned to track the guy down.
Emily crept into a dark house and peered around with a flashlight. "That's enough," Margaux's minion bellowed, and he and Emily grappled over his gun. She gained control, and she asked what he'd put in Jack's drink. The man held up Jack's original blood sample, and he announced it was hard evidence that Jack hadn't been drinking on the night in question. Emily ordered him to hand it over, but he threw it high into the air. She caught it, but she realized the man had disappeared.
The associate informed Margaux that he needed a new place to stay, and Margaux said she understood why Victoria had warned her to drop the vendetta. She plopped down a newspaper headline about Lyman's death, and she surmised that Emily had been behind it. Margaux felt responsible for the death of an innocent man, and she handed her hired thug a check and thanked him for his loyalty. He countered that he was loyal to the LeMarchal name, which could be worthless if people believed the heir to the throne was the child of a monster. The man handed Margaux back the check and urged her to take the next step before Emily did.
Emily approached Ben outside the police station with breakfast and an apology, and she told him to look in the bag. He was astounded to pull out Jack's sealed blood sample, and she explained that she'd retrieved it from the guy who'd arranged to have it stolen from the lab. Ben cautioned that she'd have a hard time getting it into evidence, and Emily relayed Stevie's advice that they had to put it in the lab as if it had simply been misplaced. Ben worried that he would compromise his chances of making detective, but Emily pleaded that Jack stood to lose Carl.
Tony Hughes, a social worker, walked through Jack's house and asked to meet Carl, but Jack explained that the boy was with his grandfather. Tony inquired whether Jack had worries about leaving his son with someone who had been tortured for decades, and he wondered about the level of supervision a child had at a bar. Tony asked whether anyone in Jack's family had issues with alcohol, and Stevie admitted she was a recovering alcoholic, but she insisted Jack had no problem. Tony confided that he'd be lying if he said he didn't have concerns, and Jack pleaded that Carl couldn't lose both parents.
Tony stopped by the yacht club and introduced himself to Nolan as a social worker, and Nolan commented that Tony had looks and a good heart. Tony explained that he was there about Jack, and he noted that a full bar wasn't an appropriate place to raise a child. Tony admonished Nolan for setting up an unlicensed daycare facility, and Nolan chided Tony for ripping kids out of their parents' hands. Tony asserted that he protected children for a living, and Nolan angrily questioned where someone like Tony had been when Nolan's father had kicked him out for being with a boy. Nolan wished his father had cared for him with the love and devotion Jack showed for his son.
Victoria smiled at the baby's ultrasound photo, and a man named Alexander informed her that her proposal for the new hospital wing had been denied because one board member hadn't been able to see past her son's reputation. Alexander added that the vote had been anonymous, but he'd narrowed the identity of the renegade down to a handful of members. He handed her a list of honorary members who hadn't been required to participate, and Victoria spotted Emily's name on the list.
Emily called Nolan to reset her security system remotely when she had problems getting into the manor, and she discovered Victoria sitting in the living room. Emily ordered Victoria out, but Victoria accused Emily of spitting on Daniel's grave by voting down the research wing proposal. Emily acknowledged that Daniel had saved her life, so she'd taken the time to vote in favor of the idea, and she swore that she was maintaining their truce to avoid any more loss. Emily commanded Victoria to tell Margaux to leave Jack and Carl alone, and Victoria defended that Margaux was in mourning, but Emily demanded that Victoria take care of it -- or Emily would.
Margaux was pleased to discover that Victoria had filled the nursery with baby things, and Victoria explained that she'd gone overboard to cheer herself up after her proposal had been shot down. Victoria had determined that Margaux had been the one who'd voted against it, and Margaux confided that she'd felt compelled to protect her child, since announcing her pregnancy when Daniel's name was still in tatters would cast a shadow on her baby's life. Victoria supported Margaux's desire to keep the pregnancy quiet, and she called the child Daniel's legacy. Margaux agreed to change her vote, since she and Victoria wanted the same thing -- what was best for Daniel's child.
Officer Shaffer took the stand, and he described Jack as anxious and smelling of alcohol when the cops had stopped him. Stevie asked if the alcohol could have been from working a bartending shift, and Shaffer said he wasn't sure. Stevie confirmed that the margin of error for a Breathalyzer test was 50 percent, and she recounted that Jack had demanded a blood test. The officer revealed that the lab had lost it, and Stevie mentioned that the sample had been discovered that morning. She requested that it be moved into evidence, but the judge declared that the sample had been subject to contamination. Stevie referred to precedents, but the judge held her in contempt of court and recommended that Jack find new representation.
Stevie was surprised when David posted her bail, and he explained that she'd tried to get him out of prison, so he'd wanted to return the favor. She apologized for failing him, but he noted that there had been much more to the conspiracy, and Stevie indicated that she had been impressed with Emily's efforts. Stevie mused that both she and David had been given second chances with their kids, and he lamented that it was too late, since Emily didn't need her dad anymore. Stevie assured him that it was never too late, and she urged David not to give up.
Emily wanted to find a way to discredit Shaffer, but Nolan was unable able to dig up anything they could use in court. Jack suggested they show the security footage, but Stevie said the judge had already made up her mind, and she suspected the judge was in Margaux's pocket. Nolan performed a search for Judge Knowles, and he discovered that the judge had just been endorsed by a number of LeMarchal publications.
Judge Knowles tended to some paperwork at the yacht club, and Nolan presented her with an expensive bottle of wine from a secret admirer. He offered to pour it for her, but she opted to stick with water. As the judge was driving home, Ben pulled her over and claimed the police had received a call about her car weaving on the road. He asked whether she'd had anything to drink, and he insisted on administering a Breathalyzer test. Ben reported a reading that was well over the legal limit, and Judge Knowles protested that it was impossible, but she saw an incoming call on her phone from the courthouse.
Over the phone, Emily taunted that she could see Judge Knowles was in a bit of a pickle, and the judge realized that the wine had been a setup, but she argued that she hadn't consumed it. Emily informed her that her water had been laced with acetone, the same substance that had caused Jack to fail his Breathalyzer test, and she clucked that it didn't bode well for the judge's reelection. Emily ordered Judge Knowles to test Jack's blood and ensure the charges were dropped, or she'd expose the bribes the judge had accepted from LeMarchal publications.
Later, Stevie informed Jack, David, and Emily that the judge had dropped the charges, and she suggested they go out for a celebratory lunch. Emily said she had something to do, but David followed her inside, and he advised her against doing what he thought she was about to do. Emily refused to let Margaux hurt her friends again, and David warned her that the battle would continue until there was no one left. Emily defended that she hadn't started it, but David pointed out that she was capable of ending it. He proclaimed that he believed in her, but she pulled away from his touch and headed upstairs.
Louise made arrangements to transport Lyman's body home, and Nolan apologized for not being around for her. He asked if she wanted to go back to Savannah for her brother's funeral, but she confessed that she hadn't been honest with the cops, since she hadn't thought they'd believe her after her father's accident. She explained that she'd walked in on Lyman snooping on Nolan's laptop, and Nolan panicked about what Lyman might have seen, but he realized she'd done something. She recalled that she and Lyman had argued at the bluff, and she hadn't pushed him, but she also hadn't helped him.
Louise recognized that Nolan had been the only person who hadn't kept secrets from her, and she owed him the same thing, but she hoped he didn't hate her. Nolan thought changing her story would only arouse suspicion, and he was confident she was safe, since there had been no evidence of foul play. An employee from the club called to inform Nolan that Tony had returned, and Louise urged him to go.
Nolan greeted Tony, who said he was there to apologize for misjudging Nolan, and he added that what Nolan had said had moved him. Nolan guessed that Tony wasn't just there to apologize, and Tony noticed Nolan's wedding ring and called himself an idiot. Nolan said it wasn't what it looked like, and he offered to buy Tony a drink.
Stevie cleaned up after Carl, and she informed Jack that the tot was asleep after a big day. She was happy Jack hadn't been alone, and she remarked that he had friends who had gone above and beyond. Jack said he'd been through a lot, and what Stevie had seen had only been the tip of the iceberg. Stevie went to put a kettle on, since they had a lot to talk about.
Emily confronted Margaux on the street and relayed that the charges against Jack had been dropped, but she hissed that Margaux had stooped low, considering Margaux had her own child on the way. Margaux barked that Emily only responded to fear and intimidation, so she'd had to sink to Emily's level, and she accused Emily of preventing Margaux's child from knowing who Daniel had really been. Emily said they could stop the cycle or continue until everyone they loved was gone, and she proposed a truce. Margaux was skeptical, but Emily gave her word that she wanted them to clear Daniel's name together.
Margaux spat that Emily's word was worthless, and Emily handed over her real birth certificate for Margaux to either use as a weapon or accept as a peace offering. Margaux snatched it away, and as she stepped out into the street to hail a cab, she said Emily's gesture meant nothing unless they told the truth about what had happened to Daniel. Emily asserted that telling the truth would put more lives at risk, but Margaux snarled that there was only one way, and it wasn't Emily's. A taxi suddenly barreled into Margaux, who lay unconscious on the ground.
Paramedics rushed Margaux to the hospital, where Victoria claimed she was Margaux's mother. A shaken Emily arrived and insisted it had been an accident, but Victoria raged that there were no accidents around Emily. Emily swore she'd tried to end the feud before the car had approached out of nowhere, but Victoria ordered Emily to get out of her sight. As Emily turned to leave, she clutched her birth certificate in her hand.
Victoria entered Margaux's room and said she'd had quite a scare, since she'd almost lost Margaux. Margaux sobbed that the baby was gone, and Victoria held her as she cried. Meanwhile, a distraught Emily called out for her dad at the beach house, and he raced outside and asked what was wrong. Emily whimpered that she'd tried to end it like he'd asked, but it had been too late. She broke down in tears on the front steps, and David wrapped her in his arms.
Victoria struggled with her own grief outside Margaux's room, and she stepped back inside and poured a despondent Margaux some water. Victoria encouraged Margaux to tell her what had happened, since she couldn't help if Margaux wouldn't let her in, and she promised to accept whatever the truth was. Margaux said Emily had cornered her on the street and had claimed to want peace, but after Emily had given her word, she'd pushed Margaux. Victoria seethed.
Previous recap: Retaliation (March 15, 2015)
