Patrick had in interesting introduction to the Salem scene. He was walking behind Jennifer Deveraux's driveway when she hit him with his car. He was rushed to the hospital (as was Jennifer), where he first guilted Jennifer into paying his medical bills, then into inviting him to stay in the garage apartment. Although he was feigning severe injury, whenever Jennifer would leave the room he would leap into action, searching her purse, her computer, and her house for information on her and Jack. He tells Jennifer that he knew Jack after meeting him at the Speedway one day, and feigns shock to learn of his death, but privately admits aloud that timing is everything, and it is clear that Patrick's motives are less than pure. Unfortunately, Patrick almost blew it when he talked about what a dedicated reporter Jack was, something there is no way he could have known at just one or two meetings.

Patrick's connection to Bonnie wasn't known until he had been in town for a few days. He worked hard to keep anyone from knowing he was in Salem; to his mother he said he would be 'coming home', and he repeatedly told someone on the phone that he was in Europe. Hope and Lexie were suspicious of him immediately, but he worked hard to convince both that he wasn't scamming Jennifer. When Patrick and Bonnie talked on the phone, she tried to convince him that he should get Jennifer for all she was worth, but Patrick refused to do that to her. He tells her that he has plenty of money, and he'll be by to pick it up later, only to learn that Bonnie has spent all his hard earned money. Patrick is furious because he owes money to people, and they aren't the type who will be willing to wait.

Patrick soon decided that whatever his original intent had been, he couldn't use Jennifer the way he had planned. He even went so far as to tell Jennifer and Abby that he was going to move out, but they convinced him to stay after Jennifer had yet another attack. It was only Patrick's quick thinking that saved her, and even Lexie marveled that Patrick knew enough to put a hot water bottle over Jennifer's abdomen. When Jennifer has another attack after the death of Alice Horton, Patrick is with her, and the presence of not only him but also an old pirate doubloon that Patrick has seem to calm her down yet again, especially when Patrick tells her to hold onto the doubloon and concentrate on her love for Jack.

Patrick's past is getting more and more mysterious, as his shock at learning that Celeste was Stefano's former helpmate shows that Patrick also shares a past with Stefano he refuses to share, and he also refuses to let Celeste look at his doubloon. Patrick devotes his attentions to helping Jennifer, who is shocked at how much like Jack her new houseguest is turning out to be. At Alice's funeral, Patrick was approached by a mystery man who reminded him that he came to Salem for a reason, but Patrick was refusing to 'get with the program'. Rex intervened just in time.