Previously...

Certain that Jordan had murdered Will for her, Heather begged Alex not to go to the police.  Alex, guilty over Stormy's incarceration, told Detective Baines that she'd seen Jordan standing over Will's dead body the night of the murder.  Renee blasted James for using Kenny as his alibi.  Later, Renee found Kenny in bed with B.J. Summers and told him their marriage was over.  Miranda questioned how Brett knew details of Stormy's arrest and began to suspect that he'd framed him.  She hastily shot Brett down when he suggested they have a baby of their own.  The police arrested Philip Whitacre for his role in Heather's against-her-will porn debut, then continued searching for Joel Armitage.  The caretaker at Will's mansion went to the police with information about the murder, but ran off before they could question him further.  

Episode 47

Season Finale

"Out of the Shadows"

Janet opened the door to Ethan’s house and looked with frightened eyes at James standing on the front porch.  She swallowed hard, backing up a step and allowing him to enter.

“Ethan isn’t here,” she said timidly.

“I know that,” James reported, turning to her with a hint of contempt in his eyes.  “I came here to tell you to take a hike.  You’re not wanted here anymore.”

Janet walked into the living room, threatened by his presence.  “Detective Baines asked me to stay in town in case they need me for anything else,” she said.  “I can’t exactly leave town just because you don’t want me here.”

“I don’t want you here,” he insisted.  “I don’t want you anywhere near my family after what you’ve done.  As if writing that trashy manuscript about us wasn’t enough, then you had to go ahead and tell the police that my son committed murder.”

“I was only telling them what I saw,” Janet claimed, shaking her long black hair over her shoulder.

James glared menacingly at her.  “Yeah, well your version of the truth is a little biased.  Just refer to page 185 of your book if you don’t think so.  You have a way with turning the truth into a thinly veiled work of fiction, Miss Harper.”

“I know what I saw,” Janet purported.    “If you can’t handle that then that’s not my fault.”

“If only you’d kept your mouth shut about that night,” James said with frustration.  “If only you hadn’t made a deal with the devil when you sold Will Thomerson that manuscript full of lies.  If only you hadn’t gotten involved with my nephew.  None of this would have happened if you had just stayed away.  You wouldn’t have gone over there that night and you wouldn’t have seen anything and then been compelled to implicate my son.” 

Janet shook her head angrily.  “If you’re suggesting this whole thing is my fault, then you’re deluded.  If you’re so sure that your son is innocent, then who’s the guilty one?  Who are you protecting?”

James quickly tightened his lips and took a few steps back to the door.  “As soon as this trial is over I want you out of Los Angeles and out of our lives forever,” he said.  “One thing’s for certain, I sure as hell don’t want my nephew coming home and seeing you here.  You’ve done enough already.”

Janet raced forward and slammed the door closed after he’d left.  She turned around and wrung her hands together nervously, wondering what it was that James was hiding.  Not to mention the fact that Ethan had been gone for three days, and her last encounter with him was odd to say the least…

The door opened and Ethan emerged, his face pale and his clothes and hair disheveled.  He glanced across the room and paused when he saw Janet.

“Thank God,” she said and rushed over to him after hanging up the phone.  “Ethan, there’s something I have to tell you.  I’ve done something awful.”  She was determined to tell him about the manuscript before someone else found it and filled him in.  She was positive Will had been shot.  She heard the gunfire and then saw Stormy Blackthorne leave the house.  Now the truth would come out when they searched his house. 

“Janet, not now,” he abruptly cut her off, heading to the bedroom and pulling a fresh pair of slacks and a t-shirt from the closet.  “I’m sorry.  I have to go.  I can’t explain right now.”

Watching him hastily rush about the room, Janet shook her head in despair.  “Where are you going?” she asked.  “Ethan, I have to talk to you.  It’s important.  It’s about-“

“I can’t right now!” he lamented, stopping after peeling off his jacket.

Suddenly Janet’s eyes traveled to the sleeve of his black leather jacket which was soaked in blood.  “Oh my God,” she whispered.  “Ethan, your jacket-“

He grabbed her by the shoulders and looked into her eyes.  “Forget about it,” he said. “Just trust me, okay?  And if anybody asks, you haven’t seen me since this afternoon…”

Janet shook the vision away and tried to piece together what was happening.  Blood on Ethan’s jacket and then him disappearing for so long without a word.   It didn’t add up to her, and even her investigative skills left her baffled as to what was happening.  She hated herself for thinking it, but maybe Stormy Blackthorne was innocent.  Maybe Ethan was the person that James was protecting. 

Across town, a police car was stopped in front of a house in Burbank, two uniformed officers knocking relentlessly on the door of Joel Armitage’s house.  When his wife answered the door, she immediately tried forcing it closed again.

“Mrs. Armitage, we’re still looking for your husband,” said Officer Fitzsimmons.  “Has he come home yet?”

“No,” she replied uneasily.  “I already told you.  I haven’t seen him in days.”

“Do you mind if we come in and take a look for ourselves?”

Missy Armitage reluctantly moved clear of the door and allowed them to come inside to search for her missing husband.  “You’re not going to find him here,” she said, walking over to the crib where her baby was crying.  “I don’t know where he is.”

“Has he taken off like this before?” asked Fitzsimmons while the other cop scouted around the ranch-style house. 

She shrugged indifferently and picked the baby up in her arms in an effort to comfort it.   “Yes, his work takes him all over the place.  He’s probably out looking for new talent.”

“Well, he’s wanted for questioning about a movie that he filmed,” said the officer.  “The woman he used was drugged and was filmed without her permission.  Your husband’s in a lot of trouble, Mrs. Armitage.  If you’re covering for him, you’ll be charged as an accessory to the crime.  If that happens, your baby here will have be turned over to the state and placed with a foster home.  I’d hate to do that to you, ma’am.”

Missy looked down at her baby and shook her head in despair.  She could kill her husband for getting them into this mess.  She’d begged him a hundred times to get out of that disgusting line of business he was in.  He was only asking for trouble.

“How old is he?” Fitzsimmons asked with a smile.  “He’s certainly fussy today.”

“He’s three months old,” Missy replied.

“Your first?” he asked.

She nodded.  “Yes.  We adopted him.  We couldn’t have our own because Joel had a vasectomy when he was working as an actor in the business and then the doctors weren’t able to reverse it.  We got lucky when the agency found this little guy for us.”

When the other officer gave him the all clear, they started back to the door.  “Well, if we find out that you’re hiding your husband, I’m afraid your baby might be taken away from you.  I’m sure that’s not what you want.  So if you hear from him, call us.”

She nodded and closed the door after them.   Walking over to the phone with the baby, she dialed a number and waited impatiently.  “Joel, the police were just here again looking for you.  They said you had some girl drugged.  Joel, I’m scared.  They’re threatening to take the baby away if they find out I’m covering for you.  You have to turn yourself in, Joel.  I won’t lose our baby.”

Detective Baines sat in the interrogation room with Jordan, turning on a tape recorder and settling down with a pad full of notes he’d written.

“Mr. Rydell, did you go to Will Thomerson’s house the night of October 13th?”

“Yes,” Jordan replied. 

“Did you have a .38 revolver with you?”

Jordan paused and took a deep breath before answering.  “Yes.”

“Were you planning on using that gun to kill him?” Baines asked.

“Yes,” was Jordan’s hasty reply.  “I wanted to make him pay for what he did to my daughter.”

In the waiting room, Alex paced back and forth, ignoring the way Heather glared angrily at her.  She didn’t care if she’d gone back on her word.  She had to do what she did for her son.  Telling the truth about that night was the only logical thing to do.

James and Miranda rushed inside the police station and over to Alex.  Miranda pulled her tightly into an embrace.  “Mom, we just got your message,” she said.  “I’m so glad you went to the police and told them the truth.  Is Jordan in there now?”

Alex nodded.  “Yes.  I just hope this means that they’ll let Stormy go.”

“Miranda, would you excuse us for a minute?” James asked his daughter, leading Alex across the room and sitting her down.  He took her hand and held it gently.  “What did happen that night, Alex?”

A long pause.  No more hiding the truth, she decided.  She had to come clean.  

"Alex..." James repeated.

“It was about six-thirty,” she finally began, looking away nervously as James watched with anticipation.  “I had just left you at the mansion.  You were so upset, James, and I felt responsible.  If I had told you earlier that Will knew he was Ethan’s father…”  Another pause.  “Well, I know how hard you fought to keep that secret and I wasn’t about to let Will ruin it by telling Ethan.”

“What happened?” James asked.  “What did you do?”

She took a deep breath.  “I knocked on the door and waited.  It seemed like it took forever for him to answer.  It was actually probably just a minute or two, but when he opened the door I could tell that he’d already been through some kind of an ordeal that night.  I knew someone else had already been there.  He seemed distracted and confused.  He seemed very groggy…”

Will opened the door and looked at Alex cross-eyed, bracing himself up against the door and placing a hand on his head.  “What are you doing here?  I’m not in the mood for you tonight, Alex.”

“I came to talk to you about James and Ethan,” Alex said, pushing her way past him  and walking into the entry.

Irritated, Will closed the door and turned toward her.  He swayed back and forth on his feet, stumbling a few steps and struggling to maintain his balance.   “What about James and Ethan?” he asked crossly. 

Alex studied his face carefully, noting the way his eyes glazed over.  “Do you remember a few months ago you came to me wanting me to confirm that Ethan was your son?”

“Yes, and you denied it.  But I had a DNA test done, Alex.  I know that Ethan is my son.  It’s a proven fact.  That controlling ex-husband of yours hid it from me for twenty-eight years.”

“And why do you think he did that?” Alex asked and moved toward him.  “He hid it from you because he knew that you would find a way to use it against him, and that’s exactly what you’re doing!”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Will said, squinting and rubbing the back of his head.  “You’re blabbering as usual.”

“If you tell Ethan the truth, it will destroy his relationship with James,” Alex claimed.  “Doesn’t that mean anything to you?  Doesn’t that register in that vindictive mind of yours?”  She paused and regarded him carefully, noting the smug look on his face.  “No, I think that’s exactly what you’re hoping for.   But let me issue you a warning.  If you tell Ethan the truth, he’ll not only turn his back on James, he’ll turn his back on you.”

"How do you figure that?"

“Because he’ll know that you left his mother broken-hearted when you ran off to New York.  You abandoned her and you abandoned him.  Do you really think he would accept you with open arms knowing that?”

“I didn’t even know he existed,” Will insisted.  “James made damn sure of that.”

Alex gritted her teeth and shot him an accusing stare.  “And you paid him back for that, didn’t you?” she asked.  “You kidnapped his son so that he’d know what it felt like to be apart from his own flesh and blood.”

“I think you’ve starred in too many low-budget B movies,” Will quipped.  “Your imagination is running away with you.  And since when are you James Blackthorne’s personal protector?  A year ago you joined forces with me to crush him.  You helped me take over is studio, remember?  You wanted him to pay as much as I did.  So what happened?”

“I realized that revenge wasn’t all there was to life,” Alex replied defensively.  “Maybe you should follow the same path.”

Will laughed and shook his head in disbelief.  “No, you realized that you were still in love with him.  Let’s be honest, Alex.  That’s really what happened, isn’t it?”

Glaring angrily, Alex pulled her purse tightly over her shoulder.  “You have no clue what goes on between James and I.”

“Nothing goes on between you and James,” Will goaded.  “You’ll always be the has-been actress who he threw out of his life and his bed so he could hook up with the makeup girl.  And nothing you do is going to change that.  You’re living a fantasy.  If that’s the path that you think I should follow then I’ll have to take a pass.”

Alex rushed across the room and pulled the door open, hurt and humiliated by his words.  “You smug son of a bitch,” she hissed.  “Someday somebody’s finally going to give you what you deserve.”

“Let them try,” Will called after her as she fled from the house and darted down the driveway….

“After that I got in my car and drove to Jordan’s house,” Alex explained.  “But when I got there he was gone…and so was his gun.”

James listened carefully, folding his arms and registering the information in his head.

“I went back.  I had to.  I knew that Jordan was going to do something he would regret,” Alex said, her hands trembling.  “By the time I got back it was too late.  I walked in and there was Jordan standing over Will’s dead body.”

James chewed on his lower lip, rubbing his chin and wondering exactly what Jordan was saying to the police at the very moment.

“What time did you arrive at the deceased’s house?” Baines asked Jordan back in the interrogation room.

“About seven o’clock,” Jordan replied.

“And what happened when you got there?”

Jordan took a deep breath and let it out slowly, thinking back to that night with great clarity.  “I went in through the back door so no one would see me,” he explained.  “I walked into the parlor room and saw him laying on the floor.  Somebody had beaten me to it.”

“He was already dead when you got there?” Detective Baines asked skeptically.

Jordan nodded.  “I looked around and didn’t find anyone.  The front door was wide open.  I saw a gun laying on the floor next to the body.”

“What did you do then?”...

Jordan knelt down beside Will’s body, grimacing at the sight of blood gushing from the bullet wound in his chest, soaking the crisp white tuxedo shirt he wore beneath his black jacket.  He placed a finger gently alongside his neck and realized there was no pulse.  He was most definitely dead.

Inspecting him carefully, Jordan spotted the corner of a black plastic object jutting out from the pocket of Will’s jacket.   He reached out and pulled the videotape from the inside pocket, examining it carefully.  Quickly, he pocketed the tape and withdrew a handkerchief, wiping the gun down and placing it carefully back on the floor. 

When he stood up, Alex was there, gaping at the horrific sight before her.

“Jordan!” she gasped, her hands plastered to her mouth.  “Is he dead?”

Jordan looked at her and then back at the body.  He shoved the handkerchief in his pocket and raced over to her, grabbing her by the shoulders.   “Alex, go home,” he demanded in an authoritative manner.  “You shouldn’t be here.”

“I was afraid you were going to do something drastic so I came here and-“ Alex stammered, too strained with despair to think straight.  “Oh God, Jordan…I can’t believe he’s really dead.”

“Alex, you have to go!” Jordan exclaimed.  “I cannot afford to be seen here!”

Nodding, Alex backed up out of the room, her eyes still riveted to the body.  “Okay,” she murmured, bumping into the door and jumping with a start.   “Are you coming?”

He nodded and ushered her out the door.  “Yes.  Just go home,” he said.  “And Alex, don’t say a word to anyone about this, okay?”

She stifled back the tears in her eyes and turned, racing down the drive to her car and peeling out onto the main road.    After she’d gone, Jordan turned back and gave the room another glance-over.  Securing the videotape in his pocket, he turned and made his way back out the back door where he’d came….

“Mr. Rydell, why did you wipe the fingerprints off of the gun if you didn’t kill him?” Baines asked.  “That doesn’t make any sense.”

Shrugging, Jordan shifted in his seat and folded his hands on the table.  “Will Thomerson was a scoundrel.  Whoever killed him did the world a favor.  I was just doing the killer a favor by making sure they covered their tracks.”

“Did you see anyone else in the house?” Baines inquired.  “Either inside the house or anywhere on the grounds?”

Jordan shook his head in reply.

“So for all you know, Stormy Blackthorne could have fired the shot that killed him.”

“Yes."

Miranda looked at her brother behind the bars, offering a hopeful smile as she watched him reflect on the news about Jordan.

“Mom swears that he did it,” she said.  “She walked into the house and he was wiping the fingerprints off of the gun.  Don’t you see, Stormy?