Sunday Afternoon

 Whitney starts her shift at Sunburst.

Jessie:  Hey, Whitney.  Did Tris tell you my brothers were moving to town? 

Whitney: Yes, she did.  She also told me about her parents leaving town.  Good riddance, if you ask me. 

Jessie:  They're actually leaving?  I thought that was a ploy to make her feel bad for marrying badly.  Anyway, this is Ebenezer in the orange and Khalil with all the braids.

Ebenezer:  Nice to meet you, ma'am.  

Whitney:  Ma'am?  I like you. 

Khalil: Hey, little man, don't be macking on all the women before I get the chance.  (To Whitney)  I understand your police chief has a zero tolerance policy for racism. 

Whitney:  She doesn't have much tolerance for any bigotry.  If it's actual bigotry and not a misunderstanding.   Like sometimes people are just ignorant but well-intentioned. 

Jessie:  Khalil, back off.  You sound like a fanatic. (To Whitney) He starts duty tomorrow, but he's never actually met Lynch.  Phone interviews, e-mails.  When she found out he was a Cooper, she snatched him right up. 

Khalil: You'd sound like a fanatic, too, if you'd been turned down for several jobs because your dad's Rom and your mom's black.  

Jessie (sarcastically): Like that's never happened to me.  Try being a woman on top of being a black Rom. 

Whitney: Well, on that note, I'll let you look over the menu and take care of  my other table. 

Whitney goes to the kitchen and brings out the food. 

Whitney: Can I get anything else for you?

Carol: No, thank you. 

Paige: Mom, we would like to be introduced to the people in this town.  We're going to be working and living here, and we'd like to make friends.  You might like being a hermit, but we don't. 

Paige: My sister and I will be working at the medical center.  I'm an optometrist and she's an ophthalmologist.  

Ellie: She's Paige, I'm Ellie.  You know our mother? 

Whitney: Yes, I know Agent Danvers.  I'm Whitney Darling.  I work here and I'm majoring in Undecided at the local college.  

Carol: Whitney's future mother-in-law is the mayor.  And her father owns the local TV station.  (To Whitney)  False modesty doesn't suit you. 

Whitney (offended, but polite): I don't define myself through Tanner, his stepmother, or Dad. 

Paige (as Whitney walks away):  What the hell was that, Mom?  

****

Once the Coopers have ordered and Whitney serves their food, Jessie returns to gossiping with her.

Jessie:  We told Khalil to try getting a job here because, like he said, there's still a lot of bigots in the system.  He's got a stellar resume, but... 

Ebenezer:  They keep using his hair as an excuse.  Girl cops don't gotta have short hair, so why should guy cops? 

Whitney:  I'm pretty sure BPD's policy is just that it be tidy.  Lynch has longer hair than me and she  just pulls it beck in a ponytail most of the time.  (To Khalil)  But if your hair has religious or cultural significance, they legally can't make you cut it.  

Khalil: They legally can't refuse to hire me because of my ethnicity, either, but they sure have been doing it.  Not all of them, but enough of them that I got fed up. 

Ebenezer: But then Jessie and Bapo told us this town has a black lady mayor and Khalil decided to send Barbieville a copy of his resume.  Next thing he knows, he's got a job offer!  And since Jessie's roomie moved out, we can live with her and I'll have my own room. 

Whitney: I wonder what it's like to have your own room?  I share with my little sister and my daughter.

Mattie Settles In

 Sulu's (the local greenhouse/nursery) 

Mattie is puttering around, enjoying her first full day of work in her new family's business. The bell on the door chimes.

Mattie: I'll be right with you!  

Mattie: What can I do for you? 

Jessie: I'm Jessie Cooper, I work for Joe Montez.  I need to put in an order for a large landscaping job. 

Mattie: Oh, Su- I mean, Dad - hasn't trained me on that yet.  I'll have to call him in from the property.  

Jessie: He's on the way in.  I flagged him down from the parking lot.  You must be Mattie.  How are you settling in? 

Mattie: I like it here.  They even gave me my own room, even though I would've been fine sharing.  And the work so far has been a lot easier than what I did before.  Waitressing. 

Jessie: I know what you mean.  Joe's a contractor, so we do construction.  I go home exhausted every night, but I don't normally deal with the public.  My roomie waits tables and she - well, my former roomie, I should say.  She recently had to move back into the family home. 

Mattie:  As long as they keep their hands to themselves, I never minded the public.  It's the going home exhausted part that got to me! 

Sulu: Thanks for waiting, Jessie.  I was checking on the hives. 

Jessie: I figured as much since you looked like a snowman out there. Mattie's a nice girl. 

Sulu: We've been quite pleasantly surprised.  Adopting an older child is always a risk. 

Jessie: Did you really adopt her without ever meeting her?  

Sulu: Sort of.  We'd seen her records and met her over video chat.  Now, what's up with this huge landscaping job?  Since when does Joe do landscaping? 

****

Speaking of Jessie's former roomie, Zenobia is resting after rehearsal with Sarcastic Fringehead. 

Zenobia: He thinks I'm not going to press charges.  Said my primary duty is to family. 

Whitney: Well, my dad's an ass, but I don't think I'd -- 

Zenobia: Your dad never ran over your mom with your stolen vehicle. (pauses to collect herself)  I'm sorry, Whitney, I know your dad's done some awful things, but...  never mind, it's not a contest.  I'm just venting and probably telling you stuff I shouldn't. 

Tanner: Since our mom is the star witness? 

Finnick: Probably not supposed to tell anyone anything.  

Taylor (entering): Hey, Finnick, you wanna make a little extra money? 

Tanner: Hey!  Don't come in here during rehearsal! 

Taylor: It's been five minutes since you stopped.  I waited and y'all are hibernating in here.  (To Finnick) That girl Sulu and Lynch adopted is looking for a guitar teacher.  She said she's just getting started, but Sulu said she's been taking lessons for years, so I don't know what's up with that. 

Finnick: Let me guess.  You were showing her around school and just happened to mention that I play. 

Taylor: Something like that.  She's pretty nice.  Kinda quiet. 

Whitney: Is she pretty? 

Finnick: What the hell? Why would that matter? 

Zenobia: Because Esperanza, that's why.  Whit worries way too much about what that idiot thinks. 

Whitney: Be nice. 

Zenobia: Oh, that was way nicer than what I was thinking. 

Finnick: I'll talk to Sulu or Lynch about it, Taylor.  We should be able to arrange something. 

Zenobia's Interview

Zenobia meets Lynch and Carol at the police station. 

Lynch: The vehicle used in the attacks is registered to Zenobia F. Malfoy, at The Tor.  

Zenobia: I had a green van.  Sorry, SUV.  When I graduated, my parents gifted me with a lot of money.  It was intended to be for college.  Mom told me that if I wasn't going to college, I should invest it in something career-related.  I used it to buy equipment for my band, including the SUV to drive to shows.

Carol: The band being Sarcastic Fringehead? 

Zenobia: It was a heavy metal group called Vagina Dentata.  We were going to be the next Metallica or Megadeth.  Anyway, Dad had a fit.  We had a huge fight and that was when I left.  I got a place of my own and the SUV was stolen shortly after that.  

Lynch: You never reported it stolen.

Zenobia: I did.  I can probably find my copy of the police report.   

Lynch: Against Agent Danvers's advice, I want to show you the video in question.  

Zenobia (horrified): You want me to watch someone being hit by a car?  The same car that killed my mother?  Oh, my god.  Someone killed Mom with my car?! 

Carol: The only reason you aren't under arrest right now is that video.  The driver is obviously not a petite blue-haired woman.  

Lynch: Will you at least look at a still from the video?  

Zenobia (tearful): Just the still, please.  

Zenobia (gasps): Is that Dad?  What is going on? 

Lynch: Is there any reason he'd want to harm these women?  And use your vehicle to do it?  

Zenobia: Oh, he's not liked me from the moment I came out of Mom without a penis.  Add bisexuality and a total lack of ambition.  Hell, he could have had the car stolen and then bribed the idiot who was mayor before Rose-Grace to make the report vanish.  Just to punish me for not being, well, Draco. 

Carol: How was your parents' marriage, Zenobia?  Did your father have problems with either of the other two victims? 

Zenobia: Everyone has wanted to run over Charlie Lake with a large vehicle.  But he probably doesn't know Candy exists.  (pause) Mom used to joke that the only way he could get out of the marriage with anything but the shirt on his back (starts crying) would be to kill her.  

After Zenobia leaves, Carol and Lynch discuss what they've learned.

Lynch: Zenobia's whole world is caving in around her and you're playing Good Cop Bad Cop?  

Carol: I'm not playing anything.  She wasn't driving, but there are so many holes in her story.  Daddy bribed the mayor?  She hasn't known where the vehicle was all this time?  

Lynch: You don't know the former mayor or Paris Malfoy.  

Carol: That's the problem with you small-town cops.  You know everyone and you let that influence your investigation.  Have you forgotten that driver could easily be James Potter?  That Zenobia could have hired someone who has a passing resemblance to her father?  Maybe she's framing him. 

****

At Lakeshore Townhomes.

 

Zenobia: Good, you're still up.  We need to talk. 

Jessie: Tris called, told me the cops were looking for you.  Was it about your mom?

Zenobia: Very about Mom.  But I don't wanna talk about that and maybe mess up the investigation.  The thing is, it's starting to look like a very real possibility that I'll have to move back to The Tor.  Or I might go to prison.  Either way, you need to know you could lose a roomie.  

Jessie: Wait, you might go to prison?  What is going on?  

The Investigation: Part Two

 

Witch's Cove Employee Parking.

Pocahontas: Oh, good, Joe.  You're here. 

Joe: I said noon.  Am I late? (notices Lynch) Why're the cops here?

Pocahontas: We found a body.  Halfway down the hill from The Overlook, towards the inlet.  I've been trying to call you, but I guess you were driving.

Lynch: I have statements from everyone who was here when the body was found?  

Pocahontas: Yes.  It was the four of us, waiting for Joe and Jessie.  We were going to start work on the revamp today. 

 

Lynch: I'll head back to the scene.  Hurry the crime scene units along. 

Joe: Do we know who it was?  Surely it's not another hit-and-run in that location?

Nakoma: We didn't get a good enough look. Too much brush around and we didn't get any closer than we had to.

Jessie:  I don't blame you.  (nods toward the dog) Who's this handsome fellow?

Nakoma: Butterscotch.  Finnick's grandpa got him for me.  

Joe: Well, Jessie, I guess you and me have time for that cup of coffee after all.  (looks around) Can I get anyone anything from Sunburst?  (No one wants anything. Joe and Jessie leave.)

Finnick: Who do you reckon it is?  The body?

Albus: No idea, but I hope it's not linked to Charlie Lake.  I'd hate to think we have a serial killer in Barbieville. Could be someone was sneaking into the park and fell badly. 

Finnick: Why would anyone want to sneak into a closed amusement park?  (suddenly distracted)  Holy crap!  This thing's blue tooth compatible?

Albus: It's a new Beetle.  Not one from my era. 

Pocahontas (to Butterscotch): My new car gets no love.  

Nakoma: I can't believe we're just sitting around playing with a dog.  There's a body in our park! 

Pocahontas: We're staying out of their way, which is all we can do at this point.  (laughs) We could speculate and scare ourselves silly.  Call all our friends and start a panic around town.  But no, I think we're doing exactly what we should. 

Nakoma: Still.  I wonder who it was.