Along Came a Spider

Alex testifies during Gary’s trial, answering questions from defense lawyer Anthony Nathan about his credentials. However, he refuses to diagnose Gary, claiming he needs more time with Gary to do so. Nathan pushes Alex to give an opinion, so he speaks of Gary’s murders. Nathan then surprises everyone by asking Alex to hypnotize Gary in the courtroom.

The next day, Alex hypnotizes Gary, evoking the day of the McDonald’s arrest. Gary remembers being angry, and how crowded the restaurant was. He says Soneji was angry because his plan was ruined by the police’s good luck. Gary talks about finding Michael dead despite Soneji being careful not to kill him with medication. He admits Soneji beat Michael’s body with a shovel upon finding him dead because he was angry. When Alex asks about Maggie, Gary claims she was alive the last time Soneji saw her, but that she was gone when he found Michael’s body. Gary becomes agitated, so Alex stops his hypnosis.

The press goes wild with Gary’s assertion that someone else took Maggie, and outside the courtroom, Maggie’s father, Thomas Dunne, accuses Alex of helping the defense. Maggie’s mother, Katherine Rose, pulls Alex aside and apologizes, explaining that Maggie’s disappearance has been hard on Thomas. The next day, Alex tries to hypnotize Gary again, but it doesn’t work because of distractions in the courtroom. Prosecutor Mary Warner cross-examines Alex, then lets him go. Alex and John return to work, conducting interviews for the Turner and Sanders murders and the kidnapping case.

Alex and Jezzie meet at a motel in Arlington. They share a bath, and Alex thinks he’s falling in love with Jezzie. Late in the night, Alex gets up to go home before his children wake. As he leaves the room, a reporter and a cameraman approach him in the parking lot, revealing they are from the National Star, a tabloid. The reporter knocks on the motel-room door while the cameraman asks Alex questions. Jezzie opens the door fully dressed.

Alex plays the piano while he waits for Nana Mama to read the National Star story. He confronts her, asking what she thinks, and she tells him that the article will change the way people view him for a long time. At work, no one speaks to Alex except John. Alex tries calling Jezzie, only to learn that she handed in her resignation to Secret Service and shut off the house phone at her cabin.

In November, Alex and John return to the courthouse for Gary’s verdict. Alex sees defense lawyer Anthony Nathan speaking to reporters, still claiming Gary’s innocence. He wonders how the jury can come to a conclusion when doctors disagree on Gary’s diagnosis. Alex and John theorize that this media attention is exactly what Gary wanted. The jury finds Gary guilty of all charges. Alex watches as Gary hugs his sobbing wife and daughter. He finds the scene touching and wonders if Gary is truly a criminal mastermind.

Jezzie drives her motorcycle to her cabin, remembering how her father pushed her to be the best at everything. She sings a song about pressure and feels it was written for her. She arrives at the cabin and finds the door open. Jezzie walks onto a dock, and someone wraps his arms around her. She tells this person that she missed him.

Maggie lies in darkness and remembers someone telling her that if she tries to escape, she will be put in the ground again. She thinks about Mr. Gary Soneji’s kidnapping and questions if she made it up. She wants to escape but is afraid.

Jezzie returns to Washington, DC, after the trial. She tells Alex that she was afraid at first, but after a few days, began to understand she had to figure out who she is. Alex questions her, but is distracted by her undressing him.

Alex returns to the Cerisier home to review Nina’s testimony about Gary’s accomplice. Nina’s mother, Glory, doesn’t want to let Alex in, but finally relents when he is honest about being obsessed with the kidnapping case and why Gary chose him to deliver the ransom. Glory saw Gary watching the Sanders house and mentions the accomplice watching him. Alex asks for clarification, and Nina remembers that the two men weren’t together—Gary was being watched by someone in a separate car.

Alex visits Gary at Fallston Prison. He wants to hypnotize Gary again, and Gary agrees. Later, Alex visits Mike Devine, one of the Secret Service agents assigned to Michael at the time of his and Maggie’s kidnapping. Devine complains about being fired from the Secret Service after the kidnapping. He says he and fellow agent Charlie Chakely never saw anything unusual around the Goldberg house, and that their daily logs reflect this. Alex feels as though Devine is hiding something, so he calls Devine’s former partner, Charlie Chakely. Chakely is angry and resistant to answering questions. Alex asks if Chakely ever saw a dark sedan outside the Goldberg or Dunne house; Chakely refutes this and hangs up.

Alex accompanies Jezzie to her cabin. They walk in the woods, during which Jezzie reveals she’s been lying about her father’s death since college—he died by suicide, not a heart attack. She speaks of her parents’ failures and how they shaped her need for success, and how she’s trying to figure out who she is without her career. As they talk, Alex notices someone watching them through the trees. Alex and Jezzie separate as they chase the person, but the person flees in a car before they can catch them.

The couple enjoy a quiet dinner and discuss Alex’s latest breakthroughs and theories on the kidnapping case. Jezzie discounts Nina’s statement and suggests that Alex move on from the case. Later, they sleep together. Alex wakes up in the middle of the night and notices a glow. At first, he believes it is the fire in the fireplace, but then he looks out the window and realizes there is a cross burning on the front lawn.

The next week, Alex is told that Gary has become Soneji. He rushes to the prison, and Gary is more aggressive. He tells Alex that he’s ready to get credit for all he has done. He confesses that he always planned to kill both Michael and Maggie. When asked about the Turner and Sanders families, Gary says he should get a reward for killing sex workers and substance users. He talks about his stepsiblings and his stepmother’s care for them. He admits to finding Michael dead and abusing his body but denies ever touching Maggie. Gary insists Maggie did disappear while not under his watch, and that he didn’t collect Alex’s delivered ransom.

During another visit, Gary insists he only killed the Turner and Sanders families because he was worked up while surveying Maggie. He claims his only mistake was allowing success to go to his head—and missing the fact that he was being observed. However, one night in Potomac, he did see a man walking near the Goldberg house on a night when he drove past. At his trial, Gary saw the man again. He finally announces that former Secret Service Agent Mike Devine was the man following him, and that it had to have been Devine and Charlie Chakely who took Maggie from the old barn.

Alex reports Mike Devine to the FBI. Agent Gerry Scorse hears Alex out, then goes to his supervisor, Deputy Director Kurt Weithas. Weithas informs Alex that the FBI was already investigating Devine and Chakely because of irregularities in their daily logs. They conclude that Devine and Chakely originally wrote about Gary’s visits to Michael and Maggie’s neighborhood, but removed it from the logs before the kidnapping. The FBI also believes that either Devine or Chakely followed Gary out to the farmhouse and knew where he hid the children. They also tell Alex that they believe either Devine or Chakely was behind the ransom drop-off because the pilot who met Alex at Disney World was a drug runner named Joseph Denyeau—who was later found dead in Costa Rica. The FBI believes Devine knew Denyeau. Finally, Weithas reveals that Jezzie was having an affair with Devine for years, and is likely involved in the kidnapping as well.

Alex walks in Washington Southeast with John that night, revealing what the FBI said. Jezzie was Devine and Chakely’s supervisor, making her responsible for assigning them to Michael. Alex believes Jezzie was in on the kidnapping from the beginning, but doesn’t know if it was her idea. John sympathizes with Alex, assuring him that he liked Jezzie and never suspected her. After a few drinks, Alex goes home to tell Nana Mama about Jezzie. Nana Mama says she’ll pray for all of them. Alex sits alone and resolves to help bring Jezzie to justice.