The Woods

Flair and Mort request a recess, and Paul and Muse return to the office in high spirits. Paul’s mind wanders to Lucy’s message. Muse offers to investigate Lucy’s background before Paul calls her, but he dismisses the idea. Back in court, Flair and Mort try everything to dismiss the DVD evidence, but Jerry admits that he helped facilitate the reenactment.

At the end of the day, Paul impulsively googles Lucy’s phone number and finds that she works nearby. He calls Lucy’s home number but hangs up when he hears the answering machine message.

Before Paul tries to call her again, Muse informs him that Lucy is likely in class. Despite Paul’s instructions, she checked out Lucy’s history. She learned that Lucy changed her name after the lawsuit against Ira, which gave the families each $800,000, mostly from the land sale of Camp PLUS. Muse lists Lucy’s academic and professional accolades, as well as her two convictions for driving under the influence. Lucy never married. On a different note, Muse shares that Wayne Steubens doesn’t accept visitors. She gives Paul the URL to Lucy’s faculty profile page, which Paul looks at when he’s alone. Lucy’s picture stirs Paul’s heart. He calls Lucy’s cell phone, and the call connects. When Lucy hears Paul’s voice, she cries.

Lucy apologizes for crying and, after an awkward conversation, asks Paul to meet her at the university. A media circus greets Paul at home, and Greta and Bob congratulate him on the case. Paul passes off movie night duty with Cara to the nanny. He receives a call from his old friend, Governor Dave Markie, who asks to meet when he’s in town. Dave has bad news about Paul’s political aspirations, but would rather talk face-to-face.

Paul nervously makes his way to Lucy’s office. He knocks on her door, and she beckons him to come in and sit. They update one another on their families, offering condolences as necessary. Lucy feels sorry for Paul, who has dealt with more tragedy than most people. Both admit to feeling like teenagers again. Lucy turns the conversation to their real purpose. Paul shares his theory about Gil and the Perezes’ purposeful misidentification.

Lucy lets Paul read the suspicious journal, and though he’s transported back to that night, Paul notes that the story is somewhat wrong. Paul did lie that night: He said he was out in the woods alone after performing bed checks, but he faked the bed checks and snuck out to be with Lucy. Though Paul later admitted to neglecting his duties, he continued to lie about being alone to protect Lucy. Ira’s lawyers tried to deflect blame onto Paul, but he was legally absolved. He tells Lucy how his father continuously dug for Camille’s body in the woods, always holding out hope that he’d find her. The denial broke his parents’ marriage apart. Paul sees sadness in Lucy’s eyes and understands that, like him, she hasn’t been able to get over that night.

Governor Dave Markie greets Paul with a big hug. Paul dismisses everyone in his office except for US Attorney Joan Thurston. Dave shares the bad news with Paul: Bob embezzled money from JaneCare to fund the construction of his pool. Dave’s people took Bob into custody and are headed to JaneCare’s offices with a warrant. Dave won’t ignore the charges on Paul’s account, so he urges Paul to hire Bob a good lawyer.

Paul feels sick as he watches Bob’s arrest on the TV news. To divert Paul’s mind, Muse updates him on her research into the Summer Slasher. The blood found on the clothes in the woods matched both Gil and Camille, but modern technology can test the DNA. The age-progressed photo of Gil is an identical match to Santiago. Muse gives Paul the Perezes’ address and offers to have her contact, Andrew Barrett, use ground-penetrating radar to search the woods.

As Paul and Muse head toward the courtroom, EJ Jenrette stands in Paul’s path, gloating. Paul stands face-to-face with Jenrette and makes empty threats about Edward’s time in prison. In court, Judge Pierce remains noncommittal on Flair’s argument to throw out the DVD evidence, but Paul worries that Jenrette may extort Pierce into a different decision. Afterward, Paul calls Lucy, asking if she wants to visit the Perezes.

Paul picks up Lucy, and as they drive, Lucy plays songs they used to listen to together. At the condo, Mrs. Perez reluctantly lets the pair in. Paul notices no photos of Gil, only photos of the other Perez children: Gil’s younger brother, Tomas, who has cerebral palsy; his older brother, Eduardo; and his older sister, Glenda, who is now a lawyer. Paul confronts Mrs. Perez with the photo of Gil’s scar and the age-progressed image. Mrs. Perez sticks to her story that Gil died 20 years ago. Lucy accuses Mrs. Perez of lying and lies herself, claiming that the police have preliminary DNA tests that prove Santiago is Gil. Mrs. Perez asks Paul and Lucy to leave and never come back.

Paul and Lucy debrief in the car. Lucy tells Paul that Manolo Santiago was her father’s mystery visitor, and Paul asks her to question Ira. Lucy thinks Mrs. Perez is lying because she’s freshly grieving. Mrs. Perez likely took Gil’s pictures down to prevent anyone from seeing his scar. Lucy wonders if Gil helped Wayne kill the other three teens and then faked his own death. She speculates that Paul wants Camille to be alive so that he can redeem himself, since he blames himself for that night. Paul nastily quips that Lucy likewise must feel guilty about something, given her drinking problem.

Paul confesses that his father used to look at him accusingly. Paul knows he’s trying to find answers about his sister, but can’t understand why Lucy is so invested. After some silence, Lucy reveals that the events of that night completely uprooted her life, and she hasn’t been able to get back on her feet. Paul wants to remind Lucy how amazing she is, but simply says how good it is to see her.

Paul drops Lucy off at her office, and she promises to ask Ira about Santiago. Muse directs Paul to Mr. Perez’s usual haunt, the Smith Brothers’ bar, and informs him that Wayne Steubens will talk to him tomorrow in Virginia. Paul arrives at the bar and approaches Mr. Perez, who is surrounded by five other Latino men. Paul offers his condolences, and Mr. Perez tells him to leave. The men stand to protect Mr. Perez, but Paul pulls out his badge and threatens their immigration status. The men leave, and Paul sits down at the bar.

Paul peppers Mr. Perez with questions about Gil, and though Mr. Perez tries to look strong, tears run down his face. Paul threatens to go after the Perezes and their children to prove they’re lying. Paul thinks the family is covering for Gil, who may have killed Camille. Mr. Perez suddenly grabs Paul’s collar and makes threats of his own to go after Paul’s child. When Mr. Perez leaves, Paul calls Muse and asks her to investigate the Perez family.

Greta updates Paul that Bob made bail, and she asks to meet. At home, Paul plays a game with Cara before bed. When Greta arrives, Paul sits with her and feels sorry for her. Greta bluntly asks Paul to lie about the missing funds, to say that he loaned Bob the money, trusting that he’d pay it back. Paul is taken aback, since he assumed the charges were a mistake. Greta explains that the family was contractually committed to the pool but didn’t have all the funds, so Bob borrowed them from the charity. He kept accurate records, always intending to repay the money. Given Paul’s public position, the court will likely make an example of Bob and send him to prison, which will ruin Greta’s family’s lives. Paul tries to be understanding but refuses to lie for the man who stole from his wife’s charity.

Greta grows cold and accuses Paul of abandoning everyone in his life: Camille, Jane, and now her. Paul created JaneCare to deal with his guilt, since he left Jane by herself during her final days. Greta hasn’t brought this issue up before, but her assessment of him is accurate. Greta thinks Paul would lie to bring Camille and Jane back, but wouldn’t do the same to prevent tragedy from happening to the living.

Paul reads Muse’s summary of Wayne Steubens’s case. Professionals can’t agree on why Wayne killed at the summer camps. He didn’t work at the other camps, but when the FBI suspected that the cases were connected, Wayne’s travel records showed that he was near all the murder sites. The main FBI profiler, Geoff Bedford, gathered enough evidence to arrest Wayne, and police later found souvenirs of the victims in Wayne’s yard. Wayne was convicted only of the Virginia and Indiana murders, since evidence to tie him to the Camp PLUS murders was insufficient.

Lucy calls, and Paul updates her on recent events. Both used to think Wayne was harmless, and Paul wonders if Wayne is truly innocent of killing Margot and Doug, like he claims. Lucy reminds Paul that Wayne is a pathological liar. Both Paul and Lucy confess that they’re struggling to understand their feelings for one another.

Paul enters the prison and is struck by how ordinary Wayne appears despite being a serial killer. Appealing to his past relationship with Wayne, Paul opens with jokes and memories about Camp PLUS. He learns that a private detective recently visited Wayne. Wayne laments how Paul stole Lucy away from him, claiming that he and Lucy hooked up previously. All the boys were interested in Margot, but she was with Gil, though Wayne claims they broke up the night before the murder. Wayne teases Paul, but Paul redirects the conversation to the night of the murders. Wayne feigns ignorance and professes his innocence. He senses that Paul is conflicted, and he guesses something happened to make Paul question Wayne’s guilt. Though this is true, Paul doesn’t tell Wayne about Gil. As Paul leaves, Wayne continues to proclaim his innocence.