It's a dream!   Miss Parker jerks herself awake and Thomas tells her that it's just a dream - over now.   She tells Thomas that it will never be over, and mentally beaten and limp herself, puts her head back down on the pillow.

In Jacksonville, Florida, Jarod is standing in an old-fashioned "corner store," telling Rita Hartunian, the woman who has owned and run it for years, that she doesn't owe him anything.  She disagrees with him, saying that he saved her store from her "extortionist of a landlord" and that where she comes from people show gratitude when someone does something nice for them.   A smiling Jarod is enjoying the exchange between them ... then notices lottery scratchers hanging by the register.

Rita asks him if he likes the lottery, and Jarod tells her that he's never actually played before.  Rita reaches up, rips off a scratcher, hands it to Jarod and tells him, "here, take, scratch, enjoy."   Jarod reads the odds on the back of the scratcher and tells Rita that he has as much chance of winning as getting hit by lightening in a submarine.  Rita looks at Jarod in disbelief, then says that he brought her good luck ... maybe she will do the same for him.   Jarod agrees to give it a try and begins to scratch the ticket, just as a young man walks in to the store and walks along the back aisle.  Rita, who is counting the money in the register, gives the boy a look, then finishes what she is doing and puts the money away. 

After a few moments, the boy intentionally knocks over a gumball machine, spilling the gumballs all over the floor.  Jarod turns and goes to help the young man and Rita clean up the mess, saying that it's no big deal -accidents happen.  The boy slips up toward the register, opens the drawer, grabs the money and flees from the store - getting on his bike and beginning to ride away.   Jarod pursues him, going out the back door and placing himself in the young boys way.  Swerving to avoid hitting Jarod the kid runs his bike into a pile of trash bags.   After making sure that the youngster isn't really hurt, Jarod grabs his back pack - extracts the money - and finds that the boy's name is Dylan ... and that he has also liberated his father's wallet.  A train schedule tells Jarod all that he needs to know ... Dylan Hale is in the process of running away from home - but when he stole his father's wallet, there wasn't enough money in it to purchase the ticket that he wanted.

Jarod tells Dylan that he should appreciate his family and that whatever the problem is, they can work it out.  But Dylan tells Jarod that his father is a "jerk," an attorney,  and that he's going to Atlanta to live with his friends ... and that's all the family he needs.   Rita arrives and Dylan wants to know whether Jarod and Rita are going to call the cops.  Jarod tells him that he isn't going to call them ... but he is going to take Dylan home. 

Dylan and Jarod are walking through the marina and Jarod thinks it's cool that they live on a boat.  Dylan tells him that he and his dad moved to the harbor a few weeks ago, after his father and mother split-up.  He says that his mother is in London, setting up house and starting a new job.  He also tells Jarod that this is a waste of time ... his dad is at "the firm" -- he's always at the firm.  As Dylan points out which boat is theirs, he and Jarod see Dylan's dad moving around on the boat. He moves downstairs and out of sight for a moment.   Dylan is astounded!  His dad is never home, he says to Jarod again.  Then, as Jarod and Dylan and Jarod watch ... the boat explodes into a fiery inferno!!

As Dylan sits on a nearby bench, Jarod speaks with the detective that has been called onto the scene.  He has found a note from Dylan's father and Jarod asks the detective if it's okay if he tells Dylan about it.  Just then, a car pulls up and two men emerge from it.  One of them tells the detective that he thought they had an agreement - he is always the first call.  The detective tells him that he didn't realize that the guy was from his firm ... the man ignores the detective and asks him "what he's got."  The detective tells him that the diver's are in the water ... but with the current, it could be up to 48 hours before the body is recovered.   The man hands the detective an envelope and tells him to "make it 36" -- then says that he knows that Hale has a son and wants to know where he is.   Jarod watches the whole exchange, but says nothing.  The detective says that the boy is sitting right over there -- pointing to the bench were Dylan was located a moment before ... but the bench is empty!

The man in the car orders the detective to find the boy, but Jarod is already one step ahead of them ... and leaves to find Dylan on his own.

At The Centre, Broots and Sydney are telling Mr. Lyle that Jarod had already left his desert lair by the time they arrived.  They show Lyle the only piece of information that they found ... a pad with "home" written all over it.   Mr. Lyle asks where Miss Parker was and Sydney says that she was unable to accompany them, and Broots tries to add veracity to Sydney's claim by saying that Miss Parker was sick.  It's to no avail, Lyle isn't buying any of it!  He knows she's goofing off with Thomas and says as much.  He says that while he may be understanding of someone who is "consumed" by their passion, there are "others" who may not be as forgiving of people who are lax about their "responsibilities."

At home, Miss Parker comes into the kitchen to find Tommy clearing the table.  She's still in her robe and hasn't even begun to dress for work.  She tells Tommy that it's a beautiful day and she doesn't feel like spending it at work ... but he knows that she's just putting off telling her father that she plans on leaving The Centre to be with him and tells her that she cannot keep from addressing the subject forever.

Jarod finds Dylan at the train station, trying to reach his mother in London.   Jarod tells Dylan that the police found a note in his father's handwriting ... a note that indicated that the explosion on the boat was not an accident.   Dylan's mother is not available for the weekend and he refuses to go to the police, for fear that they will place him with social services until his mother arrives.   He plans on meeting his mother in Atlanta -- but Jarod takes him to stay upstairs - above Rita's store.  Rita is at first leery about having the kid that tried to rob her living right upstairs, but she's a good-hearted woman and it doesn't take long for to warm to Dylan and pity his plight.

He tells Rita and Jarod that his parents broke up because his dad was having an affair with a woman named Ashley.   He had been sneaking away to the marina to call her on the pay phone and when confronted with it ... didn't even try to deny it.   Jarod asked him who the two men on the dock were ... and Dylan tells him that the "old guy" is Edgar Hoyt and the one who did all of the talking to the detective is "Winston" who is the head of security -- they are both from his dad's firm.   Dylan tells Jarod that he saw Winston slapping his father and threatening him, on the dock outside of their boat.   Winston told Dylan's dad that he had no idea how powerful the firm was and that he should do the right thing to protect his family.

Looking at Peter Hale's business card, Jarod decides that the best way to infiltrate a firm of tax attorney's is as an IRS agent!   He slides right in the front door ... notices all of the security cameras ... and has a meeting with Edgar Hoyt and Craig Winston about some possible irregularities in their balance sheets.  Hoyt is pleasant and sets up an office for Jarod - but Winston is openly hostile - and wants to know how long Jarod will be there.  Jarod tells him that, barring any unforeseen problems, he should be done in 48 hours.

As Jarod sets to work in his office, he is cognizant of the security camera in there -- and he was right ... Winston is watching him like a hawk.   However, under the guise of going over the records, Jarod is able to access the company's computer system ... and finds all access to Peter Hale's accounts denied.

Back at the corner store, Jarod finds Dylan asleep - holding the phone.  Rita tells Jarod that he nearly wore his fingers out, constantly re-dialing his mother ... but he never reached her.   Jarod has gotten the number of the pay phone that Peter Hale used to call Ashley and searches the records to find the phone number called most frequently from there ... then back searches it to see who this "Ashley" really is.   To his surprise, Jarod finds that Ashley is not a woman at all - but a man ... an FBI agent whose name is Matthew Ashley.  Dylan wakes up during the exchange and learns that his dad was never really unfaithful to his mother ... and that he only let her believe that he was to keep both her and Dylan at a safe distance from him.   He perpetuated the lie to protect them.   When Jarod tries to reach Agent Ashley via phone, to find out what Peter Hale was trying to protect his family from, he learns that Matthew Ashley has died in an unfortunate car accident.

Jarod pulls out a bag of ID tags and selects one that he used previusly, when he pretended to be part of the Department of Justice.   Using that, he talks to the person in the FBI who has taken on Ashley's case load ... tells her that Ashley was investigating a local law firm in which the DOJ also has an interest and proposes to her that they work together.   She tells Jarod that Ashley had an informant inside of Hoyt and Associates who refused to identify himself, but who was gathering evidence that the firm was involved in killing a key witness in the case of one of its clients.   She tells Jarod that Ashley died before receiving the evidence.

At Hoyt and Associates, Jarod has a quick conversation with Hoyt and Winston regarding getting access to Peter Hale's records.  Winston says that certain files are need to know only and Jarod, still posing as someone from the IRS says that he needs to know.  Hoyt tells Jarod that he'll have the records delivered to him immediately.   Since Winston follows Hoyt into his office, Jarod hurries over to Winston's office.  He uses an electronic device to bypass the numeric security keypad and gains entrance.   Inside he finds that Winston can monitor anyone in the company from there ... including his own boss!   Using the monitoring equipment, Jarod listens in on their conversation and learns that Winston murdered the witnesses to protect one of their clients ... De Paz.   Jarod searches Winston's computer, finds several files on De Paz and starts copying them to a floppy disk.   The files are large, the floppy is slow and there are several tense moments as Winston leaves Hoyt's office and begins heading back to his own.  Jarod finishes in the nick of time and avoids detection.

As Jarod leaves the building, he is followed briefly by someone in a blue baseball cap.

At The Centre, Miss Parker begins trying to tell her father that she is leaving.  Lyle is with him and is as shocked as Mr. Parker is to hear about this development.  Miss Parker tells her father that she has lived solely to please him, since her mother died - but she's grown up now and she wants a life of her own.   She takes off her gun, leaving it in its holster, and puts it on his desk, something of which Lyle appears to take special notice.  Mr. Parker says that all of this is about "the carpenter" right?   Miss Parker reminds him, again, that "the carpenter's" name is Thomas ... but says that it isn't about him ... it's about her.  Lyle chimes in and says that certainly an organization as powerful as The Centre can replace one individual ... ?  Brigitte and Raines come into the room and Brigitte says that it hardly seems fair ... Miss Parker agreed to stay at The Centre until she captured Jarod ... Raines adds that it hasn't happened yet.   Miss Parker says that she's entitled to a life.   Mr. Parker says that this is something that is much too important to be decided on a whim ... and Miss Parker tells him that it is not a whim - she knows what she wants.  Mr. Parker looks momentarily pained ... and watches his daughter turn and sweep past Brigitte, out the door.

After Miss Parker leaves, Mr. Raines approaches Mr. Parker and says that if he doesn't stop her, then he (Mr. Raines) will.  Looking him squarely in the eye, Mr. Parker tells Raines not to ever threaten his family!

Jarod tells Dylan that his dad was actually a hero because he was helping the FBI ... Vincent De Paz was in jail for murder and the only eye-witness to his crime, Molly Brophy was murdered before she could testify, along with her two grand-daughters ... by Winston - in order to protect the firm's client.

Back outside of "the firm" the man in the blue cap is still lurking, watching Jarod.   This time, however, Jarod sees him and lures him closer so that he can confront him.   Much to Jarod's surprise, the stalker is Peter Hale!!   He is alive!   He staged his own death in order to get himself and his family away from Winslow and "the firm."  But on the day that he did it, Dylan was not in school and Hale couldn't reveal himself in order to stop Jarod from taking Dylan away.   Hale tells Jarod that he met with Agent Ashley on the day that he had his "accident" and handed over the files that would have convicted DaPaz and "the firm" for the murders. 

Thomas is hard at work, restoring a house ... when out of the blue, Mr. Parker walks in!   He tries to make small talk with Thomas, but it's a ruse and Thomas knows that Miss Parker has spoken to her father about leaving The Centre.   Mr. Parker offers Thomas a blank check ... literally, hands him a blank check ... but Thomas tears it up and tells Mr. Parker that he loves his daughter and no amount of money will change that, then he puts the pieces of the check back into Mr. Parker's hand and goes back to work.

Jarod tries to reunite Peter Hale with his son, but when he gets to Rita's store, Dylan is gone!   Rita tells Jarod and Peter that Dylan took a pistol and left.   Jarod and Hale both know where he has gone ... to kill Winston!

At Hoyt and Associates, Dylan is hiding behind a pillar, taking aim at Winston!   Before he can pull the trigger, Jarod arrives and takes the gun away from him.  Dylan tells Jarod that he can't stop him, but Peter Hale asks, "What about me?" and father and son are reunited at last.

All three of them go back to Rita's and together with Jarod they plan the sting that will eventually snare Winston. 

At Miss Parker's house, she is telling Thomas that it doesn't matter what she does, they will never let her go.  The doorbell rings and it is Mr. Parker and Mr. Lyle!   When she asks them what they are doing there, Lyle tells her that they just wanted to make certain that she was all right ... but Mr. Parker says that he wanted to talk to her and asks if she minds if they come inside.   Miss Parker stands aside and lets both of them in.

At "the firm" Winston finds an envelope on his desk, which Jarod left there.  In it is a picture of Peter Hale ... alive and well and holding the current days newspaper to prove it.  There is a demand for money and instructions for Winston to meet him alone in a parking lot ... saying that if he does not, Hale will tell the FBI the whole story - about De Paz, Brophy and Ashley!    Winston grabs his gun and goes to meet Hale, alone.  He tells Hoyt that he's going to kill Hale, once and for all.

Back at Miss Parker's, Mr. Parker explains that because he's getting old, he has become more resistant to change.   Miss Parker thinks he is trying to apply more emotional blackmail, but he quiets her and says that he has been thinking about her and about Thomas ... and that he thinks he has been selfish in his refusal to let Miss Parker go.   Miss Parker is incredulous and Lyle attempts to explain by quoting an old Yakuza saying and equating the meaning to Mr. Parker's trying to pay Thomas to leave.   Miss Parker didn't know about this ... Thomas didn't tell her, saying only that Mr. Parker had made an error in judgement.   She's working herself into a cold rage, when her father tells her that the thought of her leaving terrifies him.  He tells her that she and her brother are all that he has and if she goes, he thinks he will be losing the best part of himself.   But then he says that if she thinks that leaving is best for her ... then she should go - with his blessing!  He tells a teary-eyed Miss Parker that all he has ever wanted for her is to be happy.   Then says that it is late, and he needs to get up early ... and he and Lyle leave!

Thomas is delighted and tells Miss Parker that it looks as though she is finally in control of her own life.  Miss Parker is confused and shocked ... wants to be happy, but still seems to be uncertain.  Tommy tells her that he is going to go lock the back door while she shuts off the lights.   Miss Parker latches the front door and starts to turn out a light, when she notices her holstered gun sitting on the table.  The sight of it startles her and she thinks for a moment then clearly remembers leaving it on her father's desk, earlier in the day.   Still flustered by it, she puts it in the drawer of the table.

Meanwhile, Jarod's pretend/revenge is in progress.  As Winston drives down the street, Jarod uses a remote control to give him a flat tire -- right in front of Rita's store.   Winston tries to use the phone in his car to call for help, but it has been disabled ... and he walks into Rita's store to see if there is a phone there.   Rita finally lets him use her phone, and just as he is making the call, a hooded Jarod and Peter enter the store as armed robbers.  They pretend to shoot and kill Rita and are threatening to kill Winston as well, which causes him to tell them (as he pleads for his life) that he can help them since he has just recently killed three people in a convenience store himself, and walked away from it.   Having gotten his confession on tape, Jarod and Peter reveal themselves to Winston.

Hoyt and Winston are arrested for murder.  Peter and Dylan are reunited with Mrs. Hale.  And Rita's submarine gets hit by lightening as she wins the lottery!

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