Detective Joel Kincaid stepped into Giselle Ormand's office and closed the door, so as not to alert anyone to his presence in the room. He took a deep breath and headed toward Giselle's desk, hoping he could uncover something. His brother and the young woman who had come to St. Laurent with them were currently outside, working at their new jobs at the Highwind Resort.

Joel had neglected to accept Monique's job offer, because he figured it was some sort of trap. Since he had already been brought to the ski resort after his death was faked without his knowledge in Marquette Cove, and then found that he was buried alive and stuck in a limousine en route to St. Laurent, Joel was reasonably suspicious of everything occurring at the resort.

"There's got to be something in here," Joel muttered, lifting files that were strewn across the desk. "Isn't anything in here labeled as information that will get us out of here?"

Notching a folder on the edge of the desk, away from the other paperwork, Joel took the folder began to read through it. Before he had a chance to move past the first page, the door to the office opened. Joel quickly ducked below the desk to hide himself.

Monique Champlain walked into the office and paused, glancing around suspiciously. "Something isn't right in here."


LAKESIDE

Vincent Moore stood near the lake, trying to drown out the memories of the past few days. Instead of a joyful reunion with an old friend, Michael Thomas, Vince had instead been blackmailed into keeping the fact that Thomas was alive a secret. Thomas had led his ex-girlfriend and everyone else at the ski resort into believing that he was his brother, Blake Thomas, and that his death was faked a few days after theirs.

"Oh no, I can't tell anyone that I was secretly resurrected by my brother two years ago and then lived in his basement until a demon by the name of Zaliphyr, or possibly Antonio posing as Zaliphyr, put me in a mystical coma that transported me to this place where I may or may not be in cahoots with whomever is running it," Vince muttered. "Whoever...or maybe it's whomever. God, why am I worrying about grammar when I'm being held prisoner at a goddamn ski resort?"

Vince picked up a ball of snow and chucked it onto the lake, wondering if Marquette Cove was somewhere beyond the frozen ice. Stranger things had happened.

"Vince!"

Vince turned around to find Kelli Anderson racing toward him. She was carrying a Nokia cellular phone in her hands, much like the one used by Jennifer Garner in ABC's hit drama Alias. Vince paused as Kelli stopped in front of him.

"Hey Kelli," Vince said.

"I have something to tell you," Kelli said, grinning. "It's important."

"Is this about Thomas…Blake?" Vince demanded, correcting himself quickly.

"Yes, it involves him," Kelli replied.

"Okay…I can't take this any more, Kelli," Vince said. "There's something you need to know about Blake. He's not really…Kelli…your ex-boyfriend, Michael Thomas, is alive."

"I know!" Kelli exclaimed.

"Wait, what?" Vince demanded. "He told you?"

"Of course he did!" Kelli said, handing the cell phone in her hands to Vince. "He sent me a text message on my phone, Vince."

Vince glanced down at the text message. "Happy New Year's, Kelli. Love, Michael Thomas."

"Don't you see, Vince?" Kelli asked. "Thomas, he's alive!"


LOBBY

Melissa Maddock entered the Highwind's lobby, wondering where everyone else had gone. No one seemed to be in their rooms, except for Blake, but then again Melissa didn't really have much to say to him. He seemed a little odd to her, even for a teenager. As Melissa neared the front desk, she found Lori Racine standing behind the desk filling out paperwork.

"Lori, what are you doing here?" Melissa asked.

"I'm working," Lori said. "Monique offered me and Duncan jobs, so we took them. We figure it's an easy way to find out what this place is all about."

"I had no idea," Melissa said. "But then again, how can I be in on anything when I'm in my room all the time crying."

Lori frowned. "Don't say that, Melissa. You have every right to be upset. I wish they would have given you a pregnancy test so you'd know for sure whether or not your child survived the trip here to St. Laurent."

"I know there's no chance," Melissa sighed. "I should be nearly six months pregnant by now, but I'm not…that's pretty evident. This is all Valerie's fault."

"Who?"

"Never mind," Melissa said. "It's not important. I'm going to try and get something to eat, I'll talk you later."

"No problem," Lori said, picking up the stacks of papers in front of her.

Lifting them, Lori accidentally dropped one of the pieces. Melissa quickly grabbed it before it fell and handed the page back to Lori, taking a brief glance at it. "Oh my God."

"What's wrong?" Lori asked.

"That sheet of paper! It has my daughter's name on it," Melissa snapped. "Why the hell do you have a sheet of paper with Erin's name on it?"


LAKESIDE

"Kelli, this is nuts," Vince insisted. "You can't…this isn't real."

"Why would you say that?" Kelli demanded.

"Well, first of all, our phones don't get service here," Vince said. "We don't even have our cell phones here. That's not yours!"

"It was in my room when I woke up."

"Someone put it in there?" Vince demanded. "When you were sleeping? Kelli, I told you to stay in my room with me. Someone could have hurt you last night!"

"I think that if someone wanted to hurt me, they would have done it while I was unconscious and on my way to this stupid ski resort, Vince," Kelli reminded him.

"Regardless, I would take this with a grain of salt," Vince said. "How would Thomas even know that number? Or that you would get it?"

"Maybe he's here in St. Laurent, and he's trying to get a message to me," Kelli said. "He could be a prisoner somewhere in the hotel, just like us!"

"Kelli, that's as implausible as it is ridiculous," Vince said, rolling his eyes.

"Look, Blake was here at the resort without us knowing," Kelli said. "Who's to say Thomas couldn't be too? Maybe he didn't die of cancer, Vince. He could be here just like us."

"Yeah, and maybe Damon Johnson didn't really get his throat slit, and he's here!" Vince said. "Or wait, maybe my dad is here! You've figured it all out, Kelli!"

"You don't have to be a jerk about it," Kelli insisted.

"Kelli…I'm not trying to be," Vince said. "But if you're suggesting that Thomas is here, why not every other dead person in Marquette Cove? There's nothing special about Thomas, Kelli. He's not better than —"

Vince stopped talking when he noticed someone staring at him from one of the hotel room's windows. It was Michael Thomas.

"— any of us," Vince finished, not entirely believing it himself.


GISELLE ORMAND'S OFFICE

Duncan Kincaid walked into Giselle's office, where he found Monique standing next to the desk. Monique seemed to be glancing around the office with a scowl on her face. Duncan crossed over to the fax machine.

"What are you doing?" Monique demanded.

"I'm here to pick up the pages being faxed over from some placed called Bel Ami," Duncan replied. "I wasn't aware there were other places in St. Laurent besides this ski resort."

"There aren't," Monique snapped. "I can take the pages myself."

Duncan shrugged and stepped out of the way to let Monique walk toward the fax machine. As he did, he noticed his brother crouched down behind the desk. Crying out, Duncan moved back toward the fax machine.

"Actually, some more pages from that place came out earlier," Duncan said. "I gave them to Lori, who's outside right now, talking to my brother. I think he wanted to see the pages."

"Dammit," Monique muttered. "Can't that detective mind his own business? I used to be on Ghostwriter, you don't see me running around solving crimes."

"You were on Ghostwriter?"

"I had a lot of plastic surgery," Monique answered, exiting the office.

Once Monique was gone, Duncan closed the door and let his brother rise to his feet.

"That was close," Joel said.

"Are you stupid or something?" Duncan demanded. "What the hell were you doing?"

"Breaking and entering," Joel replied, holding the folder he had stolen close to his chest. "Obviously."


LOBBY

"Why the hell do you have a sheet of paper with Erin's name on it?" Melissa demanded.

"Background," Monique said, approaching the desk. "Background that was done on all of you."

"Excuse me?"

"What, do you think we murdered your daughter and brought her here to the Highwind?" Monique demanded. "Give me a break."

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Melissa cried. "Don't you see what you're doing to us?"

"Bitch, please," Monique said, rolling her eyes.

"I need…I need to be alone right now," Melissa said softly, turning around to leave.

Monique frowned and turned back to Lori, where she now found Duncan and Joel standing at the desk as well.

"What is this, a group meeting?" Monique demanded.

Joel quickly placed the folder he was holding on the desk to keep Monique from noticing it in his hands, as she took the paperwork from Lori.

"You're dismissed for the day, Lori," Monique said.

She turned back to face Joel.

"Now, as for you Detective Pain in My Ass," Monique began. "You have some explaining to do."


LAKESIDE

The young woman tripped and fell into the snow as she raced toward the lake. She quickly climbed to her feet, ignoring the fact that she was freezing from only wearing a halter top, jeans, and a pair of sandals to keep herself warm.

Spotting two figures near the lake, she tried calling out to them, but she found that her voice was gone from all of the screaming she'd done earlier. She struggled to keep moving toward the two, hoping they would be able to help her.

"Vince, is something wrong?" Kelli asked.

"No," Vince insisted. "I need to…go inside."

Vince angrily brushed past Kelli and started toward the resort, realizing that Thomas had been watching him. Somehow, Vince had to get the goods on Thomas before he could reveal to everyone that he was only masquerading as Blake to hide the fact that he was helping the person behind their imprisonment at the ski resort.

"This isn't over, Thomas," Vince muttered.

As she watched Vince leave, Kelli sighed and glanced at her cell phone again. She had no idea what to do now that Vince wouldn't help her, until she quickly decided to ask someone else. If Vince didn't believe that Thomas could be in St. Laurent with them, then Thomas's brother was sure to believe her.

"I'll have Blake help me," Kelli insisted. "He has to want to find his brother."

"What are we doing here?" Kelli asked Chris as he parked his car midway through the cemetery.

"Answers," was Chris's sole response.

He climbed out of the car and slammed his door shut, waiting for Kelli to do the same. She joined him on the driver's side of the car, and then they started walking through a sea of gravestones.

"Wait, I know where we are," Kelli said. "This is where Thomas is buried."

Chris remained silent.

Once they reached the site where Thomas had been buried, Kelli realized why Chris was unable to speak. Because now, she was too.

"It's…it's…"

Kelli stared at the large hole before them. A large pile of dirt rested next to the headstone with Michael Thomas's name on it.

"Empty," Chris finished.

"Oh my God," Kelli gasped. "The empty grave from last year…we thought it was a grave robber. But it must have been the person behind this. Thomas was buried alive, just like us!"

Kelli hurried back inside as well, hoping that she was right in thinking that Thomas's body had been stolen from his grave as well, just like theirs. Which also meant that if it was true, someone in Marquette Cove had to be suspicious of the fact that seven graves were now empty in the cemetery.

"This could be the break we need," Kelli said, entering the side door leading into the Highwind Café.

As she stepped inside, the young woman who had been racing through the snow finally caught up with Kelli. Unfortunately, Kelli closed the door before she could hear the woman attempt to call out to her. The young woman staggered toward the door and tried opening it herself, but she was soon met with a blow to the back of her head.

The young woman moaned softly as she crumpled to the ground, unconscious.


LOBBY

Michael Thomas stepped into the lobby, untying the scarf that he had around his neck. He walked toward the front desk where Lori, Monique, Joel, and Duncan were all congregated. He approached the desk and unbuttoned his jacket.

"What's everyone doing out here?"

"Blake, were you just outside?" Joel asked.

"Yeah, I was," Thomas said. "Is there something wrong with that?"

"I just could have sworn you were in your room," Joel replied.

"Listen, I'm not finished with you," Monique insisted, grabbing Joel's arm and dragging him away from the desk.

As Duncan and Lori looked on while Monique questioned Joel, Thomas quickly snatched the files from the desk that Joel had set down. He then walked over to Monique, who handed him the stack of papers she had in her hands to conceal the files he'd stolen from the desk.

"Thank you for looking these over for me, Blake," Monique said. "I'll get them later this week."

Thomas nodded and headed toward his room.

"What was all of that?" Joel demanded.

"He's good with math," Monique replied. "Get a grip, Joel. Stop being so damn nosy."

"Monique, would you like —" Duncan began to talk, but Monique cut him off.

"All of you, get the hell out of my lobby," Monique snapped. "Nosy little bitches."

Joel sighed and walked back toward the desk, but found that the folder he had stuck there was no longer where he'd placed it.

"What the hell?"

"Do you need an escort?" Monique demanded. "Get moving. All of you."


MICHAEL THOMAS' ROOM

Thomas placed the folder he had stolen from the desk in the office and placed it in the trash can next to his desk. He lit a match and tossed it onto the folder, smiling as it began to burn. He approached the desk and picked up one of the pages from the files he had taken from Monique. On the page he read was Melissa Maddock's name, and information about her life in Marquette Cove.

"So, Melissa Maddock had a daughter by the name of Erin," Thomas said. "And she almost gave birth to a son last year, until she suffered from a miscarriage."

Thomas crumpled the sheet of paper into a ball and tossed it into the trash can.

"How wonderful," Thomas muttered, rolling his eyes. "How very wonderful that her daughter was murdered on one fateful night at the Hanley mansion, and that she was buried in a beautiful ceremony. It's such a shame the funeral was a closed casket funeral. Someone might have noticed that the casket was empty."

Thomas walked over to the body of the young woman who had been running through the snow earlier. After she'd been knocked unconscious, she was then brought to Thomas's room so he could deal with her himself.

"You should have stayed where you were," Thomas said, crouching down next to the girl. "You should have never tried to escape from your new home in St. Laurent…Erin Maddock."