Thursday, August 24, 2006, Episode #4880

Eric worries when he finds an anxious Phoebe lying down at Thorne's.

Phoebe is at Thorne's house babysitting Alexandria, who is having trouble sleeping. Alexandria says that she misses her mom. Phoebe recalls feeling that way when she missed her mom when she was younger and suggests that some milk might help. She tells Alexandria that she's sorry. Alexandria says that everyone says that, but Phoebe replies that she actually means it. Suddenly, she sees a bloody hand reaching for a family of Thorne, Darla and Alexandria. She's stunned, but she looks back and the hand is gone! She then tells Alexandria that she thinks about Alexandria's mom a lot, as well as her own. Phoebe then gasps as she sees a bloody sweatshirt on a chair in the room. She approaches the chair, but the shirt isn't there anymore. Alexandria points out that Phoebe's mom isn't gone. Phoebe doesn't know and laments that it's all her fault. Sensing something wrong, Alexandria asks Phoebe if she's sick. Phoebe looks at the chair again and now sees a figure from behind that looks like Darla. Feeling anxious, Phoebe says that she has to lie down and lies on the sofa. She tries to close her eyes, but she keeps flashing back to Darla's accident. Soon after, Eric drops by. When Alexandria answers the door herself, Eric asks if she's here alone. She explains that Phoebe doesn't feel well.

A vision of bloody Darla appears.

Eric walks over to the sofa and kneels down, trying to wake Phoebe - who opens her eyes and sees Darla's bloody face in front of her! Phoebe hears Darla asks her what's wrong. Eric tries to comfort his distraught granddaughter, who puts her head down on the sofa and sobs.

Stephanie wants answers before she'll offer her help.

As the fire rages around them, Stephanie demands that Taylor tell her truth. Taylor pleads with Stephanie to help, for the love of God... Stephanie angrily retorts, "God will have his chance! This is mine." She wants to know if Taylor killed Darla. Taylor offers to do anything if Stephanie helps her. Stephanie demands the truth! Taylor begs Stephanie to at least help Hector, but Stephanie won't help anyone until she gets her answers. Taylor screams hat she killed Darla, and she's sorry. "You killed her and said nothing?" Stephanie asks. Taylor says that she wanted to tell Thorne, but then Hector did this to her. She pleads for Stephanie to hurry. Stephanie finally cuts Taylor loose and then tries to call 811, while Taylor tries to free Hector from the beam that fell on him, but she can't move it. With the fire getting worse, Stephanie grabs Taylor and drags her out of the house, where they wait for the firemen to arrive. Once the firemen arrive, Taylor urges them to get Hector out, warning that there are chemicals and paint thinner inside. There's an explosion, but the firefighters are able to get inside and pull Hector out. Taylor sees that Hector's face is hurt and asks what happened. A can of flammable liquids exploded, one of the firemen responds as he puts Hector on an ambulance. Taylor wants to go with them, but Stephanie tells her to come with her instead.

Lt. Baker tries to get Thorne to accept his theory.

At the police station, Thorne refuses to accept Lt. Baker's theory that Taylor killed Darla, with Phoebe helping to hide that from him. Baker tells Thorne to step back and consider the facts. Baker knows that Taylor had been drinking that night, as he smelled alcohol on her breath at the hospital. But she wasn't drunk, Thorne states; in fact, he's been aware that Taylor started drinking when Ridge left her, but he's never seen her drunk to the point that she'd forget running someone down. Maybe she didn't forget, Baker suggests, and she didn't lie. She just said nothing, while Hector and Phoebe lied. Thorne asks what Hector has to do with this. Baker suggests that Hector has a thing for Taylor and tried to protect her. He knows Hector is a good man, but sadly, good people sometimes make bad calls. Like the one Baker is making right now, Thorne says, informing the cop that he's off the case. Baker points out that Thorne doesn't have the authority to make that call. Thorne refuses to stand here while Baker ruins Taylor's reputation, so the cop tells Thorne about Taylor's recent DUI conviction. When he sees the surprised look on Thorne's face, Baker realizes that Thorne didn't know. A DUI conviction doesn't prove anything, Thorne insists. Lt. Baker agrees, and that's why he thinks Thorne ask Taylor himself. Thorne refuses to even consider it after the way Taylor has been there for him. He just can't see Taylor as the monster who killed his wife. Baker says he keeps looking for monsters on this job, but they usually turn out to be ordinary folks trying to do the best they can.

After Thorne leaves, Detective Orbach tells Lt. Baker about the nasty fire at the Ramirez place. It seems like Ramirez was trapped inside, and Stephanie and Taylor Forrester were there. Baker goes to the scene and talks with one of the firemen, who gives him the rundown. Hector's ceiling was under repair, and the main support gave way. The fire mixed with the chemicals inside and it all went up. Baker can't believe that Hector, a fireman himself, could be so careless. He asks the fireman if he talked to Stephanie or Taylor. They were here, the fireman says, but he steered clear of Hector's personal life and didn't say anything to them. He's sure the investigator will talk to them. Baker has one of the officers with him get some photos of the scene. Orbach comes over and asks Lt. Baker what they have. Baker says he hates crimes of passion like this, where people try to cover things up, but they leave their mistakes and lies out in the open to be exposed. He compares it to a fairy tale run through a shredder, where you can't make any sense out of it unless you're out of your head yourself. And whose passion caused the crime? Orbach asks. Baker thinks there's enough passion to go around here.