REPORT: WAKE UP
FILE #: 318

The episode opens with a young Miss Parker sitting underneath a tree with her mother. Miss Parker asks her mother if she will ever find the kind of love that her mother has found with her father. Her mother tells her that she believes that she will, but for the time being she is all hers. Catherine Parker tries to tickle her daughter, but the young Parker runs laughing. Miss Parker turns to find her mother only to find her gone. She searches for her mother but finds a headstone (for her mother) ….

Miss Parker is startled awake by her dream… she reaches over only to find that Tommy is not next to her. She heads for the bathroom where she hears the shower running. She enters saying, “If you use all the hot water, I will kill you.” She starts to tell Thomas that she is committed to their relationship and that she is going to go to Oregon with him. She waits for a response but there is none. She pulls back the shower curtain…. but no Tommy.

She goes looking for Thomas, only to discover that her house has been broken into, supposedly. She finds the door opened. She darts for the door and steps in blood. She exclaims, “Tommy!” She goes out the door and looks down at the end of the porch where Tommy lies bleeding from the head. She runs to him and checks his vitals. She then sees the ‘trash man’ using a cell phone to call the police. Miss Parker starts to yell for help but then tries to stop the trash man from bringing the local police in on it. However, it is to late he has already called the police, gotten into his truck, and driven away. Miss Parker returns to Thomas’ side. She cradles him in her arms and begs him not to leave her. However, it is too late, Thomas Michael Gates is dead.

At the police station, Detective Ronald Miller is questioning her about the mysterious trash man that called 911. Miss Parker describes the truck to Miller. He tells her that she has the right to have an attorney present, but she tells him that she has nothing to hide. Miller asks Miss Parker if she was sleeping with Thomas. Miss Parker doesn’t see the relevance, but she tells him that they were committed to making their relationship work. Miller pulls out a one-way ticket to Oregon and asks why Thomas had it in his jacket.

Miss Parker has flashbacks to when Tommy first asked her to go to Portland. Miss Parker tells Miller that Thomas was taking a job there, renovating an old house, and that she was going to meet him up there later. Miss Parker is unable to suppress her emotions and she starts to cry. Another Detective enters the room and hands Miller something in a evidence bag. Miller then asks Miss Parker if she owns a gun. She is startled by the question, but tells them that she owns a 9 millimeter Smith & Wesson. She tells Miller that she works for an International Corporation and that it makes her feel safer when she travels. Miller then asks her if she works at “that complex outside of town”. She tells him that it is called The Centre. He asks her what they do there, and she tells them that they are a “think tank”. She then asks what all this has to do with Thomas’ murder. He tells her that Thomas was killed by a 9 millimeter handgun… which is what Miss Parker owns, and hers is missing. He asks again if she wants an attorney.

Later, Miss Parker is leaving the police station with Sydney, Broots, and Lyle. Broots tells her that he is sorry about Thomas. Lyle scolds her about letting the locals get involved in Centre business. She tells him that she had no choice, a local trash man called the authorities. Lyle tells her that Mr. Parker is on his way back from Montreal. Sydney asks her what he can get for her. She says, “I want Tommy back.”

Somewhere, Jarod is cutting pieces out of colored glass. In the background the news reports on the murder in Blue Cove. Jarod looks to see Thomas’ body being put into a coroner van and Miss Parker being put into an unmarked car.

Back at Miss Parker’s place, she sits on her couch in front of the fireplace, holding Tommy’s flannel shirt. She is remembering when Tommy was searching for the same shirt and she was wearing nothing but it. He asked her why she was always wearing his shirts. She told him it was because they smelled like him. He told her when he died, he would leave her all his shirts.

The phone rings, Miss Parker is brought back to the real world. Jarod is on the phone….

He tells her that he heard about what happened and that he is sorry. He asks her how she is and she honestly tells him that it is too early to know. He asks if they have an idea on the murder, but she tells him no. He tells her to look closely at the people around her and to watch for the ‘missing pieces’. Jarod then hangs up.

The doorbell rings and Miss Parker goes to answer it. Her father and Brigitte stand at the door. Miss Parker lets them in and instantly goes to hug her father. Mr. Parker is doing his best to help her but Brigitte is cold and reminds them that Miss Parker let the local police in on Centre business. Brigitte says that it would be impossible for someone to break in and kill Thomas not hear anything. The battle between Miss Parker and Brigitte sparks. Mr. Parker tries to break them up when Detective Miller arrives. All become silent. Miss Parker asks what he wants and he tells her that they picked someone up about a mile from her house. He had a Smith & Wesson 9-millimeter and Thomas’ blood all over him.

Sometime the next day, Miss Parker stands in a room looking in on the junkie (through a two-way mirror) that is suspected of killing Thomas. His name is Wade Dawson and he swears that he has never seen the gun before, but he was so wasted when they brought him in that he probably doesn’t remember much. In Dawson’s shack they found photos of Miss Parker and Thomas together. Miss Parker is sickened by them. Miller tells her that Dawson was probably in for the thrill, but that he saw an opportunity to break into her home. He tells her that Thomas must have just gotten in the way.

Dawson is in withdrawal and he is not being corporative. All of this is too much for Miss Parker to stand. She rushed into the room with Dawson and pulls him out of the chair and begins to choke him… telling him that he had better tell the truth or she would kill him herself. Detectives rush in and pull a hysterical Miss Parker off Dawson. They remove Dawson from the room. Miss Parker sinks to the floor where she sits and sobs.

At the funeral for Thomas, Miss Parker gives a short but beautiful eulogy for Tommy. As she speaks she remembers a special moment that she shared with Tommy. When he told her that she meant the world to him and that he loved her. Also at the gravesite, Mr. Parker, Lyle, Broots, Sydney, and Brigitte. Miss Parker finishes and lies a rose on Thomas’ coffin. Sarah McLaughlan’s song Angel starts to play.

At a bar sits Miss Parker finishing off yet another drink. Someone asks if he can get her anything else and she tells him to get her another round. But the ‘someone’ is Jarod and he sits down across from her and tell her he was thinking coffee. She laugh at him and he asks her what is so humorous. She tells him, “I spend 80% of my life searching for you and the moment I stop, you sit down in my lap.” He then tells her that if she is going to find out who killed Thomas she has to kept her wits about her. Miss Parker tells Jarod that he isn’t so smart cause they already caught the man that killed Tommy. Jarod looks at her and says, “The man the police think killed Thomas is dead. He dies in his cell less than a hours ago of a drug overdose.” He then reminds here that there are ‘missing pieces’.

At the Centre, Miss Parker is voicing her opinion about the fact that a career junkie now decides to overdose. She comments that the police told her that Dawson lived in a shack by the railroad tracks. Broots says that he hopes she is not going there. She tells Sydney and Broots that they are all going.

At the shack, Miss Parker, Broots, and Sydney must cover their noses and mouths, so they are able to stand the stench. They rummage around in his shack and find morphine bottle, which Sydney says are pharmaceutical brand – 100% pure. They all figure that a junkie like Dawson could never get his hands on that stuff. They determine that someone supplied him with it. Miss Parker tells Broots to take the vials back to the Centre and check them for finger prints. Sydney asks her what she is looking for and she says, “Missing Pieces”.

Later at the Centre, Broots tell Miss Parker that there was only a partial on the vials and he is not able to make it out. As Broots is leaving Miss Parker’s phone rings. She picks it up and Jarod is on the other end. Jarod tells Miss Parker that Dawson died of an overdose of morphine and strychnine. Miss Parker realizes that someone killed Dawson before he could talk.

Sydney enters Miss Parkers office as Jarod hangs up the other end. Miss Parker starts to leave for a meeting with Detective Miller, but Sydney stops her and asks why she thinks she can trust him. She shows Sydney his file…. many years of good service, citations for meritorious conduct, married to his high school sweetheart with four kids. She then tells Sydney that is probably the only person in all of this without an agenda.

On her way home, to meet Miller, Miss Parker is forced to stop due to an accident up ahead. She gets out of her car and joins a women was is watching as they are trying to extract the man body from the mangled car. Miss Parker asks what happened, and is told that the man took the curve to fast and hit the tree. The women also says it is a cop. Miss Parker’s interest is peeked. She gets slightly closer and see the man they pulled from the vehicle. It is Detective Miller and he is dead.

Miss Parker stares at Miller’s mangled car in the police impound. Jarod surprises Miss Parker with his presence and then shows her the break lines from Miller’s car. They had been cut. Miss Parker says that she feels responsible and Jarod tells her that Miller was just a good cop trying to find the truth and that is why he and Dawson were silenced… Miss Parker finishes, “So that no tracks lead back to The Centre.” Jarod reminds her that The Centre kills anyone who is interested in the truth… His parents, Kyle… Her mother, and now Thomas. Miss Parker wonders how a man in prison can get a hold of pharmaceutical grade morphine. Misses Parker then asks how they are to stop The Centre. Jarod tells her with the truth. Miss Parker says, ‘Missing Pieces’. And then turns to find Jarod gone. She then calls Broots to ask him to do something for her.

Broots finds the ‘trash man’ at a local body shop and Miss Parker and Sydney go there to confront him. Miss Parker finds Lester Carmichael (the trash man) and pulls him out from under a car. She jabs a gun under his chin and starts asking him about Thomas. He recognizes her and then he starts to talk. He tells her that someone called and told him to be there that morning and so he was, but he doesn’t know who the person was “he was just a voice on the phone”. He says he was supposed to call the police and leave… he thought it was a prank. Miss Parker asks if passing drugs to a prisoner is a prank. Lester says that he needed the money. She also asks about Miller car accident, but Lester swears he doesn’t know about that.

She believes him and asks if he were to hear the voice again if he would recognize it. He tells her that he would for a half of a million dollars.

Miss Parker goes to her father with the offer and tells her that Lester is the only person left who knows the truth. He agrees to get the money for Lester.

When Sydney, Broots, and Miss Parker go back to the body shop to find Lester everything is locked up tight, but something is not quite right. She then finds a bay door that is unlocked. They enter the shop and discover that there is a car running inside. They each scurry around trying to save whoever is locked in the trunk (apparently trying to commit suicide). Miss Parker shuts off the engine and Broots and Sydney get the trunk opened only to discover that Lestor is in the trunk dead. The light to the garage go on and in walks Mr. Parker, Brigitte, and Lyle. She asks what they are doing there and Lyle says that it was his idea. Mr. Parker tells her that they were worried about her. Miss Parker tells him that Lester was the last link in finding out the truth about Thomas’ murder. Mr. Parker closes the trunk saying, “this breaks the chain for good.” He tells Lyle to call in sweepers so there is no trace of Centre involvement. Lyle gets on the phone.

Mr. Parker tells her that she must move on with her life does not dwell on the things that have not answers.

Miss Parker sits at Tommy’s grave. She arranges flowers for him. Her phone rings and it is Jarod. He tells her that she spend too much time in cemeteries. She tells him that they kill them all for what… Power? Control? Jarod asks her what she is going to do know. She tells him that she is going to grieve and wait…. wait until everyone thinks she has forgotten and then she will make them pay.

Jarod tells her that he left her something under the nearby tree. Miss Parker finds a package wrapped in brown paper. She opens it to find a mosaic colored glass picture of her (we saw Jarod cutting the glass earlier) with the heart missing from it.

Miss Parker looks back at Thomas grave and remember the conversation she had with her mother about whether she would find someone to love. She goes back to Thomas’ grave and kneels in front of the headstone. She begins to remember all the good time that she had with Tommy.

As the camera pulls away, Miss Parker let her head fall back so that she might stare at the sky. In the background Sarah McLaughlan’s Angel plays………….. the camera gets farther away and then we hear in Thomas’ voice “I love you, Parker.”

DATA

Date: 05.01.1999
Writer: Tommy Thompson
Director: Michael J. Klick

Notes:

The song that plays during and at the end of this episode is Sarah McLachlan’s Angel.

Names & Occupations:

  • N/A – Coroner

Last Name Origin:​

  • N/A

Discoveries:

  • N/A

Credits:

Billy Lee Brown (Manager)
Jason Brooks (Thomas Gates)
Mailon Rivera (Police Detective)
Mark Ankeny (Minister)
Pamela Gidley (Brigitte)
William Parry (Detective Miller)
Don Keith Opper (Trash Man / Lester)
Jill Lover (On Looker)
Brent Roam (Wade)