REPORT: CORN MAN A COMING
FILE #: 418

The episode begins with Jarod standing in a pawn shop. He is discussing the concept of giving people a little money for the things they bring in and then turning around and selling the items for much more, with the owner, Toni,. A young man walks in and says he has a great deal for her … he’s found a digital video recorder that someone dropped in a river. Toni gives him $20 for it but Jarod is intrigued by the idea of “home movies” and he wants to buy it. Ten seconds after she has paid the young man $20.00 for it, Toni tells Jarod that it will cost him a “hundred bucks” and without any fuss at all, Jarod pays it.

Back at his latest lair, Jarod removes the tape that is in the recorder and plays it on his laptop … it shows a young girl narrating the vacation that she is taking with her mother. They are at a place called Coomer Creek, near a town where her mother and father lived when they were younger. After a few minutes of tape has played, an incident is recorded where an unknown assailant attacks both the mother and the daughter.

Jarod is driving on the highway in a Mercury Cougar, looking at the beginning of the tape as he drives. He sees a portion where mother and daughter are entering Slade, Arizona and looks up to see that he has just passed that point on the highway.

The next portion of the tape shows mother and daughter at J.R.’s Service Station, getting gas and checking to see if they carry a taillight for a 1965 Mustang, since the daughter had a slight accident while driving her dad’s car. Realizing that the service station will be coming up on the highway soon, Jarod uses a remote to trigger something that incapacitates his car – which means that it will have to be taken to J.R.’s service station to be repaired and will account for this hanging around Slade for a day or two while he attempts to find out what happened to the mother and daughter on the tape.

At the Centre, Miss Parker has received a cyber-postcard from Jarod. It shows Edna Raines, a picture of Mr. Raines, a picture of Catherine Parker, a picture of a building and a picture of Miss Parker as a child with Catherine. Jarod narrates the post card – saying that now that Edna has escaped where her husband has kept her captive for so many years, she has something that she wants to tell Miss Parker about “Mirage” and that she will consider it her redemption to tell Miss Parker. However, she can’t “come home” because there are too many sweepers looking for her. The message that Edna passes along is that no matter what happens, she wants Miss Parker to keep digging for the truth – the secret that her mother wanted her to find is buried out there.

On the road to Slade, Jarod has pulled over and has the hood up on his smoking car. The Sheriff stops and offers to push him up the road a bit to the service station. At J.R.’s, Jarod learns that they will have to send to Flagstaff to get the part needed – Jarod will have to spend the night. A man is sitting outside the door that leads to the service station office, making a straw and corn figure. He tells Jarod that the “corn man” is coming … it’s a local legend that relates to strangers being murdered by a mysterious man. Jarod tells the service station guy that he was in an accident with a couple of women who said they were passing that way – in a red Mustang. The man remembers them, says they looked more like sisters than mother/daughter, but since he didn’t have the tail light they needed, they just got gas and headed on their way. As he’s talking to Jarod his brother, who is the Deputy in town, pulls in to get gas. There is a short exchange between the brothers, and although the Deputy tells Jarod that it’s a case of “brotherly love” – it’s clear that there is no love lost between them.

The Deputy knows about Jarod already and offers to drive him to the Clearwater Inn, which is the only hotel in town, but Jarod tells him that he’d prefer to walk so that he can see the town. The Deputy tells Jarod “not to blink” or he’ll miss the town. As he begins to walk away, the man making the straw doll says again that the “corn man a coming.”

Outside of the Clearwater Inn, Jarod reviews the video tape of the mother and daughter checking in. The innkeeper gives them room #14, which he calls the “Presidential Suite.” When Jarod checks in, he mentions the mother and daughter, but Raymond, the innkeeper, claims that they were never there at all. Having just watched the tape of them checking in, Jarod knows he’s lying but doesn’t confront him – just asks for room #14. As Jarod walks up the stairs to his room, Raymond makes a phone call and tells the person on the other end that someone is asking questions and “even knows the room they stayed in.”

When Jarod gets in the room, he watches the part of the tape that relates to when the mother and daughter were in the same room. It’s night and there is what the mother calls “heat lightening” outside. The daughter thinks she sees someone standing by the tree, outside the window, watching them – but when the mother looks, no one is there.

Jarod goes outside and checks out the tree. He finds a fresh cigarette butt there and doesn’t realize that the Sheriff is watching him. Jarod recalls a simulation that he did with Sydney while he was still being held captive at The Centre. Sydney wanted him to “become the victim” of a crime – do what she did, feel what she felt – in order to solve the mystery of what happened to her. Back in real time, Jarod retraces the steps that he knows the mother and daughter to have taken, by going to the creek. He walks in the places that they did and does the things that they did … he finds the mother’s wallet by the rock where she was attacked and over by the tree where the daughter was attacked, he finds the straw-doll necklace that she was wearing in the video.

At the service station, the part has arrived. The attendant tells Jarod that the service people have never heard of that particular part malfunctioning that way and Jarod says that he must have had some bad luck. Knute tells Jarod that it wasn’t bad luck … he’s a stranger in Slade and it’s the curse. Knute gives Jarod a straw doll to keep him safe, just like the one that the daughter was wearing when she was attacked.

As Jarod is picking up his car the Sheriff arrives and begins asking him questions about himself, but Jarod doesn’t answer him … just tells him that he kind of likes it around there and might hang around for a while. Watching Jarod drive away, the Sheriff tells Knute that he isn’t too fond of strangers and Knute responds with “hope the corn man don’t get ’em.”

At the Centre, Miss Parker asks Broots if he’s had any luck in finding Edna. Listening to the audio part of the post card again, Miss Parker remembers that one of her mother’s favorite charities was a half-way house in Harlem, called “Redemption Home.” They deduce that must be where Edna is and leave to check it out.

Jarod goes to talk to Ted Wright about his wife and daughter and what he saw, but Ted tells him that his wife and daughter are on vacation and they called that morning to say that they are having fun and will be home soon. Jarod is puzzled and only talks about the accident that he made up. Ted Wright tells him that the insurance will take care of it. Ted goes inside and shuts the door, but Jarod hears Ted talking on his cell phone to someone about Jarod asking questions.

Jarod goes to talk to the Sheriff about what he believes has happened to Nancy and Lee Wright, but before he can say anything, the Sheriff gets a phone call and Jarod sees on the caller ID part of the phone that it is Ted Wright who is calling. While the Sheriff tells Ted that he can’t talk now, Jarod quietly slips away.

Miss Parker, Sydney and Broots arrive at the Redemption Home in Harlem, New York and find that Edna is in room 24. But the man who gave Broots the room number told him that he was the second person to have asked about Edna in the last hour. Miss Parker goes in with her gun drawn and finds Mr. Raines drawing a sheet over his wife’s head. Miss Parker asks him what he is doing there and he says that Edna was his wife … Broots says “was?” and Sydney takes Edna’s pulse and proclaims her dead. Mr. Raines gives Miss Parker an empty prescription bottle and claims that Edna took her own life. Miss Parker doesn’t believe it, but knows there is nothing she can do about it. Raines tells Miss Parker that he kept Edna in that institution to protect her and Sydney says that Raines never protected anyone but himself. Miss Parker tells Raines that he can bury his wife and her secrets again – then leaves him there.

As Jarod is driving along the highway, he is checking his rear-view mirror to be sure that no one is following him, but he doesn’t realize that up on a hill, overlooking the highway, there’s a man with a rifle, taking aim at Jarod’s car. The unseen gunman shoots the front right tire on the car, causing Jarod to lose control and go careening off the road.

When Jarod awakens, he finds himself tied to a chair in a room with the Sheriff, Ted Wright and Raymond. They think that he kidnapped Nancy and Lee, because he’s a stranger and has been asking questions. Jarod accuses the Sheriff and Ted of murdering his wife and daughter and conspiring to get the 8 million dollar in insurance money. They say that they are trying to save Nancy and Lee, not hurt them. Jarod shows them ID that says he is “Jarod Wilson” with the U. S. Marshall Service has them look at the tape in the video recorder and explains why he’s been doing the things that he has. All of them decide to work together to get Ted’s wife and daughter back from whoever it was that kidnapped them and are now demanding $500,000 in ransom.

At the Centre, Sydney is telling Miss Parker that he was Edna Raines’ therapist and he knows for certain that she wouldn’t have taken her own life. Miss Parker listens to the end of Jarod’s post card again and makes Broots go back into Raines office again to see what he has “buried” there.

In the Sheriff’s office, Ted is ready to go with the cash drop – they are just waiting for the kidnapper to call. Jarod has a voice analyzer hooked up to the phone and tells Ted that he should make sure that he gets to personally speak with his wife during the call. Ted does talk to Nancy when the kidnapper calls and the arrangements for the money drop are made.

Jarod, the Sheriff and Raymond are stationed around the area where the drop is made, trying to catch the kidnapper. Over an hour passes when a motorcycle approaches Raymond’s position. Just as he is trying to tell the others about it, a gunshot rings out. The Sheriff and Jarod realize that Raymond has been shot and as Jarod dresses the wound in Raymond’s leg, he determines that Raymond was shot from behind. That can only mean one thing. There are two kidnappers!

Back at The Centre, Broots is telling Miss Parker that he will never burgle Mr. Raines’ office again. Miss Parker doesn’t care about that; she only wants to know what he found. Broots tells her that he found nothing … just a communique from Edna to Miss Parker that references Section G14-6. Miss Parker tells Broots that Section G, Row 14, Plot 6 is her mother’s grave and Jarod’s e-mail said to keep digging to find the answer … Broots tries to dissuade her, saying that surely Jarod doesn’t want her to dig up her mother. Miss Parker is having none of it. She tells Broots to “get shovels” because they’ve got work to do.

At the Sheriff’s office the three men are trying to think of what to do next … before the kidnappers kill Nancy and Lee. Jarod remembers the sim with Sydney again and looks for something that he missed before – anything at all. He realizes that there is a reflection in Lee’s sunglasses before she is accosted – enhances the image and is rewarded with a very clear picture of the Deputy Adam. Jarod assumes the second kidnapper is his brother Kent, from the gas station. Jarod listens to the audio part of the phone conversation that took place between Nancy and Ted and realizes that the term she used, saying that she and Lee were a “little ground up” was a clue to where they are being held. They are at the old mill!

Arriving at the cemetery where Catherine Parker is buried, Broots complains that this is the worst thing that Miss Parker has ever made him do. Before they start to dig, Broots asks Miss Parker again if she is sure that this is something she wants to do. Miss Parker thinks it over briefly and then tells Broots that Jarod has done a lot of twisted things, but he would never lead her there just to torment her. Then she tells Broots to start digging.

At the mill, the Deputy and his brother are going to kill Nancy and Lee, but Nancy works the ropes loose and attacks them, giving Lee the chance to run out the door and away. Just as Nancy is about to be shot by Kent, Jarod, the Sheriff and Ted arrive and Jarod knocks him out. Then Jarod takes off after the Deputy, who has gone in pursuit of Lee. Jarod arrives as the Deputy is trying to drag her to the creek to kill her, beats the Deputy up and saves Lee. The Wright family is reunited.

At the cemetery, Broots and Miss Parker have been digging all night and are exhausted. They are down to the casket and haven’t found anything. Miss Parker tells a squeamish Broots to open the casket. He does and is shocked to find it empty! Catherine Parker is not in her grave!

Later, in a phone conversation with Jarod, Miss Parker asks him how he knew that Catherine Parker wouldn’t be in her grave. Jarod tells her that he didn’t know … Edna did. He tells her that Edna knew all the secrets, especially about the Mirage project. Miss Parker tells him that unfortunately, Edna took them to her grave with her. Jarod tells her that Edna was someone who Miss Parker could have trusted … and she finishes the sentence with “unlike The Centre or my family.” Jarod tells Miss Parker that if her mother kept any secrets from her, it was to protect her. Miss Parker wants to know from what she was being protected … and Jarod tells her “the truth.” He tells her that life is a “Mirage” and sometimes the things that scare you the most can be the things that save your life — he is playing with the straw doll from Slade as he tells her this. He breaks the connection, looks at the doll and gives a half smile as …

The screen fades to black…