REPORT: EXPOSED
FILE #: 204

IN MIAMI, FLORIDA , Jarod — as Jarod Adams (*) — works as a fashion photographer, at the Darrin Faxon Modeling Agency, to find and expose a stalker who seemingly caused the death of fashion model Kimberly Green. Green had been stalked for months, and was even attacked by her ski-mask wearing assailant with acid when she rejected his control over her. Presumably, while being pursued by the stalker, Green “accidentally” drove her car into a lake. Although her body was never found, she was presumed dead. The presumption seemed supported by the fact that Kimberly’s sister, Erika, acted as though her sister was no longer living: speaking about Kimberly in the past-tense, going on with her own life, and making such statements as, “Now she’s at peace.”

While working on a photographic portfolio for a new up-and-coming model, Cindy Thomas, Jarod discovers that Cindy is now the focus of the stalker’s obsession. Like Kimberly Green before her, she’s received photographs of herself with the words, “You’re Mine” scrawled in red pen on them, and with the eyes burned out (with acid). The disfiguring of the photographs is the stalker’s way of eliciting fear in his victim, removing a bit of her “identity”, and making it impossible for the victim to “see” who he is: all attempts at threatening and manipulating the victim while displaying his “power” over her. Jarod understands exactly how the stalker’s victim feels. While he was at The Centre, his privacy was constantly invaded by faceless people who watched his every action through video cameras. When he once pleaded with Sydney to remove the cameras so they could have a private moment together, Sydney disengaged the ceiling mounted unit, as a favor to Jarod. The taste of “freedom” was soured, however, when Jarod discovered that although Sydney had promised him that the room was camera-free and that they were “safe”, there was a camera hidden in the center of the clock on the wall… and they were being watched. Jarod responded to the betrayal and the intrusion into his privacy with anger and frustration, and ran out of the room. Sydney, who had been unaware of the camera until Jarod pointed it out to him, looked into the camera’s lens and swore, “Damn you.”

IN THE PRESENT DAY : Jarod concludes that Cindy’s stalker, MUST be someone in the agency… as none of Cindy’s photographs have yet been released to the public, so no one but staff would even know who she is. Along with Jarod at the agency are a photographer named Brian, whose work is consistently criticized and rejected by Darrin Faxon, and a stuttering withdrawn photo-enhancer name Toby, who secretly photographs the models when no one is watching him. Either one of them, or anyone in the studio “crew”, could be Cindy’s nemesis.

To try to “get into the head” of the stalker, Jarod hires an actress, Zoe, to act as “victim” for him, and he stalks her for awhile, seeing how she reacts to being constantly watched and followed. Zoe eventually turns the tables on him, however, when — after feeling that the simulation Jarod has concocted is too “real” — she approaches a policeman on the street, and seeks his assistance. Before the policeman can act, Jarod disappears, leaving Zoe alone and confused. Later, Jarod meets with Zoe in a park, pays her for her time, and apologizes for frightening her.

MEANWHILE , to distract Miss Parker, Jarod sends her to Maine in search of her missing father. First, Jarod sees to it that a knapsack is left for her at the Happy Faces Photo Phun studio in Manhattan, New York. Inside the knapsack is a pile of fashion magazines and a View Master toy — with no reel in it. Later, when she’s back at The Centre, Miss Parker receives another package from Jarod. This one is from Maine, and contains a live lobster and a reel for the View Master toy. Inside the lobster’s claw is a note which reads: “Where’s Daddy?” . On the View Master reel are pictures of: (1) a city limits sign for Rock Cove, Maine; (2) an antique store; (3) Jarod in front of Chuck’s Lobster House; and (4) Jarod, wearing wintertime Postal worker’s attire, holding a sign that reads, “Have a nice trip.”

Miss Parker goes to Rock Cove, and while she’s ambling around the streets, Jarod calls her on her cell phone. The two of them have an abbreviated argument:

Miss Parker: “If you know where my father is, you tell me.”
Jarod: “You tell me where my parents are.”
Miss Parker: “I don’t know.”
Jarod: “Find out.”
Miss Parker: “This isn’t funny, Jarod.”
Jarod: “Now you know how I feel… Happy hunting.”

He also tells Miss Parker to say ‘hello’ for him to “Gladys”, but before Miss Parker can ask him who Gladys is, Jarod hangs up.

IN MIAMI , going through the police reports of Kimberly Green’s death, Jarod realizes that there is the distinct possibility that Kimberly had not died in the auto accident that sent her car into the lake. He recalls that when he was younger, at The Centre, he had once pretended to be dead hoping that if everyone thought he was deceased, they’d all leave him alone.

He accesses the phone records of Kimberly’s sister, Erika, and finds that Erika calls someone in another city in Florida every night at 10:30. He goes to that beach side city, and discovers Kimberly there, walking on the beach. He takes photos of her, and presents them to Erika as proof that he knows that Kimberly is still alive. At first, fearing that Jarod is stalker, Erika refuses to cooperate with him. But he convinces her that if he was the stalker, he wouldn’t be revealing himself or talking to her, he’d be out terrorizing Kimberly. Then, to convince both Erika and Kimberly that he sincerely understands what they’ve been through, he shows them one of the DSA’s of himself as a child in The Centre… trying to hide from the “eyes” that were always watching him. Convinced that Jarod can help them catch the stalker, the sisters agree to work with him.

IN MAINE , using the View Master reel as a guide, Miss Parker goes to the antique store pictured on the reel. Inside, is a woman named Gladys who presents to Miss Parker an antique music box… that doesn’t work anymore. The only way to make the unit play music is to find the two figurines that fit and dance inside of it. Gladys tells Miss Parker that the man who’s going to meet her or lunch tomorrow may be able to tell her what the music box means.

The next afternoon, Miss Parker goes to Chuck’s Lobster House, which was also pictured on the View Master reel. There she meets up with “Ben”– the same man whom viewers met last season when Miss Parker visited his bed and breakfast in Maine. Ben and Miss Parker’s mother, Catherine, had known each other for many years, and eventually fell in love with each other, but as Catherine was married to Mr. Parker, they were unable to live their lives together. Ben explains that music box was once Catherine’s… and that Jarod had given him one of the two figurines that went inside of it. Ben gives the figurine — a tiny ballet dancer — to Miss Parker. But the music box still won’t play without the second figurine.

BACK IN MIAMI , Kimberly explains to Jarod that she only saw her stalker face-to-face once — when he tried to disfigure her with acid — and he was wearing a ski mask at the time. All she remembers are his eyes. Knowing that Toby — the photo enhancer at the Faxon Agency — is a closeted photographer, Jarod convinces Toby to take pictures of everyone during the next photo-shoot of Cindy Thomas. Toby obliges and turns all of his photographs over to Jarod. At first, Kimberly is unable to find the “eyes” of her stalker among the crew, but finally — after Jarod does some picture-enhancing himself on his laptop computer — she finds them. They belong to Brian, the other photographer at the agency who can never seem to please Mr. Faxon. Jarod, Kimberly, and Erika then concoct a plan to trap and expose Brian.

First, Jarod sends Brian a photograph of himself with the words, “You’re Mine,” written on it, and with the eyes of the photograph burned out with acid. Then he releases Kimberly (and a decoy) into the agency… Brian, believing she was dead, is startled to see her, and follows her through the building to a studio room. When he first catches up with the woman he believes to be Kimberly and grabs her, the woman turns around and we see that it is Zoe: the actress who had helped Jarod earlier with his stalker simulation. Zoe leaves the room, shuts and locks the door, and immediately the lights go out. Brian is trapped inside the blackened studio room, and can hear Kimberly talking to him from somewhere in the shadows.

Then, suddenly, strobe lights go off from every direction as cameras snap photograph after photograph of Brian, stumbling half-blinded in the otherwise dark room, as Kimberly, Erika, and Jarod taunt him from the shadows. In his confusion and fear, Brian admits to being Cindy’s and Kimberly’s stalker, and when he does, Jarod approaches him with a vial of what he says is acid. Brian falls onto his back on the floor, and Jarod throws the “acid” onto his face. Terrified, Brian screams and rubs at his skin, but Jarod explains to him that the solution is only a little C02 and water… Although it stings and tingles, it’s not acid.

Later, at the Faxon Agency, Jarod encourages Toby to show Mr. Faxon his portfolio of photographs… and we then see Toby as the main cameraman at Cindy Thomas’s next photo-shoot. Meanwhile, Brian is taken to jail on stalking charges, and Erika and Kimberly are free to live their lives in the open again.

BACK IN HER OFFICE AT THE CENTRE , Miss Parker receives another telephone call from Jarod, during which he tells her that she now has all the information she needs to locate her father. She looks at the music box, and the figurine…Then picks up the View Master again to look at the last picture on the reel: that of Jarod in Postal worker’s attire. She picks up the pile of mail lying on her desk, and rummages through the envelopes until she finds a padded one addressed to her. When she opens it, she finds the second figurine — another ballerina — inside. Miss Parker asks Jarod what the box is all about, and he tells her it’s an early birthday present. She explains that her birthday isn’t until January 3rd , and Jarod remarks, “That’s the point.”

Still confused, Miss Parker places the second figurine inside the music box and winds the key. The ballerinas start spinning slowly and music starts to play. When the song is over, a small compartment in the bottom of the box pops open. Miss Parker looks into the compartment, and pulls from it a bent black-and-white photograph. It is of Catherine, Miss Parker as an infant… and Ben. Knowing that Catherine always visited Ben in the spring, and more precisely in April of each year, the significance of the photo suddenly dawns on Miss Parker. She counts on her fingers: May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December, January… Nine months… Miss Parker was conceived in April – when her mother was with Ben… Ben is her biological father.

Just as she’s attempting to digest this information, Mr. Parker arrives unannounced in her office! He walks over to her, and jokes with her about “poaching” the rabbit-shaped paper weight from his desk, as though nothing had happened. When she asks him where he’s been, he answers her only with a cryptic: “If I told you, I couldn’t protect you.” Then, smiling, he tells her, “Mr. Lyle and Mr. Raines want to talk with us. Come along, just follow my lead…” Still stunned, Miss Parker follows Mr. Parker out of her office.