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Description[]

After discovering she was adopted as a baby, a woman asks Lilly to re-investigate the murder of her birth mother in 1964. Her mother was a teenager sent to a church-run home for unwed mothers before her murder. As Lilly and the detectives investigate, the now-defunct home's dark secrets begin to come out.

Synopsis[]

March 22, 1964: 17-year-old Hilary is driven by her parents in a car. She tries to make them return to get her slippers or delay their trip by taking a bathroom break, but her father refuses. She claims no one told her "it could happen" (meaning: getting pregnant after the first time sex) and her mother tells her to not speak about this. They pull up to a church-run home and Hilary's mother helps her out of the car. Hilary mentions Huck would want to marry her, yet he is only a child, like her. The parents leave her while a nurse approaches to pick the girl up. Shortly after, Hilary is seen dead on the floor with blunt force head trauma.

Present A woman comes up to Rush and tells her her mother has recently passed and about having found her original birth certificate as she is adopted. Lilly explains they only solve murders; and the woman says her birth mother was murdered a day after her death. Lilly notices St.Mary's home for mothers is not mentioned in the news article of Hilary's death, and assumes someone must have wanted to keep this a secret.

Rush and Jeffries are looking up the files of the dead girl: she died one mile away of St. Mary's, by traumatic brain injury, no mention of her pregnancy. 1974 St. Mary's had been closed and thus not investigated; and Hilary's parents had prevented her from going to school to avoid stigma of an unmarried girl having a child. They go though a yearbook and see Hilary alongside with Huck, her then-boyfriend. They decide to visit him.

Upon arriving at Huck's home, Vera and Valens find him celebrating a birthday with his family, including his grandchildren. When questioned about Hilary, Huck is at first reluctant to talk and explains they were kids, and the topic is precarious. He knew Hilary's parents had sent her away, but not where to; and that contacting her afterwards was prohibited.

Flashback Hilary and Huck are sitting in their car, discussing that she gained weight, and he dismisses her fear of pregnancy: everyone says at the first time, nothing happens. They wonder what to do, and Huck suggests an abortion; Hilary protests she could die during the procedure. He then says he'll skip Yale university, as they won't take him in anyway. Then, they consider marriage, and see their problem solved.

Present Huck claims he tried to do the right thing, but after Hilary's father discovered her pregnancy, the plan was ruined. Before Vera and Valens leave, Huck mentions he doesn't even know if his and Hilary's child is a boy or a girl. Scotty replies that her name is Barbara, and Huck nods, smiling.

Lilly talks to Patricia, Hilary's mother who decided to send her away, but she claims it was her husband's idea, not hers. Patricia explains she wanted to prevent people such as their neighbors from slandering Hilary and thinking lowly of her. When asked what she thought about St. Mary's, Patricia says she wanted to bring her daughter the slippers she had forgotten.

Flashback One day, when Bill was away at work, Patricia visits St. Mary's. She hears whispering from the cellar and goes downstairs. There, she sees a gathering of pregnant teenage girls talking about needing to good-bye their children within minutes. Hilary talks about her child and that it must be wonderful to have a human being growing inside of her. The girl next to her, Karen, retorts it's better to have this "parasite" come out sooner than later. They hear screams from the room next to them, and Karen mentions "Doc Frankenstein" having done his deed again, one girl allegedly died. Hilary is next, but she refuses to be touched by such a man. Karen argues with Sister Margaret that no one would want to get onto the chair with Doc Finnegan voluntarily, to which the Sister counters you wouldn't be here hadn't you voluntarily opened your legs previously. Bad girls deserve bad things, and she threatens Hilary that worse things will happen if she doesn't listen. Hilary relents and gets into the room.

Present Patricia mentions she prays daily that God forgave her for what she'd done. Miller tells Patricia to call in case she remembers something. Patricia asks about Hilary's baby, to which Rush answers she is a grown woman now. Could you tell her she has a grandmother?, asks Patricia before leaving. Rush and Miller suspect Finnegan has something to do with Hilary's murder. He died in 1975, after having let six women bleed out during childbirth that cost him his license. They could locate Sister Margaret though and decide to visit her.

Vera and Valens meet Sister and question her upon St. Mary's. Margaret says this was a long time ago and that the police never questioned her so she didn't bother talking. Valens tells her she knew the truth, but she dismisses him and tells him they were the "last refuge" for girls like these. About Finnegan: he was better for the budget than any other doctor so they employed him. Valens suggests she had hidden the corpse, to which Sister Margaret denies. When Vera tells her about the women he left to rot, Sister Margaret insists all those girls were called "bad girls" for reasons.

Flashback The girls are standing in line and are given rings to imitate wedding rings, suggesting to the outside world they are "normal", married women. Hilary thanks Sister Margaret for the ring, after which Karen mocks her. Hilary tells her Huck wants to marry her and he'll tell his parents soon, when Karen tells him he never contacted her again, has he? And she better also forget her little sunshine, too. Hilary says it was a promise, he will marry her; when two boys start throwing eggs at the girls. Karen throws rocks back and hits a boy, when Sister Margaret gets out of the house. She asks who is responsible for all this, then she eventually suspects Karen. She drags Karen away, slips, and gets help from Sister Abbigail who pushes the girl inside.

Present Sister Margaret calls Karen a "street thug" and "uncontrollable". She adds that Karen was expelled from high school prior to coming to St. Mary's when she hit a classmate with a rock.

Lilly and Will visit Karen at the restaurant she now waitresses at, saying she is known for having anger issues. They question her on Hilary, upon which Karen calls her a "whore" and that she even started liking her. She claimed she was in labour during Hilary's murder; 36 hours and no painkillers, she couldn't walk for a week. Karen never told the police about all of this and she claims to never have searched for her child: it was easier this way. In St. Mary's, these girls were all by themselves, and if someone killed Hilary, it probably was the person responsible for her mess.

Flashback The girls are in a record store where they were prepared with rings for, and Hilary shows them a tape recorder she bought. The girls sing together, and even Karen smiles, until Hilary spots Huck with another girl. They talk, and he sends Mary-Lou, his new girlfriend, away. Hilary confronts Huck and asks if his parents don't know about the child, to which he defends that he'll go to Yale University, thus he has other plans. Hilary is mad at Huck and demands he tell his parents, but he refuses, claiming they would kill him. Hilary asks what she is to do, and Huck suggests adoption; Hilary declines sending their sunshine away and threatens to tell his parents herself. Huck gets mad at her and she leaves.

Present Karen says a week later, Hilary died. The police assume Huck murdered her to keep this secret from his parents.

Vera and Jeffries talk to Huck again, this time in the interrogation room. They knew his parents would have killed him and he needed to stop Hilary from telling them about the baby. When asked where he had been the night of the murder, Huck answers he was on a date with Mary Lou. Vera mocks him for having fun with her right after Hilary was gone, but Huck stresses they only had gone to the cinema. Two witnesses were with him. He knows he had left Hilary high and dry, and she still had not told his parents. Huck reveals he talked to Patricia and mentioned that Hilary wanted to keep her baby; her mother got mad and wanted to go to St. Mary's immediately to convince Hilary otherwise.

Patricia is interrogated by Lilly and Scotty. She says Hilary was her one and only, and she needed to prevent her daughter from becoming like her: having a child too early, not being allowed to work, and existing as a mere house servant for her husband. Hilary deserved better, and that's why Patricia visited her.

Flashback Hilary goes into an office and is surprised to see her mother. Sister Margaret has prepared the adoption papers but Hilary refuses to sign them. Patricia points out Hilary is a child herself, how does she want to raise one? Sister says an adoption will save Hilary's reputation as no man will want to marry her. Patricia assures her that one day, she could still have a family. Still in doubt, Hilary gets handed a paper by Sister Margaret to write down what an adoptive family can offer her child. She does so in several points, and is asked to also note what she can offer. Patricia asks what she has written, and Hilary shows her: love, the only thing she can offer. Patricia still keeps pressuring her into trusting her, and Hilary reluctantly signs the adoption papers. Hilary decides to make an audio tape with her recorder so her unborn child can listen to her, and she can good-bye to them properly.

Present Patricia says those papers are the only legal paper a minor could sign there. Lilly finds the law strange, and an upset Patricia admits she should have protected Hilary, she was her mother. When Scotty asks about the tape, Patricia reveals she listened to it and had cried for over a week. It still exists, and she would like Barbara to have it- and be told she is sorry.

Lilly gets the tape and says the last part might have been the most important. Hilary starts by speaking to her sunshine, and recalls when Karen birthed her son.

Flashback Hilary is sitting next to Karen, who is crying and heartbroken. Karen confides in Hilary that she needed the whole 15 minutes to say goodbye to her newborn son, she recounted his fingers and toes and says he was perfect. Karen knows he belonged to her, how could they take him away? Hilary tries to cheer her up by stating the boy's adoptive parents are wealthy, to which Karen replies they are probably wonderful, but she wants her son "back in his bassinet". Hilary brings Karen to her room, when she hears baby noises. She peeks into another room and sees Sister Margaret exchanging a child for an envelope with money she starts counting. Sister Margaret notices Hilary and shuts the door on her.

Present Sister Margaret is being interrogated. John now knows why she had never talked to the police: she had been selling children on the black market for the highest price. Sister Margaret claims there is no proof for that, but Scotty tells her out of 140 girls that were at St. Mary's, only 112 official adoptions were made -- John notes the rest of the files were not to be found. Sister Margaret claims to have done it for the greater good since the money funded St. Mary's. Scotty asks her if punishments were the way, and she justifies that the church just gave them too little money and those girls would become pregnant all over again if the Sisters didn't "discipline" them. Until one day, Hilary changed her mind.

Flashback Sister Margaret goes into the room where Hilary sits with her newborn daughter for the arranged 15 minutes Karen and other girls also had with their babies. Sister Margaret informs Hilary her time is up. Hilary is struggling, then recounts how she had been in labour for 18 hours, in the dark, all by herself; she though she would die. When Hilary looked at her daughter, she knew she was her mother, and no one could take that away from her. Sister Margaret wants to give her more minutes when Hilary replies they had been lied to, and how bad could something be, when such a sunshine comes out of it? Is love too little?, she asks. Sister Margaret has a change of heart and reveals the child is only being taken tomorrow morning; the doors to the children's room are always open, just like the back door. As Sister Margaret closes the door and leaves, Hilary sings, "You Are My Sunshine" to her daughter.

Present Sister Margaret admits that sometimes, when she cannot sleep, she sees the faces of all the mothers and their children, and asks for forgiveness. John asks if that was the last time she had seen Hilary, and Sister Margaret says yes; John asks why Hilary hadn't taken her child, and Sister Margaret suggests she must have been in a hurry - Hilary's daughter was found in a boy's crib. This confused the girls the next morning. Scotty asks her whose crib it was, and Sister Margaret answers it was Karen's.

Karen is being interrogated by Lilly, who tells her the story of getting lost in a mall when she was six. Lilly's mother had not tried looking for her until she was publicly called out, where she claimed she had lost her daughter when she had actually been drinking. Some mothers shouldn't have become mothers; does Karen think about giving away her son sometimes? Karen claims it happened, and is not to be changed. Lilly counters it is considered the worst thing in the world, but Karen keeps insisting it was not a big deal. Lilly knows it wasn't "not a big deal", as Karen had been looking for her son all these decades through online adoption search groups; she couldn't let go. Karen remembers she was told it would be easy, and there's no day she doesn't think of him and pray for him to be well. Nothing can be stronger than love, she claims. Lilly informs Karen that she has found her son and hands Karen a file, revealing he wants to meet her. Lilly goes on to say Karen took Hilary's daughter and put her in her own son's crib to replace him. Karen starts crying and explains she wanted to keep the girl, but Hilary's daughter was no replacement.

Flashback Karen spots Hilary taking her newborn daughter and leaving the house. She follows Hilary into the woods. Karen asks her what she is up to; Hilary reveals they sell the children for the highest price. Karen insists this is a lie. Both continue running until Karen stops Hilary by pulling her arm. They could never forget them, they are their mothers, says Hilary, and Karen replies that she thought they'd help each other. Hilary apologizes but wants to leave. Karen protests that if she had to give up her son, Hilary also has to give up her daughter. Karen wants her to bring the child back, then starts to call Hilary's baby "him" and that "he" is her child. In a fit of despairing rage and insanity, Karen hits Hilary's head with a rock. After Hilary falls down, Karen pulls her daughter out of her embrace and returns to the home, leaving Hilary to die in the woods.

Present Scotty checks on Lilly and Karen, with the latter looking at her son's photos. Barbara meets Patricia and even Huck wants to see her. Sister Margaret visits a now abandoned St. Mary's. Vera and Stillman are seen putting Hilary's case box away. At home, Barbara has played her mother's tape and reads the paper on which Hilary wrote "love". Barbara then snuggles her baby blanket and "sees" her mother approaching, smiling at her before fading away. Lilly looks at a photo of herself and her mother.

Cast[]

Main Cast[]

Guest Cast[]

Co-Starring[]

Notes[]

  • At the end of the episode, Hillary's case box is put away next to Simone Marks' case box. Rather ironic, given the theme of this episode. Steve Jablonski's case box is also visible two boxes over from Simone's.
  • Stillman and Jeffries both reference Stillman's older brother, Father Andrew Stillman.

Music[]

Opening Song[]

Alongsode Songs[]

Closing Song[]

Season 4 Episodes
Rampage | The War at Home | Sandhogs | Baby Blues | Saving Sammy | Static | The Key | Fireflies | Lonely Hearts | Forever Blue | The Red and the Blue | Knuckle Up | Blackout | 8:03 AM | Blood on the Tracks | The Good-Bye Room | Shuffle, Ball Change | A Dollar, A Dream | Offender | Stand Up and Holler | Torn | Cargo | The Good Death | Stalker

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