Finlay Donovan Knocks 'Em Dead

Back at the motel, they transfer Carl’s torso into the Aston Martin’s trunk. They head to Carl’s home for Steven’s meeting. They park down the road and walk to the property. In the dark, Vero stumbles over something. When Finn briefly turns on her phone light, they realize that they are walking through Carl’s family’s private cemetery. Finn finds a freshly dug area, and they see that it is marked with a gravestone for Carl. The stone claims that Carl died of cancer four months previously—around the time of his murder. Finn wonders if Theresa and Aimee ordered the headstone and planned to transfer Carl’s remains there but were prevented by Theresa’s house arrest.

Through a window, they see Theresa and Aimee inside the house. Finn tells Vero to send the photos of Steven to FedUp, thinking that they will be able to observe Aimee getting the message and thus know for sure that she is FedUp. Vero sends the photos. 

They hear a shotgun cock behind them, and Carl’s wife tells them to freeze. She marches them inside the house. Finn and Vero learn that Mrs. Westover is Theresa’s mother and that Carl was her stepfather. To protect Theresa, Mrs. Westover has buried most of Carl’s remains in the graveyard and is prepared to swear that he died of cancer four months ago. She explains that the plan is for Theresa to turn herself in to the police and claim that she fled house arrest because Feliks threatened her. 

Finn accuses Aimee of being FedUp, but when they check her phone, it is clear that she is not. They see headlights coming down the driveway just as Vero gets a message from FedUp asking why Vero would have sent such horrible photos to her and threatening to call the police. Looking out the window, Mrs. Westover asks why Ted Fuller is here.

Mrs. Westover tells them that Carl and Ted had a falling out that summer and that she has not seen Ted since then. Finn explains about the fake meeting that someone set up. When Ted comes inside, he tells them that he just got a message from Steven, who is running late because of “car trouble.” 

Vero and Finn suspect that Steven got out of the motel room and fixed the van and is now headed for the Westover house. Finn accuses Ted of being FedUp; misunderstanding her accusation, he confesses that his wife, Bree’s mother, set the fire at Steven’s farm. However, other than this, he has no idea who has been trying to harm Steven. Everyone is confused: If no one present is FedUp, who scheduled the fake meeting? Just then, shots are fired through the front window, and they all hit the floor.

Finn guesses that the men shooting outside are Feliks’s men, sent to eliminate everyone. Suddenly, they see flashing lights outside. Nick has arrived, but he is pinned down behind his vehicle by gunfire. Finn creates an incendiary device from a wine bottle and throws it at the shooters. 

Nick takes advantage of the distraction to take cover behind some trees and shoots both gunmen. Finn finds Nick with a gunshot wound to his arm. Vero calls in the emergency and then, at Nick’s request, calls Joey. She has to leave a message for him to meet them at the hospital, as he does not pick up the call. 

Nick explains that he traced Aimee’s calls to a nearby cell tower and came out to investigate whether she and Theresa were hiding at the Westover place. Finn chides Nick for coming without Joey, and he explains that Joey has been searching for Steven. 

Finn feels uneasy. She knows that Feliks has police officers on his payroll, and she is starting to wonder if Joey might be one of them. She also wonders if he might actually be EasyClean. She remembers the tracking app on Steven’s phone and realizes that if Steven is in her van right now, he might discover his phone and turn it back on, allowing EasyClean to find him. She speeds off in the Aston Martin to try to find Steven.

Finn calls Steven’s phone. She begs him to go somewhere public and well lit. He tells her that he is waiting for a ride because the van has broken down. She speeds up, trying to get to him before EasyClean does. 

Just as she sees him and the van, she sees a vehicle approaching from the other direction. She shouts a warning into the phone that the approaching vehicle is not a tow truck, but Steven hangs up and flags down the other driver. 

Finn pulls up beside Steven and begs him to get in. He refuses, but when the other driver opens fire, he dives into Finn’s car. He cannot believe that everything Finn has been telling him is true. She takes his phone and tosses it out the window. 

They compare notes, but all they know about the shooter is that he was driving a sedan, possibly a Chevy. Joey drives a Chevy, but so do many other people. They ditch the other car at a blind turn and find a place to park. Steven apologizes to Finn for not believing her. Vero calls to tell Finn that she forwarded FedUp’s last message to EasyClean so that EasyClean will know that FedUp is trying to back out of the contract. They hope that this will get EasyClean to give up on killing Steven.

Finn tells Steven about Carl’s torso and asks him to bury it on Steven’s farm. Reluctantly, he agrees, and they head to the farm. Steven uses a backhoe to temporarily inter Carl’s remains. 

Afterward, he says that he will call his attorney for a ride and a place to stay for the night. Steven decides to go visit his sister for a while and asks whether he can see the kids tomorrow before he leaves town. She agrees. Realizing that Finn knows about him hiding the farm as an asset during their divorce, Steven promises to make it right. 

Finn meets Vero at Ramón’s garage. Ramón inspects the bullet damage to the Aston Martin and says that it will take days to fix. The van is an easier fix, he says, but it will be so expensive that Finn is better off selling the van. 

When Ramón goes to get them a loaner vehicle, Vero confesses to Finn that the supposed “investment” of Finn’s money was a poker game. She already owed some people money, and to pay them, she used Finn’s money as a gambling stake. Vero lost all the money and owes an additional $200,000. Ramón brings Vero an envelope that someone left for her in his mailbox. It says “Veronica Ramirez” on the outside. Finn thinks that whatever Vero has done, she has done it for good reasons, and that they will get through it together.

Vero and Finn go to the hospital where Nick has been admitted. Since it is outside of visiting hours, Vero fakes a heart problem to distract the staff while Finn finds Nick’s room. Joey is sitting by Nick’s bedside. Reminding herself that she has no proof that Joey is EasyClean, Finn gives him a forced smile. 

Joey tells her that Nick will fully recover from his gunshot wound. He questions her about where she went when she left the Westover place, and she tells him an abridged version of the truth, watching him for any sign that he was the shooter on the side of the road. He tells her that Bree’s mother has been arrested and that the police believe she is FedUp. 

They assume that once news of her arrest is public, EasyClean will back off. Joey claims that he was talking with one of Finn’s neighbors when he got the call about Nick being shot. Finn relaxes, thinking that this means there is no way Joey could be EasyClean. Joey says that Aimee, Theresa, and Mrs. Westover are in protective custody. Nick wakes up and asks her to have dinner with him. She says that they can talk about it when he recovers.

In the morning, Finn and Vero give carefully crafted statements to the police. Finn is not convinced that Bree’s mother is actually FedUp. She calls the auto dealership, planning to tell them that Irina had an emergency and will return the car soon, but they tell her that the car has been paid for and that the documents have been sent by courier. 

Cam returns with Vero’s car, and she checks it for damage. Finn realizes that Cam is now working for Feliks and that he is the courier delivering the Aston Martin’s ownership papers. Before leaving, Cam tells her that all he knows for sure is that EasyClean is a police officer. 

Finn realizes that she didn’t verify Joey’s alibi for the previous evening. She also realizes that by buying her the car, Feliks is creating a paper trail to use as leverage against her. She goes to talk to her neighbor. To her surprise, Joey’s alibi checks out, but she is still suspicious that he is hiding something.

When Finn returns to her house, Julian is there, leaving a small gift for her—a sand dollar on a satin ribbon. He understands if she needs some space, but he wants to at least leave the present he brought her from Florida. They agree to think about whether to continue their relationship. Finn kisses Julian on the cheek and goes inside. 

Sylvia calls to say that Finn’s editor loved the sample chapters and wants the rest of the book right after Christmas. She also pitched the book to a film agent, and a well-known producer is interested in it. After Finn ends the call, Vero tells her to believe in herself because she has written a great story. Finn says that the story she wants to hear is Vero’s. She burns the Aston Martin’s ownership papers.

Finn, Vero, and the children spend Christmas Eve at Finn’s parents’ house. Susan is angry at Finn’s father for sitting around all day while she cooks, cleans, and wraps gifts. She says, “There comes a time in your life when it’s easier to take the good with the bad,” and she has accepted that “[n]o man is perfect” (337). The doorbell rings, and Finn discovers that Georgia invited Nick to dinner. Susan is surprised to see Nick on crutches with his arm in a sling, as neither of her daughters mentioned the recent shoot-out.

At dinner, Finn’s father mentions that someone has been harassing Susan online, asking for money and sending strange pictures. Nick offers to look into the situation, but Susan says that it has stopped, and in any case, it was only one picture. Finn has a terrible feeling that she knows what her mother is talking about. 

Finn’s father asks Nick about his injury. Nick says that he is surprised that they have not already heard the story from Finn since she was there. Georgia asks whether this means that the contract-killing internet forum turned out to be real, and Susan visibly reacts. Finn is sure now that her suspicion is correct: Her own mother is FedUp. She realizes that she, Vero, and EasyClean all misunderstood FedUp’s post—it was expressing frustration with Steven’s treatment of Finn, not using coded language to solicit murder. 

Finn confronts her mother with her suspicions. Susan explains that the computer tech who came to their house to get rid of the virus that Finn’s father downloaded showed her the forum because she was so angry at Finn’s father and Steven.

After dinner, Finn reflects that things finally seem to have worked out: Steven should be safe now, the police are satisfied with their explanations, Vero has arranged for the Aston Martin to disappear, Theresa will testify against Feliks, and Feliks will spend years in prison. Things are also going well with her book, and soon she should have some money in the bank. 

On his way out, Nick gives Finn her old phone. He tells her that the police found it at Theresa’s and assumed that she lost it during the shootout. Then, to her shock, Nick asks what she was doing at Steven’s trailer on the night of the fire. He recognized her voice on the security recording, and a piece of her credit card was found at the scene, along with Vero’s tire tracks. He knows that she has been more involved in the murder-for-hire investigation than she has let on. Before she can answer, however, he tells her that he would rather kiss her than know the answers. Finn kisses him.

Back at home, Finn hangs Vero’s stocking on the mantel. She works on her novel, finding that the story is flowing much more easily now. She gets an Instagram connection request from Julian, and as she is deciding whether to accept it, Vero comes in. 

Finn tells Vero that when she gets the money for her new novel, they are going to take it to Atlantic City and pay off the people Vero owes. Vero asks why Finn would do that for her, and Finn simply replies, “Because you need it. And we’re family” (352). As they get ready to fill the stockings, they realize that there is already something inside Finn’s. It is another envelope from Feliks. Inside, they find evidence that EasyClean is trying to blackmail Feliks over his involvement in the now-defunct forum. There is also a note from Feliks directing Finn to find out who EasyClean is—along with a warning not to disappoint him.