We open on Daniel lecturing his class about secrets. Basically, he tells them that “biologically, it’s healthier to confess your secrets, so what it is about human nature that makes us work so hard to keep them hidden?”
Shoot to Donnie surprising Kate with her favorite kind of coffee. She then asks him what he wants. He tells her that he's been assigned the Carl Huffman case, a real estate mogul who got busted running Ponzi schemes out of retirement centers. Donnie tells Kate that he needs someone to do background interviews on the victims. Kate says that she’s too busy. She suggests Daniel help and Donnie asks why she keeps feeling the need to involve him. Her response, “Because he’s brilliant and he never says no to a case.”
Shoot to Daniel saying no to Lewicki about meeting a female environmental activist. But, Daniel finds Rebecca Abbott, the environmental activist, in his office. She tells him that she’s a big fan and has read all of his books. She then tells that he needs to see something. On a tablet, Rebecca shows Daniel a bunch of young girls who exhibit physical tics. Daniel says that it looks like they all have Tourette’s but then Rebecca tells him that they all live in the same small town and started exhibiting these symptoms within days of each other. Daniels says that Tourette’s isn’t communicable. Rebecca then tells him that one of the girl’s mother’s found her web site and contacted her because she thinks the girls were poisoned by an environmental contaminant, TCE, Trichloroethylene, and a chemical plant nearby processes loads of it. She then says that tox screens on the girls came up positive for TCE in their systems. Rebecca thinks the TCG has ended up in the water supply there and the company is trying to cover it up. She then adds that she’s filing a class action law suit against Brooksville Chemical and wants Daniel, a top neuroscientist, to testify that TCE caused the girls’ symptoms. Daniel then says he’d have to examine the girls. Rebecca then offers to cover his hotel bill and plane ticket. When he finds out that he needs to fly to Pennsylvania, Daniel all of a sudden says that he’s too busy but Rebecca begs him to help the girls and leaves in a huff that he won’t. Kate arrives as Rebecca storms out of Daniel’s office. She tells him about helping her with the Huffman case and he says he can’t. She asks why. He says that he’s already working on a case. Lewicki, in the background, looks puzzled. Kate asks Daniel if it’s for the FBI. He says that it isn’t and it's for the woman who just stormed out of his office. He then says that he and Lewicki will be out of town for a few days.
Shoot to Daniel at home packing as “Natalie” questions him going on a plane and staying in some “hick town because you’re interested in a case” then asks him what’s really going on. He tells “Natalie” that Donnie told him that Kate has a “thing” for him and thinks her asking him to help her on cases is a way to be closer to him. “Natalie” asks if that’s a bad thing since Kate is smart, attractive and accepts him for who he is. Daniel replies that he doesn’t want to subject Kate to the “craziness of my life.” “Natalie” then asks if his solution is to “scamper out of town on a case.” Daniel denies “scampering” and then Lewicki pops in with bags asking Daniel if he’s ready to leave. “Natalie” then asks Daniel if he’s “ready for this” and he replies, “How bad could it be?”
Shoot to an overcrowded airplane, in coach, and a baby crying, as Daniel, with headphones on, tries to distract himself by reading a magazine. Lewicki isn’t too comfortable either. Someone then sits their seat back and spills food all over Daniel.
Shoot to the hotel. Daniel tells Lewicki that he can’t stay in the room with its “faux Thomas Kinkade artwork… the bacteria infested bed.” Then, Chad, Rebecca’s assistant arrives and introduces himself. He apologizes for being late because someone slashed the tires on his rental car…again. He says it’s because some aren’t happy about his and Rebecca’s presence. He then tells Daniel and Lewicki that they are late for a town meeting. Daniel doesn’t want to go and says that he’s there to examine the girls. Chad tells Daniel that is where they are. Lewicki tells Daniel to go and that he’ll deal with the room.
Shoot to the town meeting as Rebecca is speaking and the girls are twitching. Rebecca states that “Brooksville Chemical and Martin Sullivan do not care about how many people they hurt in this town!” Suddenly, a woman stands up and calls Rebecca a “liar.” She’s Sullivan’s wife and his son also says he won’t listen to anymore “bulls*it” and gets up to leave. Sullivan then apologizes for his wife and son’s outburst, says that he’s sorry and talks about how his grandfather worked the land the company was founded on. Rebecca insists that all the company cares about is its stock prices. Sullivan shoots back that the company has stayed in the town to help the economy and yells at Rebecca for her “frivolous lawsuit.” Rebecca then introduces Daniel to back her claims. Daniel is uncomfortable with everyone staring at him. He runs out but is followed by a woman who asks him, “Could these chemicals have killed my daughter?” She begs him to look at the picture of her daughter. She’s a young beautiful brunette. He notices her eye color and asks her mother if she had the same “spasms as the other girls.” Her mother says no and shows him her daughter’s toxicology report. The woman then said she was away for the weekend and came back to find her daughter, Patti, had hung herself in the closet. She blames herself for leaving her alone. She thinks the chemicals made Patti depressed but Daniel says TCE doesn’t affect one’s mood and tries to run away again. Rebecca then catches up with Daniel and asks him if he’s trying to make her look bad. He claims she “ambushed” him. She then tells him that the tests came back that prove the groundwater in the town is contaminated. Suddenly, a gunshot rings out! Rebecca is hit in the shoulder.
Shoot to the hospital. Lewicki asks Daniel how Rebecca is. He tells him that she was lucky being shot only in the shoulder and that she was in surgery. Daniel is on edge and Lewicki suggests they head back to the hotel so Daniel can “put on a clean shirt.” Daniel agrees.
Shoot to their hotel room. Lewicki made over the room so Daniel would be comfortable staying there. Then, Lewicki gets a call from Kate asking to speak to Daniel. Daniel tells him to tell her that he’s busy but Lewicki says that he called her and told her about the shooting. Daniel asks him why he did that. “Because you almost got shot and she’s the FBI,” Lewicki replies. Daniel gets on the phone and Kate tells him that she’ll be on the next flight out to where he is. Daniel tells her that she doesn’t have to but she insists since he was shot at Lewicki told her what a small town it is and that “the local PD won’t be that thorough especially if it’s a company town.” Daniel asks if a local FBI field office could handle it and Kate replies that Pittsburgh “probably won’t want to work with you because you’re not exactly conventional.” Daniel then tells Kate that he has to go and hangs up on her. Daniel then tells Lewicki to call Chad and tell him that he wants to see the girls’ right then. Lewicki asks if it could wait until the morning. Daniel replies that he won’t be intimidated by the shooter.
Shoot to Daniel talking to one of the stricken girls and her mother. One is telling him when her symptoms began. She tells him that she can’t control her movements. We see Daniel talking to each girl, with their mother. He asks one girl if she’s been able to sleep and she says no and that when she tries the twitching wakes her up. She then asks the girl if she’s been under any stress and she fires back that she’s “a high school girl with tremors and facial tics. I think that qualifies as stressful.” Daniel then tells Chad that he wants to meet with all of the girls’ doctors. Chad tells him that Dr. Bilson, is the only pediatrician in town, and that he treats all if the girls. Daniel insists on meeting with him immediately.
Shoot to Bilson asking Daniel if he thinks the girls were poisoned by TCE. He tells him that their TCE exposure levels were low and that they aren’t exhibiting other “neurotoxin symptoms.” Bilson then asks Daniel if he thinks the girls are faking it. Daniel doesn’t think so then he asks Bilson if any of the girls had any other health issues before the symptoms. Bilson mentions a strep throat outbreak a few months back.
Shoot to Daniel telling Rebecca, who is still in the hospital, about a condition called Pandas. He tells her that it’s “a neuropsychiatric disorder in children and it can cause motor tics and tremors.” Daniel then adds that it’s caused by strep throat infections and that he wants to run more tests on the girls. Then, Chad interrupts them and says that “CNN wants to do a live remote to talk about the case.” Rebecca tells Chad to tell them yes. Once Chad leaves, Rebecca tells Daniel that she flew him there to support her case that TCE poisoning was the cause of the girls’ problems. Daniel shoots back that he’s there to find out why the girls are sick “not to rubber stamp any theory that supports your case.” He then leaves Rebecca’s room.
Shoot to Daniel trying to sleep in the hotel room but he hears a woman whisper, “Help me, please.” He keeps hearing the voice and then the sliding mirror closet door opens on its own. Daniel gets out of bed, turns on the light in the closet to investigate and finds nothing. He shuts the light and slides the door closed. He then sees a reflection of Patti standing behind him. She’s holding out her hands to him but when he turns around, she’s gone. Then, there is a knock on his door, Daniel, spooked, cautiously inches toward the door. It’s Kate. She tells him that she stopped by the local police already and that they have no suspects in the shooting but know who vandalized Rebecca’s rental car.
Shoot to Daniel and Kate talking to Sullivan’s son and wife. Sullivan’s shot denies shooting that “crazy bitch” but Kate says that she knows he slashed the tires on Rebecca’s rental car. Sullivan’s wife insists it was a prank and that her son apologized to the police. Kate then asks Martin Sullivan if he owns a rifle. He tells her that everyone in town owns one so everyone would be a suspect in the shooting. Daniel notes that the son, Braden, had motive to shoot Rebecca because she had just disparaged his father in front of the whole town. He then added that he stormed out of the town hall minutes before the shot was fired so he had the opportunity. Martin wants Daniel and Kate to leave but not before telling them that Brooksville Chemical has commissioned its own TCE tests on the girls and shows them the results say that there isn’t any contamination in the air, soil, anything.
Shoot to Daniel’s hotel room as Kate says the company commissioned its own tests and gave themselves “a clean bill of health, yeah,” she adds sarcastically. Daniel then proposes that it’s Rebecca’s tests that are “off.” Kate then asks Daniel if he thinks she faked them. Kate is shocked that Daniel is proposing that “the big bad corporation isn’t the enemy.” Daniel tells Kate that he thinks it’s more about publicity for Rebecca then finding out the real cause of these girls’ illnesses. Kate then says she’ll subpoena the lab that did Rebecca’s original testing to make sure they are getting the actual results. Daniel then tells Kate if the tests results were phony maybe the shooting was too.
Shoot to Daniel and Kate going to see Chad, Rebecca’s assistant. Daniel introduces Kate to Chad as an FBI agent, who is there to see him. Kate questions Chad about purchasing a rifle the week before and Daniel suggests that Rebecca wanted to make it look like she was being targeted so Chad shot at Rebecca. Chad denies it but Kate tells him that ballistics reports will match the gun and Chad is now on the hook for attempted murder. Kate tells Chad that he’s going to jail “unless, of course, you help us out.”
Shoot to Kate and Daniel confronting Rebecca, who denies that it “was a publicity stunt. I almost died.” Kate then says that Chad wasn’t supposed to hit Rebecca. Daniel then gets mad that Rebecca sucked him into going after a company that hasn’t done anything wrong when there are tons of corporations out there that are. Rebecca stands by her results but Daniel says the TCE levels in the girls weren’t high enough to make them sick. She then insists TCE is in the groundwater and Daniel notes the company’s own tests cleared the groundwater of any contaminants, that her original results said the same and that she lied to him. Daniel then tells Rebecca that Chad is testifying against her. Rebecca continues to insist that she was looking out for the girls and now they’ll get nothing where they would have gotten a million each without Daniel’s interference. Kate adds that Rebecca would have gotten 33% of that. Then, Kate lets in cops ready to arrest Rebecca but then Daniel sees Patti’s image again. She’s glaring at him and walks away so Daniel chases her as Kate calls after him. Daniel follows Patti’s image and she again whispers to him, “Help me.” Then, Bilson and Kate catch up to him. Bilson tells Daniel that three more of his patients are exhibiting symptoms. Bilson then tells Daniel, “Whatever this thing is…it’s spreading.”
Shoot to Daniel telling Kate that she can go home because the case is now a “medical mystery.” Kate then asks Daniel if she’s done something to offend him. He tells her that she hasn’t but she notes how he turned down helping her on a case, which he’s never done then he hoped on a plane and now he can’t get her out of town fast enough. “Natalie” appears and tells Daniel that Kate breaks serial killers so she’ll get the truth out of him eventually. Daniel then tells Kate that he “can’t have a relationship with you.” Kate doesn’t know what Daniel means. He then clarifies that he can’t have a relationship “with anybody right now.” Kate replies, “What gave you the impression that I wanted a relationship?” Daniel says he doesn’t know and mutters that he picked up signals. Kate then says that if she has feelings for him she would tell him NOT send out signals. She then adds that any signals she sent out were “all in your head and don’t worry about avoiding me anymore, I’m leaving tonight.” When Kate walks away, Daniel tells “Natalie” what a great idea it was to tell her the truth. “Natalie” admits that the idea was good but his execution was off. Nurses see Daniel talking to himself about the “nightmare of a trip.” “Natalie” insists that Daniel is upset about Kate not about the trip, the hotel room, etc. “Natalie” then thinks it’s nice to think that someone has a crush on you and that’s what’s bothering Daniel. Daniel walks away from “Natalie” as she tells him that “bottling up your emotions isn’t healthy. They’ll eventually bubble to the surface.”
Shoot to Kate drinking a beer in the hotel bar. She ignores a call from Daniel then Lewicki arrives. They start binge drinking beers. A drunk Lewicki tells Kate that they should “talk daily, no hourly.” “A Friends of Dr. Daniel Pierce support circle,” Kate proposes. Lewicki agrees. Kate then asks Lewicki if she gives out “signals” and asks him if she’s ever given him the impression that she has a “thing” for Daniel. Lewicki replies by asking Kate if she does have a “thing” for Daniel. She says that she doesn’t but wants to know if it seems like she does. She then calls the whole idea stupid and asks Lewicki if they should each order another beer. Lewicki replies that they should get together more often.
Shoot to Daniel in his hotel room researching. All of a sudden, the radio shuts off and the light blub in the lamp explodes. He hears Patti whispering again, “Help me.” He opens the closet and finds Patti crouched in there. She begs him to help her and then her face suddenly becomes filled with red dots. Daniel covers his eyes. When he uncovers them, Patti is gone, the radio comes back on and so do the lights.
Shoot to Daniel going to see Patti’s mother and asking to see Patti’s autopsy report again.
Shoot to Kate leaving the hotel but Daniel catches her and tells her that he was wrong. He tells her that she can’t leave town because they have a murder on their hands.
Shoot to Daniel showing Kate Patti’s autopsy photos and tells Kate that her death was ruled a suicide but “asphyxiation causes capillaries in the face to burst, causing red dots on the face” which means she didn’t hang herself. Kate then asks Daniel how the coroner could have missed this detail. He says the coroner is “a funeral director not an MD.” Kate then asks Daniel who killed Patti? He thinks the other girls are involved and mentions conversion disorder, where “psychological trauma transformed into physical symptoms.” Daniel says the symptoms can get “extreme, where a wife can catch her husband in bed with another woman and then is suddenly blind.” Daniel calls the girls having the symptoms at the same time mass hysteria, where a group is exposed to the same situation and develops shared symptoms. Kate thinks it’s a “stretch” but Daniel notes a case from 2006. Kate then asks Daniel if he thinks Patti’s murder was a shared trauma. Daniel thinks all the girls have guilt over her death. Kate thinks it could be grief over a friend’s suicide but Daniel notes that Patti’s death was weeks earlier and the girls didn’t develop symptoms until weeks later. “Grief lessens over time but guilt builds,” Kate says. Daniel thinks the nine afflicted girls are hiding something “and that secret wants to come out.”
Shoot to Donnie asking his colleague where Kate is. They tell him that she’s in Brooksville, Pennsylvania. He asks what she’s doing there and they don’t know. Donnie calls Kate and yells at her for blowing him off. She tells him that his Ponzi scheme case isn’t in court for another three months and that she’s working on a murder. He replies, “Let me guess…with Daniel Pierce.” Kate hangs up on Donnie and then Kate asks Daniel what she’s done to give him the impression that “my feelings for you were anything other than platonic?” He says that she asks him out for pizza and stuff like that and she says that’s what friends do. Daniel says that it’s all in his head and Kate accepts his apology.
Shoot to Kate and Daniel questioning the girls about Patti. They tell them that she was a “science nerd. We made like she didn’t exist.” Daniel replies, “You made sure she knew that.” The girls then insist that they didn’t bully her. One girl, Riley, gets mad at the questions. Then, Kate dismisses all of the girls except Riley, who asks why she has to stay. Kate questions Riley about not being the “queen bee” anymore and having girls make fun of her because of the tics and her having no one to talk to. Kate then tells Riley that she has a secret that Daniel thinks that her holding in it is what’s causing the tics, etc. Kate adds that she thinks that Daniel is right and if she tells them, her tics, etc. will go away. “We killed Patti,” Riley tells Daniel and Kate. She tells them they were having a sleepover and started playing “Truth or Dare.” She added that one of the other girls, Maddie, was really into Braden. Riley says she dared Maddie to go over Braden’s house and make out with him. We see the girls going to Braden’s house. We see Maddie climbing up to see into his window. She came back down and starts crying so Riley looked to see what had upset Maddie. Riley saw Braden and Patti having sex and she snapped a video of them with her cell phone. She then says she told Maddie to send the video to Patti and that if she went near Braden again they’d make sure their sex tape went viral. Riley then said the next morning Patti hung herself. “It was all my fault,” Riley says.
Shoot to Kate and Daniel being puzzled knowing that Patti didn’t hang herself but that it couldn’t be a coincidence that she died a day after she got the video. Kate wants to talk to Braden.
Shoot to Kate and Daniel going to talk to Braden. She asks him why he was dating Patti in secret. He says he wanted to be open about it but that his parents always hated her but he didn’t care because he loved her. Kate then asks him if he knew about the video. Braden’s parents then tell Kate that she had no right to be there but Kate says that she does because she’s investigating a murder. Braden’s mother orders Kate to leave but Martin tells her it’s okay because they have nothing to hide. Meanwhile, Daniel sees Patti again. Daniel sees both Patti’s, Martin’s and Braden’s eyes light up strangely. Braden’s mother then ushers Braden into their house. As Martin says that she’s just trying to protect Braden and starts to walk away, Daniel asks him, “Who was protecting your daughter? You’re Patti Wallace’s father too.”
Shoot to Daniel, Kate and Martin sitting down as Martin asks Daniel how he knew. “It’s in the eyes,” Daniel replies. He notes a disorder that makes eyes have flecks in them and that it’s passed down to children. Martin says that Patti didn’t know he was her father and Patti’s mother, Ann, was pregnant with Patti when Leah found out about the affair. She was furious and threatened to take Braden and leave him. Kate asks what made her change her mind. Martin said he promised he would never see Ann or Patti again. Martin then cries that he wasn’t there when Patti was born or when she died but says he loved her. Daniel then asks Martin if he knew Braden and Patti were sleeping together. Martin is shocked as Daniel explains how it can happen and Martin says he knew he should have revealed the truth. Leah then comes and asks what Daniel and Kate are still doing there. Martin tells her that they know about Patti. Kate then says that Patti was murdered but Martin was in Pittsburgh when she died so he wasn’t a suspect but so was Ann. Daniel then notes Martin that he was still in love with Ann even after all these years. Leah doesn’t look surprised, which Daniel notes. Kate then asks Leah how she knew and she replied that “little tramp Patti told me.” Martin is shocked as Leah says she found out what had happened between Patti and Braden so she went over to Patti’s house. “Is that when you killed her?” Daniel asks Leah, who tells Daniel and Kate that it was an accident. Kate then tells Leah to tell them what happened. Leah says she found the video on Braden’s phone. She then says she went over to tell Ann to keep Patti away from Braden but Patti was there and told Leah that her mother was in Pittsburgh and Leah knew what that meant. Leah then says she snapped and told Patti that she and Braden couldn’t be together but Patti said that she didn’t care and that they were in love. Leah then says she told Patti the truth but Patti didn’t believe her and said she’s tell Braden what Leah told her. Then, Leah says she couldn’t let Braden live with the shame so we see Leah forcing her way into Patti’s house and that she only wanted to calm her down and that she barely touched her. Daniel thinks Patti had a heart attack. Leah says it wasn’t her fault but Kate says “it’s manslaughter at least and you staged the suicide all to keep yourself out of jail.” Leah says she did it to keep Braden from learning the truth. Leah then blames Martin for everything because of his affair with Ann.
Shoot to “Natalie” asking Daniel if he’s glad to be home. He tells “Natalie” and Lewicki that he got used to the “desk facing the wall” and thinks they should move the desk in his house. He and Lewicki move the desk and Daniel says, “I could get used to this.” Then he says no and they move it back to its original place.
Shoot to Kate giving Donnie her research on his Ponzi scheme case. He asks her what she was doing in Pennsylvania. She tells him that Daniel needed her help. He replies, “I’ll bet he did” and she asks him what he means. He tells Kate that she can’t have a stable relationship with him and she realizes that he said something to Daniel. Donnie denies it but Kate says that she knows when he’s lying. Donnie then says that he did talk to Daniel and just wants Kate to be happy. Kate then tells Donnie to stay out of her personal life.
Shoot to Daniel lecturing his class again about secrets. As he’s talking, we see Rebecca being arrested, the girls looking healthy and Braden hugging Martin as Daniel says that “confession is good for the soul, if you believe that kind of thing.”