Sleeping BeautyEpisode 224 (034) - May 21 1997
On his way to the movies, Blair skids to a halt as a young girl in hospital
greens runs in front of his car. The girl is terrified, seems mute and has no
identification so Blair brings her home.
Jim enquires at the local psychiatric hospital without success and then
decides she should be taken to the station. Blair protests that the police
station will scare her, and agrees to call Missing Persons while Jim is called
away on a late stakeout.
The next morning a couple of orderlies from a rehab hospital appear to
collect the girl, but when they rough handle her into their van and Blair
protests, they pull a gun on him. Just then Jim appears back from the stakeout
and they take off in pursuit. When the girl jumps out of the back of the van,
they rescue her while the van speeds away.
Doctor Tarloff, the girl's physician, is located and he explains that
her name is Stacey Newman and she awoke only a month ago from a coma. She was
injured eight years before in a car accident that killed her parents, Brian and
Audrey Newman. Physically she is fine, but emotionally she is a 12 year old
girl. Simon wants her placed under 24 hour surveillance, and as Blair has won
the girl's trust, Simon suggests she stay with Jim and Blair.
Investigating Brian Newman's effects, Jim discovers that he was a lot more
than the humble auto-mechanic he appeared to be, finding some complicated
engineering equations. A further background check reveals that the real Brian
and Audrey Newman were actually killed in a plane crash in Florida 12 years
before.
Jim and Blair take Stacey to her old house to try and jog some
memories, but Jim notices a man watching them. Jim gives chase and the man pulls
a gun, but is knocked down and killed by a car. In the meantime, the sight of a
simple ice-cream van prompts Stacey to speak her first words.
Back at the hospital they discover that apparently a company called The
Chadwick Foundation has picked up the tab for Stacey's hospitalization for the
last eight years. They are also hounded by a nosey female reporter wanting to
get the scoop on the "Sleeping Beauty" story.
Later that night, Stacey is thrilled when Jim presents her with a
present, a dress that he picked out for her that day. She throws her arms around
his neck in thanks and races off to try it on.
Blair comments on Stacey's growing infatuation with Jim but Jim shrugs
it off. Just then Simon calls with the fingerprint reports that confirm that
Stacey's parents were really Jack and Nora Straussman, research physicists at
Pacific Tech University, who disappeared nine years ago for no apparent reason.
The next day they drive out to the university, and while Jim meets with
an old colleague of the Straussmans', a Martin Van Zandt, Blair escorts Stacey
around the campus to see if anything is familiar. Jack and Nora apparently had a
grant to conduct research into sono-luminescense. Van Zandt says that Jack and
Nora didn't have an enemy in the world, and is enthusiastic to see the recovered
research equations of his colleague but then disappointedly reports that it's
just an old internal combustion engine. But when they shake hands Jim notices
Van Zandt's pulse racing. When Jim enquires into who funded the grant, Van Zandt
says he thinks it was The Chadwick Foundation.
Following an address for the foundation, Jim and Blair find an
apparently empty warehouse protected by a complicated security system. Jim
tricks the system and they are descended upon by car loads of agents from
military intelligence, including the female reporter who harassed them before.
She is actually a federal agent named Kerri Sullivan who claims they have broken
into a high security government installation.
Jim, Blair and Stacey are questioned relentlessly but have no information.
Just then Simon Banks storms in demanding that unless they have a federal
warrant he wants his people released. Jim returns to question Van Zandt further
and Van Zandt reveals that the Straussmans were actually developing a cheap,
pollution-free energy source, and Van Zandt organized the funding they needed
through the Chadwick Foundation, which was actually a front for the military.
When the Straussmans found out that the government planned to use their
research for weapons applications, they went into hiding and hid their research.
Sullivan is now after Stacey to find out what she knows about her parents'
missing files.
Returning to the loft, a box of Stacey's old toys and photos have been
delivered, but they upset her and she retreats to Blair's room. Then Blair shows
Jim the card he found, declaring in a childlike hand "Stacey Loves
Jim" and Blair insists that Jim should be the one to talk to her now.
Jim tries reason with Stacey but she gets more upset, and when they
leave her alone for a while she escapes down Blair's fire escape and runs off to
find Doctor Tarloff, the only other person she trusts. When Jim and Blair check
the hospital grounds Jim smells gunpowder and they discover Tarloff dead in his
car. Then Jim finds another crucial piece of evidence that points them in the
right direction and Jim and Blair race off to save Stacey from the same fate as
her parents.
Credits:
Cast:
Richard Burgi ...Detective Jim Ellison
Garett Maggart ...Blair Sandburg
Bruce A. Young ...Captain Simon Banks
Guest Roles:
Tamara Braun ...Stacey Newman
Edward Edwards ...Dr. Tarloff
Derek Webster ...Martin Van Zandt
Ian Marsh ...Falk
Kurt Max Runte ...Devlin
Rebecca Philpott ...Young Stacey
Sheila Tyson ...Audrey
Cory Dagg ...Brian
|