This week, the Bobbseys are back in town, and as usual, where the Bobbseys go trouble follows. But are the twins also responsible for the romantic sparks flying around Horseshoe Bay? It seems that Nancy and Ace are exploring new possibilities even as Nick and George have to deal with Odette third-wheeling in their lives. Will unexpected revelations change these relationships for good?
Bess is in a pile of tissues on the couch as Ace comforts her after the Marvins abandoned her. Ace’s phone buzzes with Nancy’s call (Bess: “That’s the sound it made when the Marvins texted me!”), and Bess tell him to go on ahead. Odette is back, and this time she’s talking to Nick. She tells him leave. Nick tries to talk to her, but she goes away and a confused George returns. Her phone buzzes, and like Ace, it’s Nancy. Nancy reveals that someone broke into their lockers and the shroud is gone.
Nancy theorizes an experienced thief must have done this. They turn to Ace, who sheepishly reveals he told Amanda about the shroud, saying, “Something about her just opens me up. Like a flower, I’m in bloom!” The crew heads to the Bobbseys, where they run into Gil. The two have a legitimate job managing a small apartment complex. He invites them inside, where Amanda barges in talking about a clogged drain in an apartment. Catching sight of Ace, the two exchange glances before Gil not-so-subtly suggests she go work on the drain herself. Ace offers to helps, and as Amanda excitedly says she’d love that, Gil says she doesn’t need help. Amanda wins, and she and Ace leave.
Gil reveals the reason he took the shroud was to try to solve his mother’s murder. She died 14 years ago, and he knows Eddie Collins did it. But they could never prove that he was her killer. Collins is in a coma, and he’s on his deathbed. Gil wants to use the shroud to revive Collins after he dies to make him face justice for what he did. Nick is angry at Gil, especially when it’s revealed Gil knows what will happen to the last person who used the shroud. Nancy proposes that if she can solve his mother’s murder without the shroud, he will give it back to them. Nick is furious she’s considering this deal, but Gil simply tells her she has until 6 p.m.
Outside, Nancy tells Nick and George that Carson will file legal papers to delay the termination of Collins’ life support. Nick and Nancy argue, with Nick doubting Nancy’s ability to solve a cold case in one day. George, frustrated that Nick isn’t listening to what she wants, says she wants to go with Nancy’s plan. Nick storms off to text Ace.
Meanwhile, a depressed Bess is still on Carson’s couch as he enters. She’s so sad looking that Carson asks her if she’s okay. He says he’ll work from home and that if she needs him, he’s there. Amanda reveals to Ace that she doesn’t actually know where the shroud is. But Amanda says Gil sometimes goes “dark” and won’t give the shroud back. Gil and Amanda tell Nancy and Ace about their mother Rosemary, who was a free spirit. She disappeared after arguing with Eddie Collins, who they suspect she was having an affair with. No body was found.
Ace asks Amanda to tell them where the shroud is, and she says it’s clear he doesn’t have siblings. Ace stumbles at this, since we know he has a secret sibling from his last night with the Aglaeca. Amanda tells Ace they have always looked out for each other. Ace tells her she needs to look out for him now, that Gil’s conscience will be tainted forever if George dies because of him. Amanda offers that there are “stash spots” all over town where Gil hides what he steals.
Nick and George are once again at odds, with Nick thinking George isn’t taking the threat of Odette seriously enough. George wants Nick to face the possibility that Odette will always be there. Ace calls, revealing that he and Amanda have a list of Gil’s hideaways. He wants Nick and George to take half while he and Amanda take the other. Gil and Nancy head to Collins’ house, where she tries to pick the lock. Gil, not one to wait, causes the home health aide’s car to roll down the driveway, with the aide running after the car as they slip in the open door.
Carson attempts to help Bess feel better by pretending he needs her help with his opening statement. He purposely writes sentences that don’t make sense, awakening Bess’ need to feel useful. She perks up, and his strategy works. Nancy tries to go to the basement, but Gil is drawn to Eddie Collins in his bed. Nancy convinces him to leave Collins, and the two go to the basement. Nancy reveals she knows about dying because of her mother, and when Gil asks if the knowledge helped with her grief, she says it didn’t. Breaking down a recently built wall in the basement, Gil stares in shock as he whispers, “That’s her … that’s my mom.”
Ace and Amanda are outside the police station, which is apparently Gil’s favorite spot. Ace says they’ve got quite the operation, but Amanda says they aren’t partners just because they’re twins. At the cemetery, Odette returns, and it turns out she has useful information that helps Nick find Gil’s hiding place. But all it contains is the Bobbsey twins’ baby book, with birth weights and footprints. At Collins’ house, Nancy and Gil stare at walls of paintings of Rosemary. Gil is convinced this proves Collins was obsessed with her, but Nancy gently posits that someone else may have killed her. Not wanting to hear this, he says he’s getting the shroud. Nancy asks why he thinks Collins would tell him anything different this time around, and Gil ominously says, “I’ll make him”.
Nancy notices the lights flicker in the room, and when she investigates she notices there’s a strange ghost in the background of the paintings. She’s interrupted by the health aide and lies, saying she’s Eddie’s niece. But the aide reveals that Collins is blind and he was never a painter …. and that he doesn’t have nieces. Nancy quietly pockets a key she found on the floor and leaves.
The key led to a safe deposit box, which contained a locked box. Nick and George take bolt cutters to it as Nancy and Ace head to an art gallery because, as Ace puts it, “find the artist, find the killer”. Nancy also notices that the figure in the paintings matches the figure carved into a tree near the spot where Rosemary was last seen alive. Nancy shows the gallery owner the images she took of the paintings, and he points out that the signature shows that the artist is anonymous, like Banksy. They tag their art with the same signature each time.
Bess, completely rejuvenated, is helping Carson put the finishing touches on his speech. Bess realizes Carson made up the hearing (and the speech) to help her. But Carson insists he would have taken all her notes. He says he wanted to give her something else to focus on. Bess asks how Carson’s been doing, and he says that while it’s scary, it’s also freeing. He doesn’t have to lie to Nancy anymore, and he can just be himself. Carson tells her that it may seem hopeless right now, but she needs to have faith.
The Drew Crew looks at the painting Nancy and Ace bought from the mysterious unknown artist. George and Nick realize the numbers in the signature match numbers in the Bobbseys’ baby book as Bess sees that there’s a hidden piece of art under the main painting. It’s an older version of Rosemary — how she’d look today. Nancy is puzzled as she receives a call from Carson. Eddie Collins died of natural causes, and they need to find Gil now.
Nancy waits for Gil, and she reveals a bombshell. The numbers are the twins’ baby weights, and Rosemary is still alive. Gil doesn’t believe her, and Amanda walks in. She says their mother is alive, and that she left because she was sick. Rosemary wasn’t just whimsical (as she appeared to the six year old twins); she was battling mental illness. She believed a burning monster was following her, and Eddie Collins was a friend she met in group therapy who allowed her to paint at his house since it calmed her. Gil still doesn’t believe them, but Amanda steps forward.
She shows Gil a painting she never told him about. Rosemary drew it for four-year-old Amanda when she was scared, saying that the monster in the painting is the only one she needed to be scared of. Gil, crying, asks why Rosemary would tell Amanda and not him. Amanda gently says it’s her job to look out for Gil, always, and Gil gives the shroud back.
At The Claw, Bess tries to reassure Nick as they discuss Odette sharing George’s body. Nick confesses he’s not sure how it will work with both of them being in there, but for the first time he seems willing to think about the possibility. Bess asks where George is as it’s revealed that Odette has heard the whole conversation. Bess and Nick go into the office looking for George, and they realize that Odette is trying to kill herself to be reunited with her love.
They rush to the cliff, where Odette waits on the edge. Bess tries to reason with Odette using the terrible spider monkey analogy Carson used on her. Odette says she and her love Mary were robbed of a life together, and Nick says if he loses George it will be the same thing. He pleads with her, saying they can make this work between the three of them. Odette asks why she should trust him, and Nick threatens to follow her off that cliff and make her feel his pain for eternity. Odette sighs, and George returns. Nick embraces her as she panics, not knowing how she got there.
Ace is trying to figure out where Rosemary is now, and Nancy says she decided not to look for her since Gil didn’t ask. Ace says Gil would have killed George and that he’s not someone she can trust. He says he knows she’s “attached,” and Nancy says that the fact he’s wearing his “lucky blue pullover” indicates some romance is in the air between he and Amanda as well. Just then, Gil walks in, with Ace remarking that “he’s probably not here for the chowder.” Nancy goes to Gil’s table, sits down, and takes his hand. Amanda and Ace go for a walk, where Amanda asks if Ace thinks Rosemary wants them to look for her or leave her alone. Ace says if Amanda ever wants to find her, he thinks based on the newspaper clippings in her art that she’s in Santa Fe. Amanda, touched, kisses Ace. As they do, his phone buzzes, with Amanda teasing that “it better not be my brother.” Ace is silent, then replies “no — it’s mine.”
Nancy Drew airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET on The CW. Check out the synopsis for next week’s episode here.
