In the newest episode of 9-1-1, Athena and Bobby get to the bottom of a 45-year cold case involving the murder of Tanya Kingston, a young girl Athena knew whose body was found in the foundation of her parents’ house. However, what they discover is even more troubling than they thought, but does it come with closure?
Find out what happened in “The Devil You Know.”
Where It All Began
Beginning in 1977, we start off in a family’s home, Athena’s home. Athena’s dad comes home smelling like a “greasy mechanic,” seemingly a bit sketchy … Later that night, Athena awakes to a frantic knock at the door. A mother is looking for her daughter, Tanya, not knowing where she is. Athena overhears everything and watches it all go down, but her dad orders her to go back to her room. She is terrified and not able to go back to sleep. Soon, she can hear sirens and search parties going on.
As Athena plays hopscotch with her friends, a police car rolls up with Tayna’s older sister, Joanne, but the reunion with the mom is not very happy as she’s been getting into trouble. Athena walks over to the officer and confronts him for not working hard enough to find Tanya. She walks over to Tanya’s window, where she was snatched from, and Samuel comes up to her. He warns her that sometimes she shouldn’t let curiosity get the better of her and to be careful.
What Happened?
In the present, Athena’s outside her dad’s hospital room as detectives gather samples. All of that aside, the doctor tells them all that he is improving and could be out of his coma soon. Detective Dixon comes out, and Beatrice berates him. Dixon wants Athena and her mother to take some statements, but Athena is reluctant.
“Just be his daughter. Not a police officer.”
Athena and Bobby return to the house and see Junior and his father, Reggie Senior. She asks Reggie what he remembers from that night and afterward since she was so young. He tells her that anyone could have put that girl in the foundation. Coincidentally, the Florida room where Tanya’s body was found was a project that Samuel kept putting off but had a sudden change of heart. He asked Reggie to build it the day after Tanya went missing.
Athena wakes up in the middle of the night to find Bobby in her dad’s office looking through some of his things to get more insight. She doesn’t like that Bobby is looking through it and grabs everything to put it away. Athena wants to be the daughter, not a police officer, no matter how much she wants to solve the case. Bobby asks Athena what she’s afraid of, and she admits she’s afraid that he could have done it.
Athena and Bobby go over that night and the details of it. She can’t get over the coincidences between her father coming home late and looking and smelling dirty and Tanya’s kidnapping. Athena’s concerned that her father might have had a life outside the house that she knows nothing about. He’s her hero.
The couple checks out Tanya’s house, looking run-down but still the same. Joanne comes out and wonders what they’re doing. She pulls out a gun and aims it at Athena, calling her the daughter of a murderer. Bobby grabs Joanne and manages to get the gun away from her so Athena can talk to her. Joanne says she has no family left and hesitantly gives in.
Joanne takes Bobby and Athena to her and Tanya’s old room, still looking the way it was since Joanne put a padlock on it. Athena notices the flower box outside the window, indicating that that’s the window she was taken from since it’s crooked and looks like it’s been stepped on. Bobby, however, points out that it’s been stepped on more than once. Joanne used to sneak out of that window and confesses she and Tanya both snuck out that night.
That Night
Joanne sneaks out, but Tanya quickly follows behind. Tanya gets to a bonfire that Joanne is at, and Joanne is not happy. Tanya threatens to tell their mom if she doesn’t get to stay and also doesn’t get a beer. Joanne promises to take her to the movies if she stays for only 30 minutes, and Tanya obliges.
Soon, Joanne loses sight of her sister and assumes she went home. After hearing a car come by, Joanne decides to go home since it’s getting late. Unfortunately, when she’s back in her room, Tanya isn’t there.
In the present, Joanne mentions she never told the police or her parents what happened. If she hadn’t snuck out that night, Tanya would still be there. A police car comes up, and Joanne tells Athena and Bobby they were trespassing.
The Truth Shall Set You Free
Detective Dixon arrests Athena for interfering with an active investigation. Joanne apologizes to Bobby for getting Athena in trouble, and Bobby tells her that she can hold her own. After Bobby tells her that Athena will likely tell the detective what she told them, Joanne tells him that the car they heard that night was a car they had never heard before.
Athena tells Detective Dixon what Joanne told her, and Dixon brought up that he has three girls of his own who never wear their barrettes to sleep, so he figured as much that she wasn’t taken while she was asleep. So far, there is nothing in the forensics that match her father’s DNA, and when she goes through how Tanya was put in the foundation with the cement, or rather, how the cement was doused on top of her, she comes back to Reggie Senior.
Bobby finds Reggie’s truck, realizing that he had heard that sound that Joanne was describing from his truck. Athena calls Bobby to tell her it was Reggie, and Bobby tells her the same thing. He needs to warn Joanne.
Athena tries to figure out how Mr. Franklin would know that Tanya was at that party, and she realizes that Junior is the only other one at the house. Meanwhile, at Joanne’s house, Junior comes up behind her and aims a gun at her.
Junior takes Joanne outside and prepares to kill her to make it look like a suicide since all that guilt has been building up inside her. In the past, at the party, Junior runs up to Tanya as she’s about to leave, and he offers to drive her home. The two stop at field and drink beer, but Tanya starts to get nervous, especially as Junior touches her and grabs her. She runs away from him.
In the present, Bobby takes down Junior and the two fight. Joanne grabs the gun and pulls the trigger, but Junior gets away. Athena goes after him, running through the fields. In a parallel, Tanya is running away from Junior in the same field of trees. Tanya runs out of breath and Junior catches up to her, strangling her. Athena catches up to Junior and hits him over the head as Detective Dixon runs up to them and she handcuffs him.
“All this time you’ve been hiding in plain sight for 45 years. But I got you. I got you.”
Athena and Detective Dixon watch Reggie Senior in the interrogation room, and she interrogates him. Dixon comes into the room with a box of evidence. Junior didn’t stop at Tanya Kingston. Reggie tells them Tanya was just an accident. But it was six girls, and the police aren’t done searching.
Athena talks to Joanne, who may be ready to finally move on for a fresh start. She assumed that everyone had forgotten and moved on with their lives. Athena says she never forgot.
Samuel finally wakes up, and Beatrice had just finished catching him up on Tanya. He says it’s in Athena’s nature. She’s just glad to have him back.
9-1-1 airs on Mondays at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT on FOX. Check out our other 9-1-1 coverage here.
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