A Rip in Heaven

A newspaper article that morning describes Julie and Robin in glowing terms and alleges that Tom made sexual advances toward Julie before she fell off the bridge in a struggle. The article also mentions a flashlight with the words “HORN 1” etched into it, which is thought to belong to an unknown witness. The original owner of that flashlight, a bus driver named Ron Whitehorn, reads the article and recognizes it as his own. Ron realizes that Antonio Richardson stole that flashlight at a party the month before. He phones the police and identifies Richardson as the potential witness.

In the station Tom meets Fabbri, who tells him that he must get used to the idea that he will be in jail without bail for a long time before he can have a trial. He tells Tom that his cousins are still missing. Meanwhile, city prosecutor Nels Moss reviews the evidence against Tom, realizes they have nothing, and tells the police to let Tom go. At the grandparents’ house, Gene receives the phone call notifying him that Tom will be released.

After an agonizing day of waiting, Tom is led out of his cell, and the guard disgustedly tells him he is being released. A stranger in a waiting room offers him a half-pack of cigarettes, and Tom is overwhelmed by this kindness, which reminds him of Julie. Tom runs out of the building, fearing he might be followed by the two men the police had told him were there, a complete lie. He notices the sharp pains in his body, particularly his hip, which he is still unaware is fractured. Wondering where his family is, he calls his grandparents’ house collect. His Grandma Polly keeps him on the phone, cheering him up by telling him she is learning the electric slide dance.

Gene’s father, Grandpa Gene Senior, arrives in St. Louis. He is an influential businessman, and he phones his friends in the police, the Coast Guard, and the government to gather information and to help find his granddaughters. Tom is picked up by his parents, and they finally drive back home, where Tink and Kathy are shocked to find Tom limping and filthy with river silt, his lips white with dehydration. They embrace.

At Ginna’s house, Ginna comforts Tom, assuring him she knows he is innocent, and they share a kind moment together. The next morning the headlines still emphasize Tom as a suspect even after he has been freed. At Sunday Mass, he is paranoid about being recognized from the TV and newspapers, seeing people glance toward him and away quickly. Tink and Grandma Polly wink and smile at him to comfort him.

Two detectives knock on Antonio Richardson’s door, and he lets them inside. They ask him about the flashlight, and Richardson admits he lost it on the bridge. They take him to the station, where the police spend two interrogations with Richardson. He admits to being there, and he blames the rapes and murders on Gray and Clemons, claiming he was merely a bystander. He admits to knowing Daniel Winfrey but claims that he is not important. The police realize Richardson is misleading them while he thinks he has convinced the police of his innocence.

The police call the Cummins family; Tom fears he will be rearrested, as Fabbri counseled might happen. He panics. Yet two minutes later, Gene tells him that the police have one suspect in custody, and he has corroborated Tom’s entire story. Tom collapses in tears as his family embraces him. Gene, in a wildly uncharacteristic impulse, hands Tom a cold beer. That night the evening news still names Tom as the main suspect, airing an interview with Lieutenant Jacobsmeyer alleging that Tom raped his cousin. Around that time, multiple officers enter Gray’s friends’ house with pistols drawn to arrest Gray during a party.

Tom is begrudgingly forced by Grandpa Gene to go out to eat with his family at Red Lobster, though he would rather grieve for his cousins at home. When her kids finally show hunger, Kay good-naturedly steals cheese bread from a tray, handing it out to her family and provoking laughs from all of them. Soon they all feel guilty for laughing and joking while Julie and Robin are still unaccounted for.