History Literature / Rubbernecker

** Meg is reading to Mrs Deal and wonders if her finger twitches might be an attempt to communicate. She tells her to tap her finger once for yes and twice for no. Mrs Deal taps eight times. Meg concludes that she doesn't understand anything after all. [[spoiler:It turns out she's trying to communicate by tapping in Morse code.]]

* InVinoVeritas: When Patrick questions his drunk classmate Scott about some evidence that had gone missing, Scott angrily says that he didn't take anything. Patrick believes him because in his experience drunk people tell the truth, like when Sarah told him that she'd almost killed herself because of him.

* ComfortingTheWidower: Mr Deal isn't really a widow -- his wife has been in a coma for almost a year -- but the nurse Tracy Evans sets out to seduce him anyway. When Mr Deal is around, she plays up what a caring and attentive nurse she is for Mrs Deal, even though she's lazy and careless when no one is watching.

* ResentfulGuardian: Sarah dislikes Patrick and has told him multiple times that she wishes she'd never had him. When he gets too caught up investigating to call her on Thursday, she's relieved.

* DiesWideOpen: Patrick's father was killed in a hit-and-run when Patrick was eight. Bystanders tried to block his view of the body, but he still got a glimpse of his father's open, staring eyes.

* ComfortingTheWidow: Mr Deal isn't really a widow -- his wife has been in a coma for almost a year -- but the nurse Tracy Evans sets out to seduce him anyway. When Mr Deal is around, she plays up what a caring and attentive nurse she is for Mrs Deal, even though she's lazy and careless when no one is watching.

* PutOffTheirFood: While Patrick eats Christmas dinner with Sarah, he tells her all the gross details of dissecting cadaver, like the partially-digested food found in some stomachs. The conversation reminds her that the chicken on the table is another dead body and makes eating it seem disgusting. When Patrick describes the smell from a cadaver's bowels, Sarah slaps the table and yells, 'Oh for God's sake, Patrick! We're ''eating''!'

Sam Galen is badly injured in a car crash. A long time later, he wakes up in a coma ward just on time to witness another patient's murder at the hands of a doctor. But Sam can barely move his eyes voluntarily, much less report what he saw. To make matters worse, a woman he doesn't recognise keeps visiting and calling herself his wife.

* MercyKill: [[spoiler:Spicer sees himself as a hero who puts hopeless vegetables and their families out of their misery. The only murder he feels even slightly bad about is Sam Galen, who was slowly recovering when Spicer killed him to stop him from talking.]]

* LetThePastBurn: Sarah tries to burn down the shed, which has been locked for the last ten years, in which she keeps [[spoiler:the car she was driving when she killed her husband]]. But before the fire can really get going, Weird Nick, who lives next door, runs over and puts it out with the hose. [[spoiler:When Patrick learns why she tried to burn down the shed, he burns it himself.]]