Directed by James Quinn
Written by Jill Goldsmith
A woman called Rachel Cardwell is found murdered after attending a sex party with her friend Leanne Parks. Suspicion falls on her neighbor Tim Grayson, who is obsessed with Rachel. He is arrested when it's discovered he had tried to get into the party to see her. Grayson claims that he is psychic and had had a premonition of Rachel being killed, so he went to the party to try to warn her. He knows several details that he couldn't possibly have known without being there, and even finds the murder weapon. With footprint evidence placing him at the scene, and proof that he was stalking Rachel, he is charged with her murder.
In court Grayson alleges that, when he wasn't allowed into the party, he looked for Rachel and then found her body. He says he didn't tell the police about this because he knew they wouldn't believe him. McCoy shows the jury evidence that Grayson had stalked Rachel, and lures Grayson into confessing on the stand, which Grayson later rescinds. However, McCoy notices an error in Parks' testimony. She said in court that she left the party alone, yet had told Rachel in an answerphone message that she picked up a guy at the party.
Southerlyn suspects that Parks was in a relationship with Rachel, and a woman's glove found near the body could be Parks's. The footprints prove Grayson really was there; McCoy thinks Grayson witnessed the murder and his talk of a "psychic vision" is (as Skoda suggested) a repressed memory. McCoy and Grayson's lawyer co-operate to put pressure on him and force him to remember what really happened. He recalls seeing Parks beat Rachel to death after Rachel turned her down. Grayson is consumed with guilt that he couldn't save Rachel, so he'd tried to protect himself with a delusion. Parks confesses to murder and McCoy grants a plea deal, agreeing with Branch that Grayson is not exactly a reliable witness.
This episode contains examples of:
- Agent Mulder: Green pretends to be this to get Grayson to talk, although he seems to at least be open-minded to the idea that some people may have real psychic powers.
- Bait-and-Switch: The episode leads the audience to think that Grayson is the murderer. It turns out, in the last 5 minutes, that it's really Parks.
- Good Victims, Bad Victims: Grayson's lawyer uses this in court to portray Rachel as promiscuous and sway the jury in his favor.
- If I Can't Have You…: Everyone initially assumes this was Grayson's motive, when it was actually Parks's.
- Psycho Lesbian: Leanne Parks
- Repressed Memories: What Grayson's "premonition" actually was.
- Ripped from the Headlines: Based on the then-current media interest in "CAKE" sex parties run by and for women.
- Stalker with a Crush: Grayson was this toward Rachel.
