Vanished (2006)

FLASHBACK TO FOUR DAYS AGO – Carrying the duffle bag, Ben meets Mark Valera in the woods. Valera is the man who took Sara from the hotel. Suddenly, a shot rings out from afar, hitting Valera. His blood spatters on Ben’s sweatshirt. Ben goes running in fear.

PRESENT DAY – Ben is recounting this story to Kelton, who doesn’t believe him. Ben confides in his court-appointed lawyer that he thinks he is being set up. He wasn’t involved in Sara’s disappearance. Ben claims that he was only delivering the money for Quinn. He’s disheartened to find out that Marcy was the one who turned him in.

Kelton contacts Judy for the raw camera coverage of Jeffrey in the elevator. Judy passes Jeffrey on her way out and the two stare at each other. Jessica is waiting with Marcy in the FBI. Marcy pleads with her father to help Ben because he’s being set up. She admits to Jeffrey that she’s pregnant.

Kelton and Mei review Judy’s footage. Jeffrey was on the emergency phone, but records show there was no call made to the police. Jeffrey is staring at the video screen in the elevator car but the agents have no idea what he is watching.

Jessica comes to the Collins house to convince Jeffrey that they need to help their children with all the stress. Jeffrey is suspicious of her motives. Kelton arrives to question Jeffrey about the phone in the elevator. Jeffrey refuses to answer.

Marcy tells her father that he needs to help Ben, who is really innocent. He asks why she and Sara were not getting along lately. Marcy says nothing.

FLASHBACK TO A CHRISTMAS PARTY IN THE COLLINS HOME – Sara comes to see Marcy, who’s still getting ready for the party. Sara thinks there is a boy at the party that Marcy wants to impress. Marcy asks her not to tell Jeffrey.

PRESENT DAY – The medical examiner discovers that the mayor’s wife died by drowning in a natural body of water. Kelton leaves to pick up his daughter Inez at church. As he is chatting with the priest, Kelton notices that Inez is missing. He panics when he finds a Nathan prayer card where she was standing. Inez comes out and Kelton quizzes her on who gave her the prayer card. She can only remember that the man was wearing rubber gloves. The prayer card has an address written across it: 1239 Robinia Ave.

Marcy comes to see Ben in FBI holding and apologizes for turning him in. She didn’t know what to think when she found the bloody shirt and the money. Ben is furious at her betrayal.

FLASHBACK TO THE CHRISTMAS PARTY IN THE COLLINS HOME – Ben is a waiter at the party and sees Marcy for the first time. Jeffrey brings his best friend, Judge Wallace Rainer, over to her so that she can meet Rainer’s son. Sara thinks this is the boy Marcy was hoping to see.

PRESENT DAY - Judy goes to Gloucester, Massachusetts and asks the local barman about a former employee named Nicky Johnson. Photos of Nicky on the wall have been stolen.

Mei learns that the address on the prayer card no longer exists because the location had been submerged by the Acacia City Reservoir. She and Kelton go to the reservoir and a security guard explains that the public is restricted access to the site. The reservoir was established in 1996, about the time the mayor’s wife disappeared. Kelton spots a set of fresh footprints leading from the water. He phones the office and his techie sees that people are about 300 yards away from Kelton near an access road. Kelton watches a few men loading diving equipment into a truck. Someone comes from behind and puts a gun to Kelton’s head. Mei shoots the man before he can kill Kelton. The truck peels away at the sound of the gunfire.

The next morning, Mei oversees the search team at the reservoir. Tyner chews them out for not getting his approval. Mei explains that there has been abnormal activity at the site twelve times since Sara disappeared. Sonar locates a body shape in the water. What if it’s Sara?

Ben’s lawyer can’t find Quinn, so his case isn’t looking promising. The lawyer then secretly phones a man named Julian in downtown Atlanta and tells him to proceed. Julian dials emergency services to report a robbery at a post office. He walks into that post office and pulls out a gun. The police arrive immediately.

Jeffrey watches a news report about Rainer’s nomination to the Supreme Court. Jeffrey is the swing vote, and no one knows if he will be able to cast his ballot in Washington due to his wife’s disappearance. Deputy Attorney General Robert Rubia comes to the house. Jeffrey accuses him of taking Sara because they had a talk about Rainer’s vote the night of Sara’s disappearance. Jeffrey says he will do whatever Rubia wants in order to save his wife. “Do you seriously believe that I had anything to do with your wife’s kidnapping?” Rubia asks, incredulously. They are interrupted by J.T., who has learned that the FBI is dispatching search and recovery teams. Jeffrey rushes out.

At the reservoir, the sonar finds that there is a sunken cemetery beneath the water. The agents are surprised that there is a tombstone for a soldier from the Northern army since it looks like a Confederate gravesite. Jeffrey arrives at the site, eager to see if Sara has been found. The body shape in the water was only a statue, but they notice that there is the infamous “9” etched on the statue.

Back at the FBI, Tyner determines that the “9” is really upside down. From the view of the heavens, it is really a “G.” This G is the Masonic symbol representing God and geometry. The cemetery wasn’t Confederate, but rather a Masonic graveyard where both soldiers from North and South would have been buried because their loyalty to the Masonic Order superseded any military oath.

Marcy confesses to her brother that she hasn’t told Ben about the baby.

FLASHBACK TO THE CHRISTMAS PARTY IN THE COLLINS HOME – Sara enters Marcy’s room to find Marcy making love to Wallace Rainer. Sara is angry with her because Marcy is only seventeen, and Rainer has a wife and family. Marcy begs Sara not to tell Jeffrey.

Sara agrees, but only if Marcy breaks it off with Rainer. Marcy runs out of the house in tears. Ben offers to take her anywhere she wants to go even though they have only just met.

PRESENT DAY – Mei learns that the AcaciaCity reservoir was a hot button political issue when built in 1996. Mayor McNeal was the one who cast the deciding ballot in its favor. Someone who didn’t want him to vote for the reservoir kidnapped his wife two months before the final hearing. She and Kelton wonder if his wife was held in ransom for his vote, and they killed her when he didn’t cave. Kelton thinks this is what McNeal was trying to tell him before he shot himself. Kelton realizes that the same thing is being done to Jeffrey with the vote for the Supreme Court.

Kelton speeds to the Collins home to try to stop Jeffrey from going to Washington. Kelton offers to buy Jeffrey more time. He calls Judy and gives her the early heads up that the FBI is about to release a statement.

Judy reports from outside a hospital where Jeffrey has been admitted to treat a heart attack. She explains that the vote on Rainer’s confirmation will be postponed.

Rubia receives an express envelope containing old photos of Sara with Peter Manning. These were the photos taken from the bar in Massachusetts.

As Ben waits in the Atlanta Detention Center holding tank, Julian from the post office robbery watches him. Julian removes a shank from the heel of his boot.

Kelton and Mei are summoned back to the reservoir. A stainless steel coffin with holes drilled on the bottom is found. It is too modern to be from the Civil War era.

Synopsis by the staff. All rights reserved. Any reproduction of this material by any means, in whole or in part, is prohibited without the prior permission of the administrators and without the credits of gale-harold.it.