"Smoke Signals" Trivia Quiz

Answer: Ticks

Dr. Wells and Fran head to a diner to chat and Wells explains what she saw before their meeting in Central Park-- there was a man down the path brandishing a weapon and he was coming for her. It's a less concerning issue, Fran explains, than the government plan that's right in front of their face. Fran used to work for a government lab filing paperwork and doing administrative duties, and it's how she knows something is horribly wrong in the U.S.

Fran starts discussing Operation Paperclip, the post-war program in which the U.S. used Nazi scientists to battle the Russians during the Red Scare. In 1952, they tested contagions on human patients, looking for something to be used as a bioweapon, creating something that could thrive in mucus membranes and doing so on nearby Plum Island. With the Cold War heating up, the government is bringing their greatest hits back out. Last she heard, they were using ticks as a delivery method to spread their diseases. Some may have gotten loose.

Dr. Wells says that conspiracies aren't safe, but Fran insists that something is horribly wrong. She heard about the deer on Fire Island and she suggests going to the press. Wells needs to figure it out and fast, especially if Fran's time is limited. Karen Silkwood, after all, ended up in a Texas cemetery for knowing a bit too much.

Answer: True

In Sam's basement chamber, his prisoner, Stewart, looks around to find that his cage door is open. Hauling himself to his feet he climbs the stairs and quietly ascends to the apartment level above. As he opens the front door, a man in leather garb stands guard but doesn't stop Stewart as he heads to the elevator. Fortunately, Stewart is able to get to the street and yell for help.

At the precinct, Read and Marzara review the evidence surrounding their serial killer before Stewart arrives to provide his story. It doesn't help too much that Stewart admits to having gone to Sam's after receiving his anonymous call on a payphone at a leather bar, but it does help that he knows where he was held captive. It's for this reason that Read busts into Sam's apartment during what appears to be a mens-only party.

Detective Read arrives at Sam's apartment and wastes no time in finding the host of the party, telling him to send his guests home so that they can talk. Sam lets Read into his dungeon without hesitation, showing him the cage and the implements he used, saying that at no time was Stewart ever locked away; it was a consensual game. Sam knows that Stewart won't press charges, so there's nothing to do about the issue. The lead goes nowhere and Read leaves empty-handed./

Answer: Their use of a payphone

In the evening, Read returns home to Gino to bounce ideas off him. Unfortunately, the room in Sam's basement doesn't match the appearance of the room that Gino was tortured in, so he's not the guy they're looking for. In the meantime, Gino did up a sketch of his captor's face in the hopes that it might lead to some solution.

Gino also brings up the secret that Barbara uncovered-- his box of bandanas and leather gear-- so that Read can tell the truth and from there the admission comes out. Read reflects that he kept it hidden because he was so used to needing to keep it hidden.

What the two of them can agree on is that all signs point to the commonality between cases, specifically victims receiving calls on a payphone outside The Ditch. Even though Read would normally need to pass any stakeouts by his superiors, Gino suggests doing what he's used to, taking the dangerous route and sneaking out to a leather bar.

Answer: At a party

Read positions himself next to the payphone out in front of The Ditch and it doesn't take long before it rings...a lot. Though he expects that the person on the other line will be who he's looking for, the phone ends up receiving all manner of calls throughout the night, so much so that he stands out on the wall for hours screening them. The call he needs, however, comes just as he's about to leave; he picks up the phone to hear the killer's voice on the other end.

Read asks the killer what comes next and on the other end he's told they can go as far as he's willing. Read receives an address and is told to be there in twenty minutes. What he finds there is an artsy warehouse party. He grabs a beer, scopes it out, and spots someone watching him-- someone who looks like the man in Gino's sketch.

Answer: Put out posters

Read follows behind the man watching him at the party, heading deeper into the warehouse and further from the gathering itself. It means making his way back through the curtained-off and darkened corridors away from any witnesses. Who he finds waiting for him is a man in a leather harness, ready to have an encounter with him. Though Read pushes the man against the wall in an effort to disarm him, the eager apprehending turns into dangerous lust in a near-instant. Before long, there's a whip in Read's hands.

Avant-garde artist Hans Henkes leaves the party after his performance and heads to the subway to wait for his train. As he checks the rash spreading on his arm he hears the sound of a glass being kicked further down the tracks. A homeless woman, standing at the far end of the platform, tells him that something is coming for him. He follows her into the darkness.

Adam, meanwhile, chats with Gino at the newspaper office and they chat about the night Gino was tortured. Gino plans on distributing flyers featuring his sketch of his captor and he asks Adam to help, but Adam has a date with Theo. As he heads out to the Ascension Bar, he's told to watch himself; his lover is extremely powerful and dark.

Answer: Vietnam War

Gino visits Alana at her bar and finds her cleaning blood off the floor. When he shows her the police sketch she recognizes the man almost instantly; he's been in the club as of late and she always feels a dark energy coming off him, likely because he served in Vietnam. She allows him to put up his posters just in case someone knows more.

Adam, meanwhile, arrives at the Ascension Bar and gets stopped at the door by the doorwoman who insists that anyone who enters the exclusive club be out, employed, and not boring. Since Adam knows Theo Graves, however, it's all a moot point. He's led into the lavish bar and, before he's seated, he asks for (but is refused) a chance to put up the Mai Tai Killer's poster. Theo arrives shortly after, not noticing he's being followed by Big Daddy outside.

Answer: Yes

Gino ends up back at the Brownstone, once again running into Henry Grant at his usual haunt. Henry's seen the same guy as he slithered into the bar the previous night. Henry knows, however, that the police wouldn't do anything if he called. He's been attacked and nearly murdered too many times to count on account of his being gay. Gino reminds Henry that he was drugged and tortured upon leaving the Brownstone last time he met him, but Henry insists that none of this has anything to do with him.

Read returns to the apartment and reaches into the back of his closet, grabbing his leather harness and sunglasses and putting them on. As he flexes in front of the mirror, he notices a small rash starting to form on his arm and he picks at it in concern.

Answer: Gino

Once Adam and Theo get to talking they order a some beers and Adam wonders why he's even there, especially if Theo thinks he's a banal guy. As they chat, Adam asks about the man in Gino's sketch, but Theo doesn't recognize it. When he asks about Sam, however, the conversation takes a turn. Theo's well aware of Sam's proclivities, not that he approves of them, and it brings up a good question about trust, especially since there's also the concern of Big Daddy lingering.

They continue to talk and no one in the Ascension Bar notices the front doors being chained shut. Adam and Theo receive a pair of mai tais from the man watching at the bar, but they don't drink them, instead getting distracted by the woman at the door, yelling having discovered they're locked inside. A molotov cocktail is tossed into the building and the bar goes up in flames.

Answer: An ultrasound

Dr. Wells arrives at a New York City hospital to speak to its director, asking for permission to sample blood for gay men she believes to be infected with the virus she's studying but she finds it's not quite easy to get that clearance. There's too much bureaucracy and she can't be sanctioned to experiment on their patients. As she plans to leave, she watches the ambulances arrive, loaded with injured patrons of the Ascension Bar; Whitely goes by on a stretcher amongst them. She uses the payphone and calls back to the lab, asking that fifteen blood kits be prepped as fast as possible.

In the hospital, Adam, Theo, and Whitely get treated for their burns. Adam, suffering from smoke inhalation, is sedated and strapped to bed when he realizes how close they were to the Mai Tai Killer and tries to refuse treatment. He tells Theo to call Gino Barelli and let him know and, with little haste, Gino and Read arrive.

Gino asks the nurses if they've seen the man in his sketch and they're directed to room 11 but, unfortunately for them, he's not there. He left five minutes earlier. Gino and Read split up to search.

Dr. Wells finds Adam tied to his bed in one of the hospital rooms and releases him from his bindings before drawing his blood. He asks her if she's doing well and if she has an ultrasound yet. She does, she says. Both of them admit feel good about what they did.

Answer: In the morgue

Dr. Wells continues to draw blood from other victims of the fire and locates Whitely, bringing him to a room to collect his sample as well. She takes eight vials from him before he departs, despite her insistence that he rest.

Whitely manages to leave the building, but not before Gino comes across him at the entrance. What follows is a chase through the hospital leading to the two rushing up to the third floor and Gino nearly losing the murderer altogether. The pursuit ends in one of the basement levels where Gino navigates his way into the morgue. He grabs a scalpel and starts searching through the freezer drawers, believing Whitely to be hiding amongst them. Whitely isn't, however. He comes up behind Gino, knocks him unconscious, binds his hands and feet, and waits for him to awaken.

When Gino comes to, Whitely lets him know that he'd never spill the blood of another veteran, but freezing to death is a peaceful way to go. He pushes him into one of the morgue freezers, shuts the door, and departs.