Deacon Makes a Declaration to Bill and Justin — and Katie Accuses Poppy of Murder

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In the backstage area at Forrester, Ridge tells Brooke, who is primping for her photo shoot, that Zende is delayed and will be there later. He gives her a pep talk and she says he does wonders for her ego. They kiss. Hope and Steffy walk in and spot the bed. Hope asks if it’s the original. Steffy says it’s not. “We retired it. Too many miles on it.” Ridge and Hope gawp and Brooke turns around slowly in her chair.

Hope and Ridge enthuse about Brooke’s comeback as Steffy reflects on Brooke in her infamous red teddy sprawled out on the infamous brass bed. Brooke says her sprawling days are over, but she still has the red teddy. Ridge confirms it and Steffy grimaces. Hope tells her mother she’ll be fabulous. “Won’t she, Steffy?”

At Bill’s place, he and Poppy kiss and she asks, “Are you sure you have to go?” He’s tempted to crawl back in bed. She says she just wants to be close to him after her encounter with Katie, which was really unnerving. Bill asks her to trust him. “You have nothing to worry about with my ex-wife. Katie’s harmless.”

In the design office, Katie looks up the music festival where Bill and Poppy met and realizes that Tom Starr was playing there that night.

At Il Giardino, Deacon sips a coffee as Bill walks in and whistles at the empty place. “You’re still open?” Deacon says the health department has given them the go-ahead. When word gets out they’ll be back up and running. Bill grunts about two employees croaking there. Deacon says they were also his friends. Bill muses that being his friend seems to be hazardous to the health. He asks if the cops have anything yet. Deacon says that the toxicology reports said they OD’d, but he questions if they were targeted. If that’s how it went down, that person is still out there and could maybe strike again.

Deacon sighs that he has to do something to bring back customers, but all he can do is think about the senseless way that Tom and Hollis died. Deacon steps away to take a call and Justin appears. He asks Dollar Bill if he got the tickets to the ballgame he sent him. Bill’s just really glad they worked through their issues and made the impossible possible. Justin says it’s good to be back and they guy hug. Deacon rejoins them and recalls that Justin was there the night Tom died. Justin asks how he’s holding up. Deacon mentions there was a power outage the night Hollis died. It could be a coincidence. Bill tells him if he thinks foul play is involved, he should look no further than his wifey. Deacon says the police already questioned Sheila. His bride had nothing to do with it, but somebody could have. “The question is who?”

At Bill’s place, Poppy is leafing through magazines when Katie appears. Poppy jumps and asks what she’s doing there. Katie reminds her she told her she was going to find out everything about her. It turns out she learned something absolutely fascinating. She researched the festival where she and Bill met on that fateful night, and as it turns out, there was someone else there that night. “Someone on the stage. Tom Starr.”

Katie thinks it’s awfully coincidental that the guy who performed at that festival also played at Il Giardino, where he overdosed. Poppy shrugs it off and recalls that Tom Starr playing at the festival. “Why are you bringing it up?” Katie says that’s the same night she claims Luna was conceived. Poppy snaps, “I’m not claiming it, Katie. It’s the truth.” Katie replies, “And Bill’s the father. That’s your story and you’re sticking to it?”

Backstage at Forrester, Hope calls out Steffy as to why she’s not thrilled about her mother’s comeback. Brooke sighs that she’s older now, maybe she shouldn’t do this. Hope and Ridge explain how she’s empowering women. Finn appears and greets Steffy, who says, “You have no idea how glad I am to see you.” Hope winces as they kiss.

Steffy tells her husband it’s been a long day and she needed the coffee he brought her. Finn coos, “I gotchu.” Hope watches them.

At Il Giardino, Bill and Justin chuckle about Deacon trusting Sheila. Deacon complains about them coming into his restaurant and badmouthing his wife. He asks how Bill would feel if he started taking potshots at Poppy. Bill laughs and calls him a clown at the comparison. Justin says those two women are polar opposites. He wants to change the subject, but Bill wants to make something crystal clear to the convict. He hooked up with a known murderer. “I didn’t.”

At Bill’s place, Katie’s trying so hard to understand why Poppy waited twenty years to take a paternity test. Poppy says she was hurt that he didn’t reach out. She’s not a golddigger and it took her long time to build up the nerve to do a paternity test. Katie muses about her daughter being conceived on the same night Tom Starr was performing. The same man that performed at Il Giardino and mysteriously died of an overdoes. She wants to know if Poppy and Tom had a relationship. “Was he your lover?”

Backstage at Forrester, Ridge tells Brooke she’ll prove to women all over the world that beauty is timeless. He gushes that she looks better than she did twenty years ago. “And you’re mine. You’re my Logan. I love you.” Across the room, Steffy groans and tells Finn she’s not too happy about the photo shoot, but Hope is loving every minute that her mother is in the spotlight. They look over at Hope, who flashes to telling Finn she wants to be with him. Ridge and Brooke join Hope, who tells her mom she’ll rock this. “I’m so, so proud of you.” Brooke thanks her.

At Il Giardino, Deacon tells Bill and Justin that Sheila had nothing to do with what happened to Tom and Hollis or she’d be behind bars right now. But he’s convinced this is cold, hard, premeditated murder.

At Bill’s place, Poppy doesn’t know what Katie is trying to insinuate. Katie’s just pointing out facts and goes over it again. She asks if she knew Tom worked at Il Giardino. “Did you ever see him?” Poppy flashes to her confrontation with Tom in Deacon’s apartment. Katie says she seems really uneasy with this questioning about Tom. Poppy says it’s absurd. “What are you trying to do? Link me to that poor man’s death?” Katie wasn’t going to say anything, “But since you brought it up… His overdoes. Did you have anything to do with it? Are you a liar? A golddigger? re you a murderer?” Poppy tells her to stop with these absurd accusations. Katie asks, “Or you’ll do what, huh? You’ll do what?” Poppy glares.