“The Box” is episode fifteen of season one of First Wave.
Cade is riding a train in at night, remembering Hannah. When the train stops, he gets off and walks past a man who looks at him closely, then calls to another. They pursue Cade, who eludes them by dropping his hat – the first time he’s worn a hat; how useful – to make them think he went another way. There’s a poster with his face on it saying he’s wanted for murder. Cade heads to a graveyard; he has a flower for Hannah’s grave. He says that she would say he was stupid for coming and maybe she’s right. On the way out, police confront Cade and catch him.
Cade is being held in an interview room and two detectives and their lieutenant are discussing him. One thinks Cade is harder than hard to kill his wife in cold blood. The lieutenant thinks he must have a soft spot to got to his wife’s grave on their wedding anniversary. Another says that it’s a stupid spot. One of the detectives doesn’t think that Cade is crazy, that the alien story is just an alibi. There are a couple of sheriff’s deputies coming to pick Cade up. Detective Olanski says they have 45 minutes until then and five unsolved homicides with a similar MO. They’ve got Cade in the box; take him for a spin. The lieutenant agrees but tells Olanski to make sure there’s a tape in.
Olanski and his partner Ludlow enter the room. Olanski has Cade’s record. Cade doesn’t see why they are wasting time. Olanski wants to know where Cade has been the last couple of months. An officer asks if they want food and Ludlow says yes. Cade wants his call. Ludlow agrees; if Cade answers their questions afterwards.
Outside, Ludlow asks Olanski what his problem with Cade is. Olanski says there isn’t one. Cade is calling Eddie. He fills him in and asks if he’s been logged into the system. He is. Cade was concerned that he had been taken by aliens. With it being cops, he’s going to spill all for one last time on record.
The detectives come back in and Cade says he will talk but not mention names. He denies seeing his Uncle Harry and says he headed to Maryland to see a guy – Crazy Eddie – about getting his story on the internet. Yes, the same story he told in court. His wife was killed in an alien experiment.
Olanski shows Cade five photos of woman who have been strangled whilst he’s been on the run. The other officer brings the food and then leaves. Cade wants to know why Olanski is trying to railroad him. And Olanski strikes him. Clearly, Olanski does have a problem and Ludlow takes him out of the room. It seems Olanski’s mother was strangled by his alcoholic father.
They head back into the room and Olanski is preparing to beat Cade into telling him what he’s been doing for the last four months. Cade says he’s been tracking alien experiments. Olanski unplugs the video camera – and then Ludlow snaps his neck. Ludlow tells Cade it’s time for the real interrogation.
Ludlow has waited for months to catch Cade Foster. Subject 117. A Gua team is going to arrive in approximately 30 minutes. If Cade is generous with his responses, Ludlow might tell him what happened to his wife. Ludlow has a very accurate polygraph, which he wires up to Cade. He asks about Mayhew and the book of Nostradamus’ prophecies. It’s said the quatrains provide guideposts to their experiments. Does Cade have the book? No, he doesn’t. True, as it happens. But Cade does know of the book.
Cade warns Ludlow that he’s killed his fair share of them. What he doesn’t share is something he learned in “Joshua”; salt acts on the aliens like a drug. And there’s salt with the food. Ludlow continues questioning Cade, though it’s curious why he didn’t wait for true backup to arrive.