Violet visits Emily at the shop, anxious about Kyle. She says her dad claims the school has video evidence against him. Violet insists Kyle is innocent, but Emily warns that Sam wouldn’t have brought him in without proof. When Violet asks about Emily’s history with her dad, Emily brushes it off, saying they just got busy. With no reason left to say no, Violet says there’s no reason she can’t return to work at the Mistletoe.
Emily later goes to the station to speak with Sam. She tells him how upset Violet is about Kyle. Sam doesn’t want Violet involved with him, but Emily pushes for details. He shares some evidence, and Emily suggests he may need someone on the inside.
Emily accepts the chess coach job. At practice, Kyle swears he’s innocent and says the video was taken out of context. He admits Henley told him his grades were slipping and he might lose his spot, but insists he wasn’t angry at Henley. Emily tells him to channel his frustration into the game.
Emily overhears Vice Principal Leland scolding his son Shane, telling him not to mess things up. Shane tosses papers in the trash before joining practice. Curious, Emily fishes them out later, realizing they’re school essays he appears to be selling.
Sam asks Ray to quietly decode the set of numbers he got from Emily’s house.
Meanwhile, Kyle thanks Emily for her support. Hollis, the janitor, tells Emily he loves watching the kids play chess and offers her stories if she’ll play a match. She accepts and wins. Hollis then admits he may have overheard Henley arguing with Leland the night he vanished.
Kyle apologizes to Violet for ghosting her, promising he had nothing to do with Henley’s death. She forgives him.
At the Mistletoe, Emily updates Sam on Shane’s essay racket and Hollis’ story. Sam questions Leland about Henley and Shane’s scholarship, but Leland deflects. Emily herself confronts Shane, who admits life is tough as the VP’s son. He tried to sell Kyle a paper, but Kyle refused. Henley found out, though Shane doesn’t know if his dad knew.
Sam confronts Leland directly about Shane selling essays. Leland bristles but Sam presses, asking for attendance logs.
Later, Emily catches up with Shane outside, where they run into Mila, upset to learn the coaching job has been filled. Emily spots Henley’s lucky tie in Mila’s car and calls her out. Police then find Henley’s playbook and records of late-night calls with Mila. Brought in for questioning, Mila denies any wrongdoing.
Emily and Sam go over the evidence. Kyle’s alibi is supported by his mom, but Sam remains unconvinced. Emily offers to talk to Kyle, but Sam refuses, pushing her away yet again. Frustrated, Emily snaps that he can’t control who she speaks to in town and storms out.
Another flashback takes Emily back to boarding school as Grace, where a friend slips her the code to a secret computer room. A teacher later finds her reprogramming a chess game and is impressed.
Sam visits Emily to thank her for being there for Violet and admits he’s bad at communicating. Their chemistry sparks, but he leaves before anything happens.
June happily announces she’s adopting Clyde, Henley’s dog. Brooke pressures Emily into chaperoning the dance. When Emily opens her coaching paycheck, she realizes it’s in the same style of envelope found with Henley’s body. Troubled, she agrees to attend the dance.
At the dance, Sam drops Violet off but soon gets a text that his “order is in.” Meanwhile, Violet finds a threatening note in her locker telling her to stay away from Kyle inside the same type of envelope.
Emily sneaks into Leland’s office looking for answers. She finds an identical envelope, and beneath his desk mat, forged signatures of Tim Henley. Meanwhile, when Violet runs into Leland and shows him the threatening note, he leads her back to his office.
Emily bumps into Kyle searching for Violet and notices the same green tape used on Henley’s threatening note in her locker. Later, she sees a roll of identical tape on Hollis’ cart. Suspicious, she confronts him. Hollis panics and admits Kyle is his son. He says he only wanted to protect him long enough to secure a scholarship. He confesses to taking Henley’s dog and trying to scare him off, but insists he didn’t kill him. Kyle overhears and bolts.
Meanwhile, Shane breaks down in Leland’s office, saying he can’t keep Henley’s death a secret anymore. Violet overhears and tries to flee, but Leland grabs her. Hollis and Emily hear Violet’s scream and he directs Emily to the VP’s office.
Inside, Shane begs his father to release Violet. Emily bursts in and confronts them. Leland claims Henley attacked him thinking he killed his dog. Emily counters: Henley likely mistook the threatening note for Mila’s at first, but then recognized it was written on the same stationery as his paychecks. Shane finally admits he accidentally killed Henley, and Leland covered it up to protect him.
Sam arrives and arrests Shane, Leland, and Hollis. He later tells Emily that Violet can return to the Mistletoe. Outside, Kyle and Violet share a dance in the snow.
In a flashback, Emily, then “Grace,” is now part of the decoding club and chooses the username Chimera.
At the station, Sam studies Ray’s decrypted codes. One name leaps out at him. He circles it: Chimera.