Smoke and Mirrors Wiki
Register
Advertisement

Valerie Anderson is Alice's partner and co-founder of Anderson/Vaughan Investigations.

History[]

Mr. X[]

AVI was being taunted by a con artist they called Mr. X, who was targeting their clients. Each time he was ready to pull a con, he sent them a letter asking if they were ready to play. They'd spent nine months trying to track him down and in that time, he'd stolen $5 million from two of their biggest clients. His MO was finding a discontent employee within the company and get that employee to copy confidential files, which were then traded for a briefcase full of cash. They believed the next target was Patrick Lewis, an account manager. On the day the exchange was expected to take place, the team staked out the place where Patrick ate his lunch every day. However, Mr. X sufficiently distracted them and was able to take the flash drive and disappear undetected. They were able to catch Patrick Lewis and arrest him, but Mr. X was long gone.

After their system was hacked, they re-encrypted their data and were surprised that Mr. X hadn't touched anything. Now knowing that Mr. X was the man she'd known as Christopher, Alice figured out he was going to use the list of guests vetted by AVI for Seth Hamilton's party, at which he would announce a new technology that would make billions. He impersonated a guest on the list who wasn't able to attend and went to the party himself. Because they'd discovered his plan, they were able to put a program on the flash drive that Ben took from Seth and use it to empty all of the con artists' accounts, recovering Alice's lost money and leaving Margot and Ben with nothing.[1]

Jeffrey Bloom[]

AVI was hired by Jeffrey Bloom and his wife after he was acquitted of murdering his first wife. They were being hounded by people who believed he was guilty and thought that finding the real killer was the only way to get people off their backs. The team started a new investigation, looking for the real killer. After finding Edith's missing jewels at her son, Payton's, hangout, Alice believed he was the killer. However, after seeing sand from the beach on Jeffrey's shoes, she figured out he was the real killer after all. Shortly after that, Jeffrey's new wife killed him by pushing him down the stairs after she, too, figured out what he had done.[2]

Multiple Sclerosis Trial[]

Valerie's ex-husband, Gordon, came to AVI looking for help. His sister, Susan, had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and had entered a clinical trial. When the trial left her and other patients temporarily blind and paralyzed, she asked for help to get enough evidence together for a class action lawsuit against the company that made the medicine. Sophie and Danny attended a lecture the doctor who developed the drug was giving, where Sophie hacked into his computer to get the raw data. Unfortunately, the raw data was the same as the published data, leading them to believe someone had sabotaged the drug. Alice went undercover as a trial patient in order to get access to the drug. Alice was unable to find and steal the drug ahead of time, so Cathy Green started her IV. Alice pinched off the tubing and pulled out the IV. The bag came back clean on their tests, but Alice still experienced the symptoms. Because of that, they were able to figure out that it was the juice that was poisoning patients, not the medicine. Richard Watkins had tanked his own trial so he could start over, because the drug wasn't working for his wife. This gave Susan and the other patients the case they needed.[3]

Search for Gwen Ericsson[]

When Phillip Thompson and Marie Sherwood came into AVI, they asked them to help in the search for Gwen Ericsson, a programmer who had disappeared along with a technology that had the potential to be used as a weapon. They were worried she'd been kidnapped by terrorists that wanted to use it maliciously. AVI started the search for Gwen. On a hiking trail, they found a dead body that matched Gwen's description. They then found the laptop. They retrieved it, but as they left, they were rammed by a car. The driver got out and attempted to take the laptop. Alice was shocked to find that it was Gwen, alive after all. Gwen pleaded with them not to give the laptop back to Phillip, saying he was selling it to terrorists. She'd found a listing for it on a website dedicated to illicit weapons sales. They discovered this to be true and set up a fake sale. Gwen was shocked to learn that Marie was also in on it. Marie and Phillip were arrested and Alice and Valerie set up a new identity for Gwen so she could build a new life.[4]

William Etheridge[]

AVI took the case of William Etheridge, who believed his wife, Renée Etheridge, was cheating on him. They'd previously worked with Renée, so they set up a meeting with her, where she said things were better than ever. They followed her to her next meeting and took pictures of her with the man she was allegedly having an affair with. Once they identified him as Tony Ellis, they hacked him in order to get him to think he needed a new security company. He met with them, but revealed he knew what had happened. He threatened them. They used a microdot planted on him to track his movement, which gave them something to hold over him to keep him from revealing that William had once slept with a student his first year as a teacher.[5]

Nia Brooks[]

Shawn came to AVI for help for his friend, Nia Brooks, one of the first female Army Rangers. She'd been receiving death threats since becoming a Ranger. Alice and Valerie assured her they'd figure out who was behind the threats. Danny investigated and found that Nia's own brother had been the source of the threats, claiming he wanted to protect her, saying that the other Rangers didn't have her back, which would spell death in a combat situation.[6]

Retrieving the Bracelet[]

Alice agreed to work with Dao, who had knowledge of the crime families in order to get back the bracelet she'd stolen from Ben. Dao located the Shive family and Alice let Ben in on their location as well. After Mickey Shive turned up death, Alice confronted Ben, who said it wasn't him, but someone he works with. She proposed using a copy of the bracelet to deceive Dao so that Rhys could have the bracelet and Dao could as well. Alice then posed as a flight attendant and dosed Emeric Shive to knock him out so the bracelet could be taken. She then handed off the bracelet to Ben and the other to Dao. Dao was suspicious of how easy it had been, but Valerie played it off as him being irrational and distracted him with sex.[7]

Joey Singh[]

When Joey Singh ran away from his father, Vincent Singh, Vincent came to AVI for their help finding him. He claimed his ex-wife's bipolar disorder was the reason she only had supervised visits twice a month with her. They looked into his disappearance and found his cell phone smashed in the woods. Reviewing security footage from a nearby camera showed Joey being led away by a couple. Vincent and Joey's mom, Karen Singh, both said they didn't recognize the couple. However, Sophie was able to get data of Joey's broken phone that indicated that Karen had sent Joey pictures showing him how to find the couple and how he'd know they were safe. They confronted Karen, but she said that she wanted what was best for Joey and that was being away from his father, who viewed him only as an expense and only kept him because his accountant told him it'd be cheaper to keep him than to let Karen have him and pay child support. He'd paid off Joey's caregivers and Karen's therapist to say she was dangerous to Joey. Valerie and Alice told Karen they could do something if he'd bribed people, but she ended to tell them where Joey was. She refused, saying she'd rather go to jail if that meant Joey was safe and happy. They found proof that Vincent had paid people off and showed him that it would cost him more to fight the charges but they'd keep it quiet if he relinquished Joey to his aunt, recanted his claims, and paid a monthly stipend for Joey's care.[8]

Alice found information on Rhys, which she shared with Valerie and Dao, including that Rhys was in Paris when Nathalie Duchamp was murdered. Dao did some digging and found that Rhys was staying at the Weatherby. He also found that Leah Wells, a counterfeiter, was staying at the hotel while awaiting trial. He sent agents to the hotel to watch as she was transferred to another hotel, thinking that's when Ben and Rhys would try to grab her. They went to the hotel to catch them, but as they were about to enter the hotel room where Ben and Rhys were hiding, Reggie came up and distracted them, leading them away. They realized they'd been tricked, but by the time they got back to the room, the US Marshals were dead and Rhys and Ben were gone. After this failure, Alice went to her team and said she was done and it was Dao's case now. However, she later came home to find Ben and Dao in her home, saying Ben was going to help Dao take down the firm.[9]

During a therapy session, Alice told Margot that Ben was making a plan to go straight. When Margot asked how, Alice was about to answer when she noticed Margot was wearing the same necklace she'd seen Zara Al-Salim wear in a picture. She figured out Margot was somehow involved with Ben and started feeding her false information instead, saying degrading things that Ben had said about Margot. She also placed a tracker in Margot's purse so they could monitor her movement. They found where she was, but by the time they came in to catch them, they'd cleared out, leaving behind the counterfeiting equipment. They then decided to watch currency exchanges to try to locate the fake money. They found the money, which had been spread around. They went to the bank where it was supposed to be. Sophie and Danny posed as bank employees. However, shortly before making the bust, Reggie noticed Shawn outside the bank and called it off, telling Margot to get out. As Margot left, she confronted Alice with a gun, but Valerie pulled a gun on Margot and she was arrested. They held her and sent Ben in to make a deal with her. However, she was broken out of custody by Sybil.[10]

After learning that Margot had escaped, Valerie wanted to start looking for her immediately. She was surprised when Alice said she was sick and wouldn't be coming in that day, because she'd never called in sick before. Valerie planned to go to Alive's apartment, but Ben showed up and asked for her help before she could leave. He said the Firm had Alice and he needed their help to get her back. Valerie didn't want to trust Ben. Alice showed up, saying that Rhys had offered her a deal if she didn't interfere with the wedding con. Valerie didn't want to work with him anymore, saying she hadn't entirely forgiven him. She said she needed more time, but resigned herself to not getting it. They decided to go ahead with taking down the Firm at the wedding. Ben got them invitations, but when they showed up at the address on the card, they found a construction site. Valerie believed Ben had played them, but Alice believed Ben wanted to keep them away from the wedding for their safety. Alice had Sophie look for Virginia Foster's other properties and they found one with many cars out front, meaning it was where the wedding was being held. At the wedding, she confronted Ben and they laid out the plan to bust Sybil. The plan went well and Sybil was arrested, but Margot left with the cash. Alice then planned to leave the country with Ben, who needed to get away to avoid being arrested. When she went home to get her bag, she was surprised to find the FBI there. They'd received a tip about the stolen painting and believed she'd stolen it. When they went to AVI, they found enough evidence to arrest her for the theft. As the led her away, Ben came in and confessed to the crime, telling them to arrest him instead.[11]

Rebuilding AVI[]

Alice and Valerie began meeting with all their clients in order to try to retain their business after the FBI seized their computers and their server. All their clients dropped them, leaving them with no clients. Their computers were later returned when Ben made a new deal with the FBI.[12]

Tommy's Case[]

Alice's brother, Tommy, came to town in order to get Alice's help. He received a letter from the IRS saying he had $3 million in an account in his name and he had to pay taxes on it. He knew he didn't have that kind of money himself, so he had Alice look into where it was and where it came from. He wanted to keep it, but Alice insisted that they had to figure out if it really belonged to someone else first. She asked him about all his previous jobs. With that information, Sophie and Danny found the money in an overseas account and had Tommy answer security questions to access it. They then figured out the money was put into an account by his former employers, the Kincaids, whose dogs he walked. Their phones were disconnected and their credit cards hadn't been used, so Danny and Alice went to their house, where the mail was piled up. The dogs were tracking blood around the house and they found the Kincaids' dead bodies in the house. Tommy asked if he could keep the money because the Kincards were dead. When Alice told him he couldn't, he tried to leave, but Alice told him she'd call the FBI if he tried to take it. She also changed the password so he couldn't access it.[13]

Danny learned that the Kincaids were using aliases that only went back five years. Tommy had the idea to use the dogs' registrations to figure out their real names. They found the name Patrick Murphy and the pile of mail from their house had a letter to Patrick Murphy from The Optican Group. Danny then had a friend from the FBI run the name through NCIC and found that The Optican Group was tied to The Southland Drug Cartel. The money in the account was drug money.[14]

Alice feared for Tommy's life, knowing that once they knew he had the money, they'd come to kill him or the FBI would come to arrest him. She wanted to put him in protective custody, but instead, he fled and got Rhys to get him a new identity. They also learned that he'd planted a keylogger on their system in order to get access to the money, which he moved out of the account. Theo Tasker from the cartel found Alice and threatened her and her friends if he couldn't find Tommy and the money. When Tommy sent Sophie some apology earrings, Alice used them to figure out that Rhys had been involved in Tommy's disappearance and went to Rhys to get the name Tommy was using. She also learned from Nick that Tommy had been working for the Southland Cartel. She was able to find Tommy just as he was being threatened by Theo Tasker in a parking garage. Tommy discovered that Rhys had stolen the $3 million, which he needed to give Theo in order to save his life. Alice said she'd get Theo the money to spare Tommy. She turned Tommy over to the police and then went to get the money from Rhys's car. However, she got into a standoff with Ben, who needed the money to save Rhys's life.[15]

After Alice had gotten the money, Nick and Valerie told her that they had to charge Tommy with the murder of the Kincaids. When she went home, it had been ransacked. Tommy held a gun on her and and asked her where the money was. She wouldn't tell him and he admitted that he'd called Ethan Ward to bail him out. She was upset because that meant she owed him.

Alice worked with Tommy to learn more about Theo Tasker. Theo then called Alice and told him he'd learned about Tommy's arrest and release. He wanted the money and Tommy. He claimed he just wanted to talk. Alice instead went to Ethan Ward to ask him to use his contacts at the SEC to help her. She met with Theo and he received a call saying the assets of all his shell corporations' assets had been frozen pending review. She then goaded him into confessing to murdering the Kincaids. He was arrested and agreed to make a deal with the police to take down the cartel. When she went to get the money to turn it over to the police as evidence, she found it missing and a note from Tommy. She used the tracker she'd placed in the bag to trace him to the airport. She gave him a chance to come work for her and make things right, but he decided to leave. She told him not to come back, that she was done with him.[16]

Margot's Case[]

After a sniper shot Jamison dead while he was on top of Margot, she came to Alice and Valerie to ask to retain their services.[17]

Margot offered Valerie and Alice $500,000 in order to find the person who was trying to kill her, with the same amount when the found the person. After talking it over, they decided to take her on, because they needed the money to keep AVI running and Alice wanted to keep an eye on Margot. They investigated the bullet that had been used to kill Jamison and found that there were no markings. Margot told them it was The Hammer, an assassin who is paid and hired anonymously, so no one knew who he was. In order to draw him out so they could catch him, Alice, Valerie, Sophie, and Margot all went out dressed alike and holding identical umbrellas. They walked around the plaza, confusing The Hammer. He eventually took shots at Sophie and Valerie, trying to figure out which was Margot. But Danny had figured out where The Hammer was stationed and Alice went to him. She physical fought with him and finally restrained him. They took him to Margot's hotel room, where she wanted to kill him. Since their job was done, the AVI associates left Margot alone with the Hammer. Once they were gone, she said she wasn't going to kill him. She wanted to hire him.[18]

When Margot said she had a new lead and offered them another $500,000, Valerie sent Danny and Sophie to check it out. They were shocked to learn that Margot was paying The Hammer, who agreed to cooperate with them to figure out who hired him. Sophie used the information he provided to track the payment to a bank. Margot and Danny went into the bank together with the idea that Danny would hack into the CCTV to allow them to see who made the deposit for the second half of the money once The Hammer provided proof of death. However, Margot instead gave Danny a briefcase with a smoke bomb, creating a distraction while she hacked the camera feed herself. Danny then reviewed the footage and found a picture of the woman who had hired The Hammer, whom Margot said she didn't recognize.[19]

They looked at the photo of the woman from the bank and Valerie saw that the outfit she was wearing and bag she was carrying was stolen. Sophie and The Hammer took the photo around and found the hotel where the woman was staying. They got into her room and found that she had a wall dedicated to tracking Margot's life and all her associates. When she came back to her room, she fled. Valerie chased her, but she got away on a motorcycle. They re-created her wall at AVI and found a picture of a church. Danny remembered overhearing Margot and Ben talk about a church and Margot admitted it was their safe house. They stored weapons and money there, all the assets they'd acquired in Los Angeles. They set a trap to catch the woman breaking in. They waiting in the vault and when she arrived, Margot asked who she was. The woman surprised them by calling Margot "mummy."[20]

They took her back to AVI, where they learned she was named Tessa Riley and was just fifteen years old. She'd been bought by the Riley family shortly after birth. Unbelieving, Margot pulled out a few of her hairs to have them tested and went to Sybil after talking to Tessa in order to confirm details of what happened with Margot's baby and all the details matched up with Tessa's story. Sybil also told Margot she was being extradited to stand trial in England for her crimes.

The Rileys said they didn't want Tessa back. She'd been expelled from school after threatening to blow it up and then ran away. When the phone they took off Tessa chimed with a text message about phase two, they realized Tessa was working with someone. They used the phone to figure out it was Felix McCall, an explosives expert. They found his apartment door rigged with explosives. When they found Felix had been near Sybil's law firm, they realized she was in danger as well. Danny and Margot went to where she was being moved and confronted Felix. While Danny subdued him, Margot drove the prison van away with Sybil in it. She then set Sybil up to leave the country, but at the last minute, asked her to stick around for a bit. [21]

Nick's Case[]

Nick came to Valerie asking to hire AVI to figure out what dirt was out there on him, because he was being vetted for Chief of Police. He was particularly worried about Ethan Ward, because some people believed Ethan bought off the police and he wanted to know why the case was really closed, so people would know he had nothing to do with it. After talking to Alice, they agreed to take the case.[22]

Alice warned the others that they would learn things about her that she wasn't proud of. They looked into the case to find out if Ethan had paid off the cops to beat the murder charge. Sophie learned that the cop who died, Steven Mason, had been in rehab for drug addiction. Valerie insisted that he was a good cop. He had demons, but he beat them. They kept looking into things and Valerie found that Mason's widow was making the same monthly payment of $10,000 to a fake charity. It was registered to Martin Dixon. They learned he had something in a safe deposit box that he'd put there a week after Mason's death and hadn't touched since. They called him and said the bank branch was closing and he needed to retrieve his items and confronted him outside. He had an envelope with a copy of Mason's suicide note. He'd killed himself because he was struggling to make ends meet and knew his family would collect if he were killed in the line of duty. Dixon then blackmailed Mason's widow to keep it quiet.[23]

Ethan's Security Breech[]

When Ethan's company was hacked and his personally information as well as that of his board members was posted online, he asked Alice to investigate the hack. She agreed, but after he was gone, Sophie admitted to Alice that she had asked a hacker friend of hers to hack Ethan's company to look for clues while they were investigating him. She might have left a way in for someone else. Sophie insisted that Heather wouldn't have leaked the information herself. When Heather didn't respond to Sophie's attempts to contact her, Sophie asked Danny to help break into her place, but before they could, Alice and Valerie came in and told Sophie that the police had found Heather's body in her apartment. It was a murder made to look like suicide. And someone had paid her a significant amount of money, probably to leak the information. Danny enlisted Margot's help to figure out who had been hired to do the job. She gave him a name and then Sophie and Alice confronted him, hacking his car to get an edge over him. He was arrested, but refused to talk. Sophie figured out that Marcus Nash had hired the assassin. He was competing with Ethan for contracts. They confronted him at a party and let all the attendees know what Marcus had done. The killer he hired made a deal to put Marcus away.[24]

Work for Gretchen[]

Ethan introduced Alice and Valerie to his new fiancée, Gretchen Adams. She had a new fashion start-up and asked them to look into the background of her new angel investor. When Margot had business to attend to and didn't want to take Tessa along, she dropped Tessa off at AVI for the day. Alice and Valerie put her to work on the case. Tessa learned that Charles Bergman, the investor, was running sweatshops. They told Gretchen, who was devastated. She didn't have the money to take the next step to launch her business, so Ethan stepped in and gave her the money himself, making Alice and Tessa suspicious.

The next morning, Alice was surprised to find Tessa back in the office. She learned that Gretchen's designs were actually stolen from other fashion designers. They looked into her business and found that the employees were real, but all the packages they were shipping went to the same place. The owner was Joel Hanson. They learned he was the angel investor. Charles Bergman was real, but not the same guy. Joel Hanson was really Gretchen's husband. Alice took Ethan to their house to show him Gretchen and Joel together, so there'd be no doubt what was happening.[25]

Finding Felicity[]

After learning that Felicity had betrayed her and that Rhys wasn't behind it, Margot went to AVI to get their help to figure out who had saved Felicity's life and where she'd gone from there. Rhys, upset that Felicity was still alive, joined AVI to help them. He told them he'd called The Cleaner to clean up the body. He used Raymond Taggart to make contact with The Cleaner and have him come to a staged site, where Rhys posed as a corpse and then the questioned The Cleaner about what had happened that night. He admitted that when he arrived, the body was already gone. Sophie went to the Weatherby to get access to the hotel servers and security cameras in order to figure out who had come and gone that night. As Sophie went to leave Margot's hotel room, she was confronted by Felicity, who had shot both the guards at the door. Felicity shot Sophie as well, before taking Tessa with her. Soon after, Danny found Sophie and called for help. Sophie was taken to surgery. While they waited for news, Danny shocked Alice and Valerie by telling them he was dating Margot.[26]

Valerie worked to decrypt the data on Sophie's laptop to figure out who had saved Felicity as Alice and Danny guided Ben, Margot, and Rhys while they met to try to get Tessa back. Valerie learned that Felix had been the one who helped her, meaning Tessa was working with Felicity all along. Tessa kidnapped Ben, Margot, and Rhys and took them back to Felicity.

Alice and Valerie got help from Ethan and Carol Cooney to set up a meeting with Mockingbird and she was angry to end up meeting with Tommy. They interrogated Tommy to learn he wasn't actually Mockingbird, but wouldn't tell them who was. They got him to call Margot and get the location where they were being held. Valerie helped "rescue" Ben and Rhys and arrest Felicity.

When Justine learned Ben had helped Margot and Tessa escape, she said their deal was off and said if she wasn't able to arrest Ben, she'd go after AVI. Tommy said he'd help her get Rhys's operations if she backed off AVI.[27]

Relationships[]

Romantic[]

Gordon Bailey[]

She was married to Gordon Bailey. They met when Valerie worked for the opposing counsel on one of his cases and crushed him. She filed for divorce when he told her he'd cheated on her.[28] Their divorce was highly contentious. She hired a mediator so they could talk, but Gordon didn't show up for mediation.[29] After they helped his sister get a case for a class-action lawsuit, Gordon signed the papers and agreed to back off.[30]

Jules Dao[]

She shared a drink with Dao when she and Alice fed him false information after he bugged Alice's house.[31] Soon after, after retrieving the bracelet, Jules and Valerie had sex.[32] The next morning, Valerie asked him to leave and said it couldn't happen again, saying it was just rebound sex.[33] When Alice asked Valerie if she was sleeping with Dao, Valerie denied it, but Alice later figured out that had been a lie.[34] At the Foster/Duncan wedding, where they were working undercover, they flirted and Dao said he believed she was lying when she said it was just sex.[35]

When Dao learned he was being promoted, he asked Valerie if she wanted to celebrate. She said they'd celebrate once AVI's computers and files were returned. Later, when he returned them, she tried to initiate sex, but he told her he was moving to D.C. for his job. He offered her long-distance. She didn't believe it would work, but said they could celebrate, until one of them got hurt.[36]

Familial[]

Even after getting divorced from Gordon, she considered his sister, Susan, to be her sister.[37]

Friendships[]

She and Alice Vaughan are best friends. They formed a private investigation firm, Anderson/Vaughan Investigations, together. When Alice got engaged, she chose Valerie to be her Maid of Honor.[38]

Career[]

Valerie is a co-founder of Anderson/Vaughan Investigations and currently works there as a private investigator. She runs the business side of the company, leaving Alice free to do the field work. Before starting AVI with Alice, she spend seven years with the LAPD.[39] Nicholas Turner was her partner.[40]

Notes and Trivia[]

  • She was known as Andie Derringer in development.
  • ABC Bio: VALERIE ANDERSON is Alice's partner at the PI firm and her best friend. Valerie is a former cop who – with Alice – built her own private investigation and private security business from the ground up. Val runs the business side of AVI – dealing with the cops, the Feds, the clients – leaving Alice free to be in the field as AVI's lead investigator.
  • She sees a therapist named Patricia Newman. She takes antidepressants and anti-anxiety meds.[41]

Gallery[]

A more complete gallery with pictures of Valerie Anderson can be found here.

Appearances[]



Advertisement