Scream season 2, episode 3, “Vacancy,” just finished airing, and tonight someone seriously got screwed.

Stavo is still being creepy as hell as he follows Brooke to the Lady of the Lake pageant rehearsal. He flaunts Jake’s continued disappearance, which doesn’t exactly endear him to Brooke. Later, while she’s talking about Zoe’s crush on Noah, she gets a call from an unknown number. Apparently it’s Branson, but it sounds an awful lot like the killer’s voice modifier. He tries to open with a Shakespearean sonnet, but after also bringing up her breakup with Jake, she hangs up on him.

But Branson is not out of the picture just yet. Zoe, Noah, Stavo, and Brooke run into him at the movie theatre, and he’s still pretty hung up on Brooke, though she wants nothing to do with him. She goes so far as to say Stavo is her date, and he proves it by kissing her, much to her subtle disgust. We also learn he’s the one who sent the flowers, meaning Jake hasn’t been pulling the moves she thought he had. They officially break up, and “Jake” doesn’t seem to bothered by it.

Jake’s been dead for two whole episodes now, and the only people who know it are Audrey and the killer. When it’s finally revealed, it better be an epic unveiling considering how high the anticipation is right now.

Audrey and Emma’s storylines are the real meat of the episode, though they’re pretty separate until the very end. Audrey’s shock at finding Jake’s body doesn’t last long before she hurries to pull the evidence of her connection to season 1’s murders from his body. But her shock is genuine, and it seems she really is upset by his death, regardless of any previous wrongdoing. Does this put her in the clear? I guess we’ll find out — but sooner rather than later, I hope.

Noah and Audrey head to the storage unit the next morning, and Audrey could do better to be less jumpy. She has nothing to worry about, though, as Jake’s body has been moved and the unit is practically empty. Noah is disappointed that someone got there before them, but he becomes jubilant as he spots a camera inside the unit and swipes it. He also points out the storage facility’s security camera, which Audrey eyes warily. Maybe you should’ve worn a mask last night, A. But not a Brandon James mask. That would be ill-advised at this point.

But a mask really would’ve been useful, as Audrey has clearly been caught on tape in the storage unit with Jake’s body. Noah wasn’t able to open the file, thank God, but Audrey had a backup plan just in case he could. Would she have hit her best friend with that bookend hard enough to kill him? She was panicked, but I don’t think she would’ve murdered him. Knocking him out and bailing is a completely different story. “Don’t worry, partner,” the killer texts, “I covered for you.” This does not bode well.

At the top of the episode we also see Emma right where she left off previously, talking with her mother about the return of her father. Emma’s mother warns her to be careful around him, which doesn’t do much to make me trust him. This suspicion is doubled when Audrey remembers him being slightly off when they were kids. Emma is defensive, probably because she sees herself in him. They’re both survivors, after all, and the last thing she wants to believe is that she’s permanently damaged like him.

Her father also can’t explain why he couldn’t come back to visit her before now. Was he in prison? Was he killing people on the other side of the country? Could he not stand looking at his own daughter? We’ll find out soon enough, but right now it doesn’t paint him in the best light.

Then again, this is only episode 3. It’s doubtful they’d set up the killer so early. Or would they, just to mess with us? Ah, mystery thrillers. They’re so predictably unpredictable.

But the show sets up plenty of red herrings for us. Kieran says his cousin Eli is crazy and that he has a terrible relationship with his dad. I smell backstory. Emma volunteers to show him around, and I wonder if that’s the Good Girl, overachiever tentatively showing her face again, or if she’s intrigued or curious about Kieran’s relative.

Speaking of bringing up the past, Kevin tells Emma’s mother that Riley has been emailing him, and that’s why he came back to Lakewood. They go to the sheriff immediately, considering, you know, Riley is super dead. He agrees to investigate after some prompting from Maggie. It sounds like the Acostas had been involved in the original murders, too, which is why they left town to begin with. More interestingly, however, is the way Maggie and Kevin interact. Kevin seems apologetic, but Maggie reacts as if he had previously laid hands on her. If he has a violent past, perhaps he’s more capable of these murders than we know.

And then there’s poor Eddie, whose number was up as soon as he was introduced. I’m just surprised his role spanned more than one episode. He’s set to deliver a bottle of wine to Mr. Duvall’s room — where Emma has been instructed to go via a note from her “dad” — but when he arrives, he’s attacked and killed with a corkscrew. Watching the killer slowly rise from under a blanket in the background is honestly the first time since this series started that I’ve wanted to look over my shoulder — you know, just in case. Plus the way he killed Eddie? What a violent, unrepentant murder. They certainly have stepped it up this season.

Emma arrives shortly after, seeing the same clippings from she found in the farmhouse. The killer watches from the bathroom, texting Audrey a video of Emma from his vantage point. She panics and calls the police, but a stroke of luck saves her from having to admit how she knew they were needed. Emma’s father gets in a drunken fight before Emma stops him, confronting him about the note, which she learns he did not leave. We also find out that Mr. Duvall had a drinking problem and fractured his wife’s jaw one night. This explains Maggie’s reactions and his absence, and also pretty much crosses him off as the killer.

Audrey admits to calling the police, saying she saw the fight and was worried for her friend. But Audrey won’t be so lucky a second time. The killer stashed the corkscrew under her seat, and now there’s literally blood on her hands. If Noah continues to put two and two together, and if the killer keeps targeting Audrey, he’s bound to figure out what’s going on sooner or later — and if Stavo is right, he could be a primary target.

Killer potential

Half the fun of Scream is trying to figure out who the killer is. Let’s sees who’s most suspicious this week.

1. Mr. Branson: He’s been keeping an eye on Brooke, calling her and sending her flowers. He didn’t like that she was with Jake, so he killed him. We already know he has a potentially violent past, and considering Piper had him stashed in the trunk of her car, he definitely could’ve figured out who her accomplice was.
2. Stavo Acosta: Still creepy. Still a suspect. He seems hung up on Brooke, and his constant prodding about Jake could be the killer’s way of keeping it fresh on everyone’s mind. As the son of a sheriff, he’d potentially have access to vital information, and considering his family was involved in the initial Brandon James murders, his past might be dark enough for him to have grown up damaged.
3. Eli Hudson: Kieran says he’s crazy, and we know he has a poor relationship with his father. It just screams killer potential, okay? He was there when Emma got the note from her dad, and considering he already knows quite a bit about her, it’s possible he’s orchestrating all of this.

What is Audrey going to do now with the killer’s threat looming over her on ‘Scream’ 2×03, ‘Vacancy’?