Sarah Cushing

Sarah Cushing
Full name	Sarah Cushing
Physical information
Status	Alive
Professional information
Occupation	Missing Person; Fraudster
Appearances
No. of episodes	1
First appearance	"Ears to You"
Last appearance	"Ears to You"
Portrayed by	Cara Buono

You're right. I am Sarah Cushing. I was her, anyway. I go by Allison Drake now. I have for years. Everything Gordon told the police in 2010 was true. I packed my bags and left with no warning.

— Sarah Cushing, "Ears to You"

Sarah Cushing is a missing woman under the alias Allison Drake, who for years left her husband Gordon to have his life ruined from suspicion of killing her. She arranged ransoms while she was in hiding to collect the money for herself.

Biography

Season Two

Sarah Cushing disappeared in 2010. She drank, partied, had affairs, and fought with her husband Gordon. Gordon was the prime suspect of NYC to have killed her, which ruined his life. He received a call from an unknown man and Sarah one year demanding a ransom of a million dollars to be left in Central Park, but she never returned. Because he waited to call the police for days, his account had doubt cast on it. Three years later, ears were sent to Gordon in a package with Sarah's ear pattern and DNA matching, demanding more in ransom. Again he was suspected, but a sting was still arranged in the subways. Gordon met with the kidnapper, who took the ransom and said he'd call in an hour to reveal Sarah's location. Gordon relentlessly gave chase, and when the kidnapper charged him, Gordon killed him by swing a rebar into his head.

Ears Kidnapper I dare say that ransom demands are becoming a tradition for you. It all happened so fast. The man who took the money, he realized I was chasing him.

Finding the John Doe wore clothes from Hempstead and sobriety chips tattooed into his skin, Holmes and Watson browse sobriety meetings until they see none other than Sarah Cushing, with both her ears and mild appearance changes. She says she packed up and left out of fear of Gordon and her past life, got sober, and married plastic surgeon Stephen Edelman. She identifies the "kidnapper" as Jim Browner, whom she accuses of blackmailing her to keep her secret and figures he did the same to Gordon. Sarah alleges the ears are of Kelly Tasker, an escort nicknamed "Kendra" Gordon had sex with and who disappeared after the first ransom. Gordon's in disbelief and believes Sarah fabricated everything. it only gets more confusing when Tasker was found to have died in a car crash three years before and was cremated, meaning the ears aren't hers.

Alive Guilt I made a new life for myself out here. And if she was part of it then, she's part of it now.

Watson figures Tasker to be Sarah's "ear twin" and Holmes remembers Sarah's new spouse is a plastic surgeon and figures everything out. Bringing Sarah back to the precinct, he reveals he knows she was surgical scars on the small of her back, which is why she was always sitting upright, so as to not tear them open. She lied about her reasons for leaving and decided to extort Gordon to keep herself funded while in hiding. She willing told Jim Browner her identity to make her her accomplice for both ransoms. The ears were the most convoluted part, as Edelman grew scaffolds into Sarah's back, cut them off, and the couple delivered the package to try another ransom. When presented with a warrant for her DNA, Sarah was arrested.

Operation Conspiracy The tissue's still healing, and you do not wish to agitate it. He didn't figure out who you were. You told him when you made him your accomplice.