Beyond the Gates: Heather Exposes Joey’s Role in Doug’s Death – Vanessa Left Stunned

Beyond the Gates delivered Heather Armstrong (Ashley Jones) in the DMV with an agenda and Joey Armstrong (Jon Lindstrom)’s not happy about it at all. And when Heather does not get what she wants, she may drop a bombshell on Vanessa McBride (Lauren Buglioli) and tell her that Joey offed her husband Doug. We’ve been wondering if the awful secret about Doug McBride’s murder is finally going to come out.

Beyond the Gates: Heather Blows Up Joey’s Life?

And now let’s talk about whether Heather might be angry and vengeful enough to spill what has to be Joey’s dirtiest secret. Before there was a Vanessa and Joey all loved up and coupled up, there was Vanessa and Doug in their dysfunctional marriage. Vanessa met Doug when they were very young. They married, they had twins.

And before things fell apart, he and Vanessa were a DMV super couple. You know, Doug was a brilliant cardiac surgeon, but he had that huge gambling problem. They did have an open marriage, but it was pretty much Vanessa who was open for business with other lovers. Meanwhile, Doug spent all his spare time and cash gambling at

Things Shifted for Vanessa on BTG

Vanessa, meanwhile, was betting down with escorts and her personal trainer at Fairmont Crest Country Club. And Doug was actually okay with that because Vanessa’s little flings were always physical, not emotional. And she still loved Doug. But something changed.

Doug’s compulsive gambling got him in deep with Joey. And in fact, he was targeting Doug to lay the groundwork so that Joey could use Doug’s gambling debt to leverage Vanessa into laundering money for Joey through her real estate company.

And in the beginning, Joey only had his eye on Doug’s wife as a business asset. That’s why Joey kept letting Doug dig deeper and deeper into debt, extending him credit, and then threatening him if he didn’t pay up. And of course, he fell hook, line, and sinker for Joey’s scheme. Even worse, Doug’s childhood friend Randy Parker (Maurice P. Kerry) works for Joey, and he was having Randy lure Doug deeper and deeper into debt.

Randy tried not to do it, but he didn’t have a lot of choice. And Vanessa didn’t know Joey at the time other than by reputation and was horrified to find out how deep Doug had gotten into gambling debt with the local scary mob boss. So Vanessa had no choice but to agree to Joey’s demand. And she let him start using her business to launder money against her better judgment. Vanessa had no choice because if she didn’t do it, then Doug’s life would have been ruined or his surgeon fingers broken or leg broken or something else much worse scary and violent.

Beyond the Gates: Joey Head Over Heels

But once Joey had access to Vanessa and her business, that’s when Joey started falling for her. And at first, it wasn’t love, it was just lust. And Joey was persistent, but Vanessa wasn’t interested initially. But that persistence wore her down eventually, and then he became one of Vanessa’s bed buddies.

And then Joey made sure to cut Vanessa off seeing any other bed buddies. So, she was Joey’s exclusively, although she was still married to Doug and had the rings on her finger, which bothered the mobster. And then Joey got progressively more attached to Vanessa. And she began to take a real interest in operating on the wrong side of the law and showed an affinity for it.

Being with Joey was a big thrill for Vanessa, but she still loved Doug, who at this point was furiously jealous, wanted to take Joey down. So, we had Doug meeting with Jacob Hawthorne (Jibre Hordges), trying to implicate Joey in crimes. Doug also talked about the Joey situation to Bill Hamilton (Timon Kyle Durrett).

Doug’s Tragic Death on BTG

And unfortunately for Doug, Bill tipped off Joey. So, he knew Doug wasn’t just a problem. He was a huge threat. Vanessa tried to get Doug to stop, but it was like his addiction to gambling got replaced with his addiction to destroying Joey because Doug just wanted to get Vanessa away from the guy. But at that point, she was smitten with Joey even though she was sticking with her marriage. Doug was a big problem. So Joey decided he has got to go. So, he took Vanessa to Puerto Rico so that Joey would have an alibi and Vanessa wouldn’t suspect him.

Joey had his dealer at the casino let Doug win big while Marcel Malone (Darryl W. Handy) was feeding him booze and slipped him a little something. He stole Doug’s money because he wouldn’t need it where he was going. And Marcel put Doug behind the wheel and then he staged a drunk driving accident. The plan was a success and Doug perished in a fiery crash.

Vanessa Devastated on Beyond the Gates

And Vanessa got a phone call in Puerto Rico saying Doug was dead. She was devastated but never suspected Joey killed Doug. Both of Vanessa’s twin kids did have questions for Joey. Like Donell wanted to know why Joey let Doug keep gambling so much.

And Deanna had more suspicions, but neither has any idea that Joey murdered their father. And he’s been, of course, acting so perfectly with Vanessa. Encouraged her to grieve. Joey donated that pile of money to the clinic that Leslie started to get a plaque and a dedication to Doug. And as of this moment, Joey has gotten away with the perfect murder and Vanessa loves him.

Beyond the Gates: Heather’s a Huge Problem for Joey

All right, back to the present story lines. We have this huge complication in Joey’s life in the form of his psycho sister, Heather, who has an agenda. She wants to be in Joey’s business, but he told Heather no, and he isn’t backing down. Plus, Joey’s having her stalked by Randy and his other henchmen.

And I’m sure that Joey finds out Heather is stalking Andre Richardson (Sean Freeman) and is obsessed with him. And that explains part of why Heather’s been so focused on Vanessa and by connection to her also focused on Dani Dupree (Karla Mosley). So, it’s not going to be too long before Joey’s going to figure all of this out. And he may approach Andre looking for info on Heather.

BTG: Joey Helps Andre

He may even offer him protection because in the end Joey wants to stay in the Dupree’s good graces and Heather is rocking the boat. So, I suspect Joey’s gonna tell her, “Look, you’re never going to be with Andre. You’re never going to be part of my business. Kick rocks back to London.” And from there, I expect Heather to lash out at Joey.

And of course, his main weakness is Vanessa. Now, if Heather harmed Vanessa, she probably knows Joey would kill her. But if her brother gets in the way of Heather being with Andre, then Heather might hit back at Joey the same way. So, Heather could start spreading money around to buy access to Joey’s biggest secrets.

And she might find out from Randy about what happened to Doug on Beyond the Gates. Because Randy’s still upset about Doug’s murder because they were lifelong friends. Heather knows that Vanessa loves Joey and she knows how protective he is of Vanessa. And if Heather finds out Joey murdered Vanessa’s husband, there’s a few things she could do.

Beyond the Gates: Heather Takes Joey Down

First, Heather could toss that info to the cops and hope that Joey doesn’t find out she’s the one who implicated him. That would get rid of him and she could just take over his business. A second thing is Heather could tell Vanessa just to ruin Joey’s relationship because he messed up her plan to get Andre back. A third thing is Heather could threaten Joey. Let me into your business or let me restart the red market ring or I’ll tell Vanessa that you killed her husband Doug.

BTG: Joey Desperate to Hold on to Vanessa

And obviously she and Joey would both know that means he would lose Vanessa. I do expect there’s a good chance that Joey might have to kill Heather, especially if she threatens what he has with Vanessa. So, I kind of think Joey loves Vanessa more than he loves his own sister, Heather, who is a violent sociopath that belongs behind bars or six feet under.

I do hope that Joey’s big secret will come out at some point because it’s kind of horrible, that Vanessa is in love with and sleeping with her husband’s murderer, but Heather might mess this up and try and use it for blackmail instead of running straight to Vanessa. And that means Heather could wind up having the same kind of accident that Doug McBride did. Fiery and fatal.