Days of our Lives: Lani Snaps Into Action After Holly’s Scare

Days of Our Lives indicates that Lani Price (Sal Stowers) really misses her time behind a badge. And she recently stepped up to save Holly Jonas (Ashley Puzemis) from a brutal mugging that could have turned deadly. And now Lani’s mom, Paulina Price (Jackée Harry), wants to get her daughter’s badge back.

Days of Our Lives: Lani & Paulina’s Tragic History

Let’s dive into the details of what’ll happen in Lani’s future and how her heroic rescue of Holly could change everything for her. So now that Lani and Eli Grant (Lamon Archey) are staying in Salem, Lani needs purpose. And before she was filling in at Sweet Bits for her sister Chanel Dupree (Raven Bowens), you’ll remember Lani was one of Salem‘s finest detectives.

But one fateful night because of Paulina’s ex-husband, Lani lost her freedom and her badge. And in case you forgot, that was back in two thousand twenty-two, we met this guy TR Coates, who was also known as Ray. He was Paulina’s abusive ex-husband. And he also happened to be Lani’s biological father. Ray came to Salem claiming he changed and wanted to build a relationship with his daughter Lani.

 Paulina’s Heartbreaking Decision on DOOL

And in the history the soap created, Paulina had given Lani to her sister to raise as an infant because Paulina didn’t want Lani around Ray’s abuse. And everybody assumed that Abe Carver (James Reynolds) had gotten Paulina’s sister pregnant. That’s why they thought he was Lani’s biological father for so many years. But when Ray showed up in Salem, Lani decided to get to know her biological dad, even though Paulina warned her not to do it. But Lani gave Ray some of her time anyway.

And of course, it turned out he had not changed. Not in the least. And during a confrontation involving drugs, Ray shot Eli Carver and put him into a coma. And when Eli woke up, he immediately told Lani that it was Ray who shot him. So Lani went running to protect her mom, Paulina. And when Lani got to Paulina’s apartment, Lani found Abe injured and unconscious, lying on the floor, and psycho Ray was about to attack Paulina.

Days of our Lives: Lani Confesses

So, acting on instinct, Lani fatally shot Ray. And in his dying moments, Lani’s biological father Ray said he loves her and that he forgave Lani for shooting him. Then Paulina claimed she was the one who shot her abusive ex, Ray. And Paulina said she did it because he hurt Abe and she wanted to protect Lani from Ray’s wrath. But the guilt overwhelmed her and Lani kept having horrific hallucinations of Ray’s ghost from beyond the grave. So Lani decided she couldn’t let Paulina go to prison for a crime that she had committed. And then at Abe and Paulina’s June wedding, Lani confessed that she’s the one who killed Ray and Lani turned herself in.

Lani’s Prison Stint on Days

She got a plea deal and then she was sent to prison. Now, this was part of Sal Stowers’ exit from Days of Our Lives at the time because instead of going to nearby Statesville prison, Lani wound up sent to a women’s facility in Maryland. From there, Eli took a job with the FBI office in Maryland and relocated with their twins, Jude and Carver. So, they had decided to move Lani out of state, partly to protect her from other inmates because she had been a cop and had busted a lot of them.

Plus, Eli wanted to stay close to his wife and so they were both written out of Days of Our Lives. And then a year later, Lani got furlough when Abe was presumed dead after a staged drowning by crazy cat lady Whitley King. So, Lani got a temporary release from prison to attend Abe’s memorial back in Salem and they let her go there wearing an ankle monitor. But as Lani recently said to her brother Theo Carver (Tyler Joseph Andrews), “Once the detective, always the detective.” Lani was suspicious and thought that Abe was still alive.

Lani Uncovers the Truth on DOOL

And of course, Lani was correct. So, long story short, she investigated and confronted Whitley’s accomplice, Jerry Apprentice. He’d been pretending to be Theo. And Lani tracked down Abe and found him in Whitley’s creepy fake cat lair. And at that point, Abe had amnesia. So, Whitley drugged Lani and dumped her at the docks. She was going to stage a second drowning because Whitley was diabolical.

Lucky for Lani, the US Marshalls tracked her ankle monitor and rescued her from Whitley just in time and that meant Abe was also rescued. And then Lani’s furlough ended and she was sent back to prison in Maryland and Lani finished her sentence. That was in February two thousand twenty-four.

Lani Misses Law Enforcement on DOOL

So, we’ve seen Eli and Lani back now and then to support Abe and Paulina and to visit Julie. More recently, Lani, Eli, and the twins relocated back to Salem, and Lani’s been helping her sister Chanel with Sweet Bits and with babysitting. Plus, Lani’s been busy being a mom of twins and a wife. But like Eli, Lani loved being law enforcement. She really misses being a cop. And of course, Lani’s currently on probation.

She didn’t even have a bite of the medicinal brownie she made to help Chanel’s chemotherapy. And Lani told Chanel that she just couldn’t risk it. So, to me that points out Lani is still playing by the rules. And since she’s been back in Salem, not only did Lani help Theo find Lexie Carver (Nikki Crawford) when she was missing and dying in the DiMera tunnels, but most recently Lani just stopped a mugging when she happened to be in the right place at the right time.

Days of our Lives: Lani Saves Holly

So, Maggie had just given Holly a necklace. It was from her dad, Daniel Jonas. And a knife-wielding mugger wanted the necklace and threatened to stab Holly when she didn’t hand it over. So, Lani got in there, saved the day. A total hero. But she doesn’t want public recognition for helping Holly. And Lani turned down Leo Stark (Greg Rikaart)’s offer to be the first guest on the Spectator‘s new podcast. Lani was adamant she did not want kudos. She said she was just doing the right thing by saving Holly.

And later we saw Paulina consulting Stephanie Johnson (Abigail Klein) skiing from a PR perspective how she could ask her former running mate who is now governor to pardon Lani before he leaves office at the end of his term because right now Lani can’t be in law enforcement because of her felony conviction.

Lani a PI on DOOL?

So, I’ve said before it would be fun to see Steve Johnson (Stephen Nichols) and Brady Black (Eric Martsolf) at Black Patch get Lani as a new private eye partner, but we know her first love is being a cop. So, if Paulina plays her cards right with the governor, Lani could be pardoned and get her badge back at the Salem PD.

Paulina mentioned to Stephanie that police commissioner Jada Hunter (Elia Cantu) is looking for more cops. They are short staffed since JJ Devereux quit and decided to go back to being an EMT. Elia Kantu, who plays top cop Jada Hunter, announced her exit from Days of Our Lives back in June after she’d been in the role for four years. Elia confirmed that she had already wrapped up taping at Peacock, but we know Salem can’t go without a top cop.

Days of our Lives: Jada Leaving Salem

So, Jada should be leaving Salem in early two thousand twenty-seven. And her fellow cop Shawn Brady (Brandon Beemer), who’s also her lover, isn’t around much. And we know actor Brandon Beemer remains on recurring status at the soap.

So I think Paulina’s request will be successful and we could see Lani rejoin the force in November sweeps. She’s still a detective at heart and would probably be really grateful to her mom Paulina if she got her job back that she loved so much. So, maybe Lani will wind up the next police commissioner who takes over after Jada leaves.