Villainous secretary/conspirator Erika Michaels
Erika Michaels (Andrea Runge) is a hidden villainess from "Blueprint for Murder," episode 4.08 of Private Eyes (airdate January 7, 2021). She is a secretary at Bridgeland Architectures, as well as the revealed mistress of CEO Grant Bridgeland.
The episode revealed that Grant actually founded and co-owned the company with his wife, Pam Bridgeland, though Pam became an agoraphobe after surviving a car crash six years prior. In addition, it was uncovered that Pam was the real brains behind the building designs, though she willingly allowed Grant to sign his name on her designs. As for Erika, her illicit relationship with Grant started during the ruse. Over the years, Pam slowly overcame her fears and left her penthouse, while voicing her anger and regret over her decision to let Grant take full credit for her designs.
In the episode's events, Pam went to the building's eighth floor, which was under construction, to confront and expose Grant, only to end up encountering Erika, who attempted to talk her out of revealing the truth. This lead to a struggle that ended with Erika striking Pam with a pipe, knocking her unconscious. Unbeknownst to either of them, the scene was partially witnessed by Sandra, a night janitor in the building across the street. Panicked at what she had just done, Erika called Grant, who believed that his wife was dead and dumped her body down the construction chute leading into the dumpster to cover their tracks, coercing Erika's involvement by warning her that she would be charged with murder otherwise. Under Grant's instruction, the villainous Erika also took Pam's sweater and posed as Mrs. Bridgeland when exiting the elevator, continuing the ruse during her encounter with Matt Shade and Angie Everett.
Pam actually survived the attack and escaped the dumpster, and Zoe Chow's inspection of the elevator camera footage revealed that two different women were featured: one with natural blonde hair (Pam) and the other with dark roots (Erika). That combined with the tanned look on the second woman ended up revealing Erika's deception. The episode's climax saw her confess everything to Angie, Matt, and Willow Maitland (Matt's girlfriend, who shadowed the pair for a film role), insisting she didn't mean to hurt Pam while also revealing Grant's role in the attempt. Erika added that Pam had revealed herself and was taken back to the eighth floor, causing the PIs to rush there to help her. After Grant's latest attempt to kill his wife resulted in his arrest, Pam was also arrested (off-screen) for her role as a conspirator.