Feel sorry for the trick-or-treaters tonight.
Wouldn't have stopped me.
Let's hope the patients behave.
You hear that?
You should've seen your faces.
The hell kind of mask is that?
My daughter made it for me.
Maybe we can get her a spare room in here
'cause that thing is demented.
Blackout.
Generator will kick in.
Any time now.
Shouldn't it be on by now?
Let's follow protocol.
Check on all the patients, windows, and doors.
Hope these are charged.
I'll check the breaker room.
I'll take the A wing.
I'll go to the B wing.
Is B wing secure?
B wing secure.
C wing?
C wing secure.
I'm in the breaker room.
That just leaves...
Oh, my God. Code 19.
Heston's out. I repeat,
Heston...
Go again?
Call the police, now.
Let's see what we've got.
Reenie, what's up?
Hey. I just got to the office. Oh, dang it.
- Hold on. - You okay?
I'm just having a slow start to the morning.
Went to a Halloween party last night
dressed as the Corpse Bride,
and I actually won the costume contest,
believe it or not, but I had
way too many shots of tequila.
- Sounds, uh, you know... - What, not your scene?
Anyway, I had a pretty good time, to be fair, but I am now
buried at the office today.
I thought you were gonna get someone to help you out
- while Velma's away? - I am. I'm working on it.
Actually, I'm interviewing some people today, in fact.
Hey, did you ever look at what I sent you
- about the psych ward breakout? - I did.
Heston Koontz, escaped prisoner, killed a nurse, right?
Look, I know it's not your normal thing,
but the parents are pretty insistent,
and they're offering a sizable reward, so
I think it's worth the consult.
Yeah, I'm pulling into Wyndham now.
- You got any other details? - Yeah.
The facility administrator sent me over
the case file. Heston Koontz,
29 years old, was convicted of
burning a family alive in their own home ten years ago.
He plead insanity, and then was sentenced to life
at MCI Cedar Junction.
Looks like he served ten years without incident,
so they transferred him
to a low-level psychiatric detainment facility in Wyndham
for good behavior.
Ten years, good behavior?
People usually show you who they are way before that.
Well, Heston's parents
are pretty worried about what he's gonna do
if the police don't find him.
Got it. Okay. I'll poke around, see what I can find out.
- I'll give you a call back. - Okay.
Mr. and Mrs. Koontz? Colter Shaw.
Thank you for coming.
Yeah. Looks like the police have
thrown quite a bit of manpower at this.
Well, it's-it's been 12 hours and there's still no sign of him.
Well, after a big storm like the one you just had,
hard to trace a footpath.
My best advice is just let the police do their thing.
I'm sorry, I was told that, for a fee,
that you would help find our son.
I can and I will,
as long as I feel like I can get a result, but, uh,
before I agree to help you, I need to know
why is it that you want me
to find him? Is it because
you realize the police will use maximum force if they do?
Maybe...
maybe you're fearful that he might come home?
That's not it.
Look, Heston never should've been transferred out of max.
I-I know how that sounds,
but it's the truth.
Heston had a normal childhood.
He played baseball, good grades,
but then something changed in high school.
He refused to come out of his room,
and when he did, he would just stare and whisper to himself.
That's when the parasomnia started.
Waking nightmares.
We'd find him outside the house
with his face pushed up against the glass,
strange wounds on his body.
Self-harm?
We didn't think so at first.
We thought the sleepwalking was from stress at school.
- The kids would make fun of him. Yeah. - Yeah.
Has a lot of nervous tics.
But one morning...
couldn't find Gus.
Our dog.
I thought maybe he was sleeping in Heston's room.
Heston?
Is Gus in there with you?
Honey?
And then we heard this sound.
Heston! Let us in!
- Oh! - Heston!
Oh, no.
No. Heston.
I'm sorry.
Did he see a psychiatrist?
He did.
The... the doctor said that parasomnia
could include acts of violence.
They were trying to assure us that, you know, most people
with this disorder, that...
they're not violent in real life,
and it could be managed with medicine.
- And you didn't believe that. - No.
So, we searched his room,
and...
we found some of his journals
and drawings.
He was fixated on, um,
this girl in the class below him, Emily Collins.
The sole survivor of the fire?
Mm-hmm.
We tried to do the right thing.
We reported the journals to the police,
but they didn't take it seriously.
A month later, Heston killed her whole family
and tried to grab Emily.
If the police had listened to us,
no one would've gotten hurt.
We cannot make the same mistake twice.
Did you make sure the police are aware
that he might still be obsessed with Emily?
We did. We made sure of that.
And the lead investigator,
Detective Dundee, knows that we're hiring you.
We know what our son's capable of.
Find him.
Please.
Before somebody else gets hurt.
Yeah. Okay. I'll do everything I can.
Thank you.
Synced & corrected by -robtor- www.addic7ed.com
Detective Dundee?
That's right. You must be, uh, Colter Shaw.
Yeah.
Yeah, Heston's parents filled me in.
So you find people who can't be found?
Least that's how the parents sold you.
Something like that, yeah.
Yeah, I can't exactly fault them for blaming us.
We, uh, fumbled the ball ten years ago, but
it's a different department now.
So... if you, uh, break protocol
or get in the way of our manhunt,
I got no problem pushing you out.
Just so we understand each other.
Did you learn that at Princeton?
The whole "condescension
disguised as formality" thing you're doing?
What, you looked me up?
Did I look you up? No, I did not look you up. I saw your ring.
- Look, I'm just here to help. - Sorry.
Just... nothing about this case is good.
- Mm. - There's a reason that Heston
was in the secure facility.
My opinion, he never should've been transferred here,
but here we are.
- Cameras get anything? - No.
Storm took down the power line, whole place went dark.
This is the last image we have of Heston.
That's him with an orderly.
Hmm.
You know, you'd think a facility like this,
- the patient rooms would be fail-safe. - That's right.
These locks operate on a separate battery.
Weren't affected by the blackout.
So how the hell did he get out of here?
That's a good question.
I mean, this whole thing is weird.
It's a crude homage to a Dirk Bouts piece called
Fall of the Damned.
Title pretty much says it all. Where'd he get the materials?
Patients are allowed art therapy.
Okay.
- These shoe prints? - That's Heston's.
Shoes are standard issue at this place.
No sign of forced exit.
We think the door malfunctioned, crime of opportunity.
Yeah, maybe.
Or maybe he was working with someone.
Well, we looked into it.
All staff were accounted for at the time of the escape
and the murder.
Heston's Bible. He collected news clippings.
I was in college when he burned that family alive.
It changed this town.
How did Emily survive?
She wasn't home at the time of the fire.
Parents were right. He's still obsessed with Emily.
Yeah, we saw that.
I got a guy stationed at her house in Millwood.
If he so much as sniffs in her direction,
- we'll get him. - That's good.
Can I ask you a question?
This whole thing, this, uh...
this seem planned to you?
Unless he can control the weather,
the storm did him a lot of favors.
Maybe he waited for the storm, used it as cover.
Here's what we know:
he's managed to avoid capture up until now, right?
Which leads me to believe he knows what he's doing.
Maybe this power outage wasn't a coincidence.
And I bet if your guys checked the downed power line right now,
they're gonna find that it was intentionally cut.
Back to the "he had help" theory.
Can you show me where the nurse was killed?
Heston cornered the nurse in here.
So if this was a crime of opportunity,
why... why come here? Why not just run?
Maybe he got lost on the way out?
Wrong place, wrong time for the nurse.
Or maybe they wanted to make sure
the cameras weren't restored.
Why would he care? People were gonna know when he was gone.
If he was working with someone,
tried to protect the identity of his accomplice.
That feels like a stretch.
Okay. How'd he kill the nurse?
He strangled her with this.
- Where's the keycard? - No keycard,
just the lanyard.
Figured he swiped an extra off a desk.
Hmm.
Crime techs have been all over this place,
but knock yourself out.
Yeah.
This vent's been pried at.
There's your keycard.
Okay.
Here's my theory:
our guy, our suspect
broke Heston out with that keycard,
comes here to make sure the nurses
don't restore the cameras,
the nurse fights back, keycard
goes flying off during the struggle,
down this vent.
They're digging at this thing, they're trying to get it out,
they ran out of time and they took off.
None of the employees reported a stolen keycard.
If Heston did have an accomplice,
how'd they find one?
Maybe he got help from an employee.
- I'll question the staff again. - All right.
Will you let me know what you find out?
Yeah.
Randy, you get an ID on the keycard?
Okay, so the keycards are encoded with access permissions,
but not tied to any specific employee.
So, I cross-referenced the RFIDs
with the employee schedule, and I found that
this card matched up with this orderly.
Guy named Bill Prugalidad.
He working last night?
Bill Prugalidad was not on the schedule.
He have a history we don't know about?
Let me check.
Oh, yeah. Reckless endangerment charge
that he got expunged five years ago.
Send me an address.
And the Lord said He would bring judgment.
But first He revealed His plan to Abraham.
And Abraham, a man of great faith,
stood in the gap and he pleaded, "Lord,
"if there are 50 righteous in the city,
will You then destroy it?"
And then Abraham said,
"If there are 40 righteous in this city,
will you destroy it?"
And God again said, "No, I will spare it."
And Abraham said, "What about 30,
20, or even ten?"
And God in His mercy said, "For the sake of ten,
I will not destroy it."
That's nice. Okay.
And how long did you do that for?
- We did it for two years. - Wow.
Wow, good for you.
Oh. Um...
that is my next interview.
Well, that's all the information
that I think I need from you, so...
- Thank you for the opportunity - Thank you so much.
Yes, of course. And, uh, we will be in touch.
- Like your tie. - Thanks.
- Hi. - Hi.
Um, I'm your 11:00, Melanie Day,
- but you can just call me Mel. - Okay, Mel.
You are early.
- I-I'm happy to wait if you... - No, come on in.
Okay.
My mom was military,
so, you know, "on time" is five minutes early.
I get it. My dad was Air Force.
Ah.
- So you know. - I do.
- What branch was your mom in? - Army.
Logistics officer. Yeah.
Good for her. I'm good, I've got one.
Um, okay, Mel Day...
See you've got a B.A. in criminal justice.
Internship at the district attorney's office, okay.
How was that?
It was a...
an education.
Yeah. Definitely an education.
That was, uh, Abe Kimber, right?
Honest Abe. Yes.
Yeah, he's a prick.
You don't have to sugarcoat things with me, okay?
Well, you know, he-he taught me to
hold my ground
and, uh, not take things personally,
but, yeah, enough said.
Good spin.
I did learn from him, so, you know,
it's-it's bad with the good, I guess.
Well, you went to a great school, Mel,
and you had a highly coveted post-grad internship.
You could work for any of the big firms.
So... why me?
I've...
followed your career.
I know that you got a lot of flak
for leaving Lorber & McDean
right before making partner, but I...
I totally get it.
I'm pretty averse to the bureaucratic machine, too.
And what you did with Luterna Corp?
I mean, exposing all of that corruption,
uncovering Grimes's abuse...
It was... legit heroic.
I... That's...
that's the sort of lawyer that I want to work for.
Well, she's good with the praise. Check.
And, to be honest, I'm-I'm curious
about the rewardist that you work with.
Um, Colter Shaw?
I know that the job description is for your legal work,
but I just think that's really cool.
- Well, there is definitely some overlap. - Okay.
Well, I-I can handle whatever you throw at me.
Okay.
Tell me something about you.
Something that isn't on this very perfect résumé.
I don't know. I'm into typical girl stuff, I guess.
Murder podcasts. Um...
romantasy novels... Fourth Wing, especially.
Oh, my gosh, so good. Um...
Uh, TikTok witches are kind of my new thing right now.
Okay.
And why are you so averse to bureaucracy, as you put it?
- You want the truth? - Oh, I always want the truth.
Okay. Um...
My mom died when I was 16.
- In the line of duty? - No.
She was found in her car.
Shot. In the-the parking lot of a rest stop.
But, um...
they never found out who did it.
So there were no answers.
No justice.
I'm so sorry, Mel.
Yeah. Me, too.
Um... But I'm good. I'm sorry.
I don't usually dump this on people,
especially people that I want to work for.
No, no, no. I asked.
Yeah. I guess I...
It just felt like the systems that were
supposed to be there to support her
were more interested in protecting themselves,
you know?
I do know.
I think...
we are gonna get along just fine.
Ooh... wait.
Does that mean I got the job?
- It does. - Wow.
Oh, my gosh. Thank you so much.
This is... this is awesome. You won't regret it, I promise.
I know I won't.
Take a look at this.
Same logo as the one I found
on the Bible in Heston's room.
Prugalidad ran the Bible study at the facility.
Maybe Heston manipulated him, and then killed him.
Heston didn't kill this guy.
This guy's been dead for days. Someone else killed him.
Took his keycard, broke Heston out.
Doesn't make sense.
I mean, Heston's not the sort of guy
who has friends on the outside.
- Randy, talk to me. - Okay.
I hacked the sensor camera on the electric vehicle
that you spotted next door.
A blue minivan left Prugalidad's property two days ago,
triggered the car-cam,
no vehicles from that direction since.
Got a plate?
Yup, and it was reported stolen.
- Any idea where it is now? - Let me see.
Okay, just went through a toll station in East Millwood,
like, half an hour ago.
- Emily lives in Millwood. - He's after her.
Unit four, this is Dundee. You have eyes on Emily? Over.
Unit four, respond.
Let's go.
This is Dundee requesting backup
to 20606 Mosley Road in Millwood.
Emily's not here.
They had to ditch the van. They knew the vehicle was hot.
Any cars reported stolen in the area?
- No, not today. - Someone picked them up.
That gives us a third person.
I don't get it. What's in it for them?
- Got an owner? - Uh...
Woman in her 40s, runs a daycare, reported her minivan
stolen from a church parking lot during service.
What church?
Sisters of the Sacred Fire.
It's a local convent.
Take a look at this.
It's the same symbol that I found
on that Bible in Heston's cell
and Prugalidad's garage.
Let's check it out.
Got to be a connection, right?
You get Heston's visitation records?
Sure did.
Heston had monthly visitations with
a spiritual counselor, a nun named Sister Carlotta.
It looks like their relationship started
before he was transferred to Wyndham. Yeah.
About a year ago, at MCI Cedar Junction.
She live near there?
Nope.
Her only address is at
Sisters of the Sacred Fire convent.
- That's quite a trip, right? - Yeah, and it
seems that she got tired of the commute.
She sent several letters petitioning for Heston
to be transferred.
So, maybe she developed feelings for him,
and he took advantage of that.
Manipulated her to help him move to Wyndham so he could escape.
Yeah, or maybe she was just trying to help.
- I mean, she's a nun, after all. - Yeah, well,
think there's more to it than that.
- All right. I'm headed to Sacred Fire. - Okay.
Excuse me.
- This is private property. - We need to speak
to Sister Carlotta. It's urgent.
It's okay, Jared.
I'll take care of this. You can go back to your work.
Let me know if you need anything.
How may I help you?
I'm the Mother Superior here, Sister Barbara.
We're looking for an escaped patient
from Wyndham Psychiatric, Heston Koontz.
Come inside, won't you?
What does this escaped patient
have to do with Sister Carlotta, may I ask?
She was, uh, she was counseling him.
We counsel all sorts through our outreach program.
We believe she may have facilitated
or had knowledge of his escape.
That's quite the accusation.
We know that she visited him on several occasions,
and that she petitioned to have him moved to Wyndham.
And I'm sure that's the extent
to which she's involved with him.
Were you aware of her relationship with him at all?
I teach my sisters to help where help is needed.
I don't peer over their shoulders.
If we could just talk to her,
perhaps we could clear this up.
I'm sure you will.
I haven't seen her this afternoon. She might be off the grounds.
Mm-hmm.
She have a room here we could see?
What for?
You're protecting your sister, and I understand that,
but this prisoner
has murdered two people since he escaped.
He's recently kidnapped a young lady.
Now, if there's anything in that room that might help us find her,
we might be able to save her life.
Mr. Shaw.
Detective, is this really necessary?
It feels entirely inappropriate
to rifle through Sister Carlotta's
personal items without her present.
Hmm.
Wait a minute.
Got something.
It's a journal from her time working with Heston.
"In my heart, I am sure of the path.
"God help us for what we are about to do,
for I am but a servant."
That's definitely more than outreach.
I don't understand.
What's that?
Let's see what we got.
These are plans for where Heston was being held.
- My word. - She definitely helped him escape.
Why?
Sister Carlotta is a devoted member of this church.
Yeah, well, things changed.
Maybe, uh, maybe he convinced her,
maybe threatened her.
I can't believe she's capable of this.
She does have a point.
Prugalidad was a big guy,
a-and there's evidence of a brutal fight.
No way she overpowered him.
She's not working alone.
In this photo here, you recognize those people?
That's the community outreach group
Sister Carlotta worked with.
That guy.
From outside.
Jared, o-our custodian.
She close with Jared?
Yes. He experienced
a great deal of trauma in the military.
Sister Carlotta helped him through it, got him the job here.
He-he lives in the basement of the convent.
He lives in the basement?
- Yes. - Can you take us there?
Yes.
Wait right here.
Two people were being held here.
Who'd they take besides Emily?
I don't know.
They were drugged.
Take a look at this.
Same shoe print pattern
we found in Heston's cell, right?
Sure is.
He was being held here.
He didn't escape from Wyndham. He was abducted.
He's a victim.
Sister Carlotta and Jared
were holding Emily and Heston hostage in here.
They were drugged, kept unconscious.
Not in line with the vows she took.
No. Not at all.
So, my guess is,
Jared killed the nurse at the facility
and the cop at Emily's. The question is why?
We found this.
It's an altar.
"Fideles."
Means "faithful" in Latin.
Mean anything to you?
I haven't seen one of these in a long time.
So it's not part of your doctrine?
No, it's not.
It's from a splinter sect that was stamped out long ago.
They called themselves "Fideles."
What did they believe?
They operated under the guise of serving God,
hunting down dark things.
Dark things?
Witch hunts?
Among other horrors.
Go on.
They believed that people could be inhabited by demons,
made to do evil.
They took it upon themselves
to hunt down the hosts to eradicate the bad spirits,
no matter the means.
And how would they do that, exactly?
What are we talking about, some sort of exorcism rite?
I got to call this in.
Can you tell me what you know?
- Jared's gone. - He knows we're onto him.
I put a BOLO out on his truck. We just saw him.
He can't have gotten far. Got my guys setting up roadblocks, too.
How are they justifying all this murder?
They think they're doing something righteous.
Makes them even more dangerous.
I've heard stories about the Fideles. I thought
it was just local mythology.
Why are they targeting Heston specifically?
His parents said that the violence came on suddenly,
when he was in a sleep state.
Right? That he didn't sound like himself.
So, maybe Sister Carlotta thought that those symptoms
pointed to demonic possession.
What's that got to do with Emily?
Mother Superior said they would need her for the ritual.
- Why? - She's the emotional tether.
This sect, they believe that
a demon can only enter a host
if it's unlocked by an emotional tether.
Unlocked?
Meaning the plan is to kill both Heston and Emily.
This sect was associated with the original site
of the Sacred Fire church.
We thought that place was haunted as kids.
Rumors of all kinds of unexplained phenomena.
I'd bet that's where they're doing the ritual.
Get in. I'll drive.
All right. We blocked the road to the original church.
No sightings of Jared's truck yet.
Randy,
did you locate Jared's phone?
He was headed east, but then he got wise and removed
the SIM, like, 15 minutes ago.
Wait, you said it was moving east, not west?
The original church is west.
You know, the last text he got from Sister Carlotta reads,
"Go to the first fire."
That mean anything to you?
Church is called Sisters of the Sacred Fire.
First fire has to be the original church.
Then why would he be moving away from the church?
Unless...
All right, Randy.
- Thanks. - All right. I got you, man.
Hey, Randy.
I want to introduce you to my new assistant, Mel.
- Hey. - Hi.
- Nice to meet you. - Nice to meet you.
Please, don't get too used to me.
This face, okay? Don't even, don't even do it.
All right? I'm just here on a temporary basis.
You know. Freelance tech support.
Mm. Gotcha.
I don't know why you keep saying that. He's staying.
- I am? - Yes, you are.
Oh, okay. Good to know.
Just trying to keep my options open.
Oh. What is this?
- Oh. Um, this is, uh... - Oh. Sorry.
She's good, Randy. She's done quite a bit
of homework on what we do.
Oh, yeah?
Yeah, Colter's running down
a patient from a psychiatric prison.
- Escaped? - Abducted, actually,
alongside a young woman.
- Oh, my God. - Yeah.
- Can I ask why? - We're not sure.
Well, Colter's not sure. But it's not good.
Yeah.
Gonna need a lot of sage for this office after this case.
I'm not even into all the woo-woo stuff,
it's just... I don't know.
Stuff like this makes you wonder.
- Yeah. - You know, I recommend palo santo.
It translates to "holy wood" in Spanish.
It's really good for warding off the bad energy, I think.
Yeah, that. I'll take a truckload of that.
- Yeah? - Yeah.
Okay. Well, you know, I can run
- to the store right now if you want. - Uh, he's good.
- I am? - Yeah. Um, I will send you an e-mail
with all the information
- that you're gonna need for your first day. - Okay.
- Okay? - Sounds good.
Thank you so much. Uh, it was
- nice to meet you, Randy. - You, too. -
Thank you again for the opportunity.
- Of course. Bye. - I'm excited. Bye.
- Good choice. Good choice. - Right?
- I mean, she checks out. - Yeah. I mean,
everybody I sent you checks out,
but I figured you two would especially get along.
Okay. I just needed to do my process.
Yes, process is fine, as long as it includes good digital hygiene.
Well, you can lecture Mel all about it on her first day.
- I will. - Just...
- keep me posted on Colter. - I will.
What is it?
Feel like we're missing something.
Why would Jared be driving away from the church?
He could've tossed his phone, throwing us off?
Eh, your roadblocks would've caught 'em by now.
Mother Superior said
it's important that the ritual be personal, right?
We're going to the wrong place.
First fire...
It's the first fire that Heston set.
Right? The one that killed the Collins family.
That would be personal to Emily and Heston, right?
That east of here?
Sure is. We're not far.
I mean, that place has been vacant since the tragedy.
Pull a U-y.
All units, suspect is headed to the Collins property
- on Lombard Drive. - Copy. En route.
Why are you doing this?
Who are you?
Stop this.
It's okay. Today,
you have the opportunity
to give your life for a greater purpose.
Please!
Don't do this!
Shh...
You'll be free soon.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
No, no, no. Don't do this.
Please!
Somebody help me!
- We should wait for backup. - We don't have time for that.
In my experience, every second counts.
Okay, let's split up. I'll...
clear the camper. I'll meet you in the house.
Be safe.
Please...
Let her go!
Stop him!
Drop it.
No!
Please!
Please.
No, don't!
No!
Liar.
You're a liar!
I got you. Come on.
- You all right? - I think so.
- Yeah? - Thank you.
We'll get you out. Hold on.
All right. Come on. Let's go.
Let's go.
How you doing? Gonna be all right?
Yeah. Imagine I'll be down for a bit,
but yeah, I'll be okay.
Good. Glad to hear that.
What about her? You think she'll be all right?
Yeah.
Yeah, she's strong. I think she'll be all right.
All behind her now.
Sister Carlotta got her...
her beliefs mixed up.
Thought she was fighting a holy war.
Yeah, but it didn't start out that way.
Something touched her, and it wasn't good.
I don't know. So much darkness out there.
I'm not saying demons, but things that are capable
of bringing true evil into the world.
And Heston...
Yeah.
I don't know what I'm gonna tell his parents.
They lost him a long time ago.
Doesn't make it easier, though.
Irony is,
Heston breaking out of his restraints ended up
saving Emily's life.
- Poetic justice. - The universe
slipped up and accidentally did something fair.
Yeah.
The longer I'm on this job, the more rare that seems.
You do a lot of good for this town, you know that?
They're very lucky to have you.
I'll see you around, Colter.
Not if I see you first.
Mr. Shaw?
Here.
I collect only in success.
I wasn't able to bring your son back.
Why don't you, um...
Why don't you give that money to Emily?
She can do something good with it.
Okay.
- Thank you. - Thank you.