Colter Shaw (Justin Hartley) heads to California’s wine country for CBS’s Tracker season two episode four, “Noble Rot.” Quinn Ridgely, co-CEO of a software company, has gone missing from a high-end wellness retreat in Napa Valley. By the time Colter’s called in, she’s been gone for nine hours.
Reenie (Fiona Rene) is already at the retreat with her plus one, a handsome man named Elliott Rush (Michael Rady), when Colter arrives. (The introduction is awkward, but Reenie relishes throwing Colter off.) Quinn’s wife, Gray, is offering the reward, but Reenie warns that the retreat’s owner is leery about bringing in an outsider to investigate.
Reenie says Gray believes this is a case of corporate kidnapping, but she doesn’t think so. There are lots of security cameras, but they haven’t caught any sign of Quinn on the grounds. Gray explains she was on a sunset hike when Quinn disappeared. The shower in their villa was on, there was blood on the floor, and Quinn was gone. Gray reveals one of their engineers was taken six months ago and they paid a ransom. Gray is worried that it happened again.
Colter notices blankets on the couch and wonders if they were fighting. Gray confesses that they have different opinions on the direction of the company. Colter promises to do what he can to find Quinn.
Colter and Reenie examine the bathroom and find drops of blood and a broken mirror. Yet nothing else is broken. Colter believes Quinn hit the mirror with her fist, and by following the blood drops, it leads to the window handle. Quinn opened the window after she was injured. It also indicates she wasn’t taken; she left on her own.
A short while later, Colter and Reenie meet with the owner/host of the retreat, William Locke (Neil Jackson), and his head of security, Peter Reynolds (Roshawn Franklin). Colter shares his belief that Quinn wasn’t taken by corporate kidnappers and is still on the property. Reynolds disagrees. He and his team have done a thorough grid search and looked through all the footage.
William refuses to allow Colter to look through the footage, claiming it would violate his attendees’ privacy. Colter realizes William just doesn’t want him involved, and William admits if this gets out, it will affect their stock prices. William agrees that Colter can have access to all of his property, but he needs to conduct his search discreetly.
After William walks away, Colter tells Reenie he knows he’s being lied to. He rings Bobby and Bobby confirms that even he can’t get into the security footage. However, Colter can if he can get into the mainframe. He sends Colter its location.
Reenie uses her charms to get a security guard to leave his post. While walking off, she snags his badge and drops it. Colter uses it to enter the building, and Reenie returns to look through the footage. Colter asks about Elliott and claims he’s just curious; it’s not anything personal. (Yeah, right, Colter.)
There’s an obvious edit in the footage and with Bobby’s help, they’re able to retrieve the deleted portion. It shows Quinn meeting someone in the middle of the night. Colter realizes William lied about the footage because whoever Quinn met with is someone she knows.
Security catches them accessing the mainframe and takes them to Reynolds. Elliott joins them as Reenie reveals he’s there to act as Reynolds’ attorney since the head of security tampered with evidence. Reynolds agrees to answer their questions rather than be hauled in to speak with the cops.
Colter and Reenie confront William after Reynolds gives up his name. William confesses that Quinn came to him for help because she knew he helped people get over their stresses using therapeutic substances. In this case, the substance is toad venom. He told her to take it over by the lookout point by the pond, but he freaked out after she went missing. William claims to have just been trying to help her, not hurt her.
It takes a little persuasion, but William finally takes Colter and Reenie to the lookout point. Before they get there, Colter notices grape branches that are broken. He believes she wasn’t steady and used the vines and wires for support. Colter continues to track her steps and notes that there aren’t security cameras in this area. That’s because William’s about to break ground on new villas in this area, and nothing there needs watching. William says Reynolds searched the area and didn’t find anything.
Colter spots a cistern, and William explains it’s been covered since he bought the property. Colter points out that screws have been touched, indicating someone’s been there recently. After removing a few boards, Colter climbs down into it and immediately spots Quinn’s glasses and a detached foot.
They examine the foot and it’s definitely not Quinn’s. Colter points out the quick lime on it and theorizes it’s been buried for at least three months. It’s possible Quinn surprised someone who left the body parts. They were probably trying to take care of the scene before construction started in the area next week. The killer(s) knew they had to move the body ASAP.
“Judging by the amount of quick lime and the organic matter in that soil, more than one body was buried down there,” says Colter. William is stunned and doesn’t understand why there are bodies buried on his property.
William believes it’s time to involve the police and hires Reenie as his lawyer.
Colter spots tire tracks belonging to a small utility vehicle and heads to the maintenance building. He spots an ATV with mud in the back and asks a worker, Rona (Gloria Garayua), who moved it. She doesn’t know but will ask around. Colter notices three rings on the floor and also wants her to find out who moved the three barrels that left the circles. He explains markings on the floor indicate the barrels were rolled out toward the ATV.
As soon as Colter leaves, she makes a call, unaware that Bobby is tracing the call and giving info on the recipient to Colter. Whoever it is is using a burner phone pinging in the basement-level barrel room. Colter follows the pin Bobby dropped and enters the barrel room, gun drawn. He searches the large area and puts his gun in his waistband before opening one of the barrels. Inside is a decomposing body.
Colter senses someone behind him and is able to knock the man to the ground. Colter holds him at gunpoint and demands to know who he works for. The man gives up the name Jesse Pardue, a builder who paid him to dig up the bodies and move the barrels. The last time he saw Quinn, she was alive.
Rona and Jesse have Quinn tied up, and apparently, Jesse only kept Quinn alive because she promised a huge payment if he released her. She begs Jesse to let her go, promising she’ll never tell anyone what she saw. Jesse doesn’t have time to wait for her money now.
Colter grabs Reynolds to look for Quinn, and Reynolds explains that he fired contractor Jesse Pardue a couple of years ago for not abiding by safety protocols. That’s why Jesse knew where to hide the bodies.
Reenie calls with news that the cops are also on their way to Jesse’s house and might beat Colter there. Jesse’s man isn’t revealing any additional details, but Reenie has discovered some of Jesse’s migrant workers mysteriously disappeared over the years. Velma’s currently working on getting more information.
The cops are the first to arrive at Jesse’s place and no one’s there. Colter asks Velma for details on any remote sites Jesse’s working on, and she comes up with a possible place where he could be holding Quinn.
Jesse and Rona realize Colter must have found Jesse’s man because he’s not answering his phone. Jesse thinks they need to kill Quinn and leave, but Rona thinks they should reconsider Quinn’s offer. However, Jesse knows he’s in deep trouble. He cut corners, resulting in the deaths of his workers, and then he buried their bodies instead of telling the authorities.
Jesse reacts by knocking out Rona and dragging Quinn outside. He pulls a gun as Quinn continues to try and convince him that he won’t get away with her murder. Jesse points out the wood chipper, indicating that’s how he’ll dispose of her body.
Colter and Reynolds arrive and split up as the wood chipper is fired up. Jesse’s struggling to get Quinn to the wood chipper when Colter spots him and says he’s only there to get Quinn. Reynolds distracts Jesse when he comes up from behind, but it’s Rona who fires a shot. “That’s what you get, you son of a bitch,” she says as she shoots her partner.
Unfortunately for Jesse, the gunshot didn’t kill him. Instead, it’s a gruesome wood chipper death for the fired contractor.
Quinn’s freed and thanks Colter before reuniting with her wife. Colter thanks Reynolds and apologizes for misjudging him. The bodies are the missing migrant workers’ and now their families will have closure.
Later, Reenie and Elliott find Colter nursing a beer and hanging out at his trailer by the vineyard. Reenie has the reward money from Gray and passes along Gray’s thanks for everything he did to get her wife back safe and sound.
Elliott and Colter part on good terms, and Reenie sticks around a minute to thank Colter. She’s happy to know she can always count on him, and although he tries, Colter doesn’t get any real meaty answers about her and his brother. However, he does point out that Elliott’s a fortunate guy.
“I hope he knows how lucky he is,” says Colter.
“Oh, he knows,” says Reenie, smiling.
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