A missing mom case takes Colter (Justin Hartley) to Beachwood Heights, Ohio on CBS’s Tracker season two episode 12. Alice (the mom) assures her young son there’s no such thing as monsters while putting him to bed. She is proven wrong when Miles wakes in the night after hearing a noise. Alice is gone and the front door’s wide open.
Alice’s mom, Judith, apologizes for only being able to offer a $10,000 reward. Her daughter’s been missing for 12 hours, her car’s gone, and she’s not answering her phone. Judith lives in the guest house, and Alice would typically tell her if she was planning on leaving. Alice just recently began dating after separating from Miles’ dad, Greg. Judith doesn’t want to involve the police because Alice and her ex are fighting over custody. That said, she doesn’t believe Greg is involved.
Colter looks around and spots a cigarette lighter on a wooden box. Inside are Vicodin (prescribed) and some cigarettes. Judith thought Alice was clean, but she used to have a drug problem. However, three months ago, she had knee surgery. The Vicodin must be for that.
Miles joins them and says he thinks the monster took his mom. Something woke him up, but he doesn’t know what it was.
Velma (Abby McEnany) confirms that Greg was with his girlfriend, so he has a solid alibi. She wonders if Alice fell off the wagon, but Colter doesn’t think that’s it. Only half the pills were gone after three months. Reenie (Fiona Rene) joins the call to say she’s heading to Indianapolis if he needs her. She’s got a new client who’s constantly being sued, and Reenie admits she enjoys the challenge.
Colter gets a ping on Alice’s phone’s last location and heads to a remote spot to check it out. He finds a brick with blood on it and a broken watch. Alice’s car is parked nearby with the driver’s door wide open and her purse and phone in the front seat. The car is still running, and there are signs of a struggle.
Colter calls Bobby’s replacement, Randy (Chris Lee), and they agree Alice probably knew her abductor. Randy found out she’s dating a married man, psychiatrist Sal Markowitz, and texts indicate he was trying to break it off with her. Police were called to Sal’s twice for domestic disputes.
Sal’s house is Colter’s next stop. The gate’s open and when he knocks on the door it swings open, too. Colter quietly enters, gun drawn, and finds drawers have been gone through. Water’s dripping in the bathroom, and Colter spots blood by the shower. He throws open the curtain and Sal’s dead inside, bloody and decapitated. His head’s missing.
The cops arrive and Colter learns Sal’s wife is out of town. Detective Alden (Hamza Fouad) wonders if Alice could have done this, but Colter doesn’t think so. Colter points out that a notebook is open to a page on a patient. He believes the patient is the killer because Sal wrote that he has sadistic urges and cognitive distortions.
Colter also notices that Alice referred this patient, who goes by PJ, to Sal for treatment. Maybe Sal’s texts about breaking things off were about breaking off treatment – not a romantic relationship. They need to find the patient’s identity, but Detective Alden asks Colter to step away and let them handle it. Of course, that won’t happen, but Alden doesn’t need to know that.
Colter texts photos of the notebook pages to Reenie, and Reenie discovers Alice was studying to be a therapist but never got her license. She made it as far as treating patients during grad school, and Sal was her training supervisor. Colter thinks PJ went to Alice for help, and Alice then sent him to Sal. Reenie can’t access Alice’s files because her patients were minors.
Colter reveals that the notes included details on PJ’s recurring fantasies about a convenience store clerk. He’d watch her from Crockett Park, so that’s where Colter heads. He asks a clerk, Beth (Brenna Llewellyn), if he can look at their security footage, and she turns him down. She doesn’t want to get in trouble with her boss.
Colter shows her Alice’s photo and explains she’s a mom who just went missing. The guy who took her is extremely dangerous, and he’s been stalking someone who works at this store. Beth’s creeped out and shows Colter the footage. Colter spots a car that’s circling the store, and then they see a man get out and hold a knife behind his back. A cop pulls up and the man chickens out and leaves.
His license plates are muddy, but Colter can grab a screenshot of the man’s face. He has a fly tattoo on his neck, and Randy discovers that the man is Paul James Hamilton. He was released from prison six months ago. He killed his stepfather when he was a minor and received an early release from his 10-year sentence. Paul’s currently staying with his mom.
Paul has Alice tied to a chair and is reciting advice she gave him during therapy. She apologizes for what’s happened to him and reminds him she tried to help him. Paul’s upset that Alice left him, but Alice explains that it was the court’s decision, not hers. He asks her to finish his therapy because she’s the only one who understands him.
Alice begs to get back to her son, and Paul confirms he killed Sal. Paul admits he did it only after realizing Sal was going to turn him in because of his urges. He was enraged that a man who didn’t really know him was judging him.
Alice swears she can get him a better therapist than Sal, but Paul only wants her help.
Reenie learns that Paul has a storage unit and asks the clerk for access. Reenie explains there may be evidence of an active criminal investigation there, and she’d like him to bend the rules. He agrees after she threatens him with obstruction. Reenie looks around the unit, which is full of boxes and furniture. She spots a box of Paul’s things from the juvenile detention center and discovers it’s locked from the outside when she tries to leave the unit.
She doesn’t have cell service but improvises and uses a dolly to pry open the door. The clerk’s standing right outside and warns her she shouldn’t threaten people. Reenie isn’t scared, but the clerk should be, especially if he has outstanding warrants.
Colter breaks into Paul’s mom’s house and notices a tripwire just in time to avoid getting shot. He checks for more booby traps before entering the room and discovering Paul’s dead mom and Sal’s missing head. There’s no sign of Paul or Alice.
Reenie describes weird drawings she found in Paul’s storage unit. She thinks they all resemble Alice, and many are set at carnivals. Colter recalls seeing a bowl of tokens that could be from an amusement park. Reenie checks the box and discovers Paul’s employee ID from the Happy Hollow Amusement Park. Colter googles it and finds it’s a seasonal park that is not currently open. It would be the perfect place to take a kidnap victim.
Alice attempts to restart therapy, and Paul talks about his mom. She was promiscuous and he’d catch her with men. His mom dropped him off at the amusement park to get rid of him. However, she caught him studying blowflies living on a dead rat. She was with a man so she laughed at Paul and pretended not to know him. “I gave her what she always wanted. A man who would never leave her,” says Paul, chuckling.
Alice acts offended at his laughter and says she deserves his respect. He shouldn’t treat her like his mother treated him.
Colter makes his way into the amusement park in the pitch-black night. He finds the utility room and looks for any breaker that’s switched on. The one marked “arcade building” is the only one, and a map shows its location.
Alice explains why she didn’t go for her license. She internalized what she heard from patients, and that’s what drove her to alcohol and drugs. Alice got help, and she thinks Paul can get help, too. The darkness doesn’t go away, but you can learn to ignore it.
Colter tries a door and it’s locked. Inside, Paul hears the rattle and goes to check it out. Colter unties Alice as she warns him Paul has a gun. Paul fires two shots but misses. Colter goes after him while giving Alice his phone and telling her to call the cops.
Paul leads Colter on a chase through the park while exchanging gunfire. Paul’s hit but continues to run, making it into the funhouse. The mirrors make it difficult for Colter to determine Paul’s location, but he warns Paul that he doesn’t have to get hurt if he surrenders. Paul believes he was justified in killing his mother.
Alice joins them and asks Paul to show them he wants to be different. He notices she’s holding his knife and is just about to shoot her when Colter takes him out. Alice is safe, and Paul the monster is dead.
Alice’s mom and Miles arrive at the park as the cops are investigating the scene. Judith doesn’t have the words to thank Colter for finding her daughter. She hands over a check and then pulls her family into a big hug.
Episode 12 ends with Colter and Reenie eating dinner at a diner and Colter declaring breakfast is always the best meal. Reenie didn’t take him as a “breakfast for dinner” guy. He admits his mom always made them breakfast when his dad had his episodes. She believed it was like starting the day over. Reenie suggests Colter should speak to a therapist, and he points out that he talks to her. Her therapist was helpful and told her to start her own practice. But Reenie chuckles as she admits she likes that he confides in her.
- Tracker Season 2 Episode 1 “Out of the Past” Recap
- Tracker Season 2 Episode 2 “Ontological Shock” Recap
- Tracker Season 2 Episode 3 “Bloodlines” Recap
- Tracker Season 2 Episode 4 “Noble Rot” Recap
- Tracker Season 2 Episode 5 “Preternatural” Recap
- Tracker Season 2 Episode 6 “Trust Fall” Recap
- Tracker Season 2 Episode 7 “Man’s Best Friend” Recap
- Tracker Season 2 Episode 8 “The Night Movers” Recap
- Tracker Season 2 Episode 9 “The Disciple” Recap
- Tracker Season 2 Episode 10 “Nightingale” Recap
- Tracker Season 2 Episode 11 “Shades of Gray” Recap
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