Colter’s plans for a vacation break in South Dakota are put on hold when a job in St. Louis, Missouri pops up as CBS’s Tracker season one episode five begins. 16-year-old Stephanie Porter’s offering a $20,000 reward to anyone who can find a missing witness to a murder. Her father, Clay Porter, was convicted of murdering his business partner, and Stephanie’s doing everything in her power to prove he was wrongfully convicted.
Teddi (Robin Weigert) and Velma (Abby McEnany) fill Colter (Justin Hartley) in on the details, and Velma admits she’s moved by the teen’s commitment to uncovering the truth. Teddi suggests bringing Reenie on to the case since her legal expertise could be useful.
Colter meets with Stephanie and her mom, Debra, and while Stephanie insists her dad wouldn’t lie to her, her mom worries they won’t uncover new evidence. It’s been a year, and no one’s come forward, but Stephanie won’t give up hope. Stephanie received a message on her fundraising page from someone who claims they know her dad is innocent.
Colter speaks from personal experience and warns Stephanie she may not like what she learns about her dad. He agrees to take the job and will attempt to find out more about the witness.
Later, Reenie (Fiona Rene) and Colter discuss the case and Reenie believes Clay is guilty. Reenie runs down the facts that led to the guilty verdict. Clay and Avery ran an asbestos removal company and one night Clay found Avery running an illegal poker game inside a client’s house. Clay was enraged, hit Avery, and then threatened to kill him. Avery died of a blunt force trauma to the head one hour later.
Colter admits the odds are against Clay being innocent, but he promised to try and locate the missing witness. Reenie remains convinced Clay’s guilty but concedes she’d rather be working on this case with Colter than just filing briefs.
Next, Colter visits Clay in prison and Clay’s adamant he didn’t kill Avery. He admits he lost his temper when he discovered Avery was running a poker game, but he never meant it when he said he’d kill him. Clay was just upset that Avery put their business, which they had worked so hard to put together, in jeopardy.
Avery was always doing shady stuff, but normally that didn’t bother Clay. Clay believes Avery got mixed up with the wrong people on the night of his murder and they killed him. He has no clue who the missing witness is and didn’t see anyone hanging around after he and Avery talked it out.
Avery remained behind to clean up the poker game while Clay claims he went home. The next day, the cops pulled him in. End of story. Clay swears he wouldn’t do anything to break his daughter’s heart. Colton promises that if a witness exists, he’ll find him/her.
Unfortunately, Bobby’s off for the week so it’s up to Teddi and Velma to be Colter’s support team. They’ve discovered the message on Stephanie’s page was sent from a burner phone. The latest message to that phone is setting up a poker game for the following night. Colter asks them to make a call at 8pm tomorrow night.
The message mentions a gold coin, and Colter waits outside the location until he sees a man flipping a coin. He bumps into him and steals the coin, which he hands to the security guy at the door. Once inside, Colter takes a seat at the table and uses his powers of observation to assess the players. He glances at his watch, sees it’s 8:15pm, and goes all in. Minutes later, cops bust into the place and shut the game down. Everyone, including Colter, is placed under arrest.
Reenie bails him out and learns he set it up so that after the arrest, he could have a few hours with the players in jail. They didn’t have anything interesting to say, but then he spots a female player in the hallway who he hasn’t spoken to yet. Leila Kent (Bree Woodill) accuses him of being a cop and he denies it but does admit he believes she can help him.
She’s stunned that he figured out it was her who sent the message. She doesn’t want to get involved and is shocked he set this whole thing up just to find a witness. Apparently, she and a woman named Mallory were playing poker with Avery and left when Clay showed up. However, Mallory actually stuck around and was in a back room when a guy showed up and killed Avery. The killer spotted Mallory, but Mallory was able to escape.
Mallory’s been hiding since then.
Colter and Reenie question Clay about Mallory, and it turns out Mallory was Avery’s girlfriend. Colter explains Mallory witnessed the murder but didn’t come forward because the killer saw her face. Clay doesn’t really know Mallory and only met her once. He recalls she was driving a green Dodge Challenger.
Teddi finds a green Dodge Challenger registered to Mallory Banks. She and Velma also discovered Mallory went off the grid immediately after the murder. Mallory sold the car for cash at a place outside Kansas City, and Colter decides that’s his next stop.
While Colter’s tracking down leads, Clay is jumped and repeatedly stabbed by a fellow inmate. His condition’s grave when Colter visits the hospital, and he tells Clay’s wife what he’s uncovered so far. He also confirms he’s heading to Kansas City to track Mallory.
Reenie speaks with Clay’s attorney, Grant, about filing a protective order after the attack. Grant suggests that she do it since she seems to be Clay’s new attorney. He also reveals that Stephanie emails all the time with updates and told him about a witness in Kansas City. Grant’s also familiar with the fact that Colter was hired to find the witness, but he doesn’t believe there is a missing witness. Still, he asks to be kept in the loop if there are any developments.
Colter speaks with Rico McCabe, the owner of the auto shop where Mallory sold her Challenger. Rico refuses to provide any details on the person who sold the car, so Colter locks him in a trunk and goes through his files. He quickly finds what he needs and heads over to the address Mallory provided.
Before checking it out, he speaks with Reenie, and she seems uneasy about Grant. She doesn’t like that Grant knows Colter’s name or his location, especially while he’s searching for Mallory. Reenie warns him to be careful just as Mallory pulls up.
Colter approaches her on the porch and introduces himself. Suddenly, a man steps up behind Colter and knocks him out. He comes to a short while later, tied up. Mallory and her uncle Max demand to know how Colter found her and he explains Leila told him about her. She’s been sending messages to Clay’s daughter and can prove it if she’s willing to call Stephanie.
Mallory agrees to call Stephanie and Colter tells her that someone tried to kill Clay in prison. That means someone is also hunting for her too. Mallory finally believes Colter and gives him the name of the real killer. Caesar Ashford murdered Avery and Mallory saw it while in the back cleaning up after the game. Caesar accused Avery of stealing money and then killed her boyfriend by smashing his head into a desk.
Mallory is convinced Caesar will kill her if she testifies.
Uncle Max cuts Colter’s hands free, and Colter swears he won’t let anything happen to her. Max agrees this is probably Mallory’s best chance at staying safe and doing the right thing. Colter insists it will be her decision, and Mallory chooses to go with him to St. Louis.
He checks in with Velma and Teddi, and they remind him he was only supposed to find her. The job is done, but Colter refuses to wrap up the case until he delivers Mallory to St. Louis. Colter tells them about Caesar Ashford and Velma quickly looks him up. He has a long rap sheet and was accused of three murders. He got off because no one would testify against him.
Teddi is going to share the new info with Reenie.
Colter and Mallory hit the road and quickly pick up a tail. Colter suddenly breaks and jumps out of the car with a rifle. He fires a couple of shots, disabling his pursuer’s car. He calls Reenie and learns Clay’s lawyer tipped off Caesar. It turns out Grant was Caesar’s lawyer on a drug case and threw Clay’s case to keep Caesar from being investigated for murder.
Reenie was right about getting bad vibes from Grant. As she’s talking, Grant grabs her phone before she can say goodbye to Colter and before she can call to get protection for Mallory or Clay. Colton realizes something’s wrong when their call abruptly ends.
Grant forces Reenie to get into his car and then uses Reenie’s phone to call Colter. Grant wants to make an exchange at a warehouse and gives Colter the location. Colter realizes that Grant knows his location and that he’s using Reenie’s phone to track his movements. Colter also realizes he can use this to his advantage.
Colter promises he’ll keep Mallory safe, but she needs to trust him. Mallory reluctantly agrees.
Grant has brought Reenie to the warehouse and even with her wrists tied and a gun pointed her direction, she doesn’t back down. She insists he can still do the right thing. However, Grant doesn’t have a chance to change his mind as Caesar shows up and gags Reenie. He informs her she’s going to die, even if Colter shows up with Mallory for the exchange.
Grant sees that Colter and Mallory have arrived, and he and Caesar take Reenie to meet them. Before they come downstairs, Colter explains the plan to Mallory, and she agrees to merge Grant’s call with theirs once he phones them. Colter gives her a gun in case something goes wrong and then has her hide.
Grant calls and Colter demands they come to him and says he needs to see Reenie’s alive before turning over Mallory. Colter’s plan works and Caesar, Reenie, and Grant arrive at the spot where Mallory set down the phone.
Unfortunately, Mallory makes a noise and Caesar sees her. He takes a shot and misses, and then continues shooting as Mallory runs to escape the building. Colter circles behind, attacks Grant, and frees Reenie before chasing after Caesar.
Colter leaps at Caesar from behind and a brutal fight breaks out. Grant pulls a knife and Colter is forced to toss Caesar off the edge of the building. He lands with a splat below.
Colter, Stephanie, and Debra visit Clay in his hospital room. Clay’s doing much better and is happy to learn that Mallory will testify to what she witnessed. Grant’s been taken into custody, and it’s likely Clay’s conviction will be overturned soon.
Stephanie’s mom thanks Colter and hands over the $20,000. He suggests she thank Stephanie instead, and Clay shakes Colter’s hand for saving his life and giving him a second chance.
Later, Colter is getting ready to leave when Reenie shows up. They exchange awkward “glad he didn’t kill yous” followed by an even more awkward handshake.
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