CBS’s Tracker season one episode nine begins with the father of a missing girl called to identify a dead body. The dead teenager just pulled from a river isn’t his 16-year-old daughter, Lana. She’s his daughter’s friend, Jamie.
That opening scene was a flashback and three years later, Colter (Justin Hartley) meets with Lana’s dad, Gavin Russo (Robert Moloney). Gavin reveals that his daughter and Jamie were supposed to walk home from school and instead, Jamie was found dead and his daughter is still missing. The authorities ruled Jamie drowned. The police assumed Lana also drowned in the river, but her body never surfaced.
Their backpacks were discovered along with a note that read, “So much pain I want to die.” Gavin insists his daughter wouldn’t have killed herself. However, Jamie’s parents accepted she committed suicide. But Gavin still feels that his daughter’s out there somewhere.
Gavin just posted a $30,000 reward for information, and Colter warns him the odds aren’t good. Gavin disagrees and shows Colter a newspaper photo that was taken two weeks ago at the county fair. He believes his daughter is in the background.
Later, Colter consults with Teddi (Robin Weigert) and Velma (Abby McEnany) about the case. The newspaper photo’s too grainy to run facial recognition, and the photographer hasn’t called Colter back yet. They all wonder why Lana wouldn’t just come home if she’s alive. Colter explains that Gavin believes she’s staying away to protect him because someone’s after her. Unfortunately, Gavin doesn’t have any proof of that theory. He just saw a similar story in a documentary.
Colter’s taking the case to give this dad some closure.
Colter speaks to the detective in charge, Detective Brock (Diana Maria Riva), and she explains they did everything they could. It’s a cold case now, and they don’t have the budget to investigate. She’s sympathetic but thinks Gavin’s just grasping at straws. That said, this case has haunted her, and she’s not opposed to Colter investigating it. Brock willingly shares the evidence, including the suicide note and Lana’s journal. It features strange drawings, and Colter says Lana was into horror and the supernatural.
Detective Brock reveals Lana’s schoolmates described her and Jamie as weird. They were social outcasts and into dark things, including paranormal activity and murder podcasts. She also reveals they were obsessed with the town’s old abandoned mental hospital. They shot creepy videos about the place and posted them online.
The hospital stands less than a mile from where Jamie’s body was found. The videos show the girls believed in an urban legend about a witch haunting the hospital. She is said to be the ghost of a patient named Ada Brown who was confined to the hospital.
Brock accompanies Colter to the hospital so that he can figure out Lana’s state of mind before she disappeared. Neither is afraid of ghosts, but the detective warns the place is full of sketchy types, including drug addicts. Colter believes that if Lana came there the day she disappeared, it’s possible she ran into someone dangerous.
Brock’s called away and Colter’s left to look around on his own. However, his visit is cut short when the newspaper photographer calls and asks to meet. He shot a better, unpublished photo of the person who could be Lana next to the Aurora Blood Drive booth. Detective Brock runs it through facial recognition software. It’s a 99.98% match to Lana!
Colter meets with Gavin and confirms Lana is alive, just as he thought. The police have issued a BOLO and are speaking with vendors who were at the fair. Colter points out that the photo shows Lana looking at the photographer, which indicates she wants to be seen. It doesn’t look like she’s being held against her will, but she looks like she’s in a fugue state. (Colter suspects it could be due to witnessing a traumatic event.)
They look through Lana’s yearbook for any clues as to friends she might have reached out to. Only one person sparks Colter’s interest–Tobias Calhoun. Gavin says Toby was her biology partner and they were in the film club together. He thinks Lana thought Toby was annoying. Gavin reveals Toby dropped out of school six months after Lana disappeared.
Luckily, Toby is employed at a bakery in a neighboring town, so Colter pays him a visit. Toby (Nicco Del Rio) claims he hasn’t heard from Lana, but they were friends. He wasn’t in school when she disappeared. Toby already told the cops he didn’t think they killed themselves. He believes the note was based on what they heard on an Electronic Voice Phenomena recording.
“The page was from Lana’s notebook where she would record messages from the spirits when we were filming,” explains Toby. His best guess is that the witch at the mental hospital did something to them. Toby says he never went back after something there poked him in the side, leaving a scar. The cops think he’s crazy, but he swears he’s not making this up.
Toby provides the video they shot at the hospital the week before Lana’s disappearance. Colter and Detective Brock watch as Toby, Lana, and Jamie explore the facility. One of them points out a piece of red string, something Ada Brown always wore around her wrist. Suddenly, they hear noises as their EMF meter goes off the charts. The camera falls on the ground and Toby’s in pain from something that feels like a bite.
Colter spots something strange in the video. An unknown heat signature registers in the scene and Colter deduces someone (living) was watching them.
Detective Brock and Colter return to the hospital that night, splitting up and searching the patients’ wings. Colter arrives in the room from the video and finds a small hole in the wall. There’s bedding visible through it. He kicks open a nearby door and then chases after someone fleeing.
Colter finally catches up with the person outside. The man’s taken to the station and Detective Brock goes over his record. Police have kicked him out of the abandoned hospital multiple times over the past five years. The man doesn’t answer when she shows him photos of Lana and Jamie.
Brock agrees to let Colter join her in the interrogation. The man claims people are scared of the hospital’s ghosts, but he’s not. He saw Lana and Jamie there with their camera but did nothing to them. Brock asks him to think back to the night of the big storm three years ago, and he recalls seeing Lana there then. His bed was flooding, so he had to leave. He saw her in the woods outside the hospital by the river.
She was wearing a yellow raincoat much too big for her, walking with a man wearing a black raincoat. His description jogs a memory, and Brock has to take a minute to collect her thoughts. Finally, she confides in Colter that five years ago someone kidnapped and murdered a boy, and they buried him wrapped in a yellow raincoat. But the killer, Errol Price, has been in prison, so it must be a coincidence.
Colter and Brock watch Price’s taped confession. Price never spoke to the police about the case or talked about the significance of the yellow raincoat. Colter’s going to try to speak with him in jail by claiming he’s also remorseful about a crime.
Brock hands over Price’s file, admitting there are too many similarities to Lana’s case. She also confesses Lana’s case is the only one that would make her reconsider her belief in the supernatural.
Errol agrees to the visit and Colter convinces him to explain the meaning behind the yellow raincoat. Errol says his father used to make him wear one before sexually abusing him as a child. He also claims he killed the boy because a demon was living inside him. Errol says he worked alone (with just the demon) even though he mentions “we” in his police statement. He also drops the name Vic Pereema.
Colter’s certain Errol’s lying and that he had an accomplice. Errol didn’t ask a single question about Lana and ended the interview once Colter mentioned a partner. Colter tells Brock that Errol brought up Vic and asks her to find any info on him.
Colter’s next stop is at Errol’s sister’s place. Although she doesn’t want to talk, Maeve Price agrees when he says he’s looking for a missing girl. Being Errol’s sister hasn’t been easy for her. Colter asks if she recognizes the name Vic and she doesn’t. Also, her brother was a loner who didn’t have any friends.
When she leaves him to make tea, Colter notices an Aurora Blood Drive bag. With it is a key ring with a red string attached! He stealthily grabs the keys and takes out his gun. Colter asks to use the restroom and checks out her downstairs area. He then makes his way upstairs, gun still drawn.
Maeve notices the keys are gone. She stares up at Colter from the ground floor and asks how he knows about Vic Pereema. Colter reveals he knows Vic Pereema is an anagram for Maeve Price.
Colter chases Maeve down into the basement and discovers rooms set up for a young girl. He’s just located a locked door when Maeve gets the drop on him from behind. She attempts to strangle him but Colter breaks loose and knocks her out.
He finds Lana confined to a tiny room and informs her that her dad sent him to find her. Cops arrive and arrest Maeve, and Lana and Gavin finally reunite.
The following day, Gavin thanks Colter while Lana admits she does not know how he found her. Colter suggests she thank her dad for never giving up hope.
Toby joins them and gives Lana a hug, happy to have his friend back safe and sound.
Detective Brock confirms Maeve Price liked to visit the hospital, and wound up stalking Lana and Jamie. She lured them in with the red string bracelet, knowing they’d believe they found the witch. She killed Jamie right away and kept Lana locked up for three years. Maeve tied up Lana, put her in the back of her van, and took her to the fair because the city informed her they were inspecting her property. Lana escaped the van, and that’s when the photo was taken. Unfortunately, Lana was too weak to get far and Maeve grabbed her again.
Colter and Brock realize Lana was only kept alive to torture, the same way Maeve and Errol’s dad tortured them.
Colter’s last act before leaving town is to take down the yellow ribbon and missing flyer outside of Gavin’s home.
SEASON 1 RECAPS:
- Tracker Season 1 Episode 1 “Klamath Falls” Recap
- Tracker Season 1 Episode 2 “Missoula” Recap
- Tracker Season 1 Episode 3 “Springland” Recap
- Tracker Season 1 Episode 4 “Mt. Shasta” Recap
- Tracker Season 1 Episode 5 “St. Louis” Recap
- Tracker Season 1 Episode 6 “Lexington” Recap
- Tracker Season 1 Episode 7 “Chicago” Recap
- Tracker Season 1 Episode 8 “Camden” Recap
- Justin Hartley Discusses His Starring Role in Tracker
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