Tracker Season 2: The Cold Case That Colter Shaw Finally Brings to an End in Episode 9

Even if you don’t get the answer you were hoping for, closure is important. That’s true for everyone, but doubly so for a professional rewardist with a talent for finding people and a relentless work ethic. In the Tracker mid-season premiere “The Disciple,” Colter Shaw (Justin Hartley) finally puts a cold case to bed that’s been haunting him for a decade: the disappearance of Gina Pickett (Lina Lecompte).

The episode opens in Deming, Missouri, where a young man named Brandon Stokes (Hudson Wilson) is leaving the grocery store. He doesn’t make it home, however, because a masked man hiding in the backseat of his mom’s car uses some kind of gas to knock him out. Meanwhile, Colter meets with Keaton (Brent Sexton) in a diner to debrief after the events of the Tracker mid-season finale. The last time they saw each other, Keaton was interrogating a lead in the Gina Pickett case named Alex Silva (Jonny Rey Diaz). He told Keaton that, years ago, Gina had been taken to a man who called himself “the Teacher” and used “pretty boys” to do his dirty work on a farm where he “plants things” – and by the end of the mid-season premiere, we learn what all of that means. Well, almost all of it. While Colter and his on-again-off-again love interest a.k.a. Gina’s sister Camille Pickett (Floriana Lima) do finally learn what happened to Gina, they kind of forgot to find out what the Teacher was growing…

A Suspect Comes Clean on ‘Tracker’ Season 2 Episode 9

At the diner, Keaton explains to Colter that he got his lead from a Navy SEAL database that he has access to, and the two of them go over the remaining gaps in the Gina Pickett case. They’re particularly interested in how Gina was lured away from the mall (girls, amirite) when she told her boss she thought the guy waiting for her outside Hot Topic, a.k.a. Frank Whales (Ryan Dorsey), Colter’s original suspect, was weird. But since Alex Silva confirmed Colter’s suspicion that Frank was involved, Colter and Keaton break into Frank’s home to question him again.

Frank finally admits that he’s the one who took Gina from the mall by pretending they were going to a secret show her favorite local band was putting on for fans. He also reveals that he kept a decorative bobby pin from her hair. Evidence! Frank says that “the Teacher” took him when he was younger and coerced him to get girls for him. Isn’t that something? Colter has been harassing Frank for a decade and all it took was a little evidence and backup from a stereotypical bad cop to get him to confess to exactly what Colter suspected all along. Frank says that, while he hasn’t worked for this “Teacher” for years, the guy recently sent him a bag of dirt — the same bag that Colter discovered in Frank’s fridge in the Tracker Season 2 premiere — from his barn as a threat to keep Frank from coming clean. His hold over Frank is that strong.

Colter and Keaton make Frank take them to the barn where he dropped off Gina and the other girls. It’s abandoned, but there is a skeleton chained to some shackles in the basement. That’s enough for them to call the cops and have Frank held for questioning in a more traditional sense. Colter also finds a bucket of camcorder tapes with names written on the cases. One of the tapes has Gina’s name.

Colter’s Team Fills In the Gaps on ‘Tracker’ Season 2 Episode 9

Camille meets Colter at the police station to watch Gina’s tape. They see Gina pleading for her life as the teacher presses her for information about her sister, presumably as a threat. It’s not easy to watch, and it doesn’t confirm whether Gina is still alive. But Camille thanks Colter for finding real evidence at last and encourages him to keep looking so that they can get justice. So Team Tracker gets to work finding out where the Teacher is now. Bobby (Eric Graise) finds some chatter online about a missing girl named Hannah Olson (Erika Bruci) who might be his next victim. Keaton puts together that Brandon, who has since been reported missing, is the teacher’s latest disciple. Velma (Abby McEnany) looks up the deed on the barn and discovers that it belongs to a man with a criminal past named Patrick Campbell (Mel Tuck).

Colter asks Reenie (Fiona Rene) to get information out of Frank by pretending to be his lawyer. Nice try! Despite aligning herself with a renegade like Colter Shaw, Reenie is too much of a by-the-books professional and decides to actually represent Frank. He opens up to her after she promises a plea deal, but Reenie can tell something is off about the way he’s acting. She suspects he may still be loyal to the Teacher in his heart even if he’s no longer with him.

Meanwhile, Colter checks out Patrick Campbell at a private nursing home, where he’s living with dementia. The man’s family happens to be visiting at the same time. That’s red flag number one. His daughter Kayla (Jody Thompson) and son-in-law Noah (Nicholas Lea) are eager to explain to Colter how they can’t get the old man to sell the cabin but live far away in Chicago. Most people don’t volunteer an alibi when they aren’t being questioned, so that’s red flag number two. The son-in-law, in particular, makes a big show of what a wholesome and dorky family man he is. That’s red flag number three. Colter doesn’t suspect the family, however, and leaves thinking he’s hit a dead end.

Frank Attempts a Redemption Arc on ‘Tracker’ Season 2 Episode 9

Back at the police station, Frank says that he can take Colter to the place where the Teacher took Gina. Frank insists on coming with Colter, even though he’s under arrest, because he doesn’t know the address. The sheriff, for some reason, allows him to be temporarily released from custody. (Why not have him write down directions?) The two of them go to an abandoned hospital on the side of the highway that serves as the Teacher’s lair. It definitely feels like a trap, and is, but the way the trap itself plays out is refreshingly unexpected.

Inside the hospital, Colter finds the missing girl, Hannah, chained up. But before he can get them out of there safely, the Teacher gasses them, and the titular disciple, Brandon, attacks Colter with an ax. Frank, who breaks out of the handcuffs in the car, shoots Brandon in the head. But then he follows the Teacher! Is he betraying Colter, or helping him? The Teacher unmasks himself to Frank and sure enough, it’s dorky dad Noah. Frank pulls a gun on him. Turns out, Frank led Colter there so that he could kill Noah himself and finally make up for all the hurt he’d caused by kidnapping girls for a serial killer. But, as Reenie suspected, all it takes is a few kind words from Noah and Frank is back under his spell. Earlier in the episode, Keaton uncovered that all the boys who became Noah’s disciples, as far back as Alex and Frank and as recently as Brandon, were on the sex offender registry. Noah took these so-called “promising young men” and made them feel seen and special in a way others hadn’t. That made it easy for them to be manipulated into doing horrible things.

Two things happen next, in quick succession. Noah slices Frank with a knife, and Frank’s gun goes off and hits Noah’s side. The teacher flees, but his injury slows him down and Colter is able to apprehend him. Unfortunately, Noah admits to killing Gina. But fortunately, as Camille chooses to focus on, Colter’s investigation saved Hannah’s life. At the end of the episode, Camille officially holds a funeral for her sister. She tells Colter that the first thing she’s going to do is travel. All this time, she’s been scared to leave home in case her sister came back and needed her. Now she’s free to move on. For what it’s worth, Colter is very forward with an offer to stay in his van, and while Camille doesn’t close the door on their relationship, she says she’s set her sights on international sites. It’s on to the next adventure for both of them.

New episodes of Tracker Season 2 premiere Sundays on CBS.