Blood Moon

Beth considers his theory. John wonders if the killers committed abductions and murders as an initiation so that the other members of the chat room would trust them. John calls the other detectives on the case while Beth calls New York.

Barker answers his phone, and Gray tells him that there is no sign of Beth or John and that Mitch slipped the person tailing him. Barker tells Gray to call Mitch again and threaten him, but Gray says that Mitch doesn’t answer and that his office has asked him to stop calling. Gray followed John’s daughter, Molly, to school, and he’s waiting for Barker’s instructions. Gray warns Barker that if he touches Molly, John will kill him. Barker tells him to keep watch on the school and, if Molly leaves, follow her.

Beth tries to get through to Winston Brady, but his assistant does not put her through and hangs up the phone. With Max dead, she is much less important to Crisis Point. Beth calls Richard, who tells her that it’s good she was not connected to Brady, as he will not pull the Crissy Mellin episode like she wants. Brady intends to have a video obituary for Max at the end of the episode. Brady added Max’s and Beth’s names as producer and associate producer: Both of their reputations will be shredded when it airs. Beth demands that Richard get through to Brady.

John calls Detective Morris last, after informing the other two about the potential dark-web chat room. Morris is skeptical of the numerology and multiple-perpetrators theory, but she tells him that she will investigate as much as possible. Beth tells John that the Crissy episode—if it airs—will destroy her career. She also tells him that Brady ordered that the episode air tomorrow, on the night of the blood moon.

Beth fails to get in contact with any producers or anyone who might help her stop the episode from airing the next day. John suggests that they go see Carla and ask her about Crissy having tattoos or a connection to numerology. Carla is at work, and she’s not happy to see them. John and Beth tell Carla about Isabel Sanchez corroborating that Billy Oliver was not guilty. Carla tries to leave, but John asks her if Crissy was interested in numerology or had a tattoo. Carla tells them that she had a phobia of needles and that she’d never get a tattoo.

Detective Morris calls while Beth and John are eating and shares that she spoke with the Whitmores and asked about Larissa and the occult. When she asked about any strange people she might have known, her parents mentioned a tree trimmer. The tree trimmer lives in Beaumont and has a boat, and he had two prior arrests for stalking. The police did not look into him very deeply because they had Dobbs in custody. John calls Roberts and tells him what Morris found out, which galvanizes him.

John sees a tail following them. He tells Beth to kiss him and make it count. He will take care of the rest.

Barker is appalled that another one of Gray’s people lost a target. The man said that John was making out with Beth and then suddenly sped away, and the man lost him. He was able to get the license plate, and the car belonged to Charlie Lamont. Gray shares that his tail found John visiting Carla Mellin at her work and followed him from there. Barker tells him to get Molly when her school lets out.

Gray closes his phone and thinks about what a good idea it was that he started recording his phone calls with Barker.

John tells Beth to relax; he’s lost the person following them. Beth worries that Barker is getting more desperate. They return to the fishing cabin, and Molly calls John and tells him that she’s waiting on the bus. Then, she tells him that a car that she saw earlier in the day is still parked down the street. John tells her to go inside the building and have an Uber pick her up on the opposite side of the school. Molly tells him that she wants to come to him and not her mother because her mother is getting married to her boyfriend. John convinces her to go home and says that he will speak to her mother about her coming to stay with him for a couple nights a week. Molly reluctantly agrees.

Carla does not want the Crisis Point episode to air and resurrect the interest in her daughter’s murder. She does not care that it will smear Max Longren’s legacy and ruin careers. Suddenly, she gets an idea for retribution. She reaches for her phone.

John lets Beth know that Molly got home safely. Beth is playing the Crissy Mellin episode. Winston Brady finally calls Beth, and she rushes to the bedroom to speak with him. Mitch calls John and tells him that he was tailed and that he sent his wife to stay with her parents until things calm down. Mitch also tells him that he found familiar handles on the dark web. Then, Detective Roberts calls John and tells him that he spoke with one of his suspects and asked him about tattoos, and the man got nervous. The man had a red crescent tattooed on his shoulder. John tells Beth, who seems unenthusiastic.

Beth tells him that Brady fired her. Carla called Brady and told him that John and Beth were trying to sabotage tomorrow night’s program because Beth believed in “the supernatural powers of the blood moon” (320). John still does not understand Carla’s resentment toward Beth, which seems excessive. They forward their list of handles to Dr. Wallace, and John’s ex-wife, Roslyn, calls. She tells John to bring Molly home immediately.

Roslyn accuses John of letting Molly run to him. John tells her that he does not know where Molly is. Roslyn tells him that Molly was late getting ready for dinner and took an Uber. She showed up to dinner, but she was “snotty and sullen” (324). Molly stormed out of the restaurant, and when Roslyn got home, Molly was not there. John ends the call with Roslyn and calls Molly’s phone. Molly does not answer, so he leaves a voicemail.

John calls Barker and asks if he has his daughter. John demands that he put Molly on the phone, and Barker tells him that he has to offer something in return. Barker wants John, and John agrees so long as he chooses who Molly is released to. Barker suggests that they meet at John’s house in two hours.

Mitch agrees to go to the fishing cabin. John knows that Gray and Barker plan to kill him, and he prepares his weapons. Beth wants to go with him, but John tells her she cannot. John apologizes for snapping at her, and he shows her a crawlspace where he wants her to hide if someone comes. Mitch arrives, and John tells him the plan, making sure that Beth cannot overhear it. Beth insists that John come back, and he promises with a kiss.

John and Mitch get to John’s house, and Barker’s SUV is already there. He parks where he can see the bungalow’s windows, but the blinds are closed. John gets out and calls for Barker, who opens the door a crack. Barker makes John lift his jacket, which reveals the gun he has tucked beneath the waistband. Barker agrees to let Molly go when John gets to the porch. When John gets to the porch, Barker orders him to stop. John asks where Molly is, and Barker tells him that she’s in her bedroom. Then, there’s a terrible noise from behind the house. The noise distracts Barker, who tells Gray to check it out, and John uses the distraction to kick the door in. He kicks Barker and knocks him out.

While John got out of the car, Mitch slid from the car and slipped to the back of the house unnoticed. Mitch made noise in the backyard, and when Gray rushed out, Gray walked into a tripwire and fell. Mitch tied him with zip ties. John rushes out, furious that Molly is not in the house. John asks Gray where she is. Gray admits that it was a ruse and that they never actually had Molly.

Beth considers the case, trying to determine something that she and John might have missed. She reviews the Zoom meeting she had with the professor, noting his books in the background. He had many books on numerology despite saying that he was not an expert. Beth then opens Dr. Wallace’s book and finds an entire chapter on numerology. She also notices something in the background of Wallace’s zoom screen. John calls and asks if Molly is there, and she tells him no. John has to go because Roslyn wants to speak with him, but Beth tells him that Wallace has a do-it-yourself tattoo kit on his bookshelf.