Never Flinch

Izzy calls Holly, inviting her to meet at the Stucky Memorial Gym at Bell College.

Holly finds Tom and Izzy practicing softball, since Izzy is taking Dean’s place as the police department pitcher. Izzy gives Holly a list of all 12 jurors, the judge, and the prosecutor from Duffrey’s trial. The District Attorney, Al Tantleff, offered Duffrey a deal, but Duffrey refused, insisting on his innocence. Russell Grinsted, Duffrey’s attorney, worked hard but could not prove Duffrey was framed. Holly calls John, who says he will talk to Reverend Mike that night. Holly tells him to ask about anyone who is upset about Duffrey’s death.

Trig goes to Reverend Mike’s house with a different gun, planning to kill Mike, make it look like a robbery, and forego placing a juror’s name. Trig’s father’s voice chastises him for mentioning Duffrey at all. Trig is beginning to feel more comfortable about killing people.

Trig goes to Reverend Mike’s house and asks to use the bathroom. Mike asks about Trig’s friend who died in jail, and Trig cements his decision to kill Mike. Trig shoots Mike, who is shocked, then smothers him with a pillow, ransacking his house to make it look like a robbery. Trig’s name is in Mike’s address book, but Trig thinks of a way to trick the police.

Trig disposes of Mike’s possessions and plans to kill again, feeling excited.

Izzy and Tom interview ADA Allen. Allen denies receiving a letter from Tolliver, but he panics when Izzy points out the fingerprint issue. Allen tries to justify his actions, but Izzy and Tom explain that they’re trying to help him: “Bill Wilson” is killing proxies but might target Allen directly. Izzy offers Allen police protection.

Bartender John Ackerly does not see Mike at his AA meeting, so he goes to Mike’s house. Finding the door unlocked, John enters and discovers Mike’s body. He calls the police.

Kate is worried after the anthrax incident, but Corrie says people will think she is a coward if she quits.

The newspaper shows Kate alongside a picture of Cynthia Herron, who was assaulted in Des Moines outside Kate’s show because their guard thought her wine was a gun. Corrie is starting to dislike Kate, but she comes up with a plan to overcome the bad press.

Kate and Corrie visit Cynthia, and Kate tells Corrie to hire only women to guard them.

Izzy, Barbara, and Holly meet, and Barbara says she took a job as Betty’s roadie. Betty agreed to perform the National Anthem at the Guns and Hoses game. Holly asks about Reverend Mike, revealing that John was her AA contact who found the body. Izzy contacts the county police.

Chrissy’s twin brother, Chris, receives $1,200 in Iowa City from Andrew Fallowes, the treasurer of Real Christ Holy, the religious organization for which Chrissy and Chris work. Chris respects Kate’s determination and wonders if God will praise him for killing her. He is disturbed by a memory of a “dead hand” that his mother called “our secret.”

Corrie calls Holly to recruit her as Kate’s new bodyguard, noting that they will still have some police protection. Corrie wants Holly to fly to Iowa City, accompany Corrie and Kate through a few more tour locations, and attend the Sista Bessie concert. Holly debates the amount she will earn for that time, the possible dangers of taking the job, and the possibility that Kate will be unpleasant to work for. Holly decides to take the job.

Detective Elderson shows Izzy and Tom around Reverend Mike’s home. Mike’s AA coins were left behind, which means the killer was likely in AA. Mike’s address book shows a meeting with “Briggs,” whom the police assume is the killer.

Izzy asks Holly to contact John about the name Briggs. Holly explains the job with Kate McKay, but she puts Izzy in contact with Jerome, who might manage to get more information out of John.

Trig goes to an AA meeting out of town and does not speak. He picks up a hitchhiker after the meeting and shoots him four times, dragging his body to an outhouse by a hiking trail. He plants the name Steven Furst on the body and laments the disrespectful “burial.” Trig compares killing to drinking, saying he cannot convince himself that he can stop.

Holly calls Jerome before flying to Iowa City to meet Kate. Jerome knows about “Bill Wilson” and the murders from Buckeye Brandon’s podcast. Jerome agrees to talk to John about “Briggs.”

Izzy calls Holly to report the death of Fred Sinclair, the hitchhiker Trig killed and marked with the name Steven Furst. Izzy does not know how Buckeye Brandon is getting information, and Holly suggests that “Bill Wilson,” or “Briggs,” called him. Holly is confident that Briggs and Bill Wilson are the same person and that he staged Mike’s house to look like a robbery.

Barbara calls to check on Holly, and they remind each other to be careful.

Corrie calls Holly to confirm her arrival, and Holly sits in the baggage claim area. Holly reflects on Briggs, whom she finds arrogant, and the person stalking Kate. Holly brought her own gun to Iowa City, and she rents a larger car than usual.

Trig goes to work but is paranoid about getting caught. He called Buckeye Brandon’s tipline and is disturbed to find out that a Boy Scout found Fred. Trig is starting to enjoy killing and wants to speed up. He can no longer tell whether the voice in his head is his own or his father’s.

Jerome meets John, who does not recognize the name Briggs. John met Holly when she was looking for Benny, a man who skipped out on his debt. John knew Benny from AA, and Holly stopped Benny from leaving the bar when John refused to serve him. Holly convinced Benny to set up a plan to pay his debts, and she and John became friends after that. John will break the anonymity of AA if it means catching Briggs.

Chrissy watches Holly meet Corrie. Thinking about politics and abortion, Chrissy resolves to kill Corrie and Kate at any cost.

Corrie introduces Holly to Kate. Corrie seems frustrated, and Holly gets the impression that Kate is not taking the threats seriously. Holly wants to go over the information they have, but Kate delays until after the next show. Holly feels underestimated, noting that she and Corrie are Kate’s “employees,” not her friends. Holly’s plan is to swap hotels along Kate’s route, so the stalker does not know where they are staying.

Chrissy approaches Kate’s hotel with a bag of animal organs.

A fire alarm interrupts Holly’s investigation, and she leads Kate and Corrie out of the hotel despite Kate’s protests. Holly notes a hotel worker in a brown dress. The alarm stops, they go back up, and they find Kate’s door kicked in. Holly tells Kate to step back, but Kate ignores her. They find dead animals and organs in Kate’s open luggage and “EX 21 22 23” written on the door.

Tom and Izzy investigate the trail where Fred’s body was found. The camera nearby is broken, and the tire tracks by the outhouse match multiple car makes and models.

Holly and Kate meet the hotel manager, who says hotel workers wear blue, meaning Holly saw the stalker. Kate insists on talking about the incident at a press conference, and Holly encourages her to taunt the stalker by calling them a coward. The message refers to lines from the biblical Book of Exodus in the Bible, which prescribe punishment for anyone who terminates a pregnancy. Kate refuses to cancel her lecture.

Trig goes to a dentist appointment but realizes Fred’s hitchhiking sign is in his passenger seat. Maisie, Trig’s secretary, might have seen it, and Trig’s father’s voice asks if Trig wants to be caught. Trig refuses to kill Maisie.

Trig’s dentist anaesthetizes him with nitrous oxide to remove a tooth. During the extraction, Trig wonders if he could kill multiple people at once, noting that killing Kate McKay or Sista Bessie along with the guilty person would spread awareness for his message.

Jerome visits Barbara at the Mingo Auditorium, where she is working with Sista Bessie’s crew. Betty pulls Jerome aside and asks him to convince Barbara to join the tour as a singer, especially for the song Betty is performing to one of Barbara’s poems. Jerome tells Barbara she can be a poet and a singer.

Kate deftly ridicules the stalker at the press conference, and Holly does not note anyone suspicious in the audience.

At a press conference for Guns and Hoses, the chiefs of the police and fire departments introduce George Pill, a fireman, and Izzy. George taunts Izzy, who insults George’s hat. Reporters ask about the Surrogate Juror Murders, as they are calling Briggs’s murders, but George leads Izzy offstage. George is angry and says the hat is his father’s.

Holly notes the limited security at the lecture venue. Holly is nervous about protecting Kate.

Trig goes to an abandoned ice rink where his father used to take him to hockey games. Trig’s father was only happy at hockey games. Trig uses one of his father’s tips to get into the rink and thinks about bringing people there to kill them. Trig encounters a young woman who asks him for drugs. He pretends to have drugs, convinces her to come into the rink, kills her, and plants the name “Corinna Ashford.”

Kate starts her show, and a group of protesters chant that abortion is murder. Kate waits for them to stop, talking to them like children, then continues her lecture. Corrie and Holly are impressed, and Holly wonders if the stalker is in the audience.

Chris is in the audience, remembering how Pastor Jim called Kate the antichrist. Kate asks whether any men in the audience have had an abortion, and she sees Chris raising his hand. The crowd laughs. Chris laughs along but thinks about killing Kate.

Trig calls Izzy, introduces himself as “Bill Wilson,” and asks for her cellphone number. Izzy gives him the number, and Trig sends her a picture of a woman’s hand holding a slip of paper with the name Corinna Ashford.

Trig tosses his burner phone and debates whether police will find the woman’s body. He hopes they do not, since he wants to use the rink for his “finale.”

After Kate’s show, she asks for reassurance that the show was good. Corrie cannot identify anyone from the audience, and Holly cannot identify drivers behind them.