- Holly presents her theory about the connection between two other child murders and the Frankie Peterson case; while Ralph remains skeptical, Yunis suggests they start looking into Claude, the last person to have contact with Terry.
- In a bus station, news plays about Tracey's shooting death. Holly is in the station watching, and calls Andy. She says that she saw Tracey at Heath's gravesite two days ago and wants Andy to look into it, and Andy immediately agrees. He then says that he's been thinking about Holly all day, and Holly thanks him and hangs up and gets on her bus. Once seated, Holly looks at the photos she took of the back of Tracey's head and sees the blistering.
As the bus goes down the highway, Andy texts Holly that Keith and Tracey were first cousins. The WiFi signal disconnects, and Holly turns off her laptop and sits back to sleep.
Ralph looks at Merlin's and Jeannie's sketches of the figure.
Holly sleeps on the bus.
Jeannie comes out at 6 am and finds Ralph still up. He goes to make her some coffee, and Jeannie asks him about Merlin's sketch. Ralph explains where the sketch came from, but isn't convinced the figure is real.
Holly wakes up and goes to the bathroom. Tracey is there, his face shot up, and he grabs Holly and turns her toward the front of the bus, telling her to look. Holly sees a semi across the highway, and Holly yells at the driver to stop. When she moves up front, she sees that there's no semi there. The driver pulls to the side, scraping the guide rail, and brakes the bus to a halt. Holly looks back and sees no sign of "Tracey", and tells the driver that she must have had a nightmare. The driver continues along.
Jack wakes up and feels at the blisters on his neck, and discovers that they're gone.
At the kitchen table, Jeannie insists that she saw the same person as Merlin. Ralph doesn't believe it, or that Jessa saw the figure as well. He points out that they're both alive despite the threat the figure made to Jeannie, and Jeannie suggests that Ralph is making a worse mistake keeping the investigation going. Ralph asks if she would feel the same way if Derek died, and Jeannie says that he's hitting below the belt but admits that he's right. Her husband says that he believes Jeannie dreamed the entire thing and there is no figure.
As Ralph washes the dishes, Jeannie says that she wants to go to the meeting with Holly and bringing Tamika, Jack, and Glory as well. She insists that Glory needs to see that Ralph is making some progress, and offers to invite Glory personally. Ralph agrees and answers his phone when Jack calls. Jack asks if there's anything he can help out with the meeting, and Ralph invites him along.
Later, Jeannie is sorting things in Derek's room and asks Ralph if he wants to help. He declines and leaves, and Jeannie takes the toys to the Maitland house for Jessa and Maya. She says that Glory should only go to the meting if she wants and assures her that she'll be there, and then asks Jessa if the figure still had Terry's eyes when he visited the second time. She says that the figure had holes for eyes, As Jeannie goes, Glory tells her that what she's putting Maya and Jessa through better be worth it.
Ralph meets with Herbert, who points out that Ralph missed their last session. The therapist warns that if he thinks Ralph is incapable, he'll have to note it to the review board. Ralph finally says that he saw Derek in what he says was a dream. Herbert asks why he thinks he had the dream now, and Ralph suggests that Derek was telling Ralph not to confuse him with Ollie since they would have been the same age.
On the bus, Holly gets a call from Andy. He says that they found the Williams' sisters fingerprints in Tracey's car. Tracey dated the older sister, and Andy suggests that Tracey was an accomplice in their deaths.
Ralph returns home and sees the sketches of the figure taped to the wall, including the new ones that Jeannie made from Jessa's description.
Jack meets Holly when her bus arrives in Cherokee City, and introduces himself. He explains that Ralph asked him to pick Holly up. They go to a diner and Jack says that he's new to the investigation. Jack asks for a preview of what she'll be talking about. Holly doesn't want to, saying that she's still organizing her thoughts. The detective wonders why Holly keeps staring at him, and she says that he looks like he's going through hell. She wonders if his wife left her, and Jack says that she left a few months ago but he was glad to see her gone. As they go, Holly mutters that no one will believe her.
After using the bathroom, Jack wets his face and looks at himself in the mirror. He turns and sees the words "Stop her" written on the wall behind him. As Jack drives Holly to the meeting, he asks Holly why no one will believe her, but she refuses to talk about it.
At the meeting at Howie's office, Alec points out all the evidence pointing to Terry as the killer. Jeannie notes that Terry was in another city. Jack and Holly arrive, and when Holly comes in she goes over everything that she's found about the other two murders. She notes all of the contradictory information and the fact that each killer had an apparently-accidental encounter with the previous one a month earlier.
Holly suggests that the three supposed killers were victims, and were all selected She suggests that El Cuco is a real entity that kills and eats children. Yunis is familiar with the legend from his childhood and crosses himself. Howie tells Glory that he doesn't have to listen to Holly's garbage, but Glory wants to hear the rest and Jack sides with Holly. Holly says that whatever the presence is, it's evil and it's real. She says that the key to stopping the next murder is to discover who El Cuco plans to duplicate next.
Glory curses at Holly, furious that she's been investigating the boogeyman to clear Terry. She walks out and Howie goes after her. Ralph and Yunis leave next, and Yunis figures that Claude is El Coco's next target. Ralph doesn't believe a word of it and walks off.
In the conference room, Holly tells Jeannie that everyone in the related families has died. She figures that Tracy was involved in the Williams' sister murder, and he was somehow driven to help El Cuco when it had taken on Heath's appearance. Jack looks at Holly's evidence and listens, and winces at the renewed pain in his neck. "Stop her" appears on his hands, but only he can see the words.
Alec meets with Howie and says that he doesn't believe Holly, but he isn't ready to say he doesn't. He's read up on myths and legends, and suggests that the legends of El Cuco has a basis in fact. Howie isn't impressed, and tells a joke about a Yiddish vampire, then walks off.
Jeannie gets into the car with Ralph, and when Ralph complains about Holly "clown show", Jeannie tells him to cut it out. Holly is sitting in the back, and Jeannie explains that she invited Holly to stay with them. Ralph sarcastically agrees.
Jack drives home.
When the Andersons return home, Jeannie takes Holly to the guest room. Holly looks at the figure sketches taped to the wall and complains that Jeannie didn't bring them to her, and Jeannie admits that she should have. Jeannie explains where she got them, and Holly says that they signify transformation. She figures that El Cuco waits 24 to 27 days between killings because it transforms between each murder.
Jeannie shows Holly where the figure was sitting when it warned her, and Ralph says that he didn't dust for fingerprints because there was no sign that anyone was sitting there. Holly asks Jeannie to get her Scotch tape and colored markers, and Ralph sarcastically comments on El Cuco. He says that he's known people like Holly who live in their own reality, and Holly says that she knows what she sounded like and doesn't enjoy being humiliated. She insists that she delivered what she believes is the truth, and apologizes for what the meeting became. Holly tells Ralph that she's such a disappointment to him, and asks him to let her see the investigation through.
When Jeannie returns with the tape and markers, Holly creates a purple light from her phone and checks the chair where the figure was sitting. Traces of the figure's liquids are on the chair and table, and Ralph says that they have to have the residue tested to confirm if it's the same they found in the barn. He says that the original residue samples are still being tested, and Holly says that the technicians are stumped because what they're examining isn't human, animal, mineral, or vegetable. She suggests that they'll eventually dismiss the residue contents as contamination, and figures that El Cuco is shedding.
Jack enters his home and stands hesitantly in the darkness.
At home, Glory looks through a drawer with Terry's things and buries her face in his clothing.
After Jack takes a shower, he comes out to find his dead mother waiting for him.
Glory takes out a drawer
Jack says that his mother is dead and she should go away. El Cuco, appearing as Jack's mother, tells Jack that he fucked up like he always does. She leaps across the room and tackles Jeff, then punches him repeatedly.
Glory tosses Terry's clothes and things on the hallway floor into a pile.
Sobbing, Jack crawls away and begs his mother to stop.
Jeannie wonders if El Cuco was there or not, and Holly finally speculates that the creature projected its consciousness because it was too weak to move. El Cuco can't risk physical exposure, so it uses "servants" like Tracey. Ralph goes into Derek's room and wonders if he saw El Cuco earlier instead of his son. Glory calls and asks Ralph to come over.
Ralph and Glory meet in the Maitland kitchen, and Ralph apologizes for not vetting what Holly was going to say. He insists that they're going to continue to find the real killer, and Glory figures that Terry was so good that they shouldn't have to work so hard to prove his innocence. She asks Ralph if he thinks Terry killed Frankie, and Ralph says that he doesn't believe it. He insists that whenever he investigates a crime, there's a rational explanation.
At the strip bar, Claude hears two men arguing. He goes over to break up the fight and one of the men slashes him with a knife. Claude goes berserk on the man, and the other bouncer pulls him away, warns him that he's still on parole, and tells him to get some. When Claude goes out the back, he pauses as he senses something, but then dismisses it as his imagination. As he gets in his car and drives away, Yunis watches him down the street from his car.
Ralph returns home and finds Holly in the kitchen making tea. He tells her that it's not his decision to fire her from the case, and complains that she gave a name and resume to the unexplained. Holly warns Ralph that El Cuco is trying to stop them, terrifying the people around Ralph, and says that El Cuco wouldn't be trying to stop them if their investigation didn't threaten it and it wasn't vulnerable. She says that Ralph is the one El Cuco would go after the most, and asks what El Cuco said to Ralph. Ralph insists that "Derek" wasn't El Cuco, and finally tells Holly that "Derek" said to let him go. He admits that he didn't tell Jeannie, and Holly goes to bed as Ralph mutters that "Derek" wasn't El Cuco.
Glory finds Jessa going through Terry's things.
Ralph and Jeannie lie in their bed, and they hold each other.
Holly prints out the photo of Tracey's neck with the blistering.
The next morning, Jack wakes up choking on his blood sprayed on the walls. The blisters on his neck are back, and Jack says "okay".
Holly is getting dressed and putting makeup on his bruises when Jack calls him. He says that he hated the way she was treated in the meeting and offers to provide her with something tangible to prove her theory. Jack tells Holly that he found something at the barn that everyone overlooked, and she needs to come see it for herself. Holly goes to her car, and Jack tells her not to mention her excursion to the Andersons and hangs up. Jack then loads his pistol and goes out. Holly is there, having found his address on the Internet, and says that she doesn't trust anyone's driving but her own. Jack gets into the car with Holly and when she notices his bruises and cuts, says that she should see the other guy.
Holly drives to the barn, and says that he would look better without the makeup covering his bruises. She grabs a pack of wipes and takes one out, and when she "accidentally" drops it, Jack bends over to pick it up. Holly sees the blisters on his neck then looks away when Jack sits back up. She says that she needs to go back to Ralph's to get some stuff she printed out that Jack should see, but Jack stops her and says that it will keep.
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