Chinook Wondery

A truck crash on an icy road leaves small-time criminal Emory Wick stranded with a load of dangerous cargo.

Ruth is called out to handle a B+E on the Myshkin farm and happens upon the overturned truck along the way. The highway patrol is handling it as an abandoned vehicle, but Ruth notices the scavenger birds circling the hillside and suspects the driver is somewhere close by. At the farm, Ruth discovers that Myshkin has imprisoned Emory Wick in his dry well— and the highway patrol discovers a mangled body on the hillside.

Police swarm the hillside where the dead body has been discovered. Ruth dives headfirst into the investigation, eager to solve her first homicide, but the Sheriff is eager to dismiss the death as a bear’s attack. Ruth’s brother-in-law, Mitch Valvik, warns her not to meddle in the investigation, but the presence of enigmatic FBI Agent Loro tells Ruth that there's more here than meets the eye.

Pastor Cunningham receives a worrying phone call from Amos Laseur, the head prophet of the Crossroads Tabernacle missions. The Chinook PD attempts to pull their prime suspect Emory Wick out of the dry well on the Myshkin farm, but the arrest does not go smoothly. Ruth is blamed for the disaster of the arrest and retreats to the Ash Wednesday church service to lick her wounds where-- much to her surprise-- she discovers Agent Loro there waiting for her.

Loro infiltrates a church service to investigate. During the service, Pastor Cunningham gives a distracted and disorganized sermon before abruptly leaving. Loro follows him, while Ruth checks on Wick at a local medical clinic. Ruth learns that Trudie, her mother, has been hiding uneaten communion wafers in her bible. Cunningham becomes aware that he is being followed and ditches his car at a gas station, going into the woods on foot.

The Sheriff hands off the criminal investigation to State Troopers and relegates Ruth to curfew sweeps. There are rumors of a vagrant stumbling around in the woods. Meanwhile, Beth spots a disheveled Pastor Cunningham walking on the side of the road and insists on giving him a ride—a ride that takes a strangely intimate turn. Ruth investigates a suspicious camper parked far off the highway and discovers Valvik there, drunk and sinister. Shaken, Ruth returns to the morgue to re-examine John Doe and finds Loro waiting there. They find a new clue hidden in the body.