The Butcher Game

Jeremy leads Charlie into the abandoned fairgrounds. The darkness makes her nervous, so she asks him for a flashlight. He takes out his flashlight but then suddenly strikes her in the face with it and pushes her down to the ground. Charlie, confused and in pain, reaches for her mace, but Jeremy has stolen it and sprays it in her face. He then drags her up and demands that she stay quiet or else he’ll kill her. She agrees. Jeremy drags her through the fairgrounds toward a building with graffiti about living forever. He asks Charlie if she’d want to live forever, and she says no because she wouldn’t want to watch her loved ones die. Jeremy then asks Charlie if she’d like to live another day, and she tearfully says yes. He pulls out a previously stashed paintball gun and tells Charlie to run. If he hits her twice with paintballs, he’ll switch to his real gun and kill her.

Wren and Richard enjoy a meal in Salem. Wren feels lighter and more in control after her visit to the morgue. They finish their meal and go for a walk to the grave of John Hawthorne, one of the more infamous judges of the Salem witch trials (and the great-great grandfather of writer Nathaniel Hawthorne). They continue walking and see more graves of prominent figures from the trials. Wren panics when she sees a blonde man who resembles Jeremy, but it’s not him. 

Wren receives a text from Leroux announcing his arrival. At a psychic shop called Mystic, she asks the owner, Esme, for a tarot reading. Esme warns Wren that whatever is coming will end in loss and that while a foundation is crumbling, something better will take its place. Wren feels unnerved by the reading.

Corinne calls: Andrea, the victim, had two ex-boyfriends who could be suspects in her murder. Andrea was also seeing an older man named Phil before she died. Her sister reports that while dating Phil, Andrea often had marks of abuse on her. Wren is glad to be right, but she feels saddened about Andrea’s death and has lingering concerns.

Jeremy dons his night-vision goggles and begins pursuing Charlie. He watches as she struggles to keep her crying quiet. Jeremy sings “Run, Rabbit, Run” to further unnerve Charlie as he chases her. In the dark, he throws rocks near her to frighten her before shooting her in the temple with the paintball gun. The pain makes Charlie fall and retch. She gets up and runs again, but she crashes into the strong wire that Jeremy has wrapped around the perimeter of the area. The wire slices through her Achilles tendon, and she screams. Jeremy finds her disgusting, as her face is covered in mucus, tears, and blood. As she pleads for her life, he grabs her, stabs her in the abdomen, and watches the life drain from her eyes that reflect the stars.

Wren and Richard grocery shop before settling into their rental cottage. Wren checks everything in the house, as she usually does, because routine makes her feel comfortable. She hopes to get some rest, but she’s acutely aware that this trip is not a vacation. 

The next day, she and Richard head into Great Barrington. Wren thinks the town is peaceful and safe, the type of place where no one locks their doors, and she’s upset that Jeremy seeks to ruin it. She stops in a cafe to get a coffee, and while in line, she overhears two local women discussing the bodies discovered by the ruins. The women think that the killings were ritualistic or Satanic, referencing a symbol carved into one of the victims. Wren is unnerved, as the killings sound like Jeremy’s work. She takes her coffee and pastry to Richard and fills him in, and they are both frustrated by the assumption of Satanic influence, as this often derails police investigation.

Wren meets Leroux for dinner. Initially, she’s hesitant to admit that the killings are by Jeremy, as it would be easier to think he’s dead. Leroux lets her talk about her feelings, and then he shows her photos of the bodies. Wren nearly screams when she sees what Jeremy carved into the wrist of the female victim: an image of the anatomical heart bracelet that Wren wore when Jeremy attacked her in the bayou years ago. Wren now knows for certain that Jeremy is taunting her and trying to lure her closer to him. 

Wren asks Leroux to call Andrew, his husband, to lighten the mood. Andrew answers the FaceTime call while at work in his restaurant, and his bubbly personality helps put Wren at ease. Leroux reminds her that even though this is Jeremy, they know what to do to catch him.

Jeremy arrives on Philip Trudeau’s doorstep. Philip, astounded to see Jeremy, tells him to leave, but Jeremy reminds him of something they did together in 2002, something that could send Philip to jail, too. Philip reluctantly lets him in, and Jeremy notes photos of Philip’s son and divorce papers on the counter, indicating that Philip’s marriage has fallen apart. There are also crosses everywhere in the house. 

Philip does not want any part of what Jeremy’s planning because he’s a member of this community and pastor of the local church. Philip also tells Jeremy that he got off easy; Jeremy was able to leave after what they did, while Philip had to stay in town and watch the vigils and search parties for a woman he already knew was dead. Jeremy taunts Philip, calling him a killer and warning that if Philip refuses to help him, Jeremy will either harm his family or turn him in. If anything happens to Jeremy, a call will be placed revealing Philip’s role in whatever they did. Jeremy also offers Philip his $10,000 emergency stash. Philip asks Jeremy what he wants.

Wren struggles to sleep in the rental cottage. When she falls asleep, she has a nightmare. In seemingly a peaceful pumpkin patch, Leroux screams her name. A stag approaches her, but all its bones shatter, and it cries in agony as blood rushes out of its face. Wren cannot find the source of the bleeding. Then, the sky collapses on top of her. 

She wakes up and cannot return to sleep, so she makes a cup of coffee and looks out the window to see hummingbirds, which she’s never seen before. She wishes she had the emotional and physical freedom of a hummingbird.