Will Trent Season 1 Episode 10: Pterodactyls Can Fly

Will and the sheriffs arrive at a trailer-park massacre and sense something is off; a man starts shooting at them, they return fire and take out the shooter, and Will discovers a little boy hiding at the scene — Theo, who witnessed everything but is too terrified to talk. Faith calls in, and Will briefs her: the dead men's history suggests a drug war, but the drugs are missing and the only witness is an unidentified child.

Will bonds with the boy using food, nicknames him “Scoot,” and learns a third man was present at the shooting; his interrogation of a known associate of one of the victims yields little. When a Child Protective Services officer arrives to take Theo to a temporary foster home, Will refuses and takes him home instead. Theo asks for a bedtime story, says his mom “had to go away but will be coming back,” and gives Will his and his mom's names. Will calls Angie to check in and tell her about Theo; she has been MIA lately — even Ormewood finds it odd.

Evelyn Mitchell visits Faith, finds the house a complete mess, and refuses to leave; Faith shuts down her attempts to help. Faith reviews minimart surveillance near the crime scene, and financial records show the victims came into a lot of money two days before the attack. The wounded shooter wakes from surgery and leads the team onward; Evelyn confronts Amanda about a betrayal — Amanda led an investigation into her department without warning, and although Evelyn was clean, she lost her job.

Theo's grandmother is located; Will promises to hand Theo over only after Child Services runs a background check on her.

Angie and Ormewood look further into Lenny: Angie contacts his stepdaughter Crystal at school to warn her that Lenny is bad news; Crystal doesn't believe her and finds it uncomfortable, and Angie leaves her card. Lenny's fiancée shows up at the station to confront Angie; Franklin steps between them, then warns Angie she could lose her career if she keeps going like this. Angie ignores the advice and keeps stalking Lenny; Lenny shows no remorse for what he did to her, and Angie warns him that sooner or later she will kill him — then goes to a drug dealer and buys drugs.

At Kathleen Marigold's store, Theo recognizes his uncle Deacon as the man who was at the shooting; Will hides Theo and Betty and calls for backup. Theo's frantic mother arrives at the station, where Faith tries to calm her — the woman has long been trying to regain custody of Theo and had lied to the police. At the store, Kathleen, Deacon, and the uncle turn on Will; the grandmother killed Theo's family to get custody of the boy.

Will saves Theo and takes out all three, and with the case solved he says goodbye to Theo and sends him back with his mom — while Faith, alone at last, breaks down with her mother there for her.

The massacre resolves into a custody murder. Kathleen Marigold, Theo's grandmother, had his family killed to get custody of the boy; at her store Theo recognizes his uncle Deacon as the third man from the shooting, and when Kathleen, Deacon, and the uncle turn on Will, he saves Theo and takes out all three. After the background check he promised Child Services, Will says goodbye and sends Theo back to his frantic mother, Kylie Davis — whose long custody fight and lies to the police are acknowledged but not punished within the episode.

The personal threads are left raw. Faith, who has pretended to be fine since killing O'Hara, finally breaks down with her mother there for her. And Angie — warned by Franklin, confronted by Lenny's fiancée, unheard by Crystal — tells Lenny she will kill him sooner or later and then buys drugs from a dealer. The episode ends with her revenge course and her sobriety both hanging.