The first two episodes of ABC’s police procedural detective show Will Trent followed the same main storyline, as we saw Will come face-to-face with his mother’s killer, James Ulster, once more. This week’s episode 3 shifts back to the more usual format of the show, in which different unrelated crimes are solved by the GBI and APD officials. The new episode has Will and Faith go on a wild goose chase after a pregnant woman and possible victim go missing, while Angie and Michael investigate a different murder as part of the APD.
Spoiler Alert
Who is Isabella Altman?
Will Trent season 2 episode 3 begins with a woman arriving in front of an abandoned building, entering the place to meet with someone. The building once used to be a shopping mall but is now extremely run-down and dirty, something that the woman comments about as well. She does not seem worried or threatened, though, as she is clearly here to meet with someone very close, but things take a very strange turn when someone attacks the woman from behind, even covering her face. When the GBI authorities are alerted the next day, Will and Amanda arrive at the same time, while Faith is already at the crime scene. Some repair workers had found a trace of blood coming down the stairs, and upon reaching the upper floor, they had found the body of a man. Will investigates this body carefully, noticing how the man had been stabbed on his back, which had ultimately taken his life. The murder weapon, the sharp end of a detached door knob, is stuck right on the victim’s body, but something else catches Will’s eye immediately.
While there is no wound on the front of the man’s body, there is quite some blood on it, meaning that the source of this blood is somewhere completely different. Surely enough, Will finds blood drops leading away from the body, and as he follows it, the detective finds a second corpse, lying dead from gunshot wounds. A Glock handgun had indeed been found near the first body, and it was definitely the weapon used to kill the second man. Only some distance away from this new body, a woman’s purse is also found, and the contents of the bag make Faith sure that whoever it belongs to is pregnant, based on the medicines inside it. As the GBI takes back all the information and starts a full-fledged investigation into the matter, the identities of both the victims and the missing woman are found out.
The first victim found was a man named Dale Sorenson, who had been a member of a violent biking gang and was also known as a hitman for hire. The second victim was Conrad Warren, an active member and pastor of a local youth church, and his involvement in the incident is not exactly clear. The third character, the missing woman, is Isabella Altman, who is the same woman seen at the beginning of the episode. Based on the evidence found at the crime scene, Will makes a mental image of the events that occurred, and this is actually later proven to be correct as well. Isabella had been the main target of the whole attack, as someone had lured her to the abandoned shopping mall, fully intending to get her killed. It can be guessed that Dale was the hired hitman supposed to carry out the deed, but he failed at his job as Isabella fought back. Conrad seemed to have protected Isabella, as he tried to escort the woman out of the place, but Dale opened fire on them. Conrad was hit by a few bullets, and as he kept Dale occupied, Isabella snuck up behind the attacker and stabbed him with the doorknob. Following this act, Conrad and Isabella ran towards the exit, but the man unfortunately succumbed to his injuries and died. Since Isabella was the target and she still remains missing, the GBI actively tries to find any clues about her whereabouts.
The investigation naturally takes Will and Faith to the church where Conrad was a regular, and they find out that the young man had been a part of the organization ever since his childhood days. He was quite well acquainted with Isabella Altman, who was also a regular at the church, and Will suspects that the two might have been in a romantic relationship. After all, Isabella is currently pregnant, and since nobody knows who the biological father of the baby is, it becomes crucial for the detectives to figure out this identity. As Conrad’s name is struck off this list, Will finds his new target in Pastor Reggie, who seems to be hiding something from the detectives. The protagonist finds Reggie by himself and directly asks about his suspicion, too, but Reggie vehemently denies it. He spots the pastor consoling a young woman all alone at church and suspects that there might be something else going on at the place under the ruse of faith. Will clearly mentions that he finds it difficult to particularly believe people who are religious, but Reggie does not seem very affected.
Eventually, Will Trent is able to dig out some dirt on Reggie, as the pastor has been living under a false identity, for his real name is Leonard Parker. Twenty years ago, Parker used to live a life full of crime and violence in Philadelphia, and he had even been involved in an armed robbery that claimed the life of an innocent bystander. Having hidden from the authorities, since the case is still ongoing, Parker has now become Pastor Reggie, and Will is sure that this information might help his current case as well. However, Reggie does not deny anything when confronted and instead repents of his mistake, stating that he has worked very hard to change his violent side. The GBI detectives are helped by the matter in one way, though, as a knife found at the abandoned mall has been determined to have fingerprints of Reggie. When confronted about this, Reggie admits the knife had indeed been taken from the church kitchen by Conrad, who felt concerned for the safety of Isabella and had followed her to the place. Reggie then also spills the current location of Isabella, saying that she is scared to be out in the open and has been living in a women’s shelter supported by the church. However, when Will and Faith rush to the place, they find Isabella missing, clearly kidnapped from the apartment by someone.
How do Angie and Michael solve the murder of Ted?
Will Trent season 2 episode 3 has Angie Polaski finally return to her job as an APD detective, as she is declared fit for service by the doctors. She reunites with her professional partner, Michael Ormewood, who is also settled on the fact that his marriage is not breaking down after all. However, Michael also seems to be on the way towards realizing that his marriage will not work out in the long run, and this might be a plot thread throughout this season of the show. Currently, Angie and Michael are given the task of investigating the sudden death of a man named Ted Burkle. An investment broker by profession, Ted suddenly collapsed while at a wellness spa and died shortly after, despite being rushed to the hospital. As an autopsy has been carried out, Ted’s body has been found with severe amounts of buprenorphine, which has seemingly caused his death.
The APD officials first interrogate Ted’s brother Joel, who had also been present at the same spa, and he mentions how his brother had literally collapsed and died in front of his eyes. Finding nothing significant from the brother, Angie and Michael move on to the spa where the incident takes place, and they come across a young man named Wolfgang performing some unique wellness techniques. It is revealed that Ted had been planning to open a wellness center of his own, where he wanted to bring Wolfgang as a partner and employee, too, and this gives the detectives one more angle to look into. The spa owner states that she had no objection to the business proposal, and so Wolfgang becomes the next suspect. While having a word with the wellness expert, the detectives find a plastic frame being burned on the grill that is part of Wolfgang’s professional props, but he has no idea what it is.
A quick investigation into the plastic object reveals that it had buprenorphine, and it is deduced that Ted had worn a sort of plastic pad on his waist, which transferred the opioid into his body and killed him. Another sitting with Wolfgang reveals that Ted’s father had been suffering from cancer for quite some time, and this immediately gives Angie the source of the buprenorphine pad. As they reach the care facility where the elderly man is still suffering from a terminal illness, they find Joel, who is deemed to be the real killer of his brother. Joel now confesses that he was rather jealous of and angry at Ted because of how carefree and unconcerned he was about their father’s health. Ted never wanted to care for his father and yet wanted his share of the family trust money. Joel wanted the entire money for himself, stating that he deserved it because of all the sacrifices he had been making for his father and, therefore, killed his brother when he got the chance.
Who wants to kill Isabella, and why?
The mystery behind Isabella’s disappearance is intricately linked with the presence of a different man at every step of the investigation—the local councilman, Victor Carrie. The abandoned mall where the murders had taken place was actually being renovated as part of the election campaign of Victor, who wanted to become the next governor. It was because of this reason that the GBI was called to investigate directly and not the APD, and there had been traces of Victor’s presence found at Isabella’s home as well. Lastly, the women’s shelter where Isabella had been in hiding recently was also partly funded by Victor Carrie, and this makes Will and Faith confident that the councilman has something to do with the attempted murder and the disappearance. However, as they reach Carrie’s house, they find the man’s own wife, Erin, holding him at gunpoint and then ultimately shooting him dead.
The whole truth is finally revealed at the end of the episode, as connections between Victor and Isabella become clear. Around a year earlier, Isabella had been working at the councilman’s office, and she had gotten involved in a romantic affair with Victor Carrie. In fact, she is currently pregnant with Victor’s child, and she has kept it a secret from the world in order to avoid scandal. However, Erin Carrie had found out about this secret, and she wanted to get rid of Isabella, hiring Dale Sorenson to lure her at the mall, posing as the councilman, and to kill her. But as the plan had failed, Erin took matters into her own hands and kidnapped Isabella from the shelter to take her back to her house. Here, she presumably wanted to kill Isabella in front of Victor, but when he protested against it, Erin killed her husband.
In the end, Erin Carrie is arrested by Faith on the charge of the murder of her husband, while Isabella gives birth to a baby boy at the same place, helped by Will Trent. The experience of helping a new life come to the world truly nourishes Will, and this might finally heal him from the pain of having lost Cricket Dawson, which still sometimes haunts the titular detective.
