Tracker season 3 episode 3 ending explained: Is Heston the killer or is he a victim?

Tracker season 3 episode 3, First Fire, sees Colter Shaw back in the middle of the action, trying to track an arsonist who they believe broke out of the mental facility he's in, leaving behind a dead nurse's body. Colter partners with a police officer in the case that turns out to be more sinister than they originally thought.

What starts as a case of a clinically insane man, Heston Koontz, breaking out of prison to go after Emily, whom he's been obsessed with for years, ends up trying to stop a cultish ritual involving a nun. It turns out that Heston is not the killer in Tracker season 3 episode 3, but a victim who has been kidnapped by a nun because of the belief that there's evil inside him.

Colter's latest case in Tracker season 3 episode 3 takes place over Halloween, and the suspense in the story matches the occasion's horror theme.

Disclaimer: This article contains major spoilers for Tracker season 3 episode 3. Reader's discretion is advised.

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Is Heston Koontz the killer, or is there something bigger at play in Tracker season 3 episode 3?

In Tracker season 3 episode 3, everyone has all the reasons to believe that Heston Koontz is the bad guy, even his parents, who hire Colter Shaw to find him before he can hurt someone else. He's an arsonist who was once held in maximum security, so when he's missing from his room during a blackout at Halloween and a nurse turns up dead, it all points to him.

Colter Shaw in Tracker (Image via TrackerCBS/Facebook)

Colter and Officer Dundee also try to track him down to Emily's house, the girl he had been obsessed with, and whose family he killed to get her. And when Emily turns up missing, it still points to Heston possibly kidnapping the woman. However, it turns out that Heston himself is a victim. Sister Carlotta, who visited Heston often and whom they thought had helped him escape, turns out to be the real culprit.

She didn't help Heston escape prison but had his friend and the convent gardener, Jared, kidnap Heston. They are part of the Fideles sect, who hunt down evil. Because of Heston's past as an arsonist, they believe that he has evil inside him. Emily is caught in the plot because they think that she is the tether that will help release the demon from its host, Heston.

They plan to kill them both by setting them on fire, which is how Colter finds them in Emily's old folks' home, the first home Heston set on fire, aka the 'First Fire.' During the entire commotion when Colter Shaw arrives, Heston breaks free and chokes Sister Carlotta to death. Colter also kills Jared in self-defense, but Heston dies from injuries, while Emily is saved.

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Who is Melanie Day in Tracker season 3 episode 3?

Tracker season 3 episode 3 introduces someone who could be part of the team, or at the very least, Reenie's team, moving forward. She's interviewing candidates for a job in her law firm, and she ends up hiring Melanie Day, who values punctuality and goes by Mel. They find kinship with each other as daughters of a military parent.

Reenie in Tracker (Image via TrackerCBS/Facebook)

Mel's background, having a mom in the military who died and no one knows who killed her, hence she doesn't believe in bureaucracy, resonates with Reenie. She ends up hiring the younger woman on the spot, and Mel also gets to meet Randy in episode 3. Moreover, Reenie confirms in the episode that Randy is there to stay.

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Tracker season 3 episode 3: Is Officer Dundee alive?

In Heston Koontz's case in Tracker season 3 episode 3, Colter Shaw gets a new partner in Officer Dundee, the police officer heading the case. Much of the episode sees the two following one intel after another to find Heston, Emily, and the people who abducted them. The case has left two people dead, the nurse from the mental facility and the orderly, and not Officer Dundee.

The end of the episode confirms that while injured, and will need some recovery time, but he's alive. That said, it doesn't seem like he's going to survive the case a few moments ago after they located Sister Carlotta and Jared. With no time to spare, Colter and Officer Dundee split to cover the area and find Emily and Heston faster before it's too late.

But it has also left Officer Dundee vulnerable because unbeknownst to them, Sister Carlotta and Jared are also working with two other men. One of them distracts Dundee as the other stabs him from the back without him knowing that someone else is there until it's too late.

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Catch Tracker season 3 episode 3, along with the show's previous episodes, on CBS and Paramount+.

Edited by Kinette Sumadia