The Finder Episode 1.07 Eye of the Storm

As Walter places storm windows on the bar in preparation for a coming hurricane, probation officer Christina Farrel arrives and interrogates Willa. When Farrel leaves Willa's trailer, Timo steps out of Willa's closet.

Isabel tells Walter she can't join him at the bar because the hurricane has closed the bridges. Meanwhile, Leo watches a newscast about students being trapped at a nearby high school, but one of them--Melissa Welling--is missing. Her cell phone and backpack were found in a drainage ditch, and it's presumed that she was swept off a bridge by a storm surge. Walter decides to find Melissa, but the storm's ferocity prevents him from leaving the bar.

Walter constructs a model of Melissa's route home. Using weather patterns and satellite imagery, he discovers that the surge would've sent her backpack in the opposite direction from where it was found, so she wasn't on that bridge.

Walter then watches footage of Willa's worried classmates, and he realizes that one girl, Claire, knows something she's not telling. He asks Isabel to question Claire while he listens in via her cell phone. Claire admits seeing Melissa with an older man who drove a van a week earlier - and that morning.

Walter asks Willa to check social media for photos posted by the students that morning. Willa tells him how to do it--because her probation terms forbid Internet usage--and he finds photos of Melissa walking toward a van.

Isabel questions Melissa's mother, Karen, who admits that Melissa took $300 from her purse three days earlier. Leo enlarges the photos and discovers a snake painted on the van's side. Walter believes it's a logo for a local plumbing company, which Willa locates on the Internet. Farrel, caught up in the search, ignores Willa's violation.

When Isabel calls the van's owner, Pete Steck, to the school, he demands a lawyer, so Walter talks to Steck by speakerphone. Meanwhile, Willa's trailer is blown over by the storm, forcing Timo to take refuge in the bar. Farrel knows that Willa's not supposed to be associating with Timo, but she lets this slide.

Walter tells Isabel to check Steck's wallet. When she finds $300 in cash, Steck admits having sold Melissa a pistol for the cash.

Then Walter, Leo, Willa, and Farrel look though printouts of the photos that Melissa posted to her social network, as they search for the reason that she bought the gun. Willa discovers that a girl named Renae Francis has 110 friends in common with Melissa, but the two girls aren't friends, so they must be enemies.

Meanwhile, Karen learns about Melissa buying the gun. She breaks into tears and admits that she doesn't know anything about her daughter.

Willa finds a video showing Melissa being beaten down and kicked by a fellow student, who Farrel recognizes as Renae Francis. Walter asks Isabel to question Francis, but the hurricane causes Walter to lose phone contact and knocks out the bar's electrical power, which prevents them from accessing the Internet.

So Walter, Willa, Leo, Farrel, and Timo pool their knowledge to turn themselves into a "human Internet." Farrel confesses that she attacked a bully when she was a teenager and received probation, which is why she became a probation officer. Then they determine that Melissa's beat-down took place in a storm drain, which makes it a likely site for Melissa to take revenge on Francis. Leo noticed a certain chain's burger wrappers on the ground in the video, which together with the church bells heard in the background helps them determine the drain's location.

Walter and Leo battle their way through the storm to reach a generator in Walter's workshop. Leo creates enough power with a treadmill to enable Walter to contact Isabel by shortwave radio. Walter gives Isabel the drain's location, noting that the eye of the storm will be directly overhead for just enough time to allow her to drive there and investigate.

When Isabel arrives, she finds an empty shell casing and blood on the ground. She knows Francis had a car, but she has no idea where that car might be now. To the west there's swampland, which is perfect for body disposal. To the east there's a hospital. Isabel asks Walter to determine which girl was shot, and what did the shooter do with the victim?

Walter asks for time to confer with the others. When Leo tells Walter to search Melissa's heart, he focuses on a photo of Melissa happily embracing her mother, which leads him to believe that Melissa's a good girl who took Francis to the hospital. He asks Leo to send Isabel in that direction.

Isabel spots the car, which has crashed into a utility pole, leaving live wires in contact with the vehicle. Francis and Melissa are still inside. Melissa explains that she flashed the pistol and accidentally shot Francis when she tried to grab it.

Walter arrives, puts on protective clothing, and pulls the wires from the car. Isabel and Walter remove the girls.

The next morning, after the storm has passed, Farrel grants Willa access to the Internet. Noting that she changed her life, Farrel gestures toward Timo: someday Willa will also have to do so. Then Isabel arrives with Melissa and Karen, who wants to pay Walter for saving her daughter's life. Leo refuses her money, and Willa tells Melissa to ask for Farrel to become her probation officer.