Chase Episode 1.08 The Longest Night

Two prison guards drive disabled serial killer Curt Seaver to his doctor's office for a routine visit. After eight years of pretending to be wheelchair-bound, Seaver suddenly leaps up and attacks the two guards! Seaver drives off in their van, leaving them for dead. At H.E.A.T., Luke apologizes for lying to Jimmy about his posh background. Jimmy accepts Luke's apology but expects total honesty in the future. Annie walks in with news of Seaver's prison escape. She gives her team the details: Seaver is a former English professor who became a serial killer with a taste for young, brunette victims. Officers thought Seaver was unable to walk because of a spine injury, but clearly, his back has healed. Now Annie has to determine if Seaver's on the run or targeting another victim.

Annie and Jimmy tour Seaver's cell. Since disabled prisoners don't have roommates, Seaver had plenty of time to secretly exercise and strengthen his injured back. He's also left behind a box full of love letters from lonely women who were fans of his. Annie speaks to Mason Boyle about fellow inmate Seaver. Boyle only agrees to speak to Annie if she promises to deliver a letter to his daughter Sissy. Boyle doesn't want strangers reading his mail, but since he and Annie go way back, he doesn't mind if she reads the letter before delivering it. Mason then tells Annie that Seaver asked about a good escape route. Boyle told Seaver to take the 249 highway. Meanwhile, Seaver murders an innocent man and steals his van.

At H.E.A.T., Luke is awkward around Daisy even though she's completely nonchalant about their dalliance. After she brushes him off, Luke approaches Annie with boxes full of love letters written to Seaver. Annie tells Luke to read the letters written by female fans based in Houston. One might lead the Marshals to Seaver. Marco introduces Annie to Ed Castwick, a writer who's penning a thoroughly researched book on Seaver. Castwick suggests that Seaver will hide unless he's impulsively tempted to kill by his "type": a twenty-something brunette with freckles. In other words, dead ringers for Seaver's mentally ill, deceased mother. Seaver's mom tried to kill her illegitimate son for possessing "original sin," shortly before she committed suicide. Seaver hands Annie a copy of his book and leaves.

While driving his newly stolen van, Seaver happens to notice a freckled brunette standing by a meter. He makes a U-turn, approaches her and offers some change. Later, the bloodied victim barely manages to crawl into an office building lobby. The receptionist looks on in horror and calls for help. Across town, Seaver drives through a residential neighborhood. His face is ravaged by defensive wounds and pepper spray. Clearly his victim had a lot of fight in her. Seaver sees a front yard littered with unopened newspapers and garbage cans still sitting on the sidewalk. He pulls his van into the garage and makes his way inside.

At the hospital, Annie talks to Ruth Marler, the first girl who ever survived one of Seaver's attacks. Clearly still traumatized, Ruth remembers Seaver offering her some change. He was driving an old burgundy van with some kind of business sign on the side. Out of nowhere, he started stabbing Ruth but she fought back. Seaver tried to run after Ruth but his legs gave way. Still hiding out in a random house, Seaver turns on the television and sees a news program urging everyone in the vicinity to stay inside. There's been word that serial killer Curt Seaver is on the loose. Before long, Annie and her team discover the burgundy van and the house Seaver burgled. There's no sign of Seaver but there is a footprint of his leading towards the woods.

Jimmy and Annie investigate in the woods. With Seaver's bad legs, he couldn't have gone far. During their search, Annie tells Jimmy to go easier on Luke. Jimmy won't budge, saying that Luke shouldn't have lied about his silver spoon upbringing in D.C. Suddenly Annie sees a dead body in the woods! Seaver clearly killed the camper for his jacket and boots. And judging by more footprints, he's headed west! Deeper into the woods, Seaver meets a hunter named Daniel. Seaver tells Daniel that he's hurt his leg and needs help. Daniel leads Seaver to his truck where he says he has a cell phone. Moments later, Annie and her gang find two sets of footprints and tire tracks. Seaver's tricked an innocent bystander, and murder might be next!

Daniel drives Seaver to a modest home nearby. In the driveway, Daniel delivers an impromptu lesson on Hemingway. Suddenly Daniel's wife calls on his cell phone. She's clearly heard that a madman was hiding out in the woods. Seaver pulls a gun on Daniel and tells him to pretend like everything's okay. The next day, Annie meets Daniel outside his house. He and his wife had been tied up for hours; the reason Seaver didn't kill them both was because Daniel said he had read Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea." Seaver then stole some weapons and bolted.

Annie and Luke review the Seaver case. Before Seaver attacked Ruth, where was he headed? Boyle had told Seaver to head north if he wanted to escape and yet Seaver's attack happened in South Houston. Annie and Luke discover that one woman based in South Houston corresponded with Seaver while he was in prison. Her name is Gwen Broderick and alarmingly, she looks just like Seaver's ideal victim: a petite brunette with freckles. Worse, she's a Bible-thumper just like Seaver's deceased mom. Annie and Luke pull up Gwen's file and discover that she's really Tammy Keyes, a prostitute who served time. The question remains: why would a prostitute posing as a Bible-thumper be corresponding with Seaver?

Annie and her team show up at Tammy's house. She admits that her photographs have been sent to Seaver, but not by her. She's never corresponded with the guy in her life. All she knows is a john asked her to dress up and take pictures. The john's name? Ed Castwick. But why is Seaver's biographer paying a prostitute to correspond with a serial killer? At "Gwen's" P.O. box office, Marco and Daisy find a murdered employee. Seaver's been there and he's on the hunt for his favorite pen pal. At Castwick's house, a disturbed Seaver shows up unexpectedly. Seaver demands to know if Castwick is the reason "Gwen" no longer writes him letters!

Annie and Jimmy head to Castwick's house, hoping to get there before Seaver does. Meanwhile, at Castwick's house, Seaver has beaten up a terrified Castwick. Seaver reads excerpts from his unauthorized biography and finally realizes that "Gwen's" letters have actually been written by Castwick himself. Castwick defends himself, saying he only posed as a prostitute in order to get insight into Seaver's mind. Unswayed, Seaver pulls out a knife and holds it to Castwick's girlfriend's neck! Just then, Annie and her team break into the house. Seaver flees while Luke helps Castwick and his girlfriend to safety.

Suddenly the garage door breaks off as Seaver puts an SUV into reverse. U.S. Marshals fire at the car but Seaver ducks, avoiding the gunfire. Thinking fast, Annie jumps onto the car and clings on for dear life. She manages to shoot out a tire before falling onto the sidewalk. The car careens off the road and Seaver runs onto a construction site. Annie shoots him in the leg and moves toward him. When Seaver reaches for something, Annie fires again, killing Seaver. Back at the jail, Annie meets with Boyle again. She tells him she didn't forward his letter to Sissy because it isn't the right letter. Mason should tell Sissy that she's a good kid and that she won't end up a criminal like her father. Then Annie hands Boyle a drawing from Sissy. Boyle's overcome with emotion. As Annie leaves, he looks at a picture of Annie…