Caleb flees and misleads Sheriff Lucas Buck that is chasing him with his men, dogs and Gail. He sees a burial and discovers that his father is dead and buried side by side with Merlyn. He finds a moribund man trapped in an abandoned house and seeks out Dr. Matt Crower to help him. Gail identifies the man as a missing journalist. Meanwhile the coroner forges the autopsies of Gage and Merlyn reporting as informed by Lucas and he is haunted by Merlyn.

Lucas Buck pulls strings in order to make sure he adopts Caleb. Caleb meets Loris Holt, a lady who seems to have a knowledge of the occult. The local judge gets to decide who will adopt Caleb.

Carter got away with molesting a girl, via Sheriff Buck's influence, but 17 years later, stalls about providing his own 15 year-old daughter as the Sheriff's go-fer. When junkyard owner Carter doesn't meet Buck's midnight deadline, immediately Carter's wife is maimed in a household accident. Buck offers to buy the orphaned Caleb an elaborate science project, while Caleb's dead sister & Dr. Crower counsel him to focus on learning, not cheating to win.