Plot

The BAU team's investigation into the home invasion and attempted homicide of a police chief's wife uncovers a world of secrets in a small town in Virginia.

The BAU heads to nearby Hitchens, Virginia where Trish Gaines, the wife of local Police Chief Steve Gaines, was found barely alive, partially buried, in a national park, the federal jurisdiction of the park being the reason that it becomes an FBI case. Trish is currently in a coma. Steve and their two children were off camping at the time, this the first time Steve had left Trish alone since they moved to Hitchens a year ago. On her own, Trish went to the local bar for a girls night out the evening before, the bar where she was harassed by a man named Rick Sturgess, who had previously served time for sexual assault. After taking Trish's statement at the bar, Assistant Chief Jimmy Mackenzie - Mack - escorted Trish home to make sure she was all right. These items lead to Sturgess being at the top of the suspect list. By the time the BAU arrives in Hitchens and Sturgess is in custody, they rule out Sturgess as the unsub. They also find that people involved in the case seem to be hiding a plethora of pertinent information. They discover what looks to be evidence of domestic abuse within the Gaines family with Trish having made several trips to the ER to deal with "accidents" for issues such as broken ribs, with one of those medical incidents being a miscarriage a few years earlier. The Gaines' move to Hitchens is also somewhat suspect as Steve had lost a mayoral bid in their previous residence, more cosmopolitan Ashburn, leading to this lateral move to largely rural and economically depressed Hitchens. They also believe Mack may be involved in what happened to Trish, if he being the unsub it an act of revenge for having been passed over for the Police Chief job in favor of outsider Steve. Beyond something that JJ notices about Trish in her coma, they may only be able to bring all the secrets to the surface and discover the identity of the unsub if Trish emerges from her coma.—Huggo