Sheriff Hudson berates his assembled deputies over the DNA leak tying Ryan Stevens to the Kelly Summers homicide, brandishing the lab results that matched a news segment aired the previous night. He underscores the breach of protocol and the media frenzy forming outside the station, pointing to news vans lined up at the front.

When Deputy Lane and Lieutenant Nagel explain that CODIS results arrived after the broadcast, Hudson checks the timestamp and concedes the leak originated from the lab. Deciding a blame hunt would look bad, he reins in his anger and pivots to crisis management.

Hudson orders the Summers case fully reopened, demanding every piece of evidence, statement, report, and transcript be pulled and reviewed. He acknowledges most of his team were not present when the original investigation occurred and tasks everyone to get up to speed immediately.

Alone, Hudson questions what Stevens did and reflects that the original case always felt too easy, with a hasty trial in which Sarah Morgan defended her husband, Adam Morgan, without the prosecution challenging the conflict of interest. He recalls Stevens keeping him at arm’s length under a pretext of conflict due to Hudson’s friendship with Scott Summers, Kelly’s husband and the then–chief deputy, and notes Scott left town after the trial.

Hudson considers the overwhelming work ahead and the broader implications: once the media and lawyers react, hundreds of investigations bearing Stevens’s signature could face appeal. The weight of reinterviewing witnesses and reconstructing a 12-year-old case adds to his anxiety.

When his admin, Marcy, alerts him that reporters demand a statement, Hudson starts toward the lobby but diverts. He decides he must speak to Stevens first, indicating an urgent, personal confrontation before addressing the public.