When her editor informs her that she will be paid per article, an obituarist for a small-town newspaper begins murdering people to avoid going broke; Elvira's plans are upended when she falls for the paper's dogged new crime correspondent.

Elvira targets someone sending her poison pen letters; Emerson's real reason for coming to town is revealed: he's trying to solve a murder from five years ago of German national Maria Riedle in the local woods.

Elvira finds herself blackmailed by a teenager who saw her murder her first victim; Ward goes to AA; Hughie catches a break when he locates the rifle used to kill Maria Riedle.

Desperate to prove to herself that she is not a monster, Elvira pursues a drunk driver released from jail who mowed down a father and his daughter; Hughie hits a dead end with Maria's murder, but Emerson catches a break.

Elvira wrestles with whether or not to kill her best friend as Mallory reveals that she has information that Elvira may be involved in a murder; to distract Emerson from the Maria Riedle case, Hughie sends Emerson on a wild goose chase.

When Ward reveals what really happened the night Maria Riedle was killed, Elvira sets about framing Hughie for the crime; Emerson and Elvira finally hook up as Mallory flees town just as a surprise face returns to Kilraven.