The prosecutor's here.
Thanks.
Hey. -Hi Éric.
Can you explain this bloody mess? -Yes. Follow me.
Toschi was the pastor and Raynaud the businessman.
The killer's decapitated the cult. -OK. So?
So it looks like revenge.
Either a former or current member
who wants to destroy the community.
Any clues? -Yes. A fresco in the chapel.
I'm still looking into its meaning.
Pierre, you really need to give me something soon.
I've got all of France on my back.
The prefect, mayors, politicians...
The murders are scaring tourists away from the region.
It's very bad for business.
This whole cult thing stinks of extremism.
And another thing:
I've promised local authorities you won't delay the harvest.
Let them finish today as planned.
You know how it is, Éric.
Either I ease off or I attack. -Don't be an ass.
If we don't follow protocol,
the wine is ruined and we're in real trouble.
The killer's right here. It's either a member or a worker.
The investigation is bound to slow the harvest.
Just do what you can.
They're a pain, but they're good winemakers.
And wine is currency here. -Yeah.
And it pays your wages too.
Don't piss me off, seriously.
THE CRIMSON RIVERS
DAY OF THE ASHES: PART 2
Raynaud's wife is here.
Do you want to talk to her?
Yes. Take me to her.
Mrs Raynaud?
Would you follow me, please?
Good day ma'am, I'm Detective Niemans.
Can I see Joseph?
I'm sorry. Your husband's been taken to the Colmar morgue.
We need to ask if you would... -Yes.
I can identify him.
Follow me, please.
Please accept my condolences.
I'm very sorry for the misfortune... -Will this take long?
No, just a few minutes.
I have to get back to work. It's the last day.
The grapes won't wait.
When did you last see your husband?
Yesterday evening.
He came to our home in Rosheim.
You don't live together?
Yes, but at the moment he's...
... well, he was overworked.
So he was sleeping at the Château.
Why did he come to see you?
He wanted to kiss our kids goodnight.
And then what did he do?
He left at around 8 PM to check the wine vats.
He works day and night during harvest.
Did he say he was going to the chapel? -No.
Did he have reason to go?
No.
Any enemies?
We have no friends nor enemies at the Château.
These are foreign concepts to our community.
Do you understand?
How would you describe your husband? What sort of person was he?
He was...
... fulfilled. -Fulfilled by what?
His family? His job? -No.
By the love of our Lord.
He was filled with light and serenity.
Did he ever talk to you about hidden frescos?
No.
Do the initials "MLK" mean anything to you?
No.
And a ritual that involves placing stones in the mouths of the dead?
They put a stone in Joseph's mouth?
We'll find out in the autopsy.
But this was the case with the first victim.
Does it mean anything to you?
No.
OK. Anything else you want to tell me?
I have to get back to work.
I'll drive you back. -No.
I'll go with the others in the truck.
Is that the woman you told me about? -Yes.
You knew she was Raynaud's wife? -No.
I can't believe I missed that.
She says she has kids? -Three.
I met two girls yesterday. -She trusts you?
I hope so. -Try to find out what she knows.
I believe Toschi also had "MLK" on his body.
I bet they only crushed him under the rubble
to hide those letters.
I brought a notebook with me.
Draw me a map to the hidden rubble. I need to X-ray it.
Here's the farm and the workers' camp.
This is a guarded entrance.
The rubble's down in a cellar. You can get in here.
OK. I'll send some guys over.
You should get back to your cult.
Meet me here this evening? -What time?
The end of the working day, I guess. Sunset?
Can you be a bit more precise? -Sadly not.
No watches, no clocks.
OK. See you later.
Let them go. This was no robbery.
But we haven't finished... -It doesn't matter.
Besides, none of them could have killed Raynaud.
Step into my office.
What's the new focus? -Cult members.
Conduct background checks, search homes.
See if anyone was ever kicked out
or if there's been an accident.
A death, for example.
You think it's revenge?
Whoever wants to destroy it, must have a reason.
Look at the outside workers. See if a former member
has got in using a fake ID.
OK. Here.
I've got this for you too.
What's this? -A report on the Château.
Written by?
The Interministerial Mission for Monitoring Cultic Deviances.
It's quite a read.
Where are you going now?
Back to Barr to see the archpriest.
I want to show him the X-rayed frescos.
Why this fixation on the frescos? -They tried to hide them.
And a fragment's been stolen. I think that's reason enough.
X-ray images of the rubble.
More biblical scenes. -OK. Thanks, Chauveron.
Hey, I'm taking you home.
I want my girls. -Where are they?
At school. -Come on, I'll take you.
Come on.
Rosheim Chapel protected Alsace's first Protestants
from brutal repression in the mid 1500s.
We knew that already.
It seems the Protestants then took over the chapel.
No way. The Catholics would never have allowed it.
And they wouldn't worship in a Catholic building.
Wait, there's more.
During the worst years, the Protestants pretended to convert.
They emerged after the Edict of Nantes as a pure, dogmatic group.
Maybe this is when they painted the frescos.
And then covered them up?
Or endowed them with special meaning.
So we should see some Protestant authorities?
No. We can't be judge and jury.
What does it say about the cult today?
"Today..."
"... God's Harvesters are a fairly harmless sect."
"Quiet, organic farmers, they are just a rigid branch of Protestantism."
Seems they need to rewrite the report.
Call Colmar, see if they've done the autopsy.
We'll swing by after Barr.
Mommy!
I've come to pick you up. -Where are we going?
Where, where? -We're going to visit your brother.
Camille, can you watch them a moment?
I have to speak with the teacher.
Hi. -Hello.
Do you know Jean? -No, who's that?
He's our brother.
Where is he? -With the others.
Where is that? -We're not allowed to say.
We're not allowed to go there, either.
OK girls, let's go.
Come on.
Come with me.
Up we go.
You were right. There are indeed paintings beneath the whitewash.
Do you have any leads on the Château murders?
I'm not at liberty to say.
Do you recognize the images?
They're probably passages from the Old Testament. Yes.
Could they have been painted by the first Protestants
in the mid 1500s? -No.
They were against such iconography.
Images had Catholic associations.
Our sources claim these Protestants pretended to convert.
Might they have created these frescos
to convey a secret message to their sect?
What message? -That's the question.
I believe the missing fragment holds the key
to the meaning behind all the hidden frescos.
Tell me what I can do to help.
Good Lord...
These three letters.
Do they mean anything to you?
I'm no expert in Semitic languages...
... but I believe that "MLK"
is a western Semitic term meaning "king" or "ruler."
It may have a connection to David
or another king from the Old Testament.
This is clearly a message.
If we can figure out what it means,
we might be able to prevent more murders.
Thanks anyway. -Of course.
He's hiding something. I guarantee we won't hear from him again.
Did you see his reaction? -When?
His face when he read the letters "MLK."
He understood the message perfectly. There's no doubt.
Should we arrest him? -No need.
I have another solution.
Call this number. It's a monastery near Guebwiller.
Ask if a man named Marc Meyer is there.
Who's that? -An old acquaintance.
An oblate. You know what that is? -No.
A monk in civilian clothing.
No answer. -Alright. Try again later.
They're not big on telephones there.
Where are we going?
It's time you saw behind the scenes.
Hi sweetie.
Are you okay?
Some of our children are born with genetic defects and illnesses.
Why aren't they in a hospital?
They are in a hospital.
The facility is fully funded by our wine.
You keep them hidden up their whole life?
Sadly they don't live very long.
None have ever reached adulthood.
Joseph said it was the price we paid for our purity.
Your purity?
Our pure blood.
We're not just a close community.
We share a genetic heritage.
Our bodies and souls are one.
There's something else...
Come with me.
If you look closely, you'll see the lines are double.
As though they used some sort of pliers, slightly open.
I believe this was done with pruning shears.
Or scissors, but I think shears are more likely.
Do you think Toschi's body might have had the same inscription?
We would have needed to look more closely at the skin.
His rib cage was crushed. It was a total mess.
There's no way I would have seen it.
What time did he die? -Around 8:30 PM.
And what are the black marks on the mouth?
Remember the stone in Toschi's mouth?
It seems it had been bleached by the dust.
As I result, I thought it a piece of limestone.
It turns out it was probably coal.
At least that's what this guy had in his mouth.
A piece of coal.
NO ACCESS
There's one thing I don't get.
You think the Château folk crushed Toschi
to destroy the letters, right? -Exactly.
So why would they leave the coal in the mouth?
They didn't know it was there.
Did you reach the monastery?
I left a message asking them to call back.
Damn, I missed them.
So your fake monk... -Oblate.
Yeah, him. He's there alright, but he won't be telling you much.
Why not? -He's taken a month's vow of silence.
I'll drop you at the station, you can go get him.
Where's Camille? -She's staying here.
But I thought Jean's house was for people who aren't well?
Camille isn't well, sweetie.
That's why she needs to stay here.
Shall we go?
Dear Lord, thank you for receiving our brother Daniel.
In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Dear Lord, thank you for receiving
our brother Barthélémy. Amen.
Amen.
What the hell is she doing?
Yes?
What?
The victim's body was discovered by the cleaners...
Shit.
Did you put him there? -No, this is how he was found.
The killer seems to like orderliness.
No one saw anything?
He'd just finished with Raynaud. He's still warm.
Surveillance cameras? -There aren't any.
We have to send the body to Strasbourg. He was our only coroner.
Did he have a private practice?
We'll check. What are you thinking?
I think he had ties with the cult.
Maybe he was their doctor.
Or perhaps Beaucarne found something in the autopsy that he shouldn't have.
He's been playing us from the start.
His assistant noticed
the stone in Toschi's mouth. He would never have told us.
Then he spins us that crap about limestone dust
and not seeing marks on Toschi's body.
There's no way he would have missed it.
So why not say something?
Because he understood the message and didn't want to get out.
So why spill everything about Raynaud? -Because he had no choice.
And mainly because he feared he might be next.
Now that Samuel and Joseph are reunited with our Lord,
we are naked in the face of adversity.
But we must not surrender.
Ours is a long history of persecution that will never be over.
God sends us these trials to strengthen us.
Our faith will always triumph.
Today, we need to continue our work.
God has given us a mission.
And this mission is all that matters.
One day...
One day we will learn the identity of our persecutors
and we will settle the score.
The harvest is finished.
Despite the attacks,
despite the police,
despite all the obstacles, we have once more
succeeded in harvesting the wine of the Lord.
Night is falling
and the fires are being lit.
Tomorrow morning,
we will celebrate the Day of the Ashes.
The night will be long.
I suggest we call upon our Lord and recite Psalm 130.
Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord.
O Lord, hear my voice.
Let your ears be attentive
to my cry for mercy.
Camille?
Good evening.
I'm looking for this woman. Have you seen her?
Does anyone recognize her?
Do you know this woman? -No.
Good evening. Do any of you remember seeing this woman?
Never seen her.
Please, has anyone seen this young woman?
Do you recognize her?
Good evening.
Have you seen this woman at all?
Yeah, that's Camille. But I don't know where she is.
She didn't even collect her wages.
She might be inside with the community.
I saw her this afternoon with Raynaud's wife.
Maybe they've converted her.
Maybe.
A goddamn undercover operation?
When were you planning on telling me?
It seemed like the best option.
Sending a colleague undercover without telling me?
Are you mad? -The very idea of undercover
is total secrecy.
No, my friend. Old age is clearly taking its toll.
You can't do that without approval from a superior.
When I joined, we didn't even know it was a murder.
Harvest allowed us to infiltrate the cult.
Going the official route would have taken days. You know that.
And now she's missing.
Not necessarily. She just didn't show.
You can't reach her? -No.
She probably made it inside.
I asked her to stay on Raynaud's wife.
Unbelievable.
You're out of your goddamn mind.
What about the case?
We're dealing with a triple homicide, not just a disappearance.
I know. Look, either you send people over there
or I'll look for her myself. -Alright.
I'll send a team.
Right.
I'm giving a press conference tomorrow.
I need something concrete by then.
You can go.
Your monk's arrived.
Where is he? -In the canteen.
He's a weird one, no?
Our colleagues wanted him in a cell.
And Pierre... -Yeah?
I wish you'd told me about the undercover cop.
Don't you start as well.
Meyer, thanks for coming.
Hello.
I'm breaking my vow of silence. I hope it's serious.
It is.
What's that?
My gear.
What sort of gear?
Just gear.
OK. We'll get you set up.
Empty room, white walls, window shutters down.
OK.
Where are the images?
On a USB stick.
What era? -16th century.
Oh great.
The case concerns a local religious community.
God's Harvesters. You know them?
They say they live "out of time,"
in a system that places them outside the order of the universe.
What does that mean?
The vast majority of cults
follow religious teachings in pursuit of salvation.
The Harvesters believe this salvation is in their bodies.
They think their flesh is sacred,
that they were chosen as God's people during the Reformation.
So they procreate solely among themselves
to ensure they remain pure of flesh.
They take the expression "to reproduce" quite literally.
This practice still continues.
We need you to look at the frescos. A part's missing.
See if you can guess what the stolen fragment depicted.
I'll do my best.
Thank you.
Beaucarne was indeed the Château's doctor.
Mrs Raynaud was his assistant. -She was a nurse?
More of a volunteer.
OK. Keep digging on Beaucarne.
See what his exact role was at the Château.
Look into his full history with the cult. OK?
Thought we'd forgotten you?
Don't worry.
We wouldn't ruin our grapes with your flesh.
We have bigger plans for you.
I don't give a shit! Turn the place upside down.
She can't have just vanished.
Yes? -Detective, you need to see this.
Where are you? -Rosheim registry office.
What are you doing there? -It's easier if I show you.
So I checked the coroner's ties to the community like you asked.
I dug out all death certificates signed by Beaucarne in the last ten years.
More than 80% were kids at the Château.
Several deaths a year.
Genetic illnesses are hardly surprising.
But these children all die at the same time each year.
Late September.
The end of the harvest.
I can't believe they would euthanize them.
It's Meyer. He thinks he's found something.
Close the door.
I've figured out the frescos.
It's a sort of comic strip
recounting stories from the Old Testament.
In particular, that of Lot.
Abraham's nephew who lived in Sodom.
I'll show you.
Here we can see
a town up in flames, which has to be Sodom.
See these flames here?
And the figure over here
is without doubt Lot's wife
who turned into a pillar of salt
when she looked back on the burning city.
What's the story of Lot?
Lot was living in Sodom when he took two angels into his home.
The other inhabitants tried to rape the angels.
Lot protected them, but God was angry
and sent fire and suffering to rain down on the city.
It was at that moment
that Lot's wife turned back and was turned to salt.
God had told them not to look back upon the sins of Sodom.
But it's surprising to see Lot in a church.
Why?
Because of how the story ends.
Lot and his two daughters took refuge in a cave.
The girls were worried they would never find a husband.
So one night they intoxicated their father and slept with him.
Two groups were born of this incestuous union:
the Moabites and the Ammonites.
Why is that relevant? -Think about it.
For the first ever Harvesters,
Lot was a sort of model.
How so? -As I said before,
their bloodline is the most important thing.
They believe they embody a separate species, a divine essence.
And they practice incest to preserve that divinity.
They, like Lot's grandchildren,
are born of consanguinity.
Four centuries of incest isn't a motive for murder.
Let me finish.
To me it seems as though they identify in particular with one of these people:
the Ammonites.
Why those in particular?
Because the Ammonites worshipped a particular god:
Moloch.
The missing fragment is of his hideous face.
In Hebrew, his name is spelled "MLK."
Melek.
Weren't children sacrificed to Moloch? -Precisely.
Does the Bible say how they were sacrificed?
They were burned.
Sick bastards. They burn their own children.
It's not possible.
We've never had any missing children.
Remember the death certificates.
They only sacrifice those with defects.
They're not God's flesh,
just residue of their lineage.
Take these and find a way in.
Call Kirsch. Put out all the fires.
I'm going to find Camille. -OK.
Chauveron to HQ, send units
to the Ungersheim vineyards.
Get back!
Stay back, I said!
Get back!
Stand back!
Search every building on this farm!
Turn every room upside down!
Stay back!
Watch out!
Search every last building!
Sir, please calm down.
Anyone in there? -No, just coal!
Detective! -Yes?
You need to come see this.
Where's Camille?
No child shall be sacrificed tonight.
Killing their fathers was the only way.
I know she was with you.
Do you have children?
No.
Jean was to be sacrificed tonight.
Joseph promised me he wouldn't kill our son.
It's wrong to say, but...
I always loved Jean more than my two angels.
Or he always needed more of my love.
A mother's love for her child
is the last line before our Lord.
So even if Jean is condemned,
he will live until God's chosen day.
Yet all these years you've sacrificed the children of others?
Samuel and Joseph believed
that the purity of our race
came at the price of our pure-blood unions.
So each year we burn our "waste."
These malformed children, they enable
other specimens to be born that are more...
... successful.
Why did you kill Beaucarne?
He prepared the children on the day of the sacrifice.
You were his assistant.
Did you anesthetize them first?
My mission is accomplished.
The three demons who led our people are dead.
No child shall be sacrificed this year or ever again.
Where's Camille?
Her soul will be offered to Moloch.
It's the best place for her.
Camille!
Camille...
It's over, it's OK.
You're OK.
It's over. It's over.
It's over.