Apple TV's Down Cemetery Road is the platform's latest thriller series, adapted from Mick Herron's (Slow Horses) 2003 novel. Set in a quiet suburban neighborhood of Oxford, the series follows Sarah Tucker (Ruth Wilson) as she hires PI Zoë Boehm (Emma Thompson) after a deadly explosion in her neighborhood, which leads to a child's disappearance.The conspiracy behind the deadly explosion is increasing with each episode and came to a head in Episode 2, with PI Joe Silverman's (Adam Godley), Zoe's husband's murder. While Joe's death is framed as a suicide, Sarah and Zoe are convinced that Silverman was murdered because of his proximity to this investigation.Amidst all this chaos, Sarah learns that her friendly hippie neighborhood and Wigwam's boyfriend, Rufus (Ken Nwosu), is actually an assassin named Axel. Axel is Amos' (Fehinti Balogun) brother and was disguised as Rufus to keep tabs on Sarah for Hamza (Adeel Akhtar). He was killed in Down Cemetery Road Episode 3 in Sarah's house.More on this in our story.Who is Axel in Down Cemetery Road? View this post on Instagram Instagram PostIn Down Cemetery Road Episode 2, Wigwam returns home, leaving her 'Captain Helpful' boyfriend, Rufus, to stay behind at Sarah's house and help her deal with the aftermath of Joe's death. While Rufus had appeared as a caring and responsible neighbour to Sarah, even offering to help her calm down after the explosion and Joe's murder, he started acting suspiciously once everyone was gone.Leaving Sarah alone in the living room, he ominously plays with tooth floss, eventually revealing his plans to slit his host's throat with it. This is when 'Rufus' revealed his true identity as Axel. He says:“My real name is Axel. our friendly neighborhood assassin.''Rufus/Axel's identity reveal in Down Cemetery Road was followed by two more confessions, namely that he murdered Joe (and made it look like a suicide) and planted the bomb at Dina's house. This was a major revelation for Sarah, who took Rufus as a harmless neighbor hippie and his friend Wigwam's boyfriend.However, Axel's true motives were revealed when he launched the tooth floss at Sarah, intending to kill her. But before the assassin could take out his next target, Sarah's stalker barged in with his gun and fired a shot, which killed Axel.What was Axel's connection to the larger conspiracy in Down Cemetery Road? View this post on Instagram Instagram PostDown Cemetery Road started with a deadly explosion in Sarah's neighboring home, which made her obsessed with the mysterious events behind it. While PI Zoë Boehm was initially reluctant to help Sarah, her husband's murder in Episode 2 convinced her that the explosion was a part of a larger government conspiracy, and she vowed to unravel it. Since Joe was deeply involved in this investigation, which likely led to his murder, the circumstances are highly suspicious.It is later revealed that the Intelligence and Threats have set up an elaborate government operation tasked with covering up the deadly explosion, overseen by a character named C. Adeel Akhtar's Hamza is one of the government assistants hired by C for the operation, who further delegates this task to Amos and his brother Axel.After Rufus' true identity was revealed in Down Cemetery Road Episode 2, it is clear that Axel was working as an undercover agent (disguised as Rufus) to keep an eye on Sarah's neighborhood. However, when Hamza noticed Sarah's keen interest in the explosion, he ordered Amos to ask his brother to clean up his mess and eliminate Sarah.While Axel was about to make good on his superior, Hamza's orders, he was interrupted by Downey, who killed him and saved Sarah.Down Cemetery Road releases weekly episodes every Wednesday on Apple TV.For the latest scoops on your favorite TV shows and movies, follow SoapCentral.