Longmire (2012–2017): Season 3, Episode 10 - Ashes to Ashes - full transcript

Ripped by mstoll

where are you going?

Inside.

No, you're not.

What do I got to do
to earn my way back in?

I don't know.

It's okay.
Nobody needs to worry.

This isn't my blood, and this
isn't branch's blood, so...

Well, actually,
this is my blood,

but it's not as bad
as it looks.

I'm fine.



So, whose blood --

David ridges.

He was alive.
Now he's dead.

Ruby, I need you
to prepare some paperwork.

Okay, okay.
On what?

Branch's suspension.

I want to make sure we do
everything by the book.

He gets a fair,
thorough hearing.

Ferg...Gather up branch's
personal belongings...

...and take them over
to his place.

Me?

I don't want him
coming back here.

I can take care of myself.

I'm not asking.
I'm telling, ferg.



And, Ruby.

Uh-huh?

Give me a copy of that,
uh, immunity deal

that Jacob nighthorse
signed.

What do you need
that for?

'Cause I need to see
if Jacob nighthorse

violated the terms
of that deal.

You said you found
David ridges.

More like he found me
with some help from a friend.

Where are you going now?

To arrest nighthorse.

Walter, you can't go out
looking like that.

You need
to clean yourself up.

No, no, no.
Go like that.

Looks like
you mean business.

Get him.
Sheriff.

Nighthorse!
Just get him!

Nighthorse!

Susan,
get out here. Find malachi.

What's going on?

You made Walt mad.

Whoa.
What happened to you?

don't pretend
to be surprised.

Sheriff,
put those away.

You made a deal
with my client.

Which he violated.

I most certainly did not.
You set me up.

You told ridges
where I was gonna be,

and he ambushed me!
That is not true.

Well, I'm done
taking your word.

We assumed as much.

That's why we have this.

I am acutely aware

of how badly you want
to catch me in something,

so I recorded my conversation
with ridges.

David, it's good
to hear from you.

Where are you, man?

Why do you want
to know that?

You've never asked me
that before.

I'm worried about you.
Are you okay?

I will be.

I'm with
a medicine woman.

That's good.

You should let her take
care of you, brother.

Is it that trailer out
by horse creek?

Yeah.
That's good.

Jacob, I will not see you
again, not in this time.

David,
listen to me, man.

There's not one thing
on that call

that suggests my client
did anything

to violate his agreement.

So sorry to disappoint you.

He nearly killed me.

Yeah.

We're all sure glad
that he didn't.

And I'm gonna ask you
for like the 100th time.

Please leave me alone.

You think
you're smarter than me?

I think you are blinded
by your prejudice.

I'm prejudiced?

How else
would you explain it?

The years you've spent,

trying to keep me
from succeeding,

trying to fabricate some
grand criminal conspiracy

when all I've done
is try to help my community.

Just picking up
where your wife left off.

Aah!

Shit!

I'm so sorry, Vic.
I had no intentions --

no, it's fine.
I get it.

The guy was talking shit
about your wife.

I can't believe
I hit you.

Seriously, it's the best thing
that's happened to me all week.

You think nighthorse
is right?

You think I'm trying
to railroad him?

I don't know,

and the phone call
seemed pretty legit.

What time is it?

Why?

I need a drink.

What are you doing here?

Walt wanted me to...
Bring over your stuff.

You cleaned out my desk...
To make room for your stuff.

No, I-I...
That's --

it's okay, ferg.
You deserve it.

It's temporary, right?

Right.

What happened to you two?

The usual.

Walt punched me.
Oh.

Hey, dad, do you remember
detective fales

ever using any kind of racist or
pejorative language about Henry?

I don't know.
Why?

Because I found
something odd

in the original search warrant
for the red pony.

The original warrant?

There's more than one?

The judge denied the first one,
and you can see why.

It was rather underwritten

and only suggested that
they were looking for feathers

in a native-owned business.

Feathers?

Right, so, I was thinking
that we could make a case

that detective fales
was persecuting Henry

with some sort
of racist agenda.

Vic?
Are you okay?

Yeah.

What the hell
happened to him?

David ridges
ambushed him.

David ridges is alive?

No.

Why did he just
walk out of here?

I don't know.

I think you've been spending
too much time with Walt.

You have picked up
his speech patterns.

Feathers.
They keep turning up everywhere.

Maybe fales wasn’t being racist.

Maybe feathers turned up
in his investigation,

same as it did mine.

I don't get it.
Nor do I.

Dr. weston pulled a crow feather
from branch's wound

after David ridges shot him.

Now, ridges was wearing this
when he attacked me.

The first time that fales put in
for a warrant,

the only thing he was looking
for was feathers.

You think fales found
a crow feather

on Miller Beck's body?

There was no mention
of feathers

anywhere
in the murder book.

I need to borrow
someone's cellphone.

Dad.

Dad!

Where are you going?!

Denver.

Denver police department.
Homicide division.

Yeah, uh, I need to speak
to detective Vogel.

I'm sorry. He's no longer
with the division.

You want me to transfer you
to his office?

Sure.

Vice division.

Uh, detective Vogel,
please.

I'm sorry.
He's not on duty.

I need to find him.
I'm one of his informants.

After years and years
of searching

and sailing all the seven seas,
my quest is finally at its end.

At long last, I have finally
found the white whale!

Please don't hurt me.

Please don't hurt me.

Hey, buddy,
can you lose the hat?

You remember me?

Seriously?
At my kid's play?

It's important.

Right, right, right, because
whatever problem you've got,

it's always the most important
problem in the world.

Well, you didn't seem
to think so

when you were investigating
my wife's murder.

What's it been?
Two, three years?

I really thought
I was done with you, longmire.

Homicide to vice.

That's not usually
a promotion.

I have you
to thank for that.

They didn't kick you out
because of me.

It didn't help that you filed
three formal complaints.

You got forced out by fales,
didn't you?

That shithead
was working narcotics

and saw that dead methhead
as his chance

to force his way
into a better job in homicide.

So, you were still
on the case

when Miller Beck's body
was found?

Yeah.

Fales is ambitious,

and I think he's more interested
in closing cases

than solving them
correctly.

I think fales is trying
to railroad an innocent man.

Now, you want to help me
try and prove

he's got the wrong guy?

You do that,

I'll send you
a thank-you note.

But I'm not
getting involved.

Last time I messed with fales,
he screwed my career.

I do it again,
he's gonna end it.

Private school, sheriff.
It's not cheap.

Did you find
a crow feather...

...where Miller Beck
was buried?

You know, I was the one
who found that feather.

Fales -- he dismissed it.

He said it was just,
you know,

part of the debris
in the grave --

bottle caps and pebbles
and all that.

But that feather was
the only thing in his mouth.

I knew it was something.

How do you even
know about it?

Well, it was listed
on fales' first search warrant

that was kicked back
by a judge.

That's unbelievable.

He tries to make me feel stupid
for fixating on it,

then he goes
and he takes it to a judge.

Well, now he's back to
pretending he never found it,

but I have a killer
in my county

who leaves crow feathers

in the -- in the bodies
of his victims.

Sort of a calling card.

Feels like it's the same guy
that killed Miller Beck,

but I don't have a picture
or photo of the feather.

I could have sworn we had
a crime-scene photo

of that feather
somewhere.

Was it a 4-inch
crow feather?

No, it wasn't
quite that long,

but part of it
had broken off.

It didn't have
that long quill.

What is it?

That is an autopsy.

Fastest autopsy
I've ever seen.

Started at 11:40
and done by 11:54.

Not sure they did anything
besides take the X-ray.

Why waste extra time on some
worthless dead drug user?

Twisted neck makes it
hard to see,

but I think it's there.

What's there?

The rest of your feather.

So, you think David ridges

put a feather

down Miller Beck's throat
and then broke his neck?

I don't think so.
I know so.

Based on this?

Yeah.

No?

I suppose that little mark
could be part of a feather,

but I do not think
I would stake my life on it.

I don't see how
we're gonna get our hands

on harder evidence
than this.

Detective Vogel is so scared
of fales, he won't testify.

Now, we could try
and get our hands

on the original case files,

but we'd have to go
through fales.

I wouldn't put it past him
to destroy the evidence.

And then
we are back to a theory

about a crazy
time-traveling dog soldier.

Nope.

We need to have
the feather itself in hand,

and Miller Beck
is six feet under.

Where?

Where what?

"Miller Beck
is six feet under."

Where?

Northern Colorado.

Henry,
you can't do this.

What?
Dig up a body

or leave while
under house arrest?

Both.

I will pay you to be my
official escort. Can't.

Everyone in my office

has been officially barred
by the court

from escorting you.
Conflict of interest.

Screw it.

If this does not work out,

I'm going back to prison
soon enough anyway.

- Henry!
- What?

We're gonna need that.

Walt?
You call me out of the blue.

I haven't seen you in months.

Been busy.

You gonna tell me
what's going on?

Only if you ask,
and I'm hoping you don't.

Got this jailbird
with you.

This illegal?

No comment.

Gas money.

Son, you owe me an apology,
an explanation, and a shotgun.

Dad -- I'll forego the first
two for a cup of coffee.

I heard you got suspended.

Yeah. You think you can beat it?

Honestly, I don't know.

Then don't even try.

You'll spend the rest
of your career

apologizing
and proving yourself.

My advice -- move on.

Move on to what?

I had those printed up
six years ago

before you decided
to become a deputy.

Business cards.

Yeah.

I think it's time you joined
the family business.

I don't know.

Look, branch,
it may not have happened

the way you wanted it to,

but I, for one, am glad
that it finally did.

I'm not gonna live forever,
and I'd like to know

that the business is staying
in the family.

You want me to take over
the company?

Companies.

Eventually.

Of course, if you need
to think about it...

Actually, I-I do
have one question.

I mean, if I'm gonna
come work with you,

am I gonna have to deal
with Jacob nighthorse?

What do you mean?

I mean, does connally llc
do business with nighthorse?

Not if I can help it.

Why do you ask?

'Cause that's your car.

So it is.

How'd you get that?

Surveilling nighthorse.

What were you doing
out there, dad?

I was doing what
Walt longmire couldn't do.

All he can do is ask questions,
and nighthorse lies.

But I could make it clear
to nighthorse

that if anything more happened
to you, proof or no proof,

I would put him
in the ground.

Thanks, dad.

When I was in jail,
I missed fresh air and exercise,

but this is not exactly
how I imagined it.

Why six feet under?

Why not five feet under?

At the very least,

it discourages
this sort of behavior.

Yep.

I think that's him.

I will get some rope.

Hopefully,
we can lift out the casket.

Walt!

Thank God you're here.

Who are you?

Sheriff.
Absaroka county, Wyoming.

I've been chasing this guy
for weeks.

We got a call
from a monitoring company

that one of their guys
skipped parole.

Henry standing bear.
This is him.

This guy's been robbing graves
all over my county for weeks.

Couldn't catch him in the act,
though.

Why does he have
two shovels?

I just asked the smartass
the same question.

You know what he said?

No.

Tell him what you said.

In case
one of them breaks.

Well, I'd be glad
to take him off your hands,

but I could use your help.

With what?

Well, this psychopath
has gotten away

with stealing 10 bodies.

No evidence.

Now, this casket could be
the difference

between him going to jail
and walking free.

Okay, here we go.

Is it in there?

I don't know.
Take a look.

Me?

Okay,
don't take a look.

Go back to prison
for the rest of your life.

I am concerned about
the chain of custody issues

that the prosecution will
bring up in the trial

if I were to --
fine.

You're gonna owe me one.

Only if you find
that feather.

I guess you owe me one.

1, 2, 3.

Given the up-close-and-personal
nature of the murder,

I'd be surprised
if we didn't find

some of David ridges' DNA
on this guy.

Another good reason for me

not to be the one
to touch the body.

Oh, good point.

Hey, sheriff.
Where have you been?

Ferg, where's ridges?

Gone.
Didn't you know?

How can he be gone?

This door's
supposed to be locked.

Yeah,
I think someone picked it.

I just lifted some prints
from the door.

Someone stole a corpse?

I know.
Pretty sick, right?

So, what do you have here?

Less than we thought if
we don't get ridges' body back.

Taillight's out.

It wasn't 10 seconds ago.

You mind popping
that trunk?

Yes, I do.

Pop the trunk, Jacob.

What are you expecting
to find back there, moretti?

A dead body?

Yeah, actually.

Someone stole
David ridges' body.

Maybe someone wanting
to destroy evidence.

And you are the only person
outside of our department

who knew David ridges
was dead.

Everybody thought
he was dead.

You know what I mean.

I don't have to do this,
and yet somehow,

I'm starting to enjoy racking up
the harassment claims

against your department.

Step out of the car,
please.

May I go now?!

What are you doing?

Checking the odometer.

Who else did you tell
about David ridges

besides Sam poteet?

Well, that sounds fine

as long as interest rates
stay where they are

for at least three months.

Do you think
we can count on that?

Listen, Larry, I'm gonna
have to call you back.

Branch.
Hey, dad.

Oh, I didn't expect you
so soon.

Yeah, I don't do too well,
just sitting around the house.

Yeah.
Yeah.

So, what do you think
of the new uniform?

A little overdressed,
truth be told,

but I do like
the attitude.

So, what do I do?

What do you want to do?
I don't know.

Maybe I should get caught up
on what it is you do.

I'm a little shaky
on the details.

All right, we got an empty
office right down the hall.

I'll have my girl get you
squared away in there

and bring you decks
on all our current projects.

Shouldn't I get to know
past projects, too?

Yeah, yeah, sure.
Good idea.

How do you take
your coffee?

Black.
Black it is.

Idiot must have forgotten

he was wearing
an ankle monitor.

I'll see that the court
is made aware of this

as soon as possible.

Thank you again.
You make our job so much easier.

Ferg. Key.

So, nighthorse
calls Sam poteet,

who works for him now.

Poteet goes to the hospital
and picks a lock?

And gets rid of evidence linking
nighthorse to ridges' crimes.

Habeas corpus.

What?

It's Latin
for "produce the body."

I can't prove ridges is the
murderer if I don't have ridges.

So, where would poteet
take him?

To Sam poteet and his friends,
David is not a criminal.

He's a warrior.

They will take him
to a battlefield.

Do you know which one?

I have a good guess.

Oral tradition says

that the last dog soldier
in this part of the country

fought his last battle
near copley flats.

He had five warriors with him.

An army of 100 white men
surrounded them.

They fought to the death.

I think that is where
they will take David.

Sam poteet.

Put him down.

We plan to.
In the earth.

I can't let you do that.

I understand you need
to bury a fallen brother,

and I promise you
I will let you in due time.

But today, I need him.

I can't have that.
Not now.

And you do not need it.

Is that him?

Yeah.
That's a.D.A. Sloan.

Fales.

Why is he here?

Hello, miss longmire.

Mr. Sloan, thank you
for making the trip.

Detective fales, I'm surprised
to see you here.

When I heard
Henry standing bear

was going
to make a statement,

I just couldn't pass up
the opportunity

or one of his burgers.

Detective fales
is my chief investigator.

Do you have any objection
to his presence?

No. It's fine.

Why don't you both
sit there?

The sheriff
is gonna join us.

Do you have any objection
to his presence?

Actually --
before you answer that,

I have a confession
of my own to make.

Henry's not making
a statement.

Do you know how long
of a drive we made?

About five hours, give or take.

Why are we here,
miss longmire?

Two weeks ago,
Mr. Sloan said

that he would take
the death penalty off the table

if my client
pled guilty.

I'd like to make
a counter offer.

I know you're not
terribly experienced,

but we're not interested
in any counter offer.

I listened to your offer.

The least you can do
is listen to hers.

Fine. What?

We will sign a binding agreement
right here,

stating that we will not bring
a civil suit against your office

if you agree to drop all charges
against Henry today.

What universe
are you living in?!

don't get emotional,
Mr. Sloan.

My daughter's
not done talking.

You see, Mr. Sloan,
the Denver police

had key physical evidence
in this case,

and they suppressed it.

Oh, this is
my favorite part.

Excuse me?

The part when the trial date
is so close

and the client is so guilty
that the lawyer just starts

throwing wads of toilet
paper at the ceiling

to see if she can't get one
to stick.

No toilet paper
in this case.

Just a feather found in the
victim's mouth and, in fact,

listed on your initial
search warrant.

A piece of random garbage
found in a shallow grave!

Shoved so far down
the victim's throat

that it's still there.

That white line?

The real thing is with
the corpse in our local morgue.

Along with the corpse
who put him there --

David ridges.

Oh, so, you finally trumped up
an alternate suspect!

Yes,
a man who put a feather

in the bullet wound
of a local deputy

and who very recently
attempted to murder my dad.

We actually have his car
impounded.

For a week and a half,

we've had crime-scene techs
from Cheyenne

combing over every inch
of that car.

And guess what?

They found a hair
that matched Miller Beck,

and they also found skin under
the fingernails of Mr. Beck

that matched the real
murderer -- David ridges.

Miller Beck fought back.

Scratched his assailant.

That's a hard detail to miss,

especially for an experienced
detective like Mr. fales,

but when your autopsy
only lasts 14 minutes,

you miss a lot.

Anyway, yeah.

We can go to trial,
and all of this will come out,

and you will lose, and reporters
will write stories about it,

and then we'll sue you.

Or you can just drop
the charges today.

Walk me through the whole
feather thing again.

Your support helped Henry
get through this.

And, well, Henry --
Henry should be here very soon.

As you can imagine,

news that all charges
against Henry have been dropped

is both wonderful
and overwhelming.

Henry will be here very soon
to celebrate with all of us.

In the meantime, I have loaded
the jukebox full of quarters,

so enjoy.

Whoa.

You've reached
the longmire residence.

Sorry we're not here
to take your call.

Please leave a message.

We'll be happy
to call you back.

Well, this is where I said,
"till death do us part."

Nearly screwed my lines up then.

I screwed up a lot of things.

I should have done this
a long time ago.

But I couldn't.

I thought if I kept you up there
on the kitchen shelf,

well, you could keep me in line.

That didn't work out so well.

So...

I think maybe it's time
to let you go.

Yeah.

Sorry, sweetheart.
It's so hard.

I know now that Jacob nighthorse
took you from me.

You could probably find a way
to forgive him.

But I can't.

Hope you can find a way
to forgive me, Martha.

At least now you don't have
to see what I'm about to do.

How you settling in to that job
in the real world?

Everybody's been great.

I've just been thinking.

Not too much, I hope.

Just thinking, "why would
you pay big pines timber

$100,000 last year?"

Lumber. Pull.

Last year,
I discovered big pines

is one of Jacob nighthorse's
shell corporations.

He owns it.

I'm sorry
I brought up work.

Your turn.

You said you do
as little business

with nighthorse
as possible.

That seems like
a lot of business.

Pull.

Especially when you have
another lumber supplier.

You got something
to ask me, just ask.

I'm just trying
to figure out

the exact nature
of your relationship

with a man I thought
was your sworn enemy.

Not when it came to getting you
elected sheriff.

What do you mean?

Well, I knew that

you wouldn't accept any campaign
money coming from me,

so I funneled it through
someone you wouldn't suspect.

Do I hate
the Indian bastard?

Yes.
But he can be useful.

I guess that explains why you
didn't get out of your car

to threaten nighthorse
in that video.

'Cause you weren't
really threatening him.

You're friends.
You were doing business.

You don't know what you're
talking about here, branch.

Three years ago, you paid
big pines timber $50,000.

What was that for?

Consulting service.

Dad,
that payment happened

the same week
Walt's wife died.

I've done a lot of things bad
over the years,

but I did every one of them
for our family.

We settled this county,

and we are going to be
the future of it,

whatever it takes.

So, you paid nighthorse,

and he sent ridges
down to Denver?

Nighthorse didn't have
the balls.

I paid him to borrow his soldier
just the one time.

No questions asked.

Branch, I did that
for our family.

I did it for you.

I wanted you to be sheriff,
and you deserved it.

Not that son of a bitch
longmire.

I wanted to be sheriff,
but not like that.

I'm not you.

I am so sorry.

I failed you, branch.

This is all my fault.

All of it.

But, you see, son,
I'm 65 years old.

Papa was dead at 70.
I-l just...

I don't have time
to make another fortune.

But I do have time
to make another son.

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