03x10 - Ashes to Ashes

Episode transcripts for the TV show "Longmire". Aired: June 2012 to November 2017.*
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"Longmire" centers on Walt Longmire, a Wyoming county sheriff, who returns to work after his wife's death. Assisted by his friends and his daughter, Longmire investigates major crimes within his jurisdiction, while campaigning for re-election against one of his own deputies. Based on the "Walt Longmire Mysteries" series of mystery novels. We will no longer be updating this show.
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03x10 - Ashes to Ashes

Post by bunniefuu »

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.

Walt: 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.

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!

Jacob: 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.

Woman: Sheriff, put those away.

You made a deal with my client.

Vic: 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.

[Device beeps]

Jacob: David it's good to hear from you. Where are you, man?

David: 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 k*lled 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.

[Sighs]

Aah!

sh*t!

I'm so sorry, Vic. I had no intention...

No, it's fine. I get it.

The guy was talking sh*t 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 rail road 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.

[Music]

What happened to you two?

The usual.

Walt punched me.

Oh.

Hey, Dad, do you remember Detective Fales ever using any kind of r*cist 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?

Cady: Right, so, I was thinking that we could make a case that Detective Fales was persecuting Henry with some sort of r*cist 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 r*cist.

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 sh*t him.

Now, Ridges was wearing this when he att*cked 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 m*rder book.

[Sighs] I need to borrow someone's cellphone.

Dad.

Dad!

Where are you going?!

Denver.

[Telephone rings]

Woman: 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.

[Dialing]

[Ringing]

Man: 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.

Boy: 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!

Children: Please don't hurt me.

Please don't hurt me.

[Cheers and applause]

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 m*rder.

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?

[Rattling]

[Lock disengages]

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 k*ller 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 k*lled 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!

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.

[Knock on door]

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 b*at it?

[Chuckles] 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.

[Chuckles] 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.

[Metal clanging]

I think that's him.

I will get some rope.

Hopefully, we can lift out the casket.

Walt!
[Siren wailing]

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. [Coughs]

[Lid creaks]

[Lid creaks]

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.

[Grunts]

I guess you owe me one.

1, 2, 3. [Grunts]

Given the up-close-and-personal nature of the m*rder, 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.

[Siren wails]

[Knocks on car]

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.

[Trunk beeps]

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?

Barlow: 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.

Man: 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.

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

Ferg. Key.

Vic: 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 m*rder*r 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 b*ttlefield.

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.

[Singing in Native language]

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.

Sloan: 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.

Sloan: That white line?

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

Cady: 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 b*llet wound of a local deputy and who very recently attempted to m*rder 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 m*rder*r... David Ridges.

Miller Beck fought back.

Scratched his assailant.

Walt: 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.

Cady: 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.

[Music]

In the meantime, I have loaded the jukebox full of quarters, so enjoy.

[Cheering]

[Music continues]

Whoa.

[Telephone ringing]

Martha: 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.


[Dial tone]

[Horse whinnies]

[Chuckles]

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.

[Chuckles]

That didn't work out so well.

So...

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

Yeah.

[Breathing unevenly]

[Sobbing]

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 lndian bastard?

Yes. But he can be useful.

I guess that explains why you didn't get out of your car to thr*aten 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.

[Chuckles]

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 d*ed.

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.

[Sighs deeply]

But, you see, son...

I'm 65 years old.

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

I don't have time to make another fortune.

But I do have time to make another son.

[g*nsh*t]

[Engine turns over]

[Tires squeal]
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