Longmire Episode 2.02 Carcasses

Walt and Vic dig through a pile of roadkill at Holly's Heavenly Compost. The owner, Holly Whitish, discovered the body of a dead man mixed in with the deer and other animals. The man has a bullet hole in his chest. Walt notices Holly's gun, which she says is a .40 that she uses for mercy killings when she finds dying animals. Holly says she doesn't recognize the man.

Branch stops by Cady's house and finds that the house key she usually has hidden outside is missing, and there is still no one home.

Walt and Vic receive the autopsy report on their victim, which tells them that the gun that killed him was a .38, and his stomach had traces of turkey, duck and chicken. They head to the Red Pony to see if Henry has any thoughts on the matter. Henry doesn't serve turkey (he doesn't celebrate "Thankstaking"), but he knows that the Saddlehorn Truck Stop makes turduckenburgers.

The diner manager at the truck stop doesn't recognize the photo of the victim, but he confirms that they sell turduckenburgers, although only after 5pm. Walt notices a young and scantily clad woman being dropped off out front. He tells Vic he thinks that people aren't coming all the way out to the truck stop just for the food.

Walt, Vic, Branch and the Ferg gather back at the truck stop that night. They make a rush on the parked trucks, throwing open driver-side doors across the lot. Just as Walt suspected, the truck drivers are enjoying the company of the prostitutes who work out of the truck stop. The team lines everyone up and shows them the photo of their victim. One prostitute reacts to the photo with a smirk, so Walt pulls her aside. Her name is Delila, and she's not too cooperative. She does tell them that the victim always smelled like tar.

The next day, Walt and Vic pull up to a roadside construction crew. A young man on the crew runs up and informs them that his foreman doesn't like people poking around his sites, but he quickly gets in trouble for deserting his post. The foreman recognizes the victim as Ross Lanten, a former employee who was always trying to get his co-workers to come out with him after work for "beers and broads," an offer no one wanted to take him up on.

Walt and Vic head to Lanten's house, but find it empty. They go next door and talk to Lanten's neighbors, Greg and Brandi Collette. Brandi, a former soldier, tells them that Lanten wasn't a pleasant guy. Greg agrees, saying that he would leer at Brandi, and would beat his wife. The Collettes convinced Lanten's wife to leave him by following Lanten to the truck stop and getting video of him with a prostitute. As they leave, Vic and Walt find it suspicious that neither of the Collettes asked them why they were investigating Lanten in the first place.

After picking the lock at Cady's house to look for clues as to her current whereabouts, Branch sits dejectedly at the Red Pony sipping a beer. All he found at Cady's was a pile of mail by the door, including a letter from Walt, which he pocketed without reading. He asks Henry if he knows where Cady is. Henry tells him that he doesn't. When Branch asks if Henry would tell him if he did know, Henry confirms that he most certainly would not.

A woman at the bar hits on Branch, causing a very drunk Holly Whitish to stumble up to them, mumbling a warning about men. Henry tells her to go outside for some air, but she soon returns dragging a dead deer and brandishing a knife. Branch calms her down and takes her to the Sheriff's office.

Walt comforts Holly as she vomits in his wastebasket. She tells him that she knows their victim. 20 years ago, Holly was raped by Ross Lanten. Walt is stunned. Holly never reported it because her parents convinced her it was her fault. She tells him she knows who killed Lanten: it was God. She had prayed for Lanten to die, now God had granted her wish. Walt tells the team Holly's news and sends Branch and the Ferg to search her house.

Later at the truck stop, Henry pulls up to speak to the prostitutes. He asks Delila to get in the truck, and they drive to the back of the lot. To Delila's surprise, Walt climbs into the backseat. He has more questions, but Delila doesn't think he can afford the conversation. Walt shows her a mugshot of her pimp, who is safely locked up in the Sheriff's office cell. He offers to pay for a bus ticket out of town if Delila is willing to talk.

Delila tells them that Lanten had a reputation of being rough with the girls. They all knew to avoid the "freak in the brown truck," but Delila accidentally ended up him a few nights before. She didn't know to stay away from him because someone driving a dark sedan with tinted windows gave him a ride to the truck stop. Walt remembers seeing a car like that before.

Walt and Vic return to the Collette's where their black sedan with tinted windows is parked in the driveway. As they approach the house, a piece of workout equipment crashes through the window. Walt and Vic take cover as someone starts shooting. Walt hears Brandi yelling as if she's still in Iraq. He quickly determines that she's firing blanks, and takes on the role of her commanding officer, telling her to stand down as he and Vic enter the house. They find her holding a gun to her husband's head. She's having a flashback to the war, and it's not her first. They calm her down and learn that she had a blackout the night Lanten was killed. She doesn't remember what she did, but her husband found her in the morning next to their car.

Back at the office, Branch informs Walt that they tested the .38 from Holly's house, and it's a match for the bullet that killed Lanten. He threatens to arrest Holly if Walt isn't willing to do it. Walt tells him that Brandi's potential as a suspect makes finding Holly guilty beyond a reasonable doubt impossible. Branch lets up on Holly, but quizzes Walt about Cady's disappearance. Walt admits that he has no idea where his daughter could be.

Walt and Vic travel to Montana to track down Holly's son, Dacus, at school. They find him in class and realize he's the same young man who tried to warn them off at the roadside construction site. He runs for it, but they catch him and take him back to Absaroka County.

Back in his office, Walt informs Dacus that they found his car, and it matches the description of the dark sedan they're looking for. Walt wants to know why Dacus decided to get a job on Lanten's road crew.

Dacus admits that he learned that Lanten raped his mother. He also knows that Lanten was his father. He tracked down his grandparents when he was twelve, but they told him he wasn't welcome there. They believed that since his father was a rapist, he would grow up to be a rapist himself. Since then, Dacus never allowed himself to get close to girls because he was afraid of what he might do.

Holly arrives, and tries to comfort her son. Dacus says that he had to find out whether or not Lanten deserved to live. He took Lanten to the truck stop, but after Lanten beat up Delila, Dacus had his answer. He shot Lanten, then buried him in the compost pile, hoping he would just disappear.

Later that night, Walt leaves a message for Cady. He tells her not to make the same mistake he made. He says not to bury the pain she's feeling, and assures her that he'll always be there if she needs him. As he leaves the message, Branch returns to Cady's house to drop off the letter from Walt. He slides his fingers across the top, making sure the letter is sealed tight.

In a busy police station in Denver, an officer mans the front desk. A woman with red hair walks up to him and asks to see Detective Fales. He looks up and asks if Fales is expecting her. She says no, but to tell him that Cady Longmire is here to see him.