1922 Page #4

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but it's time you step up

and take share of the responsibility.

The time at that home

is gonna cost me $300.

Yeah.

I know you can't get your hands

on $150,

but you better get it on 75.

I can't do that.

Arlette, you know, she cleaned me out

when she left.

Well, take another shortie from the bank.

You paid off that last one already.

I had crop money to pay it back with.

Now I don't.

I've got my land...

I got my house.

And that's pretty much it.

Well, you'd better find it.

Mortgage this house,

if that's what you have to do.

Seventy-five dollars is yours to share.

Compared to your boy changing didies

at the age of 15,

I think you're getting off cheap.

And if I can't find a way, Harl?

What then?

I'm going.

And I'm not come dunning you for it.

- Mm-hm.

- If you don't... you don't.

But don't say you can't

because I know better.

You should've let her sell that acreage

to Farrington, Wilf.

If you'd done that, she'd still be here.

You'd have money in your hand.

And my daughter wouldn't be in the...

family way.

They can't send her away like that.

[Wilfred] Well, they can and they will.

Now, don't think about doing

nothing stupid or headstrong neither.

You'll only make a bad situation worse.

We could run away.

Think about it.

I...

If we could get away with what we did...

Right?

It'd be a shame.

We could get away eloping off to Colorado.

You couldn't...

because you've got no money.

Money fixes everything, right?

As the wife says

no money spoils everything, boy.

I know that.

Shannon will, too, now that she's got

a baby to watch out for now.

- You'll see.

- Not if they make her give it away.

[grunts]

[sighs]

Now, don't change how a woman feels...

when she got a chap in the belly.

You see, a chap makes a woman feel wise...

in ways a man don't understand, son.

Now, I haven't lost any respect for you

just because you gonna have a baby.

Or her. You ain't the first.

You certainly won't be the last.

But you will not... Hey.

You will not ask

a five-month pregnant girl...

to run off with you.

You can't tell me what to do.

You couldn't even cut Mama's throat

without making a mess of it.

I did...

what I did for us.

Now, what good are 180 acres

if I've got no one to pass them on to?

There was another way, Pa.

You know there was.

You cursed it all!

Boy.

You cursed me!

Boy.

He went off to school the next day

without any argument.

Probably because I let him take the T.

Once he was gone,

I started searching.

I wondered if she had socked

a little something away...

just like that story I sold the sheriff.

Each time I found nothing,

I became convinced there was something.

Will Hemingford Home and Trust

loan you 35 dollars?

You bet.

But... you don't need $35.

Oh, I'm sad to say that I do.

No, you don't.

You need 750. That's what you need.

And you could have it today.

And do you wanna tell me

there aren't improvements you could make?

A roof to fix?

A little more livestock?

Maybe even indoor plumbing,

like your neighbor down the road?

You could end up with improvements

that far outweigh the cost of a mortgage.

Value for money, Wilf.

Value for money.

Yeah, this new proposal...

needs a little thinking about.

Well, I ought to talk it over

with my boy, Henry.

Or, uh, Hank,

as he likes to be called now.

Yep.

He's getting to an age

where... he needs to be consulted.

Well, all I got...

it'll all be his someday.

[Henry] "Papa, I have taken the truck.

I guess you know where I am going.

Leave me alone.

I know you can send Sheriff Jones after me

to bring me back,

but if you do I will tell everything.

You might think I'd change my mind

because I am just a kid, but I won't.

Without Shan, Pa,

I don't care about nothing.

I love you, Papa,

even if I don't know why

since everything we did

has brought me misery.

Your loving son, Henry 'Hank' James."

[Wilfred] Waiting for a teenage boy

to come to his senses

is like waiting for a broomstick

to sprout flowers.

But what choice did I have?

I had murdered my wife

to keep my home.

The only way I was leaving it now

would be in chains.

[sighs]

Three days ago, in Lyme Biska,

not far from the rider found your truck...

somebody held up a grocery store

on the edge of town.

Took $23. I got the report on my desk.

Say it was a young fella

wearing old cowboy clothes

with a bandana over his mouth

and a plainsman's hat

slouched over his eyes.

[sighs]

Um, Henry left from school, sheriff...

and so far as I remember he...

He had on a flannel shirt that day,

had on some corduroy trousers.

I don't... think

he took any clothes with him, and...

Anyway, he don't have no cowboy clothes,

if you mean boots and all.

He don't have no plainsman's hat neither.

- He could've stolen those, too.

- Now, you don't know anything more

than what you said,

and you ought to stop.

All right?

Now, I know your friends with Harlan.

I know y'all hang at

that Elk's Club or whatever.

My son is not a robber.

He don't treat women badly,

he don't be mean to people.

He acts like a normal kid.

And this is not how he was raised either.

Good day, sheriff.

Yeah, it's probably just a drifter

looking for a quick payday.

But I felt that I had to bring it up.

And we don't know how people talk, do we?

Talk gets around.

Talk is cheap.

[sighs]

[grunts]

[Wilfred] Sometimes work is the only thing

to help drive out bad thoughts.

Fixing a leak would only take

a day or two.

I needed work that would keep me

through the winter.

The next day I took out that mortgage

for $750.

In the end...

we all get caught.

[grunting]

Turn, you son of a...

Why are you...?

Come on!

[door creaking]

[Wilfred grunting]

[groans]

[bones crackling]

[exhales]

She whispered secrets to me

only a dead woman could know.

Stay back!

[inaudible dialogue]

[Henry] Now! Hurry! Close the door!

Back up.

We're gonna get you fixed up, all right?

I'll get some wood.

I'll make it warm.

I'll make it warm.

It's dead... Henry.

No more, please.

Just kill me...

please.

Please, just kill me.

Just kill me.

Arlette, please, just kill me.

Open my throat...

like I opened yours.

Yeah.

Please.

But she wouldn't.

Not till she was satisfied.

Shannon?

Shannon.

[groans]

Two days ago...

a farmer on his way to Lyme Biska

noticed something... in a ditch.

Remains of a woman.

A pair of her back teeth were missing.

Was Arlette missing a couple

of back teeth?

When I, uh...

When I came out that day

just after she ran off...

[sighs]

Your boy mentioned

that she took... her good jewelry

and you mentioned something about $200.

Isn't that right?

Well, there you go.

She was robbed on the road.

Some bad egg...

picked her up, killed her and...

robbed her of her money and her jewelry.

[sighs]

[Wilfred]

Henry's body arrived in Hemingford

by train on the 18th of December.

- Mr. James.

- Tell us what happend.

- Mr. James. Mr. James.

- Mr. James.

- What about your son?

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