The Scent of Rain & Lightning Page #2

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[unsettling

banjo and string music]

How many people don't think

Billy killed my folks?

Not many.

So some people

don't think he did?

[sighs shortly]

I don't know.

No, that's not fair.

That's not fair.

If I ask you how many

and you say "not many,"

then that means some don't.

Maybe a... handful.

You don't think he did it.

Jail's where

Billy Croyle belongs.

[thunder rumbles]

You know something.

You know something

and you're not telling me.

You're a Linder.

You tell me.

[thunder rumbling softly]

Senior wanted Billy in jail,

and that's what he got.

...sweet cheeks.

- Huh? What's your name, huh?

- All right, that's enough.

- You want another drink?

- You know what?

[thunder rumbling]

But don't...

don't miss my point here.

I'm...

Senior did it out of

honest-to-God grief and sorrow,

and... and he thought

he knew the truth.

I'm gonna kill every one

of you last f***ing losers!

Billy, go home, goddamn it!

Did my mom...

leave with Billy's hat on?

I don't know.

Billy, um...

Did my mom leave

with Billy's hat on?

Look, Billy deserved

to be in jail.

You tell me what you think

happened that night!

I-I don't know, I...

I don't know.

I don't know.

And that's

the God's honest truth.

I don't, okay?

[sniffs]

Maybe you should

go ask Senior

about what Doc saw that day.

[car door clicks open]

[thunder rumbling softly]

[thunder slowly building]

Hold on!

Would have been

in trouble without this.

Isn't she getting

just a little old for that?

Aw, she gets to decide when

she doesn't need it anymore.

- Give me a kiss.

- Bye.

- Laurie? Laurie.

- Yeah?

You two know you have

a sitter in me.

Oh, sure do

appreciate the help.

- You girls have fun.

- Bye, love you.

- Love you.

- Bye.

[shower running,

thunder rumbling]

[knob squeaks, water stops]

[phone ringing]

Hello?

Yeah.

Yeah, that's good for me.

[chuckles]

Yeah, I'll bet.

Okay, bye.

[water lapping]

Did Billy have a fair trial?

I'm looking for the...

- Here you go.

- Thank you, hon.

He got a fair trial.

Ah... you ask me,

he's lucky folks didn't

string him up in the square.

[sighs]

Some people think

he's innocent.

The last way

I'd describe him.

Bailey didn't think

he did it.

Well, he's been listening to

too much damn bar gossip.

He told me to ask you about

what Doc saw...

the night my folks were killed.

Right, well,

of course he did.

Downright "Matlock" of him.

If he spent as much time

trying to make a dollar

as he did sticking his nose

where it don't belong,

he'd be a rich man.

There's not much

to tell about that.

He...

Doc said he saw Hugh Jay

get into it

with a couple toughs

from out of town.

Said that they...

it looked like...

could be trouble.

Doc and I talked about it,

decided whether

we should tell Don or not,

and decided

it wasn't important.

Wasn't important?

They weren't from

around here.

They... they never could

have found his place.

They wouldn't have.

It would have just muddied

the whole situation

if we brought that up.

So you didn't

tell anyone about it?

I didn't,

but it's a small town.

[mysterious music]

[suspenseful string chords]

Jody, um, you play out here

for a while, okay?

- I'll see if your mom is up.

- But I'm hungry.

Yeah, I know, sweetie.

We're gonna go get some.

Just... play out here

for Mimi, okay?

Laurie?

Laurie?

[ominous music]

Laurie, are you home?

Laurie?

[eerie string music]

Dad.

- Sweetie, no.

- [sobbing] Dad.

[weakly] Oh, my God.

[footsteps, floor creaking]

Oh, my God.

Oh, Jesus. [sobs]

[cows mooing]

Hey-oh, hey-oh, hey-oh.

Get.

Get.

Hup, hup, hup, hup.

[cows mooing continuously]

- Get on down there.

- Hup, hup, hup, hup, hup.

Get on down.

Get.

Come on now.

Come on.

Get on down there.

Get.

- Get.

- Hey, hey, hey.

Get in there.

Get.

- Come on, girl.

- Get your ass in there.

- [cows mooing]

- Come on.

[all whistling

and calling indistinctly]

[cow yelps,

herd moos frantically]

[grunts]

Get!

Take it easy, Billy!

- Get!

- You're scaring 'em, Billy.

- Come on now.

- Get on!

- [cows mooing loudly]

- Billy!

[grunting angrily]

[coughing]

[panting]

Think long and hard

before you start talking.

I wasn't doing nothing.

I seen it done out here

a thousand times before

- by everybody else.

- You haven't seen it

done around me.

You're done here.

Come on, Senior.

I need the work.

You're done here, Billy.

It's just a damn cow!

I wasn't hurting it.

I was just

getting it out of the way.

It was clogging up the pen.

He didn't have to do me like

that in front of everybody.

[dogs barking]

[door slams]

[door rattles open]

- Hey.

- Hey.

Those boots do not

come in my house.

Wouldn't think of it.

- Hi.

- Hey.

You all are back early.

[video game beeping]

Staying for dinner?

The cheese comes all

individually wrapped like that?

- I was just checking my game...

- Hand it over.

But...

I'll check it.

- [chuckling]

- That was a good touch

with this brown sugar

on these carrots.

[laughs]

I like it.

Mm-hmm.

Makes it kind of like dessert.

Don't get any ideas

and start putting sugar

- on everything.

- [laughs]

[fly buzzing]

[horns clang,

bulls growl]

[flies buzzing]

Goddamn son of a b*tch.

Red just radioed,

said the fence lines

in the south got cut.

I know.

I was just down there.

I need you to call the sheriff.

You sure you don't want me

to go over and see

- if Billy was even...

- Let Don handle it.

Come on, Pop.

We don't even know if...

We know.

We goddamn well know.

Tell him you want to be there

when he brings him in.

We deserve that much.

I just don't think

it's the right thing to do.

At what point did you think

this was a conversation?

[ominous string music]

This is bullshit, Don.

How come every time

something happens,

- you come looking for me?

- That what you think, Billy?

Hugh Jay!

Hey, look at me, man.

I didn't kill no cow.

One day, somebody's gonna knock

Senior off his high horse.

- Get your hands off me.

- Billy, take it easy.

I'm getting in the car.

[buzzer sounds,

door squeaks open]

So, uh...

what can I do for you?

Who else would you have

looked at...

if Billy didn't do it?

Well, see, here's the thing.

That's like asking me what I'd

do if Helen woke up one morning

and stopped griping at me.

Something happened

that night out on 41,

the night my folks were killed.

What?

You know I'm not as dumb

as your grandpa

thinks I am, right?

Senior should have told me

everything he knew,

but that don't mean

I can't do my job.

That whole hullabaloo on 41,

that had nothing to do

with this case.

What makes you so sure?

'Cause the math's off.

What math?

All right, look.

Why do these city punks...

kill your father

at your house...

and take your mom over to

Frog Creek to drown her,

steal her wedding ring...

while they leave $200

in your dad's wallet

back at the house?

It don't make any sense.

Pretend Billy didn't do it

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