Previously on American Rust...
Thank you for taking me in.
You can stay here
as long as you need to.
My son is gonna spend the rest of his life
in that prison, and he's not gonna make it.
Tomorrow, down that hallway.
That's where you're gonna take him out.
He needs to cease
existing.
Nod twice to let me know you understand your mission.
Picked the wrong group to fuck with, Poe.
Good luck with the Aryans when you get out of here.
Wesley Ives? We'd like to ask him a few questions.
Well, he died. That Buick's been sitting outside
-since he passed. -[Harris] Hi, Karl.
-We thought we'd find you here. - Oh. Right.
Well, that's not mine, Harris. I swear on my mother.
I've been thinking a lot about your brother.
I made things tough for him.
Maybe it's a good thing he left.
And where's Billy now?
He was charged with murder one,
for the man I killed.
I think he's giving up his life for me.
Seems like you have
a big decision to make.
I'll bet my flat, white ass
that nimrod'll take
a fucking deal from the D.A. and rat us out.
I know where he is.
-That Bobby guy. -[Grace] You found him?
I know
what has to be done.
slow, eerie, pulsating music
You hanging in there?
A little lonely, to tell you the truth.
I mean, she's a nice old lady,
but she can't hear a fucking thing
so I'm yelling all the time.
And I'm a gentle soul, so it don't feel right.
You'd shoot your sister if you had to.
I don't have a sister.
No, I know. I'm just...
-Look out, my friend. - Oh, Jesus.
Set a few of those out on the property
in case anyone comes snooping around.
I'll tell you the one person who's been messing
-with my equilibrium. - Hmm?
Jackson's such a pussy the last few days.
They'll never be able to track it back
to his piece-of-shit pharmacy.
-That's right. - I mean,
you haven't been dealing lately?
Nah, I'm keeping a low profile.
Haven't sold anything in days,
which sucks for my wallet, but at least
I don't have the cops knocking on my door.
Good. That's good.
Man, I just pawned my watch.
You know, I'm sacrificing a whole hell
of a lot, just so that you could...
soft, dramatic music
Thanks.
Don't get too comfortable.
You go back out soon.
-Back where? - General population.
Why?
I thought I was supposed to be here for at least a week.
I'm just telling you what I heard.
You know it's not safe for me.
Who makes the decision?
In this place?
Guards, inmates, the warden.
It's hard to tell sometimes.
Just know it's coming.
slow, dramatic music
Hey, Daddy?
I have a bit of money from selling the car.
Not a huge amount, but enough if we're careful with it.
I'm ready to do what I should
take care of my family.
Maybe eventually I'll enroll at Pitt Law,
but for now, what I know is that
this is the right place for me.
This is home.
Lee, this isn't what I meant to happen.
What does that mean?
You made a whole life for yourself on the East Coast.
I didn't intend to drag you back to Buell forever.
You didn't drag me. I came here because I wanted to.
You came because I called you in the middle of the night
and told you to.
Since you've been here,
I'm seeing how hard I push people
to do what I want them to do.
A month before your mother died,
she told me she'd been dreaming
about going back to Mexico
after both you and Isaac left for college.
Just having these dreams, over and over.
You know what I did?
I cut her out of our bank account
so she wouldn't take money and run off.
Started leaving her a few dollars every day for groceries.
Taking care of me was killing your mother.
I won't be responsible for that happening to you.
It isn't your decision.
Maybe we've all had enough
of you making decisions for other people.
I have spent so long trying to figure out
where I belong.
I adapted, I contorted myself
to fit in every place I went.
In New York City, in New Haven.
Now I just want to be home
and take care of my father.
Why is that wrong?
dramatic, pulsating music
Hey, buddy.
Got some, uh, new wheels?
Yeah, I'm sick of driving my truck everywhere.
Found this old beauty, couldn't resist.
Let me buy you a drink.
All right.
It was basically a disaster for me. Couldn't sit still.
Joined the Army as soon as I graduated.
Bet it was a different story for you.
Even so, I remember a few things from high school.
Couple morsels of information
lodged themselves one place or another.
Here's one-- tenth grade, all right?
I remember one line from one play.
How about that? Huh?
No idea which play,
but I'll tell you something. I like it,
and I say it to myself from time to time
whenever something's screwed up.
Actually, it was two lines. One guy says to the other,
he says, "Something's rotten in..."
Somewhere. I don't remember.
Who the fuck knows? But it was true.
Something was rotten, wherever they were.
But you know what? What stuck with me was the next line.
The next guy says, "Heaven will direct it."
That line, that answer has always comforted me.
'Cause we're all going out of our minds down here, you know?
Trying to control things, you know?
But at the end of the day, God's got it taken care of.
We can't help driving ourselves crazy, you know?
Trying to fix the rotten stuff, trying to cut out the cancer.
But Heaven's got a plan, and we're all just carrying it out.
I'm-I'm carrying it out.
I'm carrying out God's plan.
You know what I'm saying?
Denmark.
What's that?
Rotten in Denmark.
You're right. That's what it was.
You clearly did better in school than I did.
Everybody did better than you did, Chief.
Ha! She's right.
Mmm.
-Del, are you feeling all right? - Ah.
I'm feeling great. Why?
Well, you seem a little wound up.
Seriously, going cold turkey, dropping all your meds
at once, that's-that's hard.
I'm feeling great. I'm doing God's work.
That's what I'm saying.
I shouldn't tell you this.
Trent, the football player?
Mm-hmm?
His local dealer's starting to spill.
Which-- whoever gets the intel,
me, the sheriff, who fucking cares--
but it's good for the community.
Get to the bottom of this drug dealing that's killing people.
Make the arrests, cut out the cancer. God's plan.
You want another drink?
Uh, no, no. I'm good. I--
Come on! Have another drink with me.
Celebrate the downfall
of illicit narcotics in Fayette County.
The brotherhood of man pulling together
-to cut out the rotten--
Goddamn it.
Excuse me a sec. Yeah?
Steve, slow down.
slow, dramatic music
Are you sure?
We got clearance to cross state lines?
All right, I'm not in my truck. I...
I'm coming anyways. Yeah.
Sorry, bud.
Could you cover the drinks this time? I got to roll.
-Mm-hmm. - Rip out the cancer.
Cut the whole thing out.
slow, suspenseful music
Glad to know you, Doctor.
Well, what brings you here?
[man] I'm curious about Cannonball McKay and Clem Jones.
[man 2] Reckon nobody knows much about them, friend.
Not even me, and I'm Clem's doctor.
Oh? Something wrong with him?
Poor old fella has a bad arm.
Hurt it years ago in that stagecoach holdup
-that sent him to jail. -[man] I see.
But if Cannonball's as harmless as they say,
why should he take in an ex-convict as a partner?
[man 2] That's something we'd all like to know,
but Cannonball won't talk.
[man] Marshal, I'd like a closer look at those two.
[man 2] The stage is due in any minute now.
-[man 2] So long. -[man] Fine.
Hurry up, Collins.
I got to shove on to Rustfield in ten minutes.
[man 3] You're not shoving on to anywhere, Cannonball.
What do you mean? My contract with Wells Fargo's still good.
Pulling out of here on schedule.
No, you're not. Wells Fargo's not gonna lose
any shipments if I can help it.
Well, I never lost them a shipment of gold yet, have I?
[man 3] No, but you never had a crook working for you.
Not until now.
[man 4] Nobody's gonna call me a crook again.
Oh, no?
...the last shot you'll ever fire.
Put up your gun.
dramatic, suspenseful music
Okay, now. Let's not--
somber, dramatic music
Okay.
Ow.
911. What's your emergency?
Hello? 911. What's your emergency?
Hello?
quiet, eerie music
pulsing, dramatic music
intriguing, dramatic music
Ow.
Fuck.
Is it done?
I'm almost finished.
Shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh.
-Just a few more,
and...
what's done is done.
Do you want to tell me how you got shot?
I can't talk about it.
It's okay. You don't have to.
So long as no one saw,
-no one will know.
No one saw.
Good.
I picked up your phone from the ash can.
Brought it back here. It's been on
and charging all night.
It'll show the one call from me
while you were at the bar
and then you staying at the bar for a bit
and then the phone traveling back here
to the cabin.
I think I need to sew that one up.
And soon enough,
when they identify
the dealer
that named Billy,
the case is gonna fall apart.
Two dealers gone.
And my son is free.
All 'cause of you.
Take a long drink, baby.
That's good. Take another one.
There is a balance
between good and evil in the world.
gentle, dramatic music
Tonight,
that balance just shifted a little more towards good.
You bring good into the world, Del.
Watch your step.
-Hey. - Hey, buddy.
Open nine.
-Copy.
Up. Let's go.
Back with everybody else.
Come on, it's time to go.
I'm not gonna resist.
No, you're not.
All I ask is you deliver one message
-for me. - I don't do that kind of thing.
To a woman named LeeAnn English.
Just do it.
If something bad happens to me,
deliver the message.
She works with the public defender
I got assigned.
"I kept my promise."
tense, dramatic music
Close nine.
He's all yours.
General population.
All right, Dad, I have to get going.
After work, I'll get something to cook for dinner.
-Pork chops okay? - Sure.
With string beans or broccoli?
Or just a salad, maybe?
Your choice.
We got a whole routine going here.
Routine's the way to get things done.
Don't get into any trouble.
-Not me.
[newswoman] Officers uncovered a triple homicide...
-Morning. Hey.
-You seen this? -...southeast of Morgantown.
Local police
aren't releasing names as of yet, but...
Hold on...
Just getting this.
Okay. So, now police are saying
another body has been found on the property.
Ow.
It's gonna be a good day.
Maybe it will be.
It will be.
Call me if you hear anything.
[Frank] They're gonna release names in an hour.
What you need to know is we finally got a positive ID
for our anonymous witness. Robert Lord.
Turns out there was a good reason
people called him Jesus.
Aside from the beard and the long hair.
Is that your punch line?
The punch line is he's dead.
Punch line number two...
Jackson Berg, the pharmacist in Buell?
He's dead, too.
Looks like they shot each other.
Now,
maybe it was a lovers' quarrel, but more likely,
Jackson was supplying to Lord Jesus,
and they had somewhat of a disagreement.
And get this. Jackson's second cousin,
87-year-old woman who owned the cabin?
She's also dead.
She was clutching a pump-action shotgun
when one of them popped her clean through the chest.
Hope she got a shot off.
I can find that out for you.
Wouldn't be the worst way to go.
In a shootout, holding your rifle.
Given all the other possibilities.
That's one way of looking at it.
Projecting ahead to when I'm 87.
That's what you want, I hope you get your wish.
But another way of looking at it, Frank,
is it would have been extremely fucking swell
for the county sheriff to have tracked down our star witness
-before the local pharmacist did. - All right, Sue.
But let's you and me
just concentrate on next steps.
The next step is I probably need to get on the judge's docket
to discuss releasing Billy Poe.
I've got no case against him now.
I don't like it any more than you do.
Is that right? Because I've been under the impression
that you haven't been fully on board this one from the jump.
You're right. I haven't been.
I thought you went after Poe too early.
I told you that at the time,
but you dragged me into this, and I am deep in now.
I booked him. You charged him.
I find the notion of just letting him go
truly fucking embarrassing,
so thank you for that.
ominous, dramatic music
Yeah, hit him. Come on.
You seen this?
If you're talking about the West Virginia thing,
I heard it on the radio. Steve.
Boss.
-You okay there? Ah,
-slept the wrong way.
You know you're getting old
when you injure yourself sleeping.
Oh, Chief.
You got a visitor in your office.
Who?
Virgil Poe. Said he had something important to tell you.
Thought I'd let him wait for you inside.
Next time, don't do that.
Sorry.
[TV continues indistinctly
Del Harris.
Good of you to see me.
Well, not sure I had much of a choice, but...
always a pleasure.
-You all right there?
I'm fine.
Threw your back out doing something acrobatic?
-What can I do for you?
Well, to tell you the truth, Chief,
I've been feeling pretty bad about the last couple times
we've seen each other.
In particular, that time that we hung out together
at your cabin.
You know, that I might not have been at my best.
And I think it's important to name your faults, you know?
Otherwise, you can't fix 'em.
So, I lashed out.
I spoke in anger.
Took my beers back home with me.
It wasn't a good look, and I'm not too proud of that.
Well, I appreciate that.
It's kind of you to stop in and tell me.
Hey, you know what I've been doing a lot of lately?
Yogi meditation.
Mm. The Indian kind.
The real deal.
You breathe deep,
let your mind investigate.
Surreal. It's a beautiful process.
You know what I'm talking about?
-Not so much. - Well, let me give you
an example then, man. Like, earlier today,
I'm walking around our-our property--
mine and Grace's-- 'cause, you know, I'm just trying
to personally investigate what I might've done
to contribute to our current situation, right?
I mean, our son's in jail.
Our home's burned down.
I believe we all bear a certain responsibility, you know?
So I'm...
I'm just walking through the ashes, you know?
I'm breathing and thinking,
just, you know, running things over in my mind.
And, suddenly, out of nowhere,
I get this flash of inspiration that I ought to turn around.
So I do.
And what do I see?
Our tool shed,
still standing there.
Untouched by the flames.
That's a lucky thing, right?
At least something remains.
So I'm feeling good in that, you know?
I'm-- I-I go over to it. I open it up.
I look inside and...
Looking at my tools and some of 'em are in good shape
and I'm j-- I'm happy that they're still there, you know?
And-and I look over on the shelf
and I see my son's old gym bag.
-This one,
right here.
That's another good thing.
Billy's bag, you know?
So I-I take it down and-and I open it up.
And, lo and behold,
there's all these pictures in there.
Look at that. Snapshots of Billy when he was younger.
Yeah. Now, mind you,
these were hung all over the walls of our trailer
before it so tragically burnt to the ground. And...
and these here...
Yeah. Those were stuck on the refrigerator
for... years.
You know? One of those pretty little magnet things.
I don't know. I'm feeling blessed.
I do not know who packed this shit up
before our place burned down, but somebody did.
And I am grateful.
See where I'm going with this?
Oh, fuck, I almost forgot.
Yeah, we always have, like, three, four cans of kerosene
in that shed.
You know, for emergencies.
In case we can't pay the power bill
and the lights go out.
Well, there was only one empty can in there.
And I don't know why or what the hell it got used for,
but, uh...
it's an interesting question to ponder, don't you think?
Feel free to leave all this here
if you'd like me to look into it.
Thank you.
So nice of you.
Yeah, thanks. But no.
I'm, uh...
I think they're gonna give me comfort
in any rough times ahead.
I think us men ought to really
look out for one another, you know?
Like, let them know when maybe they got a wild one
on their hands?
'Cause gentlemen like us,
we could tend to think we done something special--
or, worse, we are something special--
to deserve the attentions of a particular female.
When in reality, if we just breathe deep and ponder,
we'll see we're getting all used up.
You take care, Chief.
I'll see you around.
Rachel Walton's office.
She's not in right now.
Can I take a message?
This is LeeAnn English.
I'm sorry, who is the message from?
gentle, somber music
low, tense music
Sheriff.
How you doing, sir?
-All right.
Can you open it for me?
I need to take one more look around.
low, tense music
Yeah.
You have some visitors.
Can I ask who?
Detectives down from Pittsburgh.
What do they want?
They didn't say.
All right.
Show 'em in.
Del Harris?
-Yeah. - You have some time to talk?
I think I could spare a couple minutes.
Uh, this is Detective Munson.
Hey.
And I'm Detective Fisher.
We'd like to ask you some questions.
You want to tell me what about?
Your former partner, Chuck Castellanos.
Mind if I close this?
If you like.
Chief Harper still running things into the ground
-over there? No. He was all right.
Retired last year.
Did he?
May we sit?
Sure. Yeah.
I'm wondering if you know
what Detective Castellanos has been up to lately.
What's he been up to?
I think he's been up to dying.
I read the newspaper,
so I know what's been reported.
Reported about Detective Castellanos.
-Right. - Got it.
So that's where you first learned
about Detective Castellanos' death?
Correct.
Can I ask which newspaper?
Post-Gazette.
You get that delivered?
I live pretty far up a dirt road,
so I tend to pick it up when I'm out and about.
Here, in Buell?
That's right.
Or in Brownsville.
low, mysterious music
Internal organ damage,
broken ribs, skull fracture,
-cerebral edema. - What is that?
Brain swelling.
Your son is in a medically induced coma
while we monitor him and try to get the swelling down.
But when it comes down, he'll be okay?
We hope. It's still too early to tell
whether he sustained any long-term brain injuries.
Officer, this is Grace Poe. She'd like to see her son.
Go ahead.
Is that really necessary?
I'm sorry. It's standard for prison inmates.
He's not a fucking inmate.
He was awaiting trial.
I'll give you a minute alone.
gentle, somber music
It's okay.
Sweet boy, it's gonna be okay.
You'll be home with me soon.
Just hang on.
Dad?
I'm home.
Are you in there?
Dad?
low, ominous music
Oh, God.
Can I bum one of those?
Yeah.
There you go.
You live here?
Yeah.
Huh.
soft, somber music
You hadn't seen
Detective Castellanos in a while.
That's right.
How long, you think?
Long time. Close to a decade.
I remember having a beer with him
maybe six months after I left Pittsburgh.
-And that was ten years. - Right.
His recent cell records show several calls to you.
Do they?
-That's right. - Interesting.
'Cause I got some calls from a Pittsburgh number
but never any message.
What was the number?
It just said "Pittsburgh, PA."
If that was Chuck, you'll see the calls were short.
He must've hung up as soon as he went to voice mail.
Any idea what he was calling you about?
Like I said, he never left a message.
Any guesses?
I don't like to guess.
Gentlemen, can you excuse me a minute?
low, tense music
Hello, Isaac.
Hi.
You decided to come home.
I have something for you.
All right.
Put it back in your pocket.
Why?
Pick it up.
Put it back in your pocket.
And never show it to anybody.
"You Were Right About Everything" by Erin McKeown
You were never broken
By ordinary things
You kept holding out
For the big mistake
I was fragile
Too scared and delicate
You kept trying
I'm the one that quit
Worn out by
The baggage that we bring
You were right about everything