The River We Remember

Brody is at the jailhouse when Scott comes in with his meal. Immediately after Scott enters, Gordon Landis bursts in and accuses Noah Bluestone of having committed Jimmy’s murder. Brody is irritated that Landis knows that Jimmy was shot and realizes that someone close to him must have shared that detail. With barely contained anger, Brody tells Landis that he has no basis on which to make that claim and that Landis himself has been known to criticize Jimmy. Landis leaves, and Brody heads to the Wagon Wheel. Before his arrival, the women in the café speculate about whether Brody has a secret girlfriend. They want to fix him up with Angie. Not long after Brody comes in, Garnet runs through the door and asks for his help bringing food to Marta.

Garnet and Brody bring the food out to the Quinn farm, and on the way, she tells him that it is obvious that Angie is interested in him. He tries to steer the conversation in another direction, and soon they arrive at the home and the subject is dropped. When they arrive, they find Connie Graff there questioning Noah Bluestone. Noah is honest with Connie and Brody: He did not like Jimmy, and he claims to have been fired because he objected to Jimmy’s drinking and disrespectful attitude. He denies Jimmy’s accusation that he had been stealing gasoline. He openly admits to being at Inkpaduta Point on the night of the death but claims not to have seen Jimmy there. As they are leaving, Connie and Brody disagree about Jimmy’s death. Connie thinks that having killed in the war and having always had a grudge against Jimmy, Noah might be guilty of murder. Brody disagrees and argues that the death had been accidental.

Terence (Terry) Quinn, Jimmy’s eldest son by his first wife, shows up. He resembles his father both in physique and temperament, and he accuses Brody of mishandling the investigation. He, like many others in town, is sure that Noah Bluestone killed Jimmy. Brody tells him to stay out of the investigation and asks him to leave. The local jeweler confirms that the ring is a real sapphire. He tells Brody that he did not sell it and that based on its size it was meant for an adolescent or a small woman.

Connie and Brody head back out to Inkpaduta Bend. The fingerprint analysis has turned nothing up, which Connie finds odd. He is sure that the scene has been wiped down, but Brody offers the alternate explanation that Jimmy had been wearing the pigskin gloves found nearby. Connie is sure that the death is a homicide based in part on Jimmy having been shot at Inkpaduta Bend but found in the river. Brody thinks he might have stumbled into the water. Hector begins pawing at the ground, and the two men find more blood and what looks like a second crime scene. They bag up soil and grass samples for the doctor to analyze.

Connie Graff goes home alone, eats a solitary dinner, thinks about how much he misses his late wife and goes to bed. Also at home alone, Brody eats the sandwich Angie made for him earlier, tries to watch television, listens to the radio, and plays some guitar. He wakes from a nightmare about the war that he has not had in a long time and worries that his “cobbled together lies” will be discovered. He muses on the role that he has played in Jimmy Quinn’s death without specifying what that role was. Angie, also alone and closing up at The Wagon Wheel, reflects on her day. Brody had nervously asked if she would like a ride to the reading group originally begun by Ruth Coffee and now organized by Sam Wicklow.

Brody attends dinner at his brother Tom’s every Sunday. Tom resembles their father in many ways. The man had been stoic, uncommunicative, and not particularly loving, although Brody’s mother still maintains that he had been a good man. She contrasts that with Jimmy Quinn, whom the whole family gossips about during the meal. To Brody’s irritation, the rumor that Noah Bluestone killed Jimmy continues to make the rounds, and he curtly tells everyone to stop gossiping and that accusations serve no one.

Connie is at the station when Brody arrives. He floats the theory that Jimmy had been meeting a woman and that perhaps there was coercion involved. He brings up Kyoko Bluestone, citing her small hands and the fact that she had worked for Jimmy.

Connie heads out to the Bluestone farm to observe the couple and, after seeing Noah set off in the direction of the river, decides to poke around a bit. Kyoko finds him and invites him in, where he asks her questions about her husband’s whereabouts. She says he is at Inkpaduta Bend, where he goes almost every evening, citing the land as “sacred ground.” Brody also asks about the nature of her relationship with Jimmy Quinn. It is obvious that she is fearful and does not want to provide him with any details.

Brody attends Prairie Bloom's book club with Angie. They are discussing Catcher in the Rye, and although most share the opinion that Holden made poor choices and then failed to take responsibility for them, Sam Wicklow points out that Holden had never had a rite of passage. Such ceremonies are common in Indigenous cultures, and most of the men gathered on this evening served in World War II, which served as their coming-of-age rite. The talk eventually turns to Jimmy Quinn and the rumor of Noah Bluestone’s involvement. Those gathered recall that one of Noah Bluestone’s ancestors had been a homesteader and had died under mysterious circumstances. The death had occurred right before the Sioux Uprising, and many of the surviving Sioux, including Noah’s family, had been rounded up and taken to Fort Snelling, near Minneapolis. After their incarceration had ended, they returned home to find their land occupied by one of Jimmy Quinn’s ancestors. Everyone speculates this event, which has been a simmering source of resentment, is behind Jimmy’s death. There is a fair amount of prejudice against Indigenous people amongst those present, and a heated debate about Jimmy, Noah, and the nature of Indigenous people ensues. On the way home, Brody asks Angie out on a real date and kisses her. When she arrives back at her house, her mother-in-law tells her that her son Scott is missing.

Scott and Del are changing out the lettering on the movie theatre marquee when Creasy comes to tell Del that he and his mother will be out late that night. Del suggests to Scott that they head out to Inkpaduta Point to poke around. They see the blood that remains on the ground and think that they hear faint crying in the distance. Del tells Scott the story of the band of Dakota who had supposedly killed a white woman at the point. The two make too much noise, and Noah Bluestone interrupts them, telling them to put out their fire and go home. Angie and his grandmother Ida are angry when Scott returns because he has been out so late without telling them where he was.

Brody and Connie learn that the additional blood samples from Inkpaduta Point are pig’s blood. Because Noah raises pigs, Connie is sure that he is involved somehow. He speculates that Jimmy Quinn had some sort of coercive sexual relationship with Kyoko Bluestone and that Noah had either interrupted something or that the two had lured Jimmy out to the point on purpose to ambush him.

Connie and Brody obtain a warrant to search the Bluestone farm. At first, the search turns up nothing. They question Kyoko, who admits that Jimmy used to visit her when she was alone. Although she seems scared, she maintains that he never touched her. They ask if he had been at their place on the night of his death, and she is evasive but tells them that her husband was not angry about being dismissed. As they discover that the small sapphire ring fits her finger exactly, they are interrupted by barking dogs. The dogs dig up a bloody tarp that Connie remembers from his visit to the farm. Noah returns, and they explain to him that if the blood on the tarp belongs to Jimmy and not to the pigs, he will be under arrest.

The blood belongs to Jimmy, and Connie and Brody head out to arrest Noah, who is taken into custody without incident. Landis shows up with a group of men, and using highly offensive terminology for Indigenous people, asks about the arrest. Brody tells him angrily to leave, and to leave Kyoko Bluestone alone, although he is still worried for her safety going forward.