"The afflictions of this world became too much for Norville Grant to bear," "so he chose to leave them behind, sooner than the Lord intended." "But he rests easy now, reunited with his beloved Elise, and he is remembered by those who... who he leaves behind." "Would you like to say anything?" "Caleb." "Let me get my tools." "Shit." "Sorry I'm late." "I..." "I didn't realize anyone else was coming." "Are you family?" "No." "Just a friend." "I knew he was struggling with the loss of Elise, but... had no idea how hopeless he must have felt." "My condolences." "Reverend Anderson." "Sidney." "Sidney." "Were you and Norville close?" "Not really." "No, sir." "I lived next door." "You're the young man who found him." "Yeah." "Kyle Barnes." "Norville spoke about you." " Oh, he did?" " Fondly." "I'm gonna be in town for a while to put Norville's affairs in order." "I hope I see you around." "Yeah." "Sure." "Goodbye, old friend." "Reverend." "Well, aren't you the little magpie." "What's all this?" "It's my collection." "See, it's..." "People I've helped, they give me things, little tokens." "It doesn't feel right to throw them out, so..." "Notches on your gun belt." "Well, I wouldn't say that, but..." "They represent victories, yeah." "Now where'd this little fella come from?" "Are you all right?" "This one..." "Yeah." "Yeah, that was hard-won." "I imagine they all were." "It's... my ex-wife Janet." "She thought it was sad." "Like an old... high school quarterback reliving the glory days." "I don't imagine she'd think much of my collection." "I don't really care what she thinks." "Goddammit." "You all right?" "Yeah." "Zip me up?" "You nervous?" "It's date night." "We're not going to the White House." "Oh, come on." "Date Night's a lot of pressure." "I know I'm feeling it." "I ran out of things to say a long time ago." "Took me a long time to come up with a good topic for tonight." "I'll be the judge of that." "Better just bring your A-game." "All I have is A-game." "Will you let the sitter in?" "Yup." "Okay, you ready for the topic of conversation tonight?" "Wait for it." "Vacation." "By my math, I think we could swing a week down at the ocean." "Doug Myer's brother-in-law, he's got a house down in Myrtle Beach." "I mean, it's not on the beach, but it's, you know, about 10 minutes away, and it's half as much as being at the water." "You all right?" "I'm just gonna give Pam a quick call." "Oh, she's fine." "I'll just be a minute." "Hello, Megan." "I thought that was you." "I'm sorry... do I know you?" "I'm Mark Holter." "Right." "Where's your horse?" "Excuse me?" "Oh, just, Megan used to always say that a knight on a big white stallion was gonna come and carry her away some day." "You remember that, Megan?" "You used to act it out with your Barbies and this little plastic horse with the broken tail." "I guess a cop was the next best thing." "I'm sorry." "Who are you?" "Oh, sorry." "Donnie Hamel." "Megan and I go way back." "How'd you know that I was a police officer?" "Ah, Facebook." " Yeah." " Yeah." "It's scary to think about how our shit's out there for everyone to see, huh?" " Yeah." " Oh, cute kid, by the way." "Thank you." "So you..." "Do you live around here?" "No, Officer, not for..." "not for years now." "I'm just back in town on business." "I'm the regional rep for Tire Outpost." "So, let me know when you need some new rubber, and I will hook you up." " All right." "Will do." " All right." "And you and I should get some coffee at some point." "I'm out at the Baymont by the interstate." "I'm sure you know the place." "Now..." "Anyway, I don't want to interrupt your dinner any longer." "You look great." "And it was a pleasure to meet you, sir." "Yeah." "Same here." "Okay." "Enjoy your meal." "Should I be jealous?" "That's not funny." "There something wrong with that guy?" "Yeah, actually." "He's an asshole." "A dumb jock and a bully, and I thought I'd never have to see him again." "So..." "You want me to kick his ass?" "No." "But don't you dare buy any tires from him." "How do you want 'em?" "Oh, I'll have mine still mooing." "You're eating meat?" "I got you garden burgers." "I just sort of started having a taste for it." "She keeps surprising me." "Secret to a successful marriage." "After 32 years, I don't think we have any surprises left." "Oh, is that a challenge?" "No, ma'am." "I know better than to throw down with you." "Oh, honey, would you mind letting him out?" "Come on." "Buzzy, stop!" "Buzzy, no!" "Stop!" "I'm so sorry." "What's wrong with you?" "What's wrong with you, Buzzy?" "Come on, now, Buzzy." " Buzzy, come on, good boy." " Sorry." "Good boy, good boy, good boy." "Good boy." "Lord have mercy, I don't know what got into him." "Oh, he's just letting us all know who's boss." "Anybody need anything from inside?" "Hit me." "You better slow down, big boy." "Never." "I'll go help Rose with the drinks." "I am sorry about that." "They do say they're excellent judges of character." "Well, he sniffed you out." "Almost forgot." "I'll be damned." "That's yours, isn't it?" "It sure is." "I... never thought I'd see it again." "How'd you lose it?" "Oh, I don't rightly know." "Kat is always telling me not to wear it to work." "Could have been anywhere." "Where'd you find it?" "Someone turned it in down at the station." "It's good to know we still got us some honest folks out there." "Hey." "What can I get you?" "Just a beer." "I guess, a Bud." "All right." "Thanks." "Well, well, well, look who it is." "I'd say it was a coincidence, you know, but given how small this fucking town is, it'd probably be weirder if I didn't see you." "What are you doing here?" "Just some new business, some old business." "Speaking of which, I saw Megan today." "She looked good." " Okay!" "Okay!" " Get off!" "Get off!" "Keep it outside!" "So this is how it's gonna be?" "Fuck you." "Stay down." "Shit." "Stay down, you dumb fuck!" "You stay away from her." "Always trying to play the guardian angel." "Haven't you figured out they don't exist?" "Fuck." "We got a little bit of gray sky in West Virginia today, but that'll clear up this afternoon." "Here's a tune to put a little energy in your step." "Hello?" "Where are you?" "I've been calling you all morning." "Sorry." "I didn't recognize the number." "I got a new phone." "Where are you?" "I'm at the thrift store." "What's wrong?" "I ran into Donnie last night." "He said he saw you." "Did something happen?" "Megan?" "Nothing happened." "I was at dinner and he..." "Nothing happened." "What are we gonna do?" "We're not doing anything." "Look, I can't just ignore this." " Yes, you can." " Megan..." "Aren't you in enough trouble as it is?" "The last thing you need to do is get mixed up with him." "You didn't, did you?" "Kyle?" "I can't do nothing, you know that." "You've done enough." "Promise me, Kyle." "All right." "Thanks for checking in, shithead, but I'm fine." "But, Megan..." "I gotta go." "Hey." "I went by the church." "Florence said you was out here." "That woman cannot keep a secret." "You been out here all day?" "I have a confession to make." "One of the things that sucks about this job is that everybody wants something from you." "Every misery they suffer, every dying grandma, every cheating husband, all gets dumped on me." "Sometimes I just need a break." "Don't we all." "Come on." "Give me a hand." "You tracked me down, so what can I do for you?" "Well, how's it you get your..." "I don't know what you call 'em, cases, victims?" "Is it like, you got a bat phone in the church or something?" "Itching for some action, right?" "Well..." "People close to me get hurt, and it's been going on a long time, and I think it might still be going on." "I don't feel like sitting on my ass anymore." "You weren't sitting on your ass last night." "I heard you got knocked on it." "That's old business." "It's got nothing to do with this." "The hell it doesn't." "You got a gift, son, and I wanna help you use it." "But you also got a reputation." "People gotta be willing to let you in the door." "You wanna fight the devil, start by cleaning your fucking act up." "You talk to God with that mouth?" "Oh, he's heard a lot worse than that." "Have any plans for the rest of the day?" "Come on." "Let's go for a little drive." "Forgetting something?" "Oh, thanks, hon." "Forgetting something else?" "Damn." "I'll see you in a couple days." " You put that on." " Yes, ma'am." "I don't want one them dumb crackers mistaking you for a deer." "Those dumb crackers are our good friends and neighbors." "The exorcism is a last resort." "My goal is to not have to perform another one." "And this fruit cocktail is your secret weapon?" "More like a vaccine." "Our job is to... is to help people resist the dark forces." "Deny the devil a foot in that door." "You got a problem with that?" "I just don't see how that fits in to what happened with my mom." "Or my wife, or Joshua Austin." "I mean, what did they ever do to let the devil in?" "Hello, Reverend." "Sophie, I didn't know you were in town." "Just for the weekend, to see Mama." "Come in." "WILLKOMMEN" "This is Kyle." "He's helping me with the shut-ins today." "Nice to meet you, I'm Sophie." "Ma'am." "Please, no ma'am." "And how is your mother?" "I'm not so sure." "Well, what is it?" "Can I talk to you alone?" "I can't do this anymore." "She used to be so sweet." "When the kids were little, she just doted on 'em." "They just loved to come visit their Oma." "But now... she's a cranky old bitch." "Well, she always has been a character." "No, she's changed." "We all change, Sophie, I mean..." "I still think of myself as a 20-year-old buck, and then I look at myself in the mirror, and I don't recognize that old fart staring back at me." "No." "It's the things she says." "It's the foul bile that comes out of her mouth." "She called my 13-year-old daughter a whore." " It's like the devil's got ahold of her tongue." " Somebody out there?" "Who is it?" "!" "I'm with the reverend." "Well, get in here." "Ma'am." "We're dropping off your groceries." "I'm Kyle Barnes." "I know who you are." "Pity about your mother." "Thank you." "It's a nice place you got here." "Used to be." "But everything goes to shit eventually." "Like your marriage." "It's hard to keep a romance alive once you start throwing punches, isn't it?" "Okay." "What about the Austin boy?" "I saw his face." "You..." "You can't seem to help yourself." "I think I'm gonna go get the reverend for you." "What'd you see?" "What?" "With the boy?" "When you did that to him, what'd you see?" "Here." "Let me help." "No!" "Are you okay?" " Don't touch me!" "Don't!" " All right, all right." " What happened?" " Mama?" "She fell." "All right." "Let me help you." "Come on." "Take it easy." "All right, Mildred, I got you." "There you go." "God bless your kind soul, Reverend." "You know I appreciate your help so much." "But I'm not up for a visit today." "What happened in there?" "She was asking me questions about Joshua, about what we saw that night." "I'm not surprised." "People are always looking for lurid details." "When she fell, I went to help her, and when I touched her, she reacted just like Joshua, and Blake." "She's one of 'em, isn't she?" "She's one of the ones you exorcised." "About two years ago." "Took me almost a week to drive the demon from her." "And?" "Was it like with Joshua?" "Did you see it come out?" "I told you, it's not always like that." "Then how can you be sure it's gone?" "Because I have faith in the power of God over the devil." "Things change, Kyle." "People get old." "Sometimes we lose something of ourselves." "But that lady's been sitting in the front pew of my church for the past two years singing hymns and praising the Lord." "I hope I'd know if I was preaching to a demon." " Hey." " Hey." "It smells good." "Don't get too excited." "Franks and beans." "I thought we were having leftover pasta." "I didn't feel like it." "Sure you didn't just eat it all for yourself for lunch?" "Yeah, Mark, I wolfed down all your fettuccine so you couldn't have any." "How was your day?" "The usual." "You?" "The usual." "Dinner last night was nice." "It was." "I think we should do it more often, you know?" "It's good for us." "Having time alone." "You know, I worry sometimes when we just don't talk... enough." "Welcome to parenthood." "Yeah." "And every dinner out costs us a week of franks and beans." "Yeah, well, I think it's worth it." "So, I'm your knight in shining armor, huh?" "What?" "I think it's kinda sweet, you never told me about it, but didn't know you used to dream of having a hero on a white stallion." "It's a good thing I rode into town." "You think that's why I married you?" "'Cause you're a cop?" "What?" "No." "You think I just wanted someone to protect me?" "No, that's not what I said." "It's insulting." "I don't want to hear it again." "No problem." "Holly, dinner!" "Hop in." "How long is this gonna take?" "It depends." "I got stuff that needs to go in the freezer." "Look, if your ice cream gets soft, I'll buy you another quart." "Get in." "Keep the change." "That used to be your label." "Something change?" "It's..." "It's been a while since we done this is all." "Yeah, well, there's a reason for that." " Look, Mark, I'm..." " We need to talk." "Trying to keep my head down." "I shouldn't have lost my cool." "I don't even wanna know." "Look..." "Megan and I, we went to dinner the other night." "Date night." "We got a sitter and the whole deal." "Okay." "Sounds nice." "Yeah, well, it was supposed to be." "Till this guy came up to the table and said hi." "Said he was a tire salesman from out of town." "Donnie something?" "You know anything about him?" "No." "Damn it, Kyle, don't you lie to me." "Mark..." "Is that him?" "I knew it." "How much did she tell you?" "Just that he was a foster kid her parents took in, and... and he abused her." "She never told me his name." "Motherfucker told me himself." "He literally came right up to me." "He said, "Hi, I'm Donnie."" "He say anything else?" "No." "Just that he and Megan, they went way back." "When I found out what he was doing," "I started sleeping on the floor in her room." "I couldn't... couldn't fight back and win or nothing." "I could get in the way, take a beating." "I was an old pro at that." "I thought Megan made that whole thing up." "Just to defend you." "After everything with Allison and Amber." "Oh, man." "She wants us to let it be." "Thanks for the drink." "Well, this is a surprise." "You have to leave." "I was just on my way out." "You have to leave town." "Okay, I'm sorry, Megan, but I have business here." "I don't care." "Let's talk inside." "Sure." "Got a few minutes." "You want a glass of water or something?" "Look, I shouldn't have interrupted your dinner the other night." "I'm sorry about that." "I'm not here 'cause you messed up my date night." "In the same house was too close." "In the same town is too close." "You need to go." "Hey, look, we both have to deal with what happened back then." "Are..." "Are you serious?" "Yeah." "Look, I was a fucked up kid, Megan." "That doesn't excuse it, but it is what it is." "I'm not that kid anymore." "Okay?" "People change." "There's no way you could ever change enough." "You know, it cost me too." "After I got kicked out of the house, I wound back up in the County Children's home." "Who's gonna want to take in a kid with that on his record, huh?" "Is that why you're here?" "To mess with my head 'cause you're fucked up life is my fault?" "No." "Megan, I'm here to sell tires." "But actions do have consequences." "Mine and yours." "You think this haunts me." "That's what you want to hear." "That because of you, I'm broken." "You arrogant prick." "You're nothing to me." "A bump in the road." "Something I scraped off my shoe a long time ago." "Tire salesman." "Then ask yourself why you're here, Megan, in my hotel room, all by yourself." "You see, maybe I am more than a bump in the road to you." "Maybe I do... haunt you." "I'm here to protect my family." "'Cause if my husband ever finds out who you are..." "I won't let him ruin his life over a meaningless piece of shit like you." "Over nothing." "Quit ringing!" "I'm not exactly Speedy Gonzales, you know." "I'm sorry, Mildred." "Is Sophie not here?" "Went out." "Can't stand being cooped up with me all day, I guess." "Probably dying to get back to Houston." "May I come in?" "I suppose." "I wanted to check in after that little... incident yesterday." "That was your friend's doing, not yours." "What happened exactly?" "I tripped." "Lucky I didn't break my other hip." "Praise the Lord." "Sophie says... says that you don't enjoy visiting with your grandchildren anymore?" "That seems sad." "They used to be cute." "One of 'em's going off to law school, and the girl, she's... all she wants to do is whore around." "What's cute about that?" "Well, that's certainly a change in attitude." "They changed, Reverend." "Why does everyone expect me to stay the same?" "Nothing wrong with mixing things up." "But..." "Some things are fine just the way they are." "Like, we used to sit here for hours, you and I playing Scrabble, backgammon." "Why'd that have to change?" "I don't know how much time I've got left, Reverend." "I'm tired of playing games with you." "Gotcha." "What if we like who we've become?" "What if it works better for us this way?" "How can it be better to hurt the people who want to help you?" "To reject their love?" "To leave a hole in their soul?" "Holes can be filled." "There's room inside a human soul for so much more, Reverend." "More than love, more than God." "Something that feeds it in ways you haven't imagined." "I changed my mind." "I do love our little games." "How 'bout some Scrabble, hmm?" "Hey." "Know what my favorite sin is?" "You have a favorite sin?" "Everybody goes for lust or wrath." "They're the sexy ones." "Yeah, well, "lust." It's kinda baked right in there, isn't it?" "Pride." "Pride's the bad boy." "It sneaks up on you, because it doesn't feel like a sin." "What's wrong with feeling good about yourself?" "Taking pride in a job well done?" "Yeah, and you start getting used to it." "You don't notice when the job wasn't done well." "That's right." "And there's a job that I didn't do well." "I'll get my coat." "What are you doing here?" "Sorry it's so late." "Is Mildred still awake?" " Why do you want to see her?" " It's a spiritual matter." "You think she's spitting up pea soup, head spinning around, floating up to the ceiling?" "Sophie, there's something you don't know about your mother." "That she was possessed by the devil and that you tried to exorcise her two years ago." "I didn't want to worry you." "We thought we dealt with it..." "Dealt with it?" "She finally told me what you did." "Locking her up for days, starving her, beating her," " beating the devil out of her." " That's not her talking." "Then you show up here with this monster." "Yeah, she told me about you, too." " What you did to that little boy and your own daughter." " Sophie, listen to me..." " Get out!" "You stay way from my mother." " It's still inside of her." " Let's go." " Sophie, she needs our help." "I am calling the police." "I can't leave her like this." " Small boy." " Reverend..." "Okay." "YOU ARE NOW LEAVING ROME PLEASE DRIVE SAFELY" "Shit." "Not sure what the problem is, Officer." "Mark, hey." "Step out of the car, please." "Come on, man, it's a rental." "So, if there's a tail light out or something it's not my fault..." "Step out of the car." "Put your hands on the car, legs apart." "You know, I want you to just think about this for a second." "I mean, seriously, just..." "Just think about Megan, and think about that pretty little girl of yours." "Mark, this is a bad idea." "Hey, Chief, what's up?" "What did you do with the evidence we collected from the camper we found?" "Boxed it up like you told me to." "You said you were going to take care of it." "I know what I said." "First thing tomorrow morning, I want you to ship it out for analysis." "The blood, the fibers, all of it." "The case is still open." "Yes, sir." "Hey." "Heard you talking." "That was just the chief." "Talking about some work for tomorrow." "Everything okay?" "Yeah, it's just the usual." "Is Holly sleeping?" "Yeah." "Finally." "Little drama, but I think she was just overtired." "Sorry I'm late." "It's okay." "There's lasagna in the fridge." "I can warm it up for you?" "Nah, I'm okay." "Thanks." "How was your day?" "Usual." "Damn it!" "God fucking damn it!" "I'm a sucker!" "What if she's not the only one?" "You sat and played board games with Mildred for two years, and you didn't have a clue." "What if it's the same with Allison?" "Turn the car around." " Kyle..." " I gotta see my wife." "I understand, but you can't just go charging in there." "You were about ready to kick in Mildred's door." "Mildred doesn't have a restraining order on me!" "Shit."