"_" "_" "_" "And so, we come to perhaps the bloodiest chapter in the long and violent history of the Midwest region." "And here, I'm speaking of Luverne, Minnesota, 1979-- commonly referred to by laypeople as the Massacre at Sioux Falls." "Readers will know that I've chosen to file this case as a Minnesota crime, even though most of the murders took place in North and then South Dakota." "But I believe the key to understanding this complex and nuanced crime is to look at the butcher and small-town beautician at its center." "Ed and Peggy Blumsquist were just 29 years old on the night their lives changed forever." "_" "_" "Not much is known about Ohanzee Dent." "We have no birth certificate, no tribal or family history." "He was the Gerhardts' man." "Or he had been, until..." "Jesus Christ, mongrel." "Just shoot these two and get me to a goddamn hospital." "_" "So, this what all the fuss is about?" "Yes, sir." "Blumquist, Mr. and Mrs." "Took flight from Minnesota two days past." "They don't look like much." "You don't look like much." "We're realized." "What-- what's she sayin'?" "Says she realized something'." "Realized what?" "That you're up a tree without a paddle?" "It's a tri-state deal here, JC." "We're talkin' bodies for miles." "Not just some dead hooligan in a cabin." "It's a goddamn shooting' war." "Yeah." "I know." "We got 'em, too." "Organized crime." "W-what the heck are you doin' here with-- with that one?" "The eldest Gerhardt boy-- Dodd." "He came to the house after Peggy, and she knocked him on his ass." "So, I thought maybe trade him back to the family." "Make a deal for us to go." "A fresh start." "We're on a journey." "Can we just" "While we're skipping' down memory lane here, it's worth notin' that the Gerhardt Indian is out there free-- probably calling' for reinforcements." "So if I were us..." " I-I stabbed him." " ..." "I'd get them out of here." "Or cover 'em in bacon and leave 'em for the dogs." "I stabbed him-- the Indian." "He wanted a haircut, and I stabbed him with the scissors." "In the back." "Boy, she makes us look like the gang that can't shoot straight, doesn't she?" "Our beautician." "It's worth mentionin', you know, in the spirit of full disclosure... uh, my plan-- it worked." "I made a deal for Dodd." "With what?" "The Gerhardts?" "No." "They-- they-- they wouldn't." "They said they weren't interested." "That's what they-- that's what they told me." "So, I called Kansas City." "You did what?" "I spoke to this fella-- Milligan-- and he said he'd protect us if we gave him Dodd." "So got a meeting set at 8:00 AM." "Where?" "Sioux Falls." "They're comin' here?" "Yes, sir-- to the Motor Motel." "We need to get these two into custody now." "Where's the nearest precinct?" "Tell 'em." "We can't vouch for the safety of the precinct, is the thing." "What kinda chickenshit outfit ya runnin' here, JC?" "Zip it." "I don't drive to your backyard and talk about how all your heads are flat." "What does that mean, you can't vouch for the safety?" "We got graft, I'm sayin'." "Money changes hands." "Used to be Gerhardt money." "Now it's Kansas City." "Corruption?" "Allegedly." "But-- well, ya bring these two into custody, can't guarantee they won't hear about it down in Kansas City." "And you know they'll send, like, an army." "So, we take 'em north, someplace where people got their heads on straight." "My state." "My prisoners." "Well, wherever we're takin' 'em, we need to go soon." "I've been under siege once this week." " Not really interested" " There's a third way." "We wire the redhead." "Send him into the meeting with this Milligan fella, get the conspiracy on tape." "If we're lucky, we bust the whole operation." "No." "Son, I'm lookin' around, and you're outranked here nine ways to Sunday." "You can't." "These two?" "You saw 'em." "Well, they're doin' better than us so far." "Yeah." "Okay." "Through blind luck." "They're not up to-- believe me, wearing' a wire?" "They'll make the effort if they think it'll keep 'em off death row." "Look, I've met this Milligan fella." "It's not amateur hour." "He gets one whiff" "Ed's dead before the time it takes to blow your nose." "Thought you were Gary Cooper." "Turns out you're Betty LaPlage." " Say that again." " Look." "You brought your shit to town, son." "I'm just trying to clean it up." "And I say we squeeze the lemons we got and use the juice to catch these big fish." "So get with the program." "Kid, listen to me." "They're gonna offer you a deal, okay?" " Son" " Don't take it." "Tell 'em you want a lawyer." "Make them take you into custody." " What do you care?" " 'Cause I'm responsible for you." "We don't need your conscience." "You're half the reason we're in this mess." "Look, you're not ready for this." "Trooper, not another word." "You are not up to the task." "This is a war." "Don't you get it?" "I'm responsible for you, and you're breathin' because of me." "I can't just leave you behind." "Son!" "You're turfed." "Now pack your shit and get out of here." "Or my boys are gonna show ya what a South Dakota necktie feels like." "I'm goin'." "You've been lucky." "That luck's gonna run out." "This is on you!" "Well, that went wrong in a hurry." "You comin'?" "No." "Good to have at least one grown-up here, don't you think?" "I'm gonna call my boss, see if he can stop this madness on a bureaucratic level." "Worth a shot." "This thing's officially out of control." "You two are in the shit just about past your eyes." "Yeah?" "But there's a rope in my hand." "Okay." "Do ya want the rope?" "Yeah." "We'll take all the help we can get." "Good." "Gonna let ya have your meetin' with Kansas City." "Gonna put a wire on ya." "What's that?" "A recording device, son." " Are ya stupid?" " Hey!" "Look, you get these Kansas City boys to impugn themselves on tape, and I'll talk to the DA about pleading' ya out on lesser charges." "Well, I want it in writin'." "Meanwhile, at the crossroads separating Minnesota from South Dakota, a different kind of betrayal was taking place." "Yes, sir, I do think that sounds strange." "Mike Milligan, the low-level enforcer for the Kansas City mafia, was playing a dangerous game." "Just hours earlier, he had been targeted for execution, but he had turned the tables on his killers." "Well, they never showed up." "And now, in a desperate gambit..." "I'm on my way-- me and my man-- to collect the eldest Gerhardt male." "...he sought to rout the Gerhardt family once and for all." "That's right-- Dodd Gerhardt." "That's what I was thinking-- grab him up, see if we can't end things this minute tonight with a trade or ambush." "Well, thank you, sir." "I won't let you down." "♪ Sylvia's mother says, "Sylvia's packin' ♪" "♪ she's gonna be leavin' today" ♪" "♪ Sylvia's mother says, "Sylvia's marrying' ♪" "♪ a fella down Galveston Way"" "♪ Sylvia's mother says, "Please don't say no"-- ♪" "♪ and the operator says ♪" "♪ "40 cents more for the next 3 minutes" ♪" "♪ please, Mrs. Avery ♪" "♪ I just gotta talk to her ♪" "♪ I'll only keep her a while ♪" "Finished." "Uh, that's a beauty." "Go show your mom, huh?" "♪ Sylvia's mother says, "Sylvia's hurrying' ♪" "♪ she's catchin' the 9:00 train" ♪" "Mommy?" "♪ Sylvia's mother says, "Take your umbrella ♪" "♪ 'cause, Sylvie, it's startin' to rain" ♪" "♪ and Sylvia's mother says, "Thank you for callin' ♪" "♪ and, sir, won't you call back again?" ♪" "♪ and the operator says ♪" "♪ "40 cents more ♪" "♪ for the next 3 minutes" ♪" "♪ please, Mrs. Avery ♪" "♪ I just gotta talk to her ♪" "♪ I'll only keep her a while ♪" "♪ please, Mrs. Avery ♪" "♪ I just wanna tell her goodbye ♪" "♪ tell her goodbye ♪" "Clerk's dead inside." "Car keys are gone." "Looks like there's a red El Dorado missing' from the parkin' lot here, so you should put out an APB." "Sir, I'm supposed to escort ya out of state." "No, son, this fella that killed the clerk-- he is wanted in conjunction with a double-digit number of homicides." "Yeah." "I don't know about that." "But Captain Cheney's real scary, so I'm gonna have to ask ya to get in your prowler and I'm gonna follow ya to the state line." "Car 9, come in." "Over." "Go for Schmidt." "I got a Minnesota State cop on the line lookin' for Sheriff Larsson." "Okay." "Put him through." "Listen, he's in a red El Dorado." "Who's that?" "The Indian." "Shot the clerk at the convenience store, the one who called him in." "Looks like our man patched up his scissor wound and, uh, took the clerk's car." "Yeah, kid, it's me." "Uh..." "We're headed-- What is it?" "The Motor Motel." "We're headed to the Motor Motel." "The plan is to ditch the prowlers and then hole up for the night under a low profile." "Then, uh, prep Ed for the sting." "Listen, you need to-- I got a bad feelin' here." "And they're-- I'm being run out of town." "But you need to watch yourselves." "This thing ain't over." "Here." "Gimme that thing." "Listen, trooper, we appreciate your giddyup on this thing, but we're not fresh off the boat here." "If these fellas wanna tussle, they're gonna find out a thing or two about what a Dakota man can do." "Yeah, but" "Take a seat on the bench is what I'm sayin', junior." "We'll handle it from here." "Over and out." "Unload the prisoners, then ditch the prowlers 'round back." "Hey, Captain?" "Talk to you for a second?" "Your man was out of line." "Yes, sir." "Yeah." "He, uh" "Well, he was havin' a feelin'." "This-- this mess has got us" "You Minnesota boys don't got much in the way of backbone, now, do ya?" "Well, now, I wouldn't say that." "Just like to think things through." "Mm." "Army?" "Yes, sir." "Liberated France in the great war." "Not single-handedly, but I like to think they couldn't have done it without me." "Well, then, you know it's the generals that do the thinkin' and everybody else just says, "How high?"" "I'm not gonna debate the merits of top-down decision makin' with ya, Captain." "'Cept to say I had a lieutenant in the war, and h-he told Eisenhower to go to hell once, on account of his orders woulda got us all killed." "And I send that man a card every Christmas-- 'cause I can." "Stay or go." "Makes no difference to me." "But tomorrow, I'm taking the fight to the enemy." "Tell Simone to come see me." "I want to apologize for yesterday." "She left in a hurry-- when you were took." "Don't think she's back yet." "Okay." "Sorry, missus, but, uh..." "What?" "What is it?" "It's for your son, ma'am." "Supposed to talk to him directly." "It's okay." "We'll go into the barn." "No." "No secrets here." "Well, what is it, kid?" "Spit it out." "Your Indian..." "is on the phone" " Hanzee?" "Says he found Dodd." "Is he alive?" "Yes, ma'am." "They got him, but he's breathin'." "Who's got him?" "Historians of the region have long debated the next two words spoken by the Gerhardts' Native man." "When exactly did he decide to betray the rest of his employers?" "Yes, he had executed Dodd Gerhardt in cold blood, but at what point did he decide to finish the job?" "_" "Was it here?" "Or maybe earlier." "All you gotta do is be straight with us." "I'm straight." "It's certainly possible that the move was spontaneous." "Who knows?" "Maybe it had been building inside of him since Otto Gerhardt took him off the street when he was 8 years old." "Whatever the answer, when Floyd Gerhardt asked who it was that was holding her son," "Ohanzee Dent said..." "Kansas City-- that Milligan fella." "It was an ambush-- Luverne." "Butcher grabbed Dodd, fled the state." "Why?" "I tracked them to a motel in Sioux Falls." "They got numbers, but they're not expecting anything." "I'll be there in three hours." "No, ma'am." "You send Bear and a dozen men, we can bring him home." "Are you telling me what to do?" "No." "Just can't vouch for your safety, is all." "Three times, I sent men to do a job." "Three times, they come back unfinished." "I'll handle this myself." "Yes, ma'am." "We'll lay waste to 'em in the Devil's hours." "Wranglers and white tees." "Captain says we're goin' undercover for the night." "Poker later, if ya feel like losing' some money." "You better wear pants this time." "Aww." "Are-- are we really doin' the right thing here?" "What, now?" "Anyone want tea?" "No, thanks, hon." "Officer?" "It's "Detective."" "Sorry." "Didja-- tea?" "No." "What do ya think?" "When he's sleeping, we can just..." "No." "Unh-unh-unh-unh-unh!" "None of that, now." "Don't make me separate ya." "Okay." "It's "Ben," isn't it?" ""...jamin." Benjamin." "And... you're from..." "Sorry?" "Fargo, North Dakota." "I work for Chief Gibson." "Which one is he, again?" "Does it matter?" "I guess not." "Thanks." "♪ I don't wanna be down ♪" "♪ 'cause my name is gettin' around ♪" "♪ I said the whole world is lettin' me down now ♪" "♪ 'cause I don't know where I'm bound ♪" "♪ yes, I guess I'm goin' down, down, down ♪" "♪ and I feel I'm gonna drown ♪" "♪ yeah, I guess I'm goin' down, down, down ♪" "♪ and I feel I'm gonna drown ♪" "Car 18, come in." "Over." "Car 18." "Over." "Solverson." "Yeah, just got a courtesy call from Sioux Falls PD." "Say they found Constance Heck dead in her room at the Southnik Hotel." "Guess she went out there for a conference." "You're kiddin'." "No, sir." "Strangled, they said." "I mean, when's all this madness gonna end?" "I surely don't know." "_" "_" "I tried." "You heard." "Yeah?" "Just checkin' in." "I got 'em." "Not sayin' ya don't." "Just want to go over the details with them, explain their rights." "They know." "I told them." "Son, I get the feeling you don't want me to come in." "All things equal, pops, we got a lot of swingin' dicks around here." "But command's been delegated." "I'm in here." "You're not." "Let's leave it at that." "You okay in there, Ed?" "Peggy?" "Wire's secure, and no one's the wiser." "We got the upstairs room bugged and ready for the meet." "Okay." "Move quickly and with authority, troopers." "That's lesson one." "Yes, sir." "Ice machine's busted." "What?" "I'm just sayin'." "I mean, it's your show-- you made that clear-- which means I'm here to observe, and what I'm observing' is... ice machine's crapped out." "We bring this case in tomorrow, and there'll be commendations all around." "From this point on, we're radio silent." "Motor Motel." "Motor Motel." "Come in." "Motor Motel, this is Lou Solverson." "They're coming." "Do you hear me?" "They're com" "When we reach the motel, I want you with the vehicle." "Make sure you're safe." "Hanzee'll stay, too." "Okay." "I miss them all." "We'll be together again." "On high." "Best piss I ever took was in a kitchen sink." "No wonder you got divorced." "I'm an outdoor guy myself." "It's liberating', I think-- pissing' someplace where you're not supposed ta." "When I was a sergeant," "I pissed in my CO's desk drawer when he was in Hawaii." "I drank six coffees and a Nehi first." "Now, that was a good piss." "Well, you got the hardware for it." "If that was me, I'd-a had to climb up on the desk." "Two rooms upstairs, three down." "Got Dodd on the bottom next to the office." "One man on guard." "Milligan's on the second floor." "Stay with Ma." "I like pissin' in the pool." "That's just gross." "Yeah, but-- okay, so, why is pissin' in the pool so much worse than pissing' in the kitchen sink?" "Screw this." "Well, first of all, son, were there other people in the pool at the time?" "No!" "Brother?" "Brother?" "All clear." "All clear!" "Oh, Christ." "It's Rapid City all over again." "Brother?" "They're cops!" "Ah!" "No!" "Ah!" "Then, as he killed both friend and foe alike, it became clear that Hanzee was on a mission to find the beautician and her butcher's assistant husband and silence them once and for all." "Again, the question of why has puzzled historians for decades." "It's true that they had seen him execute Dodd Gerhardt and that they were the only ones left who could reveal his treachery for what it was." "But maybe the reason was deeper." "Professional, you said." "Yeah." "Tired of this life." "The fact that he had shown his true self to them in a moment of vulnerability." "Ah!" "Ah!" "Oh!" "Gotta make a break for it, hon!" "Are-- are-- are you seein' this?" "It's just a flyin' saucer, Ed." "We gotta go." "Officer down!" "I shoulda gone home with ya." "Turns out I didn't go." "Grateful for that." "What the..." "Okay, then." "Yeah." "All right." "Peggy?" "Ed?" "Uh..." "On the run, with the Indian in pursuit." "Go." "I can make it." "Dinner Sunday?" "I'll be there-- in a suit of armor." "♪ thought it was a nightmare ♪" "♪ Lord, it's all so true ♪" "♪ they told me, "Don't go walkin' slow ♪" "♪ the Devil's on the loose"" "♪ better run through the jungle ♪" "♪ whoa, don't look back to see ♪" "♪ thought I heard a rumblin' ♪" "♪ callin' to my name ♪" "♪ 200 millions guns are loaded ♪" "♪ Satan cries, "Take aim!" ♪" "♪ better run through the jungle ♪" "♪ better run through the jungle ♪" "♪ better run through the jungle ♪" "♪ whoa, don't look back ♪" "♪ ooh ♪" "♪ oh-oh-oh-oh-ohhh ♪" "♪ ohh-oh ♪" "♪ over on the mountain ♪" "♪ thunder magic spoke ♪" "♪ "Let the people know my wisdom ♪" "♪ fill the land with smoke"" "♪ better run through the jungle ♪" "♪ oh, don't look back to see ♪"