As Henry lies asleep, he dreams of the pas, he dreams of Matthew questioning where he was, and finding a toy truck buried in the dirt. He wakes up thinking that someone is in h is room but there's no one there. The door is open but no one is out in the hallway.
The next day at Shawshank, Dennis arrives at work and notices a sniper in the tower. He goes inside and the gate closes behind him. Dennis enters the monitor room and the guard that he's replacing him suggests that he smiles. He half-hearted smiles and closes the door.
Reeves visits the Kid in his cell and points out that he has the cell to himself. He says that Henry has filed court papers, and that it's too bad Henry didn't take their deal. Reeves sits down on the bunk and talks about how the company is a subsidiary of a big corporation, and says that while he was in the private military they dealt with a silent prisoner by feeding him his own teeth until he talked. The Kid says that "he" has a name written on himself that no one knows but himself. He stands up and advances on Reeves, who nervously backs up and calls for the guard. After a moment, the Kid steps back into his cell, closing the door behind him, and sits back down.
Alan is driving Henry into Augusta, and talks about Henry's court case. Henry admits that a judge hasn't been assigned yet. When they get to the cemetery office, the clerk tells Henry where he can find Matthew's grave. They need a signature from the original signator, and Alan reluctantly signs. They go out to the landfill where the corpses were placed, and Henry insists that his father should be buried at his church. Henry says that he'll be leaving in a week, and suggests that he move Ruth to a facility near where he lives. Alan insists that Castle Rock is Ruth's home, and offers to marry her to make it legal. Henry asks if Alan will sign the wedding license, and Alan calls him ungrateful. Offended, Henry asks Alan what he was doing out in the woods the day that he found him. Alan merely says that he was doing his job, and Henry figures that Alan was out there for Ruth. He asks how long the two of them have been together, and suggests that was why Alan had Matthew's body moved. Alan glares at Henry and walks away. Henry turns and sprays an X on Matthew's grave.
Alan returns back to the Deaver house and talks to Ruth about how he and Henry went out. He explains that they drove to Augusta where Matthew was buried, and hints that they move to Houston. When Alan suggests that they move to Houston closer to Henry, Ruth tells him that she's fine where he is. Relieved, Alan hugs her.
Henry meets with Molly at the Mellow Tiger and explains about Porter's offer and how he refused it. He suggests that they essentially kidnapped the Kid, and Molly points out that something similar happened to Henry. She wonders if that's why he came back, and Henry remember fragments of his dream. and starts to tell Henry what she did to Matthew. Dennis comes over and tells Henry that he needs to talk to him. Henry excuses himself and talks to Dennis privately, and Dennis shows him a sketch of the cage the Kid was in. He explains that many of the guards at Shawshank are corrupt, and he figures that he's a prisoner in Shawshank as well and the jury needs to see it. Henry tells him that there's a judge, no jury, and Dennis can't seem like a disgruntled employee at the hearing in one week. As Henry walks away, Dennis says that bad shit happens in Castle Rock because bad people know that they're safe there and people look the other way.
The next day, Dennis walks to work and ignores a guard beating a prisoner for no reason. He goes to the Kid's cell and tells him that once he testifies, they'll both get out. Dennis points out the camera and warns the Kid that they have eyes on him, and offers his fist to bump. The Kid finally does it and they touch. Once Dennis leaves, the Kid stares at his fist.
Dennis enters the monitor room to begin his shift. He picks up a marker in the hand that he used to fist-bump with the Kid earlier, and draws smiley faces on the monitors.
The next day at the county clerk's office, Henry reviews the microfiche newspaper articles about Dale, and discovers that there was a fire at Shawshank on Christmas. There's an article about Henry missing when he was a boy, and another article about Vince Desjardins being questioned about Henry's disappearance and denying involvement.
Ruth is gutting fish when Henry comes in He asks her if she remembers Vince, and Ruth says that people thought that the Desjardins were Nazis because they lived out in the woods. Vince's wife died in childbirth, and Henry points out that Vince was released from prison less than a month before Henry disappeared. He asks where Ruth where she thought she was during the 11 days and why they never talked about it. Ruth figures that Henry wants to send her to Houston and says that she'll only leave Castle Rock in a box. She waves the gutting knife at Henry threateningly and warns him to never try and take her to Houston.
Molly sets up an open house for the Lacy home and shows it to Gordon and his wife. She hides any signs that Dale killed himself, but Gordon finds the urn with Dale's ashes. Molly explains that Dale didn't kill himself in the house, and warns that there's a lot of history in Castle Rock. She talks about how property values will shoot through the roof once the town is rejuvenated, and Gordon points out a painting of Castle Lake.
Henry drives out to the Desjardins house and parks in the overgrown driveway. He knocks at the door but no one answers, and Henry walks to the back door. It's open, and Henry goes inside and discovers a piano that crashed through the kitchen roof. There's a large box in the back yard, and Henry checks it out and discovers that it's lost. He finds a shovel and breaks open the lock. Inside the box is a bowl of dog food with a spoon in it. Shocked, Henry closes the door and sits down.
A car pulls up in front and Henry goes to investigate it. He finds an older man investigating it, and the man says that it's his place of business and he inherited it from his brother. The man, Josef, reluctantly invites Henry in and uncovers his barber chair. Josef confirms that Vince was his brother and that Vince took his finger and thumb off for an insurance claim and that was the felony on his record. Henry explains about how he disappeared less than a mile from there, and Josef realizes who Henry is. He leads Henry upstairs to his bedroom and takes out an old box with Henry's name on it. Josef shows Henry the folders with old newspaper clippings about Henry's disappearance, including Henry's police file. He explains that the papers ended up in a woman's basement and when her pipes burst, she dumped them and Josef recovered them. Henry asks if Vince had a dog when he lived there, and points out the wooden crate. Josef says that Vince never lived there,. He owned it but moved south when his sentence was commuted, and Josef lived there and always has.
Josef says that he kept the bones of Vince's two fingers in a jar, but "they" took them because they thought they were suspicious. Henry asks why Josef saved his file, and Josef says that he wanted to see what they said about him. Josef insists that Henry knows that he never touched him.
At the land fill, two workers exhume Matthew's coffin and drive it to the Castle Rock church.
Henry returns home and Ruth tells him to take off his shows because Matthew won't abide the noise. Alan is working in the backyard, and Henry confronts him and says that he talked to Josef. He points out that Alan did a search of the house on his own, and wonders why Alan didn't do his job. Alan says that he's always known, and Matthew told him the truth a few days before he died: "Henry did it." The next morning, Matthew was dead. Alan covered up what he thought was Henry's murder. Shocked, Henry insists that he didn't kill Matthew and figures that it's about his plans to move Ruth.
At home, Molly takes a pill and "hears" Alan's conversation with Henry about Henry killing Matthew. Henry pulls up to her home and finds her on the porch. He says that maybe he murdered Matthew, and Molly tells him that whatever happened wasn't Henry's fault because he was just a kid. Henry figures that he should never have come back to Castle Rock, and Molly invites him in.
The next morning, Molly goes to the bathroom, locking the door behind her. Meanwhile, Henry lies in her bed, staring up at the ceiling as it rains outside. He then calls Dennis and gets his voice mail, and leaves a message that there's been a change of plans.
The workers arrive at the church with Matthew's Coffin. Ruth is walking by, and sees them unloading the coffin.
Dennis is arriving at the prison and gets Henry's message. Henry says that he can't stay in town because things have gotten complicated for him, and he has to leave. He figures that they should take the settlement offer to get the Kid out. Dennis hangs up and goes to the monitor room. Once he's alone, Dennis looks at the monitors and sees the guards harassing the prisoners. On one camera, Henry goes to Porter's office and waits outside. Dennis picks up the monitor and draws more happy faces.
The Kid sits in his cell.
Dennis takes out his gun, leaves the monitor room, and goes on a shooting rampage killing Reeves, the guards, and the prisoners. The alarms go off and Henry hears the noise. He goes into Porter's office as Boyd comes in, and Dennis shoots his friend in the back. Dennis stares at the body, looks at Henry, and says that he wants to testify. The guards throw a flash-bang in, and then kill Dennis while Henry covers his ears to muffle the sound.
Written by Gadfly on Aug 4, 2018