Original subtitles

Sausage ball.

Sausage ball. Get you a sausage ball. You want a sausage ball?

Sausage ball.

Get you a sausage ball.

Sausage ball.

Sausage up a sausage ball.

Wayne, not now.

Get you a sausage ball.

Sausage ball.

Would you like an appetizer?

We've got crab thingies.

Spanish, poofy jokers, and we ain't got any pigs in the bucket.

Uh, no.

This cop says, sir, you know how fast you were going?

I'd like to go on 117.

I said, 117?

Give me another shot, I'm sure I'll break 120.

Um, honey, maybe we should slow down.

Darn. This is lab one.

I got 399 to go and the blue is 400.

I'm going to grab a selfie real quick.

Whoa!

Oh.

What in the world?

That boy's begging for an intervention.

Mm-hmm.

Are you ready for this?

Are you ready for this?

Never.

Better got to start somewhere, so... I'm ready.

I know, I know.

All right, smart aleck.

Okay.

So, college in California.

Dad. And once something happens, you know, I'm not going to be able to get to

you.

Dad, you hardly ever have time, and you promised me we would drive today.

Okay, all right.

Ten and two.

Check.

Wait, is the gas pedal on the left or the right?

You know,

in the middle of Jeremiah.

Well, look at you.

Appreciate you dressing for the occasion.

Well, now we're standing there, gasless.

I'm just glad to be here.

Okay, I'm glad you boys are playing nice for a change.

I've never been to a Hughes family shindig.

I'm surprised they invited me once not to play nice about.

Who says they invited you?

Friends and family, if I could have your attention for a sec.

We are so glad y'all could make it for our kickoff event for the upcoming race

season. To start, I'd like to thank our sponsor for today, my good friend,

Connor McGrath.

Thank you, Walker.

I'm equally proud to announce that his new venture, Carolina Blue Bourbon...

Made with corn farmed on our family's land for centuries.

Exactly. As I was saying, I'm equally proud to announce that Carolina Blue

Bourbon will be sponsoring our number 98 car this season. My honor.

Thank you, Connor. Our drivers, Dalton Sawyer and my son Walker, are going to

bring you many a victory this season.

Ain't that right, fellas?

Walker? Walker, your dad's talking to you. Son?

He's back here. Sure am, Pops.

It'll make you all real proud.

Real proud.

To a great season.

Let's eat.

We get used to seeing our brand on national TV every weekend.

Oh, with that driver.

I'd love to see that on national TV.

I heard the go-kart track down the road needs a sponsor. Maybe your moonshine

could step up. Okay, boys, listen, that's enough. You heard Walker, listen.

You know, as a sponsor, I made certain suggestions as to the seating

arrangements for this evening.

Mayor, you and I will be at the head table. We'll be the first to be served

the Chateau Brion.

Oh. Jeremiah, I believe you are back there. Oh, there you are.

How are you in third grade?

The kitty tape. Ah, here, the chicken nuggets are to die for.

You enjoy yourself.

You all hold down the fork, okay?

A little bourbon up here.

You sure I can't rent them things from them? I got a cousin that won't race.

She's on crutches.

Hi, Bidoo.

Hi, people.

Looks like he broke his neck from the fall.

Yeah. RP's looking through the security footage just to see if anyone was up

there with him.

Camera's right up there.

Good. Well, let's see what our auxiliary deputy has to say.

I mean, he'd been drinking like a fish all day.

I mean, he didn't stop to take a breather.

He's my best customer.

He seems sad or upset.

No, I mean, he took selfies with everybody. He was alive for the party.

After a few hours, he staggered on in there, and I figured he's going to sleep

it off.

Got it.

Well, they have cameras everywhere.

No one came in before or after.

It seems pretty cut and dried.

The coroner's just got to do a tox screen, but it just seems like an

unfortunate accident.

The mayor's coming.

Sheriff, the Hughes family is important to this community. I want this helmet

efficiently and correctly.

I want the teeth crossed.

And the I's dotted. Understood?

Understood.

Okay.

T's and I's, Sheriff.

T's and I's.

You know, I think you have coffee at the station.

We do.

I just like the view here better.

How's the driving lesson going?

Terrifying. Is she that bad?

She has a lead foot the size of Texas.

Aged ten years in an hour.

Oh, yeah.

How's school going?

Good.

I'm a little rusty.

I don't know. I'm out of practice.

You'll figure it out.

You always know what to do.

Really? Yeah.

Like how?

Well, like, you always know how to figure out what to say to Maddie. I

mean, sometimes I feel like I'm speaking French and she's speaking Spanish.

Yeah, well, that's just teenage girls.

You know, and despite your career as a law enforcement officer, you're not

exactly Magnum P.I. when it comes to relating to women.

What else?

Like you figured out that we needed to have a second chance.

We're like 12th chance.

What else?

Stay by the bell.

Sorry. What's up?

Otz Otzi just came in. Walker definitely died from blunt force trauma in the

fall, but... But what?

He would have been dead within the hour anyways.

We found a lethal dose of poison in his system.

Poison?

Looks like we have a murder on our hands, Sheriff.

Autopsy determined that our victim consumed poison within a few hours of

his death.

Which means it had to happen at the party.

Mm-hmm.

And the talk screen said it was Brody Falcom, tasteless, odorless, toxin-using

rat poison.

This is a big deal, boss.

Right, right.

Walker comes from a racing dynasty.

His granddad was a wild man.

Walker, he's the first dirt track legend up and down the mountain.

Ran moonshine during the week, raced on Sunday.

And his son, Walker II, built the company.

He won a bunch of checkered flags, but his real success was in the boardroom.

Family business is worth a fortune.

And the victim, the best driver of them all,

the phenom, they called him.

Five wins last season to go along with his six crashes.

Everyone important in Blue Ridge was at that party.

Which means everyone's a potential suspect.

We need to get a copy of the guest list.

We're going to start with the two people who knew him best. I'm going to

interview the father.

You're going to interview the girlfriend.

Also, boss, I've been meaning to ask you, do you need a place to stay since

your cabin got a little... Shut up.

Thanks, but I've stayed in worse.

Okay.

Poisoned? Are you sure?

Was it?

Was there anyone that you could think of that would do something like that?

Walker was abrasive for sure, but murder?

Well, I heard he could be very confrontational and risky on the track.

Yeah, he got the risky part from my dad.

Unfortunately, the confrontational part from me. But I learned to funnel my

anger into more healthy endeavors, and it was my hope that he would grow out of

it, too.

I thought Brittany would help him with that, you know, stabilize him.

You think that was a healthy relationship?

Seemed to be.

But what do I know?

What about the rest of the family?

Your father?

Every family has its complexities.

My dad, he carved a path for us all. He was a maverick, and he values that

legacy. My dad, he was real hard on me growing up.

And I guess I went the other way with Walker.

He was criticized for being a daddy's boy.

And I suppose that criticism is what motivated him to take too many risks on

the track.

Too many incidents where he lost his temper.

Any of those incidents, do you think they could have caused him enemies?

I hate to say it, but there's probably a bunch of folks who aren't all that upset

that he's gone. But if I could point to one person who had a vendetta, that

would be Knox Anderson.

Knox Anderson, the driver.

That's him.

You see, Knox won two cups out of the last four seasons, and he was Walker's

main rival.

That crash that ended Knox's season might have ended his career.

And he blames Walker.

Oh, yeah.

Two of them got in a huge fight a couple days ago, and they started throwing

punches.

Was Knox at the party?

I sent invitations to him.

All the team owners and the drivers.

Knox was the only one to show up.

That's it for now.

I'm sorry for your loss.

I was the reason he took chances.

He's trying to live up to my legacy, my family's heritage.

I just hate to think that that had something to do with his death.

It's my boy.

And I left him.

You find who did this.

We always do.

He was my whole wide world.

I loved him so very much.

What did the family think of you?

They never liked me.

Felt he could do way better.

They thought I was only after him for his money.

But that wasn't true.

We loved each other.

I even asked his half-sister, Shelby, to be my maid of honor, but she turned me

down flat.

You two were engaged?

Yeah.

Didn't see anything on his socials. The family, no? We only told Shelby.

We had decided to elope next weekend just to skip all the drama.

Do you have any idea of who would want to hurt him?

He was cocky, but that was all for show.

How would y'all handle being the son and the grandson of two legends?

It was tough on him, so he...

He drank too much and he rubbed people the wrong way, but he was amazing in

private. Any of these people, are they the type to want to act on their anger?

Actually hurt him?

Shelby.

Yeah. She was a driver, too.

She wanted to be on the team, but their father never let her.

So she said he favored Walker, even though she thought she was a better

driver. Walker and her fought about who was the best all the time.

Did it actually get violent?

She tried to run him over in Richmond, but he jumped out of the way at the last

second. She totaled the front end.

So now that he's gone, she's going to get all their father's attention

and more to the point.

She gets her spot on the team.

Nice vehicle.

Thanks. I call it vintage chic.

I call it a piece of junk. Looks like a leftover from when I used to do

demolition derbies in Wilkes County 50 years ago.

Those are some days.

Walker Hughes.

But my friends call me D-Day.

Sheriff Justin Wise.

Sorry for your loss.

Yeah, thanks.

I always thought my boy was too soft on him.

Felt he needed some tough love.

Spare the rob and spoil the child and all.

How's he doing today?

Not so good.

I just had to let him know that it looks like your grandson was murdered.

Poison.

Thought he would die on the track or kill somebody else.

Surprised he went that way.

His death may have saved a few lives, though.

And protected your legacy?

Sheriff, just because I thought the boy was undecided doesn't mean that I wanted

to see him dead.

Besides... I was looking at a 55 Chevy Cameo to restore over in Knoxville

during the party.

I wasn't here.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to see my boy.

Well, that's a pile of money. You got your little of a mind?

Do you know what it costs to sponsor a race car?

Means that McGrath's got more money than I thought he had.

Booster, I'm going to need you to run up to Yancey County. Pick up your cousin,

Tyler.

Tyler?

Yeah, you sure about that, Uncle Jeremiah?

I mean, he's a little wild, even for us. Tyler is a wolverine. And what I have

here right now is a wolverine-sized problem.

Tell him to pack his bag. He's going to be here a while.

I heard you and Walker had a big blowout.

Sure did.

He deserved it, too.

Always mocking me online, picking fights.

You know, he cost me all this season half an X with the way he drove.

Then why'd you go to his party?

I don't know.

Free food and drinks, maybe.

Or maybe you decided to take matters into your own hands.

Why would I poison him, Sheriff, after we just had a very public fight?

Huh? How stupid would that make me?

When anger's involved, people do some pretty stupid things.

You're wasting your time, Sheriff.

It wasn't me.

His teammate Dalton Sawyer's who you need to be looking at.

What makes you think it was him?

Last season, Sawyer tried to bribe me to take Walker out on the track.

So he tried to pay you to crash into Walker? Yep.

Any proof?

Well, Sawyer ain't the sharpest attack.

He didn't realize I had my mic on, and my crew chief heard every word of it.

What are you guys doing here?

Waiting on the sister, Shelby.

Walker's fiance said a lot of jealousy between them.

Plus, she benefits from the crime.

Walker was engaged?

Secretly, yep.

Why are you here?

Dalton Sawyer.

Oh, the number two driver on the team?

Apparently felt he deserved to be number one.

Well, he went inside a few minutes ago.

Where's your suspect?

Currently going about 100 miles an hour.

I want you to explain to me why you tried to bribe Knox Anderson to take

Walker out on the track. Sit.

And why you tried to kill him the other night.

I'm sorry, did you say kill him? Yeah, that's right.

He was murdered.

Look, man, I didn't want to kill him, okay?

I just wanted to beat him.

And you couldn't do that fair and square?

I couldn't.

Walker's dad wouldn't let me.

Look, my job was never to win the race.

I had to do everything in my power to make Walker win.

So you were jealous?

Jealous?

Yeah, of course I was jealous. He got the better car, more time with the

engineers and the mechanics, and you know what? Because he got all of that,

he got the attention from the fans, too.

You know what?

I'm not going to lose any sleep now that he's gone.

I didn't kill him.

Well, you were there the other night.

You had access and motive.

How can I believe that you didn't kill him?

Because it's the worst thing that could happen to me.

The team just got a new sponsor who wanted me in the top spot.

All right? And I knew, I knew that I could outdrive Walker. And guess what?

Now, now I'll never get that chance.

And no one will ever know I was truly better.

Why did the new sponsor want you in the top spot?

What do you think? Because that degenerate Walker would have tarnished

his brand.

Who's the new sponsor?

Conor McGrath.

And come to think of it, he is probably way happier that Walker is gone now than

I am.

Don't leave town.

Yeah, we were siblings, but we were never close.

My mom was his first wife, and when she got pregnant, he agreed to marry her.

They quickly got divorced, she took a bunch of his money, and he never got

over it. Thought she was a gold digger.

That's why he doesn't like Brittany.

He thinks she's the same.

That's one thing we can agree on.

How so?

She's trash.

She was just as drunk as him at that party.

I found her in the bathroom puking.

She said you tried to run over your brother.

If I wanted to hit him, I would.

It's pretty convenient, don't you think?

He's gone, and now you just have a straight shot to drive him for the team?

Not hardly.

Have you met my dad?

He'd never let me or any other woman race for his team.

Doesn't matter how much skill.

We have how much effort we put in. It's not happening.

If not you, then who?

You guys should really look into Knox.

Our sheriff already spoke with him.

I wonder if he told the whole story.

Which is?

That Brittany used to date him and she dumped him to date my brother.

How y'all feeling?

Look at it.

Ain't so big now, is it, boy?

Hey, what y'all boys think of that?

Howdy, cuz.

Someone just told me.

Nice ride.

Really? Well, they must be blind or clueless.

You better hope not. You just sponsored their race car.

It doesn't seem like this is a social call.

I heard you weren't thrilled with your driver.

Maybe you decided to replace him when that didn't work out.

You took drastic measures.

Huh.

Well, I don't know where you're getting your information, but it's not accurate.

How's that?

Well, I did ask to move young Walker to the number two position.

Sawyer is far less likely to crash my beautiful Carolina blue bourbon car into

every wall in the country, so I asked for that change, but the father wasn't

budging. He's willing to walk away from the whole thing rather than demote his

son.

You know, I may or may not have used that as leverage to...

Gain more favorable terms in other aspects of the negotiation.

So because of Walker's death, you got the exact terms that you wanted at a

discount price.

Yeah.

Some things just have a way of working themselves out, Sheriff.

So you limited time with the family.

Any thoughts you would want them dead?

Well, as part of those very same negotiations, I demanded the dismissal

of the team's longstanding head mechanic.

Said mechanic was informed of his termination by the deceased's father on

the very morning of his death.

How did he take that?

Not well.

Why'd you get rid of him?

His last name.

Wait. Bingo.

Max, meet me at the race team's garage. I'm heading there now.

Copy that, Sheriff.

I'm on my way.

Hey.

What are you doing?

Nothing.

Doesn't look like nothing.

Looks like you're stealing.

I was just working on a car.

And you scared me and I overreacted. Where were you working in a car in a

garage that just fired you?

Do not say another word.

We're traveling fast in Blue Ridge.

We're interrogating a suspect.

Leave. I am his legal representative.

And yes, he's legal representative.

I can tell you that this man was nowhere near that party. Matter of fact, he was

at a dirt track event.

Over in Rockingham.

And yes, my king can collaborate that alibi.

Now, as for the burglary, I'm going to advise my cousin here that

honesty might be the best policy.

Go ahead. Tell him.

Look, I wasn't stealing nothing.

I was just swapping out parts.

I was pulling off my proprietary specialty parts I come up with.

And I was replacing them with generic ones.

There you go, Sheriff. So it's more pranking than it was feeling.

Connor called.

He isn't going to press charges.

He says your parts are junk.

Hmm. All right.

You can leave.

You, Jeremiah, stay.

Sit.

What do you want, Sheriff?

Well, I'm glad you stopped by because you were at that party.

We have found out that the victim died from drinking poison in Conor McGrath's

bourbon, which is bad for him, but good for you.

Well, now, ain't that just peachy?

But, Sheriff, you know me.

I'm not the kind of guy that would poison somebody to maybe get at somebody

else.

I'm more a stomp through the front door, smash your teeth out sort of guy.

Yeah, I agree with you. You can leave.

Nighty-night, Sheriff.

Oh, what do we got?

Well, a lot of suspects.

Only a few we can knock off the list.

R.P. is interviewing Knox, getting him to explain why he didn't tell us about

Brittany being his ex-girlfriend.

Speak of the devil.

Oh.

Hey, R.P.

Did you have any luck?

Well, yes and no.

He admitted that Walker stole his girlfriend, but claimed he didn't care

about it.

Yeah, that's what everyone says.

Exactly what I told him.

It's true, though. She's definitely a heavy drinker and a nasty drunk, which

lines up with what Shelby told us.

Anything else?

Oh, yeah. He said she called him a bunch of times when she was drunk. Threatened

to kill him.

Kick her as he kept the voicemails, you know, in case he needed a restraining

order or something. But he played me a few of them.

Let's just say I didn't think you'd want to mess with her if she had a few.

All right. Tomorrow morning, let's bring her in.

R.P., good work.

Thanks, boss.

Sorry, boss. Yeah.

What's going on?

Oh, I'm just cleaning.

You know, the early bird gets the worm thing. Yeah, I know all about the early

birds in the morning.

You know, you could come stay at my place if you want to.

It'd be like that show Booze and Buddies.

Fine. Why don't you go clean the museum part and turn out the light?

Can do.

All right.

Sleep tight, dear.

Don't let the bedbugs bite.

So since my deputies last talked to you, we subsequently learned that you have a

drinking problem and that you like to leave threatening voicemails to your ex

-boyfriends. We also learned that you were drunk the night of the murder and

that you and Walker were fighting that night.

We fought, but that's only because I was trying to get him to stop drinking.

Evidence to the contrary.

I was trying to get him to stop drinking just like me.

I haven't taken a drink in months.

We have a witness who says you were so drunk you were throwing up.

I haven't taken a drink in months.

Because I'm pregnant.

Pregnant? Yeah.

Does anyone in the family know about the baby? No way.

Why didn't you tell them? That may have helped with family relations.

This would have made things worse.

Walker dying.

was literally the worst thing that could have ever happened to me and our baby.

Do you know how hard it's going to be to raise a child alone in this world?

So no one knew she was pregnant or that they were engaged?

Except the sister. She knew about the engagement.

Well, let's confirm Brittany's story that she didn't have any alcohol that

night. How are we going to do that? Are we going to go through the security

video for the entire party?

Let's bring in the guy who served all the alcohol that night.

Really love the cherry pie.

Mmm, good.

How's it going?

Better. I figured out that I can do all my research online at the school's

online bookstore.

I knew you would.

You look like you have something you want to ask me.

What did your parents think of me when they first met me?

Um... Mom thought you were cute.

And Dad liked that you called him Sir.

And you had a nice, firm handshake.

What they didn't love was the fact that your idea of a first date was hot dogs

at the $5 drive-in movie theater.

From here to eternity, it's a classic.

You said you loved it. You thought it was romantic.

I mean, a young lady will say a lot of things when she thinks a man is cute.

Back to work.

What do you think you're doing, man?

What's it look like I'm doing?

What we're doing is sending you a message.

A little something for your troubles.

Oh, man.

Did you serve any alcohol to Walker's girlfriend the night of the party?

No, sir. No, she just had pineapple juice all night.

Not a drop of alcohol whatsoever.

Are you sure?

Oh, I'm positive.

I even asked her if she'd been to Hawaii one time, and she said she hadn't, but

that she'd always wanted to.

Well, then I told her. My uncle, Cyrus... It's not funny. We got it. She

didn't drink any alcohol, which corroborates her story.

I guess we could start from the beginning.

Too bad they weren't serving cornbread muffins at the party.

Cornbread muffins?

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. There used to be an old man that lived up on Cottonmouth

Trail. Y'all heard this?

It rained.

real hard one summer, and so old boy had a real bad rat problem.

So he decided that he was going to cook him up a pan of cornbread muffins, but

lace it with a boatload of rat poison.

So while the muffins was cooking, he started tugging on that jug, and he

started smelling them. He decided that he wanted to cook him a batch of

cornbread muffins with no poison in it. So he set them up and started cooking

them. But the problem was he went back to that moonshine, and by the time both

batches were done cooking, that dude was fried like that Christmas goose, ate the

wrong batch of cornbread muffins.

Flipped around for a little while.

Died on the spot.

Liggity split.

Cornbread muffins.

That's the craziest story I've ever heard. Oh, you ain't heard nothing yet.

When they tried to bury him, you should have said... What's going on, boss?

I can't believe I'm saying this.

But thanks to Dwayne, I just saw the case.

Thank you all for coming here today.

This case was hard.

Pardon the pun, but we just kept going around in circles.

A lot of people hated Walker, but they either had an alibi or the logic just

didn't add up.

Except for you.

You had opportunity and motive.

What if he broke up with you?

You'd not only lose him, but you'd lose all his money.

Now you two got into a fight the night of the murder.

And we have an eyewitness said that you were sick in the bathroom.

Drunk, they said.

I told you I didn't do it.

I know you didn't.

What? How do you know that, Sheriff?

Well, who in the Sam Houston did it then? That poison wasn't intended for

Walker.

It was intended for you.

What?

Walker wasn't the intended victim.

Brittany was.

He drank the wrong drink.

Brittany didn't have any alcohol at all that night.

No. I saw her. She was drunk.

No. She was sick.

It was a big difference.

For some reason, you didn't like Brittany.

But which one of you wanted her dead?

Was it to protect the legacy?

Your family business?

Or was it out of jealousy?

You all had motive.

But only two of you had opportunity.

Come on. This is ridiculous.

And only one of you.

acted upon it.

Only one of you almost killed your grandchild.

Grandchild? That's right.

Grandchild.

Brittany didn't have any alcohol because she hadn't had a drop of alcohol in

months.

Ever since she found out that she was pregnant. Pregnant with your grandchild.

That's why she was sick.

Now, when you and I first talked, you said that you thought that Brittany

would be good for your son.

But the truth is, you hated the idea of someone stealing from everything that

you built.

And with the chaos of the party, you decided to do something about it.

You knew where everyone was sitting.

You knew when the drinks were going to be served. And you had the opportunity

to place that poison just before everyone sat down.

But what you couldn't predict was that she wouldn't have any alcohol that night

and that your son would drink her drink.

You can't prove anything.

You may think that.

But you see my deputy over there?

That's Deputy Covington.

She's turned into a great investigator.

She's decided to look at your last six months of travel.

And with Nick, the mechanic that you fired, we found out every hotel that you

stayed at.

or you're following the races.

And then she looked at every hardware store within a five-mile radius of those

hotels, and she cross-referenced them with the dates of cash purchases of rat

poison.

Specifically, Rota Falcom.

Six weeks ago, in Richmond, she got a hit.

Then she decided to call that hardware store and see if they could show a

visual of the actual purchase.

Now all we had to do was tie to the night of the murder.

Now you see my other deputy?

That's RP.

He grew up here.

Played tight end for Blue Ridge High.

Came by to do some good for his community.

Well, he knew your son.

He knew your son loved to take photos, selfies.

And since we had his cell phone and evidence, he looked at all the photos of

that night.

Wouldn't you know it.

What's that place thing say?

Birthday.

Dad, how could you? What did you do?

I was protecting our family.

Like I've always done.

In the process, you... You killed your son.

I'm sorry.

I'm so sorry.

I'm sorry, Walt. Thank you.

You'll see.

Thanks for doing this.

Don't mention it.

We owe you one.

How's she doing?

That girl's tough.

Spunky.

I'm coming out of retirement to run things again.

We're going to help raise that baby.

We take care of her own.

She's all yours.

Good luck.

Keep the rubber side down.

What better place for a driveway?

Yes, I can finally drive fast.

Wait, Dad, tell me I don't have to wear that.

Who says it's for you?

Thanks, Dad.

Let's go.

About a new vehicle.

Yeah.

What can I say? I'm fickle.

What can I help you with, Sheriff?

I need a place to stay.

Where's Cesar?

Wow.

Well, you came to the right place. Let me grab some keys and I'll show you to a

nice secluded cabin.

Thank you.

Yeah, absolutely.

Get your itinerary.

All right, I'll expect to see you here in Blue Ridge at the end of the week.

And get ready for war.