Twenty

Morning finds Cal battered but steadied by Lena’s breakfast and presence; Trey and Lena share an easy rapport. Cal plans to contact Austin to cool tensions but gets no answer. Wanting to control the narrative locally, Cal limps to Mart’s, covers his injuries with a roof-fall story, and notices a bloody towel that ends the pretense.

Mart calmly tells Cal to “leave it be,” then details what happened: Donie told P.J. about the stolen anhydrous; Mart dissuaded P.J. from involving Guards and retrieved the chemicals and supplies. Watching Brendan’s cottage, Mart’s group confronted Brendan to warn him off. Brendan mouthed off, a scuffle broke out, and a single punch sent him backward onto a propane tank. He died within moments.

As Dublin gang members arrived, Mart’s crew hid Brendan’s body in nearby trees, muffled his ringing phone, and observed the gang’s futile search before later burying Brendan in the mountains and saying prayers. Mart frames it as protecting local youth from a worsening drug trade and dismisses Donie’s sheep antics as irrelevant messaging gone awry.

Cal asks for proof for Trey—Brendan’s heirloom watch. Mart, wary of future fallout, proposes Cal test Trey’s resolve, rest, then return in a few days to dig. Cal leaves with that conditional agreement.

Back home, Cal asks Lena to take Trey home later. He tells Trey the truth: Brendan died that day, fast and without suffering, in a fight gone wrong. Trey cries hard, then asks for proof; Cal promises it. In return, Trey gives her word to let it lie forever. To steady themselves, Cal and Trey go fishing in silence, catch enough for all, and that evening Lena picks Trey up and drives her home.