50 pages • 1 hour read
Craig JohnsonThe Cold Dish
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2004A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapter 13-EpilogueChapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 13 Summary
Walt wakes up in the hospital to find a frostbitten ear bandaged and IVs in his wrists. He sneaks out of bed to go check on Henry, who thanks him. A nurse who happens to be Ruby’s granddaughter reprimands him for leaving his room, but he disregards her and leaves the hospital to return to work.
Arriving at his office, Walt confers with Lucian, and the two go looking for George. Assuming that he took steps to treat his wounds, they check the hospital and a drugstore before heading to a taxidermy and game processing store. Seeing George’s car in the parking lot, Walt enters the closed store. He finds George inside with his friend, Petie Hampton, who bandaged his injuries. Walt learns that George’s parents are gambling in Deadwood, South Dakota.
Walt drops George off at the hospital, where he catches up with Vic. She informs him that the Cheyenne Death Rifle was not a match for the one that killed Cody, although it was fired recently. She also asks him what she sees in Vonnie as Walt thinks to himself that Vic’s husband is an “idiot” for not appreciating her. As they hug, Vonnie walks by.
Leaving Vic, Walt catches up to Vonnie, who reveals that she found out about Walt’s ordeal by listening to a police scanner. Apparently, she heard all of Walt’s pleas for help, even though he did not receive any responses. She voices her frustration with him but leaves him with a fresh change of clothes.
Janine checks on Walt and informs him that he is now viewed as something of a hero. Walt also hears giggling from Henry’s room and sees Dena Many Camps leaving it a few minutes later.
Chapter 14 Summary
After showering, Walt goes to check on George, whom he left under Ferg’s supervision, only to find that George has slipped away. He locates George in Henry’s room a few minutes later. Henry reports that George asked him about the possibility of going to live on the reservation, where he feels he would be safer.
Visiting George separately, Walt learns that George saw that Jacob was dead. George also expresses his fear that someone who can’t be stopped is pursuing him. He points vaguely in the direction of Walt’s truck, which contains the Cheyenne Death Rifle, when pressed for details.
Walt returns to his office and speaks to the Espers over the phone, asking them to come to his office as soon as possible. He recalls the date that Cody, Jacob, George, and Bryan were sentenced. Not wanting to take the young men’s futures away from them, Judge Selby sent the three who were due for incarceration to a young adult institution that set its own terms instead of a regular prison.
Passing the Busy Bee Café, Walt spots Lucian deep in conversation with Turk. Walt proceeds to the Sportshop, where he asks David and Sue, the owners, about their sales of size-nine Vasque boots. They compliment him on his clothes, which Vonnie bought for him at their shop.
Walt returns to the Busy Bee Café for lunch, where he discusses the case, as well as his relationship with Vonnie, with Dorothy. She encourages him to speak with Vonnie about her complicated past.
When Walt returns to the office, Turk asks to speak with him. He reveals that on Lucian’s advice, he has decided to apply for the highway patrol instead of running for sheriff. Walt offers him a strong recommendation.
Walt chats with Vic, who reveals that another owner of a .45-70 rifle was eliminated from the list of suspects following a ballistics test. Walt thanks her for the box of antique shells he found in his truck next to the Cheyenne Death Rifle, but she says she did not put them there.
Chapter 15 Summary
Walt and Vic examine the shells, finding them freshly polished and reloaded, although two are empty. Released from the hospital, Henry appears and reveals that the shells belong to Lonnie.
Walt and Henry drive to Lonnie’s house. On the way, Henry explains that Lonnie offered to give Walt the Cheyenne Death Rifle in the hopes that it would protect him. They arrive to find Melissa in the driveway. Walt tears up as she hugs him. A moment later, Melissa’s Aunt Arbutus leaves the house after arguing about where Melissa should spend the Thanksgiving holiday. With Walt’s intervention, Arbutus agrees to invite Lonnie for Thanksgiving and allow Melissa to spend the following night at his house. At Melissa’s insistence, Arbutus also invites Walt for Thanksgiving.
Walt asks Lonnie about the ammunition he left in his truck. Lonnie explains that the Cheyenne “Old Ones” told him that Walt would need it. Lonnie adds that he did use the gun to shoot a fencepost recently when he was feeling angry.
Ruby radios to tell Walt that George escaped again, this time in a stolen car. Suspecting that George is on his way to the reservation, Walt and Henry start driving there. They soon see Vic coming from the other direction. By process of elimination, they realize that he must be on Powder River Road, an area where his family once owned property.
Driving at speeds up to 100 miles per hour, they soon spot George ahead of them. After taking a curve too quickly, George’s car leaves the road, but he keeps driving through a field. Seeing his trajectory, Walt moves to cut him off, but George then veers toward the wide, shallow riverbed. When his car gets stuck, he continues on foot.
As Walt calls out to George, Henry spots an armed figure in the distance, barely visible on the horizon. The figure shoots George, hitting him. Henry hands the Cheyenne Death Rifle to Walt along with ammunition, and Walt takes careful aim before shooting and hitting the figure some 700 yards away. As Henry goes to retrieve George, who is still alive, Walt is saddened to realize that the shooter is Vonnie.
Chapter 16 Summary
Walt and Henry wrap George’s injured shoulder, and Henry gently talks with him about moving to the reservation. Vic arrives and soon leaves for the hospital with Henry and George.
Walt crosses the river on foot to the spot from which Vonnie shot George. He sees blood on the ground, footprints made by size-nine Vasque boots, and an empty .45-70 shell. He follows a trail of blood to a parked vehicle. Over the radio, Walt instructs Ruby not to send anyone to help him. He also asks Lucian what kind of gun Vonnie’s father, Michael Hayes, used when he died by suicide.
Arriving at Vonnie’s house, Walt finds the gate open. Finding the house empty apart from the dog in the mudroom, Walt proceeds to the backyard, which features an arena for horses as well as a shed. A green pickup is parked in the arena, with a trail of blood leading into the shed.
Walt finds Vonnie, her head injured and bleeding, sitting in a dusty backroom with a Sharps buffalo rifle between her knees. After the two exchange several dark jokes, they begin to discuss the case, with Vonnie explaining that she dropped the feathers on her victims for “dramatic effect” (342). She adds that she decided to buy the Vasques boots after she saw George buying them.
Vonnie also discusses her father and says that she still sees him sometimes. As a child, he groomed her and then first raped her in the shed while she was nine years old. Four years later, he died by suicide after Vonnie’s mother threatened to report his behavior. Despite therapy, Vonnie never overcame the trauma of his abuse. When Melissa was raped, Vonnie identified with her and then took revenge after her abusers received minimal sentences.
Vonnie asks Walt for his understanding, tells him she loves him, and then dies by suicide.
Epilogue Summary
Walt takes the next several weeks off of work and drinks heavily, enjoying his newly completed deck. Vic, Henry, Cady, and others call or visit him, but Walt avoids them. One day, Vonnie’s escaped dog shows up, and Walt befriends him, appreciating his wordless companionship. At the end of one of her calls, Vic admits how much she misses him and adds that she turned down two high-paying job offers that would have taken her out of the area.
On Thanksgiving, Lonnie sends a delivery of Hot Pockets and beer accompanied by the Cheyenne Death Rifle, which leads Walt to imagine Vonnie being welcomed into the Camp of the Dead by the Old Cheyenne. Later, Henry arrives and cooks a meal. Grudgingly, Walt begins to talk with him.
Chapter 13-Epilogue Analysis
This final section sees the plot racing toward the climax, as Walt physically pushes himself to the limit while attempting to protect George and identify the killer. His repeated pursuits, captures, and releases of George illustrate both the challenges of heading a small-town, understaffed law enforcement agency and the difficulty of escape in such a close-knit community, as Walt manages to anticipate George’s moves. Here, the setting plays a key role as George seeks to evade both Walt and the killer, first in town and then in the open countryside. Ironically, the latter proves more difficult, showing that even expansive vistas can feel uncomfortably close when firearms are involved. As is typical of westerns, the novel features a climactic shootout, although this one takes place at a long range rather than in the quick-draw style commonly portrayed in Western films and novels. This allows Johnson to extend the mystery of the killer’s identity a little longer, heightening suspense. In this way, Johnson fulfills the major conventions associated with both the Western and mystery genres.
Character-wise, Walt and Vic share a moment of tenderness, showing their true feelings for each other that they usually hide under a façade of levity. Although their encounter is more friendly than romantic, there are hints of romance between them, as each thinks about the other’s current partner while they share a hug. This sets the stage for additional romantic development between the two of them in future installments of the series. Walt’s relationship with Vonnie, by contrast, takes on added tension, first when she expresses her frustration at his predicament at the hospital and later when she is revealed as the murderer. At this point, Vonnie’s character develops tragic complexity, revealing her as a survivor of abuse who has been unable to overcome her trauma despite her best efforts.
Vonnie’s revelation as the murderer is a significant plot twist since Walt never regarded her as a suspect. It also feeds into Johnson’s discussion of The Pursuit of Justice. Vonnie mentions that her only goal was to bring about justice for Melissa. While Walt implies that Vonnie went too far in doing so, he doesn’t directly contradict her assertion that the young men who assaulted Melissa were let off too easily. In fact, from his private reflections on the case, Johnson shows that Walt essentially agrees with her. However, Walt does contest her implicit assertion that it is acceptable to act outside the law in administering private conceptions of justice. His strongest impulse at the moment, however, is not to debate Vonnie but rather to “hold her, to patch the ear up, and to make it all better” (346). Walt’s attraction to Vonnie mirrors his sympathy for her cause, though he ultimately rejects it, just as he would likely have reluctantly testified against her had she lived.
Several motifs find their ultimate expression and closure in this section. Upon learning that the eagle feathers she placed are fake, Vonnie replies, “Well, doesn’t that fit…” (342), suggesting that the feather’s inauthenticity matches her identity as a would-be avenger for a Cheyenne woman. Firearms and vehicles, meanwhile, both play significant roles in the chase scene and the climax that follows, together highlighting the ironic ways that human technology can, to some extent, tame the wilderness but not necessarily people. The Cheyenne Death Rifle remains particularly relevant as Lonnie has the foresight to provide Walt with shells ahead of his confrontation with Vonnie. The implication is, as before, that the spirits of those who haunt the rifle approve of and support Walt’s objective and mission.
This section also expounds on Johnson’s exploration of Dealing With Grief. In the aftermath of Vonnie’s death, Walt slips into a despondent state, shunning all human contact. He bonds with Vonnie’s dog, but he does so primarily because he sees the dog as a companion in misery: “He had sad eyes, and it was as if he had had enough, too” (349). Walt’s friends are persistent, and one of Vic’s messages implies that while it is appropriate to take time to grieve, that time must come to an end:
It’s been almost two weeks, and that’s long enough. I just thought that I should tell you that this is my last call because I’m starting to feel like an enabler. If you want to know what’s going on in the kingdom, you’re going to have to come out and fight a few dragons (351).
Working through grief, then, is not simply a matter of addressing difficult feelings but also choosing to move forward despite them. Walt takes his first steps toward healing in the final chapter when he allows his best friend to cook a meal for him. This sets up Walt for his next adventure as the Longmire series continues.
