The Trees

In California, Daryl Ho tells his partner Chi that the body of the unidentified Asian male they found at the scene of the murder has disappeared from the Medical Examiner’s drawer. Ho receives a phone call from Detective Hind about the murder.

Detectives Moon and Jim go to Chester Hobsinger’s last known address. There’s no one home, and they let themselves in. Inside, they find many books on martial arts and a map of Mississippi with the town of Money circled.

On the phone with the detectives in California, Herbie says that she’s been dealing with similar crime scenes. She assures the detectives that they’ll find the missing body again and asks them to call her when they do.

Herbie tells Ed that she’s stressed out about Mama Z. She finds something strange about Mama Z but can’t put her finger on why. Ed reminds Herbie that Mama Z has been living for over a 100 years and has seen things that Ed and Herbie will never have to experience. They call Jim in Chicago. Jim fills them in on Chester Hobsinger and reveals that Chester wrote a note on the map that resembles “blue gun,” though Jim can’t quite make it out.

Detectives Ho and Chi report to a murder scene outside of their jurisdiction, where a white man has been hanged and his scrotum removed. The body of their missing unidentified Asian man is at the scene.

Ho calls Herbie to ask what is happening, since the unidentified body showed up like she promised.

Damon sits outside with Mama Z. He’s overwhelmed by the scope of her records, which includes over 6,000 dossiers on victims of lynching. He wonders why Gertrude invited him to Mississippi, and Mama Z suggests that Damon can chronicle what’s going on, whatever it is that’s going on.

Officers Digby and Brady find Sheriff Jetty at the Dinah. Brady and Digby are indignant that Ed and Jim, Black officers, are questioning white people around Money and making them nervous. Sheriff Jetty is frustrated with Brady and Digby and the mysterious murder cases. He tells them about a recent crime in Hernando, Mississippi, where the bodies of six white men were found, scrotums removed, alongside the body of one unidentified dead Black man. Gertrude overhears this and calls someone to inform them that something’s happened in Hernando.

Helvetica, Herbie, Ed, and Jim meet at MBI headquarters in Hattiesburg. They get a call about the seven dead bodies in Hernando.

Helvetica, Herbie, Ed, and Jim stop at the Bluegum restaurant on their way to Hernando. They see Gertrude from across the busy room, but she doesn’t notice them. Gertrude hugs some waiters and goes into the back. Jim, suspicious, calls Gertrude’s cell phone number. Gertrude answers and tells him that she’s at Mama Z’s house. A stage is set up in the restaurant, and a poet gets on the microphone. She sings a song about lynching that moves everyone in the restaurant. The events in Bluegum make Jim and Ed suspicious. Ed points out that the state motto of Mississippi is “By valor and arms,” suggesting the restaurant may be involved in the killings.

Sheriff Jetty sits at home looking through old photographs of his family. His wife joins him and notices something she’s never noticed before. Sheriff Jetty’s father looks Black. Sheriff Jetty confirms that his father was Black and tells her that his father lynched his grandfather.

Ed and Jim report to the Hernando Sheriff, a Black man named Kwame Wallace. He shows them the gruesome murder scene at the local Masonic Hall of Hernando. He identifies the six white men but doesn’t know who the dead Black man is. Sheriff Wallace notes that the six white men look agonized in death, while the dead Black man is bloodless and looks serene. He tells them that the manager of the building was the one who came across the scene but died shortly afterward of a heart attack from the shock of the scene. Sheriff Wallace knows that the detectives in Money have faced similar murder scenes. Herbie informs the group that these murder scenes have also occurred in California, Minnesota, Wyoming, and Illinois.

Five unnamed people and Gertrude arrive at Mama Z’s house, interrupting Mama Z and Damon. The five unnamed people and Gertrude are concerned because the murders outside the state replicate their own murders in Mississippi. Damon demands to know what’s going on.

A tornado warning is issued, keeping Herbie, Helvetica, Ed, and Jim in Memphis, Tennessee, near Hernando, Mississippi. Jim recommends to Ed that they go out to listen to some blues, but Ed is nervous about walking around Tennessee.

Gertrude admits to Damon that she’s been involved in the murders in Money. She sees the acts not as murder but the duty of a soldier. She wants Damon to chronicle what’s going on. Gertrude and her organization killed the people connected to Emmett Till but are not involved in murders outside the state. Damon disapproves of what Gertrude is doing. He is angry and feels like an accessory to murder.

Harlan Fester addresses his organization, the Whites for Social Justice Committee. He’s concerned about the murders of white men, which he presumes were committed by a Black man. He senses that the race war the Committee has prepared for will begin soon.

Jim and Ed walk around Memphis looking for a blues club. They wonder why they weren’t more emotionally affected by the gruesome murders they’ve been looking into. At the blues bar, the woman at the front door recognizes them as cops, which disappoints them.

Charlene is preoccupied. She asks her daughter Lulabelle if she’s heard any strange noises at night. Lulabelle heard a chain dragging and the laughter of men. She calls Pete Built, a trucker she’s spoken to intimately on the radio, asking when he’ll arrive in Money. He stops the truck on the side of the road because he sees something odd, like two bodies lying by the road. He tells her that a Black man is approaching him and then starts screaming. When Pete is unresponsive, Charlene calls 911.

A Mississippi state trooper is driving along Highway 518 when he sees a gruesome scene: Four dead white men and one dead Black man. Other police officers are already on the scene. The four dead white men are bloodied, and their scrotums have been removed.

Ed, Jim, Helvetica, and Herbie get the call about the scene on Highway 518. They discuss all their new leads. Herbie blames Mama Z. Jim reminds them of Mama Z’s age. They note that she wears a Black Panther scarf, a self-defense organization that was disrupted by law enforcement agencies like the CIA and FBI. The Black Panthers are noted for their willingness to bear arms against racist white people. They rush to Highway 518 before the body of the dead Black man goes missing.