Summary
The final section of the book begins in the present day, as Grann visits modern-day Pawhuska. He walks around, taking note of the faded storefronts and abandoned buildings. He writes that the oil derricks are long gone. He travels to the town in 2012, as part of his research for the book. He says that he had never been taught anything about the murders in his history classes and remained entirely ignorant of them until he stumbled on a passing reference to them.
He visits a local museum and looks at photographs of various victims of the killings, including Charles Whitehorn and Henry Roan. He also sees a large group picture with a section cut out of it. He asks what happened to the picture and learns, from the museum director, Kathryn Red Corn, that Hale was in the picture and was later removed. Red Corn says that she can share information with him about the crimes, but that he should know that everyone finds it very difficult to talk about that period of time, as so many people lost family members.
Grann makes a second trip to Pawhuska to see an Osage ceremonial dance and interview some tribe members. He watches the dance and goes over to speak with Margie Burkhart, Mollie's granddaughter, who is sitting on a bench bearing her family's name. She tells Grann that her father adored Mollie and that they were very close. She says that Mollie lived mostly happily after the trial, remarrying and continuing to live on the reservation and raising her children. She adds that Mollie died fairly young, at the age of fifty, though no foul play was suspected.
Margie says that Ernest, her grandfather, was released from prison eventually. She was surprised to meet him and discover that he was not the hardened criminal she anticipated. She says that she found his kind eyes disturbing, as she wondered how he could be the same person who did such awful things. She tells Grann that her father wrestled with his relationship with Ernest, keeping in touch with him, but hating him for ruining their family. Grann writes that after the oil boom, much of the early prosperity in the town began to dissipate, as the oil wells on the Gray Horse reservation ran dry. Margie says that she receives some money from her land rights, but can't support herself on it alone.
Margie shows Grann around the reservation. She tells him a detail omitted from other accounts of the case. She says that on the night of the bombing of the Smith house, Mollie was supposed to take the children and go stay with Rita. She only remained home to care for her son's earache. Margie says to Grann that her father had to live with the knowledge that his own father tried to kill him. Grann spends more time in Pawhuska and speaks to Martha Vaughan, the granddaughter of W. W. Vaughan. He learns that Vaughan's murder was never solved. He does some archival research and learns that Vaughan was likely killed by a man named H.G. Burt, as part of another guardian scheme. He tells Martha, who weeps at the news, but is relieved, saying they've carried this painful case within the family for such a long time.
Later, Grann watches a ballet on the reservation that recounts the story of the Osage killings. He is moved by the emotionally intense depiction of the crimes. After this, Grann speaks with Red Corn again, who tells him that the death toll of the killings is likely much higher than reported. She says that her grandfather died mysteriously and his wife made off with most of his money. His death was never formally investigated and she suspects it was part of a wider coverup of similar crimes. Grann investigates further and finds that Red Corn is correct and that many of the other cases remain largely unsolved. He notes that the Charles Whitehorn case had several loose threads that were cast aside because it did not feed the narrative about Hale as the sole mastermind.
In 2015, Grann stands with Red Corn and looks at windmills on the reservation. He recounts his discovery of a "lost manuscript" carrying the story of an Osage woman by the name of Mary DeNoya-Bellieu-Lewis, related by one of her descendants. Born Mary Lewis, she was married twice and vanished mysteriously during a trip with her daughter. Eventually, her body was found in a snake-infested swamp. Later, one of her companions on the trip admitted to viciously killing her with a hammer as part of a scheme to steal her oil rights. He was initially sentenced to life in prison, but was eventually pardoned. Grann notes that this murder was not noted in any of the coverage of the killings nor did it have any clear relation to Mollie or Hale. He believes it suggests that schemes like Hale's were horrifyingly commonplace. Grann's subsequent research bears this theory out, as he discovers numerous other similar cases. He visits Mary Jo Webb, the granddaughter of one of the unacknowledged victims, and they talk about his case and watch the sunset. She says that the land is saturated with blood and, quoting the Bible, says that it cries out.
Analysis
Evil is the central theme of this final section. In visiting Pawhuska, Grann uncovers a great deal more about the killings and learns that the official narrative around the case does not cover the full extent of the crimes. He finds that other Osage individuals were murdered for their land rights and that these murders were not actually all carried out under the command of Hale. What this suggests, in Grann's view, is that these murders were far more widespread than originally thought. This disturbs Grann, as he correctly perceives that Hale's evil actions were hardly isolated and that many white people killed Osage tribe members and faced no punishment. It is an incredibly bleak turn in the story, as we learn that while White managed to bring Hale to justice, he failed to account for many more crimes. In this way, Grann reveals that a greater evil was always in play, one that was not stopped or even properly observed.
Greed is another major theme in these chapters. In revisiting old case files, Grann disturbingly finds that other members of the tribe were murdered in similar extortion schemes. He learns that white people would often seek out marriages with or guardianships for Osage individuals in an effort to get close to their money, then take ownership of it and kill them. As with Hale's example, Grann is shocked by how willing people were to commit terrible acts just to get money. To make matters worse, this practice was common enough that he found numerous examples of it, separate from Hale. The book elucidates how this simple greed, combined with virulent racism, motivated awful crimes.
Racism and history are also prominent themes in this concluding section. In speaking with current members of the Osage tribe, he shows how the Osage killings were not widely recognized and the ones not addressed in White's investigation went almost entirely unacknowledged. People like Margie Burkhart and Kathryn Red Corn make a point of telling Grann that the official record failed to account for many deaths and that the period of terror was essentially swept under the rug after White left Pawhuska and Hale was imprisoned. This final part of the book is vital to the overall story, as Grann shows how even in the historical record, the Osage were not treated fairly. He demonstrates that these grievous murders were not given meaningful attention and that the FBI was happy to step aside once they had achieved their goals and gotten good press. Grann tacitly shows the importance of a historical record, as the lack of recognition of these injustices leads to them being essentially forgotten. He also seems to express a hope that his work as a journalist can correct some of these wrongs.
Truth is another key theme in the book's conclusion. Grann revisits the case files from the Osage killings in an effort to dig deeper into the narrative. He seeks out loose ends, like the unsolved murders of Charles Whitehorn and W. W. Vaughan, hoping to catch what he thinks White and his team might have missed. He speaks, at length, with Osage tribe members, many of them descendants of the original victims. To his grim surprise, he finds that these cases essentially went cold after Hale was caught and that many others went unrecorded entirely. Still, he keeps pursuing the truth of the story, to try and achieve some element of closure. While Grann's discoveries are shocking and unsettling, he shows the value in giving a complete accounting of this period of time. By unearthing a number of uncounted Osage killings, Grann corrects the record and draws attention to the systemic violence under which the Osage suffered immensely.
Grann concludes the story on a note of horror, complicating the seemingly triumphant ending of White's battle against Hale. In learning more about all of the unseen and unsolved murders surrounding the Osage, Grann highlights how Hale's conspiracy was symptomatic of other, similar murder plots. He shows that, in the end, justice did not truly prevail, as the deaths of many Osage tribe members, and their various allies, were not investigated or even noted as crimes. The small hope that Grann seems to have is that by acknowledging these atrocities, there can be some degree of healing and moving forward.
