“Why? Are you telling me this because I’m Frank’s brother? Because I’m your husband? Because I’m Marie’s employer…or because I’m the sheriff?” So many titles, so many morals and so many boundaries’ that could be crossed at anytime. What is Wes to do when confronted by his conscious and his fathers pressing opinions? The Hayden family has been given high honours within their county. Relationships that can cause more trouble and intertwined puzzles that only a Sheriff with; courage and bravery, can solve in the pressing times of the summer of Montana 1948.
“You don’t lock up your brother. A respected man. A war hero.” There are many times within the text where we see how Julian’s comments can create pressure on Wes to break the law and hide the truth from the community. This is shown when Wes has his brother, Frank, locked up in the basement of his home and Julian comes over and orders him to let Frank go. In this instance we see that Wes is more so a child to Julian than a Law Enforcer. With Julian wanting to protect his family name and pride more than he does the law he goes on to threaten Wes, “My God, boy. Stop this now. Stop this before I have to.” You can see by this that Wes is now forced to make a decision, whether to listen to his father or to listen to his conscious. Law is a strong focus for Wes and so as hard as it is for Wes to deny his fathers actions he keeps his thoughts on what his conscious would do to him if he let a Murderer and Rapist out into Mercer County.