As time passes the town of Holcomb begins to heal from the loss of the Clutters but when Dick and Perry are brought back to Kansas, feelings of anger and contempt toward the killers return. Bobby Rupp, Nancy’s boyfriend is able to remember Nancy in a positive way. Nature itself begins to remind him of the lively Nancy he once knew:

“Well, he couldn’t explain it, but whenever he looked at the Arkansas, it was for an instant transformed, and what he saw was not a muddy stream meandering across the Kansas plains, but what Nancy had described- a Colorado torrent, a chilly, crystal trout river speeding down a mountain valley. That was how Nancy had been: like young water- energetic and joyous” (205).

As the river provokes these memories in Bobby, he does not break down but is able to appreciate what time he had spent with the Clutters. Bobby is now able to remember the good things about Nancy’s life when previously he recalls, “That he was really ill, that grief had made him so, that grief had draw a circle around him he could not escape from” (203). Time had somewhat healed him so that Bobby is now able to remember the Clutter’s lives, not wallow in their absence. The weather shows this new look on life reflected in the whole town of Holcomb: “The weather was remarkable. Even for western Kansas renowned for the longevity of its Indian summers, the current sample seemed far-fetched—dry air, bold sun, azure sky. Optimistic ranchers were predicting an “open winter”(205). Weather is often used as a symbol and in this case reflects the mood of the town. People are no longer so worried for their safety, things have calmed down and some are even “optimistic”. Knowing Capote, it is also no coincidence that he used the phrase “Open winter”. Right after the murder was committed the people of Holcomb locked their doors for the first time. Now in a sense they are beginning to reopen their doors, reopen their minds to the thought that everything could be okay. However, the mood changes again when Dick and Perry are brought to the town square: “As long as the sun lasted, the day had been dry and warm- October weather in January. But when the sun descended, when the shadows of the square’s giant shade trees met and combined, the coldness as well as darkness numbed the crowd” (248). Right before Dick and Perry are driven through the town the warm air suddenly becomes cold. Dick and Perry, coming back to Holcomb have brought with them all the horrid memories of slain bodies and the grief that the murderers planted into every person in Holcomb when they murdered the Clutters.