We step away from the blood and into the light of a new day, where the monsters wear pantsuits and carry skeleton keys. A letter taped to the underside of a porcelain throne becomes a testament to a legacy of madness. In the chemical dark of a development room, the truth is exposed frame by frame: the geometry of the impossible caught on Kodak.

While a lost soul screams silently behind the flat, black eyes of a grazing beast, trapped in a prison of leather and instinct, a trap is baited with cheese, crackers, and Southern hospitality. The clean-up crew has arrived, and they are prepared to bury the secrets that the swamp refused to swallow.

Cast

Nick Sayers... Writer, Handler, and Editor

Kristina... Agent Ryan

Ryan... Agent Barone

Jordan... Agent Del

Podcast art by Studio Janie

Music and Sound Effects from Envato.

Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/576NbWAEm1uOBDxlW1F4Os?si=c7228e49ddb94035

Listen on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dead-letter-bureau-delta-green/id1826992923

Find us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@deadletterbureau

Find transcripts: https://dead-letter-bureau.captivate.fm/

Talk to us on Discord: https://discord.gg/2RFYaWHm33

Here are some other shows we love! Search them up.

9mm Retirement Radio

RPG Reanimators

Black Flare

Hand on the Door

Sorry, Honey, I Have to Take This

Stories and Lies

This Line Isn't Secure

Published by arrangement with the Delta Green Partnership. The intellectual property known as Delta Green is a trademark and copyright owned by the Delta Green Partnership, who has licensed its use here. The contents of this podcast are ©Nick Sayers, excepting those elements that are components of the Delta Green intellectual property.

Caroline Valo check is on her way to work.

2

Where does Caroline work right now?

3

Well, unfortunately, she was just reassigned to a shithole known as Boggy Depot.

4

She had to look that up a couple times to make sure it was real.

5

On account that it doesn't sound real.

6

But sure as shit, she's gonna make something of it.

7

How long have you been on the job?

8

Well, this particular position, well, since I clocked in grabbing bagels and coffee this

morning.

9

Yeah, you have four coffees, two coffees, like how many coffees you've taken?

10

Oh yeah, think it's full tray.

11

Only two of them are spoken for, but we sure will need them throughout the day.

12

I'm imagining you're reflecting on the project ahead of you as you're driving to the

station.

13

The sun is starting to rise in front of you and you're on your way out there.

14

What are you trying to accomplish out here?

15

I don't know if you're familiar with the term polishing a turd, but that seems to be what

we have been set to task on.

16

there is something of a turd in front of us.

17

The confines of Boggy Depot State Park.

18

I don't know if you've looked at the numbers recently, but they are not good.

19

and if we want to procure any more funding or any more interest at all, we're going to

have to do something about this.

20

Stain on a toke.

21

you have quite the task ahead of you turning a turd into a diamond.

22

Gonna have to squeeze really hard to get that done because this park does not see a lot of

visitors.

23

Heat and pressure, heat and pressure.

24

Exactly, heat and pressure.

25

You roll up and you're driving under a canopy of oak and that familiar swamp smell enters

your nose.

26

In the morning, it's not as bad as when the heat is baking it.

27

And you see Ranger McKell's truck parked out there and in front of it, his headlights are

still on illuminating an empty car park where

28

He used to have some ATVs and he's pacing back and forth.

29

Yeah, under my seat, I pull out a tissue box that's full of like hospital shoe liners.

30

I slip them on over my wedges.

31

On account of the mud out here is as dirty as it smells.

32

With a nose scrunched up as high as it can go, I sidle out of my sedan and I give a

friendly morning wave, very neighborly.

33

coffee and bagels ready for Ranger McKell.

34

Now the day has only just begun and already you look out of sorts.

35

How might this have come to be?

36

Well, I don't know, I just got here and the ATVs are gone.

37

No, no, no that will not do she looks down at her gold little watch and says There's not

but seven hours until the contractors are scheduled to be here.

38

What on earth do you mean by that?

39

I mean, they're fucking gone.

40

That's what I mean.

41

I mean, look, and he opens his arms up, points to the empty car park, and yeah, you see

some tracks rolling out of there.

42

he grabs his hair he's already sweating pulls his hair back and just squeezes his own head

and then starts to grab his elbows very nervously.

43

Okay, right.

44

Well, look, we have put an unconscionable portion of our miniscule budget on the line for

this.

45

We are not going to squander it today, so we need to figure it out.

46

gonna get fired, what do mean figure it out?

47

Like, this is our ass.

48

no, I know.

49

Which is why they cannot find us in such a state.

50

So how are we going to recoup what we seem to have just lost?

51

Can you roll a persuade?

52

No, no, theoretically I was built for this.

53

Um, that's a 45, which is plenty low.

54

you can tell he's getting activated and would be useless to you if he were in such an

emotional state and you coax him out of it.

55

You see him calming down just knowing that he has some help and he's not alone out here.

56

Yeah, we are not both going to sync today, not on this first day.

57

We need to make a good impression.

58

You're part of that.

59

Okay, let's retrace our steps.

60

Last time we used the ATVs, last person we saw skulking around the ATVs, usual suspects.

61

What are we working with?

62

I just, I fucking knew it when they were out here.

63

They said they were making a video or something about Bird and the keys weren't missing

right after that.

64

I didn't think anything of it.

65

Thought I might've left them home, but I could swore I had seen them earlier.

66

I just, I know it was that fucking video crew that came out here.

67

There's no fuckin' birds in this neck of the woods.

68

What on earth are they talkin' about?

69

Okay, that does sound like the red-handed bandits that we oughta be chasin' down.

70

Do you have any idea where they might be?

71

Shit.

72

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, I do.

73

When I was driving in two mornings ago, I could have swore I saw their truck parked at the

old Stardust.

74

Hmm, what a shithole.

75

All right, you got a description of this truck.

76

I think it's probably best if you go checking out the known park entrances, canvassing,

some such, just like your daily rounds.

77

if you get any whiff of them, you give me a call.

78

But in the meantime, I'm gonna go shake down the stardust and see if I can't worm my way

into one of those rooms.

79

Yeah, it was a big black Chevy truck.

80

Nice one, V8.

81

They could have, if they had a trailer, they could have taken them, but I'm gonna, yeah,

notes around here and see if I can find them.

82

Maybe they're still out here.

83

Okay, I think Caroline is going to walk back to where the ATVs had been parked and driven

and she's going to take a cursory look to see if there is any indication that they were

84

driven off the property or if they were perhaps loaded into a trailer or some such.

85

Yeah, go ahead and give me a search.

86

43, which is less than a 50.

87

So all right.

88

you search around and you see it's apparent that they drove these into the swamp.

89

They did nothing to cover their tracks.

90

It looks like they went out the main road that they would have drove in at first.

91

Okay, well they may be proficient thieves, but these biscuits are only half-baked.

92

It seems they took off that way.

93

Maybe start your search in that direction.

94

I'm sure we can converge on them before appointment time.

95

Well, I hope so because like I said, I don't want to get fired.

96

I like this job, so.

97

Yeah, and she will come over and comfort him, you know, kind of like breathing with him,

putting her hand on her on his shoulder.

98

And she's going to say, look, now I'm the only one who knows this.

99

We can't keep it under wraps for more than, I don't know, four or five days, but we got

plenty of time.

100

So all we need to do right now is breathe, breathe.

101

That's it.

102

Yeah, he takes a deep breath, closes his eyes for a second.

103

He's like, thank you, Caroline, thank you.

104

I know you're new and this probably is a, well, shitty job for you, but it's all I got and

I appreciate you understanding that.

105

Yeah, well, let's go make something of it together.

106

And she will clap him on the shoulder and she is going to march straight back to her

sedan, pull its red polished door open and slip on inside.

107

Yeah, you roll out and you're going straight to the Stardust.

108

Yeah, yeah, she is looking for a managerial office, someone who would know the room

occupants.

109

It is a shithole, you're right.

110

And you know that the bottom floor has the office where the cashier or manager, whatever

it would be at this motel is, and you open it and there's just a bell there.

111

No one's there though.

112

Yeah, well I will wander on over and I will give a little peek behind the counter, see if

there is an obvious place where keys are hung on a rack and if it sounds like there is

113

anybody skulking about in the back.

114

Yeah, go ahead and give me alertness.

115

which is not great but it is a critical success in this case

116

Yeah, I mean, that's the one or two critical, one of the two critical successes you could

have got.

117

yeah, you just quietly listen and you hear a TV humming, maybe in a back room, there's a

door there that's shut

118

Your guess is that right over the counter about hip height is where the keys are hung.

119

And in fact, you can see a reflection in a turned off TV behind the counter of some keys

hanging there.

120

Is there a key for each room?

121

Give me a luck roll.

122

33

123

There is a key for each room, but there is a unmarked key that looks similar to the other

ones with no tag from it that is hung a distance away.

124

little bit of a master skeleton key perhaps.

125

I will snag that one and pocket it and maybe just quickly scan for a ledger to see if

there were any notes taken about who has booked into which rooms recently.

126

Yeah, there is a ledger there and you go through it.

127

There haven't been a lot of guests here You see entries for a Jeremiah, a Janine and

George.

128

No last names, just those.

129

Mm-hmm, couple of hoodlum names if I ever heard one.

130

Yeah, I think that is a cluster of names similar to the group that Mikkel had suggested.

131

They sound like a crew.

132

So I will wander on out into the annex and see if I can't pinpoint their locations.

133

Yeah, from the the receipt book that you found, you know that one of them had a room on

the bottom floor and two had a rooms on the top floor or the second floor.

134

Okay, yeah.

135

I'll have a look at the top floor rooms first.

136

On account of maybe there are a few eyes on them.

137

Yeah, you get to 201 and open the door and there are candy wrappers and chip bags, not

messily thrown around, but just sitting all over the bed, some in the trash, like somebody

138

in here feasted on junk food.

139

Hmm, my my, did a raccoon get in here?

140

Alright, I will have a cursory glance around, But...

141

I suppose I am looking for personal belongings, place where people would keep important

materials, anything that may have been left behind.

142

There is nothing that you can see in the trash though.

143

You do find some pretty dirty, like a dirty undergarment, like a, almost like a white tank

top that's torn, that has mud all over it and maybe blood.

144

Hmm

145

Alright, well this poor unfortunate soul has not had a nice time in Boggy Depot.

146

I can see we have that in common.

147

I will carry on to the next room.

148

Yeah, roll your search for these two.

149

With enough time, you will be able to find everything, but we'll do a roll to see how

quickly you can.

150

Yeah, uh, 43.

151

That is okay.

152

The next room is pristinely organized.

153

Like you get in there and it looks like no one has touched it.

154

There's some indents in the bed where people have sat.

155

It looks like somebody made the bed meticulously.

156

And as you're searching around.

157

hunting through things, there's nothing to be found.

158

But you do get to the toilet.

159

Maybe you have to piss, I don't know, right?

160

But you open the toilet and there it is taped to the inside of the toilet seat is a bubble

wrap envelope that has a lump in it.

161

my, my, what on earth are we doing here?

162

I will take a pocket square out of my floral purple patterned suit coat and I will consign

myself to the idea that I will be parting ways with this when I am done, but I will

163

sacrifice it to the greater good and I will peel that bubble wrapped container off.

164

with that satisfying comes off of the tape that was used to fix it there.

165

And yeah, it's a letter and it's being sent to the East coast, Virginia.

166

Yeah.

167

Okay, well, it may be a federal crime if you get caught, but I do not intend to, so I will

go ahead and read that letter.

168

I'm very curious as to who it was destined for.

169

you rip it open and read it.

170

And it seems like somebody is writing it to their grandmother.

171

And all it says is, grandma, I love you.

172

Here's this, you know what to do.

173

Very cryptic.

174

that sweet?

175

How did grandma earn a place of honor like the toilet?

176

I may never want to know.

177

Is there any other information as to the sender, as to the information they were trying to

get across?

178

It is initialed RD on the bottom and

179

the address line, it's to somebody in, your guess is the suburbs, a suburb in Virginia,

maybe around Baltimore, but it is addressed to Elaine Dwyer.

180

What a lovely name.

181

Sorry, so beyond the brief message, was there some sort of payload that was intended to be

along with it?

182

Yeah, you see a roll of film, Kodak.

183

inside the envelope you find a hastily scrawled note it looks like they're just these

strange symbols and some notes about a ritual and then some phonetic gibberish around it

184

that has the word song below it

185

Montugante, Bonante.

186

Now, what on earth were they getting into over here?

187

I'm gonna need a translator, but I wouldn't even know where to begin.

188

most curious.

189

We got an RD.

190

Thank you very much, RD.

191

you are my angel today.

192

I will have another look around the room.

193

looking for, this seemed to be like a point of congregation, perhaps, multiple people

sharing this room.

194

So, I'm curious to see if there is anything in that communal space.

195

And then I suppose I will go check the third room just to be thorough.

196

Yeah, it looks fairly cleaned up.

197

it's not like they had housekeeping that did it, but whoever was staying in this room

seemed to be very particular about how they kept their things.

198

So like the bed looks remade, even though there's some dents from somebody sitting on it.

199

There's no actual items.

200

The trashes are empty.

201

It seems to be possum proof, raccoon proof in here.

202

Hmm, alright.

203

yeah, to the bottom floor we go.

204

m

205

Go ahead and roll your human for the bottom floor.

206

My my my.

207

Boy the 40s are good to me today, 42.

208

you get in here and it is another room that looks like it's been cleaned up.

209

There's something about how the furniture is arranged though.

210

It looks like whoever was in here was arranging every seat to be facing the door.

211

It still looks nice, but...

212

there's a strange feng shui as you enter that gives you the sense of paranoia, like

everything's facing the door.

213

And in fact, there's one of the seats a little too close to the window angled toward the

door, or excuse me, angled toward the window.

214

Yeah, I think I bristled for a moment, like the hair on my forearm stands up underneath my

silk shirt to the point where I realized that if this person were here waiting, they would

215

have been waiting for me.

216

And I imagine just the chemical reaction that would have been set off in their head when

they heard a lock clicking when it shouldn't have been clicking.

217

and I count my lucky stars for today.

218

Yeah, you can roll your sand for that.

219

Thank you.

220

I will make sure to narrate more vaguely in the future 47 40 be my lucky number

221

Yeah, no sand loss.

222

I guess you get the first signal that something bigger is happening here.

223

Yeah, I think we were playing childhood games, breaking in here before.

224

There was no, it was small potatoes.

225

But the trail it is that I find myself on perhaps is a little more fraught than I realized

putting two and two together.

226

Yeah.

227

I would like to look through this room as well, but I think I am doing so hurriedly so as

not to be discovered upon this resident's return.

228

Yeah, so go ahead and roll a search then since it's rushed.

229

Yeah, 91, not so good.

230

Yeah, nothing comes up specific.

231

You do notice there are some just like metal shavings by one of the chairs at the feet of

it.

232

Like somebody was sitting there with a knife doing something to metal, but that's about

it.

233

curious, mildly intimidating, all the more reason to get the hell out of here.

234

I did not find what I came for.

235

Perhaps I found something better.

236

cannot be sure until I understand what it is I am in possession of.

237

I think I will leave a small recording device, a bug, in the bathroom of the fastidious

person.

238

whose grandmother's letter I have poached.

239

I'm not sure if it will be safe to return to retrieve such a thing, but it may prove

fruitful.

240

Yeah, let's see here.

241

Go ahead and...

242

think here.

243

Give me a intelligence roll.

244

Yeah, all right.

245

And then, yeah, that's enough, yeah.

246

16.

247

Any old person could do that.

248

you look and you're like, this idiot hid this thing in the toilet.

249

I found it, no problem.

250

There's two things people need to do, eat and piss.

251

And he didn't think of that.

252

So you are able to find a good hiding spot for it.

253

And you set it to flip on when sound enters the room.

254

Mm-hmm.

255

I blow it a little kiss as I exit the room.

256

I make sure to leave the door just cracked as I found it uh into the bathroom.

257

Yeah.

258

Where to next?

259

Well, I may not have seen everything that Atoka has to offer, but I have to imagine that

they have a one-hour photo, some such.

260

Something to turn this roll into beautiful black and whites.

261

Yeah, absolutely.

262

You know where to go, right downtown.

263

Vroom vroom, let's go.

264

It's in the back of a pharmacy and there is a bright eyed gentleman there who is probably

in his 50s, has dark rimmed glasses, little hefty around the waistline and he's got a big

265

guffawing laugh.

266

You hear him bullshitting with one of the pharmacy workers and you approach and he gives

you a look.

267

that is a disguised, lettrous stare.

268

Well hello sugar, good morning to ya.

269

Yeah, there's almost like an uncomfortable inhale, like a sound when he sees you and you

speak to him and he says, well, hello, darling.

270

Need something developed?

271

I sure do.

272

All I can think of is when Ryan made me feel weird for making a joke when he said

developing fluids and now this guy is like developing fluids around his mouth.

273

It's like I fucking knew there was something weird about that.

274

Yeah.

275

Well, it's unlike me.

276

to be needing something of a rush order, but I'm afraid I simply cannot wait to have this

role developed, and it is the only one I've got.

277

Would you be able to put your best man on the case?

278

There's an extra, oh gosh, who on earth?

279

Grant is on the 50, right?

280

There's an extra grant in there for you if you're able to make it happen under 30.

281

An extra grant, huh?

282

Yes ma'am.

283

And please, don't call me miss.

284

My name is Caroline.

285

Oh, nice to meet your acquaintance, Caroline.

286

I see you bring a lot of sugar with you.

287

May I ask what you're developing this for?

288

Or are you paying me not to ask?

289

Well, I am late for my nephew's birthday party.

290

And I was supposed to do these a week ago.

291

I told his mother I would have them.

292

And it's a little embarrassing to show up empty handed.

293

So I'm hoping you could maybe help me smooth this over.

294

He takes the film from you and he says, oh yeah, yeah.

295

Kind of pulls out his collar and walks back to the photo scanner.

296

You see him start fiddling with it, feeding it into a machine.

297

They don't do it by hand even in the 90s.

298

So he has a special scanner and he sets it to start scanning the film and printing it.

299

I'm assuming you want doubles and he throws you a wink.

300

You read my mind.

301

Yeah.

302

where are you from, miss?

303

I haven't seen you around.

304

No, no, I am new to town.

305

A lovely place, uh thankful to be here.

306

I've just been stationed over at Boggy Depot State Park where I will be nestling in uh and

trying to make something of that place.

307

You'll be sure to swing on by if ever you need to stretch your legs.

308

Yeah, he looks down at his legs.

309

He's probably pre-diabetic.

310

He's like, oh, I sure will make my way out there.

311

I used to go there when I was younger.

312

It's a small little park, kind of podunk place, but you...

313

Hodunk, that is the word, isn't it?

314

Yes.

315

Ma'am, he tells you to come in close.

316

I have a little secret.

317

Everything around here is podunk.

318

I think, in fact, think Otoka made that fucking term podunk.

319

Yeah, I think somebody told me that a toka is chock-tah for po-dunk.

320

He cracks up, does some guffawing, pretty charismatic guy.

321

Goofy to say the least, you just hanging out at the counter or you're gonna do something

else.

322

I will, very much keep an eye on that roll of film uh as it is being processed.

323

I want to make sure that I get back the prints that are associated with it.

324

but I do not want to betray, my desperation.

325

And so I will probably, you know, when the conversation cools off a little bit, I will

walk the aisles.

326

but, chance and glance is back as often as I need.

327

he continues to print them.

328

You're walking around, typical Rite Aid fare.

329

the, you you check back in at the counter.

330

He is putting the photos in a sleeve.

331

and loading them into two different folders for you.

332

He pulls the negatives and puts that in an envelope as well.

333

And he kind of comes over to you shaking his head.

334

He's like, you said this is for your nephew?

335

Well, unless I got the rolls mixed up, which would be a huge debacle on a daylight today.

336

He looks at you serious.

337

He's like, okay.

338

Well, here you go, ma'am.

339

And then slides it over to you.

340

Yeah, she thinks twice before correcting him to Caroline once more, but something about

the gravity in his voice has turned her mind to other things, and she will thank him

341

profusely, make good on her promise of the 50, and then she will scuttle her way back to

the vehicle to furiously snap open that envelope.

342

Yeah, there are a lot of blanks at first, just blank pictures.

343

And you get through them, you see a picture of what looks like to be Boggy Depot, Swamp

Land.

344

It seems like they were taking a picture of a footprint or something.

345

And there's a picture of a church from the outside.

346

That's fine and dandy.

347

You're like, okay, so they've been out here for a little bit.

348

Then you see a picture of a severed finger on the bed.

349

It's strange looking.

350

The nail is not normal, but who knows how old and rotten it is.

351

Go ahead and enroll Sanity for Violence.

352

Yeah.

353

89, not so good.

354

Not what I was expecting either.

355

oh

356

Yeah.

357

So do you want to project?

358

Yeah, I think I do.

359

I'm thinking of my mama and all the advice that she has given me over the years.

360

It has served me very well.

361

And, you know, she has certainly helped me to navigate the avenues that I ought not have

been in, but it weren't without warnings.

362

And so, you know, the stern notion of like, well, you know, sometimes you just get what's

coming to you.

363

Maybe you ought not have looked.

364

It kind of bites deep into me today.

365

Yeah, go ahead and roll a D4 for the projection and then give me a D4 for the sand loss.

366

Four for the projection, three for the sand loss.

367

Okay, so you still take four off your willpower and your bond regardless, but ah you do

not take any sand loss.

368

You still flipping through those or you stopping there?

369

absolutely not.

370

I am flipping faster, if anything.

371

the next picture there's a few pictures of the finger I should say and then the next one

is the top of a strange metal cylinder and then the next picture after that is

372

three circles in the bottom of a cylinder.

373

And then the one after that is a wider view of it.

374

And what you see is glass fused to metal around a cylinder and inside there is a for lack

of a better term mummified looking brain suspended in the middle of this.

375

It's something that you think you would have seen in a science class, but there's

something alien about it to you.

376

Go ahead and roll sanity again from the unnatural.

377

Yeah, yeah, yeah, 36, okay this time.

378

you followed the rabbit in the hole and you got your little taste and you can stomach

what's next, right?

379

think maybe even the true crime books that I've been reading are shielding me from any

sort of unnatural conspiracy at this point.

380

I think to myself, based on the clean and fastidious nature of that room, that man sure

could be a serial killer.

381

It is quite possible that this is one of his deeds and he has taken a trophy to remember

his act by.

382

you're not sure what to make of it.

383

Ranger McKell could be in some trouble looking through these and you get through some

pictures of what looks to be a scroll of some type, just a long piece of paper.

384

There's strange writing on it.

385

I'm assuming Caroline hasn't encountered Hebrew in her time.

386

Absolutely not, but I think she is going to look for any phonetical similarities between

the writings in the toilet and those on the photo.

387

Yeah, when she's, you pull out the notes when you start seeing the pictures of the scroll.

388

The text before but has been adapted and changed in strange ways and it gets more and more

chaotic.

389

And you do start seeing some of the same symbols that were scrawled on this note from RD

and the text that they have photos of.

390

And most of the rest of the pictures of this 36 roll of film are of different portions of

that

391

R.D.R.D.R.D.

392

What on earth were you cooking up down here?

393

Okay, I don't know what it is that I have stumbled upon, but I feel uncomfortable as

though these people may be armed and dangerous.

394

I would very much like to get to the bottom of what it were that they were.

395

skulking about for, why it was they felt the need to steal these ATVs to begin with, but

well a swamp seems like a perfect place to hide a body if I'm being perfectly honest and

396

so waiting out there to confront them by my little lonesome does not seem entirely

prudent.

397

I think I would like to place a call

398

to someone back home to see if they might be able to procure me an insurance policy of

sorts.

399

Yeah, hard to say what to call him exactly.

400

Cassius King is the first number in my speed dial and he is absolutely who I am calling in

this occasion.

401

Yeah, and you go to a payphone or like, what do you?

402

Yeah, I think a payphone is called for.

403

Absolutely.

404

Yeah, and tell me about Cassius.

405

Yeah, Cassius is a long time friend and confidant and so much more than that.

406

He keeps me in good supply when times are hard of a multitude of things.

407

And he's a man who knows how to get stuff done.

408

So I think I will trust him implicitly to handle this with the care that it deserves.

409

Yeah.

410

And is he a toka or where does he hail from?

411

Yeah.

412

No, he's down in the bayou, down in Louisiana.

413

That is my hometown most of the time.

414

yeah, he doesn't necessarily stick around in one place.

415

A bit of a nomad, as it were.

416

ring, ring, Shit, hello?

417

Cassius.

418

Pleasure to hear that silky voice of yours.

419

Baby, baby, baby, how are you?

420

I'm in a bit of a pickle.

421

Or I'm about to be or I could be, but I don't want to be.

422

Which is why I called you.

423

And what can I do for you, baby?

424

Well, I got my hot little hands on something that ain't never should have seen the light

of day.

425

And I can imagine a number of interested parties would be clamoring for it if they had the

right context and know how.

426

And I'm inclined to hold on to it.

427

But you know, the people that I'm going to see,

428

I'm not sure if they'll be so pleased to see me if you know what I mean.

429

And so I need a bit of an insurance policy.

430

If perhaps I overnight these to you, you could have them on a dead man's switch to drop

them to the, well, some of the contacts you have.

431

Didn't you have a cousin that worked for the newspaper?

432

Yeah, I got some cousin who works for the newspaper.

433

But hey, honey, honey, back up.

434

Are you in any danger?

435

I wouldn't want anything happening to that sweet little ass of yours.

436

Well, I mean, you can't play if you don't put skin in the game.

437

You know what I'm saying?

438

Look, all I know is I'm here on this assignment in this hellhole day number one and into

my lap falls an opportunity to never have to mention the name of Toca again.

439

I couldn't be more delighted.

440

honey.

441

Yeah, I know.

442

I just has to ask.

443

You know how it is.

444

Yeah, well, you do goodbye me and I do goodbye you.

445

That's the way it's always gonna be.

446

have I ever not?

447

That's what I'm saying.

448

That's why you're my first and only call.

449

I just need you to know that if I don't call back by Friday, you need to drop this into

your cousin's hand or whoever you think would pick up a story like this.

450

On account of the world needs to know what I done found.

451

I am so curious.

452

You're being very vague and it is pushing all my buttons.

453

So you're going to send me this and then if I don't hear from you when?

454

Bye Friday!

455

Friday.

456

Okay.

457

Okay.

458

Now, you know I don't go off the calendar very well, so let me write this down.

459

Can I get some PIN?

460

Yeah, you're gonna wanna write this down.

461

and then he grabs a pen he's like thank you thank you and writes it down it's like baby

you know what I got one of these things called a DVD player have you ever heard of them?

462

Sure, honey.

463

You are with the times.

464

I got Scarface on DVD.

465

When you coming back?

466

When you coming down?

467

Honey, that sounds like a date.

468

Scarface, you know that's my favorite.

469

Yeah, well, you know, it depends how this turns out.

470

Could be tomorrow, could be in a month, could be never, depending on how this package

turns out.

471

Well, you never know.

472

I know the game.

473

I know the game more than anybody.

474

You know that.

475

But hey, you stay safe out there.

476

I always intend to.

477

I don't want to have to come down there with Tito, James, and Taco and fuck some people

up.

478

No, no, they don't want that neither.

479

And I'm going to make sure that they know they don't want that.

480

Which is why we're going to try the nice route first.

481

We always try the nice route first, don't we?

482

That's how you friends, baby.

483

Mm-hmm, catch more flies with honey than vinegar.

484

Indeed.

485

Well, can't say I'm not worried about you, but I trust you.

486

I know you're capable.

487

Yeah.

488

Yeah, I know.

489

Okay, well, let me know if I need to bring the guns.

490

Yeah, it's nice to hear your voice.

491

Always nice to hear your voice, baby.

492

So from here, what would Caroline do?

493

Yeah, I think she is inclined to go touch base with Rangel McHale.

494

He seemed to be not altogether directed in his focus, making sure that he is still on

course, seeing if there's anything that he has seen.

495

Otherwise, well, I'm not going to go traipsing out into that swamp.

496

I don't have shoes for that.

497

But I think I would.

498

post up at the next best spot to try and intercept our interlopers.

499

you drive back to Boggy Depot State Park and there is a interchange between turning into

the park and then one that goes straight into trails.

500

Ranger McKell is standing at that junction, leaning against his pickup truck.

501

And as you drive in, he waves you down.

502

Well hey there sweetheart, aren't you a friendly face?

503

Yes, yes, um, hey, I found their truck.

504

It's just right down here.

505

I haven't found any of the quads yet, but I'm about to head out into the swamp to go find

them because the tracks are right here.

506

Well, all right.

507

I'm not on keys too.

508

You were right about the Stardust, that had to be them.

509

They didn't leave many traces of themselves.

510

I'm not really sure who they are just yet.

511

Say, would you consider them to be dangerous people?

512

I mean the lady, I forgot her name, she was really friendly.

513

We talked about the ATVs for some time and I mean she spilled coffee on me but you know,

accidents are accidents.

514

I mean there was a small wiry old guy and he kinda was strange.

515

The other one just looked like a dork so I didn't seem dangerous.

516

They had a lot of gear with them though and they said it was camera stuff.

517

I like why the fuck would they take my ATVs though?

518

Just like, do not understand what's going on here.

519

Bird hunters, I will never understand that hobby.

520

Okay, well, if you are intent to go out into the swamp, you're doing God's work, but I

just want you to be extra careful.

521

Something about their room gave me the heebie-jeebies and I wouldn't want that to brush

off on you.

522

If it's all the same with you, I think I'll wait here at the trailhead just in case they

come running back, make sure we split the difference.

523

How's that sound?

524

Yeah, I mean if they're dangerous, you you shouldn't wait here.

525

well, I might not look like I have teeth, but I bite.

526

And she will just pull the little snub nose out of her clutch, make sure that he knows

that, you know, she can handle herself.

527

And she closes it back up with a crisp little snap and a tap tap on the outside.

528

Probably not the first time that she has brandished that.

529

Yeah, that reminds him he opens his truck door, leans over to the glove box and you see

him bend over, half of his ass is showing, these pants are too big for him, and he pulls

530

out a pistol of his own and says, well, I guess I should go look for it, right?

531

You think we should call the cops or anything?

532

If you call the cops, they're gonna report this to your superiors and all of a sudden all

of our dirty laundry is out in the open.

533

Shit.

534

Shit.

535

I'm sorry, I'm not thinking Caroline.

536

I'm so fucking stressed out by this.

537

Look, I don't think you should put yourself out any further than you have to.

538

Be safe.

539

Don't do anything rash or stupid.

540

You make sure you're back here by nightfall.

541

We'll begin again tomorrow if we have to.

542

Okay, again, I appreciate you, so I don't know what I'd do without you.

543

Right, right.

544

And she has been kind of trying to calm him and also nervously checking her watch because

three o'clock is coming up and we still do not have a way to get the contractors out to

545

the site where we are going to be surveying.

546

But she's trying not to make that Ranger McKell's problem.

547

That's in her head for now.

548

Yeah, he sets off, you see him disappear into the canopy of the swamp.

549

Just has his pistol on his side and walks into God only knows what.

550

And there you wait.

551

Yeah, I think I say a little prayer for him.

552

It doesn't really mean anything to me, but it seems like the right thing to do.

553

On account he's a good boy.

554

He is a good boy.

555

Anything else you wanna cover is that feel that's good.

556

I suppose in between the phone call and here I would have posted a bubble-wrapped envelope

of my own overnight airdrop to wherever Cassius said he was at the time.

557

There's a trailer park where his mama stays, safest place like a PO box for him.

558

But other than that, I think I am simply going to open up a little spread of cheese and

crackers and grapes on the hood of that pickup truck, because it's going to be a long day

559

and there is not much to look at out here.

560

I am painfully aware.

561

Yeah, you open the spread, you have a little picnic as you wait.

562

Hmm.

563

Mm-mm-mm.