notes

Session 8

Player Characters

During Downtime

Two Weeks Later -- the final month of the Obama administration

Ring ring. PIZZA calls SEAMUS; we're at the airport, just landed in florida.

PIZZA: you guys at the airport? whole crew?

SEAMUS: SHOOTER went ahead, but yeah otherwise
PIZZA: listen up--keep this ECKSTEIN thing contained
PIZZA: some internet bullshit on his accounts -- qanon 8chan stuff, but a few things he's been googling are too close to the truth. Also, you should know htat in his backyard is a barrel containing an m249 light machine gun, several kg of cocaine (columbian), and a sawed-off shotgun
SEAMUS: what is it this freak's been googlin?
PIZZA: some pizzagate stuff, but also looking into a russian cult called the SKOPTSI. We have reason to believe they were tied to some program activity in the mid 2000s. He's also been looking into C CELL (aka c-cell), which was a formation within the program in the early 2000s. If you need to call in the monitivation in the backyard or use it for your own needs, that's there for ya.
SEAMUS: does mr ECKSTEIN know about the barrel?
PIZZA: no, we planted it there. Just some insurance.
PIZZA: hangs up on SEAMUS

Places we could go

HENDRY COUNTY SHERIFFS OFFICE

We go to the sheriff office in HENDRY COUNTY SHERIFFS OFFICE.

no air conditioning

big grey mustache, cowboy boots on desk, leaning back in office chair, played by sam elliott. sheriff DEACON BENSON.

DEACON BENSON: Is there somethin I can help you with, federales?

MO: we've heard about some happenings at the MEYERS POINT TRAILER PARK
DEACON BENSON: is this about the robbery a couple days ago?
MO: what happened there?
DEACON BENSON: nothin serious, people always tryna get some money, tryna get a couple rocks
MO: no, not that. dead lady.
DEACON BENSON: oh, I'm sorry, has our boy been giving you a hard time? I told him, "woman dies of a heart attack she's probably smokin crystal. He thought he'd solve the crime of the century on this one. We let him go.
MO: bad behavior?
DEACON BENSON: when the case is closed, you stop working on it. Plus, to be honest with you, I just never took a liking to him. He wants to be like jack reacher.
MO: why'd he get so interested?
DEACON BENSON: he was sayin something about "they trained animals to do it"? some nonsense. I'm sorry if he called you. Hope you didn't come down just for this.
SEAMUS: no, we're here on an unrelated matter, but just thought we'd stop by and let you know.
MO: in this you ever hear from that old lady with the cats? GLENDA? is she still around?
DEACON BENSON: she's callin all the time, I just think she's lonely.
LOTTIE: workin on anything now? You seem awfully relaxed.
DEACON BENSON: not the busiest town to be sheriff of, and it's not drinkin' and druggin' time yet. The diseases of despair aren't foreign to these parts. I believe de-industrialization's to blame.
SHELF: some say trump'll fix it...
DEACON BENSON: seems like a goofball to me, but he can't be worse than what we've got.
MO: any areas we should stay away from?
DEACON BENSON: ruffians down at JO MAMAS SWAMP SHACK, they got a nice Pina Colada. Virgin, of course.
SHELF: you know where we could find ECKSTEIN? I know he's a crank, but I'd feel better if I could tell my boss we said hello. He sure called a lot of times.
DEACON BENSON: He's in an apartment buliding over in eastern charlotte county. Help yourself to some water on the way out.
LOTTIE: We'll bid you adieu
DEACON BENSON: I don't know what that means, but he sounds awfully kind.
MO: Can we hold onto the evidence from the KILLIAN case?
DEACON BENSON: sure thing. And talk to Dr. GUIDNA CHOWDURY, he did the autopsy.

we leave

LOTTIE: I really want to go to JO MAMAS SWAMP SHACK tonight. Sounds like a fun place.

MO: Gossip's always useful!

Evidence Review

We go through the files:

MEYERS POINT TRAILER PARK

places we could go:

we go to the trailer park

it's not very nice, surrounded by cypress swamp; in the okalacoochie slaugh state forest; KILLIAN's trailer's in the back, gotta pass the manager to get there

we go visit the park manager to get GLENDA's address. guy opens the door, ribbed tank almost entirely covering his large belly. bad toupee.

MO: where's GLENDA? she still live here?

Park Manager: yep, still being a pain in my ass too. trailer 19. y'all law enforcement?
SHELF: FBI, sir.
Park Manager: I'm not involved
MO: in what?
Park Manager: whatever you're involved in. I voted. Nothing to do with me. If you're doin a liquor run I could use some jim beam.
LOTTIE: does not offer flask

Knock knock knock

GLENDA: hello? is this because of all the noise I've been making with my birds?

MO: what kind of birds do you have?
GLENDA: a cockatiel and several budgies
LOTTIE: they live a long time!
GLENDA: so do I! they stare at me at night! I wake up and they're all looking down at me!
LOTTIE: can I talk to them?
GLENDA: I guess you're free to do whatever you want because you are the police
LOTTIE: enters, takes out the clicker that worked on the dog, clicks it and says "be quiet!"
budgies keep on doin bird stuff
SEAMUS: is watching the back door
MO: I heard your cats went missing?
GLENDA: They did. I'm told they ate a lady, but I know they'd never do that.
MO: did you know this women?
GLENDA: Harlot. Gentleman callers all day and night. And my cats don't like that.

the scene:

cat food and stuff
smells like bird
no ROTTING FLESH
no computer, lotta romance novels

SEAMUS: tell us about the day your cats went missing

GLENDA: strangest thing. Sometimes you lose one, with cats, but that day they just all disappeared
SEAMUS: the gentleman callers, you think?
GLENDA: I wasn't thinking that! I think it's the nasty drug addicts. The mexicans.
SHELF: to be clear, you're making a distinction between the gentleman callers and the drug addict mexicans?
GLENDA: I don't think even KILLIAN ever slept with a mexican. With their cars and their noise. The cars are too high or too low!
SHELF: when you wake up and the birds are staring at you, are the cats staring at you as well?
GLENDA: no, my cats were full of love.
SHELF: anyway, thanks for your time here's our card etc etc

KILLIAN's house

all wrapped up in police tape (not recent)

furniture's piled up at the end of the driveway

inside: photo of woman man and boy. LOTTIE recognizes the woman from early 2001 she saw her at a gas station in the snow: it's agent KILLIAN, codename "Clove." Crystal has been operating under that alias all along.

outside the house: graffiti above doorframe of black head with red brain (this is one of the DOODLES)

sig sauer p938 under loose board

clawmarks: LOTTIE knows they're from a bear.

nothing else to see here

around the trailer (1990 bona villa singlewide): steep descent into cypress marsh

FLORIDA SOUTHWESTERN STATE UNIVERSITY

western florida university library, 5pm (they close at 6)

CORDUROY, the library supervisor

SHELF: hello ma'am. FBI. Did you work with KILLIAN?

CORDUROY: such a shame what happened. She was great, just such a sad woman. Just a real tragedy of a woman. You ever see somebody and they make you feel sad?
LOTTIE: how'd she make you feel sad?
CORDUROY: I think she must have had a rough past. She looked much older than her 34 years. Real hard worker, though, real smart. Taught herself Mandarin, can you believe that?!
SEAMUS: I almost can't.
CORDUROY: She had her interests. Real smart. Doing research into crimes, weird religions
LOTTIE: did she have a carrel?
CORDUROY: oh, sure, I'll bring you over.

books in the carrel:

SHELF: do you have a record of the books she checked out over the last few years?

CORDUROY: our records don't go back quite that far but I can send you an email.
SEAMUS: she act weird before her death?
CORDUROY: same old KILLIAN; she had a bit of a thing. You could tell when someone came in who she knew from the swamp shack--
LOTTIE: We're going there tonight!
CORDUROY: I'd advise you bring some, well, it can get rambunctious.
SHELF: doesn't sound like a librarian hangout. Tell me more about KILLIAN.
CORDUROY: I don't know about that.

we take the books

Parking Lot Encounter

to the swamp shack!

the rest of us are in the car, LOTTIE's about to get in. At the library. Up behind LOTTIE drives a man on a motorcycle. yellow motorcycle, matching yellow helmet, dark black visor.

LICKITUNG: It has been too long since you've been up, my pet. I've missed you. You must be so hungry. There was more fuel for your tiny fires in other climes. Perhaps we may play again, before you something. I do so miss the games we play.

we're unable to get out of the car; LOTTIE is unable to get in.

SHELF unloads 6 bullets with no effect.

Visor opens, a giant red tongue shoots out. He licks LOTTIE's face and zooms away. The doors start working. Guy smells like _big rotting meat (ROTTING FLESH)._

MO: swabs a swab of tongue juice

SHELF: that was unusual. What was that lizardman saying to you, LOTTIE? I couldn't open the car!
LOTTIE: that was weird!
VELASQUEZ: what was that, LOTTIE?
LOTTIE: He said... a lot of stuff. I'm glad he said it, tho. LOTTIE is not sure why she's glad he said the stuff
VELASQUEZ: should we call PIZZA?
LOTTIE: I really just want a drink
VELASQUEZ: are you sure you should drink while you're on an investigation?
LOTTIE: you don't know how hard this job is.
VELASQUEZ: I know we weren't gonna talk about this at work, but don't remember telling me you'd work on your drinking?
LOTTIE: I never said anything like that.
VELASQUEZ: were you drunk when you said that?
LOTTIE: ...anyway

JO MAMAS SWAMP SHACK

confederate flag, confederate flag, confederate flag, confederate flag. The music rocks: surrender by cheap trick, def leppard, she's my cherry pie, pool tables, dartboard; bartender BRIDGET's got big big botox lips. big long nails; none missing.

BRIDGET: Can I get ya something darlin?

LOTTIE: pushes through aggressively Triple whisky
BRIDGET: big day, huh, babe?
LOTTIE: lookin to have a big night, too. tips 10 dollars
BRIDGET: uncle is scottish, bonds with SEAMUS
SEAMUS: what's your name miss?
BRIDGET: BRIDGET

we get a table; big shitty bar; 12$ crab bucket; "i love rock and roll" is playing

people here:

SEAMUS: gets another round

BRIDGET: how's it goin sweetie?
SEAMUS: I just heard the most fucked up thing, maybe you can make me feel better about it
BRIDGET: Oh I'll do that alright.
SEAMUS: I heard the biker boys talkin about this poor girl that was eaten by her cats
BRIDGET: she got what was comin to her.
SEAMUS: what's that mean? give me the goss?
BRIDGET: she just thought that anybody at the bar was just hers, she didn't seem to care if other people were maybe interested in certain individuals at the bar
SEAMUS: bit of an attn whore?
BRIDGET: she was an attn cunt
SEAMUS: here a lot I take it?
BRIDGET: couldn't get her out of here. I saw the disgusting boys she's bringing home, so I don't understand why she had to bring home CLAYTON
SEAMUS: CLAYTON?
BRIDGET: He hasn't been around about a month now, with his big drive out to california
MO: has been sitting at bar the whole time have you seen him since she got him with her womanly wiles?
BRIDGET: it's not like he's my man or anything like that. I'm just saying if you're eating off the floor, why you gonna eat of somebody else's plate
SEAMUS: has she been with anyone since that you saw?
BRIDGET: oh yeah, she'd come in for the crab boil and find a boy to take home. You know what I've never seen before though? And I've seen some lose women. I've never seen a woman with such sadness in her eyes. I can't see what the men would get out of it; would be like fucking a corpse.
SEAMUS: she ever get to more than drinkin?
BRIDGET: lotta drugs around here. I don't think she's a christian woman, not like me. By the way, SEAMUS, are you a christian like me?
SEAMUS: catholic. Any of these gentlemen know her?
BRIDGET: hard to find a guy around here who hasn't been down to the crystal mines. Might not admit it though.
LOTTIE [to VELASQUEZ]: why don't you go talk up one of those guys?
VELASQUEZ: what is this about. I'm not gonna talk to some guy just because you're mad I remembered you were gonna stop drinking.
LOTTIE: fine I'll do it then

LOTTIE walks up to the boys

LOTTIE: You're very handsome!

bar patron: sorry ma'am; gestures at ring
LOTTIE: anyone else?
all guys put hands in pockets, look sheepish
LOTTIE: anyone know KILLIAN?
bar patron: ha! Yeah we know her well. BOBBY here might know her too well. You know crystal?
LOTTIE: I'm actually her aunt
bar patron: You're Deep Throat Crystal's Aunt?!
LOTTIE: I am, so I'm a bit uncomfortable hearing her talked to thaht way. I heard about her death, and I know she hangs out here, I was looking to maybe talk to someone she knew, and now you're talking about her like that...
bar patron: I was never intimate with your daughter. BOBBY here sure was though.
MO: wasn't it BOBBY?
bar patron: Oh yeah him too.
BOBBY: She was a real good woman. Gave a lot and expected nothing back. Long suffering woman.
LOTTIE: suffering? what about?
BOBBY: I think it's because she made 8$/hr and lived in a swamp. But she also seemed kinda sad about her past. I gotta be honest with you ma'am; my marriage was going through a rough patch. I'm not proud of what I did with your daughter, but we're all just human beings. I did sleep with your daughter ma'am. I engaged in sexual intercourse with her. And now that I'm saying it, and she died, I've never slept with a dead woman before. I'm so glad you're here. I didn't realize how much this was eating me up inside.
LOTTIE: opens arms for hug
BOBBY: hugs
LOTTIE: looks back at VELASQUEZ
VELASQUEZ: fumes
BOBBY: Your daughter. Well. She wasn't a special lady to me, but I suppose she was a lady. I'm real sorry she did that to herself.
LOTTIE: ...to herself? what are you talking about?
BOBBY: She didn't kill herself?
LOTTIE: Heart attack?
BOBBY: Sorry, I just assumed. When I heard she was dead I assumed.
LOTTIE: did she ever talk to any of you boys about some spooky stuff?
BOBBY: you mean like halloween ghosts and ghouls?
LOTTIE: she ever speak chinese to you?
BOBBY: Everyone speaks a little chinese around here.
SEAMUS: walks up.
SEAMUS: You boys friends of crystals?
biker boys: Oh allo guvnah, call the prime ministah! No tea around here guvnah!
MO: walks up
MO: you know CLAYTON?
BOBBY: ol fruity CLAYTON?
MO: why that nickname?
BOBBY: he's gay as hell. I don't take a liking to that kind of thing, I'm a man of christ like my father.
SEAMUS: he talk much? heard he's a friend of crystal's.
BOBBY: I wouldn't call em friends. Bartender likes him; guess she doesn't know she's barkin up the wrong tree.

Ring ring

PIZZA: ring ring

SHELF: Block.
PIZZA: Hit on the bolow. HOUGHTON's red corolla turned up in Charlotte.
SHELF: Gets him up to date.
SHELF: any updates on the chinese journal translation?
PIZZA: I'll have it for you in the morning.

LOTTIE does meth with the boys.

MO fucks BRIDGET.