Paralyzed - Chapter 18: Downfall - Part 1/5

Episode Date: June 22, 2021

Jake flies back to DC, but can't stop thinking about the day he and Roland found the bodies in the clearing. But now news reports are keeping out specific details of the finding which will make connecting the cases a lot harder. Meanwhile, Roland is once again visited by David, who lists off a bunch of names. But what do the names mean..?Music:"FlyOnTheWall" by Elderich T'Challa of Nemesis Black @ reverbnation.com/nemesisblack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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I sat at the bar of O'Reilly's by myself. Stand up at the TV displaying breaking news of 2012 cruise ship missing bodies discovery. The talking head next to images of the woods. Erratic cuts of photographers taking scene photos and cops surveying the area and putting down markers. I was reading subtitles that seemed to be on a two-minute delay. It didn't matter. I could already tell what was happening. Fucking motherfuckers. Oh, my God.

I can't believe it. What the fuck? I told you. Did you see him? David? No, a moth. A moth? Yeah.

We slowly walked through the clearing. Several bodies were in the trees, a couple others on the ground. The bodies were skeletal, a brownish torn clothing, lightly flapping in the breeze. Surprisingly, most of the body seemed to be. intact. Probably due to the environment. They weren't easily identifiable, but we knew exactly who they were.

Ah, shit! I tripped over a grouping of rocks. What is that? A fire pit? What the fuck? Is this some weird, like, cult shit? It's what I knew we would find. Roland.

This is big. I told you, Jake. Hey, I'm... I'm fucking out here, right? I told you I understand. And yet, you wanted to hightail it out of here. It's been nearly a week and we didn't... I just thought...

I figured if we were going to find something, you would have... What? I told you I didn't have a lot of time. And I told you not to come. Well... I'm glad I did. Hello! Sam! Jake!

Oh, fuck. Maybe I'm not. What? We need to head back. What? We need to head back now to the boat and say nothing to Barbara. What in the hell are you talking about? We can't discover this. This is why we came out here, Jake.

I know I fucking get it, okay? But you may have a fake name, but I don't. Meaning what? Meaning I can't be up here. I'm supposed to be in Washington. We came out here to find them. And we did. But Jesus Christ, this will draw a lot of attention.

As it should. I understand that, Roland, but local law enforcement will get involved. My name will be out there. So fucking what? But they won't let you leave here either. Meaning you'll be fucked. The Bureau will send somebody out to get you, meaning all this will end. You'll be arrested.

I'll be fired. Us finding this alone was a gift. It's not wasted. What if they realize? Realize what? The significance of this. Do you want to take that chance? So then what?

We can't leave it like this. Hello? Hello, guys. It's unsafe. Where are you? I got it. We'll tell someone. Someone local.

A fisherman is some shit. In a few days' time, they can stumble on it by themselves. Get recognition. We'll be long gone by then. We haven't talked to local law enforcement, only Barbara. You don't think they can connect us? There is no us, but we have to leave tonight. We can't find this.

seriously think about it what about Vancouver that's nothing even if my name's out there they won't be able to link it to the bodies we talked about the crews but we filled out no paperwork made no recordings

and I can call my sister in Cordillane tell it a vouch for me for the past week but Jake this this is why we're here and you were right Roland you were right but we need to go guys

we need to go Roland now I know I know she was pissed at me but the hell could we do stumbling on those bodies without bobber around that was a fucking gift

and when we got back to the B&B rolling let me have it fuck! Hey, calm down What are we gonna do? You're gonna fucking relax before the little old woman downstairs calls the fucking cops. This is bullshit. I wanted to search the scene.

I wanted to see... See what? We saw. We know they're there. A lot of good that does us here. You're shaking. Why don't you go get a drink and calm yourself? How can we investigate the site now?

We can't. They will. Who? The authorities. Yeah. But what about us? You know I'm fucking right. We report it.

Every officer and every fucking agent will be here. within an hour. This way we separate ourselves. You said you want to see this through, right? Well, fucking this is the best way to do that. If you're playing some kind of game... Fucking spare me. You know I'm right. We could have at least tried harder. You couldn't wait to take off all that time. All that fucking time and your fucking dead friend had us spinning around in circles, looking at all hay-covered floors and fallen trees. What does that mean? Your fucking friend couldn't show us sooner? You have no idea what you're talking about. Took a boat ride north. Where was he then?

how it works. He shows up when he shows up. Glad to know you believe me, though. It's hard not to now. Fuck, this is fucked. I mean, who knows how this goes? And that fire pit? What the fuck was that? A fire pit in the middle of those bodies? Right in the fucking middle? I don't know. That's cult shit. Seriously. Jesus. Maybe I'm not the only one who needs a drink. It's not that I necessarily doubted her, but part of me didn't expect to really find anything. Maybe a new clue, but definitely not the bodies.

Neither of us had yet to shower after being in the woods for days. We stood in the room, dirty, sweaty, and now panicked. We give a tip, when the bodies are discovered, we'll be filled in. And we still have these. Before we reconnect with Barbara, I snap some quick photos of the scene. I need to get these off my phone. ASAP. Scared?

We're not entirely sure how this will play out, so it's probably best not walking around with them. Let me see. She took my phone and skim through. We need to get you into the laptop when we get back to Seattle. Okay, yeah. I leaned over her shoulder as she examined each photo closely. We also need to tell Ray what we found.

But let's wait until we get back to make that call. Okay, so tomorrow morning we'll... Well, what? The bodies. Yeah, I'm not sure why some are in the trees and some aren't, but maybe it's environmental. No, there's too many. What? Look, this picture here, in the back, that's another one.

Wait, one, two, go back. That's a different one. Four in the trees. Two by the fire. That makes six. But here, this is a different angle, and look. She was right. One of the pictures I took was a wide shot, showed another body at the edge of the clearing, half covered by leaves and pine needle.

Holy shit. What? Yeah, yeah, look here too in this picture. How many is that? I think there's two more. Three more bodies? That doesn't make sense. Only seven went missing because Michelle, there should be six bodies there.

No shit, but why are there more? Who are they? Roland, we can't go back. We need to leave. She handed me my phone and sat on the bed. I need a drink. Bad. Those fucks, they'd mention that nine total bodies were discovered, but were unable to identify all of them.

Couldn't believe it. I went on my phone and did a quick search. I have one report mentioned the bodies being strung up. Why? Jesus fucking Christ. Ansel. Where the fuck have you been? Took some vacation time. Yeah, no shit. Just out of the blue?

What? I gotta tell you my weekly schedule. Easy there, cowboy. Fucking just think it's weird as all. I told you, I had lectures. Still? Yeah, man. Hey, you're not pissed about the Ray shit, are you?

I was fucking around, man. I don't care. It was a favor for Robards. I don't give a shit, Ansel. Okay, well, good then. Robards and Torv went to Florida anyway to talk to her. Just her? No? Probably some follow-ups with the whole precinct. Maybe a family too.

Good for them. Although I already knew that. Raid filled me in when we got back. They find anything? Find anything. Yeah. Fuck, I don't know. I help where I can, because I owe the guys some favors. It's not my fucking case and I wouldn't want it. Williams. You want the usual? What's he drinking? Whiskey. Whiskey? That's it?

That's it. Well? Just give me, uh, one of your pale ales, whatever's untapping, half off. Uh, nothing's half off. Not even for me? A loyal customer? George, the bartender gave him the sarcastic wave as to say, the hell with you, when he went to fetch his drink. You know, word hazard, Joyce is pretty pissed.

I'll be in tomorrow. He sign off on your leave? I filed. But did he sign? I don't care. Big balls for the guy on things. guy on thin ice. Ah, work got done.

Lectures. There you go, asshole. Starting a tad. No shit. You know, I wish I had a father to consistently clean my slate. Mine just drank, God'sly, beat my ass when I didn't finish my chores some time. You still think that matters? I know it does, but fuck it.

Use it. I, uh, I don't take it for granted, though. No. I'm in the new department, aren't I? Yeah, sure. But most people would have been fired. He'll be back in the CID soon enough. I don't know why you get all fucking emotional about it. Fuck off. What the hell are you watching?

The fucking news? Where's the game? George! Hey! What do you want, Williams? The news? It's what he wanted. Jake, what is this? It's nothing. Fucking nothing.

Can we change it? Games already started. Bottom of the first. Yeah. Go ahead. I couldn't fucking believe it. There wasn't one mention of the bodies being strung up. Jake and I were texting back and forth, both baffled.

The only thing I could think of was maybe they were worried about how the public would react. especially if this was some sort of cult worship thing. Something Jake kept pushing. I text Jake back, then pocketed my phone. I stared at my computer screen. There was another body found in New Tampa last night. So here I was using Google Maps to get an aerial view of the neighborhood. It was another prostitute.

Like at the lumberyard. This is just what I needed. Ray. Casey? Can I... Can I talk to you for a minute? Sure, yeah. Marion Casey was a younger officer who worked for the TPD.

I didn't know her well, but Roland and Kent did. I followed Casey into the West stairwell. This was weird. Casey, what's wrong? She looked up to make sure no one was coming down. She moved around. around nervously, tugging at her collar, and taking shallow breaths. I, uh, well, have you, have you...

Have I, what? Talk to Roland? What? No. Not at all? No, Casey. Why? The agents that were here, they talked to me. Did they talk to you? Sure, they're doing their rounds, been here all week.

Yeah, well, well, I told him I haven't talked to Roland. Okay But I have What, when After she took the kid from the hospital She called me when she was at the airport Is that right She needed help talking to law enforcement

In Layden I didn't know what she planned on doing But I made some calls And I'm the one who set up her meeting with Cantors Who? Joel Cantors He was one of the You know the bodies that they found

Oh Jesus She called me when she was there Cantors wanted to meet her at the diners, so I set it up. I really didn't know. You mentioned this to those agents? No, I was too nervous. What if it's my fault? It's not your fault, Casey. You didn't know what was going on. All you did was set up a meeting. As a friend. Right, right. So you're fine. But I can't say anything now. They'll think I was hiding it.

No, don't say anything. It's not pertinent information, okay? But Cantor's is dead. That's not on you. Okay. Been holding that in for a while, huh? I didn't know if I should tell anyone. I wanted to talk to you sooner, but you've been busy. I heard your mom is having trouble, and I hope everything's okay there.

She's fine. If you ever need anything. I'm fine. Okay. Hey, Casey, how come you're telling me this now? Because I just talked to them and I needed to get it off my chest. No, I mean, why? me? Because Roland called me after she said she couldn't get a hold of you. What? So I figured

maybe you talked to her. Oh, I, I haven't. That's too bad. I'm worried about her. First Kent, then her, where could she be? I actually didn't know. After Jake had left Roland in Seattle, she hadn't reached out. I called multiple times, but no response. I thought for sure after the news broke about the bodies being discovered, she would have reached out. But no, I just hoped she was okay. I exhausted all my funds. I needed to call Ray, but it was late now. I spent all day at the bar watching the news break on the crew's story. Jake was wrong. There was nothing we could learn from the investigation except maybe who those other three bodies were. But they didn't mention to the

public that the bodies were strung up. Fuckers. After last call, I left, parking my car outside of a closed department store. I laid in the backseat and closed my eyes. I should have gotten some water. I felt sick. Roll it. Oh, shit.

I rolled over to see David sitting in the passenger seat. He was wearing the same clothes from the. that night but this time they weren't torn wet or bloody rolling there's more bodies i know david who are they do you know there are more bodies i know david i know my head was throbbing and i started to feel the urge to throw up oh god He's searching for you. What? He searches.

Oh, fuck me. Who, David? Some of the vomit clunged my hair. Gross. I was too lazy, unsurprisingly too tired to do anything about it. He won't stop. I looked back to see David still in the passenger seat, but now he was facing me.

His eyes completely white, a large grin on his face. He fights me. I won't last Who and what Are you talking about David? I'm not David I've sat my drunk ass up staring at David His grin leveled out

Now it was just a blank stare That made me uncomfortable and even scared You're David No role I'm not I was David What does that mean David no longer

Then, who are you? An entity comes for you, like the others, like Sheila, like Noah, like April, like Rowan. He was listing names. Like James, like Hal, like Sefton, like Patricia, like Shane, like me. You? I thought you said you weren't, David. I'm not David. I was David. And who are you now? A savior, a protector, but not for long run.

Not for long. But I can't be like the others. I can't be like them. I can't. You're not. He leaned back into the seat and slowly dissipated. David? I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. Paralyzed.

Paralyzed. Written by Robert M. Lamb. Edited by Sam Ashley. Starring, Amy Lurray as Roland. Catabelle as Ray. Jack Austin as Jake. Ariel Hack as. Michelle, Brian Messick, as Captain Hiltz,

Mitchell Beck, as Ansel, Mark Koroftus, as Oliver, Rachel Stidham, as Mayor, Brandon Levine, as Ed, co-starring, Corey Pettit, Aud Andrews, Ashley Brooks Plumstead, Adam Ibin, Christina Lewis, Dennis Caldwell, Richard Ashwell, Lindsay Riley, Walter Riddle, Alexander Dottie, Sheila Morris, Dylan Whitehead, Allie Holcomb, and Robert M. Lamb, as David.

Music provided by Kevin McLeod of Incompetec. Eldorich Tachala of Nemesis Black at ReverbNation.com slash Nemesis Black. If you enjoy this podcast, don't forget to rate and review. Visit 7LAM.com for more audio dramas such as this one. This has been a seven-lamb production.