Protagonists#

• Short, Lance - Foreign Service Officer (Γιάννης)
• Miller, Liam (Agent Dave / Jocko) - Naval Special Warfare Group One (SEALs) (Παναγιώτης)
• Lensing, Emma - Professor of Philology (Τάσος)
• Bennet, Wendy - Criminal Intelligence Analyst / Assistant Professor of Criminology (Κωνσταντίνα)

Monday, September 12th, 2016#

Parallel investigations#

The agents gather early in the morning and decide to proceed with investigations into Sheriff Deacon Benson and the trail of animal prints at Myer’s Point Trailer Park.

Deacon#

Agent Jocko, also known as Henry Smith, and Agent Myra arrive at the Hendry County Sheriff’s Office around 10am. Showing their FBI badges, they speak with the sheriff, who hands over Killian’s case file after obtaining their signatures for federal jurisdiction.

Deacon claims that he tried to guide Eckstein, but his inexperience and stubbornness proved too much. He refused to budge from his imaginative story. It was time for him to move on, so he was let go.

The Pool#

Agents Locke and Nikita arrive at Myer’s Point Trailer Park and wade into the marshes. A couple of sweaty, muddy hours tracking through the thick wetlands leads them to a shallow pool of muck enclosed on all sides by a ring of water tupelo, roots interlocked.

Inside, they find the missing pets of Myers Point Trailer Park dead and floating. The stench of weeks of rot claws at the nostrils, but the pets are remarkably well preserved. Some still wear their owners’ collars. All 25 of Glenda’s cats are here.

Each animal appears to have died the same way: Its stomach burst, internally hemorrhaging or sending intestines trailing behind it.

Locke attempts to examine the carcasses but falls into the pool. Emma contacts the others to come and pick them up. On their way out, Wendy shows the cats’ collars to Glenda. She is devastated.

The Kill#

Back at the motel, Agent Myra receives the information he requested on Killian’s mobile phone. It seems that she spent her life going back and forth between her home, work, and occasionally the dive bar and grocery stores.

Agent Nikita spends more time studying Killian’s journal.

Agent Jocko constantly receives messages from Eckstein. He then arranges to meet him at Rub N Dub at 20:00.

All agents, bar Nikita, arrive earlier to scout ahead. They find cameras all around the premises, redirecting video signals through a nearby antenna. Agent Jocko destroys the antenna.

Casey Eckstein, fully armed, arrives on time in his pick-up truck. He is met by all three agents and then excitedly leads them inside a hidden office in the main carwash building. Jocko reveals to Eckstein the whole story from 2001 and then executes him with a bullet between the eyes. No one flinches, except for Agent Myra.

Agent Nikita arrives to help with the clean-up:

• All the cameras are removed and confiscated.
• All criminal evidence is removed. The agents were never here.
• Eckstein’s body is thrown into the swamps.
• Eckstein’s car is taken and parked outside his house.
• Search and remove all case related evidence from his house.
• Eckstein’s laptop and smartphone are taken for further examination.

Tuesday, September 13th, 2016#

Loose Threads#

Agent Locke, not being able to hack Eckstein’s encrypted computer, contacts Pitzerelli for assistance. He asks her to send it to him in parcel from the local FBI Offices in Fort Myers.

The Cremation#

Agents Locke and Myra drive to the Medical Examiner’s Office and talk to Dr. Govidna Chaudhuri. According to the report, preliminary examination by the sheriff’s office and the medical examiner determined that death by natural causes, cardiac arrest, was so clear-cut that it did not warrant an autopsy.

There’s no definitive physical identification of the corpse. Facial features were mutilated beyond recognition. Dental records were inconclusive. Too little skin remained on the digits for fingerprinting. DNA records weren’t tested against any database or residuals found in the home. The body was assumed to be Crystal Killian because that’s who paid rent on the trailer.

Scraping for DNA#

Agents Nikita and Jock deliver Eckstein’s laptop at Fort Myers FBI Offices. They then head back to the college library to collect DNS samples from Crystal Killian’s office. They are unsuccessful.

Saint Laurence Church#

Take a 3-hour drive to Miami. On their way there, Agent Myra finds no e-mail in lookingforcrystal42@yahoo.com and the searches the internet for Zoe Pound Gang but comes up with nothing.

They drive around the area where St. Laurence Church stands. It is in a crowded neighborhood on the border of Miami’s West Flagler and Flagami districts, south of Miami International Airport.

While the rest of the agents wait in their cars, Agent Myra walks towards the church. A greyhound crosses a busy street, narrowly avoiding traffic as it runs toward him. In its jaws a colorful snake writhes latched onto the tongue. The greyhound does not seem to notice. It stops in front of him and begins wildly thrashing its head, tearing the snake in its jaws to pieces. Then, with a whine, the animal collapses on the pavement. It begins seizing as the neurotoxin courses through its face and neck, eyes deflated and running out from multiple snake bites. Before a minute has passed, it is dead.

Its collar, which reads “Thanks Obama” and has a series of phone numbers on it.