2020-08-17 - The Areas of Our Expertise

(TXT to Alexander) August : hey. got isabella's voicemail. how you doing?

(TXT to August) Alexander : make it stop

(TXT to August) Alexander : kelly made me teach high school. i think he likes it. i hate it. they don't shut up. they call me nicknames.

(TXT to Alexander) August : what?? why is he making you teach high school

(TXT to August) Alexander : because people think he's a gym teacher

(TXT to Alexander) August : listen, sidebar, the dead guy on the beach. with the symbols carved into him. I used to work with him.

(TXT to Alexander) August : pretty sure kelly can't make you teach anyone, you can just leave

(TXT to August) Alexander : oh thank god murders. Yes. I thought you might when the park ranger mentioned he was from Olympia.

(TXT to August) Alexander : (...)

(TXT to August) Alexander : I think that would be a bad idea, August.

(TXT to Alexander) August : ? why

(TXT to Alexander) August : among other things he's not the boss of you

(TXT to August) Alexander : 1) Kelly's upset. I'm pretty sure if another person abandons him, he's gonna lose it. 2) Who would teach the rest of the day?

(TXT to Alexander) August : a sub, you tell them you need a sub. and who abandoned him?? shit please don't tell me he and nicole broke up that was a good thing

(TXT to August) Alexander : i AM the sub. Somehow. Everyone likes me. it is frightening and unpleasant. And I don't know. He doesn't want to talk about it, but i'm pretty sure someone broke a promise to him and watered the tender shoot of his misanthropy.

(TXT to Alexander) August : god, that's why

(TXT to Alexander) August : nevermind. anyways.

(TXT to August) Alexander : why?

(TXT to Alexander) August : they like you because you're a good teacher. especially for teens, who really need someone who can give them a black and white opinion which isn't based in patronizing them.

(TXT to August) Alexander : no. pretty sure they like me because i can't make them sit down and curse a lot.

(TXT to Alexander) August : well the cursing helps too.

(TXT to August) Alexander : but. Murders. Please let's talk about murder. You knew the victim?

(TXT to Alexander) August : yeah. he was a decent guy. niall had him come down here to train new rangers because his back was getting old.

(TXT to Alexander) August : he had the Art. not a lot, but a little.

(TXT to August) Alexander : Which abilities?

(TXT to Alexander) August : honestly, I didn't know to check back then, and hadn't connected with him more recently

(TXT to August) Alexander : Hmm. Ravn says that the runes we found on the body are Sumatran. For 'underworld'.

(TXT to Alexander) August : sumatran. wait, you mean sumerian maybe? like, the triangles and lines?

(TXT to Alexander) August : there are trees, out in the forest, with symbols like that. I was going to take some people out to check on them.

(TXT to August) Alexander : Right, That. Oh?

(TXT to August) Alexander : How did you find them?

(TXT to Alexander) August : I didn't, niall recognized the marks on hank as the same ones he'd seen on some trees. he thought it was just kids being vandals.

(TXT to August) Alexander : Henry. And that's the other park ranger? Ah. That's what he was holding back.

(TXT to Alexander) August : yeah. because you straight up asked him if he killed henry. I realize why you did but, I hope you're not surprised by his reaction.

(TXT to August) Alexander : No. I get that reaction a lot.

(TXT to Alexander) August : because when you know someone and like them and ask them to come down here to help you out with something and they wind up carved up and buried in sand for random people to find, the idea that you did it is pretty disgusting.

(TXT to August) Alexander : But supported by statistics. Most murders are committed by someone in the victim's circle of acquaintances, and the body was found at his event. And witnesses at the scene highlighted unusual behavior from him, as if he already knew the body was gonna be there. I thought it best to eliminate the possibility before it became a distraction.

(TXT to Alexander) August : we both know 'witnesses' have minimal credibility in these cases, alexander. 'like he knew the body was going to be there' was 'like he'd just seen his friend carved up on the fucking beach'

(TXT to August) Alexander : They have limited credibility, but not a lack thereof. And while everyone reactions to traumatic events differently, there are, nonetheless, outliers. Outliers should be investigated. While he may not have enjoyed it, I was able to read his sincerity, and thus not waste time having to eliminate the possibility elsewise. The chances of a successful investigation go up, and catching the killer is more important than how he feels. The cops are gonna ask him the same question, eventually. Just maybe not so bluntly.

(TXT to Alexander) August : just saying, don't be surprised people don't share information with you after you ask them something like that. asking a question like that makes them not trust you.

(TXT to August) Alexander : I don't expect anyon to trust me, August. And I said I wasn't surprised.

(TXT to August) Alexander : No one ever tells an investigator everything in an interview. I always assume something is being held back.

(TXT to Alexander) August : that's often because they're too used to being fucked over by people with authority

(TXT to August) Alexander : Do I get to tell you how to grow a plant, now?

(TXT to Alexander) August : can you grow one? if so, yes.

(TXT to Alexander) August : whether or not I agree with your methods is another thing entirely

(TXT to August) Alexander : You don't have to agree with them. I didn't ask you to.

(TXT to Alexander) August : mmmmhmmmm

(TXT to August) Alexander : Thank you for telling me about the trees. Is there anything else?

(TXT to Alexander) August : anyways. the trees, with the marks. Niall's going to send me a map, and we can check out the areas, see if there's some sort of rhyme or reason

(TXT to Alexander) August : and by we I do mean we, because hank was a friend of mine, so no, you are not doing this without me

(TXT to August) Alexander : If you want.

(TXT to Alexander) August : don't 'if you want' me, alexander, I know you're just like isabella and would run off to do it solo first chance you got

(TXT to August) Alexander : You couldn't actually stop me if I wanted to do that, August.

(TXT to Alexander) August : I can, by not giving you the map of where they are.

(TXT to August) Alexander : I'd just tell the cops that the park ranger knows about similar marks in the forest and hadn't shared that, wait for them to take the photos, and get them from the station. You'd be amazed what the right cops will sell you.

(TXT to Alexander) August : and you'd be amazed at how miraculously those marks would vanish and heal up before the cops ever got to them

(TXT to August) Alexander : And a murderer would go free. Petty.

(TXT to Alexander) August : and you getting niall arrested for obstrucvtion of justice because I won't let you go haring off solo isn't petty?

(TXT to Alexander) August : because that's what they would do, and I know you're not naive enough to think they wouldn't

(TXT to August) Alexander : No. We don't even know this is a matter of Over There. He should be sharing information with the cops. The fact that he isn't is a problem. Unless you're planning on just murdering this person if we find them?

(TXT to Alexander) August : the fact that you think a police force this corrupt and this unlikely to remember anything if it is about Over There will get much done is a little weird to me

(TXT to Alexander) August : and sure, we don't know that it is. it might not be at all. but you're acting like threatening to do shit to people like tank their careers because you can't work alone is a-okay, and it's really not.

(TXT to August) Alexander : This isn't organized crime, August. Or, at least, is unlikely to be. Could be an elaborate coverup, but that's not anyone's style, to my knowledge. And the fact that people remember that sigils were carved into the flesh, rather than deciding 'rogue bear' or something, says it wasn't a Veil creature, directly. So. Probably a disturbed human.

(TXT to August) Alexander : And no. I'm not. I said it was fine you came along. I was just pointing out that you can't make me if I didn't want to.

(TXT to Alexander) August : man those HS kids have you in a mood, don't they? you're not normally this cranky about people not letting you do stupid shit

(TXT to August) Alexander : Nothing I've done in this investigation is stupid. I know how to investigate things. I don't appreciate being treated like I don't by someone who has no relevant experience.

(TXT to August) Alexander : Sorry I hurt your friend's feelings. But you should tell him that he should, in fact, inform the cops about the marks in the trees. If you want to go together to look at them, that's fine. If you don't, that's also fine. I have other leads to look into.

(TXT to Alexander) August : running off alone into the woods would be stupid shit, you've told literally everyone in this whole town that

(TXT to Alexander) August : I'm not the one who needs apologizing to, just so that's clear

(TXT to August) Alexander : I wasn't planning to. I was actually planning to see if you and he would take pictures of the damned things, since I'm not the forestry expert either of you are.

(TXT to Alexander) August : thank you for finally admitting that

(TXT to August) Alexander : I've never said otherwise. You persist in treating me like a child. I'm not. I survived a lot before you ever came around, and I don't appreciate being condescended to. I'm going to go, now. Children are starting to throw things.

(TXT to Alexander) August : apologies for doing that. I don't think you're a child. just cavalier with your own safety and other people's well being

(TXT to August) Alexander : (no response)