Footsteps

## Synopsis

*The Mystery Machine* returns for its third season. Kennedy Fisher returns to the United States to investigate her family history in Innsmouth, Massachucetts. Meanwhile, Matthew Heawood has gone Iraq to solve Barbara Sayer's murder, and find out whether Kennedy was the killer.

## Plot

Matthew Heawood introduces the episode by playing one of Dr. Jonathan Willett's static-y audio tapes from the first episode of *The Case of Charles Dexter Ward*. He explains that the information they learnt during that season fed into the second. Before beginning this season, he listened to Willett's tapes again and noticed the static noise that can be heard in them. Given the significance of static in the second season, he planned to investigate this further. He also believed that to continue their work they needed to investigate Kennedy Fisher and her family connection to the cults they've discovered, although Kennedy herself stresses that these members of the Fisher family they are interested in all died a long time ago. Matt then plays a recording of a conversation that he and Kennedy had towards the end of *The Whisperer in Darkness* where they discussed this angle of investigation, as well as the possibility of finding out how Barbara Sayers died in Iraq. Kennedy is reluctant, in part because she doesn't think it fits with the show, but Matt convinces her they can set it up at the end of the season. Ultimately they both agreed that there was a story worth telling, and so they have begun the third season called *The Shadow Over Innsmouth*.

Kennedy calls Matt, who is in Al-Qayyarah at the place where Barbara's body was found. With him is his military contact from the previous season, who Matt refers to as 'Jasper' to protect his identity. They talk about the mysterious Episode Nine of *The Whisperer in Darkness*, but neither of them understand what it means. Kennedy tells Matt she's on the bus from Newburyport to Innsmouth, and will be staying at a cheap hotel called The Gilman House Hotel there. When they end the call Matt talks to 'Jasper' about the site, and 'Jasper' describes the burial of Barbara's body as amateur, likely by someone trying to cover up a manslaughter. 'Jasper' refers to their imaginary killer as 'she', implying it was Kennedy, which distresses Matt somewhat.

Kennedy meanwhile, is on the bus to Innsmouth. All the other passengers have left the bus at various points along the way, leaving only herself and the driver: an Innsmouther. The driver refuses to be recorded, but Kennedy describes him as having a 'flat nose, and wide mouth, and eyes that seem a little too far apart', which Kennedy suspects might be due to inbreeding.

Matt and 'Jasper' return to Mosul to look at the street where the dash-cam footage of Barbara and Kennedy getting into a car together was taken. They look at the footage again and notice that the car was parked outside a café and a grocery shop with offices above it. Notably, the driver of the car, and the number plate, are never seen on the footage. 'Jasper' leaves Matt to try and find out where Barbara and Kennedy might have come from and, while he's gone, Matt notices an electronics shop nearby that he suspects might have CCTV of the street. He goes inside to ask the clerk about this, but the man cannot speak English. 'Jasper' returns and tells Matt that the grocer's and the offices were closed at the time the footage was taken, so they must have been coming from the café. Matt explains his theory about the CCTV to 'Jasper' and 'Jasper' asks Matt to wait outside while he asks the clerk, to prevent him from intimidating the clerk. Matt does as he's asked, and 'Jasper' returns after a few minutes with the knowledge that the clerk did have a camera but gave the footage to the police. 'Jasper' however, knowing that the police don't have any additional footage, suspects that someone posed as a police officer and took it. Matt points out that Kennedy could not have pretended to be Iraqi police, and they both agree that more than one person was involved. 'Jasper' cautions Matt to keep an open mind, and entertain the possibility that Kennedy did kill Barbara.

Kennedy arrives in Innsmouth in the evening and, to her surprise, finds it to be clean and well maintained. She notices a series of large estates on the clifftops, and suspects that wealthy people live there. She also doesn't see any cars, restaurants, or people on the streets. She walks to The Gilman House, which she describes as 'charming', and is greeted by Casey, the hotel's concierge, who checks her in and shows her to her room. After admiring her spacious accommodations, she heads out for an evening walk to get a sense of the town. She finds a locked town hall, which she decides to return to tomorrow in the hope it holds records, and a masonic hall dedicated to something called The Esoteric Order of Dagon. As she walks, she gets increasingly concerned about the absence of people on the streets at night, and is confused when a church bell rings at 8:50pm. Getting a little lost as the sun sets, she finds herself wandering through backstreets and past empty warehouses near the docks. While there, she hears footsteps coming towards her. She calls out to whoever is there, but the footsteps stop and gets no response. As she walks away the footsteps start again, and eventually Kennedy starts running from whoever is following her.

Matt and 'Jasper' head into the café and at 'Jasper's' suggestion, sit down and order some drinks. 'Jasper' describes the atmosphere in the café as strange. Matt notices a carved image of a merman holding a trident by the café door, and 'Jasper' identifies it as a local superstition named Dagon. Matt decides to record some of the cafe's ambient noise for later and as he does he picks up Kennedy's voice ordering coffee on the recorder. He jumps up and spots Kennedy by the bar and she runs from him. Matt pursues her but loses her when they get outside, while 'Jasper' asks what is happening.

## Cast, Characters, Crew

* Barnaby Kay as Matthew Heawood
* Jana Carpenter as Kennedy Fisher
* Kyle Soller as Casey
* Steven Mackintosh as 'Jasper'
* Mark Bazeley as Dr. Jonathan Willett (archive audio)
* Samuel Barnett as Charles Dexter Ward (archive audio)

* Writer & Director: Julian Simpson
* Production Coordinator: Sarah Tombling
* Sound Designer: David Thomas
* Music: Tim Elsenburg
* Producer: Karen Rose

## Notes and Trivia

* The finished script of this episode is available on Julian Simpson's blog, Cartoon Gravity.
* This episode marks the first appearance of Kyle Soller in the Pleasant Green Universe.