Episode 4: The Bridge

## Information

Released: December 10, 2018

Duration: 45:47

Listen: https://www.podbean.com/ew/dir-pyv2k-533c1aa

## Synopsis

+46 days 3 hours since Lia Haddock’s abduction.

## Transcript

Interrogator: Why are you smiling?

Charley: Am I?

Interrogator: Aren't you scared?

Charley: I'm uncomfortable. Fear isn't useful.

Interrogator: Oh, that's right. you're all about *efficiency*.

[clacking noise as tape is loaded, chain clinking]

Charley: Why would we listen to *that* tape? We both know what happens.

[rewinding]

Interrogator: It's a reminder. Of how things *ended*. Of what you're protecting. Of what *he's* capable of.

Charley: I *heard* what he's capable of.

Interrogator: You heard what he wanted you to hear. You saw what he showed you.

Charley: Funny. He said that same thing about you.

Interrogator: Then I guess it's his word against mine.

[tape clicks on]

Charley: Below on my left, we are overlooking the sea, and a turn off to what looks like a huge cement dock.

GPS: In fifty meters, you will have reached your destination.

Charley: No boats moor at there now. So, this place...the Dick, DonQuixote, whatever. It’s a red and yellow building...there’s a picture of a guy with a ridiculous mustache. In armor, and a sombrero, holding a-bowl?

[car door open and close]

Charley: Oh, no, that’s a taco. On a little plate. Ten cars in theparking lot. Some of those are probably staff. Okay. Here we go.

[door open, music plays in background, door close]

Hostess: (awkward pronunciation) Hola! Bienvenido to Don Quixote’s, the original home of hapas, that’s happy tapas. For dinner?

Charley: Drinks. I’ll take that booth in the back.

Hostess: Ooh, unfortunately, all the booths are reserved for diners.

[Charley sighs]

Hostess: But Pepe at the bar will-

Charley: What if I order an appetizer?

Hostess: Well, if you order a hapas, you’re *dining* with us, silly. (laugh)

Charley: I’ll take that booth in the back.

Hostess: Perfect! Follow me!

[footsteps, family talking in the background]

Hostess: There you go! Enjoy your meal, and have a hapas meeting!

Charley: (sigh, to self) Oh, hapas. The place isn’t big, maybe twenty-five tables. Family at the window in whale-watching gear. Three couples. One drunk guy at the bar.

Manchengo: (tired, awkward pronouncing) Bienvenido to Don Quixote’s, the original home of hapas, happy tapas. I’m Manchego, I’ll be your server, can I get a drink started for you?

Charley: Manchego?

Manchengo: Yeah, we pick Spanish work names. I like cheese. They let you switch it up, when I started, I was Caballo, that means horse. Agua?

Charley: Can I ask how long this place has been open?

Manchengo: Oh, like a long time, like over ten years. It’s a bit of an institution. Ownership’s changed hands a few times, do you-

Charley: You work much over the last week?

Manchengo: Um, I don’t know I guess, doubles, you know? End of season... Do you know-

Charley: Seen anything out of the ordinary?

Manchengo: Someone left a full diaper on a table. And I mean full. Like that?

Charley: No. Is there a private dining room?

Manchengo: Oh, you wanna book a birthday party?

Charley: No, I’m just meeting friends. And wondering if they might be in a different room, maybe.

Manchengo: Sorry, just the kitchen, bathroom, and the office. Is this like...a test?

Charley: No.

Manchengo: Do you want me to get Jose?

Charley: No.

Manchengo: Okay, well ma’am, I recommend the ham. It’s not iberico, but-

Charley: I’ll just have a soda water and... you-dealer’s choice.

Manchengo: I like the polo píkate griglio. It’s grilled spicy octopus.

Charley: Okay.

Manchengo: It’s not kalamari, I just have to explain because some people-

Charley: I know what it is, and I’ll have that.

Manchengo: Cool.(walks off) Cool.

Charley: Bartender put a plate of food in front of an empty bar stool at the bar. Someone was sitting there before I came in. Heading to bathrooms just to make sure...

[family talks in background]

Charley: Bathroom?

Waitress: Oh, just down the stairs. Watch your head!

[footsteps]

Charley: Long-ish hallway. Three doors near the end.

[door open]

Woman: That toilet’s not flushin’, honey. I’d use the men’s.

Charley: Thanks.

[footsteps]

Charley: Women’s is clear. Office...(door knobjiggles) locked. Men’s...

Man: Oh! What the fuck are you *doing*, young lady?!

Charley: I’m sorry. The door was-

[tape clicks off, fast forwarding]

Charley: This is vital listening?

Interrogator: I just think that part’s funny. Bet you had the gun out and everything. Poor old bastard.

[tape clicks on, ambience]

Charley: Okay, so, if he’s here, he’s in the kitchen or that office. I have to find a way to get into the door-

Daniel: Soda water?

Charley: Yeah, thanks.

Daniel: I had a friend who always ordered clear drinks because Rohypnol turned them blue. Did you know that?

[sounds of a struggle as Charley tries to leave the booth, glass clinks]

Daniel: Nononono no, no, no... Stop. Struggling. Breathe. Breathe.

[glass clatters, water spills]

Daniel: You’re making a mess, calm down, people will say we’re in love.

Charley: Let go of my wrist. I said let go of me. Now.

Daniel: Listen... I’m sure you’re very qualified, you must be good, because... you found me. But I don’t think you’re... interested in making a scene... yet.

Charley: You’re smaller than I thought you’d be. And there’s this. (gun cocks)

Daniel: Oh. Sounds like things just got interesting under the table.

Charley: That’s fifteen rounds pointed directly between your legs.

Daniel: You’re not gonna shoot me.

Charley: No. I’m going to kill you.

Daniel: Not in front of thirteen witnesses, you’re not. I’m not even armed.

Charley: You’re going to get up and walk me to my car.

Daniel: I don’t think so.

[footsteps]

Manchengo: Everything okay over here, Jose?

Daniel: Yeah, thanks, Manchego. Just had a bit of a spill, we’re good.

Manchengo: Oh, okay. I’ll be right back with that polpo.

Daniel: Go ahead and cancel that polpo, we’re just gonna head to the office for a chat.

Manchengo: Sure.

Charley: I’m not going anywhere with you.

Daniel: I think I’ve proven I’m more than civilized. And I just fired Hard-to-think-over Mariachi Hits Compilation #4. Four compilations. Can you believe that?

Charley: You abducted Lia Haddock. You’ve killed over a hundred people. You started a fire that destroyed-

Daniel: I didn’t start the fire. Those people are not dead because of me.

Charley: I don’t believe you.

Daniel: Who sent you? My old pal? I dream of Gene-y?

Charley: What if I told you I was sent by Emile?

Daniel: (laughs) Well... then I’d know you’re lying. He doesn’t want this to go away. That’s why he hasn’t shown up. He probably won’t come at all, he doesn’t care about Lia, doesn’t care about anyone but himself, listen: I’ll tell you where Lia is. And afterwards... if you still want to...I’ll let you take the first shot. I’m a fair guy.

Charley: Funny. I heard you were a monster.

Daniel: Well, monsters are funny. Come on...Let’s talk somewhere more private.

[fast forwarding]

[unlocking door]

Daniel: Hey, did you hear about that restaurant on the moon? Great service. No atmosphere. (laughs)

[door opens, sets keys down, door closes]

Daniel: Uh... Sorry it’s such a mess.

[pause, sounds of settling in, glass clinking]

Daniel: Want a drink?

Charley: No. You’re different than I thought you’d be.

Daniel: Well, I got a haircut. Actually, I got them all cut. (laughs)That’s a joke. I’ve lost some weight.

Charley: Rough few months?

Daniel: Rough ten years.

[sits down]

Daniel: Maybe you thought I’d be more... unhinged.

Charley: Something like that.

Daniel: Well... We build things up in our minds. The thing we imagine is always... scarier than reality. Right?

Charley: Sometimes.

Daniel: Always. That’s the problem. Last chance.

Charley: I don’t drink.

Daniel: Good for you.(sets drink down)

Charley: Where is Lia Haddock?

Daniel: (sound of drinking) Doesn’t matter where she is. She’s not the one you want.

Charley: You think I want Glass Joe.

Daniel: I know you do.

Charley: Is this like a scotch thing? Glass Joe is the alcoholic version of you? One too many and you turn into Glass Joe?

Daniel: Did you know I was a fighter? Professionally?

Charley: I heard you boxed.

Daniel: Yep. Cruising weight. And heavy weight. Went to school on a boxing scholarship. Did a couple years right out of college.

Charley: I bet you were good.

Daniel: Everyone’s good until you go down. But yeah, I was good. Fast. Wicked right hook. Ever boxed?

Charley: Once or twice. Long time ago.

Daniel: Oh yeah?

Charley: Junior flyweight.

Daniel: Huh. Then you know it’s not only about how hard you can hit the other guy. Sometimes it’s about how much punishment you can take. ‘Cuz sooner or later, you’re gonna get hit. And it’s gonna fuckin’ hurt. When I went pro, I really found out what it was like to take a punch.

Hey... what do you call a boxer that gets beat up? A sore loser.

Charley: Ha ha.

Daniel: Hm... (swallow) Ah...Turned out I had a weak chin. Heh. You know what they call that in boxing?

Charley: A glass jaw.

Daniel: Ding ding ding ding *ding*! A glass jaw.

Years later when I had switched over to security, the kids found an old VHS of some particularly glass jaw fights of mine. Tyler was only four, Macy was seven. She asked Dij- Khadijah, that was my wife- she asked her to put it on. And the kids had questions. *Boy*, did they have *questions*! Glass jaw is just an impossible concept to explain to a four-year-old, you know? So he got it in his head that the reason I was getting hurt was a bad guy named...Glass Joe.

So Glass Joe became something of a fixture in our house. But Glass Joe was just a ghost story. I guess until Dij died.

Charley: Car accident, right? One too many for poor old Dij? You drove her to drink, then she drank and drove?

Daniel: (pause) It wasn’t...quick. Our car had caught fire. And they couldn’t get her out.

Charley: The kids knew?

Daniel: I told them what happened. I told them the truth. That’s...what she would have done.

Charley: You... You told them she died in a car fire?

Daniel: (sigh) Sugarcoating... just gives you cavities. She used to say that. Tyler was only six, he... he got terrible nightmares. He’d wake up screaming that Glass Joe... was lighting Mommy’s car on fire. And he was going to burn down our house next. He had nightmares like that his whole life.

Anyway... (inhale, sigh) Limetown was a year later.

Charley: You told Lenore you’d look after the survivors.

Daniel: Of course. I couldn’t stomach the idea of that many people dying for no reason.

Charley: But you can stomach what you do now?

Daniel: How do you stomach what you do?

Charley: You have no idea what I do.

Daniel: Ah, I bet it’s not that different. You get paid to make problems go away. So do I.

At the time, my job was to secure the assets. Starting with Emile. To look after him. Get him to Bridge when it was set up. Getting him out of Limetown was like a war movie. Smoke *everywhere*, people screaming... We went right past where he-uh, Oscar Totem-was. I swear he would’ve watched Oscar burn ‘til he was ash if I hadn’t practically carried him to the van. He just looked out the window as we drove away. Like a little kid. We had barely met before. I said, “Emile? I’m Daniel. And no one’s gonna hurt you as long as you’re with me.” There was a long silence, and he finally said, “What’s happening?” Nobody had fuckin’ told him anything.

Charley: And you told him the truth.

Daniel: I thought he deserved to know. He kept saying “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” But he wasn’t really talking to me.

Charley: Who do you think he was talking to?

Daniel: I don’t know.

Charley: Where did you go?

Daniel: A fleabag motel in the middle of fuckin’ nowhere for three weeks. Kids were at my mother’s. They had no idea what happened.

Charley: How did Emile take it?

Daniel: He was in shock. He stayed in the room, blinds closed, never stepped a foot outside. I told him not to leave, and he said... “Where would I go?” Heh. Broke my heart. So we watched sports. We’d listen to Sincerely Sandra. We drank scotch. All...in silence. Like a sad guy’s road trip where nobody talked. Then one day, I went to grab his dinner, and came back, and he had locked himself in the bathroom.

[banging in background]

Daniel: I bang on the door, and I finally had to tear it off the hinges. And there was Emile, just... sitting in a full tub of water, still in all his clothes, sleeves rolled up to the elbow, staring at a razor blade he’d balanced *perfectly* on the faucet. I had no idea what to do. I wasn’t equipped for that-I was a field guy.

So I... just sat down, back against the tub, and started talking, I told him all about Dij, about my kids, about stupid Glass Joe. About how my kids loved dumb puns. And... then I... I don’t know why, I just started telling jokes. One right after another, every bad joke I could think of. There was a great one about an elephant. What do you call an elephant that doesn’t matter? ...I know. I didn’t say it out loud. Then there’s this sound, like a, like a gurgling, a choking, he’s- (laughing) he’s laughing! He finally catches his breath long enough to say... “An irrelephant.”

Then he’s laughing his head off! That opened the floodgates, and now he’s opening about *everything*, this woman Allison, who ended up marrying his brother, and her kid, Lia, this kid he *loved*. We must have sat there for three hours. (pause) I should have just let him do it. But I know now, he never would have. Not actually. That was also for show. So I’d fucking pity him.

Charley: Tell me what happened when you went to the Bridge.

Daniel: I got a better idea.

[Daniels stands up, Charley’s gun cocks]

Charley: Slowly.

Daniel: It’s not far from here. Where it ended up. We can walk.

[unlocks door]

Daniel: You mind getting, uh... a little wet?

[footsteps]

[metal door opens, rainfall]

Daniel: We were still at the motel when we got the call that they were set up. When we all boarded the first day, there were balloons, and-you’d think the Titanic was setting sail.

[metal door shuts]

Daniel: By the time my kids joined us, Emile had heard *so much* about them, he said he felt like he knew them already. He said they could call him ‘Mil, so they called him “Happy ‘Mil”, like McDonald’s.

Charley: Did the kids like being on the Bridge?

Daniel: At first. We had a *big* apartment, there were only thirty people or so on the boat. The kids had their own rooms, which they’d never had. But after the initial cool of the boat wore off, they realized they still had to go to school. It was just them and a bunch of lame adult scientists and just five other kids. None their age. Candice was eleven, Madja was five, Sunny was three, Val was only two. And Richie...Richie was thirteen.

Richie, Macy and Candice, that was the crew, until Macy insisted they include Tyler. Even though he was younger... She was a good sister. They’d hang out in their fort, what Richie started calling the Boob Room. This was the unused lactation room, and since there was no nursing mothers on the Bridge, we-the parents-we just kind of let them have it. Before the contact, my kids still spent most of their extracurricular time with me.

Charley: And Emile?

Daniel: Yeah, and not just because I was his bodyguard, which Macy joked was just a fancy way of saying “babysitter”. But because they really liked him. I liked him. He was funny! He’d come to our place and we’d make dinner, and watch TV, and we’d have these really grown-up conversations with the kids about everything. The news, the world, big stuff, hard stuff, no sugarcoating. Dij would have liked him, too.

And Emile was just so taken with their *brains*, with their questions. Once Tyler asked him if his wife and kids were coming, too. He said he didn’t have a wife. And Macy said “Dummy, maybe he has a husband.” Emile smiled and said no husband either. No kids. No family. So Tyler told him he could be in our family. Emile almost cried. That night, Emile stayed over on the couch, as he often did, and I went in to kiss the kids good night. I came back out, and he was on the couch. I’ll never forget the look on Emile’s face in that moment.

Charley: Gratitude?

Daniel: Jealousy. Like he felt left out of that part of the evening. That passed. He said he was just... sad. He told me he didn’t want to talk about Allison, Jacob, Lia. He couldn’t talk about them without thinking about Limetown. About the families in Limetown. He still felt so guilty, I mean of course he did. “You can’t fix it,” I said. “But you can learn from what happened. You can be active in the development of whatever this new version is, this thing, it stems from your mind. You can take agency over it, and make sure that... that that can’t ever happen again.”

Charley: Did that help?

Daniel: I guess so. Because after that he really doubled down on trying to create something that would have a positive effect on the world. He was way more active in tech trials, and generally seemed happier. And then there was the breakthrough. And suddenly... it was afunctional piece of wearable tech.

Charley: And they made everyone get it.

Daniel: No. *He* made everyone get it.

Charley: Who?

Daniel: Emile. Hold on, we need to wait for the light. (presses button) This corner is kind of blind.

Charley: You said Emile made everyone use the tech?

Daniel: Yeah. It was his suggestion. Well, at first, it was a suggestion. Then it was a condition.

Charley: A condition of what?

Daniel: Of him. Cooperating. Continuing to cooperate. The lead researcher, Richie’s dad, he said that didn’t make any sense. Budget-wise, trial-wise, but Emile wouldn’t stand for it. And now, thanks tome, he was ready to through his weight around to avoid what happened last time, he said. Okay. But not the children. “Especially the children,” he said. So we all got the contact. And that’s when things changed.

[light dings]

Daniel: Oh, we can go.

Charley: The contact changed people?

Daniel: No, no no no. No. It just amplified what was already there. But...for the kids...

Charley: It messed with their speech, right?

Daniel: It messed with a lot of things. Now, at the beginning, before their major updates, it was a barrage of thoughts, images, feeling, this was scary enough for an adult, but when you’re a kid, and you’re just starting to put the world together in an intelligent way, it’s a *lot*. I mean, before the filters, the kids got exposed to a lot of grownup thoughts they didn’t *need* to encounter, *ever*. You don’t know how to censor your thoughts until someone says you should, then you learn... The people on the Bridge weren’t exactly model citizens.

Macy came home one day, and she was really crying. I asked her what was wrong, and she said, she walked past Lyle. She felt something. A shiver, goosebumps. I told her not to go near him anymore, and then...There were the questions. If someone, for instance, a curious kid wanted to know the answer to a question, like “How are babies made?” All they had to do was ask it. Even if you didn’t want to tell them. It’s like when someone says “Don’t’ think of a polar bear.” What’s the first thing you think of? Hm? Then, they started rolling out the updates, the walls, the filters, you could use to specify who you were talking to, (unsure about this) the channels. Like-private text threads, methods to block people.

Charley: Visualizing a brick wall, brick by brick?

[car horn honks]

Daniel: You’ve been talking to someone.

Charley: I talk to a lot of people.

Daniel: The tech got more developed. And soon, you can communicate with anyone who was on the Bridge. The range was incredible. So you can imagine someone sitting across from, how clearly you’d see what they wanted you to see.

Charley: What do you mean, what they wanted you to see?

Daniel: Well- (falters) The wall works both ways. If you can build a wall for someone to see, you can build anything, right? People don’t always think the truth, is what I’m saying. Especially when they’re asleep.

Charley: You’re talking about dreams. Nightmares.

Daniel: Dreams... are powerful, right? They’re how our minds express things outside of social requirements. Wants, fears.

Charley: What does that have to do with the contact? Wouldn’t you just take it off when you went to sleep?

Daniel: Ah, you were supposed to. That’s what they advised. But tell your kid it’s bedtime and they can’t read comics anymore, and what do they do? Stay up reading up the covers with a flashlight. That’s what they do with the contact, only it was chatting. Like a very advanced tin can telephone system.

Charley: You’re saying the contact was fun?

Daniel: For the kids? Absolutely. It was a way to pass notes that no teacher could ever intercept. A way to share fantasies, not just a way of talking, but a mode of entertainment. Smells, sounds. Sometimes I’d come into the boob room, and the five of them would just be laying down in a circle with their heads almost touching, playing make believe in their minds. Once I asked them what they were doing, and Macy said, “We’re fighting a dragon, in Spain.” Adults were so focused on the practical application of the tech; we didn’t even *think* of the fantastical uses! The kids... Aw, man, once- Once they got the hang of it, it was amazing for them. So at its best, the tech could be like a virtual reality interactive television.

Charley: And at its worst?

Daniel: You know what ethylene is? It’s the chemical in apples that causes one rotting apple to rot the whole bunch. The ethylene came from Emile. It came from his own personal nightmare.

Charley: Limetown. How do you know this?

Daniel: Tyler told me the next day. He said he had a dream like a movie, almost a cartoon. It was a nice place. With a white picket fence. But there was blue smoke everywhere. Tyler said he could smell it, and people were screaming, and a man was on fire, but people weren’t helping, and the man’s face was melting. And Emile... or something that looked like Emile- was there, too. Just watching.

And Tyler woke up, and he came into the living, and Emile- real Emile- was sitting on the couch. Head in his hands, just sobbing. Silently. And Tyler sat beside him, and asked him what happened. What the images were. And because we had always told him the truth, Emile told him the truth. Most of it. There were a lot of people in a town, and they got angry at the man, and they burned him. Because he didn’t do what they wanted.

Charley: Jesus.

Daniel: Tyler asked whose fault it was, the fire, all those people dying, and Emile, that fucking coward. He didn’t want Tyler to hate him. He couldn’t stand the thought of kids hating him as much as he hated himself, so he said-he thought. (unsure about this one)

Charley: Glass Joe.

Daniel: Mm-hm. So now Tyler not only knew about Limetown, he thought Glass Joe was responsible for it, and burned people at the stake or in their cars or houses when they didn’t do what he wanted. Macy started having nightmares, too. A few of the parents mentioned Glass Joe as well.

Charley: But the kids knew Glass Joe wasn’t real.

Daniel: At first they did, sure. In the way kids know that Santa Clause or the Tooth Fairy isn’t real. But you still get presents, right? You still get money under your pillow. So a tiny part of you, if you’re seven, thinks maybe... if you can’t see something... you can’t know that it’s not there.

Dij had died in a car fire. Oscar Totem had burned at the stake. Those things were real. And the other kids added their own boogeymen to the mix.

Charley: Boogeymen?

Daniel: Things they were scared of, their anxiety, their fears, their frustration with being isolated on the Bridge. They’d plug it all into the tribe chat (?), which ended up being like a breeding ground for exaggerated fears. And a way to act out and blame it on Glass Joe. And once they had a name, a legend, it just got bounced and forth in dreams in the boob room, getting passed different incarnations, through reality and make believe, the nightmare factory that the tech had become, until Glass Joe was like a campfire ghost story on acid.

Charley: How do you know all this? They told you?

Daniel: I could get snips when they were wearing the contact, but they were getting good at putting up brick walls, as you say, by the time all this fully got into full swing. But I wasn’t that worried. We- the adults, we thought of it as a game. Like Bloody Mary. We didn’t think it could hurt anyone.

Macy once asked me if something can burn in the water. I told her, “Yes. Anything can burn.” She started keeping a fire extinguisher in her room. We thought it was kid stuff. (pause, sigh) It’s kind of beautiful here. You might almost forget...what happened there.

Charley: And what did happen here, Daniel?

Daniel: To celebrate our two-year anniversary of boarding the Bridge, we had a big party. Or as big a party as you can have with thirty people. Cake, dancing, games, tons of booze, we took out our contacts, went analog. I think more for nostalgia than anything else. It was...novel. Having to talk to each other. I remember looking over at Emile as he looked out over the sea of people that had become people who knew him. Who he spent two years with. Especially the kids. Me... We were his family. I felt what he felt, he was happy, drunk and happy.

After I put the kids to bed, he and I had a nightcap that he didn’t need back at my place. He passed out on the couch. I passed out in my bed. I thought the kids were asleep. They were. For a while, anyway. They had to be for it.

Emile woke me up at 4:30 in the morning, in panic. Still drunk, he said. “They’re gone. The kids are gone. I’m sorry. The drinking, I couldn’t find them. I can’t find them.” I didn’t know what the fuck he was talking about. I checked Macy’s room. Tyler’s. They were gone. So were their contacts.

Everything... happened quickly after that, I...I went out and screamed their names like a crazy person. A storm had rolled in while we were sleeping, so I could barely hear myself over the wind. (storm noises) I did that for five to ten minutes before I had the bright idea to put in my contact. To look for them that way.

I ran back in, and Emile was holding my contact. Tears streaming down his cheeks. “There’s nothing you can do,” he said. Of course he knew before me, he didn’t need the contact.

[water noises bleed into the background]

Daniel: I ripped it out of his hands, almost gouged my eyes outputting it in. Reached out for Tyler and Macy, and I felt it, too. The cold. The wet. They were reaching for me, too. They were scared. And they were trying to come back. But they were so tired. I ran upstairs and... outside to the deck, Emile was right behind me, I could hear other voices screaming, Madja, Richie, Sunny, Val, the kids were all gone, even the toddlers.

I knew they were in the water. But it was pitch black. We couldn’t see them. But everyone put the tech in could feel them, swimming. They thought the Bridge was on fire. And Glass Joe told them to swim. And they were all Glass Joe. He told them to swim as far as they could, away from the boat. Away from the shore. They were so tired. They couldn’t...

Macy was the last one to...To feel your child die...To hear screams in your bones, to hear gasps... To feel breath being forced from your lungs...

I’ll hear those screams until the day I die. A few other parents tried to get a boat to go look for them, but...there was no point. It was too late. But I could see what had happened. Richie carried Sunny, Candice carried Val. They swam with them ‘til they couldn’t hold them. ‘Til they couldn’t take the weight anymore, and then they just... let go.

Charley: I’m sorry.

Daniel: Why? You didn’t make the tech. You weren’t responsible for Limetown. You didn’t tell them to swim. Did you? It was Emile. It has always... been... Emile. His mess. And just like Limetown, he didn’t even bother to stick around to say he was sorry.

Charley: You took him out of Limetown.

Daniel: And it was a mistake. He should’ve stayed. He should’ve been burnt at the stake. He should’ve let us drown him. That would’ve been fair.

Charley: That’s not the same.

Daniel: Isn’t it? (footsteps crunching) As long as he’s alive... there will always be another Limetown. As long as people have that tech, there will always be Glass Joe.

Do you have any idea how hard it is to spend ten years... coming up with accidental ways for- perfectly nice people- to die? It’s fucking awful. Charley... There’s no one coming for you. Emile... the great savior... he was never going to be here. This is a man who’s destroyed hundreds of people’s lives because he was fucking lonely. A man who wanted to find a way to make everyone like him. Emile Haddock... is a selfish, jealous, cowardly piece of shit. And he... has been living on borrowed time since that day in the motel. I’m just finishing the job.

Charley: Daniel...

Daniel: You know, he called me one day. Five years ago. (scoffs) He called me on the phone, and left a fucking message, a fucking voicemail! “Danny, please, please, Danny!” Like he could fucking reason me out of it.

Charley: Who started the fire on the Bridge? Who killed all those people?

Daniel: Did you hear the one about the man who tried to keep a secret?

Charley: Those people didn’t have the tech. It was just... You could’ve just destroyed the contact.

Daniel: Oh, he did. He did destroy the contact. Joe did. Every last one. But those people, his friends, Emile’s friends, they knew how to make it, too. They could make it again. Couldn’t they? They had once before.

(sigh, pause) He couldn’t take the chance. Because... something much worse would happen if the tech got release. So, Joe locked them in the theater. And set the boat on fire. And Joe...he couldn’t stop there, could he? Because the other people, the poor people he tried to save from Limetown, who didn’t do anything but try and change the world...it was in their heads. He was in their heads.

[gun cocks]

Charley: Where is Lia Haddock?

Daniel: You wanna hear another joke?

Charley: No more jokes.

[pause. Daniel sighs]

Charley: You’ve got five seconds to tell me where she is.

Daniel: I had a dream I was a muffler last night.

Charley: Five.

Daniel: I was exhausted.

Charley: Four.

Daniel: You heard the one about the dad who forgot to put the cat out?

Charley: Three.

Daniel: He didn’t even know it was on fire! (laughs)

Charley: Two.

[Daniel laughs]

Charley: One.

Daniel: Turn off the tape recorder. I don’t want him to hear this part.

Charley: Who?

[pause]

Daniel: (slowly) Turn off the tape recorder. And I’ll tell you where she is.

[rustling, clicks off tape]

Charley: Did you get what you needed? Closure? Or are you still trying?

Interrogator: He convinced you he was justified.

Charley: We had a conversation.

Interrogator: He knew someone would listen to those tapes. He knew I’d listen to them.

Charley: Turns out he was a pretty smart guy.

Interrogator: He was Glass Joe. He was the monster. You’re keeping a secret for a mass murderer-

Charley: I’m not keeping anything! Some people think I’m a mass murderer, I guess it just depends on your definition of “mass”.

Interrogator: No one is justified in killing a hundred-and-fifty-eight innocent people!

Charley: Innocent? You wanna have an argument about ethics, about morality? You want to tell me you’re the good guy now?

Interrogator: How can you do this?

Charley: Training. What should we listen to now? You know, there’s one thing I’ve never gotten a chance to listen to. The voicemail. I bet you have the voicemail from Daniel’s machine. I’ve never heard it. See, I’m trying to help, that might jog something. Cause some synapses to fire, loosen a few bricks.

Interrogator: (shuddering breath) You’re a monster.

Charley: I’m a professional. You think you’re a hero because you called him on the phone and begged him to stop?

Interrogator: I don’t think I’m a hero. I just want to save her.

Charley: You’re the one he wanted, why wouldn’t you go to him?

Interrogator: I couldn’t.

Charley: You ran away from the Bridge, you keep running away.

Interrogator: He would have killed me.

Charley: And then what? The great technological marvel that comes out of your brain would be lost to the world? That’s what you’re really concerned about, isn’t it? Not your life, not the lives of people around you. You didn’t even try to save your niece.

Interrogator: Wh-What do you think I’m doing right now?

Charley: Wasting time using tapes and memories to try to fuck around in my brain. But you’re not-

Interrogator: Where IS SHE?

[smash noise]

Charley: It’s no use, Emile. I know how to protect myself. You can’t find it. You won’t find it. Brick by brick by brick, just like they taught the kids. We can be down here for months and months. Years. And you won’t ever know the answer.

Interrogator: I’ve got all the time... in the world.

Charley: She doesn’t.

Interrogator: Then we’ll have to try something else.