Clive Elforth

**Clive Elforth** is a janitor for KFAM radio station. He serves as an unseen supporting character and the epilogue protagonist in *Killer Frequency*. He is voiced by Joshua Manning.

## History

Clive was born in either 1926 or 1927. At some point, he came under the employment of Theodore C. Gallows, acting as an enforcer/"cleaner" for him to get his way in Gallows Creek. Teddy Gallows Jr. implied that Clive was the go-to fixer for any problems that cropped up for the Gallows’ and their business ventures, his work consisting of intimidation and bribery under Gallows Sr.'s subordination. Clive later states that for all his misdeeds, he had never killed anyone and though ruthless and frighteningly effective, Clive was himself an unwilling pawn, knowing that his refusal would ensure that irreperable harm came to his family.

On the night of September 3, 1968, Clive was called into action after Gallows Sr.'s son Teddy orchestrated an ill-fated prank that ended in the death of a local high school student, George Barrow. In order to avoid getting Teddy charged for negligent homicide, Clive was ordered to make it so that George's death is categorized as an accidental drowning while swimming intoxicated, even inventing details such as George having a long history for aggressive behavior, fighting and being a heavy drinker to make the story more believable and his loss seem less tragic. A major part of this was making sure that the football team party during which the deadly prank unfolded was scrubbed from public memory and ensuring moving his place of death from the eastern river to the western reservoir.

Although never outright stated, Clive was apparently sent in to recover the boy's body from the river after it was reported and covertly transported his corpse to the coroner's office. This can be inferred from the audio-taped prelimenary coroner's report by Dr. Virginia Sullivan, that made note of a light post-mortem injury on one of the arms, consistent with being stuck between a car door frame and Virginia's comment that she had received no prior notice when she found the cadaver on her autopsy table at 7 a.m. in the morning. Clive barged into the office shortly before Virginia finished her last audio log and ordered her to shut it off. He forced her into deal, that if she forged an autopsy report with false information, including an earlier time of death, for George Barrow, his employer would cover the medical treatment for her chronicallly ill sister. In turn, Clive promised that he would personally beat Virginia to near-death should she fail to uphold her end of the deal, leaving Virginia with little choice but to obey. Although sorry that he had to resort to coercion, Clive took all the original files and tapes related to George's original autopsy and police report, having them replaced with revised documents, forcefully obtained through Dr. Sullivan and Sheriff Matthews, evidenced by the fact that all papers were valid and handsigned.

Clive implicitly cut similar deals with other witnesses, such as Sandra Sharpe, who found George's body and had to agree to keeping quiet about the changes, letting her keep her dance studio in spite of the sky-rocketing rent by Gallows' estate. It is also likely that he influenced Gallows Reporter editor Maurice Russell to reject an account by Marie Campbell for its content. It is heavily implied that he greased many more palms outside of Gallows Creek and even the state to cover up Gallows Sr.'s shady dealings, with the falsified documents and testimonies on George Barrow's death having been only one of many such operations.

Several months before the night to September 3, 1987, Clive, who had since taken up custodial work for the town's radio station, noticed a seemingly unconnected series of murders cropping up in newspapers he was subscribed to across the U.S., getting ever closer to Gallows Creek. Convinced that someone was seeking revenge for George Barrow, Clive compiled information on prospective victims native to the town, among them Chuck Brody, Ant Williams, Kim Walker and Rebecca Allen, but his investigation led nowhere. Clive recorded two final audio tapes, one in which he instructs the listener to reveal the truth behind the George Barrow coverup, and in the other in which he fesses up to his role and voices his regret for participating, leaving all the evidence to be found in his private office and closed-off storage section in his workplace's basement. In his final message, Clive strongly implies that he will be dead by the time his final log is found.

During the show, Clive becomes a prime suspect for the Whistling Man attacks, after Virginia, believing the killer to be Clive cutting loose ends, fearfully identifies him by name and insists that she kept quiet. Peggy notes that Clive is the name of the station janitor, but believes this to be a coincidence, instead asking listeners to compile a list of Clives they find suspicious which she refers to as “report a Clive to stay alive”.

When Forrest is locked outside the station while looking for the vinyl "Long Ride Home" for Dawn, he re-enters through the basement's cargo lift and while there, he stumbles across Clive's office, which has serial killer written all over it, with clotheslines of polaroid headshots, mannequins with x-eyed faces and a massive corkboard with several cut-out news articles and a high school year book page. Forrest sees this as proof that Clive the janitor is the new Whistling Man and uses the information on the board to determine who the next victim will be and when they unlock the basment storage with a key hidden in his office, they first believe that Clive had been the Whistling Man since at least 1968, suspecting him of killing George Barrow when he mentions that his death was "where it all started". It is only revealed through Dawn's 911 call that it becomes clear that Clive had been investigating the second Whistling Man killings and was trying to find out who was going to be murdered next.

As shown by the ending of the game, despite all odds, Clive was still alive and had avoided becoming targeted by the Whistling Man's killing spree, having waited things out in hiding at the Come On Inn (the same motel Forrest was staying at). He had spent the night eating take-out and drinking beer while watching a TV movie (also called "Killer Frequency") while listening to 189.16. - The Scream to stay updated on the state of affairs, and as the credits to his film roll, Clive listens to a police scanner as Henderson officers try to apprehend the remaining Whistling Man, before he exits the room. His identity is proven by the fact that he has the exact same post-it notes Reggie had complained about being stolen by Clive, the telltale disarray of the room with shelves, mannequin parts, and other items also seen in KFAM's basement, and the corkboard on the wall with potential Whistling Man victims, which showcases just how much Clive had planned ahead.

## Trivia

* Clive's surname, ethnicity, and age are only revealed through his missing poster, seen in promotional art for the game.
	+ Said art was in fact a key conceptual sketch for the development of the game, before writing properly began. In the original version, the missing poster was for Andy Tait, described simply as "old", who was last seen on May 13th. It's uncertain whether this was the original name and pitch for Clive or if the image was simply reused to depict him.
* Besides Clive Elforth, there are several more men named Clive living in Gallows Creek, apparently enough to make a "Suspicious Clives" list, presumably along with a "Non-suspicious Clives" list, the former of which includes the town librarian.
* It is ultimately uncertain what happened to Clive. The previously mentioned promotional material indicates that he has been declared missing by the Gallows Creek Police Department, but Peggy's remark ("*There's a janitor at the station named Clive...*") suggests that he was still working at KFAM. Also of note is that Clive's personnel file is not found among those in Reggie's office, though the same goes for the mentioned-only motor show hosts Timberline Twins, alternate show host Hamish and intern Jeanie McPherson. It's possible that Clive had simply called in sick or gone on leave under the guise of taking a vacation, and has not been gone for long enough to be considered suspicious by his coworkers.
* It is commonly theorized that the unknown person killed by the Whistling Man in the prologue is Clive, since the murder occurs in a building that shares a backalley with KFAM, though there is no hard evidence for the victim to be him, with the ending pointing towards his survival.
	+ That being said, considering Clive's substantial role in the coverup, it is strange that Marie would not try to track him down as she did with Teddy, who names Clive by name during the interview. Since it's shown that Clive must have been hiding for some time, it is possible that to his lack of activity had led Marie to believe that he like some other prospective victims had simply died.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.artstation.com/artwork/lDD1EY