Episode 2. "Beneath the Surface"

Episode 2: "Beneath the Surface" Trapped in the flooding tunnels beneath the warehouse district, Rourke and his allies confront Thomas Porter and Claire Bradley, uncovering the existence of the "protectors" – a secret group dedicated to maintaining Cedar Hollow's perfect image through any means necessary. As the water rises, Emma's research reveals a connection to a powerful organization called the Heritage Foundation, which has been orchestrating disappearances and deaths in small towns for decades.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The warehouse district loomed ahead, its abandoned buildings dark against
the snowy sky. Only the Canton Warehouse showed signs of life.
Colored lights and muffled music marked the festival's closing ceremony
and the renovated main floor. But Rourke's attention was on
the maintenance tunnel entrance behind the building, where two sets
of fresh footprints led into the darkness. All units, whole position.

(00:23):
He ordered into his radio, Chen, what's the status on
those blueprints? Just got them? Detective Chen's voice crackled through
the storm static. The tunnel system splits into three main branches.
The river access point is at the end of the
northeast tunnel, but there are dozens of connecting passages. It's
a maze down there. Rourke checked his flashlight and weapon.

(00:45):
The wind had picked up quickly, filling in the footprints
with fresh snow. Soon there would be no trail to follow, Sir,
it was Officer Martinez. We've got a situation at the festival.
Thomas Porter hasn't showed up for his closing speech and
someone just found this under his chair on the stage.
A photo appeared on Rourke's phone, A torn page from

(01:08):
what looked like Evelyn Porter's diary, weighed down by a
familiar looking key. The page contained only one line, The
river keeps our secrets. Detective Chen again, I ran a
check on Richard Bradley's old cases when he was Cedar
Hollow's DA. His last prosecution before he disappeared a real
estate fraud case involving the warehouse district. The defendant was

(01:30):
James Canton Canton as in Canton Warehouse, the same he
died in prison ten years ago. But his daughter Helen
is on the festival planning committee. She's the one who
pushed to have the closing ceremony Here. The pieces were shifting,
revealing new patterns. Helen Canton would have had access to

(01:52):
the building, knowledge of the tunnels, and a reason to
help cover up whatever Emma had discovered. A muffled scream
echoed from the tunnel entrance, followed by the distinct sound
of a heavy door closing. Roorke moved forward, gun drawn,
all units converge on the maintenance tunnel entrance. Chen, get
fire and rescue on standby if these tunnels flood. He

(02:13):
didn't finish the sentence. The storm drained grates were already
overflowing from the snow melt. If the river rose much higher,
the tunnels would become a death trap. The beam of
his flashlight revealed an old service elevator at the bottom
of the entrance stairs. The up button was illuminated. Someone
had just used it to return to the surface. His
radio crackled one final time. Detective Chen's voice was urgent.

(02:40):
Helen Canton just left the festival through the back exit,
and she's carrying what looks like an old painting. Time
was running out. Roorke stepped into the elevator, the doors
closing behind him with a sound like a tomb being sealed.
As he descended into the darkness beneath Cedar Hollow, he
couldn't shake the feeling that he was being led exactly

(03:02):
where someone wanted him to go. The question was who
was really waiting in the darkness below. The elevator grown
to a stop three levels below ground. The air was
thick with decades of dampness and decay, and somewhere in
the distance, Rourke could hear water running. His flashlight beam
caught the glint of old pipes along the walls and

(03:24):
railroad ties embedded in the floor. Remnants of the Warehouse
District's industrial past. Chen do you copy only? Static answered,
The concrete and steel had cut off radio contact. A
sound echoed through the tunnels, footsteps moving quickly away. Rourke followed,
keeping close to the wall. The blueprints had shown three

(03:46):
main tunnels, but down here the reality was more complex.
Smaller passages branched off irregularly, and ancient electrical panels cast
strange shadows. He passed a partially open door marked Canton
Shipping Records nineteen seventy five. Inside, filing cabinets lay toppled,
their contents scattered across the floor. One folder lay open,

(04:08):
its content still pristine despite the dampness recently disturbed. The
label read Bradley Investigation. Inside was a single photograph that
made Rourke's pulse quicken. It showed a younger Richard Bradley
standing at the river's edge with James Canton. They were
examining what appeared to be construction plans, but Bradley's expression

(04:28):
was one of barely contained anger. The date stamp read
June fifteenth, nineteen seventy five, three days before the Warehouse
District groundbreaking ceremony. Another sound drew his attention. Not footsteps
this time, but voices. They echoed oddly through the tunnels,

(04:48):
making it impossible to determine their direction, but the words
were clear enough. You don't understand what they'll do if
this gets out. A man's voice, Thomas Porter, Dad, please
y Emma Bradley, alive but terrified. I won't tell anyone,
I swear it's too late for that. A woman's voice now,
Helen Canton. She's already sent copies of the documents to

(05:12):
someone we need to know who. Rourke moved faster, checking
each intersection. The voices grew louder, but the tunnels played
tricks with sound, bouncing it off walls and around corners.
Water was seeping in, now covering the floor in places.
He rounded a corner and stopped short. On the wall.
Illuminated by his flashlight was a faded mural of Cedar

(05:33):
Hollow circa nineteen seventy five. It showed the warehouse district
under construction. The river prominently featured, but something was wrong
with the perspective. The artist had painted the river bank
differently than it appeared in the old photograph. Roork stepped closer, there,
barely visible beneath decades of grime. Was a notation in

(05:55):
the corner, modified as per EP specifications, burial sight removed.
The mural was a map and a confession. A scream
shattered the silence, followed by a gunshot that echoed through
the tunnels like thunder. Rourke ran toward the sound, splashing
through water that was now ankle deep. He passed another
open door, catching a glimpse of an empty safe mounted

(06:17):
in the wall, its door hanging open. Beside it leaned
a painting identical to the one from Evelyn Porter's study.
The voices were clearer, now coming from a large chamber ahead.
As Roorke approached, he could see light filtering through a
grating in the ceiling. They were directly beneath the Canton
Warehouse's main floor, where the festival's closing ceremony was still underway.

(06:40):
It ends tonight, Thomas Porter was saying, just like it
ended with your grandfather. Some secrets have to stay buried.
Rourke reached the chamber entrance just as a second gunshot
rang out, but what he saw inside would change everything
he thought he knew about both cases and about Cedar
Hollow itself. The chamber was a former pump station, rusted machinery,

(07:01):
creating strange shadows in the dim light. Filtering from above.
Emma Bradley stood backed against the far wall, clutching a
Manila envelope. Thomas Porter faced, her gun raised, but it
wasn't him who had fired the shots. Helen Canton lay
on the floor, blood spreading from her shoulder, her own
weapons skittering away across the wet concrete, and there, emerging

(07:24):
from behind an old control panel was Sarah Porter. That's enough, dad,
she said, training her gun on her father. Drop it.
Thomas Porter's laugh echoed off the walls. Oh, Sarah, you
really are your grandmother's granddaughter, Detective Sarah called out, not
taking her eyes off her father. The evidence Emma found.

(07:46):
It wasn't just about Richard Bradley's murder. It was about
what grandmother discovered before she died. The water was rising faster,
now swirling around their ankles. Above the festival music played on,
oblivious to the drama unfold beneath the floorboards. Sarah Thomas said,
his voice softening, You don't understand everything I did. Everything

(08:08):
your grandmother did was to protect this town, protect it.
Emma's voice cracked. You killed my grandfather because he found
out the truth. The warehouse District wasn't just a development project,
it was a cover up. Rourke kept his weapon trained
on Thomas, but his mind was racing assembling the pieces
the riverbank, the construction plans Bradley and Canton were arguing about.

(08:32):
They weren't for the warehouses, were they No, Sarah answered,
they were mapping the old cemetery, the one the town
flooded in nineteen seventy five to build the warehouse district,
the one where James Canton had buried evidence of other murders. Murders.
Emma stepped forward. What murders? Tell her dad. Sarah's hand

(08:54):
was steady on her gun. Tell her what grandfather Canton did.
Tell her why Richard Bradley really had to die. Thomas
Porter's composed facade finally cracked. James Canton was protecting this town.
Those outsiders, they would have destroyed everything we built. They
were asking too many questions about the missing travelers, the

(09:15):
ones who passed through Cedar Hollow and never left. Bradley
found the graves during the land survey. He thought he
was just uncovering a real estate fraud, but he found
so much more, and grandmother Sarah pressed, did she have
to die too? Evelyn Thomas's voice caught. She grew a

(09:38):
conscience in her old age, said she was tired of
carrying the weight of Canton's secrets. Said she had evidence
hidden away that would expose everything. When she threatened to
go public, a rumble of thunder shook the chamber, or
not thunder, the sound of water rushing through the tunnels,

(10:00):
the river's rising. Rourke said, this whole level will flood
in minutes. We need to move now, Not yet. Thomas
raised his gun again. Nobody leaves until I know where
Emma sent those documents. I can answer that. A new
voice called from the chamber entrance. Claire Bradley stepped into
the light holding a phone. She sent them to me,

(10:21):
along with everything she found about what really happened to
my father. The water was knee deep now above them.
The festival crowd could be heard beginning to evacuate as
the storm intensified. Mom Emma's voice shook. You knew not everything,
not until you started asking questions about the old cemetery,
about why the town really built the warehouses here, about
what James Canton and the Porters were hiding. She looked

(10:44):
at Thomas about why my father had to die. The
chamber's ancient pumps groaned as water began pouring in from
multiple tunnels, and in that moment, Thomas Porter made his
final move, one that would bring the past crashing into
the present with devastating force. Thomas Porter swung his gun
toward Claire Bradley, but Sarah was faster. Her shot caught

(11:06):
him in the arm, spinning him toward the wall. The
gun clattered from his grip into the rising water. But
even as Rourke moved forward, Thomas slammed his hand against
an ancient lever on the pump station's control panel. The
chamber's floor shuddered behind them. Heavy steel doors began sliding
down over the tunnel entrances, the warehouse District's original flood

(11:28):
control system, somehow still operational after all these years. If
I'm going down, Thomas gasped, clutching his wounded arm. The
evidence goes with me, all of it, the graves, the documents, everything.
Chen Rourke shouted into his radio, hoping the metal doors
hadn't completely cut off the signal Northeast tunnel entrance. We

(11:51):
need emergency response. Now only Static answered. The water was
waste deep and rising rapidly. Helen Canton pulled herself up
up against a pipe, her shoulder still bleeding. Thomas, you
fool the flood system. It doesn't just seal the tunnels,
it diverts the river water. We've got maybe five minutes
before this whole chamber fills at Emma splashed toward one

(12:13):
of the closing doors, but Claire grabbed her arm. No,
that tunnel leads to the river. It'll flood first the elevator.
Rourke commanded, taking charge. Everyone move now, but Thomas Porter
laughed a horrible empty sound that echoed off the walls.
The elevator needs power. Power that runs through this control panel.
He pulled a sodden hand from the machinery, holding up

(12:34):
several torn wires. Nobody's leaving until the water finishes what
James Canton started fifty years ago. Sarah kept her gun
trained on her father as the implications hit her. The
missing travelers, the graves. Canton killed them. People who asked
too many questions, Thomas said about other disappearances older graves.

(12:54):
James Canton was just continuing his father's work protecting Cedar
Hollow's secrets. Some towns are built on gold, Detective Rourke
Ours was built on silence. The water reached their chests
Above the festival music had stopped, replaced by the sound
of emergency sirens. There's another way out, Helen Canton said, suddenly, James,

(13:16):
my father showed me once behind the north wall, a
maintenance shaft that leads to the old loading dock. She's lying,
Thomas snarled. She's a Canton. Lying is what they do.
But Rourke was already moving, flashlight beam, cutting through the
dark water. There behind a rusted electrical panel. He saw it,

(13:38):
a narrow hatch, half submerged. Claire Emma go. He pulled
the hatch open as Sarah covered Thomas. Helen, you're next, Sarah.
I'm not leaving him, she said, indicating her father. He
has to answer for what he did, for all of it.
The water was at their shoulders now. Thomas Porter stood
against the control panel, blood from his wounded arms swirling

(13:59):
in the dark water, a strange smile on his face.
You still don't understand, he said, I'm not the one
who killed Evelyn Porter. Ask Claire Bradley, who else knew
about Richard's evidence, ask her who really found those documents
in the safe? Claire, halfway through the hatch froze, and
that's when they heard it, a sound like thunder, but deeper.

(14:19):
The river had breached the outer tunnels. They had seconds,
not minutes. Everyone through now. Rourke shouted, but as the
wall of water crashed into the chamber, he saw Claire
Bradley pull something from her coat, something that glinted in
the dying light of his flashlight, and he realized that
Thomas Porter had told his final truth. The killer they'd
been chasing wasn't just one person. The real conspiracy in

(14:42):
Cedar Hollow was far older and far deadlier than anyone
had guessed. The wall of water hit with devastating force.
Rourke was slammed against the maintenance shaft's entrance, barely managing
to grab Emma's arm as she was swept past him
through the churning water. He saw and Sarah struggling with
her father, refusing to let him be carried away despite

(15:06):
his betrayal Claire. Emma screamed as her mother's figure disappeared
beneath the surface, that metallic glint still visible in her
submerged hand. Helen Canton lunged through the water with surprising strength,
despite her wounded shoulder, grabbing Claire's coat and yanking her
up something metallic, A thin blade went sea, went spinning
away into the darkness. Like mother, like daughter. Helen gasped

(15:30):
as they all fought their way into the maintenance shaft.
Claire's mother tried to kill mine when she found out
about the graves, too, didn't she, Claire. The shaft was narrow,
forcing them to climb single file up rusted rungs. Water
pursued them, rising faster with each passing second. Above, Rourke
could hear the distant sound of emergency crews trying to

(15:51):
cut through the loading dock's sealed doors. My mother, Claire
choked out between climbing steps. She wasn't just Richard's wife.
She was investigating the disappearances, working with him. When she
got too close, James Canton made it look like suicide.
Helen finished, just like Evelyn Porter was going to look
like natural causes, wasn't she, Claire? Until something went wrong.

(16:14):
The water below them was rising faster than they could climb.
Thomas Porter, brought up last by Sarah at gunpoint, started
laughing again. You want the real truth, Detective, about why
this town has always been perfect, Why no serious crimes,
no major scandals. Cedar Hollow's founding families didn't just build
this town. They built a system. Every generation chosen members

(16:35):
become protectors, murderers, you mean, Sarah said, but her voice shook.
Ask your grandmother's spirit if she felt that way. Claire
shot back. She ordered more cleansings than anyone until she
decided to expose it all. I couldn't let her. Richard's
death had to mean something. The water was at their
feet again, but Rourke's flashlight beam had caught something above

(16:58):
a maintenance panel, newer than the rest. Chen. He shouted,
hoping the metal wouldn't block his voice completely. Northeast corner
of the loading dock, Look for a panel. The panel
above them shuddered. The sound of power tools grew louder.
It won't matter, Thomas Porter called up. Even if we survive,
The evidence is safe, Emma said suddenly, because I found

(17:21):
Grandpa Richard's real hiding place, not in the safe, not
in the tunnels. He knew about the protectors, knew they'd
search everywhere after he died, so he hit it somewhere
they'd never look. The panel above gave way with a
screech of torn metal. Chen's face appeared in the opening,
backlit by emergency lights, where Claire demanded as rescue workers

(17:43):
began dropping lines, Emma, where did he hide it? Emma
allowed herself to be pulled up first, then looked back
down at her mother with an expression of pure anguish.
In plain sight every piece of evidence, every name, every crime,
all in the town Council's official history, the one they

(18:03):
display at every winter festival, the one you approved for
the town archives last month. Mom. It's all there in code,
and I've already shown Sarah how to decode it. As
they were pulled to safety one by one, Rourke realized
this wasn't the end. The flood may have been contained,
but Cedar Hollow's darkness was finally rising to the surface,

(18:23):
and as Thomas Porter and Claire Bradley were led away
in handcuffs, he caught sight of Helen Canton speaking urgently
into her phone. The protectors had been exposed, but would
Cedar Hollow survive the revelations of what its perfect facade
had been hiding all these years, and how many more
of the town's respected citizens would be revealed as perpetrators
of its darkest secrets. The storm was passing, but Rourke

(18:45):
knew Cedar Hollow's real reckoning was just beginning. This has
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