Passages contains graphic and explicit sexual content.

Listener discretion is advised.

Welcome, Oh yeah, welcome to Passages.

Passages.

Indulge me now if you will hang cobwebs and shadows in your mind, think darkness and danger too.

Entails from another time.

Travel with me, please, into the darkened recesses of other people's minds, to a world of wood and cloth and stream.

This season of Passages is a Harlequin intrigue again, Puppet's Bobby Passages.

Puppet, It's the best book in the world.

It's the book that we read.

That makes it the best.

Because it's the one that we're seeing its passages.

Everybody puppets a holly, tell us what happened last week?

Robert last week on Poppy.

So last week on Puppets, the previously puppets.

Puppets.

Okay, so we learned important information.

Is still very sick.

He's moist, dripping, but still hot.

He's not phantom, He's he's full hotness.

It's hard to read this in a post COVID world, and we will get to it.

Because remember when he brushes his lips against her lips and we're all like, no, yeah, you have COVID.

And it wouldn't be such a big deal if he didn't keep bringing up in his air how desperately sick when.

You're dying of fucking covid, Like you can't think much.

What does he have?

Do you think?

Do you think we'll ever find out?

I mean, I'm I'm part of me wants him to have an injury.

That's why I was like, does he have an infection that's like become infected?

He is like active, active veterial, and then he could he can, yeah, and then he'll have him like this.

He's limp ything and he's not looking for antibiotics and look for fever reduced, although a light infection can give you a fe He's not a doctor.

He's a puppet man.

No, he's an architect.

Yeah, he's not even a puppet man.

He's not even so convoluted because there's two phantoms.

There's the one that's running from the crime, and then there's the one gravan, and then there's yeah, get a third, by the way, fuck off that way.

I'm not no fucking way.

Okay, Well, Fiona and Graham Grimbaldi uh Raoul Seneca uh meat in the undercroft rub their COVID against each other gently, ohso gently.

She admires his puppets that.

Crusting, encrusted wall like the ball puppet creature.

It's a fucking fol geiger.

Yeah, just splayed out on the wall, by the way, like if you if you woman followed music down into the undercroft girl and then then was admiring your grotesque like staring demon, I'd be like, oh no, okay.

First of all made a huge just like this woman is going to wear my skin.

Yeah.

So, and plus he's sick.

He can't fight her off because he's so sick.

Your hot lead of your romance novel for teen girls is dripping sickness.

For teen girls.

No, I think it's for grandma's.

I don't know grandma's and sad moms.

Yeah, all comers, and I love it all all who come so okay, So they rub their COVID on each other, they say goodbye.

She staggers back up, now deeply infected with his illness, up back up into the world of light.

Then we learned that Bibet is part of a ring of thieves.

Yes, the bling Ring, the puppet Blinger, the puppet thieving Ring, and there is a quote puppet master, yes, who is instructing Ian, which.

They say with no irony, none, the full seriousness.

The middle man, so he's he's like one of the He's like essentially the stage manager of the theater and the artful dodger.

But there is a Fagan and the middle manager.

Yeah, yeah, there's a Fagan mastermind out there somewhere somewhere, and so there or perhaps the Bill Sykes if he's more dangerous.

They lure rich people to the prepety, the renowned pat who could resist a night of puppets, O god, and maybe also real puppets were not super sure there.

I will not honestly picturing.

I'm not honestly able to picture what the fuck this play is yet.

I don't think we ever will.

Can I just point out that this is the best book Phantom of the Opera Murder Mystery takes place in a theater, has a runaway man and a ghost, and puppets and puppets being played by humans humans playing puppets, and a museum possibly a woman who comes to life, a puppet woman who becomes a real woman.

That makes me fucking And now we add on top of that a ring of thieves who may well have murdered one of their own, and a secret puppet master.

Also, the like money of the theater is gotta be crazy because the place is packed all the time.

This place, both the museum and the same play every day, play every night, performed by the every night.

What what what is that the stefan.

This broadcast it has every.

Puppets, puppet humans.

And yet this this theater's got money coming out the ass.

But these poor actresses have to be museum and themes by night, human puppets by night, and thieves by by the time.

Until yeah, but until dawn.

Oh my god.

So it's just it.

Why why this is so funny to me still, even after the many chapters read, the three threes of chapters, we've read, four threes of episodes we've done, is is that it just keeps throwing insane ideas.

I think that one of my favorite descriptions of like what makes a good bad movie like like the Room is earnestness, incompetence, delusions of grandeur, and it has to keep giving you new stuff.

All that they have to keep trying and failing at new things.

We get a new character in chapter six.

Who I am I believe is our third phantom.

No, yeah, I'm very excited for you to meet them.

I don't want to reveal their gender at this time.

All right, Well, Ian sort of interrogates, say.

He's making loud sounds and fucking with the blind.

No, he needs he needs a stern sound or he won't stop.

So yeah, so Ian sort of uh watches her, thinks she might be up to something or onto them.

Katerina, Yeah, Katerina.

She sort of gets interrogated at the end, and that's where we leave it with this sort of spooky well.

That comes back.

Ian is not happy that Katerina is sniffing around or her little snoop doesn't fucking belong.

And what he doesn't know is that he's heard her being clandestine is about him, her trying to keep Rawool's secret, right, not about her like looking for the murderer.

Well, yeah, I mean she may go there, but she absolutely will go there.

She wants to syndicate her love.

Oh because he's hot.

Well yeah, very very sick.

So we open up in chapter five in our COVID ridden sex.

The sound of a heart monitor slowly beeping away as Raoul slowly passes from one world to the next.

And he realizes he's not alone in his vaults.

And I thought all were flashing back to the night he revealed himself to Katerina.

But no, the little puppets have come alive and they're viciously masturbating in the No, neither.

Of those things.

He's still very sick, Jesus Christ.

His hair damp, his denim shirt replaced by a navy blue cotton T shirt.

Okay, Iran has a sick he was cleaned.

Up, but in a foul mood and still troubled by an elevated temperature, Jesus Christ.

And then he's like, maybe I just turned myself in.

I'm sick of living down here and I'm sick, and.

I'm so sick, and I'm living sick down here.

And he's like, but no, I have to fuck Katerina.

Oh no, he's he's into her.

Okay, Katerina, his beautiful love never to be truly his unless he could figure out who had killed Claudia, then find evidence to prove it.

And again, Claudia was murdered six months ago.

Wasn't Claudia girl, He's living in the sewers.

So am I wrong?

Or were he and Claudia together?

They were like they were.

I think she said something like they'd gone on like three dates.

Okay, I think they.

Were just because I'm like, your girlfriend just got murdered.

Everyone thinks you did it.

You're hiding in the dungeons and Katerina is all the love of your life.

What the fuck is going?

Oh, he's been watching her for a long time.

I do kind of wonder what he thinks is gonna happen in but seven that hasn't happened.

What evidence will present itself?

I don't know, because he's also like gone top side to snoop around all this time and he hasn't found shit, including fever producer apparently.

Maybe he was sick the night of the murder and he's just been delirious.

Did do it?

He do it?

He's just fucking delirious and staggering around down here concussing himself.

Maybe I like this, I like like we should call this Raoul is sick.

It's so funny.

So the person So he's wet not because he was sweating because of his fever.

He's wet because there's a shower down there.

I was wondering about this.

How is he not disgusting?

It has a bad high cattery and he's like plack e tease.

No, he's clean.

So he comes back into his room and he hears, oh the comforts of a hotel and it's Louise.

No.

Wait what one of the actresses who was so adamant that he's innocent.

No, so so now he has multiple people.

Girl, dude, he's so hot that he now has two chick accomplices who are going along with it.

Actually he has three.

Get the fucking at least three people know he's in.

Is there anyone who doesn't theater that doesn't know where wool is down here?

Only these fucking morons?

Nolays, like a hundred people know he's down He's like meeting with.

Combs up every day.

That's right, he goes up every day.

How would you not like be in six months he spotted He like hangs out with the cops down there, like yeah wait what he what?

No, no worry about it?

Why are you here?

I came for you.

Laundry at midnight?

Laundry.

What the fuck do people think when she carries a big bundle of denim up to the cleaning up, just cleaning phantom.

You know, Louise and her phantom denim.

At midnight, she shrugged her angular shoulders.

I thought you might want to talk.

I'd rather sleep, which you shouldn't, but you won't, and I know why do you?

He dropped out of the cot.

Louise wrapped her feet up, sipping her brandied wine.

Everyone, all the women in this are drunk.

Say, I just been wanting to just slam booze the whole time.

Also bring him a tailan all like my god.

Girl, funny, you should say that we'll get to it.

Okay, okay, I want to keep you sick and reliant on me.

You're asking for trouble love.

I like Katerina very much, but she's out of your reach right now.

Solve the big problems first.

Worry about your love life later, and don't go dragging her into this tobaccle to which I say, fucking tea.

At least somebody has a goddamn brain, and you are.

Accused of murder.

Socus accuse now, I wouldn't do that.

Louise relative his head back, easing the tension in his I don't want to hurt her.

Oh god, I know that.

I also know you.

You want this woman, and what you want you go after a fine quality.

I agree, except that you happen to be wanted for murder.

You're living in the vaults under the puppet theater, you fucking loser.

You're invading the authorities under a puppet theater.

You do not have a lot to offer a relationship right.

Now, bro, bra you're living in the vaults under the puppet theater, searching for proof that someone upstairs did what you've been accused of doing.

You've no time to be infatuated.

Besides, you're prowling toon I was off or nothing.

She's having dinner with Philip Embolton, Yeah, and he's like, I know, I watch her through the cuck cracks all through this.

I've got little kokie holes all over this fucking building.

So then I stop and I think, well, if Louise comes down here, why can't she bring him medicine?

Also?

She could, she could much more.

Why doesn't she?

Okay, why doesn't she bring him sucking medicine?

Girl?

We never find out.

She even explicitly asks him.

Toward the end, We'll get to it.

If you want Do you want me to get you anything?

And I can't wait for you to hear what he says.

Oh, my fucking guy, hold on, I'm gonna throw up.

I can't wait to hide from the police under a puppet theater.

It's coming.

It's so ridiculous.

So she's like snacking on a pastry and she tries to feed it to him, and he's like, yeah, I'm too sick.

I really started to Jenny.

Ryan has a like ooh, sick men are hot, like weird kink.

She said, pressing a bite of gooey pastry to his lips.

At least eat something, then you'll feel better.

He gave her a dark look and took a reluctant bite.

She was worse than his sister, So I guess he has a sister.

And then, wincing, Raoul pushed the pastry away and with it all thoughts of the people he missed in his native Spain.

Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.

Brother Ricardo Louise finish off the pastry, then picked up her wine and polished that off too.

Have you learned anything more since we talked last week.

Did you make her drunk?

No, nothing, except that I'm convinced Renshaw Ian is in charge of the lackeys, like Babbet among others, including Claria, cozy up to the theatre's wealthy patrons, learn all their secrets, then turn around and rob them blind.

There was no humor in Louise's chuckle, all done with absolute discretion, and no one suspects a thing except uffs.

Of course, she frowned, you know, being the unoriginal creature he is.

I'm amazed that Ian could mastermind such a plan, let alone organize it.

He didn't, hardly surprising.

So who really runs the show.

And please don't say.

Babbet frigging fix called bad bad Raoul smiles.

When I figure it out, I'll let you know Louise handed him her glass.

Maybe you'll get lucky and it'll be fed up.

Katerina's not the marry a murderer type, which again makes me think she killed her husband.

Interesting, I have this feeling okay on it that she killed her husband.

Maybe maybe we're given a very obvious murder mystery where it's and there's like a gonna be a much more subtle touch of deeper murder, mystery inside of it that we won't see coming because we're looking at this obvious.

Well, the thieves killed one of their accomplices, that's what I'm saying.

Blah blah blah.

Then he's like, well, we marrying type.

I thought you wanted me to stay away from her.

She's like, you're not gonna.

Say away with it.

I'm not stucking.

I'm fat, fat lot of good.

That'll do.

Blah blah blah.

She she lectures him about this, and then says, end of lecture.

Now do you need anything besides the impossible, to which I wrote in all caps, yes, medicine, my god, please, He moved his shoulder, quote, if the night Watchman's not there, you could change a few puppets around in the museum.

Christ She laughed, what for fucking are you fucking deranged?

Are you okay, to which.

She responds to make them wonder about ghosts.

I don't like so love.

Whoever's pulling the strings here isn't likely to be spooked easily.

I had someone else in mind, Raoul said.

And then it's like, oh, babbet, she's an idiot.

We can talk with her.

Yeah, very cruel, Raoul Babet will be pulling her hair out by month's end if she thinks Jovanni is on the lander.

Jesus Christ, why why do all that?

Oh?

No, I'm dying in the vaults.

I've had a fifty day fever.

Do you need anything from top side?

Move the puppets jags are on a different spots.

Move please?

All I needed to do is all I need, other than to find the murderer, is to switch, dude.

And can we point out like what if someone's walking through there and like these puppets have been moved, someone has been in the theater after hours?

We should chirk again?

Right?

Wait?

Guy, is there be that murderer guy in the vaults if things are being moved around at night?

No, No, it's a ghost.

Who is Zake?

Bagan's the only person in charge here?

Yes?

Probably, it's amazing.

This is amazing.

That's it's honestly one of the funniest fucking things we've ever read on the I'm obsessed with it.

Do you need this guy's chief ca characteristic?

The chief characteristic of your romantic lead in your books is that he's ill.

Okay, okay, to be fair, I don't think Jenna Ryan is making that the chief characteristic.

I think we are a character who is that he's sick.

The character that is physically unwell and is doing nothing to aid themselves actively is very jarring.

You have now two people you know by name who are coming and going from the vault, and you can't be like, hey, can you bring me some tile at all?

I need a fucking advil immediate yesterday?

Yeah yeah, this really.

No, no, no, no, no movie.

The Puppets Smash cut to Ian, who is sitting at a cafe waiting for the mysterious puppet Master.

We're not going to get an ID yet, are we.

No, Because Ian, even though he sees him, we don't know his name and we don't get a physical description through.

Yeah yeah, yeah, because because they're doing the a little bit of a contrived like, yep, I know his name, but I'm never gonna think his name while you're in my head to hide it from the reader.

It's a little contrived.

Yep.

And Ian is telling him that he's nervous about be Bet, kind of getting a little shaky, and Katerina sniffing around where she don't black.

Careful, Ian, you're gonna get another shit killed because I'm guessing it's the puppet Master who did the murder, because I don't think so it being Ian would be awfully I think.

It would be too obvious if it were the puppet Master.

He's not getting his hands dirty.

He's puppet mastering.

I don't think he.

Oh, he might have made the call that probably.

Because Claudia was one of the lackeys, so she fucked up or was having second thoughts, or maybe was thinking of going to the police.

I think they were silencing her.

I think she was killed on orders, but I don't think the Master did it.

I think that the mystery here is not who killed Cloudy.

She was killed by this conspiracy of thieves.

I think the mystery is going to be who is the puppet master.

He's in charge of this conspiracy?

And why did Katerina kill her husband?

And then there I and then are fanfic or possibly sub theme is why did Katerina ice her husband?

Yep okay so Ian says she's been talking to the new American actress Katerina Lacroix.

The puppet Master smiled charmingly at the black stocking woman.

Their server then picked up Ian's coffee and took a long sip.

By talking, I assume you mean discussing matters that she should not.

What has she said?

Nothing damaging, but she seems rather stuck on the subject of Cloudy's death.

I yeah, she's best friends.

No she wasn't.

Katerina wasn't best friends with Claudia.

No, no, No, he's talking about Katerina, don't, America.

Katerina stuck on Claudia's death because it happened five months before she started working there in the.

Very theater where she were write a story.

And now she's met Raoul, who's like, they all think I did it, but I didn't do it.

But he doesn't know that yet.

But a woman was stabbed to death.

I would be all over that, dude.

I would.

We would be talking about it right now.

We are talking about her every day at work.

If someone has been murdered at my job, Yes, and it was still unsolved.

And there was obviously a man living in.

The water cooler gossip.

Yeah, water cooler gossip would be pretty common about this issue.

Especially because it was handled so weird where they're so poorly.

Guess I guess he got away.

Let's not look in the vaults goodbye, and then they left.

Bro Like, what the hell?

Uh?

Ian?

Pause is?

The pub master took a bite of his croissant.

So the guy's just drinking his coffee and eating his food.

I love it, Ian says, I trust you're enjoying my breakfast.

He shouldn't have said that.

The person in charge disliked polite sarcasm, and he could be quite dangerous, as Ian well knew.

Okay, so it is a man you push our relationship, my friend, the puppet master warned, silkily, tell me what I wish to know, or remove yourself from my sight.

Yeah, this guy's a dick.

So he's still talking about be bet blah blah blah.

And then he's like, Ian's like, perhaps we shouldn't use bebbet for a while.

As expected, the person in charge waved this idea away.

She's part of our operation.

She will remain active until I decide otherwise.

Now to business, Our wealthiest patrons will attend a performance at the theater this next Thursday evening.

Now I wonder if that's a clue our wealthiest patrons.

Well, he's clearly part of the theater.

He's gotta be right.

So he's one of the owner.

Architect No, that's wrong.

We'll get to the architects.

He plays fifty different roles in this conspiracy.

Oh that's where we get the phantom's mask is he's wearing obvious puppet masks over his face.

No one can tell, can tell?

Because they're French.

Our wealthiest patrons will attend a performance at the theater this next Thursday evening.

I've invited them to our backstage party, where, at my instruction, you will do your usual job of ferreting out whatever information we still need from them.

Do you understand?

Ian words spoken as if to a child.

Ian set his somewhat pointed jaw.

I understand, he said, and wished he dared throw the remains of his coffee in the other man's face.

Oh they like each other.

No, so smash cut back into the now kis smash cut back into the theater.

Katerina is, like I think, getting ready to go to her shift.

And then she starts freaking out because she notices the puppets have moved.

No, no, not that, but she bumps into the gay owners, Pierre Fuisade and Francois Lupiers.

I just assume they're gay.

It's two French queens who probably attached Pruppet Museum.

If they're not bowls deep at each other by sundown every night, I call me, surely you know what.

I love me too.

Let's get married.

It's great, Okay, I love it.

Picture Rob Williams and Nathan Lane from the bird Cage John.

They say hello to Katerina sailing and she's like or at least Pierre asked how she's doing.

Francois seems very out of sorts and looking over a bunch of files and throws the file folder that he's studying to the floor in a fit.

What is this non sense?

He demanded?

Oh no, that was Pierre who did this, presumably of Francois.

I will not have a man from Venezuela restoring this theater.

It's zec relig Venezuela's specific specific speak to Ian Frescois, Raoul Senate surely cannot be the only capable architect in all of Europe.

Katerina saw Francois elegant.

Shoulders move?

What can I say to Ian that he does not know you hired Raoul Senat to my friend, I was not consulted.

True, Ian is no judge of these matters, but there is luck to consider.

Perhaps this person from Venezuela is very good, and how many Gothic chateau will he have restored?

Pierre scowled, talk to Ian Freancois before I do, because if I do, I will surely say things his ears what I wish to hear.

And then he storms out, and Francois says, as you wish, perhaps this time we will find an architect who does not murder young women in his spare time.

O lord.

Okay, so Pierre's a racist.

Francois is his little sad boy cuckboy.

Francois then just disappears into the darkness.

Oh lord, and Pierre is also storming out while throwing the remaining papers from the file onto the floor.

Katerina is just like, oh yay, I gotta go to the museum.

So she sees a catfight between them.

She they acknowledged that she's there, They say.

Cream each other.

She's in her uniform slash.

Costume slash Dozin's outfit slash, which is.

Like a peasant skirt for the petty going under it.

It's she's talking about how it's like shuffling around and hitting her in the cankles.

It's like really, Oh, she keeps thinking about Row.

Had he really been as handsome as she remembered, or did he just remind her of Giovanni of the way she pictured the medieval peppet master.

Oh my god, I have been picturing Giovanni as like a white haired, wild eyed ball lunatic, like a like a Geppetto type, or like, uh, like he'd be played by.

Like, apparently he's hot the guy who plays Apparently, this guy who tried to fuck his puppet to life is super like desirable.

Oh I thought he was, like he would have been played by like Christopher Lloyd in White Wild Ah.

No, I think there's part of his story that she's fallen in love.

With beautiful man.

Yeah, and she like kind of believes that he's real and is really haunting the theater.

So she's like fucked up.

She's like deranged.

Yeah, we've known that since the jump.

Yeah, she's like since she was a little girl in the Sneaking Out of Magic Eye, little girl orphaned with dead parents, living with her drunk uncle and slutty drunk aunt, and then she'd sneak out to go to the puppet theater.

Janet.

Yeah, and then puppet Janitor raised her, raised her.

With the magic sight because he's obviously a madman himself.

Yes, Smash got to Fifteen years later, she's married.

She her husband mysteriously dies in the middle of Marty Grass and she sucks up to Paris and is working in a puppet theater slash museum.

She's obsessed with puppets.

She's not well, she's not okay, no baby for man she sees.

She's like, you remind me of my puppet lord.

You can fuck this ghost.

Me o yuk, Okay they do.

Migno Giovanni.

Would you rather the fault no Migno in bed or have your name?

Actually, my god, I said every time in bed, like every time, every time.

All they can say is Migno Mino.

You know what names can be changed, So I'd rather just have my name be Mignon that I'd be like, no, call me amandages.

No, No, you can't just change the rules of the would you rather?

After I answer, that's the most fun part, you're.

Fired, damnit.

So yeah, she's dreaming about Raoul.

Her puppet music shift is ending.

It was four forty five pm.

Another glorious Paris in the springtime day, the sun that shone through the cracked stained glass window.

But about it, I'm not going to feed you so much.

Tempted to grab all the preppets from their locked cases and start playing with them on the stone floor.

Okay, maybe she could go down to the vaults and play with an entirely different set of puppets rose cocking balls.

No, she whispered out loud, She'd gone through this at dinner last night.

She would think of Philip, not Raoul.

Philip was a very sweet man, maybe too sweet, and that made me think of Chris versus Saddam from South Park.

Philip is just a little too coucky, and.

He doesn't excite me like my leaky dark prince.

My suit prince had his sleeky hot face down in the dark out of the theater.

Could be a murderer.

But while she's thinking about playing with puppets, and then thinking about playing with Raoul's cocking balls, and then thinking about Philip, she hears a rustling down the hallway and she's like, oh shit.

She actually turned to my ship.

She might have.

Okay, so she overhears Babett talking to someone.

I tell you, I saw the thing with my own eyes.

Babbett was insisting loudly, I do not have hallucinations.

The puppets, they are wrong, puppets wrong.

Katerina glanced at the case behind her parrot, or rather, she started to.

Before she could bring the display into a full focus, someone's hand came down over her mouth.

At the same time, a strong arm took a snatching her back into her arm hard body.

So she attempts to do like karate moves because she doesn't know who it is, so she's like elbow foot.

And then she stabs him with a pairing knife.

Yeah, Raoul's like, Katie, it's me.

I'm not going to hurt you, but you must be quiet.

I fuck you in this hallway when they keep listening.

Look there, Babet announced.

In Triumph, Vignette and Verona, the twins, they sit facing the glass walls instead of each other.

Katerina heard a swish of skirts on the other side of the column and the tiny quaver of fear in Babbet's voice.

You see, and I did not make this up, Renato.

He is not right either, I tell you someone has moved them, someone or something.

Okay, people are in and out of this theater all the time.

They're like half a do there's like half a dozen like dozins like walking around.

Must be ghosts again.

Zake Beagans is the star of this play.

No one can open the sliding glass cases.

But the ghost of your mom.

Is very, very stupid.

It's stupid.

Katerine is still like kind of squirm and it's like they definitely allude to that, not directly, but she's like, I could feel his hard body.

Okay.

She wanted to move all right, but not away from Raoul as her brain instructed, so she's like want his breath came into her ear.

Don't squirm, Cherry, he whispered softly.

They're very I'm very close.

I'm very very sick and very close.

So was he.

Katerina wriggled despite the warning.

He was close and frighteningly seductive.

She must not relax against this man, and at least she shouldn't enjoy it.

You think this something is a ghost, Ian addressed Bebett's fears.

That's nonsense.

They're no ghosts, and if there were, they wouldn't waste time moving puppets fair actually fair, Yeah, explain it to me.

Then Bebett insisted, her voice cruse Rel, how does this happen if not through your body?

Yep, there's really no other explanation.

You're acting like a child, be Bet.

You're just gone, okay, you're you're crazy.

You're sounding really, really ludicrous.

There are no ghosts, and these outbursts of yours don't sit well with him.

Bebet challenge and Katerina felt Rel's body stiff and slightly oh there.

So they're overhearing obviously important information, but that Bebet doesn't really like give more away, so.

They're not sure a him that they would want to impress or be afraid of.

But we don't know who that hymn is yet.

And then she says, please, Ian, you must look into this for me.

How can I work under such conditions?

How can I think?

When there's ghosts everywhere?

She doesn't say that, but yeah, yeah, that's but that's what she's saying.

Also, is likely not even that it's not like the Poltergeist chair stacking.

No, it's like puppets got moved and moved like in their seats, so they weren't looking at each other they were looking like.

Maybe the display got changed, maybe somebody decided did dusted ghost.

Anything could have happened to.

That could have been a small localized earthquake.

Do you know that there's actually a very interesting ghost story, uh where every morning they would come into this artifact like antique store and this statue of like a cat or something would have turned one hundred and eighty degrees in the night, and it was just like it was crazy.

Every morning they'd come in and they put a set of camera up and you can actually watch this video where you just see the cat start to turn, just slowly start to turn, look into a little bit deeply.

They were doing road construction outside with jackhammer.

It was rumbling into turning, like I know, I know that there probably aren't jackhammers out front.

But we don't know.

We also don't know.

I'm sorry.

No, you're right.

They're absolutely you're right, So I'm wrong.

There could absolutely be jackhammer's out front.

So she's like, oh my god, this is crazy, but I'm so horny and shifting behind me.

She felt on the edge of some emotions she couldn't pin down.

Then rouse mouth brushed lightly over her cheek and the elusive feelings gave way to a more urgent sensation who cared about better ian.

She was plastered against Raoul's hard chest.

His hair was like silk on her face, and his mouth, his beautiful, sexy mouth, was touching her skin, making her feel things she couldn't begin to to scream.

Oh oh, what if he'd lied to her?

A murderer would be good at that.

She believed in his innocence, But then she believed in Giovanni too.

A smart person would push his arm from her waist, his warm mouth and hair.

From her face, especially considering how fucking sick sick he is.

They're leaving Cheri.

Raoul murmured, and this time his lips moved against her ear.

She felt the warmth of his breath, the heat from his slender body.

She closed her eyes and melted into him for a moment.

Katerina had the strangest sensation of drifting through darkness to the vaults and Giovanni's shadowy world.

God, she's like obsessed.

So they hear the iron gate clow, so they know that they're really gone.

She turns away and then or she pulls away from him and then turns around and he's smiling at her, and he puts his hand on her face and he slides his thumb lightly across her cheek bones.

Checked that I gotta see what the other one is doing.

You should have run, Katie, he said softly, and drawing her firmly against him.

He covered her mouth with his cod which I wrote, he's sick.

See, this is why we keep ripping sweat.

This is why we keep bringing up the sick thing, and why it was such a missteps.

So all I can think of is that he's like, you should have.

Oh me trying to read and just burp, gagging, right mouth, just chogging, choking all over his foot, chog on her.

Oh my god, she doesn't deserve it.

It genuinely needs to be closed.

They need to bring that.

He needs to be like, I'm feeling so much better, Thank god, thank god, I can do my magic show and float over the audience without sticking them out.

Now, girl, girl, I swear.

Chapter six, Chapter six, Chapter.

One.

Small kiss shouldn't take her breathe away, But when.

It's full of new macloc pneumonia, it's fuck again.

You could die, good die.

But it did.

It left her startled and speechless.

When Raoul lifted his head and the heat.

From his mouth was suddenly no longer, and the long, thin strand of mucus connected could spoot him, connecting their mouth.

Why was it green in the light.

She wanted to pull him back, but even that simple act was beyond her.

She stared shocked.

Then she saw Rueful smile, curve his lips with his knuckle.

He stroked her cheek.

Another mistake, I think, he murmured obscurely, and then he was gone, like a ghost.

He can just step back and just yeah, he's a vampire.

I like that, asks all right?

So then she gets sick just gidding out.

Shoesn't but yeah, she's like, oh my god, I'm gonna help Raoul prove his innocence.

There was no valid reason to do it, of course, but to help him seemed important somehow.

Yeah, because you're horny.

Yeah, she wants to me with him.

She had it for the theater.

Engorged her clip or whatever, isn't it all just gets all swollen.

Her whole mons is just the mons get swollen.

Let me outline my mom's for you again.

Stopics.

He really doesn't like it, not crailing your mom doesn't like it when I tuck my yeah, my hands it is like into the creases of my mom.

So he has to look at my mouth.

Sucking weird triangle shape, and she's just looking down at and then she looks up at you.

Penis Havers walk around with bulges all the time.

If I want to flop my bulge at right at eye level, then you're just gonna have to put up with it.

Penis Havers aren't manipulating there with their hands and outlining it and then making eye contact with you and then going look at my mom's.

Are you literally serious?

You don't think peas penis havers do stuff like that.

I've I can't neither you're confirm nor today.

I've been masturbated to on the subway.

White Jesus Christ.

So you can look at my mouth, look at.

Space.

He's a man, and it's so sweetly kiss ral kissed me with cool And that's the same tube.

It's in my lap and against the eye.

So she had a back brother theater in her restroom.

Her slippers made no sound on the stone floor.

The dressing room door stood open slightly.

Third Phantom, We're going to meet the third phantom.

To her surprise, Katerina caught a tiny noise from inside.

It sounded like a rusty giggle.

Oh fuck, giggle, it's.

I have a rusty giggle.

I also could only picture this person as Frank Reynolds, so just it's accurate.

I'm the trash man, I'm your neighbor.

Yeah, okay, so I will be picturing him fully as Danny de Vitoe.

Think, well, don't speak too soon on the gender now, No, that's fine.

It couldn't be still applies.

It couldn't be by better Louise.

And no one else had any business being in that room, not even the cleaning crew, not even the Venezuelan architects.

A ripple of alarm passed through Katerina's body.

She paused, her hand pressed to the wall.

There were no allies in the vicinity, no sound to be heard anywhere except in her dressing room.

Five feet ahead, pretty and colin a crackly old female voice, a door creaked the closet.

Katerina inched forward, breath held still.

There was no one in sight and no sound beyond the rattle of hangers in the closet.

She was an impertinent intruder, whoever she was.

Katerina crept into the room.

It should be safe.

The crazy person was in the closet, the open door was behind her.

She'd be able to escape, especially if the woman was as old as she sounded.

She keeps being like, hey, possibly dangerous situation.

Let me go.

Let's go with no light.

A tiny little gobblin sound has come from the dress.

Pity my pretty Oh, your skin will make a fine dish.

I better check this out.

Well.

The door will be behind me.

I can run away and get shot in the back with her tiny blowgun that she uses to paralyze her victims.

Okay.

From behind a rack of Babbett's clothes, Katerina caught a flash of motion.

A pair of black tights landed on the floor at her feet.

Ugly, the voice declared.

Babbett's black gym bag flew out.

Katerina had to duck to avoid it.

Then more clothes sailed past, and that did it.

For Heaven's sake, stop that, who are you?

What are you?

Yeah?

Annoyed now, Katerina shoved the closet door open wide.

All movement ceased instantly.

Katerina narrowed her eyes look I know you're in there, so you might as well come out and save us both A lot of a beast.

A horrible thing, and leapt a top her throat.

She broke off as a face suddenly between two dresses, and what a face it was.

Beyond old.

This creature looked positively eight old.

And tiny.

She couldn't have been more than four feet eight inches tall and no heavier than eighty pounds.

The word pixie sprang to mind as Katerina stared at her and was stared back at.

She realized her gaze fastened on a pair of brightly curious eyes, blue and uncommonly alert for someone who must surely be more than one hundred years old.

One hundred years old.

Katerina found her tongue as the woman who'd crept out from behind the dress hesitated in the end of bewildered.

Who are you?

Was the best she could manage?

How could she yell at an elf in rough peasants oats who beamed at her with chipped teeth and dancing eyes, in skin that looked like wrinkled tissues.

W you are, Katerina?

Definite blend of accents, but nothing Katerina could place.

Cartoon cartoon character, and uh and Sunday Morning cartoon character.

She nodded wearily.

Have we met?

No?

The woman stepped forward.

She wore a pair of tiny black lace up boots and thick brown stockings with holes.

There was no hint of a wabble in her walk.

Katerina, she blinked, but kept staring.

Were your parents Russian?

Oh, I beg your pardon?

Russian?

You know from the old Soviet Union.

I know where Russia is.

Of course you do.

All the old people do.

It was not the same in my day.

We were not so aware.

But I but I knew what Katerina once.

She came from Moscow.

And that's why I ask you this question.

I see.

The woman cackled.

Hah, No, you don't, but it is how do you people.

From America put it?

Okay?

I went over there once on a boat, to.

A city called Boston.

I liked this city, but say them, I didn't like so much.

I heard they burned witches there.

Always it was women they would burn, as if men cannot be evil.

I don't think a real witch would let herself be burned.

Do you?

Holy fuck shit?

But that's a man for you.

They pretend to know everything, at least the men in my day dead.

Oh my god, yes, so good.

I love this.

This is fucking great.

You need to do goblin voiceover.

It hurt so bad.

I commit, I commit.

Come come.

I know young one man who is very nice, very sweet, and sexy sexy.

I know many old ones who are not so sexy.

There is a place by the river, an old basement under a barn, where we.

Leave should say random things.

I get to this place from the vaults.

I don't know if my sexy young friend could do this.

He's very smart, but there is only one other who knows the vaults as I do.

He does not come up here much.

I think he's not so curious as me.

Holy fucking shit, she's a goblin.

She's a vault.

How many people live down there.

It's a fucking mole city.

There's so many fucking people living underneath the puppet theater.

And it's connected to Luis people.

At least.

It's acted to like the basement of an old barn whorehouse with a bunch of.

Old Okay, it's like Paris underground.

I think, so.

An entire community.

She's like I bounce around down here from the weird barn brothel all the way to here.

But I don't think that each of these lunatic freaks has their different building they live.

But I think she's saying she knows the broader extent of the vaults, and I don't think he does and doesn't realize he could probably escape.

How I want a world where there's all this stuff in Paris and each saying has their own freaky, weird person living underneath it.

There's like the little old goblin woman and the escape and the on the run murder.

I told her you were going to fucking love her.

She's amazing.

Yeah, this is incredible.

And she lives in the underground like a rat.

Correct.

I love this little rat woman.

She's amazing.

Also, her voice is incredible.

Ball thank you, who doesn't come?

Wait a minute?

What are you doing?

The woman was going through Babet's makeup drawer, pretty exclaimed, holding up a gold compact.

Can I have it?

Well, it isn't really mind to give.

Does it belong to the woman with the black curls Babbet?

Yes, then I will take it.

The compact disappeared into the pocket of a ratty great cardigan.

The front of which bagged almost to the woman's knees.

A little cleftomaniac with her fuckings pocket stuffful tell her.

Sophia stole it.

If she asks, Sophia, is that your name?

It's the one I use.

She picked up a perfume bottle and sniffed.

I have many names, don't you.

Call them?

Sucking Dobby.

Two cattle.

Going to ignore the minor theft, but warned, Uh, if Babett finds you going through her thing, she's liable to call the police.

She would have an old woman arrested.

What a monster she is, dude, I love old people getting away with crimes.

It's so funny when you're certain, when you're like ninety or one hundred.

Yeah, that's a.

Yes.

Just let him have it, Honestly, just let them have whatever they want.

I wish you want to take it?

Bye?

Yeah, how old are one hundred and two?

You can take it.

If you can get it out of the building, it's yours.

However, that's like entirely the problem with boomer culture and what makes them so fucking awful.

I'm not talking about boomers.

I'm talking about literally one hundreds.

I'm literally talking about one hundred, they can have whatever they do.

If you're over a hundred, you I think Mark Marin does a bit or some comedian does a bit where like the amount of it's pat Oswald.

The more older you get, the more serious the car you can get away.

Yeah, yeah, if you're okay, it is, that's I'm conflating.

It's good.

I feel like I've seen that, like multiple versions of this bit.

But yeah, you can if you can get if you can actually choke someone out and kill them.

But I think he even said, like, yeah, you can't just have a gun.

No, no, you have to be able to.

But if you can do it, then it's done.

Then it's done.

And no, no one can put you away.

And you know what, how long would they even be able to put you away from exactly?

I'm kind of here for it.

I'm fine.

I think we could actually use this to solve a lot of problems.

Okay, so she's stealing stuff right right.

Right, No big deal, She's there's just an old witch stealing stuff out of the dressing room.

Dude.

This book, this pays fifty seven and we have fourteen plots.

Oh I know, and I'm obsessed with all of them.

Sophia looked around, located a new item of interest, and darted over to the small refrigerator in the corner.

You have food here, help yourself Immediately, Sophia unwrapped a package of cheese.

Do you think I'm a starving person?

She asked, suddenly surprising Katerina.

Is that why you stare at me so strangely?

Katerina blushed, I'm sorry, it was was I staring?

But also, yeah, who are you?

What are you?

You're stealing and you've now begged for food.

And destroyed the entire fucking room everywhere.

You also live beneath the ground.

You're a literal mole persons, uh, was I Saria?

Yes, but I understand.

Are you a street person?

Katerina asked, no.

Do you live in the vaults?

Sophia grinned and broke apart a puffed pastry.

I do not like to tell where I live, Katerina smiled.

Do you want me to tell Babad about the compact?

The pastry muffled Sophia's feisty I like you.

Yes, I leave in the vaults, but no, I will not tell you where.

If that worries you, it shouldn't.

I am sixty four years old.

No, she's not, No, she's not, she's ninety nine years old.

Really, Katerina asked, No, Sophie licked with cream from her fingers.

She laughed, I'm also a terrible liar.

You like ghosts, so she's sixty four or dead?

I'm also a terrible airy like ghosts?

Well, who is?

Of course she fucking she loves them.

Oh yeah, Katerina goes love that.

I thought.

So, you make good stories when you walk with people in the museum.

I know parts of the legend that you do not.

But who would pay to hear an old woman talk about dead creature?

Have you seen Giovannis?

Who could resist?

Who could?

Literally?

I could not resist?

If this woman were running the tours, I would go to the public museum every day, every day.

If your voice is gonna shatter, no, I'm good, I got this, Okay, I just don't want you to hurt your voice.

I'd be happy to take over you want to read, I'm happy to take over a paragraph of her Okay.

Uh, you can be Sophia for a bit.

Okay, excuse me.

Sophia broke up in a loaf of coarse French.

Bread Giovanni's ghost.

Have you seen him?

You went to the votes yesterday to meet my sixy and friend Dode, didn't you?

How do you know I went there?

For that matter?

How do you know rol?

I saw you?

And I know about him because he lives in the votes.

I like him.

His eyes tell me he has no killers.

He has beautiful eyes.

Have you ever looked into them?

They are not cold like the snake.

Any specific snake.

Okay, I do not know who killed the creature with the yellow hair.

You did not answer me before.

Have you seen jib No?

Have you?

Yes?

No?

So she is a mystical creature.

I know I love her.

Yes and no.

I will not tell unless you answer me.

These still skipping my hat.

One of my lips lies and one always tells the truth.

So it's true what they say about his ghosts wandering around down there.

I believe it is true.

My friend with the beautiful guys does not.

Maybe when he is old he will.

That's how she wound up down there.

She did a murder and was like, I'll hide down underneath the theater and I'll solve it.

You murder too, oh fuck?

And then like a hundred years later, she's like, ah, he didn't do it.

I know he didn't.

I think he looks as Giovanni dated his youth, but he has very different ideas about how he would live his life.

He doesn't wish to be confined under the ground.

I understand this.

I wasn't always old myself.

How can forever darkness be to the liking of any person?

For me?

It is different.

I've seen many things.

Perhaps I am today as Giovanni was when he was alive.

Tired of ugliness, Ready, mysteries of the dark.

I'm not reading anymore.

That hurts my head, hurts the back of my head.

Yeah, that's fine.

We've done enough, amazing Sophia.

So they keep chatting back and forth for a little while, and uh, Katerina is like, you sound clever, but what the fuck does any of that that you just said mean?

And she's like, I don't know.

She's like, but you just said it, And then she swallows her bread and cuts her off by leaping nimbly to her feet and announcing, I must go.

The bell says six o'clock, and I hear someone far away to all.

The bell.

Bell it's Sophia's bedtime.

So Katerina is like still talking to her.

She's like, think about what I've said, and Katerine is like, yeah, I will, but I like don't understand.

I don't think about it.

And then she turns around and she's just gone, yeah, gone, because there's a series of trapdoors and apparently people you smoke bombs and like.

And then Katerina looks around.

Said Katerina looks around.

The dressing room is like Jesus Christ.

And then she notices not only is Bebet's compact mirror gone, which she knew she took, but she also stole Bebet's black gym bag that has like all of her personal items.

Oh geez in it oops, the ugly black jim bag and the ugly Yes, she called the leotard ugly, and that she stole it.

I love her.

Smash cut Durowl crouched at the top of a stone staircase that's hidden behind an oak arm war in Ian's office.

This place is like Swiss cheese.

It is riddled.

Yeahs the wall and there's so many people living in it and underactive.

Actually, what like this?

This puppet theater has never metal load bearing wall in its life.

Everything has a.

Yeah, people are able to disappear from any room because there's so many secret passageways and and and by the way, multiple people know about multiple different sets of secret passageways correct in and around it.

How does this place even stay standing up?

So if anyone is keeping track, it's four characters that we know who come in and out of the vaults now, yes, yes, which is like more characters that we know.

Like, honestly, does anyone use the fucking doors to this plays?

I don't think so.

I think people only get there through the wall.

Genuinely unbelievab.

There's more people living underneath, and no one can find him.

So he's how could they.

Among all of the so many people that live that they can't interrogate all of the mole people.

Here's the resources.

The Paris police doesn't don't have the resources.

This is why we need to give more money to the police.

Yeah, agreed, Agree that hurt to say.

Okay, So he's uh sneaking back into Ian's office.

He has snuck in there multiple times before.

Uh.

Not necessarily because he thinks that Ian is a mastermind, but that because he has this like upper level management position information both written and uh like of patrons and whatever, who gets locked in the safe, et cetera.

He just comes into life, not to be.

Evidence in his office.

Here's how stupid ian Is will get.

Well, maybe after six months he got he got uh yeah.

Maybe, but I think that we discover something that he frequently does.

So Raoul is thinking about Okay, says Raoul, couldn't see Ian being the one who actually stabbed Claudia.

That would have been the puppet master's deed.

But he's like, I know Ian's in on this, like thievery bullshit.

I need to get some more information.

And he's thinking about Claudia and what happened to her, And it's what I fucked up, he thinks to himself.

Claudia had not died pleasantly or quickly.

He could still picture her corpse the work of a butcher.

She had been stabbed at least a dozen times.

Suddenly the book gets dark.

Well, I'm wondering if this indicates a crime of passion.

It does seem to, because if our writer is doing any research, anyone who dabbles in true crime.

The ritter of fifty seven uster, Yeah.

It's probably painting this gruesome of a picture intentionally because usually when someone is killed in that type of way, specifically stabbing, there's like so much intimacy, like you're right there, and then to do it that many times you have to be like really intensely and the vision.

How clean stabbing murders are in movies is a total pet Peeven guns too, when you shoot someone in a movie, they just go and they're gone.

No, it's stabbing too.

How many movies slash and blood pop?

How times have you seen a movie where the killer like stabs someone a couple of times and they just dropped it.

It's all very clean.

It's all very sanitized and like a fool of blood comes out.

Yeah, and they're and they're asleep.

Not that I want to see more graphic stabbing deaths.

That isn't real, But it is very very childish to think that, like it's like clean and easy, and and it just gives us this weird thing about murder and death.

Yeah, it's it's not as truly horruesome gruesome actually is so that bit of context.

Now, that's true if it isn't organized crime death.

A lot of the times those are more gruesome as warnings to other people not to step up.

As warnings or.

Castration, the like, yeah, that kind of stuff, really gruesome mulation stuff in the.

Context of how fucking ridiculous this book is being a mystery.

I could see it being done that way to paint a picture of a crime of passion, because then Raoul would fit better as part of a frame up.

So who knows, but it could mean any number of things.

You're really in your element with this true crime.

You've got like four theories already.

It's I'm this book is the best thing that happens.

It's like really everything for you.

Okay.

So he is shuddering at the thought of what happened to Claudia, and he turns to his desk and began opening drawers that were laid out with scrupulous care.

There were scripts and documents and strategically dog eared paperback novels inside, all things he had found in his three previous searches.

The books were for show only.

Ian didn't read classics.

His taste ran to the porno magazine's tucking car on the bottom drawer.

You weren't lying about there being porno references.

I want to butt Grandma issue seven.

He doesn't say which one, but which is you.

I I want to Grandma, because there is a best one and it's not seven.

It's not silent no no no seven seven.

They really lost the plot.

They really worn that concept.

Ralph flipped through one of them, pausing in the center.

This wasn't art, Oh, Raoul's.

Too good, He's too good for a turney porno mag Well, well, mister art, take I'm.

Not the one living a vault under a puppet theater.

You're the one who's sick and underneath a puppet theater.

You really come up here?

Snooper, super shit.

Fucking bad mouth me for reading butt for Grandma.

Porl open one of my my private pornas.

And then this isn't art.

Oh fuck, I only master made to the Mona Lisa, Like can I sneak underneath the leave and jag off to the fucking Mona Lisa.

This guy couldn't find his way out of the vaults.

He couldn't find his way out of a fucking paper bag.

He's got seven hundred people coming in and out of the.

Vaults seven seven months, and he hasn't been able to find a fucking til at all underneath a fucking puppet theater and he's fucking gonna talk about my porno in my office.

In this moment, when I was reading it, I was like, I'm team Ian.

I am.

I'm sorry, but Raoul, mine's just ship.

Yeah, you shit together, clean your house before you come porno theater.

In porno'megan judging into my house.

Yeah, let's you know what they say about pats and kettles and glasshouses and all that people.

Live in glass sewers underneath puppet theaters.

Shouldn't throw fucking porno mags.

That's expression, right.

So anyway, he puts the magazines away, and he's he's looking around, and he knows that Raoul or not Raoul.

Raoul knows that Ian keeps the combination for the safe in his office written in front of file.

Okay, so maybe they're all kind of a bunch of dumb dumps.

So he checks the safe.

He consistently checks the safe.

At this point, he already knows what the password is because he's been in there three other times.

You know what, I'm gonna get a safe and have it be very conspicuous that I have the safe.

I'm gonna hide my stuff, not in the safe, by important stuff.

I'm gonna hide in like not the same.

It's just butt for grandma.

That's my cret.

My big secret is I'm being to grandma octagenarian pornoy.

That's why I got so mad when round toudged him.

I was like, how fucking dare you?

How fucking dare you?

It has the right to watch, however, old a grandma he wants get butt fun.

No, it's true, it's true, and you did offer.

But Grandma, yeah, it's fast, you know, it's if you're ever gonna talk about pornous shut up.

So in the vault he's like, oh, there's nothing important to me here.

There's like an address book with the wealthiest patrons and some.

Cash, bloody knife, a picture of in doing it, a written confession, confession, DNA swabs, timestamp, motorized, nothing interested.

Shoved it aside.

But that is an art.

This is an art shoving the evidence aside.

So he shuts the safe.

He says, no point in taking Okay, he set his jaws.

He shut the safe, leaving the address book inside.

No point in taking that and the money ian stash there meant nothing to him.

Raul had money.

He did not have freedom, advil.

He did not have no fever.

The tap of flat leather shoes in the corridor broke into his thoughts.

Someone approached.

He shoved the concealing portrait back over the safe and dutched swiftly into the woodroom.

You know when you are in like a really sketchy place, and you turn on the light like cockroaches, like fleet under all the furniture and into all the secret passages and crevices.

So I imagine this deepens as you walked from room to room in the someone went back to all.

Louise katerinabus Crombulus, Rombulist.

Jungle, Junglan Carrethers.

There's two Djunglans that live underneath the theater.

And they fuck each other.

Caught.

God, I'm so gross anyway, So the person outside the door slowed, then stopped.

The door handle turned.

It must be Ian.

Raoul considered a new tech, a choke choke a confession from renshawt tempting, but he preferred not to be so violent.

Yet the door opened with a bang, and a man strolled in.

Raoul glanced at the slants in the armoire, eyes narrowed.

Not Ian, He's hiding in his armoire yep, oh lord, but it's not Ian who walks into Ian's office.

It's Philip Hambleton Hambleton.

The spoiled prince with the moneyed father.

I love that I'm a spoiled prince with a moneyed father.

It is like the term money because it sounds so much like honeyed.

What do you do for a living nothing?

I'm a spoilt pence for the money fattest daddy gives me all the money, honey, I need that.

All I have to do is give him a little sweet just be sweet to my dad, and it gives me all the money I want to be.

I want to be the prince to a moneyed father.

So bad, I know.

And he was broke as ship when he died.

Brocast dead dad.

Oh no, guy, sorry, I know.

Sorry I broke your dead dad.

Oh my god, so so b god.

I so.

I joke about this all the time that like the only chance we have at any kind of inheritance are Bill's amazing parents.

And they're so healthy, so.

Healthy, lady.

Will ever, they will absolutely outlive both you and Billy for.

Sure outleave me.

They will be putting me in the town.

Your last words will be whispered, all holding one of their hairs.

I have it.

I knew you, and get your money.

I knew.

I never get your man.

I would never.

They're so wonderful and they're so.

Good writing your lady.

I just wanted to live long enough.

And they're like what And then you die and then you fucking die, and they're like, what the fuck?

What the fuck?

She?

I wanted to get your bunny, to live long enough to get your buddy that she shied.

What the fuck?

Oh that's oh god, oh god.

Okay, wow.

So it's Philip Hambone.

And Philip is just like maybe a little bit drunk and talking to himself.

And no, he knows he's he knows someone's there.

I don't think he does.

No, Okay, think about it.

The puppet theater.

But none of these people except or believe or assume that there's anyone there.

They're just like classic Giovanni the theater ghosts.

Yeah, they're talking to Giovanni or inanimate puppet, maybe a little rat woman that lives in the wall.

So Philip sauntered over to the desk and tossed a piece of paper on the top.

It means so much to you doesn't it in He said, you had a feeling important, Well, here's a bit of it, punts for you, and then he pisses on his desk, just kidding, he doesn't shit.

Another chuckle.

He flipped open Ian's cigarette case, silver cigarette case that was on his desk and helped himself.

Thanks, oh man.

He gave the empty chair a mock salute.

I know you love to share with your friends.

Drunk, he has destroyed.

That's how I read it.

Ah, but up up, so Raoul.

He waited in the arm war impatiently while Philip smoked the cigarette and then lifted a bottle of Bordeaux from me, the drink from being private stock more thanks old chap alrighty's British whatever.

I'm just drunk.

This will be but to get use, I promise.

And then he leaves weird.

And Raoul goes out to read the note and whispers, you won't get Katerina shit, bro, stay there, core, Yeah, you have a lot investigation.

You cannot get side dragged like ghost loving snizz right now.

You have got to focus.

So he looks at the note and it's an address and uh a per two person people's names, so it's a cafe, and then the names of the owners of the cafe, and then where the cafe is.

Weird what He puts it back down, and he's like, weird.

I mean, I know the address, but I don't recognize the names of those people or the cafe.

Probably maybe it means nothing.

But he's like, I'm just gonna I'm gonna commit this to memory.

I'm gonna file this away in my brain so i can figure this out later.

And I'm gonna go put the note back and I're gonna go back in my rat hole behind the wardrobe and go downstairs.

But oh no, he hears another scrape at the door, and this time he's too far from the rat hole to get out, and he he can't hide.

He won't have time to hide anywhere before the door flings open.

He was trapped.

He would be seen.

He had to think fast.

How could he get out of here?

Unnoticed?

The room was stuffy with the early evening sun pouring full force of the windows.

Raoul's hair clung to his neck and forehead because he's so sick and he's so sweaty.

The orange rays of the sun blinded.

Would they blind the person who came in the door swung back.

Raoul's head came up.

He smelled drunkard, noir cologne, saw a flash of brown suit Ian, damn this man to hell, Ral swore under his breath.

Renshaw closed the door, then locked it.

The trap was sealed wit the trap.

Yeah, he's trapped inside of the office and he's going to be found.

And that's the end of chapter six.

So he just have don't wait until next week to get the answers of what's gonna happened to Rowell and see if Sophia comes back, and how drunk Ian got your method, and whether or not Bet believes in ghosts because she does.

She's okay, But we just want I just want to know if he's going to get out of the office without being seen.

I don't know.

We can't say he said he won't.

We can't answer that is to strangle.

Wouldn't it be amazing if he's hiding, because he didn't He has to kill.

And not get caught.

Run off together coming into the office, and he keeps strangling them to death like one another, like he's playing hitman or assassin's creed and just stacking the bodies up in the fucking I don't have any bodies.

Many runs away with Sophia because he can never leave the vaults.

Yeah, but no one thinks to look there.

Even though everyone goes down there, and.

So everyone has like some secret relationship with Oh yeah.

You're always six degrees of Kevin Bacon from somebody lives in the vaults under the puppet theater.

This is I'm having so much fun.

Thanks the best book I've ever read.

I'm so happy.

So tune in next week to see if rel gets discovered, if he kills his way out, or if the blinding sun through the window saves him this time and he.

Slips into another unknown secret passageway the Swiss cheese.

Sophilia opens the floor beneath him and drops him.

Wait, not my sexy friend, my sexy friend.

I genuinely believe that could be the resolution of Sophia saving him.

Absolutely, do not rule it out.

No, because why would we have just met her and she knows who he is.

But I don't think he knows who she is.

I can't wait for them to meet.

I hope we get so much more Sophia, even though I will have no voice, I'm going to.

Say that's why I stepped in a genuinely worried about your vot's.

I love her so much.

Yeah yeah, Who who would have thought that a screeching Parisian mol woman would be such a fun character?

Mm hmmm, No, I love it.

I love her.

I'm in, I got nothing else.

Well, tune in next week, everybody.

Thank you for listening to the best.

More Preen incoming.

Hey, goodbye bye, Thank you for listening to Passages Passages.

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