Speaker 1: Maxie Miles is a production of A Typical Artists and
Speaker 1: I heart radio. I think I know what happened. Excuse me?
Speaker 1: Is someone here ship? Hello? Come on, we gotta get
Speaker 1: out of here now, let's go down the backstairs. Hello.
Speaker 1: Why are we hiding from Miss Hommy Will? Because she's
Speaker 1: dating Ransom, so she'll want to give these files back
Speaker 1: to him. But I can't let Ransom find out that
Speaker 1: Riley was the one to steal them in the first place. What.
Speaker 1: I'll explain everything, but we've got to get out of
Speaker 1: here first. From a Typical Artists and I heart radio.
Speaker 1: You're listening to Maxie Miles. Yeah, this is chapter nine.
Speaker 1: The choice, and the choice in question is yours. By
Speaker 1: the end of the episode, you'll have heard three possibilities
Speaker 1: for what happened to Riley, and next week you'll have
Speaker 1: to decide which one you think is the truth. Be
Speaker 1: careful what you choose. Follow the wrong lead and there
Speaker 1: could be devastating consequences. H Okay, what the hell is
Speaker 1: going on? Nex? What did you just figure out this
Speaker 1: birth certificate? I think Riley is Ransom Sun What? But
Speaker 1: that does what? I mean? I mean how I don't
Speaker 1: know what it has to do with why Riley is
Speaker 1: missing yet, if anything at all, But it explains so much.
Speaker 1: It does. I never got to the tavern to talk
Speaker 1: to the foreman. Ransom stopped me on my way there
Speaker 1: because he woke up in his office with his father's
Speaker 1: safe broken into and no memory of anything beyond dinner
Speaker 1: last night. So naturally he has a love child. No,
Speaker 1: just hear me out ross, Okay, okay, I'm listening. He
Speaker 1: wanted help to find the files. Yeah, well, good job, then,
Speaker 1: I guess, And he was going on and on about
Speaker 1: this girl he was in love with when he was fifteen,
Speaker 1: who moved away suddenly, never to be heard from again.
Speaker 1: Do you think she was pregnant, Yeah, I do, and
Speaker 1: a teenage pregnancy out of wedlock. The Archers would have freaked, exactly.
Speaker 1: They would have sent her away and locked up the
Speaker 1: proof and tried to bury it. Okay, okay, I can
Speaker 1: believe that Ransom Archer had a kid when he was
Speaker 1: a teenager. But why the hell do you think that
Speaker 1: person is Riley? First off, our arch are for Riley
Speaker 1: or for Ransom. It true would be like Ransom to
Speaker 1: name a baby after himself. This certificate is for a
Speaker 1: baby born June eleventh, Ninete Riley's birthday, and there's a
Speaker 1: some kind of legal form here. It looks like there's
Speaker 1: some water damage or something, but I think that's Martha
Speaker 1: Stevens's signature. Do you think Riley knew that ransoms his dad?
Speaker 1: I don't know, but I think he would have stolen
Speaker 1: these files for a reason. We know he had some
Speaker 1: sort of fight with his parents. I wonder if he
Speaker 1: found out he was adopted. Maybe that's why he wanted
Speaker 1: to go to Berlin. This birth certificate is for the
Speaker 1: hospital there, which is why nobody in Hastings seems to
Speaker 1: know about it. This would have been a huge scandal
Speaker 1: at the time. Yeah, and it's not like it was
Speaker 1: that long ago. Fourteen years isn't long enough for Hastings
Speaker 1: to stop talking about anything, right, Okay? So Riley finds
Speaker 1: out he's adopted, and it goes to city Hall out
Speaker 1: for the school paper, but to look up the birth records,
Speaker 1: and he doesn't find his. So he decides he wants
Speaker 1: to go to the only other possible place that anyone
Speaker 1: is born around here. But if he was trying to
Speaker 1: go to Berlin, why steal these files? And how would
Speaker 1: he have known where to look in the first place.
Speaker 1: Maybe maybe Honeywall still the files it is her in
Speaker 1: but why what motivation would she have had. I don't know,
Speaker 1: you're the one who actually knows her. Maybe it's got
Speaker 1: something to do with the land deeds, Like maybe miss
Speaker 1: Honeywell is trying to prove that the Maplethorpe property is
Speaker 1: actually bigger than the current maps show. She seemed super
Speaker 1: interested in the history of the town when she got here.
Speaker 1: It is right next to the old Archer apothecary, and
Speaker 1: the maple Thorpes and the Archers were basically the only
Speaker 1: two families and Hastings for a while. I wouldn't be
Speaker 1: surprised if there was a lot of overlapping real estate.
Speaker 1: We should look through all the land needs later, but
Speaker 1: it's hardly the most present concern, right Riley, you said
Speaker 1: you'd figured it out, well. I figured out Ransom his mystery,
Speaker 1: not Riley's. And even that I know the where of
Speaker 1: the stolen files, but not the why or who if
Speaker 1: Riley was the one to take them. Even with that,
Speaker 1: there's still too many unanswered questions why Riley has been
Speaker 1: hiding his back back. Mr Beaties phone call Riley's eavesdropping
Speaker 1: in city Hall. Speaking of let's go through what you
Speaker 1: learned again, Hal said, Riley asked him about the harvest festival.
Speaker 1: They talked about the new mining project, but nothing major.
Speaker 1: And then miss Honeywell came in and when Hal was
Speaker 1: showing her out, he saw Riley looking through the public
Speaker 1: Works office when the foreman wasn't there. Except Honeywell said
Speaker 1: that as she was leaving she saw Riley eaves dropping
Speaker 1: on someone's office. So someone's lying, yeah, but who, well,
Speaker 1: who do we trust? Less? I'm a little less inclined
Speaker 1: to believe Honeywell after after what we had a weird
Speaker 1: conversation right before I saw Riley. Something feels off about her,
Speaker 1: which is how I've always felt about How. And let's
Speaker 1: say How's known the whole time about the mining project
Speaker 1: and hasn't said anything. It would be the end of
Speaker 1: his mayoral career if it came out, And of how
Speaker 1: new that Riley had that information, it would be enough
Speaker 1: to want to keep him out of the way for
Speaker 1: a while. Once the old mine has collapsed, the Archers
Speaker 1: and minute Our Mining are on the hook for the
Speaker 1: new one. They can't back out of the contract. Then
Speaker 1: Hastings gets a major windfall, making How look amazing and
Speaker 1: the detonation is in forty minutes. Wait did how mention
Speaker 1: when the decision was made to move the demolition up Ah?
Speaker 1: He said the board of trustees had an emergency meeting
Speaker 1: Friday night. That's why he couldn't help with the search
Speaker 1: party they sent out in the area. We found Riley's backpack,
Speaker 1: which was Thursday night. Remember what Mr Beaty said that
Speaker 1: he'd get it done by Sunday night. Do you think
Speaker 1: he was talking about the demolition. No, that's just it.
Speaker 1: He couldn't have been not if it was decided on
Speaker 1: Friday night. So what was he talking about? And who
Speaker 1: was he talking to? Okay, I've got a crazy theory.
Speaker 1: This is going to be about how Mr Beati is creepy,
Speaker 1: isn't it. Mr Beatie went somewhere the night Riley went
Speaker 1: missing with a duffel full of Riley's favorite candy. Mr
Speaker 1: Beatie has a cabin in the woods. You're making him
Speaker 1: sound like a grim fairytale villain. Just listen. Mr Beaty
Speaker 1: lost his son when he was Riley's age and is
Speaker 1: according to several people in Hastings, it's one of those
Speaker 1: people you considered generally unstable. So, yes, you said, Miss
Speaker 1: Honeywell said it too. She said he was in pain,
Speaker 1: and people in pain do desperate things like kidnapped someone.
Speaker 1: Maybe it didn't start that way, but maybe I don't know.
Speaker 1: Maybe Riley was down in the dumps about his parents
Speaker 1: and Mr Beatie was feeling sad about his son. Well,
Speaker 1: Riley had been helping Mr Beatie out right, So they
Speaker 1: get to talking and realize they relate on stuff, and
Speaker 1: then Mr Beady just doesn't let him go. I know
Speaker 1: it sounds nuts, No, no, it doesn't. Actually, it explains
Speaker 1: the Duffel bag, why Riley's backpack was in the woods,
Speaker 1: doesn't explain the shovel in tarp. But no solution explains
Speaker 1: everything right, all right. The way I see it, there
Speaker 1: are three distinct possibilities. One, Riley finds out that he
Speaker 1: was adopted and his parents never told him. He runs
Speaker 1: away to Berlin to find out who his birth parents
Speaker 1: are and gets lost in the woods, loses his backpack
Speaker 1: and his money, finds his way back to town, but
Speaker 1: doesn't want to face his parents yet, so he hides
Speaker 1: out in the inn. And he runs from you because
Speaker 1: because he was embarrassed because he was scared, maybe because
Speaker 1: he just wasn't ready to talk to anyone yet. Or
Speaker 1: maybe maybe Ransom did something and then sent you to
Speaker 1: dig up the evidence. Mm hmm. Maybe it was his
Speaker 1: dad more in our shirt is known to be ruthless,
Speaker 1: and if he's the one who covered up the pregnancy
Speaker 1: and the adoption in the first phase, oh my god,
Speaker 1: what what is it? Guys? The guys at city Hall earlier,
Speaker 1: I knew I recognized them. I think they work for
Speaker 1: war and Archer. Really, yeah, remember when he opened that
Speaker 1: ski resort a while back. Those guys were definitely there. Uh.
Speaker 1: There's lots of reasons that Warren would send people to
Speaker 1: City Hall, but the timing is definitely weird. Maybe that
Speaker 1: cabin in the woods is actually the Archers, and Beatty
Speaker 1: is a part of it somehow. Well, that's option two.
Speaker 1: Riley has been helping Mr Beaty out around his cabin.
Speaker 1: You said you never saw Riley working on his house,
Speaker 1: so the stuff he was doing for Mr Beatie must
Speaker 1: have been at a secret cabin. The secret cabin we're
Speaker 1: not even sure is his. You see why I think
Speaker 1: Mr Beatie's creepy. Now, all right, so maybe he is.
Speaker 1: Maybe he got attached to Riley, and when Riley got
Speaker 1: into a fight with his parents, he offered Riley a
Speaker 1: place to stay, but then he just kept him there,
Speaker 1: And the stack of money and the phone call we
Speaker 1: everhard was about something else entirely. Maybe it really does
Speaker 1: have to do with the Archers. Maybe Warren paid him
Speaker 1: to kidnap Riley keep his true parentage a secret, and
Speaker 1: Riley escaped and didn't immediately go to the Sheriff. I
Speaker 1: don't know. It all just sort of fits. Nothing's clicking completely.
Speaker 1: We're missing something huge here. Well, what's the third path?
Speaker 1: The mine? Right? The mine? Riley is doing an article
Speaker 1: for the school paper about Hastings and finds out that
Speaker 1: the mind is going to poison everyone, and instead of
Speaker 1: going to Mr Combs, he confronts How, who had no
Speaker 1: idea about it, and then freaks out and threatens him.
Speaker 1: That's so hard to imagine. I don't know. How has
Speaker 1: always been obsessed with making Hastings the best it can be.
Speaker 1: I think he'd go pretty far to protect it. So
Speaker 1: Riley then hides from How and by extension, the Sheriff.
Speaker 1: But why would he run away from me when I
Speaker 1: saw him at the end. I could have helped him.
Speaker 1: He should have known that you love Hastings and how
Speaker 1: Maybe Riley thought you wouldn't believe him. But I'm the
Speaker 1: one who is constantly trying to convince people to care
Speaker 1: about the environment. The New Mind being poisonous is exactly
Speaker 1: the kind of smoking gun I would love to wait.
Speaker 1: Maybe that's it. What's it? We found out about the
Speaker 1: issues with the Mind a full day ago, and we
Speaker 1: haven't told anyone. You're the one who didn't want to
Speaker 1: I know, I know. I'm not accusing you of anything.
Speaker 1: That's my point. We haven't told anyone because we don't
Speaker 1: have proof. All we have is some notes in a
Speaker 1: teenager's notebook. Plus we don't know who we can trust.
Speaker 1: So you think Riley was in the same spot. Whatever
Speaker 1: Riley is doing, whatever a kind of trouble he got into,
Speaker 1: whatever he's hiding from. Maybe he's still in it. Maybe
Speaker 1: he's looking for that proof Ransom's files or the environmental
Speaker 1: impact report. If he's really an archer, or Mr Beatie
Speaker 1: is really a kidnapper, or the Mind is really going
Speaker 1: to poison the water, and Riley is the only one
Speaker 1: who knows, then he doesn't just have an expose for
Speaker 1: the school paper. He's got something that will seriously affect
Speaker 1: a lot of people in Hastings. And Riley is a
Speaker 1: good journalist. He takes it seriously like you. Yeah, like me.
Speaker 1: He wouldn't go running to the sheriff, or to the mayor,
Speaker 1: or to anyone until he knew exactly what he was
Speaker 1: talking about. So you don't think he was kidnapped. You
Speaker 1: think he's been lying low. I'm I'm not sure. I
Speaker 1: know that I saw him at the end. The shoelace
Speaker 1: you found is solid evidence of that, and it seemed
Speaker 1: like he was there of his own free will. But
Speaker 1: that doesn't mean that's where he started. You mean maybe
Speaker 1: he was there hiding from someone who put him in
Speaker 1: danger in the first place. I don't think Riley would
Speaker 1: leave his backpack with his notebook full of information in
Speaker 1: the woods unless he was running from something or someone,
Speaker 1: a notebook that we still haven't shown anyone. I thought
Speaker 1: you didn't care about breaking rules, Ross, I don't, not really,
Speaker 1: But this isn't skipping class. His notebook. The shoe lays
Speaker 1: everything we've put together. It's still evidence in a missing
Speaker 1: person's case. So we need to tell the sheriff or someone.
Speaker 1: But we don't know who's involved yet. I thought you
Speaker 1: at least trusted Mr Combs. I do. But if we
Speaker 1: don't do this right, then someone might get away with
Speaker 1: a crime. And Wiley, we still don't know where he
Speaker 1: is or what's going on. So then what do we do?
Speaker 1: We have to think, like Riley, we need more information
Speaker 1: before we start accusing anyone of anything. How do we
Speaker 1: do that? How long until the demolition? Thirty minutes? Everr take? Okay, okay,
Speaker 1: that's enough time, Enough time for what to confront someone
Speaker 1: who I haven't decided yet. Give me a second. Are
Speaker 1: you telling me that you're just gonna waltz up to
Speaker 1: someone and ask them if they've committed any felonies or
Speaker 1: had love children? And someone knows where Riley is, and
Speaker 1: the fastest way to figure out what's going on is
Speaker 1: to find Riley. That's what this has always been about. Oh,
Speaker 1: I see, so you are going to confront a kidnapper.
Speaker 1: I thought we agreed that we weren't sure if Riley
Speaker 1: was kidnapped. I think we can agree that Riley is
Speaker 1: in trouble, and it's a bit concerning how little you
Speaker 1: seem to care about getting into trouble yourself. I've already
Speaker 1: been grounded for the rest of time. How much worse
Speaker 1: can it get. I'm not talking about that kind of trouble, Max,
Speaker 1: I'm talking about the kind where you pissed the wrong
Speaker 1: person off and they ruin your life or something much
Speaker 1: much worse. What are you talking about the Archers? How
Speaker 1: between the two of them, they own this town. If
Speaker 1: they wanted to destroy your uncle's career or ruin your
Speaker 1: record at school, they could. And Mr Beatie He's already
Speaker 1: lost a lot in his life. People who don't have
Speaker 1: anything left to lose, or people you don't want to push,
Speaker 1: don't be ridiculous. I'm serious. Max. We're dealing with someone
Speaker 1: powerful or unhinged enough that Riley has been hiding out
Speaker 1: for almost two weeks to stay out of their way,
Speaker 1: and if I don't find him soon, something much worse
Speaker 1: could happen. But why does it have to be you?
Speaker 1: Because as we've established, we don't know who we can trust.
Speaker 1: Do you trust me? What do you trust me? Max? I?
Speaker 1: I yes, I do. I trust you, really really, really
Speaker 1: really good? Can trust that trust that? I'm just trying
Speaker 1: to keep you safe. I don't need you to protect me. Ross.
Speaker 1: I know you don't. I know that that that you'd
Speaker 1: be fine without me. If anything, I've been dragging you down. No, No,
Speaker 1: that's not true at all. I would have never figured
Speaker 1: out any of this without you. I meant what I
Speaker 1: said the other night. But you would have kept running
Speaker 1: in those woods forever. You would have confronted Mr Beatie
Speaker 1: right then and there in his cabin. Maybe I keep
Speaker 1: you grounded or less afraid, but maybe I actually just
Speaker 1: hold you back. And that's what scares me. Max. You
Speaker 1: don't know when to stop. Ross. You don't have to
Speaker 1: come with me. I don't want you to do anything
Speaker 1: that you don't want. That's not the point, then what is?
Speaker 1: You really don't get it, do you? I don't care
Speaker 1: what happens to me, Max, I mean, yeah, if I
Speaker 1: had in my way, i'd stay in this treehouse all day,
Speaker 1: every day and never do anything remotely exciting. I don't
Speaker 1: think that's true, But I can't stand the idea of
Speaker 1: something happening to you. Ross. Clap is that Joe? No,
Speaker 1: it's just your mom. Where does Joe think you are? Right? Now? Here?
Speaker 1: But not from long? Max? Ross The demolition is going
Speaker 1: to begin any moment now. If there's a time to
Speaker 1: figure this out, it's tonight. Okay, what do we do?
Speaker 1: Not we max? If you think I'm going to sit
Speaker 1: this one out, it's not that I need you to
Speaker 1: go to City Hall? Why because we don't have time
Speaker 1: to do both both. What what is running through your
Speaker 1: head right now? Whoever took Riley, whoever he's running from,
Speaker 1: it might all be over tonight. If it has something
Speaker 1: to do with the mine, then it'll be too late
Speaker 1: for him to do any damage after the demolition, and
Speaker 1: will have lost our chance to catch someone in the act.
Speaker 1: If it's Mr Beatie, whatever he was doing has a
Speaker 1: deadline of tonight, and I'm supposed to be tracking Ransom's
Speaker 1: files down. He's going to be tracking me down soon enough. Okay,
Speaker 1: So are you saying we should split up both take
Speaker 1: a different person on ross? There's still the mine. If
Speaker 1: the old mines get collapsed tonight, that means the project
Speaker 1: is moving forward. And if it really is as dangerous
Speaker 1: as right we thought, we need to stop it, which
Speaker 1: is why you need to go to City Hall and
Speaker 1: try to find that environmental survey report. And what are
Speaker 1: you going to do. I'm going to go find Riley
Speaker 1: and now what happens next is up to you, the listener.
Speaker 1: There isn't one chapter ten, but three. You can choose
Speaker 1: for Max to confront Ransom Archer, to go to Mr
Speaker 1: Read's cabin, or race to accuse the mining company. But
Speaker 1: be careful what you choose. There is a right answer,
Speaker 1: but whatever the majority of the audience chooses, whether it's
Speaker 1: the right answer or not, will become the official ending
Speaker 1: of season one. Maxie Miles was created by Lauren Shippen
Speaker 1: and Its Production of A Typical Artists and I Heard Radio.
Speaker 1: This episode is written and directed by Lauren Chippen. Dialog
Speaker 1: getting in sound designed by Mercy Owing of Hemla Creek Productions,
Speaker 1: with editing assistance from Lauren Davis and Melissa Ponds. It
Speaker 1: featured Jordan Cob as Max and Miles maxa Follow as
Speaker 1: Ross Teller and Jack and Landgraph as Ms Honeywell. Original
Speaker 1: artwork by Shaye McMullan. For more information about the show,
Speaker 1: because visit Maxi Miles dot com and follow at A
Speaker 1: Typical Artists on Twitter and Instagram. Maxie Miles is executive
Speaker 1: produced by Lauren Shippen and iHeart Radio and for more
Speaker 1: podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app,
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Speaker 1: Thank you for listening, and keep curious.