Speaker 1: A new to the listener. The following story contains some
Speaker 1: adult content and language. Hey Briggs, Hello, are you gotta
Speaker 1: be kidney? Just act bridge? You're gonna speak this time?
Speaker 1: Mr Briggs? What? Mr Briggs, It's Samuel Tench, Oh, Mr
Speaker 1: Mr Tachum. Sorry? Have I caught you during an inopportune moment? No?
Speaker 1: I thought, well, that's not important. What can I do
Speaker 1: for you? Mr Tench? I was calling because I would
Speaker 1: like to invite you up to my house tomorrow afternoon,
Speaker 1: your house for lunch. There are some people I'd like
Speaker 1: to introduce you to. I'll, due respect, I don't know
Speaker 1: that I have time for a social call. Mr Tention.
Speaker 1: I'm aware that it's short notice, and I do apologize
Speaker 1: for not contacting you sooner. Will that be a problem
Speaker 1: tomorrow now it's it's not a problem. Is it's just
Speaker 1: been sometime since we've spoken, Mr Briggs. Eight weeks of
Speaker 1: past eight weeks already. I'd like to hear how your
Speaker 1: investigation is going, of course, of course, but there's a
Speaker 1: lot that I'm in the middle of, a lot to
Speaker 1: work through, to organize that is, I should hope. So
Speaker 1: that's precisely why I hired you. That's really swallow. You
Speaker 1: do invite me, Mr Tench, but it'd probably be best
Speaker 1: if I followed up on a few leads first. What
Speaker 1: you're saying makes perfect sense. Good, I'm glad. However, I
Speaker 1: must insist Mr Mr Briggs. Have you been receiving my
Speaker 1: checks each I have? Mr Guy comes same to him
Speaker 1: every Thursday. I believe this week marks the completion of
Speaker 1: the first ten thousand dollars. Isn't that correct? That's correct? Good.
Speaker 1: I just wanted to make sure that I was fulfilling
Speaker 1: my end of the deal to your satisfaction. Very much,
Speaker 1: so good. I would like you in attendance for lunch
Speaker 1: tomorrow at my home. Yes, Mr Tencher, why don't we
Speaker 1: say around half past noon? Half past it is? Have
Speaker 1: you been needing the address? No? I have it? Wonderful,
Speaker 1: I'm very much looking forward to it. Wonderful. Yeah, wonderful.
Speaker 1: Just freaking copathetic the last time for lunch? What am
Speaker 1: I going to tell him? So Sam and Chess they
Speaker 1: call it a stalemate. Damn it. If you dare give
Speaker 1: him everything, you're a nittied if you tell him everything
Speaker 1: but stops him from getting someone else. Saw, I don't
Speaker 1: be an idiot lunch my ass, I'm gonna get sacked.
Speaker 1: Screw this, I'm taking the risk of the day off.
Speaker 1: It goes for you too. I think Hank had good
Speaker 1: reason to worry that he'd be fired the present day
Speaker 1: equivalent of almost nine grand for what was now another
Speaker 1: dead end, And if Tench wasn't pleased, there's little chance
Speaker 1: that he would get a shot at another ten thousand.
Speaker 1: If I were Hank, I'd want to update tension, then
Speaker 1: pray that he didn't ask me any further questions. The
Speaker 1: last thing, I would want to sit opposite him and
Speaker 1: spit out a variety of imaginary theories and excuses. But
Speaker 1: Hank wouldn't have to make any excuses. In fact, of
Speaker 1: the people gathered at Samuel Tench's house the following afternoon,
Speaker 1: Hank would end up doing the least amount of talking.
Speaker 1: From Vox Popula and the Los Angeles Harold, this is
Speaker 1: the Angel of Vine, my old heart, ankain and no
Speaker 1: ground because my angel's Hank recorded every turn of the
Speaker 1: drive to tents, even though he had the address of
Speaker 1: the property on Lomment to drive. He counts every turn,
Speaker 1: every street name, almost like a trail of bread crumbs.
Speaker 1: Like he doesn't want to forget exactly how he got there.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's a detective thing. I don't know. But as
Speaker 1: he arrives at Tenches bell Air Mansion the next afternoon,
Speaker 1: he's clearly impressed, if not slightly resentful. Ok. You gotta
Speaker 1: be kidding me, Holy smoke. So much for the idea
Speaker 1: struggling artist. Sure as hell, don't feel bad about taking
Speaker 1: his money now. In fact, I'm gonna go get Phillis
Speaker 1: one of those paint by numbers sets. Jesus, every man's
Speaker 1: a Rembrandt, right, Maybe I should learn how to paint
Speaker 1: by numbers. Good afternoon, sir, Mr Briggs, I presume good afternoon.
Speaker 1: You presume correct. Welcome Please do come in. Watch your
Speaker 1: step over the threshold. I do apologize for its appearance,
Speaker 1: so there was no one available to fix it until monday.
Speaker 1: No apology necessary. Really, May I hang your coat? Sir?
Speaker 1: Now it's okay, thanks. It may be a little warm
Speaker 1: in the God Marrier. I'm used to it. I'll manage,
Speaker 1: but thanks as you wish. Mr Briggs, please follow me. Wow,
Speaker 1: what is that? Go? It's brass, sir, nice place, Mr Briggs.
Speaker 1: I'm so pleased that you could come good afternoon, Mr
Speaker 1: turch Geoffrey, Will you please tell the Lila to begin
Speaker 1: a tea service? Not traditional by any means, but scrumptuous nevertheless,
Speaker 1: right away, sir, Thank you Geoffrey. I hope I haven't
Speaker 1: brought you too far out of your way, not at all.
Speaker 1: Always nice to see where my clients live. Gives me
Speaker 1: a better idea of who they are. And what does
Speaker 1: my home tell you about me? Tells me you're one
Speaker 1: hell of an artist. I enjoy your candor. Mr Briggs, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm all candor. How many commode you get in this place? What?
Speaker 1: There's a lovely breeze today? So I've asked the Lila
Speaker 1: to serve everything at the garden table tea. Yuh, I
Speaker 1: can't say I've ever had tea for lunch before. Oh no,
Speaker 1: sour dough toast burn on one side. Most days it's light, fair,
Speaker 1: but certainly not as light as that. No assorted scones,
Speaker 1: plotted cream and preserves. They thought I was joking when
Speaker 1: I mentioned cucumber sandwiches. Who is this day? Mr Tench
Speaker 1: We're just out here? Who's that? I sent for them?
Speaker 1: Hoping they could be of some help to you, Mr Briggs.
Speaker 1: I would like to introduce you to Roy and Alice Knudsen.
Speaker 1: These are Marline's parents. Pleasure to meet you, sir, Yes,
Speaker 1: and thank you, I mean, thank you so much for
Speaker 1: your help, sir. Nice to meet you. When Mr Tench
Speaker 1: called Samuel, please, oh well, when Samuel told us that
Speaker 1: you would reopened the case, said, I had reopened the case.
Speaker 1: We always knew that there was someone. You knew that
Speaker 1: the cops gave up too easy. We knew it too,
Speaker 1: And here you are. We haven't given up hope of
Speaker 1: finding justice for our Marline. Why don't we sit team,
Speaker 1: Mr Briggs? Sure, Samuel, it would be lovely. Thank you, Delilah.
Speaker 1: Mr and Mrs Newtson arrived to town yesterday. I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: I'm a little lost. How do you know each other? Well?
Speaker 1: We spoke with Mr Tinch over the phone, but we
Speaker 1: didn't meet until just today. Still lost, Mr Tinch, I
Speaker 1: didn't expect you to travel to Idahos, who had seemed
Speaker 1: that the only logical sense was to accommodate them. I see,
Speaker 1: I thought that they might be able to offer you
Speaker 1: insight into their daughter, perhaps some information that you wouldn't
Speaker 1: otherwise be able to find. Could have just asked him
Speaker 1: over the phone. How would I know what questions to
Speaker 1: ask or what answers to look for. Is there a problem? No, no,
Speaker 1: not at all. When Mr Tinch told us what you
Speaker 1: were doing, Mr Briggs, will we wanted to meet you
Speaker 1: face to face. I understand, and it's good to meet
Speaker 1: you too. It's just such a long way to travel,
Speaker 1: and it was. It really is much shorter to fly.
Speaker 1: That's why I offered. Now, Mr Tinch, I don't mean
Speaker 1: to offend here, but I already told you I'm not
Speaker 1: going up in one of those things. Let alone too.
Speaker 1: Trains just fine. It's only an eighty mile drive to Pocatello,
Speaker 1: and two days later here we are safe and sound
Speaker 1: and on the ground in the most beautiful pink hotel. Pink.
Speaker 1: I've never seen anything like it. It just took my
Speaker 1: bath away. I'm standing there looking at a two toned rocket.
Speaker 1: The pair of us must have looked ridiculous in that
Speaker 1: parking lot. This poor man is trying to take a photograph.
Speaker 1: He didn't pay us any mind, went right back to
Speaker 1: his business soon as we walked away. Well it really
Speaker 1: is too much, Mrs Newtson. It's the very least I
Speaker 1: can do for the both of you. I'm very sorry
Speaker 1: for your loss. Okay, thank you Mr Briggs. It hasn't
Speaker 1: been an easy time. I can't even imagine. So what
Speaker 1: can we tell you about our Marlene? Well, well, surely
Speaker 1: there there must be something. Of of course there is.
Speaker 1: If it's all right for me to ask you about her, well,
Speaker 1: whatever you need, Roy, like Alice said, what was she like?
Speaker 1: She was a performer from the very start. She was
Speaker 1: talking before she could even walk. Yeah, of to sing.
Speaker 1: We had her taking piano lessons from a very young age.
Speaker 1: She did not like to practice, do you remember, Roy,
Speaker 1: how she would stomp around all the time, but eventually,
Speaker 1: eventually you would hear the scales up and down and
Speaker 1: up and down. She played so well, so beautifully. My
Speaker 1: friend Annette she said she had this incredible ear for music, Daddy,
Speaker 1: and that says, I have perfect pitch. Yeah, that's what
Speaker 1: she called her. There was a man in Twin Falls
Speaker 1: who she read about in the paper, a Charlie or
Speaker 1: Carrie I know, something like that, who had collected the
Speaker 1: autographs of people like you know, Bob Hope and being
Speaker 1: Crosby said. Crosby wrote to him twice a year after that,
Speaker 1: she said, Mama, my autograph is going to make somebody
Speaker 1: very happy. One day senior year of icycle and she
Speaker 1: was smarter than all those other girls by a mile. Well,
Speaker 1: that's the only reason Roy let her go to Hollywood
Speaker 1: in the first place. I wasn't so fond of those
Speaker 1: pageants at the time. Why is that no reason she
Speaker 1: needed to be parading around in a bathing suit like that? Roy,
Speaker 1: You know very well she wasn't comfortable with that. Part
Speaker 1: of it was I she was incredibly modest. She one
Speaker 1: second runner up trophy still on the mantel. And what
Speaker 1: about when she got to California? She wrote home twice
Speaker 1: a week, I've found an apartment that has a television
Speaker 1: in it. She got a job real quick, and she
Speaker 1: called home when she got that coffee advertisement. Remember that,
Speaker 1: I'm a real actress, Daddy. She she was a act
Speaker 1: It didn't seem she knew a whole lot of people. Here.
Speaker 1: Is there anyone I'm missed? Maybe? M M, well, I
Speaker 1: know there was Gladys. She lived with Gladys. She mentioned
Speaker 1: a dancer named Sylvia who having a rough time. Oh,
Speaker 1: she had a friend from work named Virginia. Who's Virginia.
Speaker 1: You're going to find him right, whoever did this to her?
Speaker 1: Mr Knutson, I am doing everything here. Please don't give
Speaker 1: me that package nonsense. The police did everything we can speech.
Speaker 1: I'm a firefighter, Mr Briggs, I know how to deliver
Speaker 1: news nobody wants to hear. So you can just spare
Speaker 1: me the horseshit. We don't want that, we don't need it.
Speaker 1: You don't have to protect us. Mr Tent showed me
Speaker 1: what that monster did to my little girl. Can you
Speaker 1: find the man who took the spine out of my
Speaker 1: daughter's please? I will? Mr Tench, may I speak to
Speaker 1: you a moment? Of course? Why don't we all take
Speaker 1: a moment, Delilah? Would you bring another pot? I'm sure
Speaker 1: this is all lukewarm by now y. I'm sorry, it's okay.
Speaker 1: What do you have screws or something? You show them
Speaker 1: photos of her body? It was at his request. Mr
Speaker 1: Briggs calmed down. She hasn't seen them. She didn't want
Speaker 1: That is not the point. Why would you do that
Speaker 1: for what reason? Why? What? What? What right do you have?
Speaker 1: What right? That's awfully sanctimonious of you, Mr Briggs? Every right,
Speaker 1: and you're confusing the bearers of this awful burden. It's
Speaker 1: not my right, it's his right. It was his right
Speaker 1: and his choice to see what was done to his
Speaker 1: only daughter. Wouldn't you want that choice? Why the did
Speaker 1: you tell him I reopened the case? Don't you think
Speaker 1: that everyone deserves hope? I get it bringing them here.
Speaker 1: I get what you're trying to do. Will you please
Speaker 1: leave the police work to me? My apologies. I thought
Speaker 1: I was being helpful, and what if I can't deliver,
Speaker 1: I still faith in you. You didn't answer my question.
Speaker 1: You shouldn't be thinking about camp. The last thing I
Speaker 1: need is you frustrated at the bottom of a bottle
Speaker 1: with my money in your bank account. That's awfully harsh,
Speaker 1: even for you. But honest, I'll leave the police work
Speaker 1: to you if you leave the pep talking to me?
Speaker 1: How long are this thing in time? A few days?
Speaker 1: All right? Well? If I think of anything else, I'll
Speaker 1: give you a call. I should say goodbye. I guess
Speaker 1: don't look so concerned. You don't have to. I told
Speaker 1: him you had very limited time today. I should say goodbye.
Speaker 1: Whatever you think is best. Hanks has goodbye to them
Speaker 1: with the explanation that he wants to get back to work,
Speaker 1: which they are eager for him to do. Jeoffrey the
Speaker 1: butler walks him back down the long hallway and he
Speaker 1: goes back to his He doesn't say a word after that.
Speaker 1: It's clearly blindsided, to the point where I think it
Speaker 1: took him off his game. Or maybe it didn't. You
Speaker 1: tell me, Mrs Knittson mentioned a friend of Marlene's name Virginia, right,
Speaker 1: and Hank never asked any follow up questions. So who
Speaker 1: is this Virginia? And how do you find a person
Speaker 1: of interest in a city of two million first names?
Speaker 1: I don't know. I attention thought that surprising Hank with
Speaker 1: Marlene's parents was a good idea. I understand his reasoning,
Speaker 1: but maybe maybe I'm wrong. After all, all I have
Speaker 1: to offer here is my opinion. But I cannot imagine
Speaker 1: a world where I am sitting across the table from
Speaker 1: parents who have lost their child in such a brutal way,
Speaker 1: and that somehow I'm responsible for their only chance at
Speaker 1: lasting piece. I don't understand how that can be helpful.
Speaker 1: I had a hard enough time accepting the responsibility caring
Speaker 1: for these tapes. After what I just played you, there
Speaker 1: was only one tape left from my first haul. I
Speaker 1: made a few road trips back and forth to Seattle
Speaker 1: during all this, fifteen hours from Melaid and Multnomah Falls
Speaker 1: in Oregon, great place to stop and stretch your legs,
Speaker 1: by the way, and then another three hours to Seattle.
Speaker 1: There was no way I was going to ship them,
Speaker 1: and I didn't want to take more than a few
Speaker 1: boxes at a time. For one, I feared being completely
Speaker 1: overwhelmed by the amount of information I was facing potentially
Speaker 1: and worst that I wouldn't know what to do with it. Too,
Speaker 1: Even though I had been given permission, a part of
Speaker 1: me felt guilty for taking all that remained of Hank.
Speaker 1: They've just found him, and I was taking pieces of
Speaker 1: him away. So my second trip up to see Bethan
Speaker 1: Phillis was right after Hank had met Marlene's parents, which
Speaker 1: turned out to be very appropriate timing. Maybe when Tench
Speaker 1: told Hank to get some rest, he went straight home.
Speaker 1: I say that because at the end of the tape
Speaker 1: was the first time I heard Hank with a then
Speaker 1: seven year old Phillis. It's just really necessary, yes, absolutely necessary.
Speaker 1: I will not be denied hearing baby you. I am
Speaker 1: never going to do the end of this never so
Speaker 1: he scraped and scratched and scrabbled and scrooged, and then
Speaker 1: he scrooged again. He scrabbled and scratched and scraped. Oh
Speaker 1: my god, if that's you, and scrabbled and scratched and scraped,
Speaker 1: working busily with his little paws and muttering to himself,
Speaker 1: we go, we got pop. His snout came out into
Speaker 1: the sunlight. He found himself rolling in the warm grass
Speaker 1: of a great meadow. This is fine, he said to himself.
Speaker 1: This is better than whitewashing. O somebody sleepy. Mh, you
Speaker 1: are too. We'll read more tomorrow. Sweeting glass your heart there,
Speaker 1: you want to press it? Yeah, okay, go ahead. That
Speaker 1: was so sweet. You were so cute. I don't remember
Speaker 1: that a book was that The Wind and the Willows.
Speaker 1: Ye have zero recollection of it? Are we done? Sorry?
Speaker 1: I'm not a licensed family therapist, so I don't know
Speaker 1: if playing that for them was the right thing to
Speaker 1: do or not. But I do know is that it
Speaker 1: wasn't my choice to make. Much like Tench, I merely
Speaker 1: presented the information. And that's not me being manipulative. By
Speaker 1: the way I knew that I wouldn't be sharing updates
Speaker 1: as far as the case was concerned, But they remained
Speaker 1: this second mystery, and the one that was the most
Speaker 1: relevant to them, who was Hank Briggs. I returned to
Speaker 1: l A with three more boxes to go through and
Speaker 1: eventually worked out the timeline. Thanks to hanks continued reading
Speaker 1: on what I call the philist tapes, they managed to
Speaker 1: read A Wind in the Willows all the way to
Speaker 1: chapter five. Mr Toad. As wonderful as this time must
Speaker 1: have been for him, Hank couldn't ignore his duty. In fact,
Speaker 1: sharing these moments with his own daughter possibly made it worse.
Speaker 1: He returned to his irrational office discipline with renewed into tensity,
Speaker 1: more obsessive, more discouraged than before. It was jarring, which
Speaker 1: reminded me of what Beth had said about Hank the
Speaker 1: first time she heard him, And there he was my grandfather,
Speaker 1: and there was a immediate sense of urgency in his voice.
Speaker 1: And so I stopped it. Will got it who told
Speaker 1: somebody that, sum bitch, it's nothing nothing. This behavior continued
Speaker 1: for a while. He wasn't always breaking things, but his
Speaker 1: emotion is ferocity. Now remember that I said that Hank
Speaker 1: would receive two phone calls that would change everything right.
Speaker 1: The phone call from Tench, which led to Marline's parents,
Speaker 1: was the first. This one was the second. No no, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: now coming in thank Briggs, Hank Adler Harrison, good afternoon, doctor.
Speaker 1: Sure it took your sweet time. It was out of
Speaker 1: my control. I didn't think I was going to hear
Speaker 1: from you. That makes the both of us. Don't sound
Speaker 1: so disappointed. I'm not that bad. So your boss come
Speaker 1: around yet. Leonard Shaw would like to meet you at
Speaker 1: the studio at his house. That's some boss. Yeah, you'll
Speaker 1: probably want to keep that to yourself. I advise that
Speaker 1: you find a way to behave yourself in general while
Speaker 1: you're there. Is that a threat? I hope not. Thursday afternoon,
Speaker 1: four o'clock. No need to ring the bell. All open
Speaker 1: the front door. We wait. Why are you going to
Speaker 1: be there because he wants me there? Are you really
Speaker 1: gonna argue? This one's Friday at four address Phil send
Speaker 1: his driver to your office at half past three yea.
Speaker 1: Over the next few nights, Hank and Phillis were able
Speaker 1: to plow through to chapter eight Toads Adventures. It wasn't
Speaker 1: as intense as the moments of him alone in his office,
Speaker 1: but there was a definite sense of purpose, as if
Speaker 1: he wanted desperately to finish the story with Phyllis. He
Speaker 1: was reading for Phyllis and for himself, almost as if
Speaker 1: he knew that he would never see her again. He
Speaker 1: looked and understood the silence, with a smile of much
Speaker 1: happiness on his face and something of a listening look
Speaker 1: still lingering there. The weary rat was fast asleep. Mhm,
Speaker 1: look that goodnight, little rat. The Angel of Vine is
Speaker 1: a podcast produced by Vox popular on behalf of the
Speaker 1: Los Angeles Herald. Thank you for listening to the Angel
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Speaker 1: is direct did by E. Ryan Martz, written by Oliver Vacare.
Speaker 1: Story about E. Ryan Marts, Jason Salmwalt and Oliver Vakare.
Speaker 1: Sound designed by Joel Robbie and Kevin du Sablon. Produced
Speaker 1: by Vox Popular in association with Forever Dog Podcast Network.
Speaker 1: This episode's performances by Joe Manganello, Alan Tutick, Constant Zimmer,
Speaker 1: Camilla Luddington, Misha Collins, Eric Bouza, Steve Bloom, Mary Elizabeth McGlenn,
Speaker 1: Coco Lamoreau Cree Summer, and Oliver Vacare. Angelis is performed
Speaker 1: by Desy Dennis Dylan piano and arrangement by James Harper.
Speaker 1: Composed by Matt Dennis, Lyrics by Earl Brent from downtown
Speaker 1: Los Angeles. This has been the Angel le Vine. You'll
Speaker 1: hear more from us soon. Oh is my Joe? H mm?
Speaker 1: Excuse me while I did supppear