Play@YSDC

Alex makes polite small talk about Mrs Hebert's family and the cake, appreciating the small moment of the mundane amidst the horror. But as the night grows longer, he finds himself frowning. Lawrence should be here by now. I hope he's alright. The fellow's not the most stable of us: I would hate to...

OOC:   Okay then, Simon will spend the two luck.

"No sign of the Reverend or his men," Simon reports.

"I also don't think he was having an affair," Alex tells the man. Its true; he fears far worse.

Always thinking he knows best, Simon pipes up. "We're moving Regina into protective custody to keep her away from her father. Best to be direct even if it is rather on the nose. This will feed into his paranoia and hopefully he'll take the bait."

" I would caution taking this with a grain of salt ," Alex advises. " Your mother's the only one we've heard mention this, and she seemed to think the worst of your wife regardless ." It's not quite the truth, but he sees no reason to make the poor man think his wife had been unf...

William just barely avoids shooting Alex an incredulous look. Though perhaps this was not a time for delicacy. "That bible of hers had a verse bookmarked concerning vipers; 'Their throat is like an open place of death; with their tongues they have said what is not true: the poison of snakes is...

"That might work. Perhaps we should go back to him and ask him if Florence ever expressed fear of snakes specifically. Maybe she let something slip to him." He frowns. "I'm beginning to fear she never made it back to New Orleans. I pray very much that I am wrong."

"It could be, but he specifically told us he'd never heard anything about snakes. If he was concealing an affair I don't see what he'd gain by not mentioning that. In some ways it could even serve as a convenient excuse; `I was counseling her so much because she had this fear.` "

Alexander waits until they get outside before he addresses the others. 'I'm afraid I have my suspicions about Father Ortega ," he explains. "Based on what we know I cannot believe that marked reference to snakes is a coincidence, and if she spoke to the Father as much as he claims I can't...

" A sad situation all around. From what little I've heard she and Billy truly loved each other, but were perhaps incompatible. I advised Billy to follow her back to New Orleans, but doubtful he will while his mother's still alive. Thank you both ," he tells the fathers. "And we're ver...

" I suppose Lucy Bates is out ," Simon chuckles, but then has the good grace to look chastened. " Bad jest, forgive me." "While I cannot help with that, I think we should assume if there's a leak Balfour already knows his daughter's real location. Best we make it seem as leg...

"Balfour's a desperate father and likely not thinking clearly." Simon chimes in. "I think we can risk rolling the dice here. If he sees a chance to get his daughter back before the world ends he's likely going to take it."

" Our main concern was that the only verse Florence had marked in her bible concerns snakes. Combine this with the oil workers who were and are obsessed with them, and we feared she may have been touched by the same mania. But if in your counseling with her she never mentioned anything about th...

Simon says nothing as to Malone's code name; he's no Freudian. "One presumes we're not actually moving her, just making it seem like we are. Why not suggest we're going to try a quiet move of her to a nearby group home? If that gets leaked, Balfour has the perfect opportunity to try and snatch...

" Time is short, but anyway we could use that to our advantage ?" Simon muses. " Put out that we're moving Regina out of fear for her safety and hope it leaks and Balfour's goons take the bait? If they use force to try to 'rescue' her and we can tie them back to the church, perhaps we...