If There's a Hell Below

Are you chewing gum and smoking at the same time?

Holy shit!

What?

- Are you chewing gum and smoking,

- at the same time? - What the fuck is happening?

Holy shit.

- Keep driving. - Get the fuck out of my car!

- Keep driving. - No!

- Oh my god, okay. - It's me.

What?

- It's me. Keep driving.

- You're, you're... - Don't say my name.

Uh...

Okay.

Get back on the road.

Wow. Yeah.

Yeah.

Can I ask you some questions?

No.

- Okay. Can I just... - No.

- We don't talk about any of this in the car.

- Oh, yeah, no, no, no the car's not bugged.

The...

Excuse me. The car's not bugged.

- You left it unlocked at the gas station.

Uh... okay.

Yeah, okay.

But can i... Is it alright if I confirm...

- Just kind of... - You're Abe Richek.

- Your social security number is 988-64-4323.

You checked into a hotel at Missoula.

You called your girlfriend at 11:17 pm.

At 12:13 am

you called a woman who is not your girlfriend.

I'm the one you're here to meet.

Now let's go.

Ooh.

Yeah, yes.

Can you... Do you mind...

Do you wanna just get in the front seat?

Will you get back on the road?

Yeah.

Yeah, just come... Come join me up here.

It's been lonely.

Okay, let's go.

Alright, which way?

North.

Okay.

Yes. Right. This way.

It's a method.

It's a method for quitting.

The cigarette, it's not lit.

I just hold it there

and chew the gum at the same time.

Let me see your phone.

Sure.

You can see what apps are running if...

There's a settings button you can go to on the right...

Oh my goodness.

Okay, or that works.

What would you have done if it was a phone

that you couldn't have taken the battery out of?

Why'd you become a journalist?

Serious question?

Oh, uh...

Why...

What made me become a journalist?

The money.

I think that I - I identify and for a long time have,

have seen myself as someone who cares a lot about the truth.

You know. And I'm not naive.

I recognize that there's a lot of moral relativity

and moral ambiguity and uncertainty in the world,

and in the worlds that we create,

but the truth does exist.

I think.

Or I try to act that way.

Ugh, that sounded pretentious to me.

Well, maybe it is a little bit pretentious...

I think that some people come to journalism as storytellers.

People who want to move the reader emotionally.

And I don't.

I'm more interested in truth,

regardless of how they feel about it.

That's a good answer.

Why do you do what you do?

- You can pull in by these silos.

We can talk there.

Great.

Let me search you.

Uh, no.

Okay, I'm sorry but no.

You, you have to trust me, alright?

I've got a professional code of conduct.

I have a personal code of ethics.

You trust me to keep you unattributed,

you have to trust I'm not recording you, okay?

- No. I have still have to search you.

It'll be quick.

Fine.

What do I have to do?

Turn around.

Spread your arms.

This is not a small thing, you understand.

I do.

Might be easier just to strip me, if you want.

Be careful what you ask for.

Can I put my arms down?

Keep them out of my way.

And don't put them in your pockets.

We are both in the same boat.

We both have something to lose.

Is that it?

One more thing.

Cover your ears, this is going to be extremely loud.

- What is that? - Cover your ears.

What are you doing?

Jesus, fuck!

Oh fuck!

I probably shouldn't even ask what you're doing right now.

- Aren't you afraid of treasure hunters? - No.

You're supposed to be someone I can trust.

Who told you that?

Kelly? How do you know Kelly?

- Frankly I'd prefer to take this to larger,

more reputable papers.

Sure, yeah,

no, I'd prefer to work for those papers but,

ya know, here we are.

I'll give you thirty minutes.

And that's it.

No follow-up, no phone call, no email.

So make it count.

I understand.

Okay, so first I need you to acknowledge who you are.

Just to me.

You can't be totally anonymous otherwise it's deep background

and I can't use that.

And since you're the only source for the story,

that means we got nothing, there's no story.

You know who I am.

Uh...

Well, you've very artfully communicated it

in extremely indirect ways.

But I need you to be direct on a couple points

otherwise there's, I mean, there's no foundation.

I can't publish.

Okay?

- We're going to do this? - Yeah.

Great.

Uh, Debra?

Right? Debra Bratton?

- Yes. - Good.

And you work for?

You can say it.

I, uh...

It's...

- you have to tell me, I can't guess.

You know it.

That doesn't cut it.

Here.

Got that?

I think so.

Alright, I'm not going to write your name down,

I'm not going to write any proper nouns

that we're using here, I'll use a shorthand.

Yeah.

- I'll keep this notebook literally on my person

at all points and then I'll destroy it

as soon as I've written the story.

Does that sound alright?

Great.

So Debra, your position is what?

An information analyst?

- Uh, senior information processing engineer.

Okay.

Um, and what's a general way to refer to you

that's also accurate?

What do you mean?

- I mean, like, if I'm quoting the mayor's chief of staff,

and he's not going on the record I might say

he's a "senior city hall official."

Can I refer to you as a senior analyst?

No, not really.

Senior's in my title but I'm not senior.

Not like that. Not like you'd think.

It's just there to distinguish me from all the other ghosts.

The pure code guys.

Did you say "ghosts?"

Like pac-man.

They're ghosts and I'm pac-man.

Or in my case Ms. pac-man.

Do they call you that?

Just in the office.

It's not on my business cards.

- It's good. Can I use it?

- No. Absolutely not.

That's exactly the sort of personal detail I don't want.

And I'd prefer you don't even include my gender

as that's an enormous clue to who I am