Episode: 65 - No Trumpet Sounded, But we all Felt the Echo

0:00有多 arte還好

0:14The End

0:42Next item. Ah, yes, my staff. Now that I am a marshal of the newest federal district, I get a staff. I've been asked to identify a chief deputy marshal through supervisory marshals, and ten deputy marshals will be distributed between the three American stations. and that is what I call overkill and most likely allow for the administration to get a foothold down here. What's more, I'm not sure I trust candidates recommended given my current status and reception among the government. My marshals in Palmer and McMurdo have absolutely proved themselves in just the two years I've been here. Both of them I'm bumping up to supervisory marshals.

1:21And I have somebody very specific in mind for the chief deputy position. Somebody I know I can absolutely trust. I'll call in a day or two and pitch the job, see what they say. Which leaves a small handful of deputies for each station. To 12 days of review, you'd think at least one candidate would pop out at me. It's a fine crop of deputies, don't get me wrong. Service records all outstanding with impressive merits. Any of these individuals would be an added value to any department. Here on the ice, however, it takes something more... And it's hard to define most days. Extra, I guess, is the best I can go for.

2:06Somewhere up there in whatever is beyond, Chuck is looking down at me and laughing maniacally at the paperwork and staff selection that I am going through. If anybody knew how much I despise bureaucratic red tape and process. It was him. Enjoy it, old man. Miss you. Next item. Three more countries have been booted out of the United States by our dear leader, President Campbell. That makes close to 20 countries who have had their ambassadors removed from the U.S., and now international relations are non-existent. Protests are starting to become more frequent in many cities in the United States, and I heard yesterday that there is even talk within Puerto Rico of declaring their own sovereignty and splitting from the U.S.

3:01altogether. Given all the... Hello, man. Go ahead, Zeke. Yeah. You need to come down here at A-Pot, first floor, birth 119. Everything okay, buddy? Uh, no. That's why I'm calling you. just uh through the canvas out I guess that completes my morning updates this is U.S. Marshal I'm not used to that U.S. Marshal Bass Marlow July 12th 2023 1352 hours recording started

3:48all right everybody we all have stuff to do and i'm sure gawking isn't helping anybody thank you what do you have zeke yeah let's uh let's walk down the hall here a few steps two of my um two my bmf crew bill and ted over there stopped by my office this morning said somebody didn't show up for the noon shift like always so they stopped down here by the birth to see if they got the flu or just overslept or something like that. It wasn't something like that. It wasn't any of those. Homicide? No, no, no, no, man. I mean, I don't think so. Look, that's why I called you and Dr. Tims down here. Two guys opened the door, called out, and tried to shake them a bit.

4:32When they, um, one became, uh, they closed the door and went straight to my office. I'm keeping them here so they don't start spreading word too soon. I don't think it's murder, Bass. Dear Lord, I pray it's not murder. But I figured you and Tim's would be the best to decide what it is. Good call, Zeke. Other than this berth, who else lives on this side of A-Pod floor one? Well, Fred's got the berth down at the end of the corner. Other than him and this one here, all these are unoccupied until the summer. Everybody else is on the other side of A-1 or upstairs. Okay. I'll take photos of my phone first the room, the area, the body do me a favor please have Ted stay on this end and stop anybody coming down that hall you and Bill head to the other end and do the same other than Doc Tim's and you I need everybody to keep clear until I say so oh and it goes out saying yeah I know man I was born at night but I'm not born last night I got you alright

5:37no damn U.S. Marshal Marlow 1403 hours July 12th 2023 birth A1-119 deceased individual discovered initial responding officer documenting the scene prior to forensics investigation commencing standard birth from A-side of complex slightly larger than those on B. All furniture neatly placed in order. Nothing appears overturned. All clothes either hung in open closet or folded on dresser top. Deceases laying face up in bed. Sheet and covers atop them. No sign of any violence or disturbance. I do note medication bottles on the desk which is across the room. caps on all bottles and full glass of water by them.

6:40Not a nightstand next to bed, which would not suggest self-inflicted. I see no signs of forced entry or damage to door, handle, nor hardware. Window is sealed and covered with duct tape to a wall, not unusual for winter overs. Pictures of what I assume are family next to bed. notebook with something written on exposed page can't make out the handwriting i think it's a doodle rather than a word clothes folded and neatly stacked same with drawer below that and both on the right clothes hanging in closet all appear to be normal and nothing distressed work desktop in birth is standard computer turned off keyboard and mouse trash can next to it on the floor has two crumpled pieces of paper and a wrapper from a rice krispy bar piece of paper one checklist looks normal enough but just in case and the other is a crossword puzzle completed From everything I'm seeing, nothing is leaping out to suggest foul play nor suicide.

8:02Complete opposite. I have not inspected the body other than the feel for neck pulse. Waiting for chief medical doctor who is approaching now. Dr. Timms. Zeke filled me in at the door. What do... Oh, no, love. Sure, you've truly gone, haven't you? well they said you were but my heart didn't believe it till this very second I had the same reaction doctor it's always different when it's somebody you knew somebody you saw every day yeah right let's proceed what have you found so far for the record single decedent assigned to birth number discovered just afternoon today after not arriving for work.

8:54Mr. Tango, Mr. Cash, I have them standing guard at either end of the hallway. I told them to keep their mouths shut. I've looked over and photographed the entire room, cabinets, and desk. There's nothing that shows any evidence of violence, nor breaking or entering, homicide, nor suicide. Other than checking for a pulse, I did not disturb the body. Right. Pulling back the blanket. Subject is dressed in bedclothes. No signs of trauma to face. Neck. Arms. Chest. Or legs. Doctor, I'm going to go fill in Zeke while you check the body. Call me if you see anything worrisome, please. Oh, hey. I'm going to assume that we're not set up for performing an autopsy down here.

9:45A very routine checkover is all we can do. Anything invasive and real exploratory will have to be conducted in Christchurch or back in your America. Okay. Thank you, Doctor.

10:00Zeke, join me for a second, please. Alright. So, what's the word? Dr. Thames is giving the medical once-over right now, but I've looked over everything in the birth, Zeke, and there's nothing that gives off a murder vibe. Same with self-inflicted. There isn't any telltale signs. So, if there is any silver lining here, everything says it was a peaceful passing, quiet, no pain, enduring sleep. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to feel about that. Sad, relieved. Man, I ain't no good at this shit. I'm sorry, Lord, my bad. I'm trying to work on it. I know you're in charge, buddy. Your station, your post and all that.

10:39Can I offer a suggestion? Come on, Bess, you know you can. It's better to ask. Okay. We all know how quickly word spreads around here. We've got Bill and Ted to zip their lips, but we have an hour, maybe two tops before you know who finds out. Yeah. Yeah, that thought crossed my mind. I don't know how she does it, but Sherilyn don't need more than two parts to finish a 500-piece puzzle at any given time. It's spooky sometimes, man. Agreed. So we need to get out something soon. Something to acknowledge to people there was an event, we're aware of it, and we're looking into it. We don't want to say anything until we know all the facts and avoid passing on anything not 100 % accurate.

11:20Tell them, what is it, now around 14, 15 hours, that a full and official announcement will be made at 1 ,700? Yeah, that sounds about right. I'll make the announcement. It should be me. Let me take this, buddy. You're going to be needed down here. Trust me, for something like this, there'll be lots of phone calls, notification, answer disappears. is. You're going to be busy for likely the next few hours. Let me take the less pressing stuff off your hands. You okay? Alright, thanks, long man. I appreciate it, man. Dr. Timms? Oh, yes? I'll come by your office later this afternoon for your formal statement and pronouncing determination.

12:00I need to go make an initial statement so people don't get too worked up. Okay. I'm almost done here. I'm calling up for a gurney to be brought down. I'll finish up an OR3 and then seal it up until later. Should only need about an hour more. I'll let them through when they get here, Doc. How you doing, buddy? You okay? I'll be better when today is over, to be honest with you. But yeah, I'm good, man. Hang in there, pal. I'll get back to you in a bit.

12:33Hi, Sheriff. Can you tell us what is going - Everybody? Everybody? I am on my way now to operations to make an announcement so everybody hears this at the same time. Look, if you really want to help us, get on with your work days. Give Zeke and his team down there some breathing room, please. Thank you.

13:03Who? Who told you? How did you find out? I only found out 20 minutes ago myself, and everybody else who knew was still down in A1. Oh, Shug, it's part of who we are. Anytime someone slips away, we gals feel the waves. It's like when a flower petal falls gently onto water. No sound. Only ripples telling me they're gone. I was doing better till I saw your face and that you knew.

13:39Oh, Lord, wait till Gladys finds out and calls. I'm going to have another come apart like when sweet Eloise found out about Penelope. Oh.

13:53I know, Miss Chin. It hit both Zeke and I pretty hard. Hey, guys. Oh, Mr. Kelly. Not the time for sneaking up. Sorry, Marshal. I just heard Miss June crying. What happened? I can't get into the specifics. There are still a few things we need to do in the proper order. First, I need to make an announcement to the station. Let them know something happened, and we'll have more information shortly. Once Dr. Timms exits the berth, she is in... We need to stay ahead of this. Can you help me work this thing? I need to tell everybody something. Oh, shame. I have this, Ms. June. Just hit that button when you talk.

14:40Thanks. Everyone, this is Marshal Bass Marlow. On behalf of Station Manager Zeke Bustamante, I have been asked to address the station. Earlier today, Chief Bustamante was contacted and made aware of the situation in the A section of Earths. Upon him checking with those making the initial discovery, both Dr. Timms and I were called to join them. Upon arriving, we found that one of our family had passed on. Oh, no. I want to assure everybody I personally investigated the birth and surrounding area. It is my current belief that nobody on station is in any immediate danger. I am not at liberty to say anything else or state who the individual was, only that we need a few hours to contact the next of kin, the NSF, and authorities back home first.

15:30Dr. Tim's examination will be completed within the hour and will end the pre-investigation. Once these arrangements have been made, I or Chief Bustamante will provide a full and formal detailing of what has taken place at 1700 hours today. In the meantime, please see to your normal routines. We will be in contact as soon as we can. Thank you.

15:56Mr. Kelly, I'm going to... Need a direct line to the Department of Justice and schedule a call with the NSF Director Panshan Etham at 4.30 this afternoon. I'll tell his admin it's station critical and he needs to be available. I'll need... The station personnel file for emergency contact and any family to notify. Only Zeke and I have access to those files when Ms. Chipperfield is not here. I'll grab the file you need, Marshall. Just write the name here and I'll have it brought to your office.

16:28Oh. Oh, my. I, uh... Oh. Okay. I'll... I'll grab the file and walk it down now. Miss June? It's okay. It's okay. I have this. You rest. Thank you, Mr. Kelly. Obviously, I have a few calls to make, some paperwork to fill out, reports to gather from Dr. Timms on her exam of the deceased. Ms. June, you be all right.

17:07Hug. Of course.

17:18Come on in, guys. Hey, Sid. Doc, are you boys holding up? Who was it that... Oh. My condolences. Yeah, thanks. You can imagine it's been a rough day all around. Look, Doc, I'm going to cut to the chase. We came and asked you for a favor. People are fidgety enough during the winter season, and once we tell them everything about today, some people are going to need some help coping. You want me to extend my work hours to help? Happy to do it, Z. How does that work exactly? What, grief counseling? It's really all the same thing, just more focused. I'm not sure I get it. Consider what I do, providing therapy or counseling in this case, as an entire umbrella.

18:09It's like a big retail store. It has a lot of aisles inside. Anxiety, relationship problems, depression, life transition, and so on. Grief counseling is just focusing on one aisle inside of that big retail store. The main root of the issue is pre-identified, so we just jump right into focus on dealing with the grief. Okay, okay, I feel you. It's like that doctor lady they always talk about on TV, who would help people after somebody dies. She makes up a chart about what they go through, Fifty Shades or something. Dr. Keebler-Elf, I think. Five stages of grief. Dr. Kubler-Ross. Dr. Keebler, help.

18:49What'd I say? Don't worry about it. Shut up. Happy to help out, fellas. When you make the announcement, tack on that I'm offering to help out with coping with the passing. Anybody who wants to chat in addition to or during the regular session is welcome. Just book their time on my calendar online, and I'll extend my workday two hours both ways for the first week or so, and then we'll take it week to week thereafter. Thank you, Sid. It's kind of what I do. Now back to my original question. How are you boys holding up? Man, Sid, I'm not sure yet how I'm feeling about it. Still kind of raw, you know?

19:30It's fresh on my mind. I don't know, I guess I'm sort of, what do they call it, processing what happened? That makes sense. It's what most people go through right after the loss of a loved one or a close friend. And the closer the relationship was, the more complex the feelings. When it's a prolonged illness and the outcome is known, people have time to process and slowly deal with all the feelings in real time. However, when the passing is sudden and unexpected, it's bulk download all at once, and it takes time for the mind to digest everything that it's experienced. I've heard from you, Zeke, but how about you, cowboy?

20:09How's this saddle sitting with you? I'm around death quite a bit with my job, Sid. Unfortunately, somebody dying is not a rare occurrence for me. True. True. You've dealt with it several times as a marshal. I mean, every member of law enforcement comes across a death at least once in their career. And even if not a cop, once you hit a certain age, you've certainly been at least to one funeral. But it's when somebody you're close to it's just not quite the same

20:44no it's not the same at all I think Zeke hit it on the mark somebody like this loss of a friend this is going to take time to process to fully sink in and once that happens the reality of the situation replaces that initial shock and that's when things will get more apparent and that's when my door will be open for you two and anybody else out there. How did Kendra take it? She doesn't know yet. She's been working the South Pole Telescope since 8 this morning. I'm sure she and the others inside heard the news, just not who it was. How's she doing with the pregnancy? Better. Once the morning sickness ended, still has weird food cravings though.

21:36The woman put ranch dressing on top of a Reuben duck. Ranch! Not inside of the sandwich. On top. Poor Reuben. Our dietary selections are normal. There's a lot of things happening inside her. A lot of energy needed to make another human life. Especially the first time. Ah, I'm almost 50, Sid. I think this is a one-and-done situation. No, don't sit at all, old man. My uncle Elias was 61. he had his fourth kid. Besides, Kinder's what, 15 years younger than your old ass? Heck, she can now live you anyway, seeing how much stress you got. Yeah, I get to be one of those older dads on the playground all the other parents think must be the granddad while in my feeble-mindedness.

22:22I'm pushing a backpack I place in a swing while my baby's on the ground eating dirt or whatever and uh-oh, what's that? Oh, goodness. Somebody's diaper must need to be changed, but huh, that's odd. That smell isn't coming from the baby. It's coming from the daddy granddad who just blew out his fourth pair of adult diapers that morning. But hey, let's not go over and tell him until he's done feeding backpack, beef jerky, and whiskey.

22:49Okay, I'm going to go ahead and pencil you in for 1 p.m. tomorrow. Because there's a lot to unpack in that response. Sidney, I was joking. No, you weren't. You're going to tell me when I'm joking now? I'll tell you when you're funny. When you're not being funny. You say shit like that all the time, Baz. Dang it, I cursed again. Lord, I'm sorry, but it's been one heck of a day. Thanks, buddy. No problem. Look, what is next for the two of you today? You said you were making the formal notice to everybody at 5 p.m.? That's less than an hour from now. I need to head over to see Dr. Timms, get her formal statement on her exam and medical findings, get her estimate on time of death, initial estimate of cause of death, absent any formal autopsy being possible.

23:34I have to call with the intercept director at 430. They're going to reach out to the family to formally let them know, offer support, and provide life insurance payouts and all the paperwork stuff. Then I'll make the announcement. I'm still happy to do that for you, Zeke, if you want. No, no, I appreciate that. I really do, lawman, but it is on me. It's my responsibility as a station leader. That news should come from me. Okay. All right, then. I'll let you boys get to it. But, before you go... See, Doc, I don't really drink all that much, but... Given the circumstances, I'll toast to him. Yeah, I said I swore off booze until after the baby arrives.

24:21But for this, I'll make a small exception. Just one finger for me. Thank you. Sydney, would you please do the honors? I'm happy to. To our friend, our colleague, our comrade, your timing was terrible. Your jokes were worse. And your absence will be louder than any room you ever entered. You mattered. And we're going to really miss you. Amen. Cheers. Cheers.

25:06I got it, Miss June. All good. Thank you, ma 'am.

25:13Hey, y 'all. This is station manager Ezekiel Bustamante. It's, um, it is my sad duty to announce this morning that we lost one of our own during the night. David Brewster. Reno Dave, as we all know him, died in his sleep. Dr. Timms and Marshal Bass Marlow checked both him and his room out, and both of them are positive there was no more than natural causes. No foul play or nothing else other than natural causes. A quiet, peaceful end to his journey. Folks back home in NSF, Officer Polar Projects and his daughter and her family had been informed. Bess. Marshall Marlow found a will that Reno wrote about a year ago and had notarized inside the desk of his birth.

26:10Reno, not the law, not Bess. Ah, man. Chucky mushrooms.