Death Card

“When we make meaning from objects, there’s no limit to what we attribute our luck or misfortune to.”

Detective Gray Cooper investigates the case of a missing child working as a magician’s assistant at a carnival.

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00;00;05;01 - 00;00;33;16
Gray Cooper
I'm Gray Cooper, private detective. According to the Department of Homeland Security, my business doesn't exist. But according to the blockchain, a government address pays my bills. The following are the recordings of my case log for insurance purposes. You understand? See, I deal in the strange. The place where monsters and conspiracies dance. The kind of strange you're not quite sure is real or unreal.

00;00;34;12 - 00;01;23;18
Gray Cooper
Officially, the following case did not happen. I told you nothing. Welcome to The Strange Chronicles case log. 941 October 31st Year 2053 Sadie Bowen Missing Child six years old. Hugo, Oklahoma AKA Circus City. Sadie was part of a troupe, vanished during a magic act. That part was planned. The fact that she didn't return was not. Sadie was the assistant to Taylor, the great 15 years old.

00;01;24;01 - 00;01;49;06
Gray Cooper
They were part of a youth performers division. Mostly children of the main stage acts. Taylor and Sadie were performing their big finale act, where Sadie is locked in a trunk by big chains and a padlock. When Taylor opened it, Sadie had disappeared on cue. However, she was supposed to materialize as a member of the audience, except that when the spotlight shone on the chair she was supposed to be in.

00;01;49;17 - 00;02;14;19
Gray Cooper
It was empty. Where is Sadie? They expected her to turn up within the hour after the act. When they still couldn't find her at bedtime. They called me on a favor. I took a red eye. I enjoy the artists and oddities of the carnival. The folks here are largely a group of big hearted outcasts. My kind of people.

00;02;15;05 - 00;02;44;01
Gray Cooper
I'd helped out on a murder case involving a reptile man who taught at the carnival circuit years ago and my number got passed along to Misty. They called me before they even called police, which had me itching with questions. My first interview was with Julie, the lion tamer. Apparently she was new to the gig, but I wanted to be sure that all the cages were checked for safety.

00;02;44;15 - 00;02;54;12
Gray Cooper
Julie was quite sure the entire Carnival family had checked all of those areas. Top to bottom. All the cats were napping.

00;02;57;19 - 00;03;21;16
Gray Cooper
Next, I met with Misty, Sadie's mother. She works on the trapeze with her partner, Lou. It turns out that Lou is not Sadie's father. Not realizing the mud I'd be trudging into, I asked if the girl could be with her father. The whole tent went quiet and Misty ran outside. I was informed by a young man nodding a rope nearby that Sadie's father was dead.

00;03;21;25 - 00;03;57;04
Gray Cooper
He was the head lion tamer, worked with the big cats. No one got closer to them than he did. And unfortunately, some wild animals cannot be tamed. More proof that we are hurt most by the ones we love. On my way outside to find Misty, a woman in her late sixties with long black hair and gold bangles on her arm beckoned me.

00;03;57;14 - 00;04;26;21
Gray Cooper
She didn't say a word, but when she turned to open the flap to enter her booth, I followed. The room was filled with clutter and tchotchkes, crystals and dusty books and the bones of small animals. A possum, a rat, a bird. There were also some unidentifiable specimens in glass jars. I tried not to look too hard. The woman sashayed to a small card table, took out a box wrapped in linen and opened it.

00;04;27;08 - 00;04;50;25
Gray Cooper
A deck of cards. She began shuffling them tarot cards. I knew I should be outside talking to Misty, and I'm ashamed to admit it. But I was entranced. I didn't say a thing. Almost like I couldn't. The woman called herself Madame Mystic. It was as though a cliché had come to life in front of me. I suppose that's the allure of these places.

00;04;51;04 - 00;05;11;20
Gray Cooper
She said she would read me for half price and asked for 20 satoshis. Her long black fingernail tapped a code sewn onto the tablecloth. I scanned it with my copy device verifying the transaction. She arranged the cards into a star and my eyes darted from ace of cups to the tower. You want to know of the girl, Sadie?

00;05;11;21 - 00;05;35;07
Gray Cooper
She asked, looking at her cards. She said they tell her of dark magic crossing the boundaries between the dead and the living. Did Sadie cross those boundaries? She still for a moment and says, Not yet. She told me I needed to be careful that there was a dark force close to me. I closed my eyes. I can't say that the reading helped me at all.

00;05;35;12 - 00;05;57;13
Gray Cooper
I deal with dark forces every day as I rose up to leave. A card fell to the floor. Madame Mystic started to shake. And I worried that she was having a seizure. But she stopped abruptly. Her voice grew loud and otherworldly. Pick it up. She implored again. I did what she said. I handed the card to Madame Mystic.

00;05;58;14 - 00;06;34;25
Gray Cooper
The death card. Her hard stare caught my wet eyes. You know, the death card doesn't always mean death. It can also symbolize change, she tells me. Great. So not always death. Just sometimes. I hurried outside to find Misty. Misty was smoking a band, rolled cigaret illegally, and her mascara was smudged. I attempted to apologize for my gaffe and tell her sorry for your loss, but she waved me away.

00;06;35;04 - 00;06;58;15
Gray Cooper
How could I have known? She said, I'm not God damn Madame Mystic. She took a long drag on her cigaret and went quiet. I took the awkward silence as my cue when I asked her if she thought Sadie's partner, Taylor, was involved. She said no. He was bereft. Hadn't left his quarters since last night. She pointed out the parked camper that Taylor shared with Dahlia, an ex.

00;06;59;00 - 00;07;14;17
Gray Cooper
They were both junior high wire performers. I asked her if she suspected that anyone from the company might be involved. She said no. This group was the closest thing to a family she's ever known. I decided to go across the way to check on Taylor.

00;07;17;22 - 00;07;44;17
Gray Cooper
Taylor, the great, slumped in his shabby bed as I asked him questions. Apparently the kid was equally as distraught about his act feeling as he was about Sadie going missing. Taylor mentioned their performance took weeks upon weeks of preparation, and I noticed that Dahlia rolled her eyes. Taylor continued saying that when Sadie didn't appear in the audience as planned, he completely freaked out in a mad dash.

00;07;44;21 - 00;08;09;23
Gray Cooper
He checked the stage and found nothing. The trapdoor below the trunk was also empty. He paced the route that Sadie was supposed to take over and over. Table two backstage, two side door to the audience. He didn't understand because they had done this trick successfully dozens of times. The crowd booed and laughed at him as he earnestly searched for Sadie.

00;08;09;29 - 00;08;37;10
Gray Cooper
One man said, He's just a kid. What do you expect? That one really burned Taylor because everyone had always told him he was a prodigy. Better than most adult magicians working today. He seemed to believe it. I said, Let's give Taylor some space. And we stepped outside so I could talk to AX and Dahlia alone. Unsurprisingly, AX said Taylor was a perfectionist, that he and Sadie worked longer and harder than most of the grownups.

00;08;37;23 - 00;08;57;28
Gray Cooper
He said that Sadie didn't mind because she had a little crush on him, and Misty didn't mind the free babysitting. They all mind now. I noticed Delia is quiet, but when I ask if she has anything more to add, she does not. Where would a six year old girl go? Next, I had a chat with the circus teacher, Miss Danville.

00;09;00;14 - 00;09;26;23
Gray Cooper
Miss Danville looked to be in her seventies. She had rough hands, a sandpaper voice, and sat at a tiny wooden desk that looked hand-built. She said she used to do the books for the circus carny accountant. Her words. But when her eyesight started to go ten years ago, she became the teacher. The state mails her, the curriculum and the children are only allowed to work legally 10 hours per week.

00;09;27;25 - 00;09;48;07
Gray Cooper
I asked her about Sadie. She said she was a decent student and that she liked to draw. She handed me a sketchpad and I flipped through her drawings. Tigers, zoo, lion, unicorn and the like. She's good, but it's sad seeing so many cat drawings. Thinking of the way her father died. I asked Miss Danville about the last time she saw Sadie.

00;09;48;23 - 00;10;08;01
Gray Cooper
It was after a rehearsal yesterday, just before dinner. I wanted to see how much gossip spread. So I checked to see if she knew that Sadie had a little crush on Taylor. Miss Danville did not think so. Apparently, Sadie said she hated Taylor. I asked for more detail and she shrugged. Said Sadie said she hated him and then ran off to dinner.

00;10;08;18 - 00;10;38;27
Gray Cooper
She loves him. She loves him, not when Sadie didn't show up the next morning. The local police finally decided to get involved. Police now taking the case seriously, brought Taylor in for questioning. I didn't think the self admonishing magician was our guy. And I also didn't like that the police were talking to a minor without a parent. But I had to decide whether to stay and look for Sadie or get pulled into red tape at the police station.

00;10;39;07 - 00;10;53;14
Gray Cooper
I chose Sadie. I didn't know at the time, but in my rush to find her, this is when I dropped my comedy device.

00;10;56;20 - 00;11;11;16
Gray Cooper
My mind shuffled through the story so far. Something gnawed at me and had me heading for the big cats holding area. And a thought popped into my head. I wondered if Sadie had wanted to follow in her father's footsteps.

00;11;14;02 - 00;11;40;15
Gray Cooper
When I arrived at the enclosure, a pit lodged in my gut. It was Dahlia. She was inside an open cage, crying. She was holding out the cape from Sadie's magic costume. There was blood. It was too late. Dahlia admitted to helping Sadie sabotage the Magic Act. Sadie was angry with Taylor because he had pushed her to practice too much and got frustrated.

00;11;40;15 - 00;12;04;25
Gray Cooper
Even if she was 1/2 off. Dahlia said that Sadie had really wanted to impress everyone by performing with the big cats whom she'd grown up admiring. Dahlia had come here to tell Sadie how the police took Taylor away and to persuade her to come out of hiding. That's when she found Sadie's cape bloody on the ground. I tried to reassure her that it was only a very small amount of blood and that she was likely fine.

00;12;05;13 - 00;12;25;26
Gray Cooper
I wanted to believe my own reassurance, but I was nervous. It was more blood than I wanted to admit. I popped a couple of candies and looked around, feeling a chill in the air. I realized we were standing in an open cage, but where was the lion who lived in it? Just then, Dahlia shakily pointed through the cage.

00;12;26;11 - 00;12;53;09
Gray Cooper
I turned and saw a lion stalking down the hallway. I brought my finger to my lips to hush. Dalia and I reached for my coffee device. It wasn't there. All pockets were empty. Except for my baton. I quietly closed the cage door so that Dalia would be safe. I gave her a signal to stay. I walked quietly in the opposite direction of the lion.

00;12;53;09 - 00;13;17;07
Gray Cooper
I had to find Sadie. If she was still alive and injured, she'd be a prime target for a big cat on the loose. I inspected each cage as I passed and heard some of the birds at the far end squawking. They must see the lion quickly. I assessed the inside of the next cage. No, Sadie. Further down the dirt pathway, I saw more drops of blood.

00;13;17;13 - 00;13;40;01
Gray Cooper
But the path would also bring me closer to the lion. I held my breath and got out the small baton that I keep in my jacket. It wouldn't do much against a predator of that size, but it could have bought Sadie a minute or two to escape if she was still alive. I walked back past Dalia again, and she pointed behind me.

00;13;40;14 - 00;14;06;27
Gray Cooper
The shadow of the lion. I ran under the nearest archway and hid. I was in some sort of feeding area. I saw more drops of blood on the ground and they led to a wooden box, a brown curl hung from the lid. Sadie and inside I found Sadie alive. She had a gash in her forehead that was bleeding, but otherwise she looked okay.

00;14;07;04 - 00;14;28;17
Gray Cooper
She said she hit her head on the cage door. I was so relieved until I realized I needed to get her out of there without us becoming a lion, feed ourselves. There was a wooden stick leaning in the corner that I grabbed and told Sadie that the lion was on the loose. She said, Mittens. Mittens, yes. That's the lion's name.

00;14;29;07 - 00;14;45;03
Gray Cooper
While Mittens is no longer in her cage, I told her she did not seem as worried as she should have been. I held the stick up and told her to stay behind me. I slowly looked out the doorway and didn't see mittens in either direction.

00;14;47;13 - 00;15;06;00
Gray Cooper
My plan was to get back to Dalia and close us all in the cage, yell for help and wait. The door to the cage was just a couple of yards in front of us. When the lion appeared, it swiped at my shoulder and Sadie screamed as the lion. And I sat in a moment's stare. My life flashed before my eyes.

00;15;06;17 - 00;15;32;05
Gray Cooper
And then I saw a skeleton man ride up on a horse through the cage bars. Mittens roared and I blacked out. Don't want to run. What's your emergency? When I came to, a paramedic was bandaging my shoulder. I jumped up asking about Sadie. They assured me she was okay. Lucky for me, Julie, the lion tamer, had hit mittens with a tranquilizer dart just as I passed out.

00;15;32;14 - 00;15;46;28
Gray Cooper
No mention of the reaper on horseback. Sadie was reunited with Misty, and this case was done.

00;15;52;17 - 00;16;10;21
Gray Cooper
Sadie told us that the night before, when she left through the trapdoor and went out the side door, she saw a horse outside. She decided she had enough time to check it out. She told us that a Halloween man was going to take her to see her father. When he leaned in his skull, face scared her and she ran to hide.

00;16;11;09 - 00;16;42;04
Gray Cooper
Sadie said she spent the night playing with mittens. Julie, the new lion tamer, said that story is unlikely. The cages had been checked several times that night. Who was the Halloween man on the horse? My mind flicked to the death card. The Grimm. A skeleton riding on a horse. I saw him, too, as I walked out. Julie said how glad she was that we'd eluded the dark forces this time and hoped I would continue to in the future.

00;16;48;02 - 00;17;09;19
Gray Cooper
Taylor was returned to the carnival with an apology and continued to hone his act. Although he did change his name to Taylor the Good, he said he'll bump it back up to Great when he feels he deserves it. I laid into the police and told them if they ever tried to interrogate a minor without a parent or guardian present, I would personally make their lives a living hell.

00;17;10;03 - 00;17;29;17
Gray Cooper
Misty decided to enroll Sadie in the local elementary school. She had plenty of time to learn the carnival trade. She said Delia is taking a year to decide if she wants to do the same. As for Mittens. She's busy learning how to juggle with Julie. I caught a show before I left the tent that evening. It was great.

00;17;30;00 - 00;17;36;22
Gray Cooper
Shabbier than I remember from childhood, but a lot more thrilling than I expected.

00;17;39;20 - 00;18;02;17
Gray Cooper
As I was leaving, I passed the booth of Madame Mystic. A chill ran up my spine. The death card is unlikely to actually represent a physical death. Typically, it implies an end, often signifies a major change in a person's life. Did Sadie meet the Reaper? And did Madame Mystique invite him, or did her father send him? I can't be sure.

00;18;03;02 - 00;18;31;10
Gray Cooper
More practically, it's the imagination of a young girl surrounded by mysticism and a detective who hadn't had proper sleep. I'm not sure how much I believe in tarot, but I do believe in symbols and the power of our minds. When we make meaning from objects there, there's no limit to what we attribute our luck or misfortune to. I suppose in the end, it's our own responsibility to curate the symbols we see and how much value we place on them.

00;18;31;29 - 00;18;35;21
Gray Cooper
Change could be ahead, but isn't that the way of the world?

00;18;36;16 - 00;18;51;04
Gray Cooper
Stop reading.

00;18;52;21 - 00;19;24;05
Gray Cooper
This has been an episode of the Strange Chronicles of Fiction podcast. You can follow us on Instagram at the Strange Chronicles podcast or email us at. Info at the Strange Chronicles dot com. This has been a kings of content production. Thank you for listening.

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Death Card

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