The Tragedy Of Secrets

In Episode 1, tragic disappearances begin this mystery thriller, sending shock waves through the town of Waverly when sudden disappearances leave no evidence. Two detectives, Chisholm and Titus, interview grieving families and walk crime scenes unaware that the next disappearance will be a boy.  Meet professor Michael Nubold and his tragic secret kept in a cathedral tunnel system – a secret with an appetite to hunt and not always for food.

Turn on and tune in to Darkside Thrillers Radio Drama, Season 1.  It’s all about KEPT by Gem Wodahl, an immersive, eight-week, serialized audio thriller that straps you into the trendy city of Waverly, gripped by unexplained disappearances, and a twelve-year-old boy who slips away without a trace.   The tunnel system under a cathedral is off limits, but when an eighteen-year old trespasser stumbles upon a hunter’s trophy, she falls into a psychological sink hole, recklessly starting a war against a sociopathic liar.  As she struggles to find truth, her own world is slowly crumbling with an estranged family, loneliness and medical alerts.  Kenzie Pratt wears her cancer like an eviction notice tattooed across her forehead.  With a shortened life-span, she’s volatile and dangerous.   KEPT swallows you into the lives of three sociopaths – one who hunts for pleasure, one who hunts for justice, and one who kills to stop her.  Oh, and I forgot to mention the two bloodhound detectives who won’t give up, and a steamy love arc that one of the sociopaths can’t live without.  Or can he?  Welcome listeners.  You are the magic!

Host Elijah Summerfield

Producer/Network   Darkside Thrillers Radio Drama

Author and Narrator Gem Wodahl

This is a Darkside Thrillers production.

Original lyrics and music by Grace Note Music Design

Special thanks to Pixabay artists.

Email: chatwithdarksidethrillers@gmail.com

KEPT by Gem  Wodahl , available June 18  in stores and your favourite podcast platform.

eBook:  ISBN:  978-0-9881651-3-7 

Print book:  ISBN:  978-0-9881651-4-4

Audible (the full radio drama)  ISBN: 978-0-9881651-8-2 

Follow Darkside Thrillers on:

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@darksidethrillers

Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/darkside_thrillers/?hl=en

X:  https://x.com/gemwodahlauthor

Visit our website: https://darksidethrillersradiodrama.buzzsprout.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:08

This is Dark Side Thrillers, your weekly turn on and tune in to serialized fiction, taking you into those bone-chilling moments when humanity twists beyond the point of no return. Who hasn't taken a shortcut down a back alley you thought you'd survive? But then there's that noise of rustling leaves, and you just know. I am your host, Elijah Summerfield, welcoming you to Dark Side Thrillers. Season one. It begins with Kept, an eight-week serialized thriller by Jem Woodall. You get hooked into the lives of three sociopaths. One who kills, one who hunts for truth, and one who will kill to hide it. Among bones and trophies under a cathedral, there's a kept secret with an appetite to hunt.

SPEAKER_04 1:37

Adult content, audience discretion advised.

SPEAKER_00 1:44

Episode one, the tragedy of secrets. It had started. The disappearances and community trauma sparked police inquiries. Once again, Michael had to move her away. He had placed his chair in the middle of the basement tunnel with a single light shining on it. The tunnel was part of a 19th-century underground tunnel system beneath a rural cathedral. He sat in this particular chair to watch his old friend hidden in a dark room opposite him. In the thick dampness, she rested on a dirt floor enshrouded by a dull light. She waited impatiently for Michael's footsteps at the entrance of the tunnel and for her favorite classical music from the wild swans. Music that transported her to an earlier time on a different continent. Before this dark hell kept her hidden. An earlier time of trust and love. Michael walked slowly through the tunnel, remembering his childhood and the gifts his parents surprised him with. Presents that were sold, died, or escaped. But this one stayed a loyal friend. He had brought her from one estate to the next, one country to the next. She became a like-minded traveler who had been with him since she was a newborn. But her need for independence was problematic. She didn't understand her place among men, where she was superior in every way, but not free. There were laws, and there were police and media always a looming threat to Michael. He walked down the damp passage and noted rotting things on the dirt floor that weren't there a week before. He kicked them out of the way, trying to control his anger at her disobedience. When he reached his chair, he stood and smelled the air, heavy and vulgar. He would have to sanitize everything so that nothing filtered into the cathedral above. He sat down, lowered his head, and interlaced his fingers, searching for the right words with the right tone. He looked into the darkness that stretched for 80 feet, and he knew he wasn't fully equipped to strike that delicate balance between disgust and empathy for her, but tried.

SPEAKER_04 4:39

But we needed to. I know it's not home yet, but there's so much space down here. In time, you'll grow to appreciate this quiet setting. The fields outside, trees, hills.

SPEAKER_00 4:55

He became more impassioned as his voice grew louder.

SPEAKER_04 4:59

You have everything you need right here, and you can go out at night, but not during the day. At night.

SPEAKER_00 5:08

He wondered if she were listening. A soft, distant growl, a monotone of angry protest traveled the length of the dirt floor. Michael felt sorry that her freedom was restricted compared with her younger years, but he allowed her to roam at night where no one was lurking.

SPEAKER_04 5:31

There's the lake in the woods miles away near your old home. But you can't go back to the house. It's too dangerous.

SPEAKER_00 5:39

He knew it was dangerous for both of them and others caught crossing her path in her travels. He calmed. Its underground tunnels and dark, uneven floors had been vacant until Michael Newbold leased them as storage. Storage far enough away from Waverly to divert suspicious behavior. Shocked and frightened at the growing numbers of disappearances, Waverly advocated limited outdoor recreation, especially in the wooded areas by the lake and in the parks. The woods were never a place that Thasa Preet wanted to walk in. Fairy tales and old wives' tales fed her enough paranoia as a kid. She cut the grass not quite to the edge of the wooded area and often heard sounds she couldn't identify. Her partner insisted their daughter, Ruby, 11, should walk her dog in the woods to explore life away from media overkill. She assured her there were no coyotes. So against instinct, she let Ruby explore fearlessly. On this particular day, Thasa felt she was being watched. She shivered and felt her armhair stand up. Quickly she put the mower away and wrote a note to Andrea, Ruby's sitter, not to allow Ruby to walk Poppins in the woods. She knew there would be protests. When Andrea was busy, Ruby snuck Poppins out and made it to the edge of the woods unnoticed. As Ruby started down the overgrown path, Poppins dug her claws into the soft soil and started crying. Ruby dragged her into the woods until Poppins knew her master wouldn't give in. She started walking with caution, her head darting right, then left, ears flattened. She went reluctantly and shivered to the point of hysterics. Ruby stopped and looked skyward. Flocks of birds scattered from their nests, flying upward abruptly into one another. Leaves and small branches fell about Ruby's feet. Then a strange quiet took hold, as if all forest sounds had been vacuumed up. Ruby listened to her own heartbeat. Then Poppins' sudden growling.

SPEAKER_02 8:54

Stop it! We'll go home if you don't stop.

SPEAKER_00 8:58

Poppins put her front paw on Ruby's leg. She started crying again. Bad girl, stop it! Suddenly, Poppins bolted away. As she ran down the path and disappeared, treetops snapped and leaves fluttered to the ground. Ruby looked back towards her home, hesitated, then took off to find her baby. The sky darkened with wind-driven clouds. There was a sudden chill, then heavy rain. Ruby stopped when she heard scream like distant drain waves. She walked on and saw Poffins' leech cut in half, lying on the muddy ground. Frightened and confused, she backed away. As she started running, she slipped and fell in the mud. When she stumbled out of the woods, Sasa rushed to her, wrapping a towel around her and holding her close. You're shaking.

SPEAKER_01 10:13

What happened in there? Oh, sweetie.

SPEAKER_00 10:19

I got you.

SPEAKER_01 10:21

You're safe.

SPEAKER_00 10:22

Barely able to talk between crying and gasping for air. Ruby told her story. Another one Thassa would have to add to her list of nightmares. Thassa called 911. Michael looked out of place in the underground tunnels. His stylish sandy hair, imported linen clothes and leather sandals against a hundred and fifty-year-old walls of stone and barred-up rooms, and no one would peg him for a professor. He had enjoyed listening to the music with Kovu. His eyes remained closed until the music ended, then stood up, walked ten feet away from her room, straining once again to see what she left behind after the last hunt. Abruptly, he stopped to question her.

SPEAKER_04 11:23

Why do you hunt?

SPEAKER_00 11:25

He remembered when she didn't have to leave their home, when she was content to play in confinement, but the world was too beautifully deviant and mutated not to let her explore. He wanted her muscular body to experience movement, free and self-directed. He thought it harmless to set her free during quieter times of the day. She always returned before dawn. There was a ground-level storm door in an embankment behind the cathedral she nudged open for entry. Without fail, she always returned satisfied. He walked back, struggling to calm himself.

SPEAKER_04 12:07

I feed you. Everything you could want is right here. I don't want you to hunt. It's wasteful. It's vengeful. She was annoyed. I'm tired of these trophies lying around and the police investigations. Don't hunt.

SPEAKER_00 12:32

He wasn't used to her hiding away from him, not showing affection. Walking to the doorway, he talked more softly.

SPEAKER_04 12:40

Will you let me touch you?

SPEAKER_00 12:44

He held out his hand. He waited quietly. She stayed hidden.

SPEAKER_04 12:51

Maybe tomorrow then?

SPEAKER_00 12:52

He turned away and avoided the disgusting remnants of her addiction. Quickly disappearing into the darkness, he stopped and called back.

SPEAKER_04 13:03

If you hunt, I'll board up the outside storm door until you stop. And I'll I'll take away the music.

SPEAKER_00 13:18

Michael rushed away, feeling threatened, sickened, by the past catching up. Both detectives, Jack Chisholm and Ellie Titus, were bloodhounds with different attitude quotients. Jack was the type of bloodhound who always remembered that son of a bitch who found and stole his prize bone he had buried. While Ellie was a hound always looking for a new hiding place, preferably with room service to stash a new bone she was yet to find. Together, they worked with flawless balance between too much optimism and too little trust. The two detectives had enough time for a coffee before interviewing 11-year-old Ruby Preet and her mom. They stretched their legs in front of their cruiser and leaned back against it. In synchronized movement, both removed their coffee lids, took a sip, made a grimace, and exchanged cups.

SPEAKER_08 14:32

You should mark the cups. J for Jack, E for Ellie. Ugh how can you stomach double sugar?

SPEAKER_05 14:41

How can you not? But then you're already so sweet.

SPEAKER_08 14:45

So they tell me.

SPEAKER_05 14:46

Who exactly are they? You've had five, maybe five dates in the past six months, and no one wanted to stalk you after.

SPEAKER_00 14:56

I had more than you did. Ellie fessed up to Jack's boyish good looks, even as a romanced, challenged middle ager. Ash hair, graying temples, thick eyelashes, full lips, and one chin dimple, but not enough to give her wet dreams.

SPEAKER_05 15:18

Yeah, but you're young. You should be dating more. And you write romance novels in your spare time. What's your pseudonym again?

SPEAKER_08 15:28

Uh Jazz James. My alter ego immortal. Did you read the last chapter I sent you?

SPEAKER_05 15:37

I started to, but but when it got too, you know.

SPEAKER_08 15:43

What? Too juicy?

SPEAKER_05 15:45

I was going to say obscene. On second thoughts, you don't need to date. You got it all between the pages.

SPEAKER_00 15:55

They continued to sip, not missing their morning nicotine fix that they gave up.

SPEAKER_08 16:01

What are we doing here, Jack? I can't believe they assigned us this bullshit case of pets gone missing.

SPEAKER_05 16:10

What are you talking about? It's just not one pet that's missing. Five, no, six in the past two weeks vanished into thin air.

SPEAKER_08 16:20

I'm leaning toward alien abduction.

SPEAKER_05 16:22

Beam me up, Scotty. It was probably coyotes dragged them off.

SPEAKER_07 16:26

No. There were no tracks. No fibers, prints, fur, nothing, Jack.

SPEAKER_00 16:34

He thought about Waverly families devastated by their losses. And remembered his court battle to keep the family retrievers after his divorce. They were actually his ex's dogs, but he went to war to get custody of those poor neurotic bastards, whipped into submission by the unmentionable one. It was the right thing to do.

SPEAKER_05 17:06

Can't say. I love dogs.

SPEAKER_08 17:09

What the hell, Jack? You're not a dog lover? You dote on those psychos.

SPEAKER_05 17:16

I know, but it's the truth. They're foul-mouthed, butt-licking, flea bags, and they embarrass me on date nights.

SPEAKER_08 17:24

Oh my god. I have never heard you say that before. I can picture them doing their butt-licking thing. Stay out of my personal life. Rides up on her scooter with three cats in an Uber box. I've never even dated. She's wearing a cat sweater with Dollarama eyes sewn where her nipples would be. And your dogs start humping her cat.

SPEAKER_05 17:51

Fuck you, Titus.

SPEAKER_08 17:52

Hey, it's a full moon. You know how I get. Let's do this, Jack. Are you ready? And let me talk to the little girl. She'll know you don't give a fuck about what's the dog's name? Poopins and Poppins.

SPEAKER_00 18:11

Thassa Preet answered the door and invited them in. She told them how headstrong Ruby was, and that she always seemed to learn things the hard way. Losing Poppins was a hard one. If she had obeyed her mom, she would still have her pup. Thassa took them to the end of the yard where the woods began. Ruby was standing on the picnic table watching. Jack explained to Thassa that there had been several disappearances. Poppins was the sixth, and it didn't look like they had answers yet. Thassa called to her daughter as they approached.

SPEAKER_01 18:56

Ruby, the police officers are here. They want you to tell them everything you remember.

SPEAKER_00 19:03

Ruby jumped onto the bench and sat down. Her hand waved at them. Her lip quivered hurtfully.

SPEAKER_08 19:11

Hi.

SPEAKER_00 19:12

Ellie drew close.

SPEAKER_08 19:13

Hi, Ruby. I'm Officer Titus, and this is Officer Chisholm. We work together, and we need you to tell us everything you saw and heard in the woods.

SPEAKER_02 19:27

Do I have to, Mom?

SPEAKER_01 19:30

Sweetie. You want to find puppins, right? They came all this way to help us. We can help them, right?

SPEAKER_02 19:39

Yeah. But I'll cry. Ruby, do you want to come inside to talk? No. If I leave, I might miss her. I have treats here, her favorites.

SPEAKER_00 19:50

Jack sat on the ground in front of Ruby. Ellie sat next to him.

SPEAKER_08 19:55

We'll sit with you and wait, too. I bet Poppins is on an adventure and doesn't even know how much you miss her.

SPEAKER_05 20:03

Just pretend we're kids. And you're a librarian at story hour. And you get to tell us your adventure story. Can you do that, Ruby?

SPEAKER_00 20:13

Thassa excused herself to get lemonade and texted her partner to get a new pup for Ruby on her way home from her business conference and say it's a present for Poppins for being so brave. They both agreed that Ruby needed this new addition, being an only child.

SPEAKER_08 20:35

Guess what? I write stories. So maybe I can go first. Would you like it if I went first?

SPEAKER_02 20:43

But it's not my fault. She loves the woods. We find treasures there.

SPEAKER_00 20:48

Ruby was so heartbroken. She was incapable of listening.

SPEAKER_08 20:54

We know it's not your fault, but you can help us find her, right?

SPEAKER_00 20:59

Ellie reached out and moved a long curly strand fallen over Ruby's eyes.

SPEAKER_02 21:05

Okay, you go first.

SPEAKER_08 21:07

Okay, let's see. I got it. A soft, fluffy puppy called Poppins lives beside a magical forest with her best friend Ruby. One day, Poppins and Ruby set out to find a magical bird they heard singing deep in the woods. Ruby quickly interjected.

SPEAKER_02 21:29

No, that's not how it started. She didn't really want to go. Poppins sat down and her legs were like sticks digging into the dirt. I had to pull her behind me. She didn't like it and she started growling. She stopped at a tree and growled more and barked. She just stopped and wouldn't come with me.

SPEAKER_05 21:49

Why do you think she did that?

SPEAKER_02 21:51

I don't know. She she put her paws up up on the tree and and cried.

unknown 21:59

Then she

SPEAKER_02 22:00

Started jumping up and down and crying, and oh, she ran away.

SPEAKER_08 22:05

Just breathe slowly, Ruby. Slowly. In and out. You're doing really well. Did you follow her?

SPEAKER_02 22:15

It started raining. I called, but she wouldn't come. Did anything else happen? Yes. I remember leaves falling all around me and a hundred birds flying out of the trees. And a branch fell right beside me.

SPEAKER_05 22:29

Ruby, can you take us to that branch?

SPEAKER_00 22:31

Thassa returned with lemonade and cookies. Jack welcomed the lemon washing over the sweet peanut butter. He had three, even though Ellie frowned, cautioning him about his sugar spiking.

SPEAKER_05 22:47

I was just asking Ruby if she would take us into the woods. Maybe she could take her treats for Papa's.

SPEAKER_00 22:53

Ruby leaned toward her mom.

SPEAKER_02 22:55

I don't want to go there.

SPEAKER_00 22:58

Ellie understood her pain. She had gone through something similar when she was 16, and her dog got loose as Ellie was heading out the front door to school. The dog ran onto the road and was hit by a car. Ellie didn't want to cross that street ever again. Because of all the faded bloodstains and the memory of screeching tires, it never left her.

SPEAKER_06 23:26

It's okay, Ruby. Do you know that Officer Jack has two dogs named Marilyn and Monroe? He'd go all the way to the moon and back to find them if they got lost. We're going to keep looking every day for Poppins.

SPEAKER_02 23:47

She likes cookies. You can take some.

SPEAKER_06 23:49

For sure.

SPEAKER_08 23:50

Actually, we'll leave them here for you, in case she beats us home. Okay. I'll stay here and wait. Ruby, why don't you help your mom make a poster to put up in the neighborhood to help find Poppins? Maybe someone saw her.

SPEAKER_01 24:09

That's a great idea, Officer Titus. Sweetie, let's make one that will bring Poppins back.

SPEAKER_05 24:17

Ruby, Officer Titus and I have a lot of exploring to do now. In the woods. We're going to try very hard to find answers. And we'll call tomorrow to share what we find. Thank you, Miss Preet. We'll find our own way out.

SPEAKER_00 24:34

Jack got the sample kit out of the cruiser and caught up with Ellie, who had already disappeared into the woods. When he stepped into the overgrowth, he felt something was different. If there was such a thing as dead air, then that was what he felt. He knew for sure that his two pets wouldn't have entered this dead zone and would have bitten his pant legs to drag him away. Together, Ellie and Jack swept the ground, tree trunks, fallen leaves and branches, but found no signs of poppins.

SPEAKER_05 25:16

Ellie, let's come back in the morning. Like Ruby said, something is here. I've never felt anything like this. Like I'm going to be swallowed whole. Like I'm in the ocean with Moby Dick. Look at me. I'm actually shivering. Okay, I'm bringing rope and spurs.

SPEAKER_08 25:42

Spurs? Like cowboy spurs?

SPEAKER_05 25:46

No. A lineman's spurs and tree hooks and rope.

SPEAKER_08 25:51

Oh. You used to hook?

SPEAKER_05 25:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 25:54

I was really good at it. I'm trying not to see this.

SPEAKER_00 25:58

She studied his face, his fading youth that she knew would have had women smiling like idiots over him.

SPEAKER_08 26:06

You are a constant source of misapplied sexuality.

SPEAKER_05 26:11

What, you never hooked? Everyone hooks at least once in their lifetime.

SPEAKER_08 26:16

Not for money. Hey, pick me up at six. I have other things to do tomorrow. It's Saturday, Jack. I'll have coffee for you with one less sugar.

SPEAKER_00 26:30

The detectives left, unaware that they'd be walking into two different crime scenes the next morning. One behind Ruby's home, and one by a private lake and woods where a boy disappeared that very night. Warm summer nights were becoming nightmares. This ends episode one. Episode two takes you into the unknown, where a boy goes missing, a trespasser walks into hidden secrets, and Michael Newbold gets entangled in her discovery. Kept is a dark side thrillers production, written and designed by Jem Woodall. Ambient Music by Richard Moole. Sound recording by Michael Donaldson. Thanks to music and sound artists at Pixabay. Join us on Patreon for so much more.