Melodic Development

Deep insights abound via the investigator's poise. I had never considered that Searly may have had the hands of a government man (either his own hands, or those of a government man placed upon him for 'steering'). I have been working under the assumption that he was involved as an outsider - one of the remnant folk, a pro-softness man. Your shedding of light via anglepoise now means I must question the whole case from a new perspective. Reassess.

Was Searly really a fully signed up government operative? Hard to believe. Maybe he was posing as one and got found out. Was he a soft-core member who got fingered by the law and 'agreed' to 'help' them in order to save his own skin, yet was really relaying his inside knowledge back to his fringe group of fabric-ators? Or was he really a military man posing as someone from a much more flowery subculture in order to infiltrate the soft Michigan core? Could a military man really pass himself off in such a manner? Do the authorities employ 'soft' guys?

If Searly is indeed tied to the Buick wreck as you describe, that would mean he very likely had dealings with 'Pinsk' or could even possibly be him. I could head there from Boston if any leads surface in the next 18 hrs.

Anyway, while you have been shining tungsten light on such matters, I have been bathing in glow of the halogen bulbs in the film dept of Boston Uni. Had to change my cover (no way could I pull off being a documentarian when surrounded by film/media lecturers and technicians. I am once again playing dentist, looking for my fiance, 'Melody', who has ran out on me with the kids - 'I must find her; for the kids' safety' I told the film guys - no-one questions a kid in danger. A couple of the technicians remember how a girl slightly older than typical students used to use the editing facilities occasionally, booking out the edit suite once a term under the name 'Melody Nelson'.

Told the film guys that she was my girl - tell me all you know, has she been here recently? Apparently not - she hasn't been seen on campus since summer 2005. The tie-in with the disappearances of other members of Project 31 is beyond co-incidence. I ask what kind of films she used to edit (to help me figure what she may be involved in and get an idea for 'what danger my children may be in') and am told that they were 'road movies of some description... super-8 footage of the Northeastern landscape receding from the rear windshield of an automobile... car full of young hip-kids... soft fabrics... home knits... Canadian border crossings... picnics... acoustic guitars... quilting'. On a hunch, I show the techies the CCTV still of the 50's girl at the library, telling them it is the most recent picture I have of her, and is the evidence which led me to Boston - was this 'Melody Nelson', I ask. 'Damn straight' comes the reply, 'those old clothes are a dead giveaway - she only ever wore natural fabrics'.

So, we have a positive ID, but no current whereabouts or idea of recent activity, though we can now connect her to Searly via the library card.

Questions from Boston

Okay, my last full day in Boston and I feel like a stranger in a strange land. I think I need to ask some questions to get my orientation again, so let's see...

It seems likely, based on Happy's recollections, that Cate and Grant were two of the main protagonists when it came to the expansion and recruitment drive for Project 31. They were running things across the campuses of North America - tapes, for sure, but most likely people and fabrics too. Costa's songs are known to have appeared on the tapes, so there would seem to be some link between Grant/Cate and Costa. As one of our investigators so perceptively asked - is Cate Costa?

Also, are the instructions presented on the tapes Coasta's own, or is she relaying messages from a more central figure? Kosyra, perhaps, or Regan, or Searly, even. Perhaps the instructions are coming from 'Mr. Crafts', whoever that maybe (likely one of the 3 suspects just mentioned). Or is Grant 'Mr. Crafts' - we know so little about him beyond a connection with Cate and witness statements aligning him with the tape distribution?

Other thoughts - did Kosyra fund/design the guidestone projects? We know he was 'disgustingly rich' and that he works in construction (or runs a front company marketed as being in the industry); was 'R.C. Christian' his public go-between? Could be Regan? Could be Searly?

I wonder now about the mid-nineties disappearance of Regan and Costa, as proposed by the map found by the candian religious studies student when studying in England - where did they go and what were they doing all this time? Is their disappearance in any way related to the later mass-disappearance of all recognised members of the Soft Michigan core group? Which, in turn, makes me wonder about the couple caught on CCTV using Searly's library card - according to Happy, they would seem to have some historical involvement with the Project 31 (having been spotted on campus with infrequent regularity until the disappearances), yet are not recognised as being Cate and Grant. Who are they?

Other questions - how does Sad Sack tie into all of this, and what is the significance of the missing mixtape 'At The Haberdasher's Request'?I shall try to make a breakthrough before leaving Boston. The heat goes on...

Who Is Ron Searly?

ALL THINGS EXIST in spacetime, including Mr. Searly. He's on someone's paper round, someone's Christmas Card List. A Ron Searly is registered at the Jonestown library. A car registered to a Ron Searly was photographed by a traffic safety camera as it ran a red light on some Main St. in Massachusetts (it is unknown as to whether Mr. Searly was present in the car at the time). A Ron Searly paid the cheque for a birthday lunch enjoyed by three unknown white females at a Steak-n-Cake in Reno. He never said a word - they only discovered his deed when they asked the mousey waitress for the cheque. A Ron Searley collected $18.71 winnings from a bookmakers in Brooklyn for a bet he placed on a dodgers game, April 27th 1998. A Ron Searley was there when Beefheart formed his first band. He is reported to have told the captain 'don't do it that way - there's no coming back'.

Note from an interested party:
Find the tokens for Saturday bowling sessions with the mysterious ‘jimmy’. Find the empty tins of dogfood in his long island beach pad, with no other signs of pet ownership. Recount the strange notes found scribbled in his phone directory on the page of a certain Xavier Rheiner, coworker in the Bentley Cane Refinery, Florida.I want the FULL STORY of this guy…

My sources tell me: A Ron Searly has $3.51 of outstanding fines on his account at the North Carolina State Library and two overdue books - one on alternate food sources and an almanac of sewing techniques. Archival clippings from an April edition of the 1982 Pennsylvania Herald confirm that a teenage Ron Searley won second prize in the town's annual poetry contest, coming second to an R. J. Beasley, with poems titled 'Octopiithagoas' and 'From the Sun' respectively. Clippings from an edition of the Milwaukee Tribune, dated September of the same year, indicate that a Ronald Searley was cautioned after being found in a parking lot standing next to a bin fire with ash-tipped fingers and ashen face. He claimed it was like that when he found it. Without witnesses, the prosecution could not proceed with the case and all charges were later dropped. There is a bungalow in a southwestern suburb of Boston, the deeds of which bear the name 'Ron Searly'. No-one has ever seen anyone enter or leave the building, but delivery trucks are observed arriving regularly, sawing and hammering are often heard punctuating the afternoon calm, and the silhouette of a man was seen pacing between the two largest trees in the back yard after dusk a couple of weeks back. Neighbours have been known to ask 'what's he building in there?'