Hey everyone. It's Ryan again. I mentioned in my last post (Link here if you missed it: [REDACTED] ) that things were getting a bit hairy, well I'm out of town and sorting things out. I've received multiple threats for talking about this stuff but I think my tracks are well enough covered, I should be safe. I can't help shaking the feeling I'm being watched though... I'll put it down to paranoia. But enough about that, I'll be fine. It's time I carried on with my story.

After the second set of events at the farmhouse I made the outward decision to never go there again, regardless of pay. Yes, I like the grand I had to spend, yes I was curious. But I wanted to live and going back there would lower my life expectancy by 60 odd years. If the old lady didn't shoot me, I'd likely die from cardiac arrest just from being back there. Matt has been busy researching the case. I've messaged him a few times but I only get one word replies. I can't help but worry about him... This whole thing feels off and not just because of the murderous old lady. I decided I'd do some of my own digging, perhaps I could find something to help Matt out. In all honesty not knowing was killing me, but then again... Knowing could literally kill me... Regardless I started by looking at the cases of the missing children. Online records showed that the mayors two kids went missing a couple months ago... Considering the old lady supposedly shot them only a couple weeks ago... Either that old man was lying or those kids went missing before showing up at the farmhouse...

The other kids had all went missing within 2 months of each-other. All the same story, they go out to visit a friend or go to an event and never show up. No trace of the disappearance... No leads... No witness... They were all dead cases. All kids of powerful people going missing then two turn up at a farmhouse on the fringe of town, get shot and all of a sudden the person who shot them is getting blackmailed by those same powerful people? Perhaps the old lady wasn't at fault after all... But what could be going on? It's been roughly two months since the last disappearance, would there be another missing kid soon? If so, who? How was Matt so good at this stuff? More to the point... How can he afford to pay people? Did he have a boss? This whole line of thought added to my theme of having lots of questions and barely any answers... But then again, some questions you just don't want answering... If the old lady didn't commit those murders, then why did she have that cork board? Perhaps she was trying to find the truth as well... It hit me. Jacob.

I sent Jacob an e-mail asking him if he had photos of the cork board, also letting him know to contact me on the sending e-mail if he had any work for me. His reply came quite promptly: "Ryan, I do have photos but I can't show you. Photos are for Matt. You ask him, not me. Thanks for letting me know e-mail. I'll tell you if I have work. You good kid." I sighed in defeat. I could ask Matt but there was no way he'd say yes... I didn't want to go behind his back and Jacob was his employee but... "Jacob, I'm looking into the same case as Matt, please, I really need to have those photos. I'll pay you?" Ironic, I was going to offer to pay Jacob with the same money he'd paid me not long ago. "Ryan, I have uploaded the photos. Here is the link: [Removed, for obvious reasons.] Link goes in 5 mins. Get quick. You owe me job." I always found it hard to argue with Jacob, especially when his point involves me not losing my money. I quickly visited the link and downloaded the photos. It was a clearnet link so I was about 90% sure the files were safe. I studied the photos, trying to scavenge whatever information I could.

I'd been looking through the photos for a few hours, I wasn't much further but I did find out that all the kids were involved in drugs. Nothing hardcore, just weed, couple less intense pills... I suppose when you have rich parents you can afford to do that crap. Quite how the old lady knew this is beyond me but then again, everything about that hag was completely beyond me. The two kids who invaded the farmhouse were dealers it turns out, weed dealers. They operated in the town, where they got their drugs from was a mystery though... The other kids seemed to all be users. The kids in question would also often frequent the same pubs, restaurants, shops... Seems they were all friends? Even with this new information, I was no closer to actually having an idea of what the fuck was going on... A bunch of drug loving friends all vanish progressively then two break into the home of an old lady who was watching them? This was all incredibly confusing and I was STILL no closer to knowing anything substantial. I decided I'd look into drug traffic in my town, best way I knew how? You guessed it. Deepweb. I went back onto my favourite forum and started asking around, pretending to be asking as a buyer. I found a guy who was a local dealer and asked to meet up under the premise of buying some weed. I had no fucking idea how much weed cost or how much to buy so... I asked for 2 spliffs worth. Do kids even say spliff anymore?

After a short drive into the town centre, I met with the guy at some apartment block, he was waiting in the foyer. I had brought £500 of the 1k pay Jacob had given me, I wasn't here for drugs of course, I was here for answers. I greeted the guy with a handshake. As part of our agreement, I'm not allowed to describe him so... He was a person. He had arms and legs. That's all I have to say. After talking to him for a while, offering the money and saying a dealer had hurt a friend of mine and I wanted to know who, he told me a bit about the local dealers. Apparently the entrepreneur who's kid went missing had been siphoning off business funds to run a deepweb drug trade in the town. The dealer didn't know much more than that, only the boss himself and the fact the trade was carried out over the deepweb. Guy even said the deepweb gave him the chills, he just operated on it because that's how the boss likes it. He also said he knew two dealers had been taken out recently. He wasn't sure who did it, just that they were missing. I thanked him and headed home. Was this what being Matt was like? It was pretty exciting... This whole situation was still irredeemably fucked up but actually finding stuff out? That almost made this worth it... Oh, I never actually bought the weed by the way. In fact he ended up smoking it so... Said snitching gets him edged but clearly £500 is enough to buy some pretty useful info.

So... A bunch of druggie kids who are all friends, who go missing when they go to meet their friends, who's dealers work for a guy on the deepweb, who's kid is also friends with those kids, and those dealers invade the home of someone investigating them, end up getting killed, all the other kids are still missing. All this had me at was that clearly, that businessman was corrupt as fuck. If only I knew someone on the insi - Lara. -- Breaking from the story to let you know, if you haven't read my "Courier" story, you won't know who Lara is... Give it a read if you missed it! [REDACTED] -- I sent her a message, asking if she had done any work in the area, if she had any contacts? She got back to me after a couple hours, hours I spent staring at the ceiling contemplating why I took that job in the first place... "Hey stranger, long time no talk, yeah I've ran a few jobs. What's up? Something wrong?" I was at a standstill for what to reply with. Should I tell her the truth? "Some dealer attacked a friend of mine, all I want to do is find out who they were..." I paused, choosing my next few words with inhuman trepidation "... But they went missing a few weeks ago. Know anything?" I waited... My breath catching in my throat as the seconds ticked by. "Ah, I think I know the guy, I take drops from him pretty often. Mostly weed right? Last time I saw him he was gassing on about someone who was watching their work... There were a few kids with him at his place, all looked about his age. Half of them spent their time ogling me as ever... Stupid kids ;)" I thanked her for her help and promised I'd talk to her more often again, I'd been pretty busy recently after all...

I think I was beginning to get what was going on... Bunch of kids get together, all with powerful parents who can aid them, and run a deepweb drug business? With the Mayor, police inspector, a supporting entrepreneur and the kids themselves, they could run a pretty good business free of risk. And anyone who tried to interfere... Well, just look at the old couple. I thought about what Matt might know... Maybe he could help? I composed a message full of the information I'd gathered and the sources. It took me about an hour to write up... His reply came more promptly than his previous ones. "Holy crap Ryan! You've been doing my job for me eh? I was trying to find out the same things but, being so far away I couldn't meet with any contacts. I was actually considering asking you to work for me again but hey, I needn't ask! Good job man! I'll get to work trying to find out more. In the meantime I need you to lay low. I've looked higher up the pyramid than you and let's just say some potentially dangerous people are behind this. Same account as last time for your pay I take it?" I was at a loss, I'd found more than Matt? These people were dangerous? I mean I know they attacked the old lady but... Where did it go from here? I was so busy thinking this over I almost forgot Matt had just offered to pay me. I replied with a curt yes and a good luck and sure enough, there in my account was another £900. Christ. I mean, costs considered it was more like £400 but still... This was good money. And yet... Was I really about to risk it by going against Matt and investigating more?

Well, that's it for now. Before I can put out the next part I need to make sure some people are okay being mentioned in it. After all, this information is pretty... Well... Illegal. But I should be able to get the go ahead by tomorrow, after all, money talks. And I didn't impulse spend ALL the money Matt paid me which leaves me with some bribery cash. Things will nearly be wrapped up in the next part, I'm sorry for extending things out by telling this in parts but there are alot of factors at play and I control barely any of them. Hopefully, I'll see you all next time for part four, until then. I'm going to head to bed for another painful night of no sleep.