Genre: Mystery/Suspense
Length: 3 Issues per part, 15 issues.
Viz Alla Ti: "Under Water" (Bulgarian)

A five-part mini-series(15 Issues)
By Ibock3
Issue 1
Viz Alla Ti

When the bomb hit, nobody saw it coming. Everyone was blissfully distracted with their own lives and unaware of what was to come. It was a quick death to nearly everyone above the surface of the water.
There were only four survivors, each person from another part of the world. None of them knew of each others’ existence, and assumed the worst.

Eight weeks before…..
London, England
Lyle sat in his computer chair behind a lit up screen all day. Not necessarily the most thrilling of jobs, but it still paid the bills. However, filing TPS reports eventually got to him, and the repetitiveness of his daily life made him feel less alive.
“You’re fired.” A man stood behind him with a stern tone of voice. When Lyle turned around, his boss stared back with frustrated anger in his eyes.
“What?” Lyle’s eyes widened, he gripped the arms of his chair tightly, as if trying not to fall off it onto the floor. “Why are you firing me? I’ve done nothing wr----”
“That’s right, you have done nothing. You have twenty minutes to gather your things and leave.” Everyone referred to the boss as Mr. Miller, but most of the employees moved out of his way and avoided any interaction with him. Miller could and would fire anyone he wanted to right on the spot, if he was in a bad mood.
“I’ve done everything for this company! I’ve been in this cubicle for a full day now, I haven’t left for a day straight!” Lyle stood to his feet with relentless anger. He refused to look Miller in the face, and just grabbed his briefcase. When Lyle left the cubicle, he forcefully bumped Miller with his shoulder.
Nobody in the office knew that Lyle would soon come back to this office without a briefcase.

8:17 PM

Lyle stormed into the office, gun loaded and hair disheveled. He sprinted toward Miller’s office with the .44 clearly visible, for all the workers to see and stare at with shock.
Lyle kicked open his ex-boss’s door, right off the hinges. He readied the gun and pointed it at Miller.
“Lyle…?”
“Don’t mock me, you have no right to say my name any longer!”
“We can work this out, don’t do it.” Miller stood nervously, shielding his face.
“We wouldn’t have to work anything out if you hadn’t fired me for no apparent reason!” The violent temper emerged strongly from his voice. His finger gripped the trigger and pressed. One bullet after another pierced through Miller’s skull like it was made of paper. And, with every bullet pressing into his head, he fell back further, until Mr. Miller fell right out of the skyscraper window.
Pawtucket, Rhode Island
12:08 PM
Steven quietly sat on the concrete ledge of a bridge overlooking a river, the sun intensely shining through the lenses of his glasses. The only sound that filled his ears was the flowing water from the Blackstone river.
It was a perfect escape from reality; Just sitting on the edge of a bridge, away from everyone and everything, the perfect sense of peace. However, the peace did not last long when he looked down the body of water to see something he’d never expect to see…

A body floated face first, following the current swiftly and motionlessly.

(To be continued in issue 2)

Wow, you're a great writer. Can't wait to read part two, man. You're like a jack of all trades, rpg maker, writer.... lol

ISSUE 2 IS HERE!
Saitama, Japan
3:15 AM
Ami trudged through the quiet, lonely streets as she did every morning. At quarter past three she would check the sales of stores, and it was now her daily ritual.
“Half off? How am I going to compete with that?” Ami didn’t check sales for fun, she checked them to keep her clothing store in business. She mumbled to herself with frustration and headed over to her shop to prepare for opening.

11:26 AM
Immediately when she opened the store that morning, the phone on the marble counter rang off the hook. Ami figured that it was another annoying customer, but today would be the day everything would take a complete u-turn.
“Hello, what are you calling for so early in the morni----”
“You need to come to America, by next week.” Ami’s brother Shiga was on the other end of the phone line, with a shaky tone in his voice.
“Wait, what? Shiga… I thought we vowed not to speak again once you moved out of the country.”
“It’s important. Mom was killed by an unknown assailant last night.” Shiga sighed and quietly sobbed, trying to hide his pain.
“No… You can’t be serious. This is just another one of your tricks to make me come visit you!” Ami screamed with anger and denial, she couldn’t shake the horror that strangled her.
“Do you honestly think I’m cold enough to lie about something like this? You’re so childish, like you’ve always been. The funeral is Thursday and I expect you to come over here for at least a couple of weeks.” Her brother hung up the phone, not allowing Ami to provide a response.
For nearly twenty minutes she stood as if frozen solid, tightly gripping the phone as the dial tone pulsated faintly. Ami stared at her mother’s picture on the marble counter and didn’t blink at all. She dropped the phone onto the floor and fell to her knees; the crushing, painful weight of her mother’s death physically forced her to the ground.
Ami felt as if a large piece of her died inside.

Berne, Switzerland
“Isabel Jawdat, wake up!” A stern voice echoed across the room and was followed by the unexpected smack of a ruler on her desk. She jumped, startled, and looked up at her disappointed teacher.
“Oh…”
“Did you copy down the notes while you were floating in dreamland?” Slight nervous laughs emanated from several students on the other side of the room.
“No, I’m sorry. Could you repeat them?”
“I will in thirty seconds when your detention starts.”
The bell rang and a large group of students left the room, except her. Izzy sighed and fidgeted with an eraser that was on her desk.
“Now, memorize this and you can go.” The teacher gave Isabel a handout and pointed to the door.
When outside, Izzy released a sigh of relief and walked down the sidewalk, on her way home.
“She never knows why I’m tired…”

(To be continued in issue 3)

Ooh! I can't wait for the next one!

And as for the shooting, I have to say...
Only in RI!

Issue 3
Pawtucket, Rhode Island
8:00 AM
“Ralph Miller,” An officer checked the ID card on the table. He then responded, “Seems before he died he conveniently decided to write down an IP address.”
“How can you tell it’s an IP address and not just random numbers?” Steve stroked his moustache and then stared curiously at the ID.
“It’s the order in which the numbers are written that give it away. It’s ‘21.334.128.63’.”
“Trace it,” Steven commanded, “I want to find whoever killed this man.” He adjusted his glasses and then stared down at the bullet-riddled corpse. This particular victim had been mowed down with a very powerful gun.
“Will do. Just a moment.” A computer programmer behind a desk clicked away at number keys and pounded the ‘Enter’ button.
“Well, what’s the location?” Steven glanced at the ID card once more and then carefully examined each number individually. How could the person write the IP address, when there was no blood, he was being rapidly shot at, and it was written neatly with no sign of struggle?
“It’s loading--- Oh, man… You’re not going to believe this.”
“Try me, tell me what it is.”
“Take a look,” The programmer turned his laptop around and pointed at the screen with a map on it. “The IP address traces back to London, England!”

London, England
12:00 PM
Lyle’s life was over; Once he dumped Ralph Miller’s body out of that speedboat, it was the end of the line. He had to escape, to leave somewhere. But where? Where would he go that was so remote that nobody would even consider looking for him?
“Maybe I should leave the country,” Lyle mumbled to himself, “That will at least bide time…”

Airport
5:12 PM
Immediately he disguised himself. Lyle dyed his hair red and put in silver contacts, and left the airport bathroom. He went onto the plane and was ready to start a brand new life.
“Now leaving for TF Green Airport.” The pilot announced on the intercom.

Berne, Switzerland
3:17 PM
“Oh, bleedin’ hell.. I failed the test?!” Izzy stared at her test paper with deep disappointment. A twenty-seven in red pen mocked her with a viciously silent laugh.
“I told you to study for it, you wouldn’t have failed so miserably if you at least attempted to memorize your notes.”
“Aw…” She left the class with her head down and headed outside. Out in the distance, she heard cheering and violent screaming. “Do it, now!” The sound of gunfire echoed through the afternoon air and Izzy saw several people fall to the ground, one by one. She made herself scarce and ran the other way back to her house, but it was too late. A bullet skidded past her leg and her heart raced faster than her legs ran.
When she ran in and slammed the door behind her in her home, she hid under the table as bullets pierced through the windows and riddled the walls with ugly round scars. When the gunfire ceased, she lifted her head and heard the phone rang. Izzy jumped and hit her head on the bottom of the table.
“Oh, bugger….” She crawled out from under the table and cautiously took the phone from the wall, “Hello?”
Nobody replied, someone just breathed heavily, creepily. About ten seconds later, the doorbell rang.
“Honestly, I thought Mondays were bad but… This is worse than a bad hair day.” Isabel turned the knob slowly and peered through the blinds. A man in all black with sunglasses and a Bluetooth phone stared back at her with no expression on his face.
“Witness protection agency. You have to come with me----”
“Wait, it’s been literally five seconds and you’re already helping me? You’re suspiciously quick.”
“There’s no time to talk, you must take some things with you and that’s it, you’ve got to leave today. You have nine minutes.”
“What?! Where are you taking me?”
“That, Ms. Jawdat, will be revealed to you at the Airport.”

TF Green Airport, Rhode Island
8:55 PM
Ami waited for her brother to come for hours, but he was nearly a quarter of a day late to pick her up.
“Sorry for the long wait,” Shiga tapped Ami, “I didn’t know what day you were coming.”
“Please, just bring me to the funeral home. I want to go see mother.”

To be continued in Issue 4

...That was quick!
o.0

Awesome job!

PART 2
ISSUE 4
Funeral Home, 9:20 PM
“This is the casket I picked. The wake’s tomorrow and the funeral two days after.”
“I know how death goes, you don’t have to enlighten me.”
The casket was maple and shiny. It glistened under the fluorescent lights.
“We have to find who killed her.”

Providence Place Mall
12:17 PM
Steven sat in a chair in front of a coffee shop, clicking keys on his computer and stirring a latte. This London IP address led to a Lyle Himmely, age 33. Scotland yard said there was nothing they could do as he is apparently gone, and further searching would be a ‘waste of resources’.
“Ralph Miller was gunned down on the second floor of a small office building two weeks ago. His body was not found at the scene…” He sipped the coffee and continued to read the article to himself,
“Pawtucket police in Rhode Island, America found Miller’s remains with the help of Steven Lumbar, a local author. However, Lyle Himmely has yet to be captured.” Steve smiled with satisfaction and closed the article. He shut his laptop and put it in his messenger bag, then left the expensive coffee shop.
The sound of bloodcurdling screams burst loudly and was followed by loud popping noises.
“Huh?” Lumbar turned around to see several people fall to the ground in a pool of blood. He ran down the escalator but continued to hear the loud noises at the same volume. When silence drenched the air, it was shattered by maniacal laughter.
“The four survivors, you’ll die by my hands! No new world for you, come from hiding!” The mysterious crazed man laughed loudly and fired his gun into the air. “Only a matter of time, rats can’t hide forever!”
Steven tried not to breath hard or to make noise as he desperately scrambled toward the exit door, but as he ran toward the glass door, it was shattered by a passing bullet that just skimmed the long hair on his head.
“I’ve found one of you!”
“Ah!” He jumped through the frame of the broken door and then just rammed right through the other. The gun behind him clicked--- no more ammunition.

TF Green Airport
12:40 PM
“Isabel Jawdat, you are new name is Resa Murcado. You’re a seventeen year-old American college student who recently dropped out. You are to cut off contact with anyone you previously had contact with herein.”
“Why are you doing this?”
“It’s for your own protection---”
“Couldn’t you have just moved me to another part of the country? It’s only one gang!”
“No further conversation needed. Enjoy your new, quiet life… Oh, and take this.” The dressed up man handed Isabel a check for USD $50,000. He got back on the plane without uttering a single word.
La Chappelle Funeral Home
7:22 PM
“You’re hired” The man behind the desk got up and shook Lyle’s hand with a grin.
“Thank you, sir. It will be my duty to conduct the funerals, correct?”
“Absolutely, you can start Thursday.”
“Great.” Lyle left the funeral home and had a confident, devilish smirk on his face--- He hat gotten away with murder and now he conducts the funerals for them.

D’Olivera and Associates
7:40 PM
“Yes, Yatsuhiko Mariyama left you both the will for you to read. That’s all I know.” The lawyer cleared his throat and held a tightly sealed box in his hand.
“What do you mean, ‘That’s all you know’?” Shiga looked at the lawyer with curiosity.
“What I mean is, I was commanded not to read it to you, to open it, or to even look at the label of the box. It’s all in your hands now.” He handed Ami the box and smiled nervously.
“Thank you, Mr. Goldstein. We’ll be on our way now.” Shiga and Ami quietly walked out of the office and then down the street to the wake, but on the way they opened the box to see what she had left behind.
“Jesus, this thing is sealed like Fort Knox on a Friday!”
“The envelope is stamped… With ‘for your eyes only’ slapped on it.”

Ami opened the envelope and read the words in the will,

To my children,
If you are reading these words on this paper, then I have been silenced and have failed my final duties. I leave you my estate, you must finish what I have tried to accomplish.
The beginning of the end lies under the water, a new start for you. Three other survivors will help you start the new world.
Something was scratched on the bottom,
~Viz Alla Ti
To be continued in Issue 5.

The Plot thickens!
(A LOT)

I hope this is a decent mystery story I intend to submit this as my story for the mystery writers class.

Hooray for awesome murder mystery stories!

Issue 5
North Main Street
1:00 AM
“What’s a… ‘Funeral Home’?” Isabel stared at the La Chappelle sign and then continued on looking down the street for ‘for rent’ signs. She wanted to at least find a place to live instead of being in a hotel room for the rest of her natural born life.
“Ooh… That’s why there’s a ‘funeral home’ over here…” She looked at the street corner to see a man sprawled on the sidewalk, dead.
“Hello? Police?” Isabel dialed 911 and within minutes they arrived. “Might as well buy a casket for the poor guy…”

Pawtucket Police Station
9:15 AM
“The man shot at me until he ran out of ammunition!” Steven pounded the front desk. “Can’t you at least pretend to care?!”
“I’m sorry, sir, but that happened in the Providence area, that’s up to Providence police officers to look into it.”
“I’d thought you would pay me back for helping you find some leads to an international murder…”
“There’s really nothing we can do. I’m sure they have found him by now.”
A television in the background had breaking news appear, as if it were responding to the policeman’s words,
“Providence police have not found the man who went on a shooting rampage in the Providence Place Mall food court. If you see him, do not approach him, just contact police immediately.”
On top of that, Steven’s cell phone vibrated in his pocket.
“Hello?”
“Steven Lumbar? You need to come down here to identify a body.”

Morgue
10:10 AM
“Yes… It’s my father…” Steve buried his head in his hands and couldn’t believe this happened.
“I found him by a street corner… Sorry for your loss.” Izzy put her hand lightly on Steve’s shoulder, attempting to comfort him.
“Who… Are you?”
“My name’s Resa Murcado…. Err.. Would you mind if I came to the funeral?”
“I’m going to have it in two days… Of course you can come. Nobody else will anyway.”
(To be continued in Issue 6)

Got confussled because of the W.P.A. name.

Still cant wait for next one!

*short issue*
Issue 6
Two days afterward….
Graveyard Road, Providence. 7:00 PM
Ami and Shiga. Steven, Resa, and Lyle. Two funerals occurring at the same time, in the same graveyard.
“May they both rest in peace.” Lyle closed the bible and the coffins descended into the dirt abyss. Steven read his father’s will, which was sealed tightly in a cardboard box.
It read,

Steven,
If you are reading these words that I have written, then I have been silenced and have not accomplished my task, my duty is not completed. I want you to finish my mission. I leave my mansion to you.
Also, if you are reading this, then you must have met the three survivors who will accompany you. Please, finish what I started, begin a new world.

“A… New world?!”

PART 3
Issue 7
*short issue*
7:58 PM
“…How did your father pass on?” Ami looked down at the fresh grave and bit at her fingernails.
“He was stabbed, but the assailant is still roaming free.”
“---Wait…” Shiga gasped and Ami finished his sentence,
“Our mother was assassinated by a sniper, and they’re still out there.” She held her hand over her mouth in shock and then shook with fear.
“What’s in your will?”
“What’s your business knowing?” Steven held in tears and turned around, trying not to show his sadness and pain.
“Don’t argue people, we can all settle this reasonably.” Lyle broke up the start of the argument then walked over to Izzy. “You look…. Familiar.”
Steven held out his father’s will and sighed,
“I’ll show you my father’s will if you show me your mother’s.”
“Very well.” Ami handed the will over and then read the other. At the same time, Shiga and Steven yelled with surprise,
“They both set us up to be sent here!”

8:30 PM
“We have to go to mother’s estate, right now.” Shiga pulled Ami with him and walked up to their car. Izzy and Lyle accompanied Steven.
“You should check your father’s house as well.” Lyle sighed.
“I know,” Steven looked at the will once more, “Care to help?”
“Fine, but remember not to get killed on the way there. Something tells me we’re being watched.” Lyle looked around suspiciously, but all that was in the graveyard were dead people and air.

Issue 8
*short issue*
Yatsuhiko’s Estate
8:53 PM
“What do we do now…”
“We have to look for any clues regarding this vague will of hers.” Ami shuffled through the mess of papers in the unorganized stacks. Nothing was standing out in the open to help them become less ignorant of the current predicament.
“She literally left everything to us… Even her filthy stack of pages.”
“Hey, I think you should come look at this.” Shiga found a paper with a silver card taped to it. The word “key” was scribbled on the tape. And below that was a note,
You’ve looked through all the mess for this, and it’s time for everything to be unveiled. All the people who have tried to harm you, or anyone around you, has been preventing you from seeing the secret that lies beyond the door that this silver card opens. All you have to do now is to bring that secret to the surface.

Steven’s Father’s Estate
8:57 PM
“We’ve got to look for something; Anything that can piece together father’s riddle of a will.” Steven skimmed through manila folders and looked for any hints as to what his father’s “duty” was.
“I really don’t know what he meant by ’Mission’ but I hope it’s something stupidly small like death taxes.” He shuffled through the pages and then stumbled upon a laptop that was still on, charged, smothered under a bunch of scattered folders.
“Whoa… Your father was… Err, eccentric.” Isabel stared at the blueprints for something, but she didn’t know exactly what it was. It looked like a series of tubes with a dome in the middle but she wasn’t sure.
Steven clicked to log onto the laptop and the login screen popped up. “Welcome, Michael Lumbar. Please enter your password.”
“Password?! Oh, man…”
“Maybe it’s what Resa’s looking at.” Lyle pointed at the bottom of the blueprints. The words, “Under the Water” were neatly scrawled in the corner of the blue sheet. “Login successful, now loading files….” A block of text appeared on the screen. “New project completed.” crawled across the screen.

(To be continued in issue 9)

o.o
That wasn't a "Short" issue
o.o

Originally posted by lbock3

---

cardboard box.

---

ALL HAIL THE MIGHTY BOX!

*short issue*
Issue 9
Yatsuhiko’s Estate
9:24 PM
“Where does this card go?” Ami turned it around and saw numbers stamped on the back. ‘213342863’.
With more digging through the papers for more clues, Shiga pushed the papers aside when he found stairs leading downward. He stared at Ami and signaled to follow. Down the stairs emerged a white hallway, with only one door at the end.
“There’s a card reader on the door… Try it.” Ami told her brother to swipe the card, but when he did, a robotic voice responded, “Please enter numeric keycode.”
“Keycode…?” Shiga stared clueless with deep confusion and then it hit him; The password was the series of numbers on the back.
“Access granted.” The door slid open slowly, and with every inch it cracked open, the bigger the amount of shock appeared on their faces.
“No…”
“How did she..”

*short issue*
PART 4
Issue 10
It was a massive aquarium, with hundreds of human-sized tubes, buildings, and even lit up neon roads. There was even a view of the sky from the surface. Guns clicked behind them and a stern voice shouted,
“Turn around with your hands up!” Five men with black suits stood on the other end of the hall with their guns ready to fire.
“You have been charged with treason and conspiracy to overthrow the government. Surrender quietly!”

*short issue*
Issue 11
“Shiga, close the door!” Ami pulled him and ran into the large aquarium. Bullets, waves of them, pounded Shiga and he fell dead on the ground as the door swiftly closed behind Ami.

The phrase floated in her mind,
“The other survivors will help you start the new world”

Michael’s Estate
9:50 PM
“Aquatic Biome base completed.”
“Your father built an underwater BASE?” Izzy dropped a book that was in her hand and she stared at the computer with awe. Lyle noticed something in the distance that caught his eye. It was a blue staircase that went downward.
“Guys, follow me. I just found a staircase that might just---” In mid-sentence, a massive burst of orange light engulfed the sky outside. The windows shattered and the walls ripped apart like paper. Lyle pulled Izzy and Steven down the stairs and ran down a small white hallway.

Nobody expected this bomb to hit except for the two who had known all along… But they were silenced before they could warn anyone.

To be continued in issue 12

This should be a full book!

ISSUE 12(Part 5)
“Quick! Down here!” Lyle punched the door open and sprinted into the aquarium the size of a large city. He stopped in his tracks and gawked at the dome twenty feet in front of him. A reserve door shut behind them with a loud slam.
“Are you… Serious?” Steven witnessed the large aquatic city, and desired badly for this to be just another horrible nightmare.
“Well, I don’t think your dad is joking now is he?”
“This is like a massive murder mystery, like the ones I used to read as a child but on a far larger scale,” Isabel mumbled to herself as she thought back to all the deaths that occurred in the few short weeks---- All with no suspects, until now when she said, “But the murder suspect is the government we all trusted.”

ISSUE 13
Ami sat in the middle of the large dome looking up at the top of the water. She then stared at Steven, Lyle and Isabel with shock. They all ran to her and stood in the underwater city.
“The rest of the world is completely…” Ami mumbled to herself and Izzy finished her sentence,
“…Wiped… Everyone’s dead.”
“Nobody else could have survived this massive slaughter. Atom bombs look like firecrackers compared to that explosion…” Lyle fell into a sitting position as if he were pushed to the ground.

“So this is what they meant when they said to create the new world…”
“..And how the secrets held so hidden would be answered under the water.”

ISSUE 14
Ami realized that this immense puzzle had just received the final piece.
“Let’s fulfill their wills and start the new world.” Steven pulled out his father’s will and Ami pulled out her mother’s. She wanted to make this new world for her dead brother.
The four of them recited,
“The Three other survivors will help you create this new world. Viz Alla Ti.”
“And Viz Alla Ti is Bulgarian for underwater, isn’t it?” Izzy stared up curiously.
“Well, whatever language it’s in, this word confused all four of us…” Lyle sighed.
“I never got your name by the way, what is it?” Steven pointed at Lyle and then waited for an answer.
“My name is Lyle Himmely.”
“You’re HIM!”
“But let’s just start over, a new slate for a new world I guess…” Ami could care less, a criminal seemed less significant of shock compared to what she experienced in such little time.

Et ainsi, la vieille histoire du monde était parvenu à sa fin.
And so the old history of the world had come to an end.



ISSUE 15
Symbolism, Questions, and Answers about the Story

Please be warned that this part of the story reveals everything, so please only read this if you are finished.

Symbolic moments/instances-

Viz Alla Ti- Bulgarian for, “Under the Water” in rough translation. It’s the title of the story and represents what occurs in the ending.

Stacks of useless pages- Displays the many obstacles and hardships the cast had to face, and how they tossed them behind them and marched forward.

End of the World- The bomb from nowhere “Cleansed the chaos”

“New World Underwater”- A fresh start, the water representing a baptism of a newborn child just entering the world for the first time.

Silver contact lenses- Represents artificial innocence.

Michael’s and Yatsuhiko’s “well-timed” deaths- Represents a “united we fall” symbol.

Questions, answered:

Q: With all of the death occurring, who is the true real murderer/criminal/perpetrator of this mystery?
A: The true culprit is the government itself, which used a massive nuclear bomb to cleanse the entire planet from knowing their secrets.

Q: Why does the government wipe itself out then?
A: It did so, because it did not want to leave a single trace of its history behind.

Q: Does Lyle ever get caught?
A: Evidently, from the ending, no.

Q: What is the genre of this story?
A: The genre itself depends on which way you, the reader, interpret and read things. Even though it’s supposed to be a global murder mystery with four detective-like curious people, it can be classified as mystery, science fiction, Suspense/scripted drama, or even religious depending on how you interpret the symbolism.

Q: In the beginning, how does Lyle not get caught?
A: This adds the “Incompetent/Inept police” element to the mystery

Q: How come Isabel had to leave Switzerland because of the “Initiation” she witnessed?
A: While a fictional gang, it had “Connections” where said fictional gang would find her if she simply went to another city.

Q: How come Izzy did not know what a funeral home was?
A: People in different countries and places use different terms for things.

Q: Why does Izzy never reveal her true name to Steven and the others?
A: She feels that with the new world she would keep her new name, almost a symbolic form of spiritual rebirth.

Q: The story gets very dramatic towards the latter half, did you know at that point how you were going to wrap things up?
A: The reader must think along with the story and the author himself must think miles ahead.

That last answer should be a saying.

QUESTION!
What was that about the IP address. Who left it?

Another unanswered question for readers to think about. Lyle wrote down the IP address to throw off the police into thinking he was still somewhere in England.

Ah.
Also, sorry for the lossage on the gameshow.