unforum

[konamouse]

> Bruce,
>
> I agree that Dale is very talented when it comes to
> web site designs and such. However, there are two key
> pieces of evidence that suggests he could NOT have
> been actively involved with Ash Grove Park's website:
>
> 1) There were numerous contacts via email to the
> webmaster (who identified himself as Brent Bowers) and
> changes to the website while Dale was in Klepsydra. It
> has been confirmed with Klepsydra that he was not
> allowed access to the internet during his stay.
> Sure - thinking from your point of view, could Dale
> have had a secret partner doing this for him?
>
> However:
>
> 2) The registration information on WhoIs for the park
> shows it was put together *months* before the tragic
> loss of Diana and Meaghan:
>
> AGP, Inc.
> Desire Hunter
> Upper Mill Road
> Burlington County, NJ 08088
> US
> Phone: 201-555-6754
> Email: webmasterSPLATashgrovepark.com
>
> Registrar Name....: Register.com
> Registrar Whois...: whois.register.com
> Registrar Homepage: http://www.register.com
>
> Domain Name: ASHGROVEPARK.COM
>
> Created on..............: Tue, Nov 05, 2002
> Expires on..............: Wed, Nov 05, 2003
> Record last updated on..: Sun, Feb 23, 2003
>
> Administrative Contact:
> AGP, Inc.
> Desire Hunter
> Upper Mill Road
> Burlington County, NJ 08088
> US
> Phone: 201-555-6754
> Email: webmasterSPLATashgrovepark.com
>
> Further contact with this webmaster, websites and
> phone call attempts, have failed since Dale's release
> from Klepsydra. Maybe on your visit to Aglaura you
> can also swing by the site and take a look in the
> woods as well.
>
> On a personal note, I was not offering to give a
> massage (I'm happily involved myself right now), I'm
> sorry if I gave you the wrong impression. I like to
> go get a professional massage as a stress releaser
> (there are some very nice spa clubs in my
> neighborhood). I hope you find time to seek out and
> discover that special someone (sometimes the right one
> is under your nose and you don't see it until it is
> too late).
>
> Please let me know about your trip.
> Happy thoughts, and a kiss,
> Heather.

Heather:

This webmaster -- I hope he isn't the Bowers that appears to be six feet under on the Ash Grove Memorial Park website that I find myself staring at right now.

You raise valid points about the timing of all of this. I certainly can't see that Dale would have much to gain by undermining his own story by turning his amusement park into a graveyard. But just as clearly, I think you'll have to admit that something is rotten in the state of Denmark, and that the 'evidence' we have in our hands raises as many questions as it pretends to answer.

Sorry you seem to have taken my comments the wrong way -- I think of a nice neck massage as something that a friend would do for a friend who's feeling stressed, without any suggestion of impropriety. As you say, there are plenty of people providing the service on a purely professional basis; it's just a little bit nicer when the person giving the massage already knows what you like and where to touch you, don't you think? And you would have no reason to know that about me.

Well, I certainly appear to have a lot to ask Dale about when I see him next. . .

Sincerely,
Bruce Abbott

[konamouse]

Discussion in both CD and UF chats....it was decided that I would take a different tact with Bruce and look at the situation from his point of view. Then, again, try to find out if there was something going on between him and Diana.

Bruce:

I was flabbergasted at this turn of events. Seeing a very different website than earlier. And the same images. Now I'm starting to have some very serious doubts, and these thoughts are scaring me.

Dale's own "diary" mentioned his love of writing. Was he a reader of mystery novels? Could he have figured out his own murder mystery story and set up these internet sites before the accident - on purpose....in that this was NOT an accident (heaven forbid)? And in collusion with someone else to continue the deception, knowing that if he came up with this spaced out story, his best friend (who has only his best interest in mind) would help support the perception that he was mentally unbalanced with grief?

I hate making this suggestion to you, his best friend. But your own logical points have led me to start thinking in this vein. I hope this isn't making you uncomfortable. It is very difficult for me to just think about the possibility. But if he thought he was losing his family, maybe he was already starting to snap. I'll keep thinking about it and hope that you will update me about your findings this weekend.

Funny how you mentioned neck massages from a friend. That is what got my own life in a little trouble awhile ago. I feel that I've gotten to know you a little bit these past few weeks, and I can tell you something in confidence. A few years back I had an affair with a friend's husband. He had started spending more and more time over at my place because my friend was ignoring him (well, that was his side of the story). And I wanted to believe him because I was lonely, and he was so nice (and nice to me). Soon I got tired of sneaking around and, ended it before either of us did anything stupid or harmful. To this day I have still never said anything to my friend (but they eventually did get a divorce and fortunately he moved out of state).

I've felt so guilty about it that it made me very distrustful of becoming emotionally involved with any man for a long time. I can't believe I've finally written this down (even if it is just in an email that I might not even send). You have your own troubles this weekend, I shouldn't be so presumptuous. But thanks for being so understanding.

I hope you find what you are looking for this weekend.

Peace and a kiss.
Heather

[konamouse]

Almost sounds as if Bruce *wants* to believe in Dale's story.
And for those of you wanting to play matchmaker - maybe he *is* interested in me. I will definitely let him know about my AIM chat name, should he ever go into chat. Wonder how much he follows Eastern religions. And, finally, did he envision himself as a possible soulmate of Diana's?

Heather:

By the time you read this, I will be heading south into New Jersey. I am
certainly concerned about what I will find out there, but my thoughts are not as pessimistic as yours. Although Dale and I have grown apart in the recent past, we shared a lot of late night conversations over our college years. I feel that I know him well enough to have faith that his soul is at base good and true. No matter how much he has lost his way since the accident, there is simply no way that he could have ever envisioned deliberately driving his wife and child to their deaths.

And I should point out that the few facts we know about the accident -- the very facts you were looking to dispute a couple of days ago -- don't support such a view. According to my recollection, Dale was found outside the car in the median, thrown clear of the vehicle -- and remained unconscious for almost two full days. If he were planning the accident, wouldn't he have been wearing his own seatbelt? And wouldn't he have chosen to crash the car in a way that would have been less likely to result in his own death as well? I'll certainly be asking him more about that fateful day -- if I can even find him in Aglaura.

I don't know quite what to say about your very heartfelt confession. I'm
certainly pleased that you regard my honor highly enough to share a
confidence. (Maybe this means you'll someday rethink that massage -- sorry, couldn't resist a bit of a joke, even on such a serious subject). It sounds like you did the right thing in the end; many would not have resisted that sort of temptation. However, you said that you were attracted to him because he was nice to you; had you ever been attracted to him physically before that point? If not, perhaps that made it a bit easier to resist. Friendships are very important, sometimes more important than love or what we think is love. And I can't imagine your friend would have been very understanding if she had learned what was going on between you -- even if in the end nothing happened.

But I can see the other side of the coin as well. You didn't act on your
feelings, and yet in the end your friend and your husband broke up anyway. Suppose that her husband was really your soul mate, that once in a lifetime person who would have made your world complete. Now he's gone -- and you'll never know whether he was the one. So your choice was the moral one -- but who can say if it was the right one.

Ahhh, the mysteries of life! The Eastern religions believe that we all live
many lives, coming back time after time til we finally reach enlightenment. And it certainly seems like there is more to learn than anybody could grasp in one lifetime. But you shouldn't keep beating yourself up over what happened. Really, there are honorable men out here in the world; you just have to know where to look.

I look forward to our next conversation.

Bruce

[konamouse]

Next email from Heather to Bruce

[dmax]

some letters that I've sent/received with Bruce

[konamouse]

Latest from Bruce to Heather

[asmyth]

People are sending him crackpot accusations? Well there goes my plan B.

[konamouse]

My next reply

[Stevoid]

Keep it up!

[konamouse]

Heather:

Interesting that you mention Dr. Kendra today. For who else's mail
should I find in my mailbox than one from the Doctor. She has developed a new theory about Dale's condition. She seems to believe that Dale is
disassociative (hope I spelled that right), and may have concocted the whole AGP story and video during the aftermath of the accident, to put a happier memory in place of the horrible events that occurred. If he did these things while in such a state, he wouldn't even remember that he had done them.

I think there are some problems with her idea. She says that Dale could
have used a site name he had already registered and not used, but I don't know why he would have registered it under a fake name, if it was registered months before. Dale is pretty proud of his work, and justifiably so -- though I remember instances in which he'd leave a few bits of code behind as a signature, I don't recall him using any assumed names. And it would take a pretty talented robot to write some of those emails that you and others have told me came from that so-called Bower fellow. Maybe Dr. Kendra, like Dale, needs to have one theory that makes everything hang together and make sense. Still, it appears she has his best interests at heart, and given how he appears to be slipping back into the patterns of February, I think he should be back under her care.

No, I don't have a key to Dale's house. I never needed one in the past, since the door was always open to me by either Dale or Diana. You're
certainly correct to assume that I would have used it last weekend if I had one, to see if Dale were really inside and ignoring my knocks.

I imagine the insurance settlement is likely to be a few weeks off. I'm not
even sure if the power of attorney arrangement would still be in effect, since the Doctor allowed Dale to sign himself out of the hospital -- which
would allow him quite an point to argue in court. As to your reference to
Empty Threats, however, I am a bit shocked that you think Dale is involved with them. I have worked with the Marzano family for some time, and my relationship with them has always been straightforward and aboveboard. I will admit that young Sal certainly runs around acting like Sonny Corleone, but it seems like the worst type of racial stereotyping to assume they're mobsters just because they're Italian. Perhaps you could show me these references you mentioned about the brothers. There's a person at Empty Threats who I know a little bit who isn't exactly family, and might have something to tell me on the subject. In fact, she might even be the same person you mention.

I can't truly say I loved and lost. I loved as much as one could under the
circumstances. Did it end well for her? Unfortunately, no. But not due to
anything I had a part in, at least. That chapter of my life, however, is over. And we always need to move on and move ahead if we can.

Perhaps you're right -- let's hold off on the phone number for now, til
things blow over a bit more. But I would love to see a picture of you
sometime, and I imagine I could come up with a little something to send in return. Til we talk again . . .

Bruce

[konamouse]

My reply:

Bruce!
Something terrible has happened (I was right to be worried about Dale). I was participating in an online Press Conference hosted by Mayor Dobbs of Aglaura and we got horrible news from the Chief of Police:

<pdobbs> Dawn, please, come up here if you would.
<aglaurachief> Mr Mayor
<aglaurachief> Im sorry for being late
<pdobbs> That's okay, Dawn. What's wrong?
<aglaurachief> Something very important came up and I had to respond
<aglaurachief> We had a report from a local resident, a pretty frantic call
<pdobbs> Well please, speak freely.
<aglaurachief> About someone trying to get into their home
<aglaurachief> They claimed whoever it was identified themselves as the Police
<pdobbs> Oh my. Well we've taken names, and I sincerely doubt it's any of these fine folk here.
<aglaurachief> But when they looked outside they knew it wasnt so they called us
<aglaurachief> When I and another officer responded we found the house deserted with no sign of the owner or possible intruders
<aglaurachief> Or any sign of forced entry
<aglaurachief> But there's something you really need to know
<pdobbs> Really, please, continue... you know my motto about openness.
<aglaurachief> The house was on Winton Pond Road
<aglaurachief> It was Dale Sprague's house

----------------

As for the question about the Marzanos. It is easier to just attach the entire file of Dale's online diary (he purposefully left it for us to find and read). The first entries are at the end of the document. I've gone back and bolded the stuff about the "brothers" and the less than reputable "loan". It really fits the Marzano brothers to a T.

I'll write more tomorrow, but you needed to find this info out soonest.

Your friend, Heather

[konamouse]

Re: Terrible News from Aglaura

[konamouse]

Re: More info on Dale

[konamouse]

Bruce's picture? Not quite yet.

[RPGgame]

If he sent you a picture can you post it so we can all see it