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THE GIRLS

S1E2

WEST McCRAY:

The ID tag on Sadie’s green backpack lists May Beth Foster as her emergency contact. She collected it, and Sadie’s belongings, from the Farfield Police Department in July.

MAY BETH FOSTER:

And let me tell you something about Farfield police: they don’t give a good God damn.

WEST McCRAY:

Detective Sheila Gutierrez is a petite fifty-year-old mother of three who has worked at the Farfield Police Department for the last fifteen years. She is sympathetic to May Beth, but she’d argue her claim.

DETECTIVE SHEILA GUTIERREZ: We’ve done everything within our power to find Ms. Hunter. We did a search, we talked to locals, we put out bulletins and alerted the press, as well as law enforcement in surrounding areas. There was no evidence of foul play at the scene, and given the fact that Ms. Hunter left Cold Creek of her own volition as a response to a personal tragedy, we believe this could be an extension of that. The car sustained no damage. It’s a very real possibility she left it there by choice. Regardless, there’s no trace of her. That doesn’t mean we’ll be any less vigilant moving forward and if anyone has any information we encourage them to please call us at 555-3592.

WEST McCRAY:

May Beth keeps the car parked next to her place. The Chevy is old, but it still runs. She found a bill of sale in its trunk—not between Sadie and the Chevy’s former owner, but the Chevy’s former owner and the person who owned it before them. I got hold of the one who sold the car to Sadie, and she agreed to meet with me at a coffee shop in Milhaven, thirty miles outside of Cold Creek, to tell me about its buyer.

BECKI LANGDON:

She was real strange, you know. [BABY CRIES] Oh hush, now. You hush … come on now, your mama’s talking.

WEST McCRAY:

Becki Langdon—that’s “’Becki with an i,” as she makes sure to point out in our email exchanges, despite the fact that it’s written out for me to see—is a bubbly brunette and proud mother to a baby boy. Becki’s time with Sadie was brief but she remembers her well.

BECKI LANGDON:

We—my ex-husband and I, that is—we were wanting to sell the car. It was mine, I’d had it for … God, since I was a teenager? But he had his own and we figured we could use the money for the baby, so that’s why we had it for sale. I really wish I’d kept it now because his sorry ass walked out right after Jamie was born and now my mom’s driving me everywhere.

WEST McCRAY:

Can you tell me what Sadie was like? Or did she say or give any indication what she wanted the car for?

BECKI LANGDON:

I mean, it was a pretty standard exchange. No reason for it to get personal. Except she called herself Lera. I thought she was older too. She sounded older in her emails.

WEST McCRAY:

Do you have those emails? I’d love to see them.

BECKI LANGDON:

No, sorry. Cops asked me the same but I deleted ‘em. Anyway, I met her and she was awfully twitchy, had a problem talking. I was worried because I didn’t know if something wasn’t right in her head. I must not’ve been very good at hiding it because she got bitchy with me.

WEST McCRAY:

What do you mean “’bitchy”?

BECKI LANGDON:

Like she was gonna back out. I showed her the car, she gave me cash and we went our separate ways. You think I was the last person to ever see her?

WEST McCRAY:

I hope not.

BECKI LANGDON:

[LAUGH] Oh, God! I didn’t mean it that way. My mouth, I swear. Sorry. [PAUSE] Hey, is that car—I mean, is anyone using it now? Like … do you think they’d be willing to sell it back?

DANNY GILCHRIST [PHONE]: What do you got for me?

WEST McCRAY [PHONE]:

A lot of backstory and a girl that looks like she ran away after her sister was murdered. Honestly, I really don’t think she wants to be found. And now I have to figure out a way to tell that to her surrogate grandmother.

DANNY GILCHRIST [PHONE]: And then what?

WEST McCRAY [PHONE]:

And then … what?

DANNY GILCHRIST [PHONE]: What’s your deal with this?

WEST McCRAY [PHONE]:

I think Sadie ran away and I don’t think that makes for much of a story.

DANNY GILCHRIST [PHONE]: You know there’s a real human element here, connecting a girl with the person who loves her and wants her home. After working with me on AOT, you should know that. So what’s the real deal here, why don’t you want to look for her?

WEST McCRAY [PHONE]:

I didn’t say I didn’t want to look for her.

DANNY GILCHRIST [PHONE]: Okay, good.

So she ran away. What was she running from?

WEST McCRAY [PHONE]:

Trauma. Memories of her sister. Seems pretty obvious.

DANNY GILCHRIST [PHONE]: What was she running to?

WEST McCRAY [PHONE]:

I’m all ears.

DANNY GILCHRIST [PHONE]: You know where the trail goes cold. Farfield. All you’ve got is where she’s been. So retrace those steps, that’s all there is to it. [PAUSE] Maybe you find something, maybe you don’t, and this isn’t the show.

WEST McCRAY [PHONE]:

Yeah.

DANNY GILCHRIST [PHONE]: Do your best. That’s all we can ask.

WEST McCRAY [STUDIO]:

The name Sadie gave Becki is what sticks with me the most. When I ask May Beth about it, she tells me Lera is Sadie’s middle name.

WEST McCRAY [PHONE]:

So she buys a car and assumes a different name … May Beth, it sounds like she doesn’t want to be found.

MAY BETH FOSTER [PHONE]: Even if that started out being the case, something has changed, you hear me? Something’s not right. I feel it.

WEST McCRAY [PHONE]:

Well, I need more than a feeling to go on.