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everyone, it's Nicole again. Today

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we're featuring the pilot episode of

0:53

Sorry About the Murder, a

0:55

very Canadian murder mystery fiction podcast

0:58

set in the nice little

1:00

Canadian town of Beavermount, Ontario. Every

1:03

day in the nice little Canadian

1:05

town of Beavermount, Ontario, a

1:07

Zamboni driver has to solve a murder

1:09

to clear his Quebecois name and the

1:11

ice for the Nightly Hockey Game. Sorry

1:14

About the Murder is kinda like murder

1:16

she wrote meets Prairie Home Companion meets

1:18

Letter Kenny. Personally, I

1:21

binged all of Season 1 and

1:23

was thoroughly charmed by the kooky cast

1:25

of characters. It's delightfully

1:27

odd in the best possible

1:29

way. You can find Sorry About

1:31

the Murder anywhere you get your podcasts, and

1:34

now I hope you enjoy the episode.

1:38

This episode may contain descriptions

1:40

of violence, excessive drinking, unsafe

1:43

driving, and murder. Chances

1:54

are you've never heard of the

1:56

nice little Canadian town of

1:58

Beavermount, Ontario. And truth

2:00

be told, that suits the folks

2:02

around here just fine. Not

2:04

to say that they're an unfriendly lot.

2:07

Quite the opposite, in fact. The

2:09

good people of Beavermount, Ontario just

2:12

might be the most friendly, helpful,

2:15

and unfailingly polite bunch of folks in

2:17

the whole of Canada. Which,

2:19

as you might already know, is

2:22

a pretty high bar. In

2:24

most ways, it's not much different

2:26

than any other small town across this

2:28

great land. Except for

2:30

the fact that every day, in

2:32

the nice little Canadian town

2:34

of Beavermount, Ontario, someone

2:36

gets brutally murdered. A

2:51

very Canadian murder mystery in

2:53

eight parts. Part one,

2:56

Bonjour Beaver Mount. It

3:12

was another lovely

3:14

morning. in the nice

3:16

little Canadian town

3:18

of Beavermount, Ontario. The

3:21

warm rays of the orange sun

3:23

washed over the top of Lord Douglas

3:25

Tower on Beavermount Town Hall. It

3:28

kissed the flowers on the verandas

3:30

along the adorable shops on Belford

3:32

Street and chased the morning mist

3:34

off Stirling Creek, the

3:36

quaint little waterway that separated old

3:38

Beavermount from new. Across

3:40

Stirling Creek, just down

3:43

Horn Road, a lean,

3:45

betuked, unshaven man Holding a can

3:47

of Pepsi Cola, ambled out

3:49

of the low -set apartment building

3:51

beside the old hydro station. This

3:54

was Gaitan Arsenault. But seeing

3:56

as he was the only

3:58

francophone in the Ontario town

4:00

of Beavermount, everyone just

4:02

called him Frenchy. Another

4:04

beautiful day for a

4:06

hockey game. This

4:08

being a crisp April morning, Frenchy

4:11

saw his breath casting wispy

4:13

shadows on the gravel. as he

4:16

made his way to his

4:18

job as assistant custodian of Beavermount's

4:20

local hockey rink, Roger Harrisford

4:22

Municipal Arena. It

4:25

was Frenchie's job to open the

4:27

rink each morning, while his boss,

4:30

Scott Scotty MacDonald, head

4:33

custodian, would close the rink at

4:35

night. That worked for

4:37

me good. I'm morning

4:39

person anyway. Frenchie

4:41

made his way along Horn Road,

4:43

waving to the folks starting their

4:45

day. Like old Theodorus

4:47

Lang, who was scraping the frost off

4:49

the windshield of his pickup, Julie

4:52

Boychuk on her porch, and

4:54

Mrs. McAllister, diligently refilling

4:56

the many bird feeders hanging in

4:58

her front yard. A

5:01

short walk through King Edward

5:03

Park and Frenchie arrived at Roger

5:05

Harrisford Municipal Arena. He

5:14

breathed in the familiar smell of

5:16

the rink. Hello! Frenchie

5:19

called out to no one in particular. From

5:22

the time he was a little boy

5:24

in rural Quebec, he always loved that

5:26

hockey rink echo. Frenchie

5:29

set his Pepsi onto the work table,

5:31

about to begin his morning rounds, checking

5:34

the freon levels, replacing

5:36

any burnt -out balls on

5:38

the scoreboard, repairing the Zamboni.

5:40

their cantankerous old ice

5:43

resurfacing machine. But when

5:45

he looked through the chain -linked fence onto

5:47

the ice, Frenchie

5:49

noticed something amiss. What

5:51

the ick? The

5:54

ice surface was white from use, not

5:56

the usual translucent white glow of

5:58

a newly flooded ice rink. Instead,

6:01

the ice was crisscrossed with

6:03

skate cuts, divots and snow.

6:06

I flood the ice myself

6:08

after the game last night. Frenchie

6:11

noticed other things, spilled

6:13

popcorn tubs, and empty bottles

6:15

of Stubbs brand beer littered throughout

6:17

the stands. Not

6:21

sure what to do except clean

6:24

things up, Frenchie got to

6:26

resurfacing the ice, so it

6:28

was ready for the morning's first scheduled

6:30

practice. Wiping off his

6:32

steel toes on the rubber mat, Frenchies

6:34

slid out onto the ice and moved

6:36

the nets over to the boards. After

6:40

checking the fluid levels on

6:43

the Zamboni, he started the

6:45

old machine up, drove

6:47

out onto the ice, started

6:49

the auger, lowered

6:53

the blade, turned

6:55

on the fluid, and

6:57

began flooding the ice. Truth

7:08

be told this was the

7:10

part of the job Frenchie

7:12

loved best the perfect melding

7:15

of machine and man Getting

7:17

the drift just right Feeling

7:19

the augurs underneath him draw

7:21

up the excess ice and

7:23

snow and carry it up

7:25

into the front containment area

7:27

and Watching the whole surface

7:29

turn from snowy disorder to

7:31

the milky glow of virgin

7:33

ice The Zamboni was feeling

7:35

sluggish this morning But the

7:37

poor machine had been held

7:39

together with nothing more than

7:41

duct tape and prayers, even

7:43

before Frenchy had been working

7:45

here. The

7:49

flooding complete. Frenchy

7:51

drove the Zamboni off the ice

7:53

into the rear area. He

7:56

opened the large double doors that

7:58

looked out into the gravel parking lot.

8:03

Then rumbled out to the large snow

8:05

pile at the corner of the

8:07

lot. Just near old Mrs. Wagstaff's house.

8:11

Frenchie eased the Zamboni right up

8:13

to the pile. Then he

8:15

pulled the rightmost lever on his control

8:17

panel. With

8:19

a groan, the Zamboni's front

8:21

containment bin rose, slanting

8:24

it forward steeper and steeper.

8:32

And outtumbled the body

8:34

of Scott Scotty MacDonald. A

8:36

frozen plaid garbed ragdoll

8:38

laying twisted atop the pile

8:40

of hardening snow and

8:42

ice. In

8:45

the

8:47

next installment,

8:50

the

8:52

investigation begins.

8:55

And Frenchie is the main

8:57

suspect. Next

8:59

time on, Sorry

9:02

About the Murder. Hi,

9:10

everyone. This is Drew Froman, the writer

9:12

and director. If you like the show,

9:14

the best way to help us would be to

9:16

leave a nice review wherever you're listening right now, and

9:18

then to also tell a friend in real life.

9:20

If you want to join our mailing list to get

9:22

announcements, behind -the -scenes stuff, and

9:24

other extra goodies, please sign

9:27

up at SorryAboutTheMurder .ca. Okay,

9:29

here are all the lovely people who

9:31

helped make Sorry About The Murder. Tom

9:34

Gowdy is the narrator. Jeff

9:36

Tromblay plays Frenchy. Natalie

9:38

Antella? is the announcer.

9:41

Mixton's sound design is by

9:43

Adam Ive. Original music

9:45

and score was by Oliver Wickham.

9:48

Production is by Dana Gatston.

9:51

Music licensing was done by Christine

9:53

Leslie. All artwork by

9:55

Michelle Lange of Grand Falls, New

9:57

Brunswick. Many, many thanks

9:59

to Steve Gatston, Jake

10:01

Bogosh, Tom Gowdy, Michelle Lange,

10:04

Andy Bertany, Laura

10:06

Waters, Adrienne Newbold, and

10:08

the great Stephen Leacock. Special

10:10

acknowledgement to Elder Wapus and to

10:12

Laverne Lewis of the Ojibwe First Nation

10:14

for their advice and their approval. Sorry

10:17

About the Murder is a tattoo

10:19

production. It's recorded and mixed at

10:21

Tattoo Sound & Music in Toronto, Ontario,

10:24

otherwise known as the Center of the Universe.

10:30

The Fable and Falling Network,

10:32

where fiction producers flourish. What

10:37

are we looking at? It's not a plane

10:39

or Helo, but it's big. Round.

10:41

If it's a drone, it's nothing

10:43

I've seen. Dr. Stevens, the only

10:45

way to know if it'll harm

10:47

us is to see how it

10:49

reacts to human contact. Did you

10:51

see that? That was human, right?

10:53

Well, Peterson said it transformed. So

10:55

you don't see anything weird here?

10:57

I'll take weird Larson over regular

11:00

Larson any day. Alpha 8, are

11:02

you here? I blinked for like

11:04

a second, and it was just

11:06

gone. Bravo leader. Hanger

11:08

is clear and secure. No sign

11:10

of Phillips or the asset over.

11:12

Let's catch ourselves an alien. What

11:14

do you mean? Who are

11:16

you? I am Larsen.

11:18

No, no, no. We

11:21

call you Alpha 8.

11:23

Michael, no! Listen

11:25

to Alpha 8 now on Apollo

11:27

Plus or alpha8audio .com. I don't

11:30

know where that thing is, but

11:32

it wasn't my mom.