Part 143: Sealed Files

After we finish the game, the novel is the only thing we have access to.

Finishing the game without opening any sealed files, we get the epilogue, which is the brown pages at the end of Chapter 10.



Beside that, we can now play this minigame from the novel screen. It's available even if we didn't trade our winning bottle cap in the main game.

...Now I'm curious if we can trade it during Mags' confrontation.

Here's the gameplay in action.



We also unlocked a brand new minigame. We'll be playing against Tony, but there's rumor that other people will be available to play, such as Betty.

I can't confirm its validity, though, because I'm not going to be playing this. The control is too wonky for me.




Anyway, now we're going to be reading the sealed files. Pick your song from the jukebox here.



After each chapter, each sealed file is available. So there's nine in total (plus one from Chapter 10 that doesn't really count).

We've seen this one in Chapter 2, but now it's finally time to open it.



Whoops. Let's try that again.



Good thing I haven't saved. Otherwise I'll be forced to bear the shame of not being an impatient ass for the rest of the game





to drug trafficking. Using the attention to detail instilled in him by his superiors, Kyle began his investigation of the crime scene.

I conducted an interview with Kyle's superior at the time, Willy Taylor. He remarked that he had never seen anyone be so meticulous until he met Kyle Hyde.

According to Willy, it was perfectly normal for officers to miss small clues and details on their first case. But Kyle was different.

"Despite being a rookie, Hyde never had the decency to keep his desk clean. He was a mess. But as soon as he hit a crime scene, he did a complete 180. Calm, commanding and meticulous, that was our Officer Hyde.

"The man was unflappable, even when confronted with that secret door mechanism. There were two buttons on it, and the combination of presses required to open the door changed every day. Kyle just walked up to the door, cool and collected, and pushed both buttons at the same time. The door opened.

"Then, when he was searching the scene, he found the murder weapon before any of the other cops -- hidden inside a sofa. Genius.

"But I didn't congratulate him, didn't commend him, didn't give him nothing. Hyde was the kind of guy who didn't need no ego boost. So I took him aside, showed him the gun he'd found at the scene and gave him a solid grilling for wasting hours searching for the thing when it was in such an obvious place.

"The guy couldn't believe what he was hearing. I told him, always search the crime scene with a fine-tooth comb. There is always a clue there, always. And once you have that clue, you're sailing. Don't do it half-assed, don't give it to the rookies. Do it yourself, hands-on."

If Kyle's experiences at the 89th precinct taught him anything, it was that. Even after taking his leave of the police force and starting to find things for Ed, he lived by that principle. When I contacted his colleague, Rachel, to ask about his work ethic, she had the following to say:

"Kyle would never leave a



any good at tracking down a woman's heart."



While I was conducting this research, I happened upon another worthwhile piece of information. It concerns a tragic event in Ed's past that might well have set him on the path towards setting up his side business.

Ed Vincent left the LAPD in 1972. The same year, his girlfriend Catherine was killed. The murderer was a man whom Ed had sent to jail for theft. Upon finishing his sentence, the man discovered where Ed lived and bluffed his way in. Ed returned home later to find Catherine dead. The murderer was later caught and is still in jail today.

According to a colleague of Ed's, Tony Caraway, Ed later found a letter among her belongings. It said this:

"You always say your life is too dangerous and I'd never be happy if we were together. I'm sick of that excuse, Ed, so if you can't propose to me then I'll do it to you.

"I love you, Ed. I know that we can live life to the fullest together. No matter where our



This file hints at the fire alarm double switch (aka emulator headache) and searching for Marie's ring. I got a Game Over because this file implies the ring was in the sofa



for Kyle after he'd had a long day on the job.

"I specialise in serving what isn't on the menu," Sidney said, "although my daughter likes giving them strange names. The California burger is the 'Tired Hyde', for example."

Sidney also told me that Kyle would always tip generously, then put the rest of the change in his pocket and leave.

"I once asked him what he did with all the change he collected. He said that he put it all in an empty bottle as savings. He said that when he filled up the bottle, he'd buy a 20-year vintage bourbon and share it with me."

Sidney kept chattering away, continuing his story.

"But he never did get that bourbon. The idiot had forgotten his rent one month so he had to raid the bottle fund to pay up!"

Sidney said that he had consoled Kyle with a glass of his own secret vintage whiskey.

"That's what it's like as a single man. You set rules for yourself, but damned if you ever follow them."

I also asked his old neighbour Betty Meyer about him. She told me about a side to Kyle that might not have been obvious at first glance.

"Kyle was a really strange person. Actually, strange doesn't even begin to cover it. It wasn't uncommon to find letters and stuff on the floor by the mailboxes. Now, Kyle never, ever checked his own mailbox. But whenever he found something on the floor, he would pick it up and bring it straight to the person!"

She related the tale of him bringing her a mail-order catalogue that had been left on the ground.

"It was the same when people dropped stuff in the corridor. Nobody else would notice it, but his eagle eyes would home in on them."

"Same if it was in the corner or just plain hard to see. I remember him finding something for Marie once too. I do wonder if that had something to do with his old job."

Betty said that she had heard from someone in the building that he used to be a detective. She noted that his general manner made a lot more sense





This refers to us getting the rent money from the bottle and finding Marie's insurance letter. And also Martin being a dick.

Also, the burger might refer to the one Kyle ate in Chapter 3.[/url]



His preferred attire is a sharp single-breasted suit, always in black. This is invariably accompanied by a white shirt with a collar that's slightly on the small side and a black skinny tie, loosely fastened with a small knot.

His drink of choice is a straight bourbon on the rocks. He's not picky about the type of glass it's served in, but he'd prefer the ice cubes to be round if possible. He tends to eat out and in fact rarely cooks for himself -- and while he doesn't demand a high-class restaurant, he does it when a chef pays close attention to the flavours of the sauces and the temperature of the food.

As a rule of thumb he does not accept presents from women, and if he were to receive one, it's likely that he wouldn't keep it for an especially long time. However, there is one notable exception: a ceramic piggy bank in the shape of the Pinkie Rabbit cartoon character, which he hides away in his closet. Kyle received this curiosity as a gift from a young lady called Mile, and while he continues to put coins onto it, he refuses to ever break it and instead makes sure to keep it safe, no matter how unbefitting such a piggy bank seems of a grown man. The reasons for this are not entirely clear.

I happen to be familiar with a method of retrieving the coins in such a situation. Instead of breaking it, you can insert something long and thin into the coin slot and the coins will just slide out. I am not sure if Kyle has ever used such a technique himself, however.

I spoke to one person who knows the story behind the Pinkie Rabbit piggy bank: Rosa Fox, a maid who has owrked at Hotel Dusk for many years.

"Mr Hyde? As if I could forget him! December 28th, 1979... That's when he stayed here. I remember the exact date.

"It's that Mila girl who gave him the piggy bank. That day is when they first met each other, right here at this hotel. He really helped her out. That'll be why she gave him that piggy bank for his birthday -- she wanted to give him something that showed how grateful she was.



"She told me all about it. She searched high and low for that darn piggy bank! Every store in town. It had to be the exact right present for her to give to Mr Hyde."

Listening to Rosa's story, I learnt that Kyle Hyde isn't quite as set in his ways as you might expect. He can be very considerate of other people's feelings, and sometimes his tastes change to reflect this.

When she realised that I was researching Kyle's tastes, Rosa adopted a boastful expression and said, "Well then, Mr Smart Guy, did you know that Kyle Hyde likes doing his laundry? I hear he won't let anyone else do it for him. You wouldn't get that from looking at him!

"You might think it's just that he's all particular about detergent because he sells household goods, but that's not it. Apparently he likes to put his clothes in the machine and then just sit in the laundry room and zone out while he waits for it to finish. Can't see what's so great about that, not for the life of me! It just smells of detergent. But you know, that's Kyle Hyde for you. To each their own, I say."



Subsequently, another of my interviewees brought up laundry in relation to Kyle. It was one of the residents of his apartment building, a young man named Charles Jeunet.

"I didn't see Mr Hyde a lot, but I sometimes bumped into him in the laundry room. There were a few times I said hello to him and we ended up having an unusually long conversation.

"Let me think, what did we talk about? That's it -- movies. Yes, we mostly talked about movies. I remember being surprised he knew so much about French cinema. Oh, and once we realised we both liked mysteries, we started playing detective a bit ourselves. Peopole always used to leave things in the laundry room by mistake, so we'd try to figure out who they belonged to."

If I were to pinpoint Kyle Hyde's dislikes, I would say they include sweet alcoholic beverages, women who whine too much and sorting out all the letters and junk mail that inevitably piles up in his





This is the first file that's actually useful. It shows the solution of how to get the coins from Pinkie Bank, where Frank's tape is and how to play it.

Also, there's plenty of Hotel Dusk references, like Kyle liking Bourbon on the rocks (the first drink he ordered in the bar), Mile still keeping in touch with Rosa , and him not liking Iris (even willing to threaten physical harm just to avoid drinking with her).



life. He watched all kinds of people, from violent criminals to witnesses. He staked out all kinds of places for all kinds of reasons.

The methods of communication available to a police officer during a stakeout where limited. They were generally able to use the radio in the car, but in cases where that wasn't possible, the officers couldn't rely on contacting HQ and receiving timely assistance. It was common for the men on the stakeout to have only their own abilities and judgments to draw on.

Dennis Sachs, a colleague of Kyle's at the time in the NYPD, told me about one such situation.

"Yeah, we were often put on stakeouts together. Normally Hyde always had this sense about him like his mind was somewhere else, but the second we went into action, the real Kyle Hyde appeared -- and believe me, he had some balls! It was kinda weird, actually. And whenever we had to make a decision about when to step in, he just made it. No hesitation whatsoever. Not to mention all those times he ran after someone. It was like, whoosh! All of a sudden he was off, and nothing was gonna stop him.

"He did large-scale stakeouts a lot too. We'd be split up into teams set up in different places around a building's perimeter, and we'd have a signal the teams would use when communicating to each other. This one time, it was Hyde's turn to decide what the signals should be.

"Normally we used our cars for the signal. We'd flash the headlights in a particular way. But not this time! No, this time the signal involved those thin electric flashlights we used in our investigations. Hyde decided we'd use Morse code, transmitted using those tiny little lights.

"Right away all the guys complained that it was gonna be too annoying to use, but in the end it helped us catch someone. From then on, that system he'd thought of using those flashlights was what the 89th precinct used on all their stakeouts."

At the time, Kyle told Dennis Sachs that he had learnt Morse code in the boy



stunts like that once in a while."

That was the most important detail I gleaned from Dennis's story. Kyle Hyde is the type of man who pulls stupid stunts from time to time.

During my research I learnt from various further incidents where Kyle did just that. I shall now recount two such incidents.



The first took place 13 years ago, when Kyle was still just a 21-year-old universtiy student.

It was summer, and although I am not aware of the circumstances that led this particular event, Kyle had bet his friends that he could swim all the way around Manhattan Island.

And sure enough, though it was a distance of approximately 29 miles and it took him ten hours to do it, Kyle won that bet.

No one had seriously believed he could do it, so naturally they were all very impressed. He became on overnight campus sensation, the university's very own celebrity for that entire summer. And yet, Kyle never did any long-distance swimming ever again.



The second incident took place when Kyle had been working for Red Crown for just over half a year. He was getting used to his new life: receiving stock from Ed and going door-to-door to try and sell it.

One day, the product he had to sell was a grabber. It was a device that started off folded up quite small, but if you squeezed the handle, it extended so that you could use the tongs on the end to pick up items a short distance away. It was a useful tool and actually rather popular at the time.

So Kyle set out that day with a dozen of those grabbers to try and sell as many as he could. However, by the time evening came, his inventory had not depleted at all. It wasn't that he had been slacking off. In fact, he had knocked on one hundred doors over the course of that day. It was just that he couldn't sell a grabber to any of the people who lived in those particular houses.

He didn't know precisely why this product wasn't



This refers to flicking the light switch so Dylan could free us from Room 405 and our task from Ed to sell stuff.

Also, swimming around Manhattan is a real thing, at least starting from 2000s (no idea about the 60s). It's around 30 miles. I have a feeling that Martin left out the part where Kyle got dysentery after swimming in New York waters.



to deduce. By the time we are adults, we have internalised the technique of looking at something we don't understand and either pretending we didn't see it or pretending we knew all about it already.

One might argue that everything that exists in our world is a product of our inquisitive nature: our curiosity to know why, to understand things that are new to us. But the truth is, everyone becomes gradually less likely to ask, "Why?" as each year passes. It's particularly a problem for those such as myself who engage in the production of creative works.

In December 1979, I had fallen into a slump. Instead of looking at the world and asking why, I just sat with my head in my hands. That's the worst possible state for an author to find himself in. I was supposed to be working on the plot for my new work, but instead I just sat holding my pen and staring at my writing paper for hours as not a single idea sprang to mind.

The one who pulled me out of that abyss was Kyle Hyde. It wasn't that he did anything for me in particular. He just happened to turn up at the same hotel i was staying at in an attempt to make myself write.

The moment I met him, I knew there was something truly unique about him. Kyle Hyde was most definitely something new to me, something I didn't understand. If he was supposed to be a salesman, why was he constantly shirking his duty? If he always went out presenting a facade of indifference, how did he come to know so much about everybody? If he disliked children so much, why were children so fond of him?

And if he never made any effort to flirt with women, why did they universally find him so appealing?

Just a few short hours after meeting Kyle, my mind was overwrought with questions such as these. That set the gears in motion, and soon enough my missing sense of curiosity had returned in full force, and my enthusiasm for writing along with it.

There's no doubt that if I hadn't met him back then, I would be a very different person today -- that's how



brief insight into Kyle's sense of curiosity.

"That totally reminds me of the day after he moved in. I got home real late at night and there were these weird noises coming from his room. Kinda like this painful grunting sound. I kept hearing it over and over again, so naturally I got a little worried. I knocked on the door and asked if everything was al right.

"Turns out he was just unpacking, and that was the noise he made when he lifted up any of his stuff. I thought it was pretty funny -- the dude had never even realised he did it! he made that noise whenever he put a whole lot of physical effort into something. I had to laugh, you know?

"Then when I saw him the next day, he came over and told me he'd figured out exactly when he made that noise. It only happened when he lifted something heavier than ten kilos or unscrewed a lid that was really stuck."

Apparently after Tony went back to his own room, Kyle investigated how much effort was required on his part before he would make this sound of exertion.

"He's a pretty weird guy, now that I think about it. He looked so pleased with himself when he said all that to me. But man, I knew from that moment. He loved finding out crazy stuff like that. It's like his passion.

"And you know, he gets into some pretty surprising things sometimes. This one time, he drank bottle after bottle of the juice from the vending machine in the lobby just so he could win the video game they had as this competition prize. I kinda laughed then too."

Incidentally, what Kyle won by finding the right bottle cap was, more specifically, a handheld gaming device from Japan released in 1980. The game involved repeatedly hitting the enemies as they reappeared, and he found it so entertaining that he even showed it to Rachel, his colleague at Red Crown.

"And man, that's not all. One time the prize changed to a Pinkie Rabbit game, and he had to get that one too. He



This refers to Pinkie Rabbit Land and the part where we have to grunt into the microphone to open a jar for Claire.

Also, doesn't seem like Martin Summer actually bothered to look for Alan, despite what he said



course of my research I learnt that during each of these periods there was a key figure in his life who had a great impact on his personal development. The first was a teacher he had as a young boy, Sarah Hartman. The second is Billy J Coolidge, whom Kyle befriended as a young man. Finally, during his days on the police force he was greatly influenced by his partner, Brian Bradley.

My research inevitably took me to Manhattan at one point, and during my time there I was lucky enough to be able to interview one of those key figures regarding the younger Kyle Hyde.



"Yeah, I still see Kyle twice, maybe three times a year. The last time was about half a year ago I think. I had a recording session in a studio in LA, and after work I called him up late at night and dragged him to a nearby bar. We ended up drinking right through till the morning. It's like that whenever I go drinking with the guy; we end up chatting for hours."

This was the first recollection I heard from Billy J Coolidge, Kyle's friend of many years, when we met at an open-air café in the East Village. Billy is a session musician with his own studio not far from said café, and his drumming can be heard on albums by numerous well-known artists. He was also closer to Kyle than anyone else in their younger years.

"When I first met the guy, he was 16 and I was 18. But for a while he lied to me and pretended we were the same age. He was a dirty little sneak back then!"

They got to know each other when they were both working part-time for a Cool Pop delivery company. It paid well, but the minimum age for the job was 18, so for that summer Kyle pretended he was old enough and worked there with Billy. The two of them soon became best friends, and they subsequently went to the same university. Even now, with Kyle living in Los Angeles, their friendship is continues uninterrupted.

"He's never changed, you know. He's never been great at weighing up the pros and considerate



For Kyle's 17th birthday, Billy gave him a record that he was into at the time. It was a famous free jazz recording that many consider representative of the 1960s as a whole. Kyle became so completely fascinated by the sound of the saxophone on that record that he took all the money he'd saved up and bought a used alto sax, then started teaching himself how to play it.

"The guy was a natural. After we started college, he sometimes got all the jazzmen my pop knew to teach him stuff as well. But after the accident he could never quite play as well as he used to..."

When Kyle was in his third year of university, he suffered an event that forced him to give up on his dream.

It all started when the elevator broke down one day in the old apartment building where he lived at the time. Kyle got in the elevator at the same time as a young boy called Daniel. They both lived on the sixth floor, and just as they were about to reach it, the elevator suddenly stopped with a clunk. The moment he realised they were trapped inside, Daniel panicked. He started wailing loudly and had difficulty breathing.

"There was no emergency call button in that elevator, so he started banging on the wall with his fists and shouting for help. He knew he had to get that kid rescued as quickly as possible."

The apartment manager finally heard Kyle's knocking and called the fire department, who managed to get them out of the elevator. Daniel was perfectly safe.

It wasn't long before Kyle and Daniel developed something of a bond. But whether it was fate or coincidence, that was not the only calamity to befall the two of them; Kyle had to rescue DAniel one more time. One day, Daniel was playing on his bicycle in front of the apartment building when he noticed Kyel arriving home. He pushed down too hard on the pedal and sent himself flying towards the road. The brakes wouldn't work, so he was unable to stop himself. In the space of a second, Kyel threw himself into the bike and saved Daniel, but in the



had it on his mind already though, if I had to guess. You know what happened with his pop and all."

I was eager to find out all I could from Billy while I had the opportunity to speak to him. He was kind enough to tell me numerous stories about Kyle's love life, as well as anecdotes about Kyle that no one else would know.

The last story he told me before we ran out of time was something I hadn't quite expected. It was about a musician. "Hmm, when was it? I forget exactly, but Kyle sent me something in the mail that was a real one of a kind. I mean, it was just a tape, but I couldn't believe what was on it. He just said it was a good track and I should listen to it, but when I did I was shocked. It was a new song by Tony Wolf!"

The tape, which Billy still owned, had a label on it with the song title "Belief".

"Have you ever heard Tony Wolf's debut album? If not, you should really give it a spin. It'll give you goose bumps."

Tony wolf is a musician who garnered attention when he won a contest sponsored by the radio programme Rock 'n' Soul, which thrives on promoting new artists. His debut album, "No Rock No Life", was a huge hit that propelled him to stardom.

"Tony's musical stylings were something no one had ever heard before, and his talent was 100 percent genuine. But it's the same old story. He started believing he could no wrong and ended up in all kinds of trouble. Plus there was that corrupt producer, the one who's infamous in the music business.

"Tony disappeared from the limelight, and I was pretty excited when years later I suddenly found out from Kyle where he was now. Turns out they lived in the same apartment building and they were drinking budies now. I couldn't believe it!

"Even after he gave up on playing the sax, Kyle still had jazz in every fibre on his body. It's just a part of who he is. In fact, I reckon he found Tony using his sixth sense for talent.

"Me and Kyle? I guess the best way of putting it is, we



This one refers to us getting trapped in the elevator with Mila (which explains why Kyle bangs at the door instead of using the alarm) and our friendship with Tony (where he ditch us soon after )

Also, it has the first mention of Bradley in these files.



"When Kyle first moved to Manhattan, he was very quiet and kept to himself a lot. Even three months after he transferred in, he hadn't really opened up to me or any of the other students. His mother was very concerned about him at the time as well. I remember her coming here to talk to me about him in her breaks."

Ms Hartman, who was still a teacher at the time of my research, remembered Kyle well.

"I don't suppose it's too strange that he acted like that. He lost his father out of the blue and then had to move to an unfamiliar city. Of course he'd find it hard to come out of his shell. But I knew I had to be patient, that it was just a matter of time."

Whatever Ms Hartman said to him, his responses only amounted to a word or two. She decided to try a slightly different tactic. Every Friday, she would choose a book for him from the school library and give it to him to read. Then, on Monday, she would ask him to tell her what he thought of it. At first, he just gave the books back to her without a single word about his opinion. One day, however, she tried giving him a science book to read. The following Monday, Kyle told her that he'd found it interesting.

"After that I searched the library for every science book I could find to lend to Kyle on Fridays. Little by little he started using more words to tell me what he thought of them. After that, he started opening up a bit more to me and his classmates."

According to Ms Hartman, Christmas that year was when he finally became comfortable around her and the other students.

"That Christmas, I got my students to put on a bit of an event. I separated them into groups and told each grouop to come up with something they could present in front of the class that the others would enjoy watching. Some groups sang songs, some performed skits, and so on. Every group thought up their own little show. But you'll never guess what Kyle's group did!

They conducted a simple scientific experiment, posing the question, what happens



blue.

"The one who came up with the experiment was Kyle, of course. It was the first time he'd ever voluntarily raised his hand and presented an idea to the others."

The result of the experiment was that the light disappeared entirely. Light is essentially a mixture of various colours, each at a different wavelength. When the light was shined on the red mirror, only the red light was reflected, and when it was shined on the blue mirror, only the blue light was reflected. All the other colours' wavelengths were absorbed and thus disappeared. Thus, when the light reflected off the red mirror was reflected again off the blue mirror, all the light had been absorbed, and it disappeared. It was a curious development, said Ms Hartman.

"No one had managed to guess the right answer, but the children were absolutely fascinated by this experiment. They'd really enjoyed it. That made Kyle so happy. He smiled and laughed with such enthusiasm. It was the first time I'd seen him with a real childlike smile. I still vividly remember how he looked at that moment."

As a side note, the red wrapping that Kyle had used in the experiment was originally the gift wrap from a bottle of wine that Ms Hartman had received from her boyfriend.

"I was so sure that boy would grow up to be a science teacher or a researcher of some kind. You say he became a police officer and now works as a salesman in Los Angeles? That seems so strange to me. I just can't quite imagine someone as quiet as Kyle doing well in those lines of work."

From her expression, Ms Hartman seemed slightly concerned about her former student's wellbeing as we finished our conversation.



I heard about another of Kyle Hyde's Christmas experiences from Billy J Coolidge, a friend of Kyle's whom you may recall me mentioning earlier.

"Christmas '67, Kyle was 21 years old. By that winter he was getting to be quite the gentleman by his standards! All her doing, of course.



mirror in his room had the words 'How dare you forget about our date! I hate your guts!' scrawled on it in lipstick. Well, the buddy was me actually. I was kind of worried for a moment, then I noticed that after all those scary red letters was a kiss mark. I figured it was just a little in-joke between the two of them. And thank goodness for that!"

But as Kyle was to discover, sometimes fate stands in the way of true love.

"It was Christmas Eve, and Kyle had arranged to meet Christine that night in front of Rockefeller Center. He even arrived exactly on time. But by then, she was on her way to the hospital in an ambulance, and she was in critical condition."

Christine was killed by a stray bullet from a gun that had been tossed aside by a criminal during a police chase. When Kyle got to the hospital, she looked at him one last time and then passed away.

"He says that Christine has lived on in his heart ever since that day. I asked him about it again the last time we met, actually. If he still loves her. He thought about it for a moment and then said: 'It's not so easy to say whether I love her or don't love her, but she's definitely still a real special lady to me. Anytime I think about her I get all emotional. It still hurts to think about what happened. But whether that's love? Hard for me to really know anymore.'

"Kyle must have a special someone again by now, though. That same day, he told me something else interesting. He said that Christine was the one



This reference Rachel's wine gift wrapper being used to make a red light, the message on the mirror in Will's room, and the confrontation with Sidney.

Also, sheesh, Kyle and Ed both got dead girlfriends. What next? Will it Bradley have one too?



colleague at Red Crown.

"Kyle's a fan of rooftops? You know, I'd never really thought about it." She giggled slightly upon hearing my question. But when you put it like that, I guess you're right. Whenever he went out on a business trip, he asked me if I could find him a hotel with a bar and a rooftop.

"This one time I went out for dinner with him, and he told me what he does at night when he's away from home. Always the same, he said. He goes to the bar and drinks three glasses of bourbon, then if the weather's good, he stumbles up to the roof. Then he just stands there and looks up at the stars.

"And you know what he told me? He said it's like you're just that little bit closer to the stars. And that I should try it sometime. You know, now that you've reminded me, maybe I will! Might have to give the bourbon a miss though."

Kyle told Rachel another story that evening, and she was kind enough to relate it to me.

"When Kyle was a kid, he used to stand on his apartment balcony every evening and wait for his mom to come home from work. From up there he had a good view of the buss stop where she got off.

"But one day she was late, and he waited there so long that it got pitch black. But when he looked up from the balcony, he could see the stars in the sky. He forgot all about the bus stop and just stared up at them, completely distracted.

"He told me that when he came to his senses, his mom was home already, and she was next to him on the balcony with her arms around him. She told him that one of those stars up there was his father, and that he was always watching him from up there in the sky."

That was the only time Kyle ever talked to Rachel about his childhood.

"Kyle has never really talked to me about his past all that much. Honestly, I don't feel like it's that big a deal. If and when he wants to talk about it, that's up to him."

As she told me this, there was something about Rachel's voice that had an intangible kindness and calming quality to it.



notice he was there straight away, you know? Then he kind of tapped me on the shoulder and said hi.

"I totally wasn't expecting it, and I somehow ended up losing my balance and falling backwards a bit. Was pretty scared there for a moment! Thought I was gonna go overboard for sure. But Hyde grabbed my arm tight and pulled me back up. I mean, he saved my life, but it was still pretty dangerous!

"That night, Hyde told me a story about when he was a cop. He'd chased this criminal onto a rooftop, and the guy ran right to the edge and was about to jump. But Hyde persuaded him not to and managed to arrest the guy instead. He made a connection to him, right there on the roof.

"As stories go, it was kinda gritty, like you'd see on a cop show. The guy he was chasing was a three-time killer, and he had a gun. If Hyde made a single wrong move, got him too excited, it could have all gone downhill, and fast. When Hyde told me all that, I thought, man, this guy really is a detective. Before that I was always thinking, as if a guy like that could be a real cop!

"You know what else he said? Whenever he goes up onto the roof, he always remembers the day he arrested that criminal, and what he was like back then. He said that when he thought back to his days as this reckless daredevil cop, he kinda liked the memory of it. Sounds like he was pretty cool back then."

As I listened to Rachel and Tony's stories, I felt reassured that Kyle is fond of rooftops. They



This refers to Marie's stunt on the roof. And also both games having a roof and a bar.



gation, I have come into the knowledge of certain details regarding Brian Bradley, another former detective whose name has appeared repeatedly in my notes, where I have typically described him as Kyle's partner.

Bradley and Kyle were both on the police force when the organised crime syndicate known as Nile was being investigated in 1976. Bradley went undercover as part of the investigation, but he was secretly feeding information to Nile, and when the NYPD ultimately realised that he had betrayed them, they went after him. The lst police officer to see him was his close friend, Kyle, who had apprehended him on a pier. Bradley was shot by Kyle, and he fell into the water. He remains missing to this day.

I spoke to Willy Taylor, who was supervisor to both of them at the time, about Kyle and Bradley's relationship and the aforementioned incident with Bradley.

"All these years later, I still believe Hyde never had a better partner than Bradley. They were eternal rivals and unbeatable allies, and that's what you really need in a partner. When Bradley was gonna go undercover, no one was more against it than Hyde. And when the investigation started, no one provided more logistical support than Hyde either. That's why, when it turned out Bradley was ratting us out, everyone could see the bitterness and rage in his eyes.

"When I heard that Hyde had shot Bradley, I wasn't surprised in the least. I know exactly what he was thinking -- that no one could take Bradley down but him.

"That's why nobody stopped him. When we didn't find Bradley's body after he fell off the pier, and the higher-ups told us to shut down the investigation anyway for whatever reason, Hyde handed in his badge straight away and said he was gonna find his partner by himself. And nobody tried to get in his way.

"I knew there must be something more behind what Bradley did. And I knew Hyde was the only one who'd be able to find out the real story."

In the end, Hyde learnt the



"Osterzone was this genius artist who died pretty young. I remember hearing at the time, that painting was worth an absolute fortune!"

According to Detective Taylor, Kyle and Bradley tried to ascertain the means by which the criminals had been able to sneak into the art museum late at night, but they were unable to find any trace. It was then that they conceived of a different method of investigation. They went to the museum one night at the same time they conjectured that the thieves had broken in, and investigated the surroundings thoroughly while the lights were off.

In doing so, they discovered a secret code drawn in ink on the floor. It was hard to make out in the darkness, but the symbol almost looked like a hummingbird. Bradley had been trained in code-breaking, and he managed to determine what this symbol meant and thus reveal the criminals' method of intrusion.

Although the code seemed complicated at first, in the end it was as simple as following the direction the hummingbird's beak was pointing. Soon the mystery was solved.

It turned out that the thieves had been breaking in via the service elevator, which was used to move the works of art into the museum. But that wasn't all. They came to realise that if one pressed the button to stop the elevator while it was between the fourth floor and the fifth, a secret door would open that was embedded in the wall. It was an incredibly complicated method of breaking in, and the two police officers couldn't help admiring the unexpected attention to detail and organisational skills of the criminal group.

"The perpetrators still got away, though. They didn't get the Osterzone painting back either, of course. But that was the only one. Hyde and Bradley solved every other case they worked on together. Every single one."

After he told me this story, Taylor handed me a photograph. It was the only photo he had of Kkyle Hyde and Brian Bradley together.

"I'll let you have it. If you're really gonna be writing a book about Hyde, you better write



Nice try, bud, but Martin's writing a different story, one that doesn't heavily feature Bradley.

This file obviously refers to the whole elevator code and secret passage. And we know why Kyle and Bradley didn't catch the thieves and how that whole debacle ended.

Anyway, that's the end of the sealed files. I honestly doubt Martin got permission from Kyle himself (even if this novel was written at least 10 years after the main story). Out of universe, though, it's great how many references the writers can fit into these files while not being too contrived (mostly).



With this final file comes the end of this LP. I'll leave you guys to read the timeline of events.



December 1955.



The plan to take down Condor is thwarted:

After receiving some vital information about Condor, LAPD officer Frank Raver makes a deal with a safecracker known to him as Gregory (real name: Chris Hyde) whereby the latter will sneak into Hotel Cape West and confirm the presence of stolen jewellery. The plan goes awry and the safecracker is shot and killed by Michael McGrath.



Chris's body is found:

Three days after the plan to take down Condor fails, Chris Hyde's body is found by LAPD officer Ed Vincent. There are no clues as to the perpetrator and the case is left unsolved.



The diamond disappears:

Michael McGrath tells Condor ringleader George Patrice that when he killed the safecracker, the Scarlet STar was already missing from the safe.



Frank Raver is denounced:

After Chris's death, a ploy by Frank's colleague, Hugh Speck, leads to Frank being pulled off the Condor investigation.



October 1967



The link between Condor and Nile:

Los Angeles Beat columnist Jack Green writes a piece entitled "The Truth Behind Condor", intended to be the first ina series of articles revealing the link between Condor and the organised crime syndicate Nile.



The death of Jack Green:

Jack Green is killed in a car accident. His colleague Rex Foster feels the death is suspicious and begins investigating.



November 1967



Rex's exposé:

Rex writes an article asserting that Jack's death was caused by a crime syndicate. However, it is dismissed as fiction and he is forced out of the industry.



Closure of Hotel Cape West:

Michael decides that he will be closing Hotel Cape West. He



ver Kathy's body is hotel employee Mike Porter, older brother of Marie. Before informing anyone about Kathy's death, he steals her ring.



The investigation into Kathy's death:

Kathy's death is initially considered to have been a suicide.



George's murder:

After George tells her about murdering Kathy, his wife, Margaret, feels great animosity towards him and resolves to kill him herself. However, that same day, Michael breaks into their house and shoots George instead. Michael knocks Margaret out, places the gun that killed George in her hand and then leaves.



The death of Mike Porter:

Mike Porter dies in a car accident. His sister, Marie, is the recipient of a sizeable life insurance payout.



1968



Marie gets married:

Marie marries her brother's friend, Peter, who has become a great source of comfort to her.



The George Patrice murder trial:

Margaret becomes the number one suspect in George's murder case, but there is insufficient evidence to convict her and she is found innocent. The day of the verdict, she uses the money left to her by George to buy Hotel Cape West.



December 1968



The renovation:

Margaret has the hotel renovated into an apartment building. Cape West Apartments opens for business.



1977



Michael's death:

Michael McGrath passes away after a battle wtih illness.



1980



Peter's death:

Marie's husband, Peter, loses his life in a car accident.



Speck runs for mayor:

Hugh Speck announces that he will be running as a candidate