S3 Bonus Series, Ep. 1 | The Three Calls

Summary

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Hide and Seek – S3 Bonus Series, Ep. 1 | The Three Calls

Original Air Date: July 31, 2026

Host: James Basinger

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Overview:

This bonus episode dives deep into the hours leading up to Brittany Wallace Schenck’s disappearance in Sturgis, Michigan, on November 30, 2018, using the rare precision offered by three phone calls Brittany had with her ex, Zachary, who was in prison at the time. James Basinger revisits Brittany’s last known day, analyzes what new case files and recordings reveal, and sits with family and friends to compare memories and evidence. The result is a haunting, meticulous reconstruction of the last ordinary moments in Brittany’s life—and the gathering storm of suspicion, fear, and secrets around her.

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Key Topics & Discussion Points

1. The Importance of the Three Calls

• Context: These calls, recorded automatically by prison systems, are the last lengthy records of Brittany’s voice, timestamped and preserved by chance.
• Precision: The calls capture details that rumors and second-hand accounts miss—offering a rare, documented timeline of her final known movements and mindset.
• Host’s Intent: “You get both halves every time... what we were told, what the tape says.” (James Basinger, 07:52)

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2. Setting the Stage: Brittany’s Final Week

• Brittany’s State: Struggling but fighting addiction, reconnecting with Zachary (her ex), applying for a new job, handling her children, trying for stability.
• Emotional Turmoil: Reading old letters from Zachary, mailing a brutally honest letter to him (that never surfaced), and confronting accusations about “snitching” from a past 2017 drug raid.
• Notable Quote: “It will probably be the most honest, brutal, point blank letter you've ever gotten from me.” – Brittany (JPay message, 08:26)
• Tension in Inner Circle: Accusations swirl around who tipped off the 2017 police raid (Eric Schenk, Zachary, others).

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3. Call 1: Ordinary Meets Ominous

[13:36–22:46 | Timestamp: 4:44pm]

• Tone: Casual, personal, full of teasing and affection about her hair, pictures of her kids, and job prospects.
• Transition: The tone pivots dramatically when she reveals that “Paulie” (Curtis Pauley, aka Pocket) was arrested the night before.
• Trust and Threat: They discuss the risk of word getting back to Pocket in jail and the need for caution.
• Memorable Line (Brittany): “I can't say what I want to say over the phone…there's a reason why I don't want you to say anything right now. I was hanging around Eric, Pocket, Pocket’s old lady.” [21:20]
• Critical Moment: Brittany manages overt and covert threats, signaling she feels under real-world, potentially violent pressure from her circle.

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4. Discrepancy Between Official Records and Reality

• Detective’s Flawed Summary: Early detectives believed Brittany was referring to her ex-husband Eric in her “revengeful shit” line, but the call clearly refers to Pocket.
• Host’s Rule: “A summary is a guess about a tape. The tape is the tape.” (James Basinger, 20:27)

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5. Call 2: On the Road, More Tension

[24:28–29:46 | Timestamp: 5:26pm]

• Atmosphere: Brittany is driving, talking about mundane logistics (laundry, money), explaining about the car she borrowed, job applications, and her finances.
• Harsh Reality: “It's foggy outside.” – Brittany [29:14] (echoed later as a chilling detail of that night.)
• Sudden Stop: The call gets abruptly terminated—prison system’s automated voice claims "dialing of additional digits," possibly mistaking noise or a phone tap as a three-way call.
• Quote: “No, nobody called, no nothing.” – Brittany (after the call drops, 32:36)

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6. Call 3: The Countdown

[30:56–32:12 | Timestamp: 5:44pm]

• Details: Just 35 cents left, less than two minutes, Brittany pulls up to her grandmother’s house promising to add more money and talk later.
• Exchange:
  • “Be careful.” – Zachary
  • “All right. I love you. Bye.” – Brittany
• Aftermath: Zachary’s next day JPay message documents Brittany’s phone going dead that night, echoing the irrevocable loss of contact.
  • “When I called you back last night, your phone was off…” (34:06)

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7. The 46-Minute Gap & Emergence of ‘Mystery Man’

• Known Movements: After the call, Brittany gets gas (6:11pm), then arrives at her grandmother’s house at 6:30pm—no longer alone; a man (“Mystery Man”) is now with her, and remains unidentified.
• Family’s Perception: “She made it to the safest place in her world… and she did not walk through it alone.” (James Basinger, 68:46)
• Key Insight: Zachary himself was brought to Grandma’s just a week after meeting Brittany—so her bringing a relative stranger to that house is plausible.

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8. Crash and Aftermath: Cascading Mysteries

• The Crash: Around 8:25–8:45pm, Brittany and the man leave Grandma’s, their car crashes nearby. Brittany appears at a stranger’s door, barefoot, cut, her boyfriend “ran off.”
• Chilling Evidence: The Mercury’s trunk is open, glove box tossed, possessions dumped as if searched.
• The Last Voice: At 8:45pm, Brittany calls 911 from a neighbor’s phone: “Yes? I need some help.”
• Last Outbound Call: Her grandmother’s number, ~9pm.

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9. Roundtable Analysis: Family and Friends Reflect

[36:42–92:51]

• Who Snitched? Greg, Sarah Jo, and James debate if Brittany was the one who tipped off police about Pocket (Paulie), citing her responses and knowledge.
  • “The two of them are sharing in something they both know.” – Greg Wallace [37:18]
  • “Yeah, fuck him. I got his ass.” – Sarah Jo, interpreting Brittany’s laugh [83:44]
• Managing Threats: “She’s not gossiping about an arrest. She’s doing threat management. Don’t stir him. Not right now.” – James (18:57)
• Fear of Eric: Both family (Sarah Jo, Greg) and Zachary confirm that Brittany was “scared shitless” of her ex, Eric Schenk, describing his volatility and potential for violence.
  • “She was scared… she’d be running around town trying to find places to hide from him.” – Zachary [65:15]

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10. Theories, Rumors, and The Unsaid

• The Letter That Never Surfaced: The “most honest, brutal, point blank letter” Brittany wrote to Zachary days before she vanished was never found in any case files.
• Drugs and Paranoia: Zachary’s account confirms drug use in Brittany’s circle and hints at an undercurrent of mutual suspicion and betrayal.
• The Mystery Man’s Identity: The episode details the irrefutable 46-minute gap in the timeline and explores theories, including whether Brittany could have picked up a stranger, intersected with someone from her circle, or used with someone during that time.
• Ashley’s Role: Brittany saw Ashley’s place as a “safe zone”—and speculation abounds about whether Brittany saw something at Ashley’s, or if Ashley used Brittany’s JPay account after her disappearance.

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11. A Possible Sighting & The Haunting Echoes

• Unexpected Claim: Zachary recounts a moment, seven months after Brittany vanished, when he believes he saw her on the back of a blue Harley, hiding her face—a sighting he still doubts even as he can’t forget it.
  • “If it wasn’t her, I don’t know, man. It looked just like her.” – Zachary, 80:32

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Notable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps):

• [08:26] Brittany (JPay): “It will probably be the most honest, brutal, point blank letter you've ever gotten from me.”
• [16:33] Brittany: “Paulie went to jail.”
• [18:15] Zachary: “That means if he's in jail, I can get word to him now.”
• [18:16] Brittany: “No, no, you better… I don't need anything to come back on me. I don't need him to get a hair in his ass because of what he said to me got repeated back to you.”
• [21:20] Brittany: “I can't say what I want to say over the phone…there's a reason why I don't want you to say anything right now.”
• [29:14] Brittany: “It's foggy outside.”
• [32:12] Brittany: “I love you. Bye.”
• [65:15] Zachary: “She was scared. She listened to Eric for a long time…she’d be running around town trying to find places to hide from him.”
• [68:40] Zachary: “Her grandma's house is real, real cozy…It was probably the most comfortable situation I've been in the whole time. I know Brittany.”
• [80:32] Zachary: “If it wasn’t her, I don’t know, man. It looked just like her…”
• [95:45] Brittany (last word): “All I can do is try. …Please have some patience. I'm doing everything that I'm supposed to be doing.”

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Important Timestamps & Segment Guide:

| Timestamp | Segment/Key Content | |--------------|-----------------------------------------------| | 00:00-08:32 | Introduction, recap of Brittany’s story, background of case and investigation, setting the rules for this series, emotional tone | | 13:36-16:30 | Call 1 (beginning): Affectionate banter, routine updates | | 16:33-22:46 | Call 1 (shift): Revelation of Pocket’s arrest, threat management discussion | | 24:28-29:46 | Call 2: Brittany drives, discusses finances/job, call gets cut by phone system | | 30:56-32:12 | Call 3: Quick exchange, Brittany nearly at grandmother’s, plans to add money and talk later | | 36:42-47:32 | Family roundtable: Analysis and debate regarding Pocket/arrest, calls, likely phone patterns | | 52:04-63:45 | Zachary’s interview: Reflection on calls, third-party call issue, dynamics between Brittany, Eric, and Ashley | | 65:15-68:41 | Zachary shares about Brittany’s fear of Eric and the safety of grandmother’s house | | 72:48-75:43 | The 46-minute gap, ‘Mystery Man’ discussion, Brittany’s state that night | | 80:32-82:33 | Zachary’s possible sighting of Brittany, uncertainty and emotional resonance | | 83:14-92:51 | Extended roundtable: Deliberations on motivation, threat assessment, Ashley’s role, Brittany’s motives for possibly tipping off law enforcement |

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Podcast Tone & Original Language

• Intimate, methodical, emotionally charged: The conversations are direct and sometimes raw, especially when the roundtable members debate Brittany’s motivations and the implications of her words (“I know what that is. …fuck him. I got his ass.” – Sarah Jo, 83:44).
• Careful with attribution: James Basinger consistently distinguishes between first-person recollection, rumor, and interpretation.
• Persistent ambiguity: The episode refuses to draw unwarranted conclusions, emphasizing “the tape is the tape” and presenting listeners with the known facts and their limits.

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Conclusion

The episode is a powerful, unsettling, and granular reconstruction of the last day of Brittany Wallace Schenck’s life. Through the lens of the three recorded calls and the meticulous attention of the Hide and Seek team, listeners are drawn into a web of suspicion, fear, and unspoken truths. Each element—the missing letter, the mysterious phone gap, the unaccounted-for man, and the subtle threat calculus Brittany performs—becomes another thread in a still-unsolved disappearance. The bonus series promises to dig further, challenging previous assumptions with newly surfaced evidence and rare first-hand audio.

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For listeners seeking answers, this bonus episode is an essential, haunting entry—providing both clarity and deepening the questions surrounding Brittany’s disappearance.

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Transcript

[James Basinger]

The views and opinions expressed by individuals heard in this episode, in interviews, recorded calls and conversation are solely their own. They do not reflect the views of Hide and Seek, its host, or anyone associated with this production. All individuals discussed are presumed innocent unless convicted in a court of law. Now, to this community, everything you're about to hear, this the case file, the records request the new interviews happened because you kept this case alive. If you want to stand with us in the search for Brittany, join us at patreon.com hideandseekpodcast or tap the link in the show notes. It's the most direct way to support this work, and it means everything. Welcome to Hide and Seek season three, the bonus series. Hi, guys, Bella here.

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

Welcome for the bonfire. Your current balance is 35 cents. This call is from a correction facility and is subject to monitoring and recording. I only have. I only have 35 cents. You have one minute remaining. I'm almost my grandma's now, so when I get there, then I'll add money on the phone.

[Zachary]

All right, well, I'll take a shower and sit. I'll call you a little bit later.

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

Okay, that's fine.

[Zachary]

All right. Be careful.

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

All right. All right. I love you guys.

[Zachary (later in interview)]

Be honest with you, man. This is gonna kind of you up.

[James Basinger]

That first voice, the one saying I love you, bye. You know whose that is? The second voice belongs to the man that she was talking to. The man sitting in Michigan prison that Friday afternoon eight years ago, holding a phone. This summer, he picked up one again for me. Three calls. One afternoon. 35 cents. This is the three calls. Hey guys, it's been a while. Brittany Wallace Schenck loves sunflowers and the color purple. She was a daughter, a sister and a mother of four. She'd fought addiction and by 2018, she was fighting her way back. Enrolled in college, taking a better job whenever one opened up. Building a life her kids could stand on. And on the Last night of November 2018 in Sturgis, Michigan, she vanished. That evening, Brittany borrowed a car for the most ordinary errand there is. Laundry at her grandmother's house. She never came home. What happened inside the next few hours? Who was there, what was said, what the record kept and what it lost. That's this episode. Eight days passed before her father reported her missing. Eight days. Two and a half years after that, in April of 2021, we went to work.

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

First off, you destroyed yourself.

[Greg Wallace]

Did you see my comment?

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

But I said, Trent, carefully, she'd get

[Sarah Jo]

this shit eating grin on her face.

[James Basinger]

Brittany was sitting at the kitchen Table with my Grandma.

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

Eric's there.

[James Basinger]

52 episodes when pocket went to jail,

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

people started fucking with me.

[James Basinger]

I never thought that was possible.

[Greg Wallace]

I said, I'll go there.

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

I don't know where.

[Greg Wallace]

I just. I said it.

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

I don't know how many times I just said it.

[Greg Wallace]

I don't know where there is.

[Zachary (later in interview)]

Yep, he was there when. When I dropped Sheldon off and he was there when I got back. I'm thinking that she was already there with him. They said that they were going to call and see if they can't get it because it isn't my name. So how are they going to withhold it from me?

[James Basinger]

We walked her timeline, chased the leads, pressed on the accounts that didn't line up.

[Zachary (later in interview)]

I know Eric texted me from his Facebook page pretending to be somebody else. And I was like, who the fuck is he? He's like, oh, I'm just playing. This is Eric.

[James Basinger]

And trying to understand what happened the night Britney vanished.

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

But the police kept calling at the top. Oh, he was only 5, 8 maybe was saying it was Chuck. So that's why I went down there. Because it's easy for somebody to say that. I need less vagueness.

[Zachary (later in interview)]

What Pontius There was Eric.

[James Basinger]

Eric Shank.

[Zachary (later in interview)]

I didn't. With her little crew, I caught them two trying to around like when I went downstairs to get some food and I come back upstairs and I see some funny and I call it out.

[James Basinger]

Production of season three ended in early of 2024, but our work on Britney's case never did. Then this spring, Britney's updated case file reached us more than we ever had while making the original season. I'm talking new details, interviews we'd never heard. Information that has never been discussed publicly. So we're going back not to retell her story, but to test it. The work we did, the conclusions we reached, the questions we left open. This time against a more complete record. What did we get right? What did we get wrong? What has happened with Brittany's investigation since our final episode? And does it bring us any closer to Brittany now? One rule all season, same rule we started with. The person at the center stays at the center. A mother, a daughter, a sister. A young woman whose story is far from over. Because this is Brittany's case then, now, and everything we've learned since. Welcome back to season three, the bonus series. So here we are. A lot of you went the distance with me. 52 episodes. You know the roads. Fawn River Workman November 30, 2018. It's foggy out. I'm not going to draw you the map. You just heard what changed. The file. The interviews, the tape, the actual rooms, the actual pauses. You'll hear those. That's the rest of this series, but it starts with something smaller. Three phone calls from the last afternoon of Brittany's life as we know it. Her voice recorded by a prison phone system that stamps every call with a date, time and a dollar amount. The rules. I'll make it quick because this series we're gonna have rules and I want you holding me to them. One, when I play you tape, I tell you exactly what it is. Who's talking, who's asking, what day. 2. When something is a claim, one person's word, I call it a claim. 3, you get both halves every time. What we were told, what the tape says. Three calls, all one Friday afternoon. And the prison phone system gives us something. This case almost never gets precision. A timestamp on every connection and a running balance. The machine reads out every time. $4.20, $2 and change. Then 35 cents. A countdown. Nobody on that line knew it was one. So that's how you're going to hear Brittany's last afternoon call by call, in order, on the clock. And to hear them right, you need the week that led to them. Five days before she vanished, Britney spent part of her Sunday going through old letters from Zachary. His words from prison saved on paper. She teared up reading them. We know this because she told him so on JPE that morning.

[Zachary (JPay messages)]

I was going through some letters from you yesterday. Teared up a lot, lol.

[James Basinger]

And she told him something else. That she was mailing him a letter that day. A real one. Her words.

[Zachary (JPay messages)]

It will probably be the most honest, brutal, point blank letter you've ever gotten from me.

[James Basinger]

The most honest, brutal, point blank letter she has ever wrote. Mailed five days before she disappeared. That letter has never surfaced. Not in the case file, not in an evidence log, nowhere. Somewhere between a Sturgis mailbox and a Michigan prison, the most honest thing Brittany Wallace Shank has ever put on paper went into the world. And the world has never given it back. Hold on to that. This series comes back to it the same day, the same JPAY thread. Zachary was answering an accusation because In November of 2018, Britney believed something about him. She believed he might have been the one who tipped off a drug raid back in 2017. A raid that got charges filed. A raid that mattered to the people closest to her. In February of 2017, Brittany and Eric Schenck's home was raided and charges were filed and Brittany's concern about who tipped off to is evident in her jpegs.

[Zachary (JPay messages)]

My raid ruined me and I can't stop thinking that you had something to do with it or at least knew some shit was going to pop off. I don't think that you're blindsided by my raid. A relationship between us will never work until I know the truth about that whole day and who is really behind it.

[James Basinger]

Zachary's response to Brittany's JPE runs almost a full page. I'll read you the spine of it. As for the raid, it completely blows my mind. You still think I had something to do with that? Tell me, Brittany, what would I have benefited from setting you up? Absolutely nothing. I've never told on nobody in my life. I think motherfucker was trying to set me up, but clearly backfired. I'm not saying it was you, but it was definitely someone close to one of us. The motherfucker he's referring to is Eric Shank. Zachary's suspicion. He goes on to list some additional suspects, but I'm going to hold on to that name for later in this episode, because who tipped who in this circle during that season turns out to be the question the whole last week runs on. Three days later, November 28th her last JPE in the set. Brittany's low. She's feeling down her words hey love,

[Zachary (JPay messages)]

I'm sorry that I didn't answer yesterday. I haven't felt good in my whole job ordeal. I just ended up up sleeping my life away. Not only that, I'm actually pretty mad at myself. And yeah, I'm hurting. I've been pissed about it, I've been depressed and I actually for once cried my eyes out every night since we even began arguing and fighting, I've had actual tears come down my face over this whole situation with us. I own my kids just woke up. Love you and miss you.

[James Basinger]

That's the week a woman rereading old letters and crying over them. An accusation of snitching denied at full length. An honest letter mailed into a void. Arguments, tears and you'll hear it in a minute. Plans a job, a place, a fresh start. Scheduled for Monday. That's the Britney who picks up the phone on Friday afternoon. Friday, November 30, 2018.

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

At the beep, repeat the phrase Sturgis Michigan with Global Cell link My voice is my password.

[James Basinger]

It's already getting dark.

[Zachary]

Global cell link My voice is my password.

[James Basinger]

Call one.

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

Your current balance is 4:44pm $4.20.

[James Basinger]

He's calling from a Michigan Department of

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

Corrections facility and is subject to monitoring and recording.

[James Basinger]

For listeners who may not remember Zachary, he was someone Brittany had dated before her disappearance. In a 2019 interview with Detective Chad Spence, Zachary described their relationship as on and off. They weren't consistently together, but the relationship became active again while Zachary was incarcerated. By November of 2018, Brittany and Zachary were communicating regularly. Prison phone calls and JPay messages, the prison's email system. You heard pieces of those messages during season three. Their conversations show a complicated but emotionally significant relationship, one that included affection, jealousy, arguments, her relationships with the people around her, and discussions about a possible future together. Brittany spoke to him about finding work, securing housing, transportation, trying to build some stability for when he was released. And the first thing you need to know about call one is how ordinary it is. The best way to give you that is to get out of the way. So here's the first stretch of it. No cuts, no music. About a minute and a half of two people being two people. The teasing about the speakerphone, her hair, the pictures. I'll be quiet.

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

Thank you for using gtl. Hey, what happened?

[Zachary]

What's up with you

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

doing?

[Zachary]

Take me off speaker.

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

You're not on speaker.

[Zachary]

Sounds like it.

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

No, I swear to God you're not. So I didn't cover up all over my phone. I was doing my m. Outside, huh? Yeah. Has everybody been here?

[Zachary]

Can't hear you.

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

Hang on. So guess what.

[Zachary]

What?

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

My hair is black.

[Zachary]

Yeah.

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

Yeah.

[Zachary]

Why is that?

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

Things were right. Like, I was looking through my pictures, and then I went on my old Facebook to get the pictures of my kids and stuff. And I see my hair when it was black, and I was like, damn. I was like, yeah, I look a lot better. Makes me look more sophisticated. I was sleeping. I didn't get up until almost 2. My little exit was like, 2:12.

[Zachary]

You feel better?

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

Huh?

[Zachary]

I was talking to Jake. He started petting me.

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

I don't like your J.P. why? Because you're totally cool with everything, and I don't like it.

[Zachary]

Well, if I'm not gonna be, then we ain't gonna get along. You don't want that.

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

We get along any day of the week. I'm waiting on that lady to call me. I guess she was in meetings all day, so. But I'm pretty sure I got it.

[Zachary]

What is that?

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

Yeah, I don't really have to worry about a ride back and forth because either a, there's Sony's vehicle, which, I mean, he's got to be. He doesn't. He doesn't work for December, so if I do my third, then he'll have to figure something out. Now I'm just going to take that back and forth. But regardless, I'm pretty sure that I'll have my own place.

[James Basinger]

That's her. Not the missing person flyer, not the case number. A woman on a Friday afternoon teasing her man about a speakerphone. Proud of her hair, scrolling pictures of her kids. And here's the thing about the hair. She didn't just talk about it earlier that afternoon. She'd already done it, dyed it dark and posted for a selfie. Everything anyone has ever told you about that day, every theory, every rumor, every version has to live in the same afternoon as a woman scrolling through photos of her children, fresh hair color and joking that she's alive. Now, two minutes later.

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

Oh my God. I have to tell you something.

[James Basinger]

The afternoon turns.

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

Paulie went to jail.

[Zachary]

Holly?

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

Yeah, he got picked up yesterday at 7 or 9. Sorry.

[Zachary]

I ain't gonna lose no sleep over it.

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

Fuck you.

[James Basinger]

Paulie got picked up yesterday. Curtis Pauley pocket arrested November 29th. The day before. If you went the distance with us, you know Pocket? Yeah, allegedly Eric's guy. Part of the orbit Brittany was moving in that last week. And listen to what his arrest does to this phone call. First, Ashley.

[Zachary]

That means either way, he's just absconding or he catch more charges, I have no idea.

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

Ashley hasn't said anything to me. I asked her about it, but she hasn't responded.

[James Basinger]

The day before Brittany disappears, she asks her best friend about Pocket's arrest. Ashley doesn't answer. File that. It comes back in episode two, then. And this is the part of the call I've listened to the most. Zachary offers to do something. He's in prison. Pocket's now in jail. And getting word to a man in jail from prison is easy.

[Zachary]

That means if he's in jail, I can get word to him now.

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

Yep.

[Zachary]

I mean, I could have been the first one.

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

Well, you. No, no, you better. No, don't do that right now. You need to work a little. Only because when I was up. I don't. I don't need anything to come back on me. I don't need him to get a hair in his ass because of what he said to me got repeated back to you. I said I don't. I don't need him wanting to do some revengeful. Because something that he said to me got back to you while he's in there sitting on whatever he's sitting.

[James Basinger]

Digest that slowly. She's not Gossiping about an arrest. She's doing threat management. Don't stir him. Not right now. I don't need anything coming back on me. I don't need revengeful shit. 24 hours before she vanishes, Brittany Wallace Schenk is on a recorded line, carefully managing how much danger fall flows out of Curtis Pauley's jail cell. Now, I have to stop here because this is the first place the tape and the paper disagree. And the rules say you get both halves. A detective did review these calls months later in 2019. He wrote a summary of them and it's in the original file we received about the line. You just heard the revengeful line. The summary says, and I'm quoting. I believe she was referring to Eric Schenck doing some revengeful shit in that conversation. I believe the detective's words. Doing the most honest thing, flagging his own guess as a guess. But listen to the tape again.

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

I don't need him to get a hair on his ass because of what he said to me. Got repeated back to you. While he's in there sitting on whatever he's sitting.

[James Basinger]

While he's in there sitting. That's not Eric. That's Pocket. For eight years. The record's official reading of this phone call pointed that word at the husband. I'm not telling you. The detective was careless. He marked it as a belief. I'm telling you what this series is for. A summary is a guess about a tape. The tape is the tape. And then Britney says the sentence. This whole episode has been walking toward

[Zachary]

it don't matter what was said, period. It all comes out anyway. It don't matter. I always find out anything. It doesn't matter what it is. This is how it's been. It was like that with all my baby mamas.

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

I'm not talking like that. The you know what you aspect. I'm talking about. Bye.

[Zachary]

What's up?

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

I was telling you dead by. But no, I can't. I can't say what I want to say over the phone. But there's a reason why I don't want you to say anything right now. I was hanging around Eric. His Pocketful, lady in the pocket. Okay, So I don't. I don't need anything said right now.

[James Basinger]

I can't say what I want to say. Whatever she was carrying that Friday, she wouldn't put it on tape. But she made sure Zachary knew exactly who she'd been around.

[Zachary]

Eric.

[James Basinger]

Pocket and Pocket's old lady. You know Pocket's old lady In November of 2018, that was Ashley. And go back to the first seven words of that clip because they're doing something that nobody noticed for eight years. Sheldon's dad. She's at Sheldon's place. She's leaving and the tape catches it. Mark the moment. 4:50 in the afternoon. On a recorded line, the sound of Brittany Wallace Schenck leaving by herself. Call one ends the way calls between two stubborn people end as bad about who calls who from here on out.

[Zachary]

Listen, I'm not gonna call and call and call no more. I'm just. I'm a call call once or twice. If you don't answer, I'm not gonna call no more.

[James Basinger]

And a buy with an edge on it.

[Zachary]

Call the ever.

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

I'm not putting no more money on the phone then.

[Zachary]

Well then don't. I'm not gonna call and call and call and nobody answers.

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

Whatever. Bye. Thank you for using TTL34.

[James Basinger]

Silent minutes later he calls again and she picks up anyway. Listen to the very first words of call two.

[Zachary]

Now. You want to try this shit again?

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

No. Do you? Because I'm not that bitch. I do everything for you.

[James Basinger]

The argument never even cooled. Because that's the other thing these calls show you. They always pick back up. Before we go to the second call, I want you to hear something. This summer I played these recordings for the man on the other end of them seven and a half years later. And I asked him what he remembered.

[Zachary (later in interview)]

Vaguely, man, this has been a long time ago.

[James Basinger]

Vaguely. Seven years will do that. He was in a prison day room. She was driving to do laundry. Neither of them knew they were making a record. That's what these tapes are. Not testimony, not a statement. Just a Friday preserved by accident. Because prison phones record everything. Nobody performs on a call they don't know matters.

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

Your current balance is.

[James Basinger]

That's why it matters. 5:26pm Second call. The balance is down to $2 and change.

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

$2.85.

[James Basinger]

And this time you can hear Brittany driving.

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

On that Smile song. Best shot. That's your ringtone. Can you call me?

[Zachary]

You got dog's car or some.

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

Yeah. Go do laundry.

[Zachary]

Well, he didn't do this yesterday like he said he was gonna.

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

No. Actually got into a big ass fight. And that's the reason why I tripped the out on him. Cuz he wanted to drop me off. I said I'm grown. You're. I just kind of got driving on. Sorry I have to have you on spear while I drive. And also he. He's got a paper plate. I have to be careful.

[Zachary]

What kind of car you be driving?

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

I don't know.

[Zachary]

Depending. You don't know?

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

No, it's in r me. I don't know, kind of.

[James Basinger]

There it is. The Mercury. Borrowed paper plate. Driver being careful because of it. If you want all 52 episodes, you already know where this car ends up tonight. Sit with the facts that you know and she doesn't. Why is she in it? The most ordinary errand in the world. And woven all through this call. The part of Brittany the rumors never had room for.

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

Listen, I had to go to Calium Products in Bristol. A Gradpoint application in it. Stop freaking out on me.

[Zachary]

I ain't freaking out. Oh, you ain't seen me freak out.

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

I'm still gonna help you regardless. I get it. You don't want to use me.

[Zachary]

Okay, I didn't say that. Did you not read the I sent you?

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

I do read it.

[Zachary]

Well, then read it again.

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

I'm sorry. I love you. This is like ever since all that happened, like, this is my deck of the cards. You're not even gonna play them? Why? Because I can. Because I need to be able to have something when you come home. Right now I don't really have. So that's not even my fault because I wasn't getting a schedule for work. I still have money. I still have over $200 from 2000 though.

[Zachary]

You should have bought a car.

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

I didn't get that much. I only got 600 and something. I had to give my grandma 150 of it because she is flat ass broke.

[Zachary]

And you say you getting too expand. You said you was getting too van.

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

I didn't work that all that time. They cut my hours and all like it not only playing out like how it's supposed to. That's the only one who's stressing out,

[Zachary]

man. We wouldn't have to be worried about none of that. I was out there.

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

Well, what am I supposed to do? All I can do is try. I don't know. You thought it irritated with me. Please, have some patience. I'm doing everything that I'm supposed to be doing. I might be off and I called Calium Products today and she was in meetings all day. That's why she didn't call me. But she's gonna call me on Monday, which means I'll probably start Monday. All I gotta do is I'll do my drug test for them and I don't know if they have an orientation and fill out my paperwork.

[James Basinger]

A job application filed the day before Thursday the 29th. A callback expected Monday, which means I'll probably start Monday. Brittany strongly felt she interviewed well. She felt she had a start date and money. She had just gotten 600 and change. You know what she did with a quarter of it? 150 to grandma. Because Grandma, as Brittany put it, was broken. Gonna let the roundtable argue the rest of that. Oh, one more thing first, a throwaway line. Ten minutes into this call that took seven and a half years to become unbearable.

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

It's foggy outside.

[James Basinger]

5:36 in the evening. She names the fog. Remember the fog. Call two doesn't end, it gets ended.

[Zachary]

Oh, he had a kid that died, though, didn't he? He don't have no kids. Just that one that died.

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

That's what he says. This call is being terminated. Dialing of additional digits is not allowed. Please try again later.

[James Basinger]

Mid sentence, mid drive. The machine kills the line because someone on the call press numbers. That's what dialing of additional digits means. It's the system's way of assuming you're trying to patch in a third party. Why did it hear it? Hold that thought for 90 seconds. Because the next call, Brittany answers a question about it nobody ever got to ask her. 5:42pm One minute after the machine killed call 2, he's already dialed her back. 35 cents left on the account. And 35 cents buys you exactly 1 minute and 59 seconds. You already heard the end of this call. It opened the episode. But at the top of the show, I gave it to you in pieces. And I've decided that's not how you should have it. So here is the last phone call of Brittany Wallace Shank's known life. All of it, every second at its own speed. The robot voice, the static, the pauses from the moment the line opens to the moment the money runs out. 1 minute and 59 seconds. The length of a song on the radio.

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

Hello. This is a prepaid call from a prisoner at the Michigan Department of Corrections, Macomb facility. If you feel you're being victimized or extorted by this prisoner, please contact GTL Customer Service at 855-466-2832. To accept this call, press 0. To refuse this call, your current balance is $0.35. This call is from a correction facility and is subject to monitoring and recording. Thank you for using GTL. Only have. I only have 35 cents. You have one minute remaining. I have to get more money. But she said that the call was being terminated for a third call party, so. Yeah, I was cussing us.

[Zachary]

Somebody tried calling in.

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

Then no, nobody called, no nothing. That's why I was, like, screaming.

[Zachary]

What the. All right, well, when you want me to call you? Tonight?

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

Yeah, if you want. I'm g. I'm almost to my grandma's now, so when I get there, then I'll add money on the phone.

[Zachary]

All right, well, I'm going take a shower and I'll call you a little bit later.

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

Okay, that's fine.

[Zachary]

All right. Be careful.

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

All right. All right, I love you. Bye.

[James Basinger]

5:44pm A few things you just heard, now that you've heard them whole. The her Britney was cussing. That's the machine, the automated voice that killed Call two. So Britney's out there in the fog swearing at a recording, and what she says about that cutoff matters.

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

No, nobody called, no nothing.

[James Basinger]

Nobody called, no nothing. The system terminated Call two because it detected what it interpreted as a third party coming onto the line. That's what dialing of additional digits means. It listens for keypad tones. But Brittany says nothing happened on her end. So what did the machine hear? A phone on speaker in a moving car. A keypad. One lap bump from being pressed. A notification tone. These systems are known to kill calls over background noise. Families of inmates complain about it constantly. Or something else entirely, but I can't tell you which. What I can tell you is that a machine ended the second to last phone call. Brittany's known life. And its reason is a guess printed in the system language. And the plan. Did you catch the plan? Reload the phone at Grandma's. Talk again tonight after a shower. Two people scheduling their evening. Did the money ever get added? I don't think so. Because the next day Zachary wrote it all down. December 1st, 1 o. Eight in the afternoon. A jpay message from Zachary to Brittany's account. I'm going to read to you what it says because it is a timeline written by a man who didn't know he was writing one.

[Zachary]

Hey.

[James Basinger]

So what's up? What's going on with you? Now? You said when you got to your grandma's you were throwing money on your phone. When I called you back last night, your phone was off. So I waited an hour or so, called back and it was on and no answer before lockdown. I called and it was off again and still is today. What the fuck? Read that as evidence because that's what it is. He calls her back after his shower, her phone is off. An hour later, the phone is on, ringing and nobody answers it. Could that phone call ringing on Brittany's phone started the Argument before lockdown, off again the next day. Still off forever. As far as this case knows, somewhere in the missing hours of November 30, 2018, Brittany's phone came back on. Someone or something turned it on. And while it was on, it rang and no one picked up. Then it went dark again. If the prison's phone lock still exists, those callback attempts have timestamps, which means the on and ringing window can be placed. Was that before the 911 call? During it, or after? The next time a recording device captures Brittany Wallace, Schenk's voice is three hours later, six words long, and she's asking a stranger for help. But first, Sarah Jo. All right, Sarah. So the first call that she has with Zach, two things that jumped out to the both of us, the first one is Brittany's. Brings up the topic of Paulie getting arrested. From the moment I heard this phone call. And she, she says, hey, guess what? Polly got picked up or arrested. Whatever she, she says, he immediately goes into like, I ain't losing no sleep over it. And she then laughs about it with a follow up of like, huh, you. Does it sound like she's distraught over this? And like, damn, one of our close ones got picked up?

[Greg Wallace]

No, I, I don't think she sounded upset about Paulie being picked up. Did you think that?

[James Basinger]

I mean, I don't know, but do you? I mean, I think Zach kind of confirms what they feel about possibly Pocket and he's like, I ain't gonna lose no sleep over it. And she laughs about it and says, you. What does that, you mean, where does that come from? Like, what's the. To me, it comes, almost comes down to that one word she says and it kind of gives the vibe that possibly the reason why he got picked up. When I hear that. And she laughs about it.

[Greg Wallace]

Yeah. When she says, when she laughs and says fuck you, I think clearly the two of them are sharing in something they both know. And I would agree with you. My first reaction was, hmm. I immediately wondered if she was the one who might have tipped off law enforcement to pockets whereabouts. And that laugh kind of, yeah, that laugh is, you know, when we were talking to Greg, he, he said it's like the equivalent of the shit eating grin that he talks about. They're kind of sharing in something they both know. And then there's that laugh. And clearly like you said, both of them are not upset about him being picked up. It certainly doesn't seem that way. So yeah, my immediately, my immediate thought was, was it her that tipped off law enforcement. Zach also says, you know something. He mentions something about, you know, now that he, now that Paulie's picked up, Zach also says mentions something about getting word back to him. And she kind of puts the kibosh on that right away because he's like,

[James Basinger]

I can get word to do it. And that told me also something like when she says, yep, that meant, well, what, what is that? Like you are under understanding of something. She flips the gears, you know, she turns that right backwards and says, no, wait, hold up, don't, don't do that. Wait, wait a little bit. Because I don't need that shit coming back on me, him sitting in jail. Because when I fucked up, she's like, cuz when I fucked up, she says, she says that. And I'm thinking like, are you referring to the February 2017 raid between her and Eric?

[Greg Wallace]

Her and Eric, yeah.

[James Basinger]

But she quickly tells him, don't pursue that, don't say anything to Eric, or don't say anything to Pocket.

[Greg Wallace]

It sounds like she knew something that was going on and told Zach about it. And then Zach mentions once he learns that Paulie's been picked up, he mentions getting word about whatever that thing is that she knew about back to Polly.

[James Basinger]

I don't need him getting word that I. That you heard something that I heard that I shared with you type of thing. What do you think that is? What did Paulie talk about that got back to Zach? That Zach now feels inclined to notify him or get word to him.

[Greg Wallace]

But do you think that it's something that. Something about Paulie that Brittany knew or Brittany Anzac, I guess. Or do you think there's something maybe about Ashley and Eric that she knew that Polly didn't know, that she was perhaps trying to get word back or thought about. Right.

[James Basinger]

Getting word back to Paulie somehow? Yeah, I think that there would be a much simpler way for Britney to get word back to Paulie if she wanted something to get back to him. And not necessarily through her, Eric, or I'm sorry, through Zach while he's in jail. Because I'm thinking if it was something about Ashley and Eric, let's just say she could probably use someone who was probably more accessible to her to get word back to Polly about whatever it was. And it sounds like Britney and Polly at some point were around each other enough that, you know, she was supposedly supposed to move into Ashley's and then there was an argument and you know, whatever she heard, she relayed that and she doesn't want Pocket knowing It, whatever that thing is, is, is it makes you wonder like, is it drugs? Is it the money laundering? Is it the, you know?

[Greg Wallace]

Well, she either doesn't want Pocket to know about it or she doesn't want anybody else to know that she knows about it. Whatever that, whatever that thing is, right.

[James Basinger]

And I mean, she's pretty confident that it's going to trace right back to her. That kind of narrows it down to who's around.

[Greg Wallace]

Exactly.

[James Basinger]

And she even says in that call, look, I don't need you say anything because look, I was hanging around Pocket, Pocket's old lady, and Eric, if anything gets said, they know it came from me.

[Greg Wallace]

I was just gonna say, does that tell you that it's something to do with them? And they would know that it was her passes on this, whatever this information is.

[James Basinger]

It's a strong possibility, right, because it's, it's Brittany's own words saying in fear of something, trying to, you know, prevent the threat coming from Pocket's camp. And who is Brown? Pocket. Pockets of lady and Eric.

[Greg Wallace]

Yeah, I feel like it, it narrows things down a little, but it doesn't narrow things down enough because there's still so many holes that could be filled in by different things. And the. I don't need anything to come back on me. That part

[James Basinger]

for someone who goes missing

[Greg Wallace]

within hours later, she's clearly identifying real world consequences to whatever information she has.

[James Basinger]

Who tipped on Paulie? You know, I, I. What would be her motive to do that? You know, what would be the motivation? When Jessica went to Sprint, they got her phone log, copy of the outbound calls that were made on that day, November 30th. And one that's just worth me still trying to figure this out is that we now have Brittany on the previous call. She didn't say she called. She had spoken to the gal from Talon Products. Talon Products is the place that she's trying to get that job at. On her phone log, it shows that she contacted a company called ABM Cleaning she worked for. That's one call she made. She contacted Sheldon and that lasted for a minute. And then she contacted Talon Products. That lasted for three minutes. That phone call, I think happens just because Brittany doesn't say she spoke with. She wasn't able to make contact with the gal. She'd probably hear back from her on Monday because she was in meetings. In the first phone call, Brittany assumes that she doesn't say she spoke to him. Now Brittany has a gap in the window of the phone or the first phone call when she's talking to him and she abruptly ends that call. They don't speak for another 34 minutes. Now, we know Brittany's left Sheldon's though. So for 34 minutes. There's a gap there. Now, what could have Brittany done? She just now says, I tried talking to Talent products. They said that Gail has had meeting. Now, could Brittany be lying? But it's on her phone call log. So I think she does attempt this call between this gap. It's the part where she says, but there's a you. Because what's happening is it's terminating the call because it's picking up that it. There's an attempt to possibly have a third party call or a third party join the call. Join the call. If you listen to Brittany when she says that's what he says. The. But I hear a dial.

[Greg Wallace]

Oh, the little like the.

[James Basinger]

It's like someone. It's like a dial. It's like a button that's being tapped and it cuts her off and then it continues. Yeah, there's multiple reasons, right. Like that that could have possibly. That I hear it being touched. Like a dial, like a. A number and it cut it. I've had many calls with inmates and it's never happened to me. Of course, I'm not three weighing people also. But even on accident, I don't think

[Greg Wallace]

she would try and three way in another call with such little time remaining in their call. It didn't have a lot of money.

[James Basinger]

There was no purpose and intent for them to three way either. Like, I think I'm wondering if there's like another app that she's using.

[Greg Wallace]

Like if we're on a call and I am doing something else while we're on a call. I do think that sometimes you can hear a break in me speaking when I'm pressing something. So maybe she was using another. Another app like you said, while. While she's on the phone with him.

[James Basinger]

So we go 4:52 to 5:26pm we have the first call. It was ended. There was a 34 minute. 34 minutes off the phone. Brittany more than likely probably called Talon Products. Now we know that. And then the next phone call would have been Sheldon. That's for a minute. And then Josh Van Vries, she ends the call at 5:44pm that means between 5:44pm and 6 11, she's unaccounted for.

[Greg Wallace]

The time is unaccounted for.

[James Basinger]

Zach says, hey, I'm in the shower. You want me to call you back? Yeah, I gotta put more money on my Account though. I see a phone call to the facility. It's 972, ends in 30395. Could that be who she's calling to add more money onto her account?

[Greg Wallace]

Usually you would call Global Telenc. Usually you would call that. Or go online and do it. Whatever. So calling the facility is a little weird. Unless she was. Unless she was putting money on his books. And then he. Oh wait, doesn't he say. Yes, he says in another conversation that he only put X amount of money from the money that she gave him on the call. He put some of it on his commissary.

[James Basinger]

Jpeg.

[Greg Wallace]

Yeah, in a jpeg. So that means to me that she called and maybe put money on his books and not directly to go to Global Tell Link. And then he chose what to do with it, however, to split it up.

[James Basinger]

That makes sense.

[Greg Wallace]

10 and 10 or whatever. Whatever. That's probably how they did it because otherwise she would have just called Global Tell Link and put the money on his phone.

[James Basinger]

So maybe that's what that calls for. Then there's a three minute call to Sheldon and then a one minute call to Sheldon after that. So then from 5:44 to 6:30, we know that she's now at Grandma's with mystery man. Where does the stranger enter the car?

[Greg Wallace]

Does she pick him up? Is this somebody she meets somewhere? I feel like this is somebody she picks up.

[James Basinger]

I think Brittany getting ready has another layer of impact on my belief about what she was doing that night. And she's adamant Sheldon doesn't need to come in this commute to Grandma's and back. She does get dressed up, she does her hair. And I was talking to some of the family members, like Victor yesterday, and he was just saying how if she was gonna go do laundry, she'd go in her fucking sweater and pajamas. And Sheldon doesn't remember her leaving. As dolled up as she was with the selfie image in the car. Plenty of time to pick somebody up though.

[Greg Wallace]

Yeah, for sure.

[James Basinger]

Take a lap around Sturgis a few times. But in 30 minutes. Like there's plenty of time for her to depict mystery man. Could he have been with her when she got gas? More than likely. Why? Because grandma says that they arrived together. It's never been said that they arrived separately. So she puts money on his account. Then does she turn her phone off? Zach goes and takes a shower. Calls her later that night. Phone's off. Calls her again before lockdown on.

[Greg Wallace]

But she doesn't answer correct.

[James Basinger]

Next day, calls again on December 1st off.

[Greg Wallace]

I could see her turning her phone off while she's with somebody else, another guy. Whether it's romantic or not, I could see her turning her phone off and not taking a call from Zach while she's with somebody else.

[James Basinger]

Who is she afraid of that she would feel that way about being on the phone in front of Zach? So she hangs up at 5:44pm alone in that car. A few minutes out. Hold that word. Alone. Because 46 minutes later, she isn't. Before we walk back into that night, we get to hear from the man she was talking to. Every voice you've heard tonight is seven and a half years old, except one. You heard him at the top of the show. The man on the other end of all three calls. The man she told about Paulie. The man she was saving. Something for that she couldn't say on the recorded line. The man she said, I love you, Bye, too, and never talk to again. I tried talking to Zach during season three. I reached out multiple times. No response. But this summer, I called him again. This time he answered. Zachary's out now. Has been since 2019. Here's what you should know about who picked up that phone, because it matters for how you weigh everything that you're about to hear. A partner, Kids. You'll hear them. They're in the background of every call we recorded asking for his phone. Being told no. A job, a different life. He'd listened to the whole podcast. He'd listened to the three calls. He talked to me for the better part of an hour on the record with nothing promised and nothing asked in return. At one point talking about him and Brittany, how they met, how it started, how he got locked up. Right as he did, he said something that's been rattling around my head ever since. He said, yeah, it wasn't really.

[Zachary (later in interview)]

And I got locked up. Yeah, and the rest of them. All in recordings.

[James Basinger]

Yeah, and the rest of all in recordings. He's right. That's what the relationship is now.jpg messages, three phone calls, a file, and two people who mostly exist together as a recording. And one of them is the only one left who can explain it. So let's have him explain it. Start with the machine. The question Sarah Jo and I just left open. What killed Call two? I asked him. And remember, this is a man who lived inside the GTL phone system for years. He knows its rules. The way that you know your commute. Do you have any questions for me first?

[Zachary]

Or any.

[James Basinger]

Anything that you need to. You want to ask first?

[Zachary (later in interview)]

I mean, not really. I got to listen to your whole podcast and I started listening to the one they just released. I didn't listen to all of it yet. And it's crazy, man. It's. The whole thing is crazy.

[James Basinger]

I. I can't imagine from your perspective.

[Zachary (later in interview)]

Yeah, I mean, it was definitely not what was expected, that's for sure. And it's been so long ago now. And I keep hearing. Come here, honey. I keep hearing different stuff, you know, still, and it keeps circling back to the same things, you know what I'm saying?

[James Basinger]

But you, you had a chance to listen to the phone calls between the two of you, right?

[Zachary (later in interview)]

Yeah.

[James Basinger]

Do you remember those? Does any of that stuff, like, after hearing.

[Zachary (later in interview)]

Vaguely, man, it's been a long time ago. I was thinking about the poly thing too, and I can't really get anything to like, like, spark in my mind that what she could be talking about. Unless she. There wasn't anything in the J page that mentioned about the same time too.

[James Basinger]

You. Nothing sparks your memory.

[Zachary (later in interview)]

Not, not. Not really with the poly thing here. With the poly thing at all.

[James Basinger]

Yeah, because there's a point in there. There was a point in there that she. I mean, you guys are in that call and then it gets cut off. Does that. Was that because someone else was calling her or she was trying to call. Someone's trying. She was trying to use an app to call somebody else.

[Zachary (later in interview)]

When you're in prison, if you know how you can do, like third party calls.

[Zachary (JPay messages)]

Yeah.

[Zachary (later in interview)]

From a home phone. But if you do that when you're on a prison call, it will cut you off because of the third party call. So either somebody was trying to call in and she was gonna accept it, or she. Maybe she was trying to call out. I'm not sure one way or another. That's why, That's. That's why the call got him.

[Greg Wallace]

Dude.

[James Basinger]

Here's what he's saying and here's what he's not. In his experience that termination means that the system heard a third line trying to join somebody calling in to her or her dialing out. He can't say which. Neither can I. Now, Britney said nobody called, and I'd imagine she'd know if her phone rang. But a keypad brushing a cheek. Well, she's on speaker. What about an app, a call coming in that she declined the tape can't rule those in or out, and so neither will I. But if you listen closely, it sounds at the very end like a slight digital glitch, almost like someone was attempting to call in. Listen again.

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

That's what? He says this call is being terminated.

[James Basinger]

What I can tell you is this the one man on that line with years of experience and how those calls die. He didn't hear a glitch. He heard a third party hold it exactly as that his read. Now the harder one, you heard it in the roundtable. Paka had been telling people Zachary was a snitch. That's what get word to dude was about. Well, there's that. There's that part, bro, where she's like telling you, like, hey, guess what? Paulie got picked up last night.

[Zachary]

And

[James Basinger]

was she sharing that with you because of a. What letter to share that with you.

[Zachary (later in interview)]

I remember her telling me before this, prior to all this, about how Polly used to sketch her out. It was Polly and I think it was Ashley. It could have been Pally's girl at the time. I'm not sure, but I know she was talking about how probably was catching her out every time. He's always acting weird. And then I remember her in. In that call, as soon as she saw my house, she met up with Eric and then Paulina's girl.

[James Basinger]

Was there any reason to believe. You know, you mentioned at Brittany saying that Pocket sketched her out. Do you recall you said.

[Zachary]

You said that?

[James Basinger]

I think at times that they hung out, maybe that he was sketching her out. Like when he was in front of her in person.

[Zachary (later in interview)]

Oh, yeah. It was prior to that. That call, she was talking about how he sketched her out every time she's around him.

[Zachary]

Okay.

[Zachary (later in interview)]

I'm not sure if Ashley was his chick at the time. She was then. That would make sense then. Yeah.

[James Basinger]

Did she share with you much about Ashley?

[Zachary (later in interview)]

Honestly, one of the last couple times I talked to her, I believe. I believe Ashley was in the car with her and they was down at the glass house. They were supposed to be working together, but she, like Ashley was kind of new to me. And then Ashley ended up messaging me from her JPEG after she went missing. I believe

[James Basinger]

Ashley messaged you from Britney's jpeg?

[Zachary (later in interview)]

I believe so. After she went missing, it was either Britney's day pay or somebody else, but I think. I believe it was Britney's jpeg.

[James Basinger]

And do you remember what the con, like, what the context of the message was like? Do you remember what she was. What she said?

[Zachary (later in interview)]

I'm sorry, brother, I do not. I got my. My mom has my JP5 tablet from when I was in prison, but I don't have no access to it. If I can get that from my mom and get it to you guys, and maybe it'll help you even more. But I don't know how to get into it. I don't remember. That's a long time ago, man.

[James Basinger]

There's a part in there where Britney's like, hey, Pocket got picked up. And you, you mentioned, I want. Now I can get word to dude

[Zachary (later in interview)]

because he's in jail. It's easier to get word to somebody when they're in jail from prison than it is when they're on the street for some reason.

[James Basinger]

Do you know what that would have been about?

[Zachary (later in interview)]

Because he was out here. He was out here trying to tell everybody I was snitching on people. Yeah, that's. I said, how I can get word to him because that's who's out here trying to spread that around.

[James Basinger]

Britney told you that Pocket was saying that about you?

[Zachary (later in interview)]

Yeah, and I heard like from my brother and too, and a few other people when I was in there.

[James Basinger]

So what do you think Brittany meant at the next part of your guys conversation where you're like, I can get word to dude. She was like, yep. And then she was like, well, no, hold on, don't. Because I don't need him getting a hair under his ass sitting in prison for whatever he's being locked up for.

[Zachary (later in interview)]

All right, let me think for a second.

[James Basinger]

Yeah, yeah, you're good.

[Zachary (later in interview)]

Hey, can I get the kids in the car?

[James Basinger]

Yeah.

[Zachary (later in interview)]

And then get home. It take me about 20 minutes to get home.

[Zachary]

You're good.

[James Basinger]

I'll be available.

[Zachary (later in interview)]

All right, buddy. Thank you. I appreciate you. I'm sorry.

[James Basinger]

You're good, you're good. I understand it.

[Zachary (later in interview)]

All right, brother.

[James Basinger]

He was younger. He was trying to act tough. He wanted a word with the man spreading it. I just wanted to go back to. To that. To that one part of the convo where you're saying. We were at that part where you were saying Pocket or Brittany told you that Pocket was saying that you were a snitch or something like that?

[Zachary (later in interview)]

Yeah, I guess he was saying, telling people out here. I was. I had told on a few people or whatever, and that's why I didn't go to prison longer. I don't. I don't really know the details to it. I heard from a few different people that he was saying that. So I was trying to get word to him about, you know, when I came home back, you know, that younger, dumb. I was just trying to act tough, I guess, back then.

[James Basinger]

Like, I'll just be honest with you, bro. Like, I kind of wondered for a second. I did. I Didn't know if, like, maybe Brittany if had turned pocket in.

[Zachary (later in interview)]

I wouldn't have put it past you, to be honest.

[James Basinger]

Why do you say that? There's a history under that history. And he handed it to me unprompted.

[Zachary (later in interview)]

Because from what I was told, like, right before, before I went to prison, like, I was hanging out with Brittany and Eric and all them and everything, and we was all into the drugs pretty good. Apparently, they. Eric and Brittany got busted or whatever, and they was. And they was trying to set me up so they can get out of trouble. And Mark told us with them. And I still had the search warrant to her house. My mom does somewhere. The search warrant that they left at their house that day with all their names on it.

[James Basinger]

Now, I want you to unpack that carefully with every label that it needs. A drug bust. The 2017 trailer raid you heard about earlier, the one from the jpay, Zachary's account heard secondhand, and years later, his words is that Eric and Brittany were caught and that they discussed setting him up to get out of their own trouble. A third name in the room, Mark, and a physical artifact Zachary says still exist. The search warrant from that raid at his mother's house with names on it. I've asked for that document until it's in hand. This paragraph is his account, period. And here's the part that reframes the calls you just heard. When did he learn of any of this? You had hung. You said you were hanging out with her and Eric. Are you talking about Eric, Shane?

[Zachary (later in interview)]

Yeah, before I went to prison. Before all this stuff.

[James Basinger]

When she got.

[Zachary]

She got.

[James Basinger]

Yeah, they got popped at the trailer right between the two of them.

[Zachary (later in interview)]

Yep. Yep, I heard about it. That they was going to try to get me after she had went missing. I didn't hear about it beforehand, and. But, like, we was cool all the way up until the day of. Apparently, like, I think that's when those calls was. Was. Wasn't it?

[James Basinger]

After, on November 30th. On those calls, he knew none of it. Whatever was or wasn't, underneath their friendship, the two people on that tape were, in his words, cool all the way up until the day of. Which brings us to the things she wouldn't say.

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

But no, I can't. I can't say what I want to say over the phone. But there's a reason why I don't want you to say anything right now.

[James Basinger]

She was saving something for him. The plan was reload the phone at Grandma's, talk again that night. The something never got said Then I ate it. So I asked the man it was meant for. Because if anyone on earth knows what Brittany couldn't say on a recorded line, it's him. Do you remember? Let's go back to the phone call real quick.

[Zachary (later in interview)]

Quick.

[James Basinger]

So do you remember the. The part where she's like, hey, but I want. I gotta tell you something, but I can't tell you over the phone call?

[Zachary (later in interview)]

Yeah, that's. That's what I was thinking about. I don't. I was kind of curious about that myself. So when she's like day pays, that refers to that.

[James Basinger]

It's almost like she knows what you're. She's insinuating that you should know what she's referring to. But she's like, I was hanging. I was hanging around Pocket. Pockets. Old lady and Eric.

[Zachary]

Yeah.

[James Basinger]

And I'm like, what does she mean by that?

[Zachary (later in interview)]

Like.

[James Basinger]

What do you mean?

[Greg Wallace]

Like,

[Zachary (later in interview)]

to be honest with you, back then it was probably wrapped a lot around drugs. Right? We was all into that pretty bad.

[Zachary (JPay messages)]

And.

[Zachary (later in interview)]

All right. Pocket's always been a sketchy person. So she might have been trying to get him like that. I'm not sure. 100. But they kind of made me think about it too. And that's why I was asking maybe if it was in the J page.

[Zachary]

But

[Zachary (later in interview)]

I'm not. I'm not sure. Really.

[James Basinger]

Okay.

[Zachary (later in interview)]

That's a good question.

[James Basinger]

He doesn't know. Seven and a half years and the message never found its way to him by another road. Not a jpay, not a letter, not a rumor that fit. His best guess is the same shape as ours. Something wrapped around drugs. Something about people. She just named a guess labeled the one man she was saving it for is still waiting to hear it. Sit with that. Last thing from this part of our conversation is the one I'm going to handle exactly as carefully as it deserves. I asked him about Eric Schenck. About how things were between Brittany and Eric, the man she'd been married to. What follows is Zachary's account. What he says she told him and what he says he saw in the time before he went to prison. It is one man's memory of a dead ended era. And Eric has never been charged with anything in connection with Britney's disappearance. Both of those sentences stay attached to everything you're about to hear.

[Zachary (later in interview)]

She was scared. She listen. She was scared. She listened to Eric for a long time. Like how he get like super high or like he's coming down or whatever. Back then it would go crazy. Like she'd be running around town Trying to find places to hide from him. And really. And like, every time that he found out, like, he was still talking to me or whatever, she sent me care packs or some stuff like that. Or she'd be at my mom's house, like, he'd lose his. On it. Like. And I guess after, like she signed off or whatever on. On all the kids, like, he really went on a bender.

[James Basinger]

Scared, hiding around town. And when I asked directly whether it ever got physical between them, his answer was.

[Zachary (later in interview)]

I mean, I. When they was together, I know he was, but afterwards, I really couldn't tell you.

[James Basinger]

And then in the same breath, the honest limit of knowledge after they split, I really couldn't tell you. That's the whole account sourced to him, bounded by him. What she told him, what he says he knew, where his knowing stops

[Zachary]

and

[James Basinger]

one detail from it belongs next to the calls, she'd be running around town trying to find places to hide. Remember that sentence when you think about a woman who wouldn't say a thing out loud on a monitored line.

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

But there's a reason why I don't want you to say anything right now.

[James Basinger]

That's not a woman who's careless about who hears what. That's what the man on the other end can tell you about the calls. Now, I'm going to walk you through the night. Fast. One breath. Because you've lived it with me across season three and it's not tonight's story. And then I'm going to hand him the night's questions because it turns out the other half of that conversation has been carrying answers nobody ever asked him for. 5:44pm I love you. Bye. Every sound on that tape reads alone. Saying goodbye to Sheldon's dad, her leaving the music, and never a second voice across three calls. Minutes later, she's griping to Sheldon by phone that his car is Running on empty. 6:11pm In 34 seconds, a receipt. The Marathon on Fawn River Road. 20 on pump number seven. She folds the receipt away. 6:30pm Give or take five minutes. Burgundy Mercury pulls into the driveway on Crane Road. Grandma's house. She made it. And I want you to understand what that house was to her. Not from me, from Zachary. She took him there once or twice back when they were close. So did you. I mean, at Grandma's house. I mean, was there any. Do you recall using at Grandma's or any spot?

[Zachary (later in interview)]

No. Never. Never. I told her I didn't even want to go to her grandma's house. Hi. Let alone use theirs.

[James Basinger]

So we never did you remember how the interaction went when you were at grandma's or what you guys did?

[Zachary (later in interview)]

Yeah. Grandma seemed real sweet. It was real cozy there. And comfortable. Yeah. Felt like a place that you can go in and fall asleep on a couch and feel safe at, no matter who you are. Yeah, it was probably the most comfortable situation I've been in the whole time. I know Brittany.

[James Basinger]

Oh, really?

[Zachary (later in interview)]

Yeah. Her grandma's house is real, real cozy.

[James Basinger]

The one clean room and a hard life. She made it to the safest place in her world. Laundry in the trunk, receipt in her pocket. Job starting Monday. She walked through that door, and she did not walk through it alone. Mystery man is with her. A man grandmother told deputies she had never met or seen before. According to the case file, a photo binder with Sheldon, Eric and Daniel Keltner in it got three no's. Mystery man has never been identified. Not that night. Not in seven and a half years. What the family remembers in waypoints. The man in and out of the house. What looked like arguing. Around 8:25, give or take five or ten minutes, the two of them leave together. Three miles from grandma's driveway at the curve where workman meets von River. The mercury goes into the trees. A crash you'd walk away from. Cracked bumper, no broken glass. And everyone in that car did walk away from it. That's the problem. 8:45, a motion light behind farmhouse. John Cassard, elderly, a cane. Dialysis. Finds a young woman at his rear door. T shirt and jeans, low 30s. Out. No shoes, no coat. Cuts on her hands and feet. And she won't let him look at them. She tells him her boyfriend crashed the car they were driving and ran off. From Cassard's phone, a 911 call. Yes? I need some help. The last recording of Brittany Wallace Schenk's voice. The calls you heard tonight are the last conversation. This is the last recording. The last number Brittany ever dialed was her grandmother's. Just after 9pm about a thousand feet away, a teenage boy, home alone hears knocking and footsteps on his back porch. Then he sees a woman through the window, dark hair, dark jacket or hoodie, walking from the back of the house around to the front. One second of eye contact, he ducks. This is the last time any witness on record saw her. And later that night, a neighbor checking on the boy finds the mercury at the curve. Trunk open, closed thrown. Glove box tossed. Her purse dumped out like someone was looking for something. And the laundry still in the trunk. That's the night. The full anatomy of it. The doors, the fog the minutes. The first man at the car. The original season carries it Tonight, the night is here for one reason. At 5:44pm on tape, Brittany is alone. At 6:30, she arrives with a man nobody in her family has ever seen. That is a 46 minute window with one provable stop inside it. A gas station. At 6:11pm Somewhere in those 46 minutes, the last new character in Brittany Wallace Schenck's story got into the car. The calls didn't just give us her voice back, they put a clock on him. So put the man from the other end of the phone next to that window and ask him the night's questions. Question one, would Brittany really bring a stranger to her grandmother's house? It's the quiet objection under every theory of mystery, man. Surely not there. Not to the safe house, not grandma's. I didn't even have to ask it. He answered it about himself.

[Zachary (later in interview)]

I mean, I was kind of a random dude. Yeah. She didn't know me very long before she took me out there.

[James Basinger]

At the time, like I want to

[Zachary (later in interview)]

say like within the week of her knowing me, she took me out there.

[James Basinger]

The first knowing you.

[Zachary (later in interview)]

Yeah.

[James Basinger]

So within a week of meeting Zachary, Brittany brought him back to Crane Road. Question 2. And this one cuts the other way. So here with both halves. When Zachary listened to the calls, something in them surprised him. Apparently somebody's in the car during calls two and three.

[Zachary (later in interview)]

Like I. Apparently there was somebody in the car at the like within the second call that we had. And by the third, and I didn't even know that,

[James Basinger]

his word is. Apparently it's something he's picked up since a rumor, not something he heard during the calls. Because the tape itself points the other way. The departure you heard in call one. No second voice on any of the three calls. And her own. I'm almost to Grandma's now. Spoken like a woman alone. I told you at 4:50 someone would ask you to doubt that sound. That is this moment. I can't reconcile his impression with the audio, so I won't. Both of them sit on the table labeled. And if someone was in that car keeping quiet through two phone calls, the 46 minute window isn't a window at all. It's a door that was already open. Question three, her state that night. You know the scene at Cassard's door, Barefoot, no coat, refusing care. I play Zachary. The question every listener has asked. How did she sound?

[Zachary (later in interview)]

Like she was high. Super, super high. Really? Yeah. And I mean I. That's all I've really known. Brittany has, was. Was high because it's like through the drugs. That's how we met. She was married to one of my buddies before. And so we just ended up linking up like through the whole drug circle. And I'm trying. I'm not trying to put it out there like that, but that's really what it was. And like she was high as hell in that call. There isn't anything anybody can tell me any different.

[James Basinger]

His read one man's ear, a man who knew her voice high and knew it sober, offered about the 911 recording and bounded there. We chained nothing to it. But one more thing he told me belongs beside it. And I guess it's the quietest bomb in the whole interview. We were talking about how she used back in their era. And he said, I know Brittany was doing meth at the time and was it smoking or was she shooting?

[Zachary (later in interview)]

A little bit of both.

[Zachary]

Okay.

[Zachary (later in interview)]

She never did it by herself that I ever know.

[James Basinger]

She never used the loan. Not as long as he ever knew her. If Britney got high on the night of Nov. 30 and her own 3am video from Sheldon's house of Thor at Sheldon's and Zachary's ear both leaned that way, then somewhere in the fog of that evening, in his experience of her, there was someone she used with the knight keeps insisting on a second person ever wrote on it. Question four, Ashley. You heard the name on the calls. Pocket's old lady. One of the people she'd been hanging around season three spent a lot of tape on Ashley Hooley. Here's what the man on the other end adds. Each piece labeled But I don't actually

[Zachary (later in interview)]

see like considered Ashley like a safe zone.

[James Basinger]

She did.

[Zachary (later in interview)]

Yeah. And I do think that she could have possibly went there that night and maybe she walked in on something that she wasn't supposed to see or find out. I don't know.

[James Basinger]

A safe zone. That's what his word for Ashley was to her. And what follows it is speculation. And he says so himself. Maybe or I don't know. It airs because his sense of where she'd run is evidence of habit. The second half is a guess and it stays one second a point for Ashley's leisure. Because fairness runs both directions on this show. Ashley has long claimed Brittany talked about moving in with her. I asked Zachary his answer. Yeah, she did talk about that one claim of Ashley's corroborated by the man she had no reason to help. And third, this one is new. It is checkable. In episode two, we're going to chase it. Zachary believes that after Britney went missing, a message arrived from Britney's own JPAY account and that one person on it was Ashley. Zachary can't remember what she said. It was seven and a half years ago. But JPAY messages don't live in memory, they live on servers and on devices. His old JP5 tablet still exists at his mother's house. Brenda getting into a seven year old prison tablet is not simple. But he's offered to help us try. Who and why was Ashley on Brittany's account after she was gone? And what did they want with the man in prison who loved her? Last question, the one I promised you at the top of this episode, at the very start of this show, you heard Zachary say, to be honest with you man, this is gonna kind of you up. Here's what he was about to tell me from what do you think happened that night? Have you had any kind of like personal thoughts on your own where you're like, ah, maybe this could have happened that people aren't considering or who the mystery guy who was with Brittany that night.

[Zachary (later in interview)]

To be honest with you man, this is gonna kind of you up. When I got out of prison, I went into transitional housing at the probation center and I ended up discounting because I got high. And then I went back to the center when I got caught for like a tier three parolee program. I had to be there for 90 days. And I started working it down at Precision Wire Forms. There are three rivers. And I used to walk from the probation center to the factory every, every afternoon because I work second shift there. And I'd walk with a group of guys and there's a couple guys we walking with and my buddy Jesse Booth is one of them. We've seen this guy pull up, this biker dude pull up on a motorcycle right there at the intersection of. I think, I believe it's Constantine street and Broadway, right at the bridge and Thrillers. And I, I just got across Constantine and I look over, I see this guy on a motorcy, a blue Harley and this girl on the back of the bike and she had like sweatpants on and like a, A cam, like a cammy top or whatever, like, like an undershirt kind of, but with her hair up in these big sunglasses. And like I seen her, I didn't think nothing of it. And I looked back and I was like, man, something familiar about that girl. Look back. She kept trying to hide her face from me. And my buddy's like, you see that, right? I was like, yeah, she's Trying to hide. She's like, she absolutely trying to keep her face hidden from you, bro. He's like, you know who that looks like? I said, I do know who that looks like, but I don't really want to say. He said, that's Brittany Shank. That's. That's what I thought, too. And I swear, if it wasn't her, I don't know, man. It looked just like her.

[James Basinger]

Seven months after Brittany Wallace Shank walked into the fog, the man she said I love you to on her last afternoon, looked across an intersection and three rivers and believed, believes to this day, he might have seen her on the back of a blue Harley hiding her face from him.

[Zachary (later in interview)]

Tell me.

[James Basinger]

Tell me. So you're at the corner where you told me you're at the street already, is she? She's on a bike. Does she have a helmet on?

[Zachary (later in interview)]

Nope. No helmet. She's on the back of a blue Harley. And my brother said he's seen that same blue Harley sitting at. At a residence in Constantine somewhere.

[James Basinger]

Now, the labels, all of them, out loud, it is uncorroborated. It is a glance across the street, seven years old. It is an ID by a man with every human reason to want her alive. The friend walking beside him agreed. His stepbrother, J.J. fox, he says later, saw the same blue Harley parked at a residence and Constantine secondhand unrun down on the list. And here's why I aired it. Anyway, beyond rule one, that you hear what I hear, because of what he did next with it. He didn't build a story. He built the case against his own eyes.

[Zachary (later in interview)]

Listen, like, ever since then, I've seen that. Like, I've been a little skeptical on, like, if she's still alive or not. Yeah, because I heard, like, she could. Like, she went out to Texas and changed her name and everything, and she had a buddy that sent her out to her. If she was alive. It's kind of messed up that she went so long without at least reaching out to her grandma or her dad, you know, Like, I can understand with

[James Basinger]

her mom, you think she didn't stay away from her kids this long.

[Zachary (later in interview)]

I don't know how somebody could do

[Zachary]

that

[Zachary (later in interview)]

if she was on drugs. Absolutely.

[James Basinger]

That's the whole man in 20 seconds. A sighting he can't shake, and every reason in it might be wrong, offered unprompted in the same conversation, skepticism pointed at his own hope. I don't know what he saw at that intersection. Neither does he. That's the point. It goes on the board. The way everything Goes on the board in this series. Dated, sourced, labeled, and chased. Sarah Jo, get in here. We're jumping back into a roundtable, but this time Greg Wallace joins Sarah Jo and I. We've got seven years of silence to take apart.

[Sarah Jo]

Me and James discussed. I know, Brittany and that eaten laugh that she gave. You know, like Zach said, if Polly was creeping her out. And I could have seen. Yeah, I could have seen her turn any man, definitely.

[Greg Wallace]

When she's on the phone with Zach and she says what she says and then she laughs, right?

[Sarah Jo]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Greg Wallace]

As a woman listening to that, I know what that is.

[Sarah Jo]

Yeah. She's like, yeah, fuck him. I got his ass.

[Greg Wallace]

To be fair, I can also see Zach not even if Zach knows that Britt's the one who reported him. I can see Zach not wanting to say that because, you know, if you

[Sarah Jo]

air that, Zach, I know my daughter, she fucking flipped on him, dude. I mean, what's your thoughts? Do you know if she did?

[Greg Wallace]

Even if he said no, I can understand him saying no because that doesn't go over well in this world.

[Zachary (later in interview)]

Right?

[Greg Wallace]

So I can understand if he just said no. I don't know. But I do think. I think she. She's the one who turned him in. And she. He says right there, Pocket was running his mouth. Brittany said that she loved him, that she loved Zach, and she said that Paulie creeped her out.

[Sarah Jo]

I said, you know, when Eric and Brittany's house got busted for meth, I said, brittany didn't do jail time. Eric done very little jail time.

[Greg Wallace]

Through the grapevine, Eric said that he. He took it for her. Like.

[Sarah Jo]

Yeah, I heard that too. I guess I find myself. After hearing that, I find myself sitting here questioning myself, you know, it. Is he trying to dodge something here?

[Greg Wallace]

I mean, did he call you back or did you have to go to him?

[James Basinger]

No, he called me back.

[Greg Wallace]

I think Zach just confirms everything that I've thought. He says that he wouldn't put it past Britt to turn Polly in.

[Sarah Jo]

I guess that leads to a question. How can we. Is if we think maybe she's trying to get a reward, Is there a way we can find out, you know, what rewards were being offered at the

[James Basinger]

time on Pocket Spot?

[Greg Wallace]

I don't.

[Sarah Jo]

Whether it be because, yeah, she said I was supposed to get paid, but was it supposed to be a reward, what she's supposed to be paid for? I guess I'm confused on that.

[James Basinger]

If Brittany did put in this tip, whether she did anonymously, or if it was done through a route of her thinking that she, there was going to be some sort of kickback towards her direction. It was, you know, of course he had a warrant for his arrest, but, you know, they were sitting at the parking lot, you know, ready to nab him. There was somebody, I think, put the drop on him. And more than likely was it Brit. If she, if they knew that and if there was a way that it comes back to her that how has that not been pursued?

[Greg Wallace]

Thing he said was that she was scared shitless

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

of Eric.

[Greg Wallace]

And, you know, we knew that, but that's confirmation. And he said after she signs off on the kids, he really went crazy. And I think that was the tipping point for him.

[Sarah Jo]

Well, I'm sure I've told James this before, but Brittany herself told me she was scared shitless of Eric. I mean, you know, I've seen him physical.

[Greg Wallace]

And hearing Zach say that she wasn't just talking, she was serious, she was scared of him. She was scared of him for a reason. And for her to say something to Zach about it, I can't imagine the things that she went through that she didn't talk about with Eric. I think what he's saying is very important. It makes me wonder. He said when he was, when Eric was coming down, he would go crazy. It does make me wonder if in fact that was him with Britt that night. Was he coming down when they were, when they were leaving?

[James Basinger]

You know, Eric had mentioned even in his interview with. That things would get bad between him and Britt when they were using. And it could be the smallest thing, you know, we know that they're using.

[Greg Wallace]

Yeah. The other thing was the money making at Don Hills.

[James Basinger]

He's aware of it.

[Greg Wallace]

Yeah, he confirms it. And he, and he knows about it. And you know, Ashley never really copped to that. Like she never really admits it. She kind of dances around about it, like, doesn't really say much about it. But that if, if Zach knows that means Britney told him. And so what, what did Britney have some, not just knowledge about it, but was she involved in it some way? Did they think she, she was going to flip on.

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

On them?

[Greg Wallace]

Did they think she was going to turn them in

[James Basinger]

the relationship with Ashley? And he's like, I thought she treated Ash as like a safe spot to go. It's always been my argument to Ashley. And obviously Britney's reaching out to Ashley on the 30th, asking about Paulie. Like there would be no reason for Britney not to stop by, especially if she's her dope dealer. So it's not out of the realm to say, even in Zach's saying. And I think Britney is treating Ashley's spot like that because that's the access to Eric too.

[Greg Wallace]

We hear Ashley say many times that Britney was going to move in with Ashley. But then Ashley says, well, Britney decided not to because Pocket and I got into a fight and she thought that she was the cause of, of the fight. So she doesn't move in. I actually think different now. I think that it was actually Ashley who didn't want her to move in because Eric was there all the time. And how could she carry on something with, with Eric there if Britney's there? And that would have made Britney feel some type of way like her telling her, no, you can't after she's already told her that she could. And that would make like if I'm in Britney's position, I would have been like, yeah, they're fucking around. That's why you don't want me to move in.

[Sarah Jo]

My thought, you know, did she walk in on Ashley and Eric? But was it, was their relationship far enough where, you know, she's not knocking on doors anymore? She just walks, walks in and out.

[Greg Wallace]

Whenever I think Ashley, a lot of people walked in and out of Ashley's without. Okay. I think it was like an open door policy.

[Sarah Jo]

Do you think he knows more than he's telling?

[James Basinger]

I don't think so. And I've looked at the, you know, this guy's life after he got out of jail and even I don't personally see that. And I see who he is even to this day and how he is with his kids. And it doesn't show the reflection of a character of a guy who knows what happened, especially with how he loves his own kids.

[Sarah Jo]

I'm putting myself in Zach shoes. Okay? I do know. I, you know, I do know. Or I might know something. But hey, I got all these kids. I don't want shit, you know, coming down on me. So am I, am I dodging the ball on some of these questions or.

[James Basinger]

I didn't get the sense that Zach would have any reason to have any ill will or to not protect Brittany. Like, Sheldon is looking out for Brittany's best interest. They're fully wanting to have a life together when they get out. And she is trying to work with his aunt. Like you heard, she was absolutely wanting this relationship with Zach. Zach was showing that he cared, invested even into the kids that weren't his. I just haven't seen his personality go the opposite direction since he's gotten out to your point. Could he be covering or could he be protecting his kids because he doesn't want to get inserted? I don't know how, how much of a role he can have behind bars. What are your thoughts? I mean what do you think? Is there more you think Greg, that he's feeling like. Are you feeling like he's withholding some details or do you feel like there's an area you want to know more about with him?

[Zachary]

No.

[Sarah Jo]

I guess just more of a wish. I wanted. I wanted to know what. What she didn't want him to say.

[James Basinger]

Here's where season three left this day. A laundry run. A 911 call. A wrecked car. A vanishing a woman with a job starting Monday and pictures of her kids on her screen managing a threat out of the county jail with one hand and a fresh start with the other. Something that she wouldn't say on a recorded line that even the man that it was meant for still hasn't heard. Alone in that car at 5:44pm Every sound on that tape says so. And 46 minutes later, not a man in her grandparents house that nobody can name brought to one place. She once brought Zachary back when he was a stranger too. A crash that you'd walk away from. A boyfriend who ran and never came back. A car gone through like a filing cabinet with her laundry still folded in the trunk. And possibly a phone ringing in her grandmother's kitchen at 8:55pm 3 miles from where she stood barefoot in the fog. The last recording of her voice asked a stranger for help. The last number she ever dialed was her grandma and the last man she ever called. Seven years later, standing at an intersection in three rivers is still looking twice at every passing face. Still hearing her say she'd call him right back. She had 35 cents and a plan to add more. She was almost home. That's episode one of this bonus series. Her voice in order for the record. Next time, the other chairs. Because while you and I were rebuilding this day from the outside, the people closest to Brittany were sitting in a small room with the detective camera on recorded running. The best friend, the husband, the drug supplier. Three people, three files of tape. And the distance between what they told the world and what they told that room. You've waited seven years to hear it. You'll hear it if this message reached somebody, somebody who was out there that November. Somebody who's been carrying a piece of this night. Send them this episode not a message. The episode let her voice do the asking. Brittany went to do laundry. She never came home. She deserves to be found. She deserves the truth, no matter how ugly this shit turns out to be. And, Brittany, since it's your voice that carried this whole episode. You get the last word.

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

Like, I'm still gonna help you regardless. I get it. You don't want to hear from me. Okay. I'm sorry. I love you. Ever since all that happened, like, this is my motherfucking deck of the Cars. You're not even gonna play then? Because I need to be able to have something when you come home. Right now, I don't really have. So what am I supposed to do? All I can do is try. I think they're trying to record our calls. He keeps cutting it out and goes, like, I don't know. You find an earth, anything? Please have some patience. I'm doing everything that I'm supposed to be doing. I'm not just over. So guess what? My hair is black. Perfect. Yeah.

[Zachary (later in interview)]

Help support our search for missing persons by following Hide and Seek on Instagram and Facebook and by joining our Patreon at Hide and Seek Podcast. The Hide and Seek Podcast is hosted, produced and directed by James Basinger, lead script writing and episode design by Sarah Jo Audio, Mixing, mastering and repair by Shane Morrow of Morrow Mixing and Mastering, Director of photography, Ethan Schatz. A heartfelt thank you to our ground team and Patreon supporters. Your contributions make these investigations possible.

[Brittany Wallace Schenck]

Thank you for listening. Hard to sink.

[James Basinger]

Peace out.