Transcript of this chapter:

barlow: ....And then we took Elkwood's body back to the gondola. The axe with the message about Hatchetpaws is still in that secret room.
alex: This... this is all wrong! I can't believe that someone would use Elkwood's remains to send you a message... uh... well, it's desecration of the dead!
barlow: I know, but the hatchet message is a lot more interesting. I think we're starting to get to the bottom of this mystery.
alex: Barlow, aren't you a bit skeptical about this supposed message?
barlow: But I think it opens door for us... For instance, if Hatchetpaws WAS responsible for the Gondola Disaster...
alex: But WHO is sending you this message? You have to take into account that you don't know who did it, and that person must have a reason for being so secretive. It's just like those coded messages. Who would be telling you it was Hatchetpaws?
barlow: Maybe it really IS Elkwood! Maybe he's trying to tell us about what happened.
alex: You know that I'd normally be the first to believe that. I even considered that theory, but Annabelle says that this isn't the work of dead people.
barlow: And of course you always believe everything she says...
alex: I... you, uh... that's a really mean thing to say to me, Barlow!
barlow: I didn't originally believe that ghosts could be responsible, but after last night, who knows? I just don't know if we can eliminate that possibility.
barlow: Maybe Turnip is doing is, himself...
alex: What?... To scare us off or something?
barlow: Maybe... or maybe he doesn't even know he's doing it. Maybe he's crazy, maybe he's starting to think that he IS Hatchetpaws.
barlow: Maybe he's going to attack us with a hatchet...
alex: Stop scaring me!
barlow: But it's possible. Maybe he knows that Hatchetpaws sabotaged the gondola, and he's planning to re-enact the crime.
barlow: Someone knows the truth but can't tell us for some reason.
alex: I know, but that doesn't make any sense. Why would one person be so secretive about it and still make those messages?
barlow: I don't think it's just one person. The coded messages on the walls were written in two styles... suggesting that two people are corresponding.
barlow: For some reason, something about the gondola can't be discussed publicly, but last night we were allowed to learn that Hatchetpaws did it.
alex: We still don't know for certain that Hatchetpaws was responsible for the original accident.
alex: There's nothing in the archives that suggests that Hatchetpaws was involved, and I think someone would've written it down... even if it was just a rumor.
barlow: You can't dismiss a theory just because it isn't recorded in an old book...
alex: Okay, fine. But supposing that Hatchetpaws was responsible, why would it matter to us now?
alex: How is this relevant to those mysterious messages? How is this relevant to the disappearance of the gondola documentation?
barlow: Maybe Elkwood and the others are trapped here... Don't forget that there's at least one more skeleton up at that remote station.
alex: You think there's a supernatural connection?
barlow: I don't know. At the very least, someone's trying to make us believe it...
barlow: I wonder if those messages are being send between friends...
alex: What do you mean?
barlow: What if the messages writers are working AGAINST each other? Maybe one of them is trying to make threats to the other...
alex: You think.... you think the writers might be working under different agendas?
barlow: It's certainly possible.
alex: But what ARE these agendas? What are they trying to accomplish?!
barlow: Obviously someone is trying to carry on Hatchetpaws' work.
alex: That could be... deadly. Hatchetpaws was a vicious killer.
barlow: Fortunately, the list of suspects is short. It could only be Turnip.
barlow: Turnip is against our gondola project, mainly because of the lasting effects of the Sprawling family on his species.
alex: You might be onto something... I've noticed that your mammal friend has been becoming more militant recently, possibly from influence from demons or monsters.
alex: Do you have any more evidence? Should we take action?
barlow: Someone is going through a lot of trouble... whether it's to help us or to stop us, I don't know.
barlow: The only thing I know for sure is that this started when we pulled that gondola out of the woods. We just have to find the connection between the gondola, those cryptic messages, and Hatchetpaws.
alex: And you have a theory?
barlow: The connection between all those things.... is Turnip. He's the prime suspect, since he's a mammal.
alex: What proof do you have of this? Do we have enough proof to take action?
barlow: We can't let this prevent us from working on our gondola.
alex: Well, it seems to be the case. I needed those original documents in order to do the restoration of the gondola. Without those, I have no idea how long this is going to take... if we can even finish it at all.
barlow: Turnip was seen earlier with an acetylene torch. He's planning something, because a paper mammal doesn't naturally like to be near open flames.
alex: Hmmm... The message on the gondola was actually burned into the wood. You think that's why he had the torch?
barlow: I don't see any other reason.
barlow: We should set a trap. I bet if we work together, we can come up with some way to trap Turnip into revealing his guilt.
barlow: Here's an idea...
alex: Hold on... Evil intruding...
barlow: Huh?
barlow: Oh, Crystal doesn't count. She won't care about any of this.
alex: You're too comfortable with her.
crystal: You two look guilty of something.
alex: Your presence wasn't requested here, demon.
crystal: Aw, but I've got a present for you...
crystal: We were going through Katherine Ivy Sprawling's personal writings, and we came across this useful little packet...
barlow: What is that?
crystal: It's a copy of all of the gondola documentation. All the schematics, the instructions, and a whole lot of engineering formulas. It looks like she made this extra copy in case the original was lost.
barlow: This is great, Crystal! Now we don't have any excuse, we HAVE to finish the gondola project.
barlow: Wait. You didn't support our gondola project. Why are you helping us now?
crystal: Uh... I just wanted to help, you know?
crystal: You shouldn't refuse a gift from a demon... or a zombie... just because of what we are. Especially you, Alex, and especially if someone bakes something special just for you.
alex: Now I'm officially scared.
barlow: Thanks, Crystal. You're just in time to hear my clever plan for catching our mysterious code-writer.
crystal: Oh, Barlow's making a plan? I can't wait. Your plans are always... very entertaining.
barlow: And just like that, she's back to being the cynical demon.
barlow: Did Hatchetpaws know the code? If he was a paper mammal, and the hunters used the code...
alex: ....Then Hatchetpaws would be a very dangerous foe. Unfortunately, I have no information on that.
barlow: What DO we know about Hatchetpaws?
alex: It's mostly just a story told to scare little children. You remember how scary those stories were.
alex: I know that Hatchetpaws was a real historical figure, but people didn't write about criminals very much... and paper mammals even less.
alex: I can go through old newspaper archives, but we'll be lucky if I can even find one mention of him.
barlow: You're the history guy here. You should know something...
alex: Look, all I can tell you are the old stories we heard as children...
alex: For example, if you say "Hatchetpaws" in front a mirror eleven times, he'll appear and chop your head off.
barlow: Oh, I remember that one. Scary stuff.
alex: ....And the story about how his soul is trapped in the hatchet he used, and if you find it he can possess you...
barlow: Yeah... I seem to remember a story about a boy who killed his twin brother with that hatchet...
alex: I don't remember that story at all. I guess there's a lot of stories about Hatchetpaws, but they're just variations of classic ghost stories.
alex: The one thing we know for sure is that he killed a bunch of people about fifty years ago, including at least one child.
barlow: We could use these documents as bait. We'll let Turnip know that they'll be stored in some place, but we'll secretly be watching for him to steal them.
crystal: That's assuming that Turnip IS the one trying to stop you.
barlow: But is has to be true. My entire theory is based around that fact.
crystal: Oh, so now your theories are all undisputed facts?
crystal: Go ahead and do what you want. Watch for someone to steal those documents... I suspect that you'll be waiting quite a long time.
barlow: I think we should write some codes of our own...
barlow: If those coded messages are a correspondence between two people, we can confuse them by putting up our own message. It might be enough to make someone slip up.
alex: And you think we should watch Turnip's response to our new message?
barlow: Exactly.
crystal: That's great, Barlow. So tell me... doesn't making a coded message depend on KNOWING the code in the first place?
barlow: Well... yeah...
crystal: If we could break the code, we wouldn't be in this situation. This little idea has to be one of the stupidest things ever to come out of your mouth.
barlow: Well... uh... I doesn't HAVE to be the real code. Any sequence of random letters will work. We just need it to gauge Turnip's ability to decipher the code. If it works...
crystal: Yeah, IF. This trap is rather dubious, if you ask me.
barlow: Okay, what's YOUR plan, smartie? How do we find out who's writing the code?
crystal: We can figure that out once we've cracked that code.
barlow: I've already tried. It's impossible. It was impossible for me, it'll be impossible for you. Why, if you CAN break the code, I'll...
alex: Barlow! Don't make pacts with her! She's a demon!
crystal: What's that supposed to mean?
alex: Pacts between humans and demons never work out well for the humans. Your pacts can't be trusted, too sneaky.
barlow: Relax, Alex. I'm not going to sell off my soul... because Crystal isn't going to crack the code!