Her name is Rachel Lee.
She's a woman in her mid-30s who's about to irrevocably change the life of Ralph
Raines Jr.
This is the twisted story of not just a singular woman but nearly a whole famed amily that
participated in the fraud of a forestry tycoon.
Hi Cassie.
Hi Caitlyn.
Hi creepy people.
Hello!
I was waiting to see if you were going to do it.
Always waving at the blank computer screen in front of me.
Yeah, yeah, as one does.
Sorry, it's not even bubbles.
Slow down.
Not even bubbles.
Yeah.
If you're new to our creepy corner of the world, this is PNW Haunts and Homicides, where we
chat about true crime, paranormal, and all things witchy in the Pacific Northwest.
Ooh, witchy.
Yeah, sometimes creepy.
I love creepy witchy.
Do hikis.
Alright, yeah.
Bye, gotta do hiki for you.
Ooh.
So she said, speaking of witchy, we also do a tarot reading at the end of every episode
for a little deeper insight into our topic for the day.
Just to make sure you stick around.
If you're into that witchy creepy type of stuff.
I feel like today, if you've never listened to the terror reading before, first of all,
shame on you, but it's not too late, start making things right.
Yeah.
Let's just say the vibe will be there.
It'll be witchy today.
Totally.
Bitchin.
Witchin, bitchin, bitchin, witchin.
Witchin and bitchin.
Do we have any announcements?
You know, it's funny, you should say that because yes, yes we do.
Oh, it's like I knew beforehand.
Yeah.
I'm not even sure that this is really so much an announcement as it is just something,
just a little bit of a shout out.
Ooh.
Yeah.
I like shout outs.
I do as well.
We were featured by blog.feedspot.com.
Us?
We were.
Ooh.
Yes.
On their list of 15 best Pacific Northwest Stories Podcasts.
So we're number two.
Ah.
Yeah.
Number two is first loser.
And I'm just kidding.
Just kidding.
That's so cool.
Yeah.
So we're excited.
Our good friends, what happens in the woods are also on the list.
What up?
What happens?
What up?
In the woods?
It didn't finish it.
We'll put it in the show notes so that you guys realize that this humble brag is not only
humble, but it's real.
Yeah.
It is real.
We didn't make this up ourselves.
Yeah.
Thank you, Feedspot.
Yes.
It sounds like a place I want to go eat a buffet.
The Feedspot.
Oh no.
Now I'm just picturing a troll.
Me too.
I had, well, obviously, because we were talking about feed, but I was picturing a bunch of people
out of trough.
Just like, yeah.
Get in it.
Hmm.
Okay.
So I actually heard about this case probably about a week before Cassie also sent it to me.
I was getting my nails dead.
My little titsy.
And someone that I met at this one actually recommended this and actually a couple of other
cases.
Ooh.
Yeah.
So when Cassie texted me one night and I happened to be working on my notes, that's so
fucking weird.
It's really weird.
Yeah.
I was like, that's so funny.
I may or may not be working on this, but also I totally am.
Yeah, because I was, I watch American greed a lot to go to sleep because it's just like the
guy's voice is like kind of monotone and it's soothing.
So I, and I heard like two key words and I was like, immediately turned it off because I
don't want to know anything about it because I want to hear it from Caitlyn.
I texted her immediately.
Cover this.
Did I even tell you like what it was about or did I say, hey, it's this thing and this
thing?
Have you?
I don't know what it's about, but look into it.
Cassie said, and I quote, this just popped on an ep of American greed and I heard Oregon
and tarot and I'm turning it off because I want you to cover it.
You might have heard of it, but I don't think I have and I want to hear it from your glorious
mouth hole.
LOL, that was awkward, but I'm not taking it back.
I'm funny.
And there were a series of emojis.
And do you want to know what I said in reply?
Yes.
Okay.
Oh my god.
Wait.
Bitch.
Yes.
I'm already covering it.
I haven't gotten like super into it so far.
Like super into it.
But I found a court doc literally today and was like, this is definitely getting covered.
LOL, no joke.
Two day all caps.
No cap.
And you said, yes.
That's my reply to a lot of things.
You said what?
That's crazy.
I don't watch the actual TV channels very often.
That's so weird.
Oh my god.
I can't wait to hear it.
What time?
Can I ask what time this was real quick?
In my town.
I might miss here.
I might be miss remembering.
605 pm is the last time stamp that I can see.
Okay.
Because that's what it was then.
Because I usually watch it to go to sleep.
So I'm not actually watching it.
I turned it on and I was like, oh, American Greed sounds good right now.
So it was like totally random.
Yeah.
Interesting.
And there was a bit more back and forth, but it's important to note that there is evidence
for forensic evidence that I received this hot tip from not just Cassie, but this last
text that I'll read.
My pedicure friend that I don't think I had time to tell you about last Saturday actually
told me about it.
I friended her on LinkedIn.
Creep.
What you did tell me about her.
You were really excited.
I said like a weird loser weirdo lol.
And I don't take that back either.
Right.
The rain's family tree farm in Gaston is about an hour west from the comparative hustle
and bustle of the city of Portland.
I know where that is.
Yeah.
It's an organ.
Yeah.
One of our keywords.
I know someone from Gaston.
You do.
I do.
Hi, Tonya.
Is her last name, Raines?
No, it's not.
No, I'm just kidding.
It's not.
It's where the patriarch of the Raines family along with his son planted over a million trees.
That sounds good.
Yeah.
We like trees.
Yeah.
At least by junior's own estimation.
So it's kind of a round number.
Is it like that thing where you like you do something for so long?
You're like, oh, I planted like a million.
Yeah.
It's a rough estimate.
It occupies land purchased in the 1950s by Ralph Jr.'s father, Ralph Sr.'s father, Waldo,
was already established in the logging industry in Washington County dating back to 1915.
Wow.
Where is he?
Huh?
Oh, my God.
I thought you forgot already where this story takes place.
And I was like, you where is Waldo?
Four facts.
Sick.
Okay.
That jokes.
Oh, boy.
Yeah.
And boy, did Ralph Sr. have some stories to share from back in the day?
If you're a member of the Patreon, don't go digging through our sources on Pastebin.
I want you to see Cassie's face when I read her a story from one transcript in particular.
Oh.
Patreon bonus video.
Oh, yeah.
Nice.
Far from your typical tycoon, Ralph Sr. was a decorated World War II pilot and graduate
of Oregon State University married shortly after the war was over.
The couple would go on to have a single child, a son in whom Ralph instilled not just the
monetary value of the land and the trees on their property, but also that of hard work
in maintaining the beauty of the natural environment by creating a sustainable forest
operation.
Well, that sounds like really, really good.
I know.
We stand the Ralphs.
Yes.
Sr.
And Jr.
Jr.
And Sr.
All of them.
All of them, I think.
I don't know.
I don't know that we want to be making blanket statements like that.
That seems ill advised, given the nature of what we do.
For most of his life, that same son, Ralph Jr. worked on the family's 1200 acre.
A tree farm in Gaston.
That's a lot of acreage.
Cheers.
He too was a veteran of the Vietnam War and those that know him well would describe him
as both intelligent and immensely kind.
I know.
It seemed that both men, Ralph Jr. and Sr. remained humble and decidedly unencumbered when
it came to the material things in life, despite what would eventually become very impressive
wealth.
Ooh.
Yeah.
All them trees.
Though as a naive and sometimes socially awkward man, they would later reflect that Ralph Jr.'s
disposition was in many ways very different from that of his hard-nosed father, Ralph Sr.
Hard-nosed.
I know.
What is that man?
Vocab word of the week.
Sadly, Ralph Sr.'s wife and Ralph Jr.'s mother, because that's how that works.
Helen died in 2001.
Helen.
Even though she passed long before the bulk of our story takes place, you know, yet girl
did some digging and found her name because nobody fucking used it in anything.
Oh, yeah.
There's just like, remember that bitch he married?
Oh my God.
Did they really?
Remember that broad?
He married.
Oh, Helen.
You know, the woman who fed him, clothed him, both of these men.
Women are often undercredited.
Is that what am I trying to say?
Unacknowledged.
I'm undercredited, that's everything.
I legit thought I might have to subscribe to ancestry.
Just, you know, there for a minute to find it because it turns out there's a ton of
source material tied to what happened to Ralph.
And when your Ralph Jr.
It's hard to separate the stuff that's about you versus Ralph Sr.
But I digress.
Still the two men had each other.
And for much of their lives, they continued on as they always had.
Ralph Sr.
Operated the Reigns tree farm, handling the financial affairs associated with their family
business while Ralph Jr.
primarily felt at home performing the physical labor working on the land.
Lumberjacking?
Lumberjacking it up.
Yeah.
A lot of plaid.
I just love me, a lumberjack, I can't even.
I know.
Yeah.
She's going to slide off this chair.
You're probably wondering where things started to go off course.
Yeah, I've been wondering the whole time.
Okay.
Good.
That tracks were right on schedule.
Okay.
And I'm here to tell you while it pains me to do so that it was his interest, Ralph Jr.
It's his interest in something I think that we all know and love that introduced him to
the individual that would lead.
Ralph Jr.
Is Ray?
No.
While Ralph Jr. was seemingly about as salt of the earth as they come, he also had an interest
in what some might classify as the paranormal or even the occult realm.
If you're nasty, I love it.
Yeah.
She's nasty.
I am.
In 2004, at age 57, he decided to entertain his curiosity, if only briefly.
When he visited a psychic shop while on a trip to Bend in Southern Oregon, I've ever heard
of a, a, a bend or a psychic shop.
Yeah.
Uh-huh.
Both.
Okay.
Spoiler alert.
This woman.
Kwa man.
She is not a psychic.
Pitch.
I know.
But she certainly has a solid nose for a con.
Hmm.
I mean, maybe that is her psychicness.
That's her.
That's how her third eye presents.
No.
Okay.
The psychic, he shared one of his deepest desires, to settle down and perhaps have a family
of his own, which feels like sort of a, part of that sort of a misnomer because Ralph is
about as settled down as a person can get.
If he settles down anymore, they're going to have to check his pulse.
Oh.
He's a pretty calm, super nice guy.
So, but the family part.
Yeah.
No significant other or little, little kiddos.
Nope.
He wanted that 10 a cups card, man.
Hmm.
It's funny.
You should say that.
Oh, is it?
Yeah.
Pops up in American greed.
Does it?
No.
I watched two seconds of it.
I, well, I thought maybe, I thought maybe you lied.
No.
I, I'm pretty sure it pops up as like the card that's like in,
like the foreground when they're talking about how he wanted a family.
Oh, I'll germinate.
They did their research.
He wanted a family and then I showed, oh, I can have to watch it after this.
You have to.
Her name is Rachel Lee.
She's a woman in her mid-30s who's about to irrevocably change the life of Ralph Reigns
Jr.
This is the twisted story of not just a singular woman, but nearly a whole famed amily that
participated in the fraud of a forestry tycoon.
After meeting and quickly befriending Ralph Jr. and also his father Ralph Sr., who was already
in his mid-80s, Rachel Lee gained information about them and their assets.
What a normal thing to do.
This talker.
Yeah.
Did you also follow them on lengthen?
Fuck off.
Gradually, she gained their trust.
Ralph trusted Rachel Lee implicitly, even sharing his ideal love match.
Then in his late 80s, Ralph Sr. suffered a stroke and was unable to care for himself.
Much less manage his various financial and business affairs.
I feel like this is where it all goes awry.
This is where the dominoes really start to fall.
From there, it didn't take long for Rachel to become Ralph Sr.'s full-time caregiver.
She's a she just infiltrated.
Holy shit.
Cassie, I can see it in your eyes already.
You want to know what are her qualifications?
They're caring for the infirm or elderly.
I'm so glad that you asked.
Seriously?
Oh my god.
You see, she told Ralph Jr. that she was alone in the world.
Her parents had already passed, as had her husband.
So she had, of course, shared the story of seeing him through the difficult times as he had
battled cancer.
And that would be a sad story.
Yeah.
If it were true.
I was going to say.
She had been the caregiver for her husband throughout his battle with cancer prior to his
death.
In addition to her qualifications as a caregiver, she convinced the reinsmen that she could
help to manage their financial and business affairs.
Oh shit.
If anyone offers to handle your finances, no.
Yeah.
Just no.
Props that's not it.
You know, just they should have a degree.
And what's that called?
What's the numbers degree?
Accounting.
You know, ideally, maybe if there is CPA, that's good.
Also.
There's a variety of needs.
Not victim blaming.
I'm saying be aware in the future if someone comes to want to handle your finances.
You know, usually people who are qualified to handle your finances, like, like you mentioned,
there's like a degree that they hang on their wall.
They might have a website.
There might be some references.
You can chat.
You usually come to them.
They don't come to you.
Just like no one will sign into your DMs saying that they'll give you a tarot reading or they
have psychic advice for you.
No.
Yeah.
Unless it's us and then in that case, no, we will never come into your DMs to offer you
a psychic reading.
Yeah.
I don't know.
You ask for a tarot reading from us.
Yeah.
Maybe we'll respond.
But listen, we don't do that shit for free though.
You got to be on Patreon.
Yeah.
I mean, you got it.
Here's the thing.
We are willing to trade you a tarot reading for a story.
Oh, God.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Obviously Ralph Senior can't be responsible for any of that stuff anymore in his ill hell.
You know, he's not running numbers.
He's not filing important filings.
No.
I hope not.
And Ralph Junior is more of the, you know, live enough and working on the land.
Kind of a guy.
Yeah.
You know, around the same time, Rachel Lee moved into the Reigns family home in Gaston
Oregon.
Damn.
Yeah.
So that escalated quickly, right?
Yeah.
Okay.
So she's already got her claws in pretty deep.
Yep.
Yeah.
So they already had financial advisors.
Yep.
Sure did.
Okay.
For tax and accounting purposes, he had a representation.
Okay.
Yeah.
So you're having about the reaction that I feel like is appropriate.
All right.
Yeah.
Though as his health increasingly deteriorated in the period shortly after his stroke, the firm
hired to represent him communicated increasingly with Rachel as well as other members
of the Lee family.
Hmm.
Eventually, all manner of instruction regarding the estate was conducted exclusively by them.
The Lee family.
Did they get power of attorney?
Like how are they doing this?
A very good question, Cassie.
And you know what?
I'm going to answer it.
Okay.
I'm not sure if I'm about to right now or if that comes later.
Okay.
Just, you know, hold on to your butt.
Hmm.
Stuff.
That.
Only a couple of years later, sometime in roughly 2006, according to court documents, Rachel
was prepared to test her newfound power.
When she convinced Ralph Jr. to purchase a home in Northwest Portland, that would later
be known as the Birken Dean home.
Who?
Yeah.
Do you want to guess how much the house cost?
$1.6 million.
Oh, actually, that's a little high.
Oh, damn it.
I was thinking of today money, maybe.
I know.
2006, though.
Okay.
A million.
Unfortunately.
Okay.
Listen, it's too late because we were playing by the prices right, rules.
Eight.
And you got to get close without going over.
Eight fifty.
For just shy of $1 million.
Rachel would eventually move the ailing Ralph Sr. from his longtime residence in Gaston
to this home as his days on this earth continue to dwindle.
Oh, because I'm sure he wouldn't have wanted to be in his own home.
Yeah.
No.
I don't think so.
He's like, listen, I've been here.
I hang out here all the time.
Like I'm kind of over it.
I need a new view, you know?
Yeah.
It's funny.
You should say that.
Yeah.
He is going to have a different view.
But all of this was made possible by the durable power of attorney known as a D P O A that
Ralph Sr. had executed in favor of Ralph Jr. in 1997.
So it's been in place for almost a decade at this point, but his son had it.
But now they're going to use it.
Okay.
Since the Lee's controlled Ralph Jr. the power of attorney permitted them to control the assets
of Ralph Sr. via the D P O A.
Oh, shit.
At this time there was also a sense of urgency.
And it came to executing certain transactions that might have been viewed as beneficial to
the Reigns family in terms of tax planning for Ralph Sr. estate.
But just Rachel say to herself, slow your roll.
You've just manipulated someone into buying a nearly million dollar home for you and your
family to live in.
Let's call it a day on the financial front.
I don't think those people think like that.
Yeah.
And you would be correct.
While that alone would still be a pretty wild story, I'm not sure we'd be talking about
it today if that were the case.
Because of course it's going to get so much worse.
I feel so bad for them already.
I know.
Yeah.
Yep.
A whole million dollars essentially that they've been conned out of.
That's like all the trees they planted.
By 2008, the firm was consulted on quote, valuing the Raines tree farm LLC units and the potential
transfer of certain of those units from Ralph Sr. to Ralph Jr. in order to utilize Ralph
Sr.'s gift tax exclusion.
Are you going to tell us what that is?
Because I have no idea.
So this is something that people who have enough money to be worried about the tax implications
of their estate.
Something that they do to basically, "Hey, I want to give you this.
I don't want you to have to pay taxes on it though.
That's so stupid.
That's silly.
Be socialist.
You know, I just want to give you money."
Is that a thing?
Cassie, it's so a thing they've made an exclusion for it.
It's written into our tax.
How come when you win a bunch of money, then it's a gift why do you have to pay fucking
taxes on it?
That's because you're a peon and you don't have an estate.
According to the episode of American Greed covering the case, at the time, the Reigns
family's timber properties alone were valued at $11 million.
Damn!
We're talking 2008 dollars.
There was plenty of money to be made from the Raines family and Ralph's estate.
For instance, within the files kept by the firm was a record of Ralph's seniors' home
care expenses for 2007.
Oh my God, are they outrageous?
Included was a calculation or tally sheet referencing the name Rachel, presumably the
payee, or the person to whom the amount was owed.
It was a staggering sum, a total of $170,000 for home care.
Holy shit, I'm in the wrong line of business.
$170,000 for home care, all told.
And that was for 2007.
Just one year, one year.
Oh my God.
But you know what?
I know this firsthand.
Okay.
I've had elder relatives that have lived in assisted living and memory care facilities.
It's quite expensive.
So you think that's money well spent.
That's why they worked hard their whole lives.
They were humble and they saved and they did all the right things.
Right?
Right.
Theoretically.
Now she's picking up and I'm putting down.
Ralph Senior reportedly lived in a bed kept in a hallway in the massive Burkendine home.
Even Harry Potter had a closet under the stairs at least.
A hallway?
He was in the hallway.
Oh, he literally did not have a bedroom.
For $170,000 a year.
Oh, and the fact that also it's his money that bought the home that they're all living in.
Wow.
Friends and family struggle to reach either of the Raines men.
In some cases, it's believed that messages were being erased unnoticed.
I don't know who would do such a thing.
Yeah, who would do that?
I have never had my own personal messages erased by someone who lived in my own home.
The fuck?
Never happened to me.
Let's fuck up.
Plus, allegedly.
According to a neighbor and friend of the Raines family from back in the gas tin area,
Ralph Senior was often dirty.
Clearly not having been bathed recently, wearing unwashed clothes.
I'd like to think that if someone is paying nearly 15 grand a month for home care, the
basic hygiene might be one of the line items included in the luxurious package.
You would think.
However, ultimately, it seemed that the Lee family and Rachel in particular had different
priorities.
She sold the Birken Dean home to a third party and then stole the proceeds from the sale.
Sounds about right at this point.
In 2009, Ralph Jr. met Mary Marx, who purported to be an English woman in need of a green card
to avoid deportation.
Oh, how did they meet?
Funny story.
I think I'm psychic.
Or you can actually just read the literal writing on what?
Entering the room suddenly is a tall, slender, blonde woman from Great Britain.
Mary Marx.
Ellot!
Ello poppet!
Who also seems to have a paranormal gift?
What more could you want in a woman?
She told Ralph Jr. that she lived in California and worked in accounting.
Okay, another accountant.
All right.
Yeah.
Lots of number wizards over here.
She proposes to him quickly.
Something that she loves, the land, his family has cultivated and can help him manage the business.
Proposes like to get married?
She proposed.
Yep.
Okay.
Never trust a woman who proposed.
No, I'm just kidding.
I'm just kidding.
I was like, wow, she's going to have to take that back.
I don't believe in gender roles, but this is like, yeah.
The part that's suspicious is that it's all a ploy, right?
It's meant to be like, oh, this is so flattering because here's this older man and this younger
attractive foreign woman who fits the bill of everything he wants.
That never happens.
And she defies gender roles and she proposes to him.
And you know what?
It's not about the money.
She loves the land.
Yeah.
She hugs trees.
Okay.
She loves them.
Loves the fuck out of those trees.
It's offensive to me because I literally hug and love trees.
I've seen her do it.
Despite her outward appearance, Mary Marks was not a natural blonde.
But perhaps more shockingly, she was also not quite a woman.
Oh!
English or otherwise.
Okay.
This isn't going where you think it is.
You see, Mary Marks was actually Rachel's daughter, Porche.
Who was reportedly underage when she first met Ralph Jr.
Oh!
That's right.
This woman slapped an incredibly cheap looking blonde wig on her own daughter who was not
yet 18 and goaded her into a shame child-bride wedding scenario.
That's so gross.
It's pretty icky.
The most curious sources state that she was anywhere between 17 and 20, but I think in
more aspects than one, it can take some time for the truth to shake loose from a rotten family
tree.
In any case, this is a mother who literally put a wig on her daughter and goaded her into
a shame child-bride wedding scenario with Ralph who was in his 60s.
Just to sum it up.
No.
No all the way around.
No.
Porsche spoke with a fake English accent and wore glasses along with a wig.
Just like Harry Potter.
Harry Potter wore a wig?
What?
Glasses.
Yeah.
Glasses.
Scandal.
Here's perhaps the worst part.
It's all fucking terrible, but the name needed to seem legit to work how they intended within
the confines of this particular gift.
Mary Marks is a real name of an actual person.
They didn't have to look that hard for an alias to use though because Mary Marks is actually
Rachel Lee's mother.
Okay.
It's so gross.
Just keep it in the family.
Yeah.
The Lee's family staged a wedding ceremony for Ralph Jr. and the fictitious Mary Marks,
but the couple in truth was never married.
So it was a fake wedding.
So they like actually met.
I don't know why this whole time I'm thinking it's like online because how how how how how
I it's there's so much to unpack here.
All of it is so bizarre and really gross.
Are you going to show us the spirit Halloween wig?
You got to go to American greed for that.
I'm like, they're more worried about the the name sounding real than the wig looking real.
Uh huh.
Oh my god.
And it's not just a wig.
It's like a hat with a wig attached to it.
It's so bad.
No marriage certificate even exists because though Ralph continued wearing his ring for a
time after being told the truth by authorities, even the marriage or perhaps especially the
marriage was part of the con.
No, he just wanted it so bad.
While the marriage may have been completely fake, court documents revealed that beginning
in 2009.
Three marks began receiving a very real paycheck from the Raines tree farm LLC supposedly for
bookkeeping work.
Now there's one more thing that Ralph Jr. had always wanted from life, particularly as
he began to grow older and that was to have a family.
He's already halfway there with a beautiful English woman wife.
Yeah.
But very quickly after their wedding, Ralph is given what he thinks is truly fantastic news.
Marymarks, aka Porsche is now pregnant.
I don't I don't want to know.
You want to know.
Okay.
But of course, like every other aspect of this story, it's not quite what it seems because
this is definitely not Ralph's biological child.
They trick him into thinking he has fathered a child through in vitro fertilization.
Oh, thank God.
Yeah.
He's like, please, no.
Yeah.
No, no.
And his patient.
Yeah.
Oh.
Apparently, though it wasn't Ralph's baby, the pregnancy had been real.
But the baby was taken by the father shortly after birth, which is probably the best thing
that could have ever happened to that kid.
Seriously, wow.
Luckily, another one of Rachel's daughters also gave birth around the same time.
Which is great.
But it's not great news because Rachel is psyched to be a grandma.
But because now she has an infant that she can borrow to use as a stand-in.
This baby is then introduced as Ralph's son, Georgio Armani.
But that's his name.
Is that his real name or is that the name she made up?
I think that's his real name.
Georgio Armani?
That's already taken.
There can only be one.
We can't dwell here, OK?
Because there's so much more.
According to additional court documents, copies of the general ledger and profit and loss
statement for the Ralph Raines senior household provided to the firm to account for 2009 showed
how rampant the financial abuse had become.
The P&L statement, so profit and loss, if you're nice, stay.
Which is my favorite phrase.
I can tell.
Yeah.
The P&L statement shows that approximately $1.2 million was deposited into an account to
be used for Ralph seniors' household expenses in 2010.
Damn, I need some household expenses like that.
Right.
Said funds were made available after the lease liquidated investments in Ralph seniors
UBS account, which UBS is a place where a lot of people have like retirement and other
investment accounts.
Oh, not where your son packages.
No, OK.
UB is the ball best.
By the end of that calendar year, only $200,000 of the $1.2 million originally deposited remained.
I know I was going to need the UBS second to.
Can you spend $1 million?
How?
It's a really good question.
Like did they actually spend on stuff or did they?
Oh, they spent it on stuff.
They didn't hide it in like off-shore accounts.
Oh, no, they spent it on stuff.
Oh my god.
Cassie, we are going to get to the stuff.
Oh my god.
OK.
I hope they bought a lot of really cool tarot decks.
That's all I'm going to say.
I don't think so.
Approximately $375,000 was used to pay taxes.
Responsible.
Oh, that's good.
OK, no tax fraud here.
Which were only incurred in large part due to the significant capital gains incurred as
the result of the lease liquidation of investments.
OK.
So they took the money out and then it was taxed.
So, cause and effect.
So it wasn't the gifted kind of money.
OK.
It was just shy of half of the total that was documented to have specifically supported
the lavish lifestyle.
The Lee family was rapidly becoming accustomed to.
Entries in the ledger included payment for things like salon visits, luxury cars, and
even a personal designer, all of which legal filings indicated were and I quote, "completely
inconsistent with the expenses of an incapacitated man needing a full-time caregiver."
Yeah, which I can say I wholeheartedly agree is correct.
Like yeah, no, duh, you think?
Yeah, he doesn't need an interior designer.
I love, not really.
Or trips to the salon.
He really needs a bath.
Oh, it's so sad.
This next part won't make you feel better then.
Then in February of 2011 Ralph Senior died at 91 years old.
But Junior's wife isn't present at the funeral.
Where is she?
Good question.
Once later Ralph Junior has his wife and his sons' names added to his parents' gravestones.
No.
Oh no.
A key element of the Lee's fraudulent scheme moving forward from this time was to tell
Ralph Junior that he had to sell the reigns tree farm in order to pay taxes.
Make many other statements made by the Lee family.
Survey says that was a lie.
That doesn't sound right at all.
No.
In addition to lying about their being outstanding taxes from the probate process, Mary
Marks fakes a second in vitro pregnancy.
Jesus woman.
Their further motivate Ralph to create more liquid cash in roughly 2011 according to American
greed.
He believed this second pregnancy would be a daughter and hoped to name her Gloria.
But months later, Mary fakes a miscarriage before flying home to England and faking her death.
This bitch is so fucked.
Faking things that real people actually go through.
Yes.
Including in vitro, which isn't fucking easy.
No.
So fake, Georgio, our money is now a fake orphan.
Where does he think the kid went?
Kid didn't go anywhere.
Like, oh, so the kid is still with him.
Georgio is okay.
The Lee's were able to keep Ralph Jr. from receiving the correct information because they
controlled all contact with the firm at this stage.
I mean, they already had for quite some time.
Yeah.
Of course.
So, it's not difficult to see how the Lee's were able to orchestrate the sale of the reigns
tree farm.
Which was contrary to Ralph Jr.'s plan to continue farming for many years in a series of sales
in 2011 and 2012 for over $12 million.
And steal the bulk of the proceeds just as had been done with the Burk and Dean home.
Record show that by mid 2011, the firm had been informed by Rachel Lee that she was in the
process of attempting to sell the pumpkin Ridge tract of the reigns tree farm.
The pumpkin Ridge tract was sold on July 27, 2011 for just over a million dollars.
The mills going around holy shit.
The Gales Creek tract was sold on September 23, 2011 for just shy of 1.5 million.
While Lee's thereafter began to drain the accounts of the proceeds of these sales.
Naturally.
Yeah.
As one does.
Holy shit.
I feel so bad for this guy.
And he thinks he just lost his wife.
And his baby.
Yeah.
And he's in more like deep morning, I'm sure.
When the firm was provided an inventory of estate assets, the inventory showed that the
only remaining worthy.
And this is prior to the sale of the Burk and Dean property.
Obviously.
Number one, the Burk and Dean property.
Number two, Ralph seniors interest in the Raines tree farm LLC.
Number three, approximately $115,000 from the UBS account.
Number four, cash and miscellaneous items worth around $2,000.
Along with the estate inventory, the firm was provided a copy of the February 2011
statement for Ralph seniors UBS account.
Which contained what court documents describe as a graphic depiction of the depletion of
the account.
From a value of over $7 million in 2006 down to $115,000 at the time of Ralph senior's death.
The firm reportedly did nothing to express concern about the massive depletion in assets
or inquire how it was possible for a very wealthy man, such as Ralph senior, to die without
significant additional cash, investment accounts, and other property, and to have dissipated the
liquid assets that should have been available to pay estate taxes.
Wow.
Yeah, I feel like this firm handles a lot of people's finances, right?
Like, they should know what's normal and what's not normal.
There's a lot of red flags.
Yeah.
A lot.
Instead, the firm simply proceeded to pair the tax.
They just prepared the tax return as if this was business as usual and continued to communicate
with Rachel Lee.
Like, do they--are they allowed to say anything, you know?
Oh, absolutely.
They're financial advisors.
They say the tax preparers.
I mean, this is--that is literally their job.
Wow.
All of the aforementioned is completely at odds with the fact that the same firm had been
consulted for a number of years regarding the Reigns family's intent to maximize the
natural resource credit for the estate.
And they even revisited this issue in connection with the preparation of the estate tax returns.
The firm was fully aware that the sale of the tree farm parcels was at odds with the Raines
family's long-time plan to maximize the natural resource credit.
And in fact, the sales had the effect of decreasing the credit to which the estate was entitled.
So we're going against long-standing plans.
We're talking about plans intended for a--for generational wealth, generational assets that
aren't necessarily strictly speaking cold-hard cash, but unreal.
Wow.
Further, in connection with analyzing issues related to estate taxes, the firm was aware of Ralph
Jr.'s plan to continue tree farming for many years, given the recently in sales and those
that would be transacted within just months, surely this should have been of concern.
Yeah.
He was only in his 60s, right?
Like he--any worked physically his whole life, so I'm sure he had in shape.
He could still do that for a product.
Right.
Even if he's not physically doing it?
Yeah.
And the firm could still be maintained by others.
Because it wasn't just him.
I'm just--yeah.
He's just out there shopping down trees.
No, that's right.
I probably had a ton of employees.
Out there lumberjacken, solar, holy shit, and all those people affected.
Oh my god.
In January 2012, the wholesale theft continued as the lease orchestrated the sale of a portion
of the cherry grove tract of the tree farm for just over a million dollars.
And therefore began to drain the accounts of these funds as well.
They're just finding all the little places to take.
Yeah.
Well, every little crumb, million dollar crumbs.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, million dollar crumbs.
Just two months later, in March of 2012, the firm received a copy of the general ledger
for the Raines Senior Household 4 2011.
Despite the fact that Ralph Senior had died in February, the ledger shows that the excessive
spending of his assets continued regardless of his having passed.
Of the approximately 16 pages of entries of expenditures for Ralph Senior's household,
roughly 14 of the pages show expenditures incurred purportedly by his household after his
death.
Is his ghost needing shit?
Like, how do you explain that?
Like as a ghost, I would get my nails did.
Yeah.
These were for things that I can guarantee you were not the expenses of a 91 year old man
or his grieving family.
In July 2012, Ralph Junior turned 65.
So in July of 2012, the lease orchestrated the sale of substantially all of the remaining
tree farm for just shy of nine million dollars.
And therefore began draining the accounts of proceeds of that sale as well.
The following month, the firm was aware of all of the tree farm sales and as a result,
repaired additional estate tax returns showing additional taxes owed as a result of the sales
because they didn't maximize the natural resource credits so then they owed money.
So when they did the thing that flew in the face of the estate's long term plan for the
farm and they sold parcels, it didn't work out.
In or around August of 2012 is when Rachel Lee actually orchestrated the sale of the Burk
and Dean home.
I know we've talked about this quite a bit at this point.
Rachel Lee signed the transaction documents purportedly as the "interny" in fact, that's
that whole power of attorney thing.
I wasn't going to leave this in, but it grabbed my attention.
The firm received a copy of an escrow instruction letter and they had to attach a voided check.
And that check was for the account where they were supposed to be depositing the money
from that sale.
So it's a voided check.
It was a Hello Kitty check.
No way.
Really?
This bitch ruined everything.
Even Hello Kitty.
Wow.
I should have brought my little Hello Kitty keychain.
I didn't know.
I didn't remember.
I was just at my storage the other day and I saw it and I almost grabbed it.
It's my Hello Kitty man.
I was like, I don't need that right now.
I did.
I'm it.
Wow.
That's crazy.
Also, I don't want checks, but now I kind of do.
Yeah.
Now that you know that you can have Hello Kitty checks, she's like, I need a checkbook.
Adulting, right?
Yeah.
In November of 2012, the firm was informed that the estate was being audited.
Good.
It needed it, obviously.
Yeah.
I mean, yeah.
Well, too late.
So this was well prior to their preparation of the 2012 tax returns for the estate, which
showed nearly $700,000 owed in taxes in connection with income from the sales of the
Raines tree farm.
Despite the fact that the lease were in the process of stealing the purported proceeds
from the sales, because that's kind of their thing.
Yeah.
In December of 2013, Rachel emailed the firm inquiring about the amount of inheritance
taxes still owed.
The firm emailed Rachel indicating that the amount still remaining to be paid was approximately
$350,000.
At which point, this bitch had the audacity to ask, oh, wow.
Did you find out if we can give them the rest of the tree farm to pay off?
Huh?
Let me explain.
In doing so, Rachel Lee was suggesting the possibility of transferring the small remaining
parcel of the Reigns tree farm on which Ralph Jr.'s modest home was located to pay the taxes.
No.
It's all he has left and it's where he lives.
And she's just like, can you take that?
Just take that.
Come on.
To pay off my fraud.
Thank you.
Here's my hello.
The firm responded to her email on the same day to say, most likely the IRS will review
Jr.'s personal assets.
And if there are adequate liquid assets to satisfy the obligation, they will not accept
non-liquid assets.
So as long as there was any cash remaining that could be collected, that's their preference.
Apparently, they don't want to just take a tree farm and then have to sell it.
That makes no fucking sense.
I mean, I know I think when they're desperate, they take all the assets.
Oh, yeah.
If that's all he has, they would take it.
But he still has enough money that they would try to go after that first.
They would try to go after other types of assets before that.
There's absolutely zero indication that the firm raised questions with Rachel Lee,
let alone Ralph Jr. as to why they would need to sell the small remaining portion of the
tree farm.
Remember, this is where his whole ass tiny house is located currently in order to pay $350,000
in inheritance taxes.
And he had just sold nearly the entire family tree farm for over $12 million in cash.
Yeah, does she not just have that change in her car?
Nor did they question what happened to the UBS account that had contained as much as
7 million in liquid assets.
Portland Police Detective Liz Crothers.
Oooo Crothers!
Listen, between her and another guy and the IRS, they're like, no, this shall not stand
good.
She noticed the expensive vehicles frequently parked at the Canby psychic property.
From which Rachel continued to run her quote, legitimate business.
But quickly, it becomes clear that something is up.
Because that's a few too many fancy cars.
Marlene Olson, investigator with the Oregon Department of Justice, that had also conveniently
worked in logging and also knows the rain's family personally.
Wow.
Oh, she steps in.
Okay.
So Marlene Olson and Liz Crothers attended the same seminar in January 2014 on elder fraud
along with Steve Floyd, who is a detective with Canby PD.
Wow.
Thank God for that.
Wait, what was it?
The seminar.
Yeah.
Oh, my gosh.
When Marlene went to visit the Raines family tree farm and saw the clear cutting for herself,
she knew something was seriously wrong.
Steve Floyd subpoenaed financial records while the IRS criminal investigation division
also began to take a look at the books.
Shortly after, the Canby detectives visit Ralph Jr.'s home in March of 2014, and then the
Canby psychic property is also searched.
Seasures of Rachel Lee's assets begin.
They discover Rolexes, a blank signed check, and the fucking blonde hat wig.
You know, with all this money, the fucking blonde hat wig used to dop this poor man.
Oh, my God.
I think I'm splurred a little on something a little nicer.
Nope.
And they still had it too.
That's, oh, God.
Thank you for the next old person.
They're going to prod.
Who knows what they were cooking up?
Jesus.
In April of 2014, the IRS provided the firm its recommendations resulting from the audit
confirmed that certain penalties would be assessed and indicated that approximately $250,000
was still owed to the IRS.
By the time he's confronted with the latest evidence in May, Ralph's, he's mad.
He's mad.
Good.
And defending Rachel.
Oh, shit.
It mattered the wrong people.
No, Ralphie.
I know.
Ralphie, June.
He's not ready to come out the other side yet.
Well, I mean, and if you admit that all of that happened to you, that's like, oh, my God,
such a mental fuck.
Mm-hmm.
Because you're like a strong man.
Mm-hmm.
He doesn't realize yet.
Rachel Lee directed him to write letters defending her actions.
And he did.
He wrote several.
An American greed shared the text included.
In the one that they finally decided was good enough to send.
A short while later, Ralph is back in bend with Portia and Rachel, the place where he first
met Rachel.
At the time of this trip toward the desert, though he was completely unaware, Ralph was
down to just $200,000 left to his name.
Thankfully, the authorities were all too aware of the devious financial deeds of the Lee family
and moved to arrest the two women.
They were arrested at the shop in Bend, likely in just the nick of time, as authorities
believe that the purpose of this trip was finally getting rid of Ralph Jr. for good.
No.
They were going to kill him allegedly, allegedly, and leave him in the desert allegedly.
What the fuck?
Wow.
I mean, I'm not surprised, but still just like hearing you say it.
It's awful.
He wrote letters defending you.
He did.
Like...
The criminal indictment against the Lee's was filed approximately one month after the report
was put forth by the IRS on May 8, 2014.
It's then that the Lee's were arrested in Bend, Oregon.
According to court documents, at the time of their arrest, the Lee's had been keeping
Ralph Jr. in a converted garage behind their bend psychic shop.
Keeping him there?
That might've just got really high pitch.
That's the appropriate response.
Ralph Jr. was weak and confused when the authorities located him on the property.
As a result of his inability to manage his own affairs, in June of 2014, the Washington
County Court entered a stipulated, limited judgment appointing conservator for an adult,
or an indefinite period of time, which that judgment appointed a conservator for Ralph
Jr.
They brit need him, but oh my god.
But he really needed it.
This is the opposite of what happened to Britney.
This is someone who very deeply needed this assistance.
Yeah, by someone not them.
There are certain aspects of this case that this could have just been like four whole-ass
episodes.
There's a name I'm about to drop that you're going to go, "Huh?
This is Rachel Lee's boyfriend husband, sometimes depending on who she was talking to brother.
Isn't her brother?
Blancy.
That's the first name.
Just one name.
Just like Cher and Madonna.
Blancy.
Yeah, Blancy had also worked for the Reigns family.
There's a number of instances where he comes up in the various ways that he helped perpetrate
this broad.
He did some bad stuff for sure.
We are not in disagreement about that.
I just didn't think he was that interesting of a character overall.
My brother has been blancy.
That's interesting to me.
I know.
Is he a real person?
Yes.
Okay.
To think that he was the least interesting character as the brother husband.
Wow.
Okay.
Blancy pled guilty and helped the feds track the siphoned funds.
So he was a...
So we still have to talk about him.
Yeah.
Snitch Blancy.
For the charges of money laundering as well as other tax-related charges, he receives
a sentence of, "Kassie, do you want to guess?
Do you want to guess?
Do you want to guess how long he got?"
I'm not good at this.
I don't know.
10 years.
It was probably like 10 months.
Oh, sweet girl.
I know.
I'm literally not good at this.
Terrific.
No, I know.
I'm never good at this either, but this is...
It's somewhere between those two numbers.
I'm like, he either got way too little or way too much and took the fall.
He receives a sentence of two years.
I was totally going to say too.
Really?
Yeah.
Rachel pleads guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering, and failure
to pay income taxes.
And she gets eight years and four months, which seems like kind of a lot of time seeing
as she didn't actually kill anyone.
But I can't help.
There's a little bit of a sticking point for me because it's also noticeably less time
than the duration of her financial long con.
Yeah.
And she ruined two people's lives, like completely ruined them.
She ruined a lot of lives.
Probably more, but like...
Yeah.
But two people distinctly stick out.
Does she not get like elder abuse charges?
Because was there any proof?
I mean, technically, I don't think there was any evidence of physical elder abuse.
It's all elder abuse in...
Like, neglect.
Right.
Yeah, yeah.
Well, and strictly in like a financial aspect, really.
Yeah.
Portia pleads guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
She would receive two years and nine months in prison.
She should get another year for a bad wig.
Yeah.
Listen.
That's a crime.
It was a crime.
That is true crime.
I can't see if I told you that even though there's still some sad stuff left, that this story
kind of has a silver lining, would you believe me?
I hope that you would never lie to me.
Okay.
I'm putting a lot of faith and trust in you.
Ralph has struggled to come to grips with the fact that the woman he knew as Mary Marks
was really Portia.
He thought she died.
That's so fucked.
And she in fact only saw him as a mark.
Get it?
Mary Marks?
No.
No?
I get it.
My heart hurts.
On the day of her sentencing, she agreed to meet with Ralph and greeted him in the Mary Marks
get up, complete with the British accent before taking off her disguise.
She did not.
The prosecution actually arranged this.
They did this for his benefit.
Did they tell him that she was alive actually first or did he just see a ghost?
He did, it's, I mean, he knew that Mary Marks was having a trial, right?
Because he's there.
Okay.
There's a lot of cognitive dissonance and very hurt feelings involved in this.
But this helped him to come to terms with the overwhelming deception according to some
of the people that have remained closest to him throughout his emotional ordeal.
He literally, until she took off the wig, he just could not fathom that Mary Marks wasn't
real and that anything that he was being told was true.
It's just so fucking sad.
Oh my God.
Ralph doesn't typically speak about this period of his life.
Some of his money and other assets have been returned to him after being recovered by authorities
through seizures.
Ralph currently lives in a relatively modest A-Frame style home on the remaining family
property where the evidence of the clear cutting is in plain view.
A stark reminder of his painful past.
To some, it might be surprising to hear how optimistic Ralph has remained.
Even light of all that he is endured, but when he appeared on American greed, his parting
words took the crew at the end of the episode were.
Ten years ago, this whole area in here had trees.
This size appeared as he gestured to a large stand of old growth trees.
It's something I helped plant.
I helped build and now it's gone.
I realized we've had a disaster here, but it will grow back and heal.
Oh.
It will.
Ten years from now, you won't recognize this spot.
Come back in ten years.
I know I was like crying at the end of the episode.
Can you imagine?
No, this whole thing is just crazy.
They just brainwashed him.
I just feel like if it had just been about the financial fraud, I know it's easy to say
that you don't care about the money when you have the money.
I don't know that.
I assume.
Yeah.
But it's the wholesale fraud that they perpetrated in the deepest and most hurtful and personal
ways in his life that it's just, it's fucking heart-wrenching.
It really is.
It's so sick.
Yeah, like as much as we made fun of this bitch's fake wig and all this stuff, but I can really
see how you know the soft spots and the nerves that you can poke and manipulate and to someone
who then can't see any of that anymore.
And this is super heartbreaking as well.
He obviously hasn't been able to maintain a relationship with Georgiel.
Oh, God.
And he said that's the one thing that he wishes is that he's like, I know maybe it's not right.
You know, maybe that it shouldn't be that way.
He's back with his family, like his real mom now.
But he really desperately wishes that he could have a relationship with Georgiel because
he thought he was his father.
He loved him.
He, you know, was helping to raise him for all intents and purposes.
Yeah.
How old was Georgiel in the soul?
Oh, gosh.
By the end of it, he might have been close to like kindergarten age.
Because that's gonna fuck with him too.
He's like, where was this father figure I had for so long?
Mm-hmm.
Just like the...
The damage.
The tendrils of damage.
I was literally just gonna say that tentacles, it just...
There's so much trauma.
That's why I say it's like, there's not any murder technically, but it feels so much worse
in a way.
And obviously murder is bad.
Murder is bad.
We are not saying murder.
We are saying that like this just feels like on another level.
It's torture.
It's like torture.
It's like psychological warfare and torture.
And it would be awful to do it to anyone, but the fact that they didn't pick somebody who
was a young man and could move on in his life and do things differently moving forward.
This is someone who's already like retirement age.
Yeah.
Like he's entering what should be the golden years of his life and they have just...
They've absolutely annihilated what he thought was his life.
That's crazy.
I fucking hate it.
I hope he has the same outlook on his life that he does with the land.
I think very much so.
You are in your elder years, but that's not to say that you can't have a fulfilling life
for the rest of it.
You can still find meaning in what he does on this earth.
And obviously a lot of what his family has done has been trying to be of service to their
local community and just generally being good humans.
I don't know.
I mean, what else do you do?
You can't do anything, but just...
Yeah.
You can't help and live with that little spot of sunshine.
And you know what?
You know what you do?
You do some tarot, but you know what you don't do?
You don't fake the tarot reading.
You don't just like make shit up.
You don't manipulate people.
Yeah.
You don't fake multiple pregnancies.
That is so gross.
And your death.
That is so gross.
All of that is just gross.
Should we do some tarot?
Yeah, let's do some real-ass tarot, but isn't going to hurt anybody.
Except our own feelings, maybe.
Yeah, maybe sometimes, but yeah.
What are you going to do?
It's always the truth.
And that's better than lies.
And that's a quote from me.
Oh my God.
That was the most basic quote I ever heard.
You're like, "Better than lies."
I'm a genius.
But that on my tombstone.
Oh my God.
[SIRENS]
As indie podcasters, we love to show our support of other awesome shows.
So stay tuned for the promo we've got to share with you this week.
Let's show them some love.
You can find their info in our show notes.
Hey, it's Katie.
And Izzy.
We are the host of Horror Cats and Witch Hats.
A podcast where we take a deep dive into the movie's creative to Haunt,
Horify, and Be Witch.
Every other week, we cover a movie recommended by our listeners.
My favorite episodes have included talking about the true crime that inspired the film,
Haunted History, and of course, any cat that survives till the end.
So follow us on Facebook and Instagram at Horror_Cats_WitchHats
and make sure to send us your movie recommendations.
But more importantly, send us your cat pictures and videos.
You can find us on Spotify, Apple Music, and Google podcasts.
Or pretty much wherever you listen to fine podcasts.
Wow!
You guys, we're back!
And don't worry, we did get more wine.
Well, of course.
Oh my gosh!
It's so cute!
Look at all the minis!
I know!
Yeah, this will definitely be when we have to get some good pictures.
Oh yeah.
You cannot see.
Oh, point.
I'll point some stuff out while she's shuffling.
A racket.
Tiny tarot card.
They're teeny weeny.
They're Caitlyn's size.
We found a Caitlyn's size deck.
She shuffled these perfectly earlier.
Didn't drop a one.
I dropped a literally every single one of them.
She grabbed a mole and they all just fell out of her hands.
And I was like, is this the first time you've ever felt like a giant?
Yeah, basically.
OK.
Oh, what a word.
King of Swords was an effort.
It was, yes.
King of Swords.
It's not a flamingo.
It's not a flamingo, but it looks like one.
I think it's a heron.
I'm just like, it's not a flamingo.
She's like, that's all the things I know.
Those are from the Pacific Northwest.
[LAUGHTER]
OK.
King of Swords are keywords.
Are judgment, intelligence, mental power, and communication.
In some decks, the King of Swords
sits on a throne wearing royal robes and a crown,
brandishing a mighty battle sword.
They were both veterans.
Oh, yeah.
Other decks show him in military armor.
In a reading, he may represent an actual person, in which case,
he's usually a mature man known for his intelligence,
communication skills, fairness, and objectivity.
Wow.
That-- yeah.
That's creepy.
That's like one of the things I wanted to, like, kind of--
I don't-- like, drill in, but not really,
that he wasn't like a dumb person.
No, not at all.
The upright King represents intellectual pursuits,
communication, spiritual knowledge, which was, like,
Ralph's other passion aside from having a family,
and study.
You may be mastering a mental task or using your communications
skills successfully.
This is going to make you absolutely
short your pantaloon.
I thought you were reading still, and I was like, wait, oh,
what?
Yeah, that's in the book.
Sometimes this card indicates a decision, judgment, or legal
matter.
Yes.
I think you could say, if the King signifies an actual person,
he may seem stern, analytical, or aloof.
Perhaps he's a lawyer or judge, a professor,
military leader, scientist, or religious leader.
This is so Ralph's senior.
In a reading about money, the King upright
recommends taking charge of a financial matter.
Oh my god, it hurts.
Do your homework.
Don't let your emotions influence a decision
involving money or investments.
We needed to do his tarot reading.
It hurts.
This card may also mean profiting from an intellectual endeavor.
If the reading is about your job, it
may indicate you work in a field that
requires keen intelligence, good communication,
or analytical ability.
The King advises you to show leadership regarding decisions
or judgments, clarity, and objectivity are important.
Because you think of him as we talked about he worked very
physically.
He did.
Yeah.
But then also to run it after his dad passed,
he ran the whole thing, right?
Well, not from the standpoint of the administrative
or bookkeeping, obviously, you know what he was doing that.
But I mean, yeah.
Cassie, you're going to shorten your pants a second time.
Double short.
In a reading about love, the King symbolizes
a relationship based on shared interests and ideas
rather than passion.
Yep.
Like a sexless marriage where they might
have been fake shared ideas.
Yeah.
You and your partner resist expressing deep emotions,
preferring a friendly partnership, which
is literally the name of the game here.
Yeah.
Perhaps you fear losing independence
if you open your heart.
I don't think he was the one that was afraid.
There's an extra excerpt.
I think the highest purpose of ritual or magic work
is to seek our gods to commune with the cosmic mirror
and the spirits of nature in order to learn more of the divinity
within ourselves and reach ever more
toward personal growth and its highest expression.
Nature.
That's what like real-- what does it say?
What's the beginning again?
Sorry.
The highest purpose is to seek our gods.
Commune with the cosmic mirror.
This is just-- it's Ralph Jr. all over the place.
And it's like what a tarot reader should be doing.
Not selfishly doing whatever the fuck you want to do.
Right.
In the nature.
Oh my gosh.
All those trees.
Trees of feelings.
I kind of want to read this.
OK.
I don't know why.
Let's see.
She wants to know what the bird is, people.
Oh, the bird's a great blue heron.
The king always felt most himself in the water.
True his subjects gasped in awe when he took to the air.
His wide wings outstretched in the gleaming sunlight.
And he did enjoy the bird's eye view, so to speak.
But it would surprise them to learn
that it was here in the water where he felt most at home.
I feel like the water is like the trees.
No.
It is.
It is because of trees.
There's literally a quote that I swear it was in my notes,
but it doesn't seem like it made the final cut.
I don't know how.
But he was described as being more at home with trees than people.
Yeah.
And like this whole time I've been like saying in my mind,
like a sea of trees, a sea of trees, and this is like water.
OK.
There's more.
He stood perfectly still until the fish forgot him.
Seeing him as just a part of the landscape.
He enjoyed watching them flit about his tall ankles,
like tiny thoughts darting in and out.
Yeah, that's his thoughts.
Like tiny thoughts darting in and out
of a rapidly processing mind, which I was talking about that earlier.
Oh, boy.
When he saw one of particular interest,
he might observe it for a while.
Oh, now this is kind of like reminding me of her.
Oh, like blending in and like observing and then--
I hate that.
--the light on its scales, the exact motion of its fin and tail.
Its patterns and coloration.
So it's like studying and like thinks this one fish is interesting.
And if it suited him, he would take it,
breaking the stillness with an instantaneous strike downward,
spearing it on a bill as sharp as any honed edge.
He never misses.
OK, so first I was thinking this was him,
like it was describing him, but now it's like totally her.
I mean, there's parts of it that resonate for Ralph Jr.
but there's definitely parts of it that are very pointed.
And it's Rachel and other members of the Lee family.
Wow.
That's crazy.
That's a little tastier cold reading that's going to happen.
Not great.
Should we do this thing?
Sure.
Should we-- I feel like I want to cheer us.
All right.
Cheers, darling.
To Ralph Jr.
I'll drink to that.
You're going to have amazing life.
Why use many words?
I keep doing that.
Ralph, you're going to have an amazing life with that outlook.
That's how you get a good life is having this great outlook
on it, even though shitty things happen.
It's what you make it.
You just have to.
That or you're just fucking depressed.
And that's never fun.
No, not at all.
Oh, or have a creepy ass day.
See you next Tuesday.
You can't hurt me.
I mean, just whenever we show up again,
and always every Tuesday, but maybe other times too.
There will never be a scam here, never ever.
That's why we do it on camera.
Yeah, I mean, yeah.
Be anticipation.
The anticipation, not to me if it purely.
Oh, God.
What do you call it when something is so funny that you're
worried you might be?
Hallerapy?
Yeah.
Maybe we'll workshop that one.
Workshop that one.
OK.
Not that quick on my brain.
Yeah.
OK.
All right.
Yeah.
Well, don't think with my toes.
Ello, poppet! www.pnwhauntsandhomicides.com