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Derek Augustine

Derek Augustine is a Radford pharmacist and romance novelist, publishing as "Marcus Heat", who writes in a converted barn behind his house. He is the father of Phoebe Augustine, and tortures Dr. Lori in the belief that Lori took his daughter.
Type NPC
Aliases Mr. Augustine; Marcus Heat (pen name); the barn writer; the novelist
Affiliation Augustine family
Status In custody (as of Radford Horror 08)
First appearance Radford Horror 03 (as the unnamed barn writer)
Played by Andre

Description

Derek writes on a typewriter in the barn behind the Augustine house, an office conversion with frosted aftermarket windows, a record player playing light jazz, a couch, a mini fridge and no phone (Radford Horror 03). He smokes outside, locks the barn behind him, and walks back to the house for dinner. Andre described his novel in progress as "the shittiest romance novel that anyone has ever seen" (Radford Horror 03). See Augustine house and barn. The books he has published are gross and pretentious, and one tries to imitate James Joyce (Radford Horror 08).

History

The barn

On a stakeout, the team watched Dr. Lori storm out of the barn after a heated meeting with the writer. Kurt then hid in the barn's hayloft for roughly two hours while Derek wrote. When the writer left for dinner, Kurt searched the barn and found plot notes, dates paired with acronyms he did not recognize, and, in the couch cushions, a small hair tie with a pink butterfly. He radioed that the stakeout was "probably a dud" but that he had "found evidence of an affair, possibly with an underage person." (Radford Horror 03)

In Radford Horror 05, the team learned from Molly Underhill that Mr. Augustine was one of the town's pharmacists and that his pen name was Marcus Heat. Dante made him a prime suspect in the theft of records from the pharmacy and speculated that the novels might be a money-laundering front. Rita planned to look for a Marcus Heat novel (Radford Horror 05).

The interview

When Phoebe vanished, the team visited the family. Derek said Amanda had visited Phoebe a few weeks earlier for a school project, so the hair clip may have fallen off then. He said he had filled Amanda's opioid prescription a couple of times, assuming it was for wisdom teeth, and that he knew about the "record error" but could not discuss it. His eye flickered when Dr. Lori was mentioned. Of Lori he said, "I always got kind of a weird vibe from the man... he likes jazz too much." Derek also handed Kurt a Polaroid of a nightdress identical to the one Phoebe had been wearing, for use with the APB (Radford Horror 05). See Phoebe Augustine.

The torture

In Radford Horror 06, the Biz watched from the water tower as a van with U-Haul branding stopped outside Lori's office and the driver punched Lori repeatedly and dragged him into the back. About four hours later, highway patrol found the van's occupants at a motel, where one man was torturing the other with pliers and a blowtorch. The torturer, held at state police headquarters, was Derek, who believed Lori had kidnapped his daughter and was trying to get information out of him. Derek said he had gotten the idea from the team's earlier conversation, which Andre said he was probably reading too much into. Dante called him an amateur for the blowtorch (Radford Horror 06).

The confession

In Radford Horror 08, the sheriff reported that Derek and Dr. Lori had both confessed to an inappropriate sexual relationship with Amanda Lucky. Each had found out about the other, and Derek then went "medieval" on Lori after getting the idea that Lori was doing the same to his daughter. They were both going to prison. The police also suspected Derek of breaking into Lori's office and leaving animal feces in his toilet. While recovering in the hospital, Andrew asked Diane for Derek's books from the Radford used bookstore, picking whichever made him feel the grossest (Radford Horror 08).

Relationships

Trivia

  • Rita (as Andrew) wanted to read a Marcus Heat novel from the moment the pen name came up (Radford Horror 05).
  • The unnamed town pharmacist in Radford Horror 02 is a different character; see Radford pharmacy.

Appearances