After their patrol car gets stranded in the middle of the forest, Frank and the player enter The Mad Cow bar looking for help, where they discover the severed head of moonshiner Sammy Duncan on a trophy mount.
Tropes:
- The Bartender: Betty-Lou Logan, the rustic woman that owns The Mad Cow.
- Badass Preacher: Padre Rafael, an Hispanic priest who lives in the swamps and isn't above dealing with criminals. He also helps you cure Frank after he gets bitten by a snake.
- Bottomless Fuel Tanks: Inverted. Frank and the player end up stranded because Frank forgot to refuel their patrol car.
- Call-Back: Vanessa Kimmel reappears as a suspect.
- Cliffhanger: The case ends with a mysterious message from Vanessa asking you to meet her in the cemetery.
- Con Man: Sammy was one, convincing people to give their money to him as a "business" opportunity before pick-pocketing it for himself.
- Continuity Nod: Frank mentions how he's had to deal with mad survivalists and voodoo maniacs during his time at the Bayou.
- Creepy Doll: The Creepy Forest is full of these hanging from the trees.Frank: I don't like the look of this forest, <Player's Name>. These dolls hanging from the trees all over, they give me the creeps!
- Dead Guy on Display: The victim's head was hung by the killer on a trophy mount inside a bar.
- Death of a Child: You meet Bertie Cornman, a Cloudcuckoolander who lives in the forest making dolls to guard the spirit of his little sister Lizzie, who drowned in the swamp years ago.
- Department of Redundancy Department: When interrogating Betty, she says Sammy has only brought him cops and trouble, as well as trouble and cops.
- Don't Go in the Woods: Most of the case takes place in the forests of the Bayou. One of the crime scenes is called "Creepy Forest."
- Distinction Without a Difference: Joe insists that he and Sammy weren't moonshiners, but home-made beverage makers.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Amy mentions her brother and her hometown long before they're properly introduced in White Peaks.
- Faint in Shock: Betty-Lou Logan, the bar owner, faints when the victim's head is shown to her.
- Felony Misdemeanor: Padre Rafael gets an absolute meltdown when you discover his horrendous crime of... cheating on dominoes.Padre Rafael: <Player's Name>, if people in the Bayou learn my secret, no-one will play dominoes with me again!
- Hillbilly Moonshiner: Sammy, the victim, and Joe Littlehat, the killer, were partners in the moonshine business, but the latter killed the former over a dispute about it.
- Hypocritical Humor:Frank: What's wrong with these people, <Player's Name>? I'm out of my depth here in the Bayou. Everyone drinks and argues...Yeah, alright, I drink and argue, too. But at least I do it in the city! It's different back there!
- Nightmare Fetishist: After you deliver the victim's headless body to her, Roxie says having to perform two autopsies in the same investigation is like a happy hour in the morgue.
- Off with His Head!: How the victim is killed. You actually find his head first before his body.
- The Oldest Profession: We learn that Vanessa is actually a prostitute, a job she was forced to take in her efforts to escape the Bayou.
- Shout-Out:
- In the Mad Cow Bar scene, there is a cap with the Browning logo.
- The Creepy Forest scene is inspired by the Island of the Dolls.
- In the Forest Tree scene, there is a swamp creature.
- Skewed Priorities: Frank wants to capture the killer as soon as possible... because that means all of their illegal moonshine will become part of the police's property.
- Small Town Boredom: Vanessa continues saying this about the Bayou. She wanted to use Sammy's money to leave for the big city and escape the swamps, but unfortunately her plan was cut short.
- Snakes Are Sinister: Frank gets bitten by a snake in the Additional Investigation after he drinks from a moonshine bottle with one inside of it.
- Stealing the Credit: Joe killed Sammy because he wouldn't give him credit about their moonshine distillery, so he grew to resent him.
