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| Episode 1.4: Briefing and Fact Finding | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jul 3 2011, 02:09 AM (18,125 Views) | |
| Cooper Mandrake | Jul 6 2011, 12:50 AM Post #136 |
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9/16/10 "Fine. Be a dick, but I'm the police, that's supposed to be my job." I sat back down in my chair. "I'll be making a press release to include your most immediate statement, hopefully you'll be able to consult your madam in the next thirty minutes before I release. This isn't my first picnic Shyster, and even if it was, the Police don't have to prove anything to high priced lips of the rich and famous. Do remind her of the law. Since you've just admitted that you do have information and you are deliberately withholding it you are now an accessory to any and all murders after the fact." I smirked, "That'd be a good lead you think, Companion Guild withholds information concerning seriel Hooker Deaths. You'd think they've got some involvement there they might want to keep out of the press? I didn't. I wasn't thinking that at all. I was thinking how can I keep a the Guild out of this, but now I'm not so sure. So rather than stinking it up for your people, you present me with this? I just made you a fair offer to keep their names out of it and you come back with guess what I know or go home. Rut you and your whore bosses." "Thirty minutes Henry, don't disappoint me." I flicked off the connection and turned my chair to the other two... whatever they were... in the Bullpen. I watched them a minute and turned back to my verifying avatar. They were both Private Investigators, hired on by Hutch |
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| Adria Stark | Jul 6 2011, 12:51 AM Post #137 |
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9/16/10 When she saw Andrew's hand going for his gun, Adria tensed. She shook her head just a fraction, her eyes a little wide. Adria hoped he wouldn't do what she could see he was thinking about. She didn't know what she'd do if he did. There were far too many possibilities. Luckily...she didn't have to find out. When Andrew sat back in his seat and left the gun where it was, Adria relaxed visibly and let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. She jumped a little when her comm chirped, and Mac's message came through. It took her a moment to be able to respond. "Sure. I was just about to do that" she replied, leaving out what had distracted her from doing so...and that she'd been distracted in the first place. She sent everything she'd turned up so far to Mac, and a copy to Hutch. "Newhall huh? Hadn't come across that yet. I was running searches for similar murders on other worlds, so I'd have found it eventually. Any more turn up, I'll shoot you the information." When Mac mentioned Ink, Adria's eyes took on a hard gleam. "Yeah, I'll get right on that while the other searches are running" she replied, her hatred of Ink clear. Adria was eager to find some way to tie him to the murders. She left the terminal that was running her previous searches and moved to another...beside the one Andrew was working on. "What was that about?" she asked Andrew, pitching her voice so it didn't carry past the two of them. The people on the other side of the room wouldn't be able to hear them as long as they kept their voices low. "What's wrong?" Adria's expression was neutral at a casual glance, but her eyes and tone of voice showed her concern. She glanced at Andrew from the corner of her eye a few times as she was searching for information on Ink from as far back as she could get it. |
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| Andrew Williams | Jul 6 2011, 12:52 AM Post #138 |
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AKA Panther
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9/16/10 The mention of Ink was a minor distraction from his current problem. Although he and Adria shared a common enemy in Ink, it seemed he had one of his own. Though he was thankful for the fact that whoever it was hard cleared him, he didn’t feel the least bit comfortable in knowing there was somebody else out there watching him. In fact, it drove him crazy. He glanced at Adria as she took a seat beside him. He thought about telling her, but decided she had been through enough while in his company. “Nothing,” he lied. “Just thought I was going to have to take a drastic step just now...” He motioned towards Cooper. He focused his attention back to the screen, trying to appear as though he was back into the work. |
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| Adria Stark | Jul 6 2011, 12:53 AM Post #139 |
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9/16/10 When Andrew said it was nothing, Adria gave him a look that clearly said she didn't buy that answer. She didn't press the matter, though. "Well if you need any help with this 'nothing' let me know" she said. She gave his thigh a light squeeze before going back to her research. Adria was looking for anything she could get her hands on about Ink...real name, date of birth, place of birth, any sort of run-in with the law at all. She also started doing some searches on the Boss, as well...looking for the same information, and trying to find out just how he'd come across Ink if at all possible. She looked everywhere she could think of for anything of use no matter how tenuous it seemed, and included physical descriptions of them both. She took a look at the first computer she'd been working on while the second ran its searches for information on the Boss and Ink. |
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| ILEV Constable | Jul 6 2011, 01:04 AM Post #140 |
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9/16/10
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| Cooper Mandrake | Jul 6 2011, 01:06 AM Post #141 |
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9/17/10 The Ink File popped up. The two P.I.s were working on some cross referencing it seemed. I might as well sweet my hole cards with some dealing off the bottom of the deck. I called up my personal CORTEX connection and sent off a speedy note to both a personal address and a professional one.
I sent it. Then wondered why I'd done that. I turned to the P.I.'s, "So what's the latest theory? Got anything to ... hey, you they guys that had the run in with Ink yeah. What's the story on that exactly?" |
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| Adria Stark | Jul 6 2011, 01:07 AM Post #142 |
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9/17/10 Adria was surprised that she'd been able to find anything at all on Ink. She forwarded the file to Mac and Hutch, along with a message saying she was going to keep looking. She turned to Cooper to answer his question after sending the message. "That was me, actually" she said. "I'd been hired to stop someone from killing a military officer. One of the Boss's minions saw me with my target. Called it in, and Sheriff Lanyers showed up along with some other corrupt cops. My target and I were 'arrested' along with about...several other people." Adria paused a moment. "That lot were kept in one cell, me in another, and my target in a third. The others were let go, but we were held longer. The sheriff came in and said I could go. I'm pretty sure he chloroformed me though, because the next thing I know I'm barefoot and shackled to a wall." Adria paused again and peeled back the bandage on her arm to show the stitches there. After a moment, she stood and lifted her shirt enough to show the bandages there. She moved those enough to show the stitches on her torso, along with the bruising from her cracked ribs. "Ink decided to have some playtime while I was there." She gestured to the bruising still in evidence on her face. "Got knocked out again at some point, getting a concussion in the process. I wake up again in a dumpster in an alley, and run into Hutch and Eva. Mac passed along word from Hutch to start doing some searches on Ink." Adria's body language and expression held none of the signs of someone lying. She was telling the truth, after all...just an edited version of it. She turned back to the computer and started searching for information on Ink's parents, trying to find out a first name and anything else that might be of use. She was still searching for some information on the Boss as well. "Here's what I've found on the hundan so far. I've already forwarded it to Hutch and Mac" she said, sending Cooper a copy of the files she'd turned up on Ink. "Trying to find any sort of connections he might have to Jiangyin, and now Newhall. A first name would be helpful, too." |
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| Constance Mandrake | Jul 6 2011, 01:18 AM Post #143 |
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9/18/10 It was, really, just too good an opportunity to miss or at least, that was how Constance Mandrake felt as she composed the wave.
It was afterward, with the wave gone beyond possibility of recall, that she wondered why she responded the way she had, finding herself regretting at least half the things she had said. It wasn't as if she hadn't welcomed the contact from her ex-husband. On the contrary. She shut the datapad and flung herself backward onto the bed and stared up at the ceiling. "Why?" She asked herself. |
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| Cooper Mandrake | Jul 6 2011, 01:20 AM Post #144 |
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9/18/10 "Murdered Military Officer? We got one of those on the books. What'd he look like, your target; key in a description and the details will ya." This didn't make any sense, if Hutch had that information why hadn't we hauled in 'da boss' and Inky Murphy? I turned again to look across the room to Stark. "So who hired you for a gig like that?' Then the wave came in, Connie luv.... I held up my hand to hold off an answer for P.I. Adria S.
Gorram she looked great. Always did.
Me? I'm a legend darling, I smiled.
Alimony? Oh yeah, part of that book proceeds is supposed to go to her. I frowned.
I pictured her perfectly manicured hands, designed by God the sculptor supreme. I smiled.
I forgot my wallet... and no help. I figured she'd jump to get in on a high profile case. I frowned.
I smiled and turned back to Stark for an answer. |
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| Captain Jeremiah Hutchins | Jul 6 2011, 01:21 AM Post #145 |
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Hutch
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9/18/10 “Who’s Andrew? Shiny? You sound like a Rim hick... Uhm, sir." Hutch smiled and let out a deep chuckle. "A Rim hick? Just because I said the phrase 'shiny'?" he asked, obviously finding the observance quite entertaining. He wasn't offended at all. And seeing her backpedal a bit was amusing. "I grew up in the black, Mac. So I don't know if that counts, since we delivered cargo all sorts of places, no matter if it was the Core, Border Worlds or the Rim." He didn't mention his foster family any. They were good people and he was very close to them, but it wasn't the same as blood family. "As for Andrew, he's a friend of Adria's who is helping us out, since we are a little short staffed," he explained. "You never know, maybe I will offer him a job if he does well." Hutch's CorPad chirped and he stopped to read the message. His eyebrows raised in the amount of information they were getting now. "Looks like the search parameters that Cooper and Reese sent out are starting to pull in some good reports," he surmised. "Seems the Butcher has been to a couple of places before here and does not like the whoring profession at all." He turned to look at Mac. "You seeing any similarities here?" He saw some. And he wanted to know if she was getting the same ones or if she could see an angle he couldn't. |
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| Adria Stark | Jul 6 2011, 01:22 AM Post #146 |
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9/19/10 "Yeah, I know...Kenrowe. That's the hundan I was trying to save" Adria replied, her distaste for the man clear. "Clearly...I failed. Thanks to some minion or other tattling to the Boss, who sent more minions." Her tone gave away nothing of her slightly injured pride at having failed to fulfill a contract. When Cooper asked for more details, Adria wasn't the least bit surprised. She'd expected such questions would come from someone sooner or later. "I never actually dealt with my client face to face. I dealt with a sort of...middle man." There was something about that contract that had started to not sit well with her. Something was...off...about it. She couldn't put her finger on it though. "The middle man claimed his name was Joe Smith" she continued. "Obviously an alias, but I did some checking around anyway. Turned up nothing, as expected." The more she thought about it, the more something seemed wrong. Adria left the computer and pulled out one of the pads of paper used by sketch artists and a pencil. She spent a few minutes working with it, then peeled off the page. "That's the middle man" she said, setting it on the table. The sketch was accurate, Adria having no particular reason for it not to be. Adria set to work again on another sketch, this one being a bit more difficult for obvious reasons. When she was finished, the result was something that bore a passing resemblance to Ink, but at the same time was so ordinary a person could easily forget him moments after seeing him. It looked nothing at all like Andrew. "And that's the target" she said, handing that one over as well. "He goes by the name 'Alex'. No last name was given" she added. "That could be an alias, though. I only have my client's word on that, after all...or rather...his or her middle man's word on that." |
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| Andrew Williams | Jul 6 2011, 01:25 AM Post #147 |
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AKA Panther
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9/19/10 Andrew sat nose deep in the computer screen, half reading, half listening... and half worrying about this mysterious guardian of his. He clenched his jaw as Adria explained the events that happened, hoping there wouldn’t be any screw up that would suggest a contradiction. He kept out of the conversation entirely. Not even bothering to steal a tempting glance at the sketches Adria drew. He remained silent in his chair, studying the information on the screen, still looking for any further leads that could help. |
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| Skye MacKenzie | Jul 6 2011, 01:27 AM Post #148 |
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"Mac"
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9/20/10 Fortunately Hutch didn’t seem to care about Mac’s gaffe. If anything, he seemed to find her comment amusing which actually stung a little. She half expected him to ruffle her hair like you would a five-year-old who’d just said something embarrassingly funny in front of strangers. But, like most else, it wasn’t worth getting upset over and anyway, his next words would have interrupted that. Hutch wrote: "Looks like the search parameters that Cooper and Reese sent out are starting to pull in some good reports. Seems the Butcher has been to a couple of places before here and does not like the whoring profession at all. You seeing any similarities here?" Tonnes of similarities but no answers, Mac wanted to respond. She was already in the midst of organizing the data on her pad. “I am sorry, captain, but I don’t really have the ability to perform on command” she said blandly. “I’ll do my best, but this is subject to change when my brain does find the connections, assuming there are any. I do see lots of similarities, but nothing thus far that indicates who the Butcher is nor ties Ink to the murders. What this data gives me is more questions and no answers, that’s about all. And since we’ve been unlucky in the answers department, I doubt that asking any of my questions would help.” The sheriff was dead, Kellen in lockup, and Marley and Ink not panning out. So, that left… no one? There was no Butcher; it was all a bad dream. Mac would be able to wake up and move on with her life. Oh hell, if she were going to dream, she might as well add Jelani into it. She’d wake up from the nightmare and he’d be there to soothe the fear and anger away. She sighed in frustration and defeat and agonising heartbreak. Why did she have to lose Jelani now? “There is nothing in any of the reports that would point to a specific person, much less any of our suspects as the Butcher. Good reports? This is pretty much just useless go se.” For a while it looked as though Mac would toss her pad on the ground and stomp on it, grinding it into the dirt. But while she waved it about to make her point, it stayed in her hand. She started out calmly enough, but as she continued, her voice became more bitter and angry. “Based on our profile of someone in his 20s or 30s, I would imagine the murders started with the Companions and somehow the Butcher is linked to them. I’d like to know more about that tradesman and whether or not either of the Companions had living children and what happened to them. The timeline fits a child of one of the Companions. Then again, there is that tradesman. The Butcher could be his son, too. “One thing that does stand out. The Butcher starts with someone who has a child and some of the murders also involve pregnancy. That only reinforces my supposition that there is a personal connection in all this. “But here’s the problem. There is nothing in the search on Ink that places him off-planet. Nor ties him to the murders in any way other than his age. Chloroform is a simple chemical process, created from chemicals, not herbs. So the fact that his mother was an herbalist really doesn’t make the connection in my view. If she’d been a chemist or pharmacist, I’d be a lot more inclined to view Ink as a suspect. Or, if the Butcher used poison; that’s an herbalist response. Not this, though. “Ink’s a murderous sociopath, but he’s not our murderous sociopath. “We do need to check out Marley’s alibi and find out more about Ink. But, if Marley’s alibi holds and there is nothing in Ink’s history that links him to the murders, then we could be looking in the wrong places. “‘Eliminate all other factors, and the one which remains must be the truth.’ If none of our suspects are panning out, then we must accept that we could be looking at the wrong suspects. Who else do we have that we could put on a list? There’s the Boss and Bradford that I can think of off the top of my head, but I won’t rule out the fact that the Butcher is someone we’ve not even met yet. It would be our luck. “Bradford is my most likely choice at this time. He’s obviously concerned about the kids here and that suggests the personal connection. He knows the whores quite well. They talk to him, so of everyone here, I’d believe he’d know who got pregnant. He also arrived here shortly after the murders on Jiangyin. The time frame fits. “So, we need to see if we can find anything that ties Bradford to House Madrassa, Newhall, or Jiangyin or the murders here. It’d be easiest to get him gossiping about his background, I think. That’s my goal right now. See if he’ll let slip anything about where he’s from or who his parents are. That’s why I’m interested in that tradesman, see if that ties to someone in any way. Was he a tailor, a butcher, a preacher, or something else? “However, having said that—the conclusion I’ve come to thus far is that the ones who look most likely are in fact, not the Butcher. So, making Bradford look like a suspect pretty much automatically crosses him off my list. Which means we need to keep expanding the search. Add the Boss to the list. Probably everyone in the Boss’s organisation should be included, too, whoever they are. I’d bet they’re also all murderous sociopaths. It just seems to run that way. Oh hell, add the whole damn District!” The venom in her words could have poisoned the very air around her. Mac could tell the frustration was taking over now, but the train wreck was already well under weigh. Soon, the list of suspects would include her, too; that’s how angry she was over this whole fiasco. “You know what I really hate about this case? I’m getting stonewalled on every side. It’s not just the whores; you haven’t let me follow my hunches either, sending me other places when I have leads I want to pursue, ignoring my suggestions. I proposed we look into Bradford some time back and we are only now starting on it? And it’s not just me. We had every legal right to bring Ink in, yet he’s still walking free. And there is a lot more we could have and should have done about Marley and Kellen. “If I’m not going to be allowed to do my job, then just why am I here? I can’t work on a short leash! None of us can. It’s bad enough that the stupid bitches here seem to prefer death to helping us. But without your support, we can’t accomplish a damn thing! And we’re not getting that support. Instead we get sent idiotic places to waste our time. It’s almost like someone doesn’t want us to solve this case.” Her rage blew itself out then. And while the sparks didn’t cease to shoot from her eyes, her voice was much calmer. She definitely had needed to get that off her chest. “Look, I’m not holding you responsible for any of this. But I am going to ask for your help. If someone is stonewalling us, then we need you to run interference. Keep whoever it is off our backs, so we can get our jobs done. Take me off that leash. Or take me off the case. I’m useless anyway working under these conditions.” |
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| Cooper Mandrake | Jul 6 2011, 01:29 AM Post #149 |
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9/21/10 I was trying to focus on how she'd slowly slip those old time garter held stockings off her legs... real slow, one little roll at a time, kind of like how she'd... when WHAP, The new cop laid it all out... something new... 'holy crap'. It takes a lot to pull my attention from a good Connie fantasy, but this Private Dick was saying what? "So wait a minute. You met Ink's boss?" I looked at the sketches. "And this guy," I tapped the first picture, "hired you to stop the assassin that inkboss took an interest in protecting, and Lanyers shows up and intervenes, for the boss and ink. But this guy," I tapped the second picture... "he's still on the loose, and then... oh, you know someone whacked Lanyers right?" I tried the time-line in my head. "Funny that... and then they let you go. But only after the death of the Kenrowe... that this mug finally succeed in killing." Again I tapped the second picture. "so, the people that got picked up; that include assassin here?" I shook the assassin's pic and then held both pictures up. "Did they hold anyone else? or just you?" They were good enough to make a run at it. "Put these through face recognition and send to Central, or I'll do it if want. You might not have access or authorization." I looked at Adria and smiled, "You had a busy couple days." Then at.. 'alex'. "So what were you doing while your pal was being rolled by the local hoods?" They were close these two, yeah?, so what was this guy's angle? Jeez we had more melodrama in our own office in three days than we could sort out in months of casework. |
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| Captain Jeremiah Hutchins | Jul 6 2011, 01:30 AM Post #150 |
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Hutch
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9/22/10 On the Way to Silas Bradford's Business/Residence Hutch listened to Mac vent. He was in agreement with much of what he said about the case. And what she said about his involvement? She was right. He was holding the reigns a little tight. Being in command on a ship - an experiment - like this was a bit daunting. "I'm sorry about the micromanaging," Hutch told her, his smile fading and his expression sobering. "I'm just a little nervous. Sound silly eh? But I am human and this ship hasn't even launched. This case has been difficult to say the least. "Plus, I have to admit that I might be a little too close to the case seeing my... extended familiarity here," he confessed. "I'm really not like this usually, but then again, I was spoiled and worked with the same team for a long while before this assignment." He sighed. "You take the reigns here with Silas, especially since I know him and have patronized his establishment. I will watch your back," he said. "And if there is anything that I should be doing in the meantime, like the running interference you spoke of. Just tell me and I will do it." He looked ahead. "We're almost there." |
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9:43 AM Jul 11


