Saturday Sept 2 afternoon

[Gaffer]

It’s a fine, warm day with just a light breeze coming down the river.

Franky Esposito walks from NYPD headquarters on Centre Street to the Canal Street subway station and takes the uptown train to the 57th Street station where he bumps into Delores Brown. She has walked from the World-Telegram building on West 40th Street to Grand Central Station, descending to the subway and changed at Times Square to the uptown train, riding it to the 57th Street station. Together, they walk a couple blocks to 7th Avenue and arrive at the Carnegie Delicatessen together.

Dex Ford leaves Greenwich Village and drives up 7th Avenue to 57th Street, nosing his Model A into the curb a half block from the Carnegie Delicatessen and feeding a couple of nickels into the meter.

Langdon Vilas leaves the Metropolitan Bank & Trust building on Barclay and walks to his automobile. He motors along Church Street to Chambers and turns right onto Hudson. He picks up 8th Avenue all the way uptown until he turns right on 57th Street. He seeks out one of the new parking garages and turns his big Packard over to the uniformed attendant. He walks a block to the Carnegie Delicatessen.

[No one notices that the Carnegie Delicatessen won’t be built until 1937.]

Inside is a hubbub, a cross-section of Manhattanites – businessmen, secretaries, families, workmen, reporters, cops, chorines and actors – all with a short time to eat lunch or getting food to eat elsewhere. The first of you to arrive manages to snag a booth in the back. The menu board features a number of hot and cold sandwiches, various pickles and beverages from hot coffee to egg creams, as well as cheesecake and pastries. A harried waiter asks, “So, what’ll it be?”

[Go ahead and roleplay your arrival and orders and swapping the information you've obtained (or withholding it, as seems appropriate). I'll try to restrain myself to describing the activity around you and interjecting editorial comments. You've acquired a lot of detail and are still just getting to know one another, so don't feel you have to rush. This is your time, your game.]

[Langdon]

I am simply overwhelmed and thrilled by the hustle and bustle of such a working-class establishment <OOC: it is working class, right?> It's a thrilling new dining experience for me. It takes me a while to find the booth with the others a table [ed.]...

[Langdon is the first to arrive and is holding a table for the others.]

...and when the waiter finally has a moment to make it back to the table, I ask "What's your most popular item on the menu? I'll try that."

[FrankyEsposito]

I hold the door for Miss Brown and wait while she peruses the menu board. Once she's done I'll order my usual: pastrami on rye, extra mustard. Because I've had to spend all morning thinking about Red Hook, I decide that I deserve an egg cream.

While waiting for my order I find that I can't help whistling. Man,I love New York!

[Dexter Ford]

Dex will come in a few moments later, lugging his parcel of books and his trusty notebook. He will spot the others and settle into an empty seat. He'll order a corned beef, mustard on rye with a pickle, some potato salad, and a coke. He waits until the waitress disappears with their orders and he smiles. "Who wants to go first?"

[Delores Brown]

"I'd normally suggest that ladies go first but I've not much to report," says Delores, "So why don't you tell us what you found?" She takes a delicate bite of the sandwich in front of her, raising a quizzical eyebrow as she waits for Dex's response.

[Gaffer]

She takes a delicate bite of the sandwich in front of her, raising a quizzical eyebrow as she waits for Dex's response.

<ooc - Delores must have gotten the tuna salad.>

The waiter returns with a large plate for Langdon, containing a grilled sandwich of some sort, melted cheese oozing out the sides together with a pinkish dressing, mingling with a warm potato salad and a large dill pickle. When he cuts into it, the inside proves to be meat and sauerkraut and swiss cheese. There's also a cold beverage of some sort, fizzy and transparent and slightly brown in color.

[Gaffer]

"Who wants to go first?"

"I'd normally suggest that ladies go first but I've not much to report," <snip> "So why don't you tell us what you found?"

<I'd suggest starting with one bit of info you find most significant and then getting to everything learned, rather than trying to report everything in one go.>

[Dexter Ford]

Dex nods at Delores' suggestion and rests a hand on the books, saving that for a bit later. He flips open his notebook, and scans down the list of things.

"First off, as confirmed by a few sources, including the Joes at the local coffee shop who chatted with Mr. Hirt, our erstwhile employer, Miss Hirt, isn't really Mr. Hirt's sister. Every report has her being younger, blonder and in general, not quite the skirt who hired us to dig into Mr. Hirt's disappearance. I didn't think she was 'kosher' but now I am piqued to know who she is and what her interest in all of this is."

[FrankyEsposito]

"All right. She lied. No big surprise there. Everybody lies. Anything else? What's with the books?"

[Langdon]

"Well, I certainly can't say that much of what I found will lead us to find Miss Hirt's brother - or whoever he is - but here is what I found." I frown slightly at the sandwich and decide it's best to keep talking so no one will realize I'm hesitant to take a bite. Though the soda is quite tasty.

"It seems that Palatine Hirt, who I believe is the father of Miss Hirt and the brother. Er... well, purportedly the father. In any case, he named a Robert Stanton III, his business partner from Connecticut, as executor of his estate and guardian of his children. Now you'd think he'd have given these roles to his brother Jacob. So did Jacob! He filed a suit to challenge the will, but dropped it after reviewing some financial records."

I finally get up the nerve to take a bite of the sandwich. The slimy, greasy, stack of meat and soggy bread, with the savory and tangy sauce and the sweet and sour pickled cabbage is somehow remarkably delicious.

"Have you tried this? It's fantastic."

"Sorry, I'd better not lose my place. So there's Palatine and his brother Jacob. Before the war, it seems, they had a falling out and dissolved their business, Hirt Frères. After this separation, Palatine joined with this Stanton fellow and did quite well through the war and even survived the Crash!"

"Well, all that's business and history, right? I didn't see anything that stood out as particularly salient to our task at hand. Except..."

I take a bite of the potato salad to make a point.

"I stumbled across a rumor that Alphonse Hirt - now I believe this is the 'brother', yes? - has been spending rather above his means. He's been living off of his investments and money from the Stanton & Hirt Corporation, and those both took quite the dip in the Crash."

[Delores Brown]

Delores nibbled at her tuna salad and listened as the other spoke. "Everything you've said about Stanton & Hirt rings true with our records," she said, "And losing everything in the crash might account for Jacob deciding not to pursue Stanton for what he presumably thought was rightfully his."

She took another mouthful and chewed carefully. "I did find out something interesting," she said, "There's a Marlene Hirt working over at the New Yorker - perhaps she's the daughter of Palentine Hirt?" She plucked a folder photostat from her handbag and unfolded it, passing it over the table to Dex.

[FrankyEsposito]

"Hmmm." I wipe the foam of the egg cream from my lips. It's not bad, just not as good as the ones in Brooklyn.

"What do you suppose happened to the kids, then. They'd have been, what 17 and 12? Our Marlene Hirt -- whoever she is -- said they didn't go live with Uncle Jacob. That may or may not be the case. I wish we knew for sure who this dame was."

[Dexter Ford]

Dex gives Franky an incredulous glare."I think finding out who our employer is might be a smart idea. I don't fancy doing someone's leg work for them if Mr. Hirt disappeared for a reason. Moreover, I don't fancy being someone's patsy if things go south."

Dex glanced at his notebook, then added a bit more information. "Seems Mr. Hirt has been interested in some Middle Eastern mumbo-jumbo and he turned these books over to a local bookstore. What did the book store owner say?" Dex flips a bit further in his note book. "Oh yeah, something about Middle Eastern history and cuture, including Mohammedan superstition and witchcraft, especially about Yezidi devil worshippers." Dex quotes the last part in his best mimicry of the bookstore owner's voice.

"Seems these books were some of those titles he didn't need anymore. They were all purchased from the same gent in Brooklyn, Kaynak Bilginin, 219 Washington Avenue, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. There is some sort of writing I can't puzzle out on the book plate, but if any of you can decipher it, go right ahead." Dex turns one of the books towards his companions. "I figured if Mr. Hirt were interested in all these titles, maybe there is something in here we can discover as well."

"Oh and one more thing connected to all these here books. Seems Mr. Hirt was convinced some cult was active in the Red Hook section and these were for his research. Told the owner he didn't need the books no more and he was ready to jump into sniffing about the neighborhood."

<OOC Note: The book titles are as follows: Adventures in Arabia: Among the Bedouins, Druses, Whirling Dervishes & Yezidee Devil Worshipers by W.B. Seabrook 1927; Devil Worship: The Sacred Books and Traditions of the Yezidiz by Isya Joseph (1919); An Inquiry into the Religious Tenets of the Yezeedees by George Percy Badger (1852). >

[Gaffer]

[The characters are very similar to Roman, but with a variety of diacritical marks, that aren't like German, French or Spanish, though similar. Langdon you're the only one who put any points in Languages, do you want the language the bookplate uses?}

[FrankyEsposito]

[The characters are very similar to Roman, but with a variety of diacritical marks, that aren't like German, French or Spanish, though similar. Langdon you're the only one who put any points in Languages, do you want the language the bookplate uses?}

[Actually, I did also, but I somehow don't think that this script is Italian...]

"Easy, Dex. Either she's who she says or she isn't. She's still paying you, right?" No way he can miss the subtle emphasis on the "you."

"We're meeting with her on Monday, right? We'll get to the truth of who she is, one way or another." I take a look at the books and debate about how much to tell them.

"About the Red Hook stuff... our guy's been sniffing around an old case... you might remember it from 10 years or so ago. Bunch of buildings collapsed? Disappearing children? Our guy has been asking around about it. One of my friends remembered him. The detective who was in charge of the case is retired now. I'm waiting to hear back from him."

[Langdon]

<Yes to the language>

"Did you say Middle Eastern? I'm sure you all noticed it - after all you are all" casting a sideways glance at Delores, "paid to notice small details." I shake my head slightly, as if clearing a bad mood. "I saw that Miss Hirt, or whoever she may be, was wearing a necklace. The engraving was quite beautiful, actually, depicting the moon’s phases. The reason I mention it is that it, too, was in a Middle-Eastern style."

"Dex. If she's not who she claims to be, do you think that perhaps Mr. Hirt's researches into these topics have brought him unwanted attention from people of that culture?"

<Would Langdon know anything about Red Hook? Either from news reporting at the time or from his work for the city of New York?>

[Dexter Ford]

Dex nods at Langdon's comments. "The owner of the diner next to Mr. Hirt's place said he thought the woman was Middle Eastern more than being connected to Mr. Hirt." He snaps his fingers. "What if she is one of these Yizedee, the one Hirt was investigating and seems to be connected to this incident in Red Hook?"

He rapidly flips through his notes and then taps the page he finds. "Oh, and the book store owner said something odd, but it took a moment. He said that Hirt mentioned he thought they were trying to open a path to the moon, or something along those lines. Didn't make a lot of sense, but was odd enough that I was willing to write it down. Any clues? And I think one of us each take these books and give them a read through this afternoon. See if there is anything in here we can tease out. And maybe the good detective can visit the bookshop owner in his official capacity."

[Gaffer]

Private Langdon Vilas,[color=#8000BF]You seem to recall a story while you were at Fordham about a building collapse in Brooklyn somewhere that killed a bunch of police and gangsters. Dr. Beaton, your city planning professor, made a big deal of it as indicating that city government wasn't paying enough attention to the dwellings foisted on the impoverished.[/color]

Private Dexter Ford,[color=#8000BF]Something about an old case in Red Hook stirs a memory. Also, in terms of reading times for the books, you estimate the following: [b]Adventures in Arabia[/b] is 346 pages and will take you 6 hours (24/Library Use) to read ([i]modern and meant for general audience[/i]) [b]Devil Worship[/b] is 224 pages and will take you 5 hours (20/Library Use) to read ([i]fairly modern, but pretty mystical and obscure[/i]) [b]An Inquiry into the Religious Tenets of the Yezeedees[/b] is only 54 pages, but will take you 2 hours ( 8/Library Use) to read ([i]mid-19th century writing and fragile pages[/i])[/color]

[Delores Brown]

<Yes to the language>

"Did you say Middle Eastern? I'm sure you all noticed it - after all you are all" casting a sideways glance at Delores, "paid to notice small details." I shake my head slightly, as if clearing a bad mood. "I saw that Miss Hirt, or whoever she may be, was wearing a necklace. The engraving was quite beautiful, actually, depicting the moon’s phases. The reason I mention it is that it, too, was in a Middle-Eastern style."

"Perhaps we were paying attention to what she was saying, rather than admiring her décolletage," replies Delores with a cutting look.

"I can check out coverage of the Red Hook and the missing kids," she continues, "But not until the office re-opens on Monday. Assuming that I don't get some tinpot story to cover, that is..."

[FrankyEsposito]

"I can check out coverage of the Red Hook and the missing kids," she continues, "But not until the office re-opens on Monday. Assuming that I don't get some tinpot story to cover, that is..."

"I don't think it got much press coverage at the time. It wasn't... it wasn't a pretty story." I hope they can't see how it affects me. I need a drink. "The people in Red Hook -- back then anyway, I don't know about now -- didn't talk to outsiders. Cops, press, or otherwise. They're a tight-lipped bunch."

It just occurs to me that Dex wants me to shake down some bookshop owner about moon men and I'm considering it. Maybe I don't need that drink after all.

"Since we seem to be convinced that your client is not who she claims, how about we try tracking down the real Marlene Hirt?"