Saturday Sept 2 evening - Dex & Langdon

[Dexter Ford]

He glances at the mailbox, and then at Langdon, thinking for a moment. "On the way out, I'll get the mail. Let's just say, Uncle Sam is a little less tolerant of forcing your way into their property than the local flatfoots might be." He waits for the elevator to come to the lobby.

(Does it look like the mailman lowers all the boxes at once or is there a room behind the mailboxes he has access too the rear of the boxes? I have seen both, and its rare where a mailman who have to open every box individually)

[Gaffer]

[There are five banks of four boxes each, hinged at the bottom with a lock at the top for the postman's key. The door to each box then locks and opens to the side.]

[Langdon]

I muse to myself out loud "You know... I wonder if there's anything I could do at city hall, any strings to pull, people to contact, to get access to his mail. Maybe someone from the police would know? Hmm..."

<Is there any skill I can use to make that sort of thing happen? Would probably happen the next day or the day after?>

[Gaffer]

[It would take a pretty serious court order and the cooperation of the U.S. Post Office. A mighty tall order.]

[Langdon]

<Well.... up to the apartment then!>

[Dexter Ford]

Dex will take the elevator to Langdon's Hirt's <ed.> floor, then walk down the hallway towards his apartment. If there is no one in the hallway, he will try the door to the flat, and knock on it as well. He'll also knock on the doors to either side to see if anyone his home and if they have seen anyone besides Mr. Hirt enter his apartment in the last few days. What happens next depends on who answers or if Hirt's door is locked or not.

[Gaffer]

The door to apartment 302 is locked and no one answers your knock. dex's Locksmith skill determines right away that the lock has been tampered with by someone not nearly as expert.

When you knock at apartment 301, a heavyset man in a dressing gown answers, holding the newspaper in his hand. No, he says, he hasn't seen anyone go in and out of Hirt's place. Who is it? asks a female voice from inside. Some guy wants to know if we've seen anybody next door, he answers. Just that woman, she says, Tell him to make her keep that dog quiet! They don't know who she is, but have seen her in the company of Mr. Hirt.

There's no answer at apartment 303.

At 304, a stooped and elderly man answers. He seems hard of hearing. Yeh, I've seen that dame comin an goin, he says, she's quite a looker, huh? He didn't catch her name.

[Since there are four apartments per floor, I went ahead and gave you all of them.]

[Dexter Ford]

After talking to the last of the neighbors and noticing the lock to Hirt's apartment has been tampered with, I look at Langdon. "Well that wasn't particularly helpful. We suspect that the false Miss Hirt has been here and with a dog, that's a new wrinkle. No one is home. I still say we try to snoop around the place, but if the police catch us, I am not sure I can talk both of us out here. However, if we do discover a dog, in distress, perhaps that might be a cover story that will carry a little weight. But I am willing to leave it to the police to formally investigate if you think the risk is too great."

It is obvious that Dex is eager to open the door, damn the consequences, and talk himself out of the mess. But he won't put any undo pressure on Langdon to break the law or their word.

[Langdon]

"I don't suppose you have any way of contacting Detective Esposito, do you? After all, a tampered lock is suspicious. But do you really think it's grounds to enter the apartment? Maybe we can speak to the building manager?" I'm clearly losing the gall for something like this. It's one thing to read about it in the pulps, another to dream about it, still another to entertain the notion and possibly facilitate it by misusing official documents...

"Look, Dex, I ... Maybe we should try another way? This just doesn't seem right."

[Dexter Ford]

"Look, Dex, I ... Maybe we should try another way? This just doesn't seem right."

Dex nods his head. "Let's go down to the local coffee shop, get a cup of joe and a slice of pie, and I'll call the local station house and see if they can't send someone around to take a looksee. That way when they send a squad car out to investigate our suspicions, we can always start the ball rolling for a more formal police investigation with the full mail slot, the neighbors' comments about not seeing Mr. Hirt and the strange woman, etc. While I do that, why don't you give Detective Esposito a call. I am pretty sure he is none to fond of me at the moment."

He steers Langdon down the hall and to the elevator and then next door to the coffee shop. It's the most likely place for a pay phone, or for a dime to be slipped across the counter for a call to the police.

[Gaffer]

Trilby's Hat is going strong this early in the evening, most of the tables are crowded and every booth is occupied, except the one closest to the door. The clientele is a mix of young artsy students and older bohemian types. Everyone is smoking and drinking coffee or beer and arguing at the top of their voices. Joe Makropolos gives Dex a wave as he comes in. Cassandra L’Argent weaves among the tables carrying orders and empties from kitchen to customer and back again.

There is a telephone booth to one side of the entrance, a mahogany box with glass windows.

Dex's attempt to arouse police interest founder on the question of who is he and how did he come to notice tampering to the lock? Is he the householder or the landlord or a neighbor? Can he say when the tampering was done? Are the premises secured now? What about the dog, maybe he wants the SPCA? Has a missing person report been filed? A full mailbox isn't much to go on. They'll try to send someone around to see someone, probably Monday. Who is this again?

Langdon has better success getting two cups of coffee from Cassandra.

[Dexter Ford]

Dex comes back and sits down in the booth. "No luck with the normal police routine. They don't seem to care and they are asking some mundane question I can't answer. So either we call Detective Esposito and get him to open the door to the apartment, or I risk my PI license and we do it ourselves. Any suggestions? I really don't want to contact my captain in the force yet if I don't have to. Besides it's a holiday weekend and that might not get much done."

<trying to jump start what seems to be a bit stalled/or wrap things up for the next day>

[Gaffer]

<Unless Dex intends to go back into the building solo after Langdon departs, I'm going to call Scene and have you go back to your earlier separate threads to wrap up Saturday.>

[Dexter Ford]

<sounds okay to me>

[Langdon]

<fine by me. I'm leaving shortly, so won't be able to post again until Monday. enjoy the holidays>

[Gaffer]

<Dex and Langdon return to your solo Saturday evening threads.>