CHAPTER 2: IC - Death of a Sea Captain [George & Martin]

[Job]

8:40 a.m. (EST) – Thursday 7th September, 1933

As he entered the Westbury he definitely crinkled his nose as he scanned the place. "The captain was staying here?"
After the clerk addressed them Martin walked up to the man. "Yes, we are from the USS Gabriel. Captain Douglas was a guest at your ... establishment before his accident. We were asked to come pick up his personal belongings."

George make a short bow to the clerk 'George Barrow, sir' 'as my college is saying.. we are here for the belongings of the poor man' 'did he stay here as a permanent place or was he a new customer?'

The hotel clerk hesitates a moment, then says, "Sorry boys, cops have that room locked up tight. Crime scene and all that. There's even a cop outside it to see nobody goes in." He shrugs his shoulders.

After only a few sentences from the clerk, you think that you've identified at least one source of the strong alcohol smell in this joint...

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Job. (the tortured one)

[BenTheRat]

"I didn't realize any crime actually took place here. What exactly happened?" Martin says as he flips a dollar coin in his hand around his fingers.

[Job]

"I didn't realize any crime actually took place here. What exactly happened?" Martin says as he flips a dollar coin in his hand around his fingers.

The clerk seemed mesmerized by Martin's sleight of hand, never taking his eyes off the coin as he responded, "So far as I know, your buddy drowned near the Battery and the cops don't think it was natural-like, if ya know what I mean. Your buddy was only here for a few days."

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Job. (the tortured one)

[BenTheRat]

Martin smiles, he knows this type, he's dealt with him a hundred times trying to get a story. He continues rolling the coin between his fingers a small skill he spent hours practicing. His regular contacts knew if they wanted it, the info had to be good. "Come on, everyone knows that, that was in the papers. Tell me something I don't know."

[Job]

The clerk looked up, narrowed his eyes, and responded, "Alright, but there really ain't much to tell ya. He paid for his room in advance, for ten days. Too bad he didn' get to finish his stay...

He didn' have any visitors an' he was gone most of the time, out and about. Day an' night, not around.

He did use our phone once or twice, over there on the desk." The clerk pointed to a telephone sitting on a small table about ten or fifteen feet from the clerk's desk in the lobby.

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Job. (the tortured one)

[Anatomist]

George sees as Martin is working the man, he takes a step back and watches his surroundings.

[BenTheRat]

"Ok, so tell me friend," and Martin puts the coin on the desk but keeps his hand over it. "if we wanted 10 mins in the room without being bothered, do you think you could arrange this?"

[Job]

George sees as Martin is working the man, he takes a step back and watches his surroundings.

George notices that the lobby is deserted; no other people are around. The lobby itself is small, approximately twenty feet by twenty feet, and contains only the main desk and mail bins, two chairs for customers, and a desk with a phone and small lamp, all sitting on a torn and filthy carpet.

The entrance to the lobby is opposite the main desk. Hallways extend off to both the right and left of the main desk, and a stairway leads upwards just behind and to the left of the desk.

For George Only,As Martin talks to the clerk, it appears that the clerk is being truthful, even if not terribly helpful.

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Job. (the tortured one)

[Job]

"Ok, so tell me friend," and Martin puts the coin on the desk but keeps his hand over it. "if we wanted 10 mins in the room without being bothered, do you think you could arrange this?"

The man's eyes remain fixed upon your hand on the counter, obviously waiting for the coin to reappear, but his brain cells are probably hindered.

"I can't give ya the key to the room. The detectives will throw me in jail if they come back an' I don't have it. An' the cop outside the door ain't gonna let ya in."

For Martin and George,Please roll a couple of "Idea" checks in the OOC thread and we'll see if your characters have some surprise suggestions

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Job. (the tortured one)

[Job]

George sees as Martin is working the man, he takes a step back and watches his surroundings.

The doors to rooms on the first floor are all numbered in the teens: room 11, room 12, room 13, etc. Odd-numbered rooms are on the right side of the hallway and even numbered rooms on the left.

George ascends halfway up the stairs and, at the top of the flight, sees a policeman sitting in a chair outside the door of room 23. The door to room 25 is on the left side of the sitting policeman and, although George can't see it without moving up further, he assumes that the door to room 21 is on the right side.

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Job. (the tortured one)

[Job]

"Ok, so tell me friend," and Martin puts the coin on the desk but keeps his hand over it. "if we wanted 10 mins in the room without being bothered, do you think you could arrange this?"

The man's eyes remain fixed upon your hand on the counter, obviously waiting for the coin to reappear, but his brain cells are probably hindered.

"I can't give ya the key to the room. The detectives will throw me in jail if they come back an' I don't have it. An' the cop outside the door ain't gonna let ya in."

Behind the clerk, on a counter underneath the mail bins for each room, Martin sees a large ledger book which he assumes all patrons sign when renting their rooms.

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Job. (the tortured one)

[BenTheRat]

Martin slides the coin off to one side and takes his hand off of it. "Why don't you let me have a peak at the ledger?"

[Job]

Martin slides the coin off to one side and takes his hand off of it. "Why don't you let me have a peak at the ledger?"

He studied your face for a moment, then reached out slowly to take the dollar coin, put it in his pocket, saying, "Alright Mac, sure, you can take a look. Nothin' there to see, really. Cops have already seen it." He then turned, picked up the ledger with two hands, placed it on the main counter and slid it across for Martin to examine.

Sure enough, three days ago, Captain Douglas signed into room twenty-three. It appears that the Hotel Westbury was pretty busy over the past few days; you notice a few other entries for that period.

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Job (the tortured one).

[BenTheRat]

"So Captain Douglas was in room 23. Is there a connecting door with the room next door? Room 21 or 25?" Martin looks in the book to see if anyone was in or is still in 21 or 25.

If there is an adjoining door Martin wants to rent the room with the adjoining door.

If not, he asks if the windows can be opened?

[Job]

"So Captain Douglas was in room 23. Is there a connecting door with the room next door? Room 21 or 25?" Martin looks in the book to see if anyone was in or is still in 21 or 25.

If there is an adjoining door Martin wants to rent the room with the adjoining door.

If not, he asks if the windows can be opened?

The clerk responded, "Yeah, there's a door connecting room twenty-three and room twenty-one. And the windows open, sure, but there ain't no fire escapes. I don't wanna know what you boys are up to. If the cops catch ya, then you're on your own. I know nothin!"

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Job. (the tortured one)

[BenTheRat]

"You don't have to know nothing. I'd like to rent room 21 for the night." Martin pulls out another dollar, "And the key for the adjoining door."

[Job]

8:55 a.m. (EST) – Thursday 7th September, 1933

"I can rent ya room twenty-one, but can't give ya the key to the door that connects to room twenty-three. The cops know about that door, mister.

"Room'll be two bucks." Once you pay the clerk, he hands you the key to room twenty-one.

"Check out by noon tomorrow or it's another two bucks."

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Job. (the tortured one)

[BenTheRat]

"Come on, cops will never know. I'll be in and out and not make a sound. In fact, I'll be checked out and room 21 will be available for rent again. What harm is there. Promise I won't touch a thing." Martin goes on.

Persuade,[url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3304810/]Persuade roll: target = 45% (1d100=76)[/url]

After seeing this wasn't doing much good. He turns to George. "What do you think? shall I check out the adjoining room to see if there is a way in. Or we can talk to the cop and see if he is a little more flexible. Or both."

[Anatomist]

He turns to George. "What do you think? shall I check out the adjoining room to see if there is a way in. Or we can talk to the cop and see if he is a little more flexible. Or both."

George takes Martin some steps away from the counter. 'Well yes' 'lets check 21 out' 'let see what we can get out of it'

[Job]

The clerk shakes his head at your request for the key, and says, "Sorry. I have to keep it in case the cops ask for it."

George and Martin take the stairway up to the second floor. The policeman in front of room twenty-three is directly across from the top of the stairs, reading a newspaper. He looks up and studies you as you climb the stairs, but says not a word.

You can see the door to room twenty-one just down hallway to the right. The carpeting and wall coverings in this hotel are something out of a nightmare; filthy, full of holes, puke-green in color.

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Job. (the tortured one).