"And before that? Is there anyone else you have told? or anyone we can get a hold of to help you out? It sounds like you don't want your father to know."
"I still don't completely understand what happened, but it sounds more like a job for a lawyer to me. Brian, I'd like to help you, but I wasn't there, there isn't anything I can do, and if you really were involved in drug dealing than I don't feel a lot of pity. Officers, would you mind talking to me about the Morpheus you confiscated after this interview is over?"
"Well, I can see the situation is more complicated than I thought," answers Barney. "Mr. Anderson has my card, my associates can take it from here.
Good luck, mate," he finishes, addressing Brian.
Sod this, this guy's in the sh*t and no mistake! he thinks to himself.
"I think I had better go for my 'plane now."
ooc - unless the cops object, Barney will leave the station, looking around to see if any of his companions from the bar want to join him.
"I told the priest," said Brian. "Father Nathaniel Levington. I spoke to him this afternoon. But all that was in the confessional, and he wouldn't have told anyone else. He was here earlier talking to me. I don't know what else he can do to help me besides talking to God."
"As I matter of fact, we would mind talking to you about that," said Yeager to Jerome. "We still don't really know what this Morpheus stuff is, and everything we confiscated is evidence. I'm also not at liberty to discuss an ongoing investigation - and we have some work to do on that investigation as soon as we're done here." From the tone of his voice and his earlier statements, it was obvious that he wanted that to be as soon as possible.
OOC,[b]Jerome[/b], roll Fast Talk if you want to try to get him to talk further after the interview.
"If you still don't really know what it is, and you're trying to investigate, than wouldn't I be one of the best two people to ask about it?" Jerome says convincingly.
"You do have a good point there," said Yeager. "Okay, we'll have a chat about Morpheus. Let's use one of the other interview rooms, then. Officer Jones, return the prisoner back to his cell before he embarrasses himself again."
"Yes, sir," said the tall black cop, leading Brian back into the cell block.
Yeager opened up another interview room and motioned for Jerome to join him.
OOC,[b]Barney[/b], nobody is stopping you from leaving. You haven't posted in a while, so I don't know if you've given [b]Jerome[/b] one of your cards or not. If you don't post by the time I update again, I'll assume you did.
OOC,You haven't missed much, as I've been very busy over the last few weeks too. [b]Bill[/b] is in an interview room talking to [b]Mary[/b], but he stopped to talk to the others in the guard room, [b]Jerome[/b] just went into another one with [b]Lt. Yeager[/b], [b]Brian[/b] was taken back to his cell, and [b]Barney[/b] is about to leave (though his player has been absent too).
[b]Jerome[/b], you can just start posting in this thread as you talk to [b]Yeager[/b]. The door's open, so those in the guard room can still hear you unless you whisper (in which case you can use a spoiler button). They'll still get Listen rolls to see if they can overhear you. You could also ask [b]Yeager[/b] to close the door if you want privacy.
Bill returned to Mary. He felt uneasy about Brian's confession about the gun - he'd been attacked but he knew that there was no way for Brian to have returned the gun... ...
He sat heavily on a chair next to Mary. He glanced at her. "We'd better get you home, Miss. I'll see if I can get a car and run you home, if that's ok?"
"Yes, thank you," said Mary, rising from her seat and allowing Bill to escort her back to the guard room. "You're so kind."
"I'll call for a patrol car for the young lady, Sarge," said Officer Jones, picking up the phone from his desk and dialing.
Barney handed Jerome one of his Mindstorm Entertainment business cards before the wheelchair-bound man rolled into the other interview room. Then Barney left the cell block with Bill and Mary, heading for the elevator. The three of them walked down the hall, and Mary pushed the button to summon the elevator. For once the doors opened immediately, as nobody else had called it since they had come down here.
Bill stood to one side to let Mary and Barney enter the elevator car, then stepped inside. He pressed the button to take the elevator to the ground floor and stood next to Mary as the doors slid closed.
The elevator arrived at the lobby, and the four people inside it got out. Mary, Barney, and Maxine returned their visitors' passes to the desk sergeant as they left. Bill walked Mary outside, where the patrol car was waiting for her. A young, handsome officer was behind the wheel. "You must be Mary," he said to her with a smile. When she nodded, he leaned across and opened the passenger door for her. "Hop in, miss. Where are you headed?"
"The girls' dorms at Penn," she said, getting into the police car.
Barney started to walk towards a Volkswagen minibus, which had peace signs, rainbows, and flower designs painted all over its surface in a garish mix of colors, as well as a smaller peace sign for a hood ornament. Two hippies with long hair sat in the front.
Jeromes places his hands on the table in front of him, and looks Officer Yeager straight in the eye.
Yeager,"You already know that I'm a scientist who works with Dr. Gregory Anderson. We've been conducting government research on a new chemical. Only Dr. Anderson knows the exact formula, but we called it Morpheus - a name the doctor came up with, which is why I'm surprised people in a bar knew it. Maybe Brian overheard his father talking about it.
We have been testing the chemical on people - college students who sign up for a study. We give them an entire glass of Morpheus mixed with chocolate milk to drink. It hasn't changed their behavior. They don't get drunk when they drink it, and they don't get high. They don't even report feeling any different. I don't think they notice it. As a street drug, Morpheus would be a complete failure. However - we haven't done enough testing to know that it has no side effects. I know it is a complicated molecule - if someone on medication, for example, took it, it might cause complications. Altogether, we would rather nobody took it outside of controlled laboratory conditions.
As far as I know, all Morpheus has been produced in our laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania. A sample went missing this morning from the refrigerator where we keep them. The only person who had been in the lab other than us was Brian, so we thought that he would have taken the sample. It seems I've found him, and the sample.
The sample will be irrelevant to you in your investigation - like I said, it is completely legal, and no judge or jury would even understand what it is. However, it is somewhat difficult and expensive to prepare, and we are on a government research project - and they won't be happy with us if a sample goes missing. I'd like to ask you to return it to me - it would save me a lot of hassle."
Bill watched Mary get into the police car. He thought for a moment then stepped over to the car. He tapped on the glass and waited for her to wind the window down. He looked into oh so familiar eyes and said, "Will you be alright, Mary? Or would you prefer me to come back with you to make sure you're ok?"
OOC,I'd forgotten that [b]Maxine[/b] had already left. I edited all references to her out of my post above.
Jerome Padgett and Lieutenant John Yeager,"There's one side effect you didn't mention," said [b]Yeager[/b]. "Or maybe that's what it's supposed to do. It makes someone fall asleep and they can't be awakened normally. Do you know how to wake someone up once they've taken the drug?"
"I'll be okay," replied Mary. "I just need some time alone, that's all. But thank you again, Sergeant." She closed her door and fastened her seatbelt as the driver pulled out of the lot and turned left onto 8th Street. Meanwhile, Barney got into the VW minibus, which followed in the wake of the police car.
OOC,[b]Barney Brainstorm[/b] is moving to the thread linked below. Please stop reading the current thread at this point, and do not read any posts above the one in the link in the new thread. All other players remain in the current thread.
Bill watched the car carry Mary away and sighed heavily. He wanted to stay with her and tell her it would be ok but... ... He thought back to when he first met Mary and wondered what, if anything, he was changing with his actions. He shook his head, turned back towards the station and went in search of Yeager.
Jerome Padgett and Lieutenant John Yeager,"You're quick on the uptake," said [b]Yeager[/b]. "I'm afraid so. If you want it back, you'll have to wait for him to piss it out. He mistook it for chocolate milk, not realizing what it was. Do you know how to wake him up? If not, we'd better go talk to [b]Dr. Anderson[/b]."
Bill went back inside and called the elevator, which hadn't budged since he had come back up. He rode it down to the basement and returned to the cell block, where Yeager was still in an interview room talking to Jerome. Sergeant Rawlings, Nancy Remington, and Professor Scott were still standing in the guard room along with the two uniformed police officers.