Providence Hospital

[Cearlan]

You arrive at Providence Hospital three hours late for your appointment with the administrator.

You are kept waiting in his outer office for over an hour and notice that there is a lot of activity going in and out of his office.

After a long time, you are ushered into the office and see a rather flustered administrator sitting behind his desk.

OOC,Spot Hidden or Psychology rolls please - whichever you prefer for your character.

"Welcome ladies and gentlemen, please sit down. I am Wesley Allman, the hospital administrator" He shakes everyone's hand. "I understand that you have some questions concerning a Martin Sorrell."

[Mr. Handy]

David sizes up the administrator as he shakes his hand. "Yes, I'm Professor David Johnson," he says, "a close friend and colleague of Martin Sorrell's. These are my associates." He introduces the others. "I have my doubts about whether or not the man who died here was in fact Martin. Martin had had malaria in the past, which means he would have antibodies for it in his blood. The man who was found with his passport did not have any such antibodies. There are other discrepancies as well. We would like to speak to Dr. Tomassen, who treated the man."

[Cearlan]

OOC,As you size Allman up, it is obvious to you that he is very concerned about something to do with this case ... as to what - read on

"Yes, yes." stammers Allman, obviously ill at ease. "Though your tone is not very agreeable I will assist you as I can. I am afraid I have a confession to make to you all. Its seems that we ... that we ..." He pauses as he clears his throat and takes a drink of water and composes himself before continuing. "It seems that we cannot find Martin Sorrell's records anywhere. All we have been able to come up with is the testimony of Dr Tomassen, who as you rightly say was the physician who dealt with Mr Sorrell when he came to us."

For any institution, especially one with so much prestige as this, to make such an admission to total strangers is tantamount to the head of the Miskatonic Library telling Dr Armitage that the entire sealed book collection had gone missing. This would account for the frantic to-ing and fro-ing from his office as you waited.

He refers to his notes on his desk. "When the patient was admitted Dr Tomassen called for his record. He ran standard tests, checking for alcohol levels and so forth, such as ascertaining if he was carrying a tropical disease or parasite as his passport indicated he had only just returned from one of a number of trips to British Honduras. Unfortunately Dr Tomassen was unable to save Mr Sorrell due to the severity of his injuries. When the results came back, after the patient had passed away it was found that he had no antibodies from the past Malarial episode."

Allman cleared his throat and takes a long drink before continuing, by now he is starting to perspire freely and the hand holding the notes shakes visibly. "At this point there was no formal identification made other than the body was the right height and weight as described in the passport and it must be noted that the facial area had sustained extensive damage, so, with no next of kin present there was no reason to doubt the identity of the patient."

"The next morning, when Dr Tomassen read the by now deceased patient's file, he noted with some alarm that he had contracted Malaria some years previously, yet the test results showed no antibodies in his blood. He ordered another set of bloods to be taken from the morgue, but was told later that afternoon that the body had already been taken away to a funeral home. That is the basis of what Dr Tomassen can tell you. I tell you this now, not to put words into his mouth or colour your questioning of him, rather to save you wasting my doctor's time when he is needed on the accident and emergency department."

"I have made Dr Tomassen available to you in about an hour as he is currently perfoming his duties and cannot be called away until then."

OOC,this will allow Royya's investigator time to catch up with you

[tormsen]

Sarah smiles sweetly at the administrator. "Doctor, where were the records kept, or where are such records usually kept? Would it have been possible for someone to sneak in and remove them?

Spoiler:

She got 68 on here roll for Spot Hidden. http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4049077/

My character sheet says I have 70% for that, but I think that's an error I made in character generation, I'm not sure. It's probably just the 25%, so a fail I guess.

[Mr. Handy]

"Thank you for your candor on the matter," says David, "and for making Dr. Tomasson available."

OOC,Are the rest of us allowed to read the autopsy thread, assuming [b]Joseph[/b] told us about it?

[royya]

When Jospeh arrives he join the others as they wait for a meeting with Dr. Tomassen. He summarise before them the horrors he found when investigating with Prof. Gorman the body of the so called Felicity Sorrel.

To summarise things: According to Sergeant Yates, the woman who died before them is not Felicity Sorrel, there is no one named by this name in the area and the states around so the woman, whoever she is, tried to pretend to be a family member of Martin. My guess is that she probably searched for something in the Sorrel's house, something we need to find when we visit the house again.
My conclusions were that in some kind of ritual ceremony the brain of the woman was removed and was replaced with another brain in ways the medicine of today has no answer to how it is possible.
The brain was attached to the skull and spine with a new to the science substance, some kind of hard filament, probably biological in nature. I was unable to identify the parasite or organism but my thought is that this "thing" came from British Honduras and was placed in the body.
Another guess is that Martin suffered the same ritual ... the body of the deceased was Martin's but the interior - the brain, the blood and who knows what else was replaced with something else. His body was like a shell for a parasite of unknown origin.

[Mr. Handy]

David lowers his head. "Then...Martin truly must be dead," he says, trying to hold back the sorrow. "I had wanted to believe that because this man couldn't be him, that meant he was still alive. I hadn't realized, hadn't wanted to realize, that someone impersonating him meant that he'd already been killed." He sighs. "What you describe sounds impossible, but there must be an explanation for it. If his brain was removed from his body, then he had to have died in the process. But who could have done this, and why?"

[royya]

That could be true, but the body of Martin's was burned to ashes before any one who knows him would be able to identify him. With what I saw in the morgue, I do not know what to believe. The dead man could be someone that looked like Martin and carried Martin's identification papers.
Joseph replies.
I suggest someone to go and search for what Felicity tries to find in the house, unless the police took it. Maybe we'll find a clue to where he was or is held if he is alive.

[Cearlan]

OOC,Good job there Royya! Whilst I cannot prevent you from looking in the Autopsy sub-forum, I would ask you not to, but rather to role-play any questions you have for young Joseph (Royya). I think you are now ready to face Dr Tomassen.

Dr Tomassen

You are shown down to a meeting room close to the hospital's Accident and Emergency department where an impatient Doctor paces up and down the room. His uniform is spattered with dark stains that you realise can only be blood. "At last!" he exclaims when you enter the room, waving his arms inn an agitated manner. "You may not be aware of it but I am a busy man in a very busy Accident and Emergency department ... I am needed in the department so I would appreciate some alacrity on your behalf if you would. Though I doubt I can tell you anything other than what I have already said."

[Mr. Handy]

"Thank you for your time, Doctor," says David. "I do appreciate that you have much to do, so I'll try to keep this brief. I'm Professor David Johnson, a close friend and colleague of Martin Sorrell. I'm trying to determine if the man you treated was in fact him or not, but much of the evidence seems to have disappeared. Were any photographs taken of your patient, either before or after his death?"

[royya]

Doctor Tomassen. I'm Doctor Huckleberry, pleased to meet you.
Joseph nods to Tomasson and extends his hand forward
I was wandering if you found any unidentified substance when you conducted an autopsy on Mr. Sorrel. Have you found something in his brain? An increase of brain fluids and any unidentified filaments that might be from a parasite origin? What about blood samples? stained cloth? identification papers ?
Jospeh tries to press the already nervous doctor as he hopes the doctor will say anything just to finish with this talk.

[Priest]

Meredith looks on ashen faced, all this bizarre talk of brain alteration is quite disturbing.

[tormsen]

"Brain switching...it seems so astounding. It could be used for great evil...but imagine the wonders it could accomplish in enlightened hands! Improve the human condition, remove our baser desires and flaws, raise up the lesser races..." Sarah gushes, and then blushes embarrassed as self-awareness comes back to her.

[Cearlan]

"Right then let's do this so I can get back to the floor then." Tomassen says seating himself and gesturing for you all to sit. Once seated he begins his tale.

"The floor was exceptionally busy that day, the admissions wards could not cope with the amount of patients that needed admitting. The patient I learnt was Martin Sorrell came in by ambulance from an automobile accident. He was unconscious and suffering from very bad head injuries when he arrived and despite my best efforts, and without blowing my own trumpet here, I am a more than capable Accident and Emergency physician. Yes, despite my best efforts, his injuries were too severe and he unfortunately never regained consciousness and died under my care." He smiles ruefully to himself.

"They never tell you when you are training that each one you lose takes a bit more of you away." He shakes his head as though remembering where he is and why before continuing. "However, As I was saying Sorrell never made a statement as he was never conscious. He had no wallet, but his passport showed that he had recently arrived from British Honduras. As standard procedure, I ran a series of blood tests looking for tropical parasites or disease. At this point I also called for his record."

"A nurse followed up on the name and contact details of a relative that was scrawled on his passport, but she never managed to make any contact as far as I am aware." Tomassen hung his head for a moment before going on. "No formal identification was made of the patient as we had his passport which had been well used and seemed to corroborate his identity as Martin Sorrell, being the right height and build. There was no reason to seek further corroboration at this point. His face ..." he looks at Sarah for a moment "... His face was so badly damaged that the photograph on the passport was of no use. It seemed that he hit the radiator grille or windshields maybe, I'm not sure which though I'd guess the grille from the damage he sustained."

"Almost as soon as I pronounced him dead I was off to deal with another patient, and never thought any more about him till I came in the next morning when I saw his file on my desk."

"Upon reading the results of the blood tests and his record I saw that they did not match. The right blood type for sure, but Martin Sorrell had suffered a bout of malaria five years back which means he should have been carrying the antibodies to malaria in his bloodstream for you never fully lose malaria once you have it. Yet here were a set of blood results with no trace of the antibodies at all. At this point I started to wonder about the corpse's identity. I also discovered that he worked for Brown University through the waiver he signed allowing the University's representatives, such as yourself and the last fellow, to investigate"

"I ordered another set of bloods to be taken from the morgue but learned that afternoon that Sorrell's wife had already arranged for the body and effects to be transported to a local funeral home. Upon contacting Alvin Beswick, the undertaker, it transpired that Sorrell's cremation had already taken place, certainly a lot quicker than it is strictly legal."

[Mr. Handy]

"She wasn't his wife," says David. "Martin was a bachelor, as it happens. Nor was she any relative of his, as he has no living kin. All of this is highly suspicious and raises more questions. This mystery woman calling herself Felicity Sorrell also died under unusual circumstances, and I'd be interested to hear your medical opinion on what Mr. Huckleberry observed at her autopsy. You also mentioned the last fellow from the University to investigate this matter. Was that the Dean, or someone else?"

[royya]

We should speak to Alvin Beswick as well.
Joseph says to his companions and turn to the doctor
Can you give us the address of the undertaker please.

[Cearlan]

"I know nothing about who this woman was then, I am only relating what I have been told. Whoever she was she managed to convince the powers that be that she was qualified to claim the body. She may have been the person written in his passport, maybe not, I just cannot speculate on that as I never saw her."

"As for the last chap who was asking about Mr Sorrell, he claimed to be an agent of Dean Watson, he had a fancy letter of introduction with the University heading on it, not that I a overly impressed by such things. He came by yesterday morning and frankly I did not care for him at all, all clammy skin and wide eyes that hardly ever blinked. Not very professional I know but he gave me the creeps. Went by the name of Grenville Porteous." Turning to Joseph he continues,

"I don't have Mr Beswick's undertaker's details but I am sure the head nurse can help you there, she was the one who tried to contact the woman who you claim is not Sorrell's wife. If you come with me I can introduce you."

He leads you onto the busy Accident and Emergency department and calls a stout nurse over. "Nurse Simmons, can you please furnish these people with the details of Mr Beswick's Undertakers Salon where Mr Sorrell was taken the other day. Oh and can you remember the address of his wife for them as well?"

"Oh well Doctor, I didn't actually get in touch with Mrs Sorrell and I have the address still here on the Nurses station. She rushes over to the desk and after rummaging through some papers hands the following to you



She also gives you Beswick's address.

[Mr. Handy]

"Thank you," says David. "I'm sure this well be of help. " He turns to the others. "I'm highly suspicious of this Grenville Porteous character. I'll have to ask Dean Watson if he truly sent him, but I seriously doubt it. That's probably not even the man's real name."

[royya]

We have three links ... The first is Martin and Felicity's place and what the woman was looking for in his bedroom. The second is the undertaker and the last is the unidentified man.
Joseph says
The undertaker will not vanish, the man is unknown to us but the other place is at risk that someone else who knows the woman might search the place before us. I say we split and look at Martin's house properly before meeting with our findings in the University.

[Mr. Handy]

"Sound reasoning," says David. "I'll be with the group going to Martin's house. I'm familiar with him, his studies, and the house itself."