Play@YSDC

You meet back at the hangar at 9 am. Thomas Foster is waiting for you, efficient as always. "Good morning, gentlemen, Dr. Chastain. Mrs. Winston-Rogers instructed me to give you these." He handles each of you a letter envelope. "It's an advanced payment, it should also cover any expense you should sustain during the trip. The plane is ready, Frank is waiting for you inside". He gestures towards the silver plane. "Bon voyage", he adds at last, shaking your hands before entering a limousine and leaving. Each of the envelopes contain 100 dollars.

It's a beautiful morning of early spring. The air is still cold, but not unpleasantly so. The sky is clear and the sun is shining on you as you walk towards the plane. You are in good mood and feel that this journey's beginning is an auspicious one. The interior of the plane is incredibly luxurious - at least compared to any previous experience you might have had. There are leather armchairs as seats, a small refrigerator, some reading lamps and even a couple of beds placed towards the back. Frank greets you as you enter. He is still not quite friendly, but somewhat less distant than the last time you met him. "Good morning. Ready to take off as soon as you're". He still doesn't talk much, though.

After greeting the others, Ian addresses Frank "Good morning, Mr. Kearns" Ian says amiably "you're the boss Whenever you say."

Clarence in the car, kisses his wife and children goodbye. His wife wishes him a safe trip. He exits the car, smiles and nods acknowledgements to the others. He takes a deep breath, the crisp air lighting up his lungs like a Christmas tree. He enters the plane with his small case, appreciative of the comfort, and settles down.

Holly arrives, driving her old, reliable Ford Model A. She parks, gets out of the car, and carries her suitcase over to the plane. "Good morning, gentlemen!" she calls to the others.

Father Flanagan arrives in a non-descript car, suitcase on his lap. He quickly boards the plan, nodding to the others as he looks around nervously.
"I don't fly very often, but would I be right in saying this is a very nice plane?"

"That's right, Father.The best plane in all the eastern coast", Frank smiles, beaming with pride. "All right, sit down and fasten the seat belts, we'll be taking off in a minute".

A few minutes later, you're flying south while enjoying the comfort of a real luxury plane. The flight is enjoyable and uneventful, the weather remains nice as you fly over half a dozen states to reach Georgia. It's early afternoon when you start the descent tower Hunter Field, an airport a few miles south of the city proper. On your left, the ocean shines under the brimming light of the sun. As the plane touches the airstrip and then slows down to a halt, even the most nervous of you can breath a sigh of relief. The trip is over, Savannah welcomes you.

As you exit the plane, there are a few people watching you with curiosity, mostly personnel of the airport. You realize that this is a small airport and there's not much activity, so perhaps it's inevitable for you to stand out, considering the luxurious aircraft you were traveling on. Frank, ignoring the attention you have raised, or perhaps used to it, informs you that he'll find an hangar to place the plane and will wait for you here. He then heads out towards a building that seems to be the administrative center of the airport.

Left alone, you follow a series of indications to reach a sort of common area for travelers. There are a few seats, a big clock right above a timetable fixed on the wall, listing the very scarce number of flights departing everyday from Hunter Field. There is a phone, too, perhaps the most useful thing here. There's also a telephone book. You think you can search for the telephone number and call a cab, although it would probably be costly. You can also search for the number of an hotel in the city. If you walk outside the building, you find yourself right in front of a road, with indications for Savannah towards the north, 5 kilometers away. There's really not much here besides the airport, but you notice a diner and a small car rental shop fifty meters or so along the road towards the city.

There is a very bored clerk at the rental car shop. He seems happy to see you, perhaps more so for the diversion that you offer than for the money you're paying with. After a few minutes of bargaining, you settle on a couple of Chevrolet Standard Six, 1933 model, leaving 6 dollars of deposit and agreeing to a daily fare of 2 dollars for each vehicle. You ask the clerk about the two addresses but, even though he seems eager to help, he has no useful information for you. He provides you with the address for the local library, though, suggesting that you could find more informations there.

It's about 4:15 pm, it will get dark between 6 and 7 pm. From the Savannah maps you have, you estimate that it would not take more than 15-20 minutes to reach 513 West Henry Street, or the library, or the hotel. A little more, perhaps 40-45 minutes, to reach 23 Old Hope road.

Clarence walked over to the hire car.The warm humid air of Savannah, had forced him to remove his jacket. He placed his case into the boot of the, draped the jacket over the drivers seat, and waited for Morin and Fontana to join him.

Holly goes over to the other car and loads her suitcase into the trunk. "This is nicer than my car," she says. "I guess I'd better not get too used to it." She slides behind the wheel and starts up the engine while waiting for her passenger to get aboard.

The road leads you towards Savannah. The view from the speeding car is so different from what you're used to in Boston, you can't help but wonder if you're really still in the same country. You see green grass, and trees dripping with moss, often covering the road with their branches. It's almost like riding inside a natural tunnel. Here and there, the light of the sun reflects on water, a little pond or a small stream of water. Everything smells wet and still, like the trees were sweating.




After ten minutes or so, you reach the outskirts of the city. This is the newest part of the city, with factories and parking lots and recently built apartment houses. As you move towards the city center, the traffic diminishes. There are less people and less cars here. Red-brick antebellum buildings hide behind a veil of ivy and moss, their wrought-iron fixtures jutting out like ragged swords. Here and there, broken windows betray buildings that are empty inside.




You finally reach the city library, a white building with clear classical inspiration, not particularly big in size. You head inside and start your research. It's not hard to find out the informations you're looking for.
Father Flanagan is looking through the addresses and discovers that 513 West Henry Street is the address of Joy Grove sanitarium, a 40-year-old mental institution housed in a huge antebellum hospital building.
Christopher is skimming through the phone directory. There is no Douglas Henslowe, but there is a Virginia Henslowe, and her address is 23 Old Hope Road. Additional research uncovers that 23 Old Hope Road is the address of the Henslowe family mansion and grounds, a few miles east of the city.

"I'll find out more about the sanitarium," says Holly. "That's right up my alley. While I'm doing that, the rest of you can research other topics." She begins searching for further information about the mental hospital.

OOC,I'll spend one point of Library Use to research the sanitarium. That only leaves me with one point, so someone else should probably spend the other one. Can we also research the family history of the [b]Henslowes[/b]?

"Joy Hill Sanitarium was founded in 1897," reports Holly when she completes her research. "My guess is that was Douglas Henslowe's address in the early letters because he was committed there after the events of August 1924. Whatever happened, it likely didn't happen there. There was no indication of anything big happening there throughout its history. The current head there is Dr, Lawrence Teake, but he's about to retire if he hasn't already. His handpicked successor is his protegé Dr. Jonathan Keaton. I think Dr. Teake will be more likely to remember Mr. Henslowe, as he was probably there in 1924. Dr. Keaton has less chance of having been there that long. I've also looked up the phone number there. What did the rest of you find?"

OOC,I think the other two investigators with Library Use should each spend one point on the two remaining topics.

"That's very interesting, Dr. Chastain" says Ian, interested in what Holly found. "Let's hope Dr. Teake is still working. If he is not, we should pay the man a visit. Let me see if we can find him in the phone book. They probably have one at the reception."

OOC,If the Library reception has a phone book, I'll try to find Dr. Teake's address.

"Nevertheless, even if Dr. Keaton wasn't working at the Joy Hill in 1924, he was probably there when Henslowe came back to the Sanitarium for his second stay, beginning in 1934. From all we know, the man is still there so Dr. Keaton must have some information from his more recent years."

Ian finds Dr. Teake's address and telephone number on the phone directory. The address is in the historic area of the city.

Father Flanagan looks mildly concerned. "That's all well and good, but can we be sure he'll be willing to share any information he might have? From speaking with Dr. Powell, it seems like patient-doctor confidentiality may get in our way here. Obviously I don't want to advocate outright deceit, but... we should put some thought into how we approach these doctors. Seems like we need to present a very good reason for them to confide in us any private information regarding Henslowe. Dr. Chastain, under what circumstances would you release patient information to non-medical personnel?"

Flanagan wrings his hands.

"In cases involving homicide or suicide, I am allowed to tell the authorities," says Holly. "Whatever happened in August 1924 may qualify, but we need to know more about it before we can play that card. And that's right, the letters from 1934 do have the address of the sanitarium again, so he must have been recommitted. That means people who only started working there more recently may indeed know him. He may even still be a patient there."

OOC,The homicide and suicide exceptions to confidentiality are how things work today, but I'd guess they existed in 1937 as well. Child abuse is another exception today, though I'm not sure if it would have been back then.

Christopher Fontana

"The information we have, the letters indicate that Henslowe is indeed a patient at Joy Grove and I concur with Dr. Chastain that's it is probable that the events in 1924 led to him being committed; Winston was affected by those 'events' too. It ought to be simple to find out if Henslowe is still a patient.. we just telephone the sanatorium and ask." with that Fontana flicks through the pages of the local telephone directory to locate the telephone number for Joy Grovel.

OOC:   Can we make a call from the library? If so then Fontan will call Joy Grove, confirm that Henslowe is a patient... or not and try and make an appt. to visit (tomorrow). I don't think there's any need to 'interview' Dr Teake or Dr Keaton - unless we can't get to see Henslowe.

"I agree" Says Ian, coming back from the reception. "Henslowe is still our best source of information. For all we know, he was alive and admitted at Joy Grove two years ago. If we can talk to him, we may not need to convince any doctors to break confidentiality."

Christopher finds a telephone inside the public library and dials Joy Grove's number. A woman answers the call, speaking with a slight southern accent and introducing herself as Nurse Hampton.

"Yes, Mr. Henslowe's a patient heeyur at Joy Grove."

"I don't think it would be a problem, visitin' Mr. Henslowe. He iden one of our worst patients - not vaahlent or aggressive."

"Yes, you'd have to speak with his doctor, Dr. Keaton, first. No, he iden heeyur now. He'll be tomorrow mornin'. Yes, around 9 am would be great."

Clarence, says, " Well , until the morning, that just leaves Virgina Henslowe at the family mansion. Can we find a telephone number for the mansion at Old Hope Road? I'd rather call in advance."

Clarence manages to reach the Henslowe mansion via telephone.

"I'm glad Mr. Henslowe is still alive," says Holly. "I'll admit that I was worried that he'd have passed away in the meantime. I'd like to be one of those going to visit him in the morning. My training will be useful, and I can also speak to the staff on their own level, as one professional to another."

Christopher Fontana

Previously Dr Chastain said:   "I'd like to be one of those going to visit him in the morning. My training will be useful, and I can also speak to the staff on their own level, as one professional to another."

"Of course, that's a capital idea.. I don't think we should all descend on Joy Grove though, it would be best for two of us to try and visit Henslowe, I doubt if five people would be allowed to visit... in one go I mean." he says, pleased to be making some progress. "It's getting late, we ought to get to the hotel.. we can discuss our 'strategy' for tomorrow's visit over dinner..." Christopher sees that Lanalor has finished hid phone conversation. "Any luck?" he asks.

Clarence puts the phone down, and turns to the others, " Well no luck there. Definitely the Henslowe residence, but I couldn't make an appointment to see Mrs Henslowe, as she does not entertain visitors. Their manservant requested that we contact Mr Henslowe first. I suggest we find a restaurant, and make our plans for tomorrow over a meal"

You reach the Warren Hotel around 6 pm and take three rooms for the night. You then find a small restaurant nearby, to have dinner.

Over dinner, Clarence agrees that only two visit Mr Henslowe. Clarence proposes that, the two visitors will need to :
-ask him to recall all the events of that fatefull summer and all related history
-get his permission to visit Mrs Henslowe and to forewarn the manservant at the mansion
-ask him about the whereabouts of the hidden journal

Father Flanagan pushes his food around on his plate, eating little. "I agree on only sending two people to meet Henslowe. That does leave most of us idle though... There must be something we could be doing. Searching newspaper archives, or something."

"I should definitely be one of the two," says Holly between bites of her dinner. "The subjects you proposed are exactly what I want to broach. I'm sure there are other things the rest of you can be doing. Further research in the library is a good option, of course, or the newspaper archives. We still want to research the Henslowe family history and find out more about his wife and her home. Maybe you could also gather information by talking to townsfolk."

Christopher Fontana

Christopher tucks into his food with some gusto, finding himself quite hungry. Listening to the others he starts to form his own ideas on how to proceed.

"I believe that our best chance of eliciting information about the events that had such a profound effect on both Henslowe and Winston would be for Dr. Chastain and Father Flanagan to conduct the 'interview' by that I mean 'visit Henslowe at Joy Grove, of course." he says "It is a shame that we do not have the actual letters that Henslowe wrote in our possession, 'we' might have been able to use those to get Henslowe's trust; the man seems or rather seemed to want some 'corroboration' from Winston and the letters might help in getting him to discuss matters... " Christopher says between mouthful's of his excellent steak.

"I agree with Lanalor about the questions and information we need from Henslowe, I don't believe we should approach Henslowe's family until after Dr. Chastain and Father Flanagan have concluded their visit to Joy Grove; the rest of us can utilise the time researching Henslowe's family. We should probably also check that this is not the location of the 'event' in 1924... I rather doubt it is, the list of possible locations that Morin and I came up with are no where near here." he adds during the meal.

"I must say, this Peach Cobbler is delicious.." he says savouring each mouthful of the desert.

"Uff, I think I had a little too much of these steaks. I will pass the desert and ask for a chamomile tea. Says Ian, having difficulty to breath. I concur that Dr. Chastain and Father Flanagan should go to Joy Grove. Does anyone of us have made a copy of the annotations Winston made on the letters? Maybe Henslowe can bring some light to that as well. Meanwhile I could go to the local newspaper and see if I can find any information on the Henslowes."

"Oh, I don't know, I could get used to Southern cooking,' says Holly, savoring the steak. It's not too often that she gets to eat something this good. "I did transcribe the various letters, numbers, lines, and circles on Henslowe's early letters, and I do intend to ask him about the apparent code and how to decipher it as well."

Having taken advantage of their location, Clarence had ordered a 'typical' soul food dinner, from the waiter. After chasing the breadcrumbed fried chicken around his plate, Clarence finally manages to stab the piece and attacks it with gusto. He looks rather suspiciously at the collard greens and okra. "So, that will leave the rest of us to visit the newspaper archives and the library. Any other suggestions?"

You spend a pleasant couple of hour between the restaurant and the hotel lobby, making small talk and discussing your plans for the following day. It's been a long day, with the plane trip and then the running around the city. You feel a pleasant tirednees creep over you. After reaching your rooms, you sleep peacefully for the night and wake up refreshed and energized in the morning.