Play@YSDC

It's late afternoon by the time Ian and Clarence return at the hotel. The sun is setting and the world is colored in shades of red, orange and yellow. You are starting to feel the particular charm of the city, as you inhale the salty odor of the ocean in the evening breeze.

You head back to the room to find Mungo sitting on one bed, surrounded by scribbled pieces of paper and looking exhausted, but he shows a triumphant smile when he sees you. It looks like the decryption was a success.

Mungo Cameron sighs and rubs his eyes. He’s tired but confident that he is on the right track.

“I believe I’ve cracked it gentlemen, but there are codes within the code. Still, we have something to work with. Perhaps we should wait for the others to return before sharing our news?”

"If you managed to find anything Mungo I am sure it will be of great value towards the overall picture. I'm sure that we are missing something, but like you say - wait till everyone is together, that way we may be able to fill in the blanks for each other." Clarence offers with a smile.

"My apologies Mu ... errr I mean Cam. I did not mean to cause any offence." Clarence inclines his head and extends his hand.

Cameron takes the offered hand and shakes firmly. "No offence taken. It's just a personal preference".

"Well if I am to call you Cam, then I insist that you dispense with the Mr Lanalor - it's Clarence to my friends."

After hearing about the events in Savannah, Cameron knows that Clarence will be a good man to have if and when the investigation runs into trouble again.

"Thank you Clarence".

Holly and Christopher return to the hotel and meet up with the others. "We didn't make any major breakthroughs, but we found out some interesting things," she says.

Mungo Cameron

"It's getting on, why don't we discuss our findings over dinner and plan our next course of action?"

"Sounds good to me," says Holly. "It has been a long day."

The hotel has a large dining room and, in this period of the year, it's half empty. You choose a table in one corner, far enough from other people to guarantee you privacy. The menu is simple, mostly revolving around meat and salads, but there's also a seasonal 'fish of the day' offering - today it's mackerel. There's a good smell coming out of the kitchen, and this only makes you feel more hungry. After choosing your dinner, the waiter returns in a few minutes with your order. The food puts you in good humour, and you're ready to share your discoveries.

Cameron opens the notebook and places it so that all the group can see.

“I’m sure you’re all dying to know about this” he says. “It’s definitely an accounting book, and appears to be the actual working book. To work out more detail about these accounts is going to have to take someone with a hell of a lot more knowledge about numbers than this Tennessee woodsman though” he smiles.

“There is undoubtedly some kind of extensive organisation at work here – there’s much use of codenames, some of which refer to people”.

He turns a page and points to a note at the side. The handwriting here is different, and perhaps more recent.
The note reads:
“Echavarria = ‘Black’”
“Buchwald = ‘Towncar’”

“Echavarria we’re all familiar with, but how about Buchwald?”

"I've never heard of Buchwald," says Holly, who has ordered a steak, "but I have another name for you: Richard Spend. He's the silent movie actor I recognized. He died in August 1924, but we spoke to his sister. It turns out that he was in some of the same movies as Olivia Clarendon before she was famous, so it seems they knew each other. He got pulled into Echavarria's cult through the sex and drugs; he had been friends with Echavarria. Also, two men who match the descriptions of Walter Winston and Vincent Stack visited her before Richard was killed in the shootout, asking about 'Nectar.' I suspect that's the new drug, but she thought it was probably the name of a movie or a hooker."

"All good work so far. Although we may not see how it all fits together at the moment - I bet we will before this reaches it;s conclusion. Well we managed to get to see the police files themselves and they throw up some familiar names." Clarence intones in his deep voice. "The link between drugs and sex is confirmed by the LAPD. One report claims that one night the orgy that these people were carrying out simply descended into extreme violence for no apparent reason. The meeting took place - and the bodies were all found - in or near an otherwise unused barn on a farm. The farmland in question had not been farmed that year and was owned by Echavarria. Another report outlined that a group of vigilantes were the trigger of the destruction that took place that night. Some of these names you have just mentioned Cameron. We have, in no particular order, the bodies identified were;- - Ramon Echavarria; Richard Spend;" Clarence nods towards Holly before carrying on. "Vincent Stack; Katherine Clark; Franklin Cormac Kullman along with six others whose names I cannot recall - oh and our 'old friend' from Savannah, Edgar Job." Clarence flipped a page in his notebook.

"When the police arrived, the barn was already ablaze and most of the deceased were already expired, the rest soon after. The bodies were mutilated, probably by animals, though there was also a report that this could not have been done in the short time between the orgy and the police arriving. The cultists' bodies were all found either nude or wearing robes of apparent ritual significance. There are photos of the bodies. They were not pretty to look at, and matched the description of the events in the reports."

"The detective we spoke to remembered the bites on the bodies and referenced the so called ritual aspect of this case. The consensus of some of the police was that the bites could not have been caused by animals, but those who were in charge, and the coroner, simply put it down to animals. Detective Fowley reckons that these crazies could simply have just bitten each other." Looking thoughtful, Clarence continues.

"Oh and one final thing - someone in the LAPD office took a great interest when we were taking to the detective."

Cameron

“We have to assume then that it’s possible the organization we’re looking into has people in the LAPD, and that they’re going to keeping an eye on us. We need to tread carefully when we take our next steps”.

He pauses, thinking.

“The name Buchwald didn’t come up in the police reports? The code name features several times in the notebook. It must be a person or perhaps the name of a business”.

"Who at the LAPD took an interest?" asks Holly. "What did this person look like? Did you see a name plate or badge number?"

"Well Holly, I believe that Detective Fowley said his name was Cooper. and that he was not part of the force when these events took place. As for a description, he was pretty nondescript, but his look was suspicious to say the least. As he was in the detective's area, I assume that he was a detective as well."

"He may have any number of reasons for displaying interest," says Holly. "He could be affiliated with the cult, but it's also possible he had nothing directly to do with it. He may have lost someone in the shootout in 1924, on one side or the other. Sometimes people who have been in that sort of situation are inspired to pursue a career in law enforcement."

Cameron

“That may be true Doctor, in fact he may even turn out to be an ally. But after the events in Savannah, we need to be very wary about potential threats”.

He pauses to sip his drink.

“By the way, did you and Mr Fontana come by all of this information from looking at the old newspapers Doctor, or did you manage to find other sources of information?”