A Victim of the Art

[Silver Priest]

Nik is fortunate to get a quick response from the local office.

"They seem clean from here. Mark Dengler has an arrest for drunk driving back in '77, but other than that I'm not seeing anything. Same with there home, no complaints or apparent domestic disputes."

[HoneyDog]

SilverPriest,But Nik called the field office to avoid this exact situation- he doesn't want Dengler to get tipped off. It would be strange that they didn't call him back directly.

[Silver Priest]

OOC:   Whoops, noted. Sorry, that was my mistake. I'll edit accordingly.

[Mr. Handy]

"One of us could ring the doorbell and see if someone answers while the others stay out of sight," suggests Vanessa. "If someone answers, whoever it is can pretend to be selling insurance or something."

[HoneyDog]

Nik tells Vanessa about the call. “Nothing there then. Good idea about the house, but let me quickly try these numbers. One of them might be the house phone.”

He calls the first of the numbers given for the Denglers.

[Silver Priest]

The first number listed is for Mark Dengler. Nik calls it, and it rings three times before being answered.

"Yes, Hello? This is Mark Dengler." His tone is rather stressed.

[HoneyDog]

Nik puts on his most officious tone.

"Sorry to disturb you Mr. Dengler. This is Michael Finley of the IRS. I need to set up an appointment with you. Please don't be concerned, it won't take er... too long. Is this your home number I'm calling?"

[Silver Priest]

There comes an audible sigh.

"No, this is my work number. I'm in the office now and in the middle of an important project. Can we do this later, Mr. Finley? And what exactly is this concerning?"

[HoneyDog]

Nik

“It’s concerning an overpayment. Seems you might be owed a rebate Mr. Dengler! I can’t get into the details on the phone. Perhaps we can have somebody stop by your office this week. Erm… I don’t seem to have your work details on file… you couldn’t remind me of the name of your firm, could you? What time do you usually work until?”

[Silver Priest]

Dengler's tone notably brightens. "Oh. Oh, I see. Yes, I think a meeting would be best." He gives the address and his employer, an engineering firm for a aeronautics company.

"I work until five, though recently things have been very busy around here and I've been working late. It may be best if you stop by my home later." he gives the address, which of course the agents already have. "My wife is usually home by four," he says offhandedly, "though I imagine you can't discuss any of this with her."

It's just after 3:30 right now, so the agents seem to be in the clear regarding the Dengler elders. Thomas himself though remains an enigma.

[HoneyDog]

“Well, I’ll check to see if that is possible Mr. Dengler. I’ll get back to you”. Nik puts the phone away.

“He’s late, Mama Dengler will be back by 4. If you wait here and keep watch, I’ll go and ring the doorbell and see if young Thomas is home. I’ll get an idea about what security they have.”

He exits the car and hurries over to the front door, and rings the doorbell.

[Mr. Handy]

Vanessa nods and takes up a discreet position where she can watch the road and the house, her cell phone in her hand as if she is talking on it - and ready in case she needs to call Nik and warn him.

[Silver Priest]

Nik rings the doorbell and listens. He can't hear any dog barking, which is encouraging. It made things easier if they had to break in later.

Soon the door opens by a person the agents recognizes as Thomas Dengler. He is tall and lanky, with a thin face and somber blue eyes. He wears a light blue sweater and black slacks, (both of which look immaculately ironed,) nice loafers, and he wears a necklace, the chain of which can be seen before disappearing underneath his shirt. He also currently seems to be undergoing an acne breakout. Nik can clearly get the impression this is probably not one of the popular kids at Glendridge High.

"Hello," he says, very serious. "Can I help you with something? My uh, parents aren't home yet, if you're looking for one of them."

[HoneyDog]

Nik

OOC:   As Nik is talking to Thomas, he is looking for any signs of an alarm system, and scoping out the locks on the door, looking for points of access, that kind of thing.

“Dude!” he says. “Help me! My goddam dog ran into your garden! I need to go round to the back of your house and get her! Do you mind?”

Without waiting for an answer, Nik jogs round the side of the house, keeping his eyes scanned for possible points of access. He hopes to get Thomas too confused and startled to react assertively.

“Honey! Honey! Are you there? You stupid dog!” he calls out.

[Silver Priest]

From here, Nik can see an alarm panel next to the door. It currently seems deactivated, probably was whenever someone was home. He knows it's a common enough for people to only have it on when they're home, especially in secure neighborhoods. The locks seem pretty impressive though, and he reckons that he'd have a hard time picking them. The back might be easier, many homeowners tend to overlook security anywhere but out front.

"Um..." blinks Thomas. But then Nik takes off, and he seems flabbergasted. "Hey, wait!" He quickly follows Nik back past the fence, and out of sight of the others.

Nik goes past the fence and finds to his disappointment there's no side entry into the home. But the path leads fully round back, where a large pool can be seen. Presently, it is unfilled. Sure enough, there's another entry into the home here, a see-through glass door that seems to lead into a back hallway. It's locked, but he thinks it would be easily to gain entry inside here if it came to it.

But that's all he gets to see, because Thomas Dengler jogs up to him panting heavily. "Um, you really should leave. I haven't seen any dog. But if it turns up I'll give you a call, if you want to leave your number."
There's no one else around that Nik can see.

[HoneyDog]

“Oh shit!” cries Nik, faking a panic. “Where the hell is she? My girlfriend’s gonna have my balls for this!”

Without waiting for Thomas, Nik runs back out to the road. “Sorry dude!” he shouts over his shoulder. He runs down the street, calling for the fictional dog, and hoping that Vanessa will follow once Thomas has gone back inside.

After they meet again, he fills her in on what he learned. “There’s an alarm, but there’s a back entrance we can force access to. I propose we break in tomorrow, while everyone’s out. What do you say?”

[Mr. Handy]

"We'd need some way to bypass the alarm," says Vanessa. "Is it connected to the house's power supply? Temporarily cutting power to the house might work, unless there's a battery backup. If we could get inside, we can not only search, we could plant a listening device in his room. I don't know if he talks to himself, but it's worth a shot. We might also try wiretapping the phone. We may want to stake the place out overnight too, but we really should have a car if we're going to do that. Is there anywhere we can get a rental?"

[HoneyDog]

Nik

“I think the alarm is connected to the house supply, although I couldn’t get a close look. Let’s get another car then, and some listening devices. And some night vision gear would come in handy. Why don’t you call DG? If those bastards will help” Nik says, moodily.

[Silver Priest]

OOC:   As it turns out, there is a car rental place in town.. It rents a variety of models, from upscale to the more modest( though in this neighborhood the upscale unit would be more likely to blend in.) In order to save time, I'll say Vanessa can call MARCUS, and he'll agree to lend out three night vision goggles and listening equipment. He'll recommend you buy flashlights and the like at the local hardware store. They'll be dropped off tomorrow with Nik's gun. The question is, if you guys want to rent a car who is paying? It may leave a trail, since you're technically here on official business. You have two options. You can have the government pay for it, citing it as a work expense. Someone needs to make a Bureaucracy roll at a-20% penalty. Succeed or fail and you'll get the vehicle, but if you fail, there's a good chance the purchase will come under scrutiny or attract attention when the mission is over. You'll have to make another roll at that time to alleviate suspicion or convince your superiors you did not misuse government funds. Failure on that could lead to disciplinary action being taken against your agent, though I'll be honest and say unless you critically fail your agent won't be suspended or fired. But it creates a trail, and puts your agents more under the microscope on future opps. The second option is to pay for it yourself. A car that would fit in around here would be a unusual expense, which means the agent paying for it will lose one point in one of their various bonds. Your agent won't bankrupt themselves with this car rental, but it sets them down the track financially and again, may make it harder for them to get money together if they require it for any reason in the future. I'll let you decide which option you want to take. Then let me know if you plan anything else for the night, like watching the Denglers.

[HoneyDog]

OOC:   Can the three agents pool their resources and share the cost? We could take shifts watching the house. If Thomas is the cause of the murders, it would be good to know his whereabouts.