Ch. 11. Paper and Ink

[jp1885]

One last gambit before she reports to the others, Ivy tries Mrs. Galvin’s number: perhaps there is a relative still living at the address?

[Philulhu]

Ivy,[b]Ivy[/b] phoned the operator once more but when she tried to connect the call the operator advised that the number was no longer in service.

[jp1885]

OOC:   Last of the Ivy spam for now!

Ivy returns to the others, explaining how she has found three telephone numbers including the digits on the cloth: that of Mr. Kirwan, a retired cop who met Fraser once or twice and didn’t seem to bear him a grudge, Mr. Noroian, a married man who had never heard of Fraser, and the late Mrs. Galvin, who died three years ago and whose number has been discontinued.

[Philulhu]

By the time Ivy joined them, the afternoon was coming to an end. The clock in the office chimed five ‘o’ clock and elsewhere in the office, staff could be heard wishing each other a pleasant evening before they left for home. After a few minutes, it was quiet again.

OOC,Actions, enquiries, points of discussion?

[Silver Priest]

"I suppose the next order of inquiry would be looking into young woman who previously worked for Mr. Fraser, specifically as either maids or perhaps even a home nurse. One of them may bear him a grudge. Although, if our suspect is less educated I have a hard time figuring out how she put together whatever concoction caused such an adverse reaction in the butler and I."

[Mr. Handy]

"Yes, it seems highly likely that a girl wrote this poison pen letter," says William, "possibly a nurse or a maid judging from the type of cloth. I'd lean more toward a nurse, as the one behind this seems to have a specialized kind of knowledge. On the other hand, she could very well be too young to have a profession from the handwriting analysis. Perhaps she is not behind this alone. If she's uneducated, she likely does not have the knowledge of poisons herself, but who would help her do this?"

[jp1885]

“Perhaps the three people I called have (or had) daughters or staff. I shall look into it if you wish.”

[Mr. Handy]

"Yes, please do," says William. "Is there anything I can do to help with that process?"

[Silver Priest]

"I'll speak with Mr. Fraser, determine if he had any former employees he had a failing out with."

[Bullfrog]

"I've got an idea: what if the numbers on the cloth weren't a phone number? It'd be strange to leave that on a letter meant to kill or harm, considering that it was probably meant to be anonymous, and it'd certainly explain why none of those people knew Mr. Fraser very well." Lawrence interjects, having come to an important realization of his own after some contemplation. That number certainly had to have some kind of significance, but what?

[jp1885]

“You may very well be right young man, but we should leave no stone unturned,” Ivy says to Lawrence.

She nods at William. “If you could assist me in cross-referencing the telephone numbers with addresses. Then we find out who lives at each one - between us we should be able to discover that.” She includes the detective in this statement.

[Philulhu]

OOC,As I understand it, US census data is protected by the ‘72 year rule’: https://www.census.gov/history/www/genealogy/decennial_census_records/the_72_year_rule_1.html I’m not sure if the same rules were in place in 1930 but I think it’s a fairly good bet.

[jp1885]

OOC,Ah, that scuppers my idea somewhat! I’ll edit my post with something else.

[Philulhu]

OOC,The White Pages (phone book) will have addresses. People are alphabetically listed so it won’t take long to find their addresses.

[jp1885]

OOC,That’ll do then :)

[Philulhu]

William fetched a copy of the White Pages from the secretaries’ office and it was a matter of a few minutes’ work to find the addresses that matched the numbers:

3-3235 Galvin, Roxana (Mrs) 507 Pickman Street, Arkham
5-3235 Kirwan, Arthur P. 170 South Powder Mill Street, Arkham
6-3235 Noroian, John 205 Federal Street, Arkham

The clock in the office chimed the half-hour.

[Mr. Handy]

"Those are the names I found," says William. "Only one is a woman, and if she's married, she's probably not young enough, though she could have a daughter. Interesting that she has a listing, but her husband doesn't. She could be a widow, or divorced. Let's run these names by Mr. Fraser and see if any of them are familiar to him."

[Bullfrog]

"Mrs. Galvin is deceased, and her number has evidently been discontinued. She definitely could have some living family, however." Lawrence points out. "If she proves to have a connection to Fraser, we should take a look into them."

[jp1885]

"Perhaps you could consult the police records Detective?" Ivy asks Alexander. "And it wouldn't hurt if we happened to be walking past each address by way of our daily exercise."

[Silver Priest]

"Sure," Alex nods in agreement. "I can do that. I'll look them up and see if any of the names have anything of interest that stands out."