Ch. 11. Paper and Ink

[Mr. Handy]

"When I called Gerald Fraser, Captain Keats answered the telephone," says William. "He told me that Mr. Fraser had been sedated, but that he would run the names by him in the morning and let me know if any were familiar to him."

[Silver Priest]

"I looked into police reports. Ms. Galvan complained of a few youth throwing stones at her windows back in 1923, but no arrests were ever made. Mr. Noroian was fined in 1928 for public intoxication." Alex sniffs, making it clear he's still a fervent defender of prohibition. "He claimed he was celebrating his daughter's birth. And Officer Kirwan's records are not available to me unless I do further digging.Given we are looking for a woman, however, I saw no point in it. Hopefully Mr. Fraser can clear some of this up and give us a clear suspect to chase. From my brief interaction with the gentleman, he seems the type to recall any who may have wronged him."

[Philulhu]

There was a tap at the door and a secretary looked in. ”I’m sorry to interrupt Mr Preston, but I have a telephone call for you from Captain Keats. He says he is calling on behalf of Gerald Fraser and that you will know what it concerns.”

When Keats is put through to William he says, ”Mr Fraser is still distraught over the loss of James but I asked him about those names you gave me and he has no recollection of meeting or having anything to do with any of them.”

[Mr. Handy]

"Thank you, Captain," says William. "Well, it was worth a try." He lets the others know that they came up empty.

[Bullfrog]

"Clearly, this phone number lead is a dead end, or a wrong turn entirely. I think it's got some kind of witchcraft ties like the symbol it was with; thirteen is seen as unlucky, so who's to say this isn't like that?" Lawrence claims; he would have been proud to be right about the phone numbers, if the situation was much less dire.

[Silver Priest]

Alex sighs in defeat. "Agreed.

"I suppose we could also check out hospitals or maids since our perpetrator may come from one of those professions, but I suspect we are looking for a needle in a haysack I'm still not convinced an occult angle is the right one to look for here, but it's worth a try-- our other efforts have come up short."

[jp1885]

“I too am at a loss,” Ivy admits, pursing her lips pensively. “I could check the bank employee records in case anyone has been dismissed and could therefore be vengeful. Or perhaps the bank has foreclosed a loan, repossessed a house or something and it’s a disgruntled client? Either way it seems an extreme way of getting back at Mr. Fraser, but it’s another avenue of inquiry at least.”

[Mr. Handy]

"It's something we can check," says William. "There's been a lot of anger at the banks since the crash."

[Philulhu]

OOC,OK, where/what do you intend to do next?

[Silver Priest]

"What about Fraser's son?" Alex asks the party. "He seemed to pass recently? You all were involved in trying to bring him home? Could anyone hold ire towards Fraser for that?"

He considers. "We also have to consider that the butler may have been the real target. It's rather unlikely, but he would normally have opened any letter for his employer. Perhaps it being addressed to Mr. Fraser was a design to throw us off. I highly doubt this myself, but we seem to be dealing with a clever killer, despite their lack of education-- a move like this has to be briefly considered."

ooc,I'm honestly at a total loss myself. The best thing I can suggest out of character is to watch Fraser carefully and wait for someone to try again, but that's not advise I can give IC. :P

[Bullfrog]

"Well, James had a girlfriend he was trying to meet with before he went missing; she didn't take the news of him disappearing very well, from what I know. Could she have heard of his death, and maybe held Mr. Fraser accountable for it?" Lawrence suggests, thinking back to when he was first hired to retrieve James, which now seemed so long ago; the handwriting on the cloth was made by a female hand, which certainly made sense if he was right.
"I can't remember her name for the life of me, though. Was it Emilia, maybe? Emily?"

OOC,I suppose we should look into [b]James'[/b] girlfriend, find out her occupation.

[jp1885]

OOC,I'm also a bit stuck. All I can think of is, as Ivy says, to check bank records for disgruntled customers or employees.

[Mr. Handy]

"Emily, I think," says William. "I still have the letter James addressed to her. I'd also like to know what was in the one for his father. I also suspected it could have to do with James. Maybe we should visit Gerald and ask him about it."

OOC,I'm feeling stuck too.

[Philulhu]

OOC,You have some clues you can follow up and some that you have yet to see so don’t worry if you don’t have the full picture yet.

William had the letter from James to Emily in his pocket, her name and address scrawled in his familiar looping scrawl.

[Mr. Handy]

"I don't want to invade her privacy," says William, "but if it's relevant we could steam it open and then reseal it after reading it. We can also deliver it to her when we're ready. It gives us the perfect excuse to go talk to her."

[Bullfrog]

"I don't think Mr. Fraser would be too willing to let us see something as personal as that, but it could still be worth asking. I'm not exactly sure about unsealing James' other letter, either; it wouldn't sit right with me, but I'm afraid we need any clue we can get our hands on." Lawrence says with consternation, setting down his cup on the table.

[jp1885]

“Open it,” says Ivy firmly. “If it’s nothing but sentimental sop then there’s no harm in it.”

[Mr. Handy]

William nods and uses his steaming cup of coffee to steam open the letter. The coffee hits the spot as well.

[Philulhu]

The steam gently warmed the gum that kept the flap of the envelope sealed and after about thirty seconds, it lifted up so that the letter inside could be withdrawn. As he unfolded it, William instantly recognised James’ handwriting, although it was obviously written in a hurry, without his usual care.

[Mr. Handy]

After showing the letter to the others, William carefully seals it back up in the envelope. "The letter for Gerald Fraser must have been similar," says William. "That's why he no longer blames us. I think the best thing we can do is deliver this to Emily. If she is harboring a desire for revenge, this may change her mind."