Where it all starts - and ends

[Dave Syrinx]

6 PM, January 27
NYC

"We are such stuff as dreams are made on,
and our little life is rounded with a sleep.”

Five ravens lost in a cold winter´s night walk the streets of New York. One, licking his wounds in a hotel room, one working late at the detetctive´s desk, one listening to It´s a family affair, while enjoying his fiancé´s company in the love-seat. Another is doing his last ordinary day´s work at the bank and one is browsing the shelves of Strand Book Store at 828 Broadway.

Winter is harsh on lonely souls, whether or not they have company or not. At a street corner, the saxophone man plays a sinister tune.

[Philulhu]

Tyler looked out into the cold, dark street, listening to the back and forth between Sly Sone & his sister Rose while silently mouthing the lyrics. Snuggled up against him was his fiancé, Samantha, her head buried in When the Word is Given - Louis Lomax’s book about the Nation of Islam.

Her eyes swept back and forth behind her glasses and she bit her lower lip as she read, a trait that Tyler found particularly appealing. He thought about suggesting an early night but she was deep in her book and had a test tomorrow, so he said nothing and he went back to watching the street, watching the shadows of passers-by under the sodium-yellow streetlights outside...

[aine]

Strand Book Store at 828 Broadway

"Excuse me, we're closing now." Calls the shop assistant. Cissi Wahlberg pokes her head around a book shelf far down in the back of the shop. "So what? Do some labeling or something. Go choke on Tolstoy; just don't bother me." She disappears again and the assistant gives a long sigh; it's the same every week.

[Mephistophilis]

Hotel Chelsea. Room 110

The radio plays Queen´s A "crazy little thing called love." In the bed of the room a neophyte of the Lost Souls called Candy. She has her knees propped up against her chest and smokes a red Prince with filter. "That hurts, baby?" She was a pick me up gift from Bogart. The room was for twelve hours.
It´s Sunday for six more hours.

Jim Nimmo takes a pull on the last of the Jack Daniels and savours the burn rushing down his throat.

The door softly clicks shut and he is left alone in the twilight.

He screws his eyes shut tight and stretches out across the soft bedcovers, savouring the last taste of comfort. Burying his head in the duvet he breathes deeply, the scent of spice and sweat filling his nostrils.

Time to go. He grabs the canvas rucksack from the floor and carefully counts his few possessions one by one.

Splashing some cold water on his face he studies the scars and bruises etching a monochrome map across his features. 'Still too old for this shit'. Silently he steps out the hotel room door. Back to the streets. Back where he belongs.

[Dave Syrinx]

6:05 PM
Sugar Hills -

Sam curls up behind Tyler, she wraps her arms around his broad shoulders. "I¨m feeling cold watching all this snow. Come to bed and let me forget all´bout it." The city is dressed in a shroud of black, illuminated by the light reflected by the snow.



Chelsea Hotel -

A brisk wind hits Jim, brutally in the face. He´s back where he belongs. In the land of hurt. Empire Diner, due west would probably had the scraps put out by now. And they have open 24/7. A large coffee and the lay of the land before the start of the work week, and he´ll call it a week´s work in the bag. Heck, he´d even call it quits and jump a freight ship to Kathmandu. Did Kathmandu even have a shoreline? What gives? Kathmandu has a nice ring to it. Bogart would know, for sure. Or Jim could stop in at the library to get his geography sorted. The wind certainly didn´t help fighting the coldness of night.

Strand Bookstore-

She considers to simply buy the bookstore to get a stop to those interruptions. Cissi or as her father kept calling her, Cecilia - pauses at a stack of Video-discs, where the top one catches her eye. Alien - a rather recent Dan O´Bannon created horror, science fiction cinema production. She was happy they´d dropped Star Beast as the movie´s title. That would make a proper name for a Starship, though. O´Bannon´s Dark Star from ´74 was more Cissi´s style. The new movie is too polished, too believable, that didn´t sit well with her. Even if it had an alien it it. She browses the stack for something more interesting. Only shortly considering it being odd that Strand is moving hard copies of licensed film productions. Must have been a copy from 20 Century Fox and their hi-tech hi-fidelity department and the laser-fab of the time. Apparently they think lasers will be big. Well, if Ronald Reagan can be in the running for President, why not?

10th Precinct -

Carla Valenti sits in her shared office cubicle by the only occupied desk. The other desk has a black and white cardboard box holding the few personal remains of late Quells, her former partner. On the wall, over a portrait of "Tricky Dick", a basketball hoop is placed to invite scraps of paper to a wastebasket on the floor. Nine out of ten times the placement must´ve been wrong. Or the trajectory of the throw. She crunches yet another piece of paper with tests from the forensic team. How to find a missing vehicular man-slaughterer in a city with a million cars?

St Thomas Church-

Watching the snow set on the doves of sorrow populating the cold headstones outside St Thomas, Lukas Cane shivers. He reads the inscription on the stone set in the ground. The cold snow flakes, or rather pebbles, make a rattling sound against the polished stone. A raven takes flight from its perch on the Gothic spire above the main entrance. In the flight it looses a feather which dwindles down against an unsuspecting Lukas, making him disappear.

[Mr. Handy]

Lt. Carla Valenti sits at her desk, rubbing her forehead as the smooth strains of Miles Davis flow from her Walkman. "Well, at at least it's not a taxi," she mutters to herself. "That eliminates half the cars in New York. It probably has front end damage, so that narrows it down..."

[Philulhu]

Sugar Hills

“Now there’s an offer I ain’t gonna refuse,” Tyler laughed, leaning back into her embrace. After a moment, he disengaged and stood up. “You go get ready for bed,” he said, “I’ll just lock up.”

He held out a hand to help Sam to her feet and smiled as she shuffled sleepily in the direction of bedroom. He went to check the apartment door was locked and bolted, then went to draw the blind on the snowy streets outside, taking on last look before heading off to bed.

[aine]

Strand Bookstore
Cissi Wahlberg runs her fingers lightly along the spines of the film cases, scanning the titles at high speed. She stops and pulls one out,
"Hmm, The Black Hole; looks a little similar to Alien but you never know until you try." She takes it and continues down the aisle. Almost at the end something catches her eye; a film is lying on the floor, fallen from the deceive section,
"God Told Me To, set in New York. Horror? Why not. Maybe creep myself out in my old scary warehouse." Cissi spins the film in the air, catches it and takes her finds to the desk.
"I'll take these two films and these four books." She tells the tired assistant.

[Mephistophilis]

Chelsea Hotel

Jim pulled his coat tightly around him. The warm buzz of the whisky dissipating in the cold New York air. A cup of coffee and some food was what he needed right now and he pushed his aching legs in the direction of the Empire Diner. He fished out an already half empty bottle of painkillers from his pocket, rattled it disappointedly, and quickly swallowed two down. It was going to be another long night.

[Dave Syrinx]

6:07 PM

Sugar Hills-

Tyler is just about to head to the bedroom when his pager goes off. Technology is a curse. But being on call duty is just that. Being reachable but also being tied up. Talk about a dichotomy. Instinctively he checks the status of his answering machine on the drawer next to the hallway mirror. The same thing there. A red blinking light.

Who´d know if he just ignore those and went to bed?

St Thomas Church-

Lukas lets out a whisper, "Sweet child, what are you saying?" White mist escapes his mouth and no one except him is by the gravestone outside the church. The raven flies north over Manhattan.

10th Precinct-

In the office cubicle, one of the small television sets is turned on. ".... reports from the Prabda says that president Brezhnev assures that Moscow will cope with the harsh climate change of January. It´s reported that the temperatures are at a fifty year lowest for the month. The Soviet people are used to fluctuations in climate and have the support of the party to cope with anything that might arise as a challenge. The president offers a helping hand to the west should they want the expertise of a strong and thriving country."

Captain Jones appears in the doorway to Valenti´s now solo work room. "Carla, I´ve paged your new partner, Tyler Miles. I also had dispatch send a call to him to report in for a briefing tonight. By the way, you are on extra duty. A murder at the Sunshine Laundromat has been reported. The officers need a detective at scene. I put you on it. We just have to wait for your partner to report in. " He eyes Jim Quell´s old desk. "I´ll have a clerk come and clean that out. You alright Carla?"

Chelsea Hotel - Empire Diner -

A block later, Jim´s head feels like wrapped in cotton, and his chin is numb from cold. A couple of yellow cabs line the sidewalk outside the Empire Diner. Walking past the back entrance alley, Jim sees the usual waste bins and containers outside. Walking along the windows of the stalls, he watches the people eating and drinking. About half full. Kate is having a busy night behind the counter for sure. Besides a brash statue of the Empire state building on the corner of the diner, the owners had put up three letters on the wall on the facade of the next building, E - A - T. He had another word of three letters in his mind. It began with a D.

Strand Bookstore-

"Oh, I see, hmm. I´ll let you have those for $80." The twenty-five-year-or-so assistant says, starting to bag the items on a plastic bag with the Strand logotype. He can´t help himself of giving Cissi´s demeanor a thought. "Back to your boyfriend for a movie night, yeah?" When the question had escaped, he tries to reel it back in.

[Philulhu]

Tyler glanced towards the bedroom then back to the answer machine. “Aw, damn!” he muttered to himself. Who the hell wanted him at this time?

He sighed and pressed the button on the machine. It beeped and the tape whirred as it rolled back to the start of the message...

[Mr. Handy]

"Thank you, sir," says Carla, also looking over at the empty desk. "I'll be okay. It just hits me hard sometimes. Work helps me keep my mind off of it."

[aine]

strand Bookstore
Cissi slowly raises her eyes, she gives the young man a look as cold as the tenth circle of hell.
"No."
She pays, takes the bag and stalks out of the shop.

[Mephistophilis]

Empire Diner

Jim starts to dig around in the discarded food waste out the back of the diner. When he's got a decent meal he'll hit up Kate for some coffee. Now a decent hot coffee. That you can't forage for.

[Dave Syrinx]

6:07 PM - 11:15 PM

Jim spends the evening getting some caffeine in his veins. Sure good coffee at Empire´s. The customers come and go. Even Bogart knocks on the side window. He rarely gets indoors, says it´s bad for karma or somesuch. ´bout suffering and privileged suckers. Each to their own, I guess. Out in the back alley, snow gracing their heads and shoulders, Bogart says something is wrong with the chroma inside the diner, whatever that means.
He gives the daily goal for selling The Signal, the paper sold by The Invisibles, the group Bogart is in charge of and Jim is part of. Fifty copies it is. In twelve hours. Best to start at seven in the morning and hit the commuters at the subway,

@Mephisophilis

Spoiler:

At eleven Bogart says he´ll take a nap and asks Jim to zip off. That gives fifteen minutes unaccounted for. What is the plan for the night for James Nimmo?

When Tyler had listeded to the message twice, he was sure. He is now on the clock again. Apparently the Captain, a Captain Jones has found a partner for him to start with the blues of Manhattan. 10th precinct. He need to fill out papers and get his badge and sidearm. Then meet up with a Lieutenant Carla Valenti at a Laundromat in Brooklyn. A double homicide. Filing the correct papers and getting kitted out takes quite some time. But that´s nothing compared to the time it will take for him to make it up to Sam.

At 860 Manhattan Avenue he meets Lt Valenti outside the laundromat. The time is 10:45 PM.

@Philulu

Spoiler:

Tyler has 90 minutes to spend at the murder scene with his new partner, Valenti. How is the time spent?

Carla
Captain Jones says, "I´ve seen so that you have a new partner for the case. A Tyler Miles from Florida. He´ll get geared up and meet up at the laundromat. Be nice to him, Carla."
At 10:45 PM Carla arrives at the Brooklyn address. A police officer is guarding the entrance door.
Prior to driving there, she went through a slew of phone calls to track down damaged cars.

@Mr.Handy

Spoiler:

Carla has 90 minutes to spend with Tyler and the murder scene. How do you spend it?

Cissi

Lowe Manhattan finds Cissi enjoying a Merlot watching mindless murders in New York on her Philips TV. Her laser disc player was a decent buy, but way to expensive. The picture was crisp enough, though. It had come with a wired remote control. That was seriously misleading. At ten o´clock the movie is over. The news at ten offers the story that fiction never beats real life. A news reporter is stood outside a laundromat in Brooklyn. The laundromat had been shut down due to a murder. No comments from the police. How come the police never stops anything? They´re always a few steps behind.

The other day, Cissi had gotten a letter from a person using the initials O. R. In the letter, O.R. wanted to let Cissi view a copy of the Tempest, folio from 1623 by Shakespeare. O.R. wants 4000$. He suggested that she met him at Empire´s Diner. He wrote that he´s a regular there at evenings. Something about the place having a good chi.

The wine and the movie has her in good spirits. Is it too late to go out?

@Aine

Spoiler:

About an hour to kill before we reach the collective deadline of 11:15 PM. How does Cissi spend it?

[Mr. Handy]

OOC,I'll introduce myself to [b]Tyler[/b] briefly and then get to work. There will be time to get to know each other later, but I know that the time immediately following a homicide is critical, as trails and evidence will grow cold. The main thing I need to learn from [b]Tyler[/b] right now is what skills he has. Then we'll make sure the perimeter is secured and begin inspecting the crime scene and searching for evidence, making a grid and examining the bodies.

[Mephistophilis]

James Nimmo sucks down the last of the warm sweet smoke and flicks his cigarette butt into the gutter. He steps into a side alley and silently slips through the shadows until he is about a block away from the diner. You don't shit where you eat. He eyes up the line of cars parked along the street and fingers a small roll of picks and other improvised tools in his pocket. Time to make some money he thinks as he slides towards a Lincoln Continental.

[Philulhu]

It is cold as Tyler pulls up at the laundromat, but not as cold as the shoulder he got from Sam when he told her he had to go out. The blue lights from the squad cars cast an eerie, but familiar, hue across the scene as he makes his way to the door, flashing his shiny new badge at the flatfoot to gain entrance.

He stops on the threshold, looking around and taking it all in. Seeing a woman who matches the description of his new partner, he introduces himself, “Lieutenant Valenti? I’m Detective Tyler Miles. Where would you like me to start?”

OOC,Tyler knows the SOP from the manual, but doesn’t get know how far the LT has got with her preliminary investigations. He will take a lead from her initially.

[Mr. Handy]

"Pleased to meet you, Detective Miles," says Carla, shaking his hand. "Let's get to work. I just got here myself, so we're just getting started. The first thing we need to do is make sure the perimeter is secure. Then we'll need to examine the bodies and do a grid search. We'll also need to locate and interview any witnesses, starting with whoever found the body and called it in. You can secure the perimeter while I do a preliminary survey of the scene. What kind of experience do you have with forensic crime scene investigation?"

[Philulhu]

“A couple of years,” replied Tyler. “I’ll check the perimeter and report back.”

Tyler ducked under the tape that an officer was rolling out in front of the laundromat and hurried back to his car to fetch a flashlight. Flicking it on, he studied the frontage, looking for an entrance to the rear.

OOC,Do we have a map/plan of the laundromat?