IC - 12 - Back in the Station - Everyone

[Philulhu]

OOC,I think [b]Annette[/b] was the woman that [b]Kris[/b] spoke to at Roxanna’s office. She didn’t have anything to add. I think the message to the hotels/Bed & Breakfasts along with the checks on card/bank account activity is probably the best bet. Have we any leads on the Red Trumpet? Do MI5 have any contacts to speak to?

[Mephistophilis]

OOC,Let me know what you decide to do. I won't be stopping you doing anything but you can run stuff past Bates who might have views on things.

[Mr. Handy]

OOC,What about the work emails? Did anyone go through them yet?

[Mephistophilis]

OOC,Lindsay's work emails are in Aylesbury, along with any files she might have. You can go yourselves or send someone

[Silver Priest]

ooc,I can't really think of anything else to do other than to look into Red Trumpet. The work emails seem like a stretch, but we could send someone there to go through them.

[Philulhu]

Kris lead the way to see DS Bates. ”We’ve got a number of leads,” he said, when they found her. “But, if we’re honest, we’re not sure which ones to prioritise.”

“I think our best bet to finding Regina Balfour is to find Lindsay. A check on owned properties turned up nothing so she’s likely to be on the move. Can we circulate a description of Regina, Lindsay and her car, to all hotels, bed & breakfasts, service stations and medical establishments in her direction of travel, to see if we can find out where she is?”

Kris checked his notebook and continued. “We’ve got that woman from the press outside, so I presume the news is out but I’ve not had time to look into it. Can we get someone from PR & Comms to find out what’s in the press and let us know. I know we don’t want them doing our jobs for us, but if word is already out there, let’s use that to our advantage and see if we can’t get the public working with us to find her.”

”It also seems that Balfour’s church has an apocalyptic mindset and think the end of the world is nigh. The impression we get is that Lindsay snatched Regina to stop her father using her in this ‘ritual’. It sounds like mumbo-jumbo to me, but it seems there might be more to it. He seems to have been involved in this cult called The Red Trumpet out in Africa, so we could do with finding out more about them, too.”

“Finally, although her boss and colleague weren’t a deal of use, we can still go through Lindsay’s emails and notes from the Balfour case. I don’t know how useful that will be but I think I’d like to take a crack at this myself. I’d need to go back up to Aylesbury, unless you need me here?”

[Mr. Handy]

"I think the work emails are our best bet to find a lead," says Jocelyn. "I can check with MI5 and see what I can find out about Red Trumpet."

[Silver Priest]

Simon frowns. "All good points. Unfortunately, I see no way to predict where she's going-- she may not even know. Seems fair to say the plan has gone awry from the very start. And that makes our ultimate objective of rescuing Regina much harder.

"The only thing I can think of that might mollify her is if Balfour is arrested, and there may not even be anything there we can act upon. Even if there is, it would likely take more than a few days to bring charges. She does not have that long."

[Mephistophilis]

'We've already put alerts out to hotels, airports, and healthcare facilities but she was heading down the M25, that opens up all of London and the South East of England to her. We have officers out looking but it's like a needle in a haystack.' Bates thinks for a moment, 'The first priority has to be to find Regina, so I'm happy for you to go check out Lindsay's office in Aylesbury, she's our prime suspect after all. But I can't see what relevance this Red Trumpet has for the investigation, so I don't want you looking into it Kris. You two...' she gestures to Simon and Jocelyn, 'Can do whatever you think is appropriate, that's why you're here.'

Bates points to a young woman sat at a desk along the wall, she is talking animatedly on a mobile phone, 'If you want to talk to our media liaison officer Sophie she's over there. In terms of other leads, we've struggled to pin down Lewiston and Peale's movements in the days running up to the kidnapping. We know Lewiston bought supplies because you found that receipt, but there's nothing on his credit card or other accounts for the last four days, same with Lindsay yet we know she went to work. Lewiston did withdraw a lot of cash, perhaps he was paying with that, which suggests he might not have wanted us to know where he or Lindsay were going, even prior to the abduction.'

[Philulhu]

”OK,” said Kris. “Let’s talk to Sophie first and then I think we need to split up. I’ll go check out Lindsay’s emails - see if there’s anything useful there, if you guys want to look into this cult that Balfour’s linked to. Does that sound like a plan?”

[Mr. Handy]

"All right," says Jocelyn. "Maybe we'll get a new lead from her."

[Silver Priest]

Simon smiles. "An excellent proposition. You may not be able to look into Red Trumpet, but we were never instructed not to."

[Philulhu]

Kris looked from Jocelyn to Simon and nodded. “Keep in touch and let me know what you find. If I find out anything of interest, I’ll let you know.”

Kris lead the others over to Sophie and made the necessary introductions. ”We were talking to Lucy about the media coverage of events. Can you tell us what’s happening?”

[Mephistophilis]

'Ah, yeah, sure, so like we've got kind of like two phases. Last night there was a lot of talk about a terrorist attack, but that all stopped after the press conference.' says Sophie.

She continues in her somewhat irritating sing-song voice, 'So Lewiston's photo is out there but not his name. However, Balfour's done some interviews and most outlets are running with the name Zac Newman. We haven't put out Lindsay Peale's name or likeness but we've circulated her photo to regional police, health care settings, and transport hubs. The overall, like, tone of the coverage is pretty sympathetic to the Balfours, focusing on how sick Regina could become, but there's been a bit of digging around their church and some of the more...sensationalist channels have been talking about their apocalyptic predictions.'

[Mr. Handy]

"Ah, like Julie Thomas of GNS," says Jocelyn, nodding. "Many people have predicted that the end of the world would fall on a given date, and they've all been wrong. This lot have made multiple false predictions of the end of the world before. What makes anyone think this time is different?"

[Silver Priest]

"Likely human interest, if nothing else. Daughter of the reverend gets abducted a few days before he believes the world is going to end. I'm sure some also believe it's little more than a publicity stunt." Simon suggests.

"In the media interviews Balfour has done, has he taken the opportunity to preach his gospel?" He asks Sophie.

[Mephistophilis]

'Ah, yeah, uh, I don't think the media, like, believe in the prediction, it just makes interesting filler. says Sophie. 'Balfour hasn't really been preaching to be honest, it's more like - "all the unworthy are going to hell" - that sort of thing, but he has been making what sounds a lot like threats to the abductor.'

[Philulhu]

Kris sighed. Whilst understandable, it wasn’t necessarily going to help their investigation.

”What has he been saying?” he asked.

[Mephistophilis]

Sophie giggles, 'Oh, just something about how the Lord's messenger, the Passover Angel I think, how it's going to...smite them, yes, definitely smite, a good old smiting.'

[Mr. Handy]

"What else have the reporters been saying?" asks Jocelyn. "Maybe we can get some intel from the statements they made or the questions they asked. If they have sources that know things we don't, what those sources tell them could be driving what they say, and we might deduce something from it."