Play@YSDC

Harrison doffs his boater politely.

“Good day to you. May I speak to someone in authority please?”

The nurse looks somewhat surprised. "May I ask what it concerns sir? I'll see if I can direct you to the right person."

"Ah, well we represent certain concerned relatives of patients and, shall we say, former patients of this esteemed hospital," Harrison declares.

"There have been some complaints of certain things going missing..." he continues, mentally crossing his fingers.

The nurse looks somewhat confused. "Things going missing? I'm not sure I understand what you mean sir", she says smiling uncertainly.

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Harrison smiles benignly. “Oh I’m sure you’ve more important things to deal with than this kind of nonsense. Now; a superior, if you please.”

The nurse smiles coyly, then turns to the gentleman behind her. "Mr Evans sir, I have two gentlemen here who wish to speak with someone in authority about some missing items. Are you able to help them?"

The man looks up from some paperwork he was examining and sizes up the investigators. Obviously reaching a favourable conclusion to his assessment he gestures to a side office. "If you'd like to step into my office gentlemen I'll see what I can do to assist you."

With that he raises a barrier on the counter, steps through and lowers it again, striding towards the office he indicated. As Holst and Wessells follow him inside he closes the door, walks to a swivel chair behind a low, mahogany office desk and starts lighting a turkish cigarette. "Good day to you both. I'm Frederick Evans, Assistant Administrator here. May I enquire as to your names and your business with us today?

Harrison Blithely ignores Evans’ first question. Does he try to blather and confuse the man or go for broke and startle him with the direct approach?

“Missing limbs!” he declares, opting for the latter.

“Our clients allege that their dear departed loved ones left this establishment with less appendages than they came in with. An astounding accusation which I dearly hope you will be able to disprove.”

John speaks, and fixes Evans with a steady gaze.

"Somebody, it seems, is removing body parts from this hospital."

Evans looks outraged. "What you suggest is scandalous. I can assure you that this institution upholds the highest possible standards. The patients we are are unfortunately unable to save are handled with the utmost consideration and sensitivity. Besides, any 'missing limbs' would surely be noted by the undertakers the bodies are passed to."

Stubbing out his unsmoked cigarette, the visibly angry Evans continues. "Furthermore, any required amputations are dealt with equally sensitively. The affected limbs are collected by our specially trained mortuary staff, wrapped in linen for temporary storage, then subsequently burnt in our incinerator here within the hospital."

Intimidate 15,[dice]0[/dice]

Harrison tries to look stern, but comes across as slightly constipated.

John realizes that the situation is hopeless. He nudges Harrison’s arm.

“Come on, let’s get out of here. This man doesn’t care about what’s going on.”

He heads to the door.

“Fine,” Harrison sighs, also making to leave.

“We’ll just have to write that the hospital refused to confirm or deny the accusations - our editor will be fine with that,” he adds as a final gambit.

Evans disdainfully watches the investigators as they move to leave, but perks up at the mention of a newspaper. "Gentlemen, gentlemen. Lets not be too hasty here. Let it not be said that this hospital has anything to hide. We value our first rate reputation."

Visibly composing himself Evans stands and walks to door. "Follow me, and you'll see there can be nothing in these.. stories and tall tales you've heard."

With that he leads the investigators into the bowels of the institution.

All seems well. The wards they pass are clean and bright, staffed by efficient nurses and doctors, and housing patients who, under the circumstances they're in, seem well tended and comfortable.

Evans eventually leads the investigators to the hospital mortuary. Again, like the rest of the hospital it is exceptionally clean and well organised.

"This is Mr Hargreaves, the Mortuary Supervisor" Evans says, introducing them to a bespectacled man in his early 50s. I'm sure he can put your minds at rest. "Mr Hargreaves, these gentlemen are from the press and they've heard some disturbing but undoubtedly scurrilous rumours."

John clears his throat.

"Mr. Hargreaves, what happens to the bodies of deceased patients once they leave your care?"

Hargreaves looks surprised. "Well, we take the cadaver from the operating theatre or ward and keep it here in our cold store until it is collected by the undertakers selected by the deceased's family. They load it into their hearse and depart. What happens then I couldn't say, but I guarantee if any limbs were missing that would be noted, if not by the undertaker then by the family."

He shows the investigators the cold storage area. A few corpses lay on trollies, covered in white linen sheets. He then exits the cold store and returns to the main mortuary room where he leads the investigators to a large refrigerator. Opening it, they see a number of smaller items are wrapped in linen cloth. "These are the discarded limbs from various operations undertaken in the hospital. They are stored here for a short while before being burnt in our incinerator in the basement."

Peering in, John notices something.

Spot Hidden,Spot Hidden 29: [url=https://orokos.com/roll/857273]Spot Hidden[/url]: [u]1d100[/u] [b]4[/b]

Spot hidden 75,[dice]0[/dice]

As Hargreaves closes the door on the macabre parcels both Wessells and Holst notice that they're wrapped in very similar if not identical colour linen to the packages Corbitt was carrying.

“Hmm, you seem pretty sure that each limb is accounted for; do you keep a ledger?” Harrison takes out his notebook. “Who else has access to this storage? What’s the exact procedure for passing these to the undertakers?”

He turns to John. “There can’t be that many undertakers in town; we need to speak to them all and get their side of the story.”

jp1885 wrote:
“Hmm, you seem pretty sure that each limb is accounted for; do you keep a ledger?” Harrison takes out his notebook. “Who else has access to this storage? What’s the exact procedure for passing these to the undertakers?”

The older man looks somewhat offended. "Of course we keep a record. We run a tight ship here I can assure you." Walking across to a filing cabinet he opens the top drawer and brings out a large ledger. Laying it on a vacant mortuary trolley he opens it and steps back to let the investigators look at it.

"As you'll see, every single item entrusted to us is listed, with the date we take delivery and the disposal date, and the initials of the member of staff who handles the disposal. At present you'll see that most of the initials are mine. The other initials belong to my orderly, Randolph Tomaszewski.

Hargreaves looks over at Evans and seems to be making a point."Regrettably I'm constantly short-staffed. The wages I can offer are poor and the nature of the work deters many potential candidates."

He continues. "The cadavers are handed over to the undertakers and recorded in the same way." He fetches another book, and it lists the deceased in a similar fashion. "You'll notice my initials against each one in this case. Tomaszewski only works nights and early mornings, plus weekends where necessary, whereas I deal with all transfers of bodies at the end of each weekday afternoon."