Play@YSDC

A woman in an air raid warden's uniform walked down the street, and as she got closer, Eddie and the others who had met her recognized her as Melissa. "What's wrong?" she asked, seeing their expressions as they looked at the ruins. "Was someone killed in the bombing?"

Melissa gasped. "Oh, I'm so sorry," she said. She noticed Elizabeth and Eugene poking about in the ruins. "You should come out of there, it's not safe!"

Eugene nods dumbly and begins to scramble out of the debris. Thankfully he remembers his manners and offers his arm to Elizabeth.

"Is there a blanket in the car to cover the body?" Phyllis sticks her head in to have a look. "I suppose we must let the Foreign Office and his Lordship's butler know what's happened." She calls over to Eugene and Elizabeth, "I don't suppose there's any sign of the Steadmans? Whose house was this then?"

"Thank you," says Elizabeth gratefully to Eugene, as she makes her way out of the bombed building. "No, no signs of the Steadmans," says Elizabeth to Phyllis. "Just Lord Rufus ..." she says, her voice trailing off sadly.

Elizabeth and Eugene clambered out of the bombed out house, though it was clear that she was supporting him rather than the other way around due to his ankle injury. There was indeed a blanket in Eugene's car.

"I'll take it from here," said Melissa.

OOC,Anyone who wishes to try to treat [b]Eugene[/b]'s injured ankle may roll First Aid. Success will heal the damage he has taken.

Eugene awkwardly eases himself into the driver's seat of his car and massages his ankle.

First Aid 30%,[dice]0[/dice]

"OW! Bloody hell!"

Somehow he manages to make the pain worse.

Phyllis looks dolefully at Eugene, "I'm so sorry, the WI are due to run a first aid course next week. So until then, Maggie and I have no particular skills. I'm a fair hand at trussing a chicken and will have a look at your ankle if you are desperate though."
She turns to Melissa, "what are you going to do? And with your expertise in bombed ruins, would you say Lord Rufus was attacked before or after the house was hit?"

Charles sighs seeing Eugene essentially trying to punch his ankle back into health. "Come on son, put it up on the seat and I'll take a look at it..."

Charles First Aid: 30,[dice]0[/dice]

"... there we go, should be fine in the morning." Charles breathes a sigh of relief, thanking his lucky stars that he had the first aid kit on him, and thinking, in passing, that people and machines aren't really so different to fix after all.

Eugene's ankle felt much better when Charles was done with it. He would be able to walk without too much trouble now. If only his mind could be so easily mended.

"I may be an expert in ruined buildings," said Melissa, "but I couldn't determine when he died. That will be up to the coroner to figure out the time of death. Normally, nobody would ever check. Any dead body like that found in a bombed out house would just be assumed to have died in the bombing. It never would have occurred to me before that someone could have placed him there after the fact to make it look like that. I guess I need to read more Agatha Christie. I can tell you that this house was bombed last night., but not the exact time. If it had been the night before, I'd have already noticed it yesterday, as it's on my patrol route. What I'll do is cordon off the house first and call for an ambulance to collect the deceased. I'll make sure the coroner knows about your suspicions."

Eugene flexes his ankle which, while still sore, can at least take his weight now.

"Thanks Charles, that's really done the trick."

Listening to Phyllis' and Melissa's conversation, he frowns.

"Let's hope the coroner can make some sense out of this. I reckon the Steadmans have gone to ground. Either they've found a new lair or they've gone back to the warehouse - I doubt a Home Guard cordon would stop them for long. I can't say that I'm keen to follow up that possibility, but regardless they could have left a trail or something."

"Could we go to the warehouse? Or do you think it would be too dangerous even in daytime?" Asks Phyllis. "If the Steadmans have used the beast to kill His Lordship then the next person they might attack is Anna at the sanitarium. She knows she's in danger but I'm not sure she really believes it."

Hearing of Lord Corville's demise, Story shakes his head while saying, "If we can get to Anna before the beast comes for her, we stand a chance at stopping it. Assuming of course that she's next on the list."

OOC,I apologize for the absence.

Charles sighs, feeling that he's getting too old for all this rushing about across London. "Let's get moving then everyone, off to the... um.. where exactly are we going now? "

"I think so, we should get there as soon as we can. We must find Anna before nightfall; let's hope she is still there and hasn't wandered off." Says Phyllis as she climbs into the car.

"We should get a message to Lord Colville's house and the Foreign Office though. Are we leaving the body with this young warden then?"

Story nods in agreement at the suggestion of heading to the sanitarium. Then having found himself with words to say once more, he says to Phyllis, "I'm sure the young warden can handle things. We should be off." He runs his hand through his hair and exhales. A part of him is hoping for an encounter with the beast, though the other half is dreading the opportunity. Before popping back into a car he looks around for Elizabeth and Brook to insure they've heard about the plans.

"Thank you," said Melissa, "but I'm not as young as I look." She appeared to be about forty, though to Phyllis that was young. And to Story, who was much older than he seemed, so was Phyllis.

OOC,Does everyone want to go to the sanitarium? It's currently about 10:15 AM.