Play@YSDC

Luckily, Leo was still recovering from his fall and didn't see Des rolling her eyes. Once Leo was sure that Liam couldn't hear, he said to Des. "The flowers and birds are the sign of the practitioner that performed the spell. Their magical fingerprint, if you will. And a 100% confirmation that this is a SAU case after all."

Liam looks somewhat perturbed at Leo's gymnastics.

"Um - I'll find the cleaners' details. I'll meet you back in reception yeah?"

Eli - your search is pretty thorough, but you find nothing of interest in any of the changing areas, except perhaps a faint floral smell (or maybe that's your imagination, fired by Des and Leo's discussion).

So, what now?

Des waited until Liam had headed back to the reception area, then said, ”So dat smell is what ‘appens when someone does magic? Ok… …”

She looked around. ”So we know ‘e was ‘ere an’ dat ‘e was spyin’ on people getting’ changed, but ‘ow did ‘e die? ‘is brain got turned to mush. Ain’t dat like what ‘appened to my fone at de skittle alley?”

Eli turns to Liam, " If we could habe the names of the staff who.fplound the body,the lost of members who sogned in yesterday and a copy of the CCTV footage please."

Leo nods as Eli makes the request. "That should do it. Thanks for all of your help, mate. One quick text to the governor and you should be good to reopen."

Leo sent a text to DCI Nightingale: "DCI Nightingale, there were vestigia in the dressing rooms I texted about but we didn't find anything unusual when we searched. It's definitely a case for us. Do we have permission to allow the leisure centre to reopen? Anything else to check before we go?"

Des - you are correct. Remembering some of the gruesome safety lectures given to you by Nightingale, magic can indeed scramble both microprocessors and brains alike. It's a phenomenon called Hyperthaumaturgical Degradation, or HTD.

Eli - Heading back to the reception area, you find Liam downloading the CCTV files and visitor logs onto a USB stick.

"Here you go," he says cheerfully. "Oh, and the cleaners were Flora DeSilva and Maggie Wojcik. The police have already taken their statements, but I've got their contact details."

He hands you a scrap of paper with their phone numbers and addresses (both modest dwellings at Aarons Hill, Godalming).

Leo - you quickly receive a reply from DI Nightingale:

'Not my call, but if you're certain no danger is posed to the public, I'll pass your recommendations on to the SIO of the case at Surrey Police.'

'Your next step? One assumes the deceased drove to the centre? Is his car still there?'

Leo texts back Thank you. At this point, I do believe it is safe. We do know he owned a black Porsche Boxster, and we are going to check the car park for it before we leave.

As Leo finishes the text, he takes a moment to walk over and look through the window into the part of the car park that he can see through the window to see if he sees a black Boxster anywhere.

Did we notice a Boxster in the car park as we entered?

”Wot’s up? Wot u lookin’ for?” asked Des, appearing at Leo’s shoulder.

" I believe we ate looking for the deceaseds car, a Porche Boxter i believe." [b[/b] Eli replies to Des as he suddenly appears at her shoulder, in that way that only teachers can do.

1d100

Looking around, all Eli sees is a sea of cars.....

I think i will spend the 13 luck. Luck now 47%

Observation (60%) 1d100

Distracted by Eli’s creepy teacher vibe, Des couldn’t pick out the car.

Observation (60/30): 1d100

The Porsche, having being left unattended in the car park for a couple of days, is covered in dust and thus difficult to find.

However Eli is a little more eagle-eyed than his colleagues and eventually spots the car, tucked away in a quiet corner.

On trying the door handle, you find the Porsche Boxster locked.

Leo wipes a clean spot on the window and peeks inside to see if anything useful is in eyeshot.

OOC:   Is the amount of dust consistent with the amount of time since the murder?

Des looked the other two. ”Did neither of u bring de key? U wan’ me to ring sumwan? I no a few people who get u in der… …” she said.

Leo knows any magic here would only make things worse, so he keeps his mana dry, just in case.

"We may not need to use that method yet. There may be a legitimate way to access it that would be easier and save all our jobs. Like checking to see if the the keys were found with his effects or enlist the manufacturer's help through a legitimate request from the police department."

”Mebbe a brick or summat?” suggested Des, who clearly hadn’t given up on the more direct approach.