A Victim of the Art

The year is 1999. A group of agents with the FBI quickly discover a routine case is anything but. Thrust into a world that's as incomprehensible as it is deadly, can this team hope to hold back the darkness?

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A Victim of the Art

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The days pass in relative peace, as the three agents resume their normal lives.

Haunted by what she recently had to do, Vanessa spends time with her mother. It helps her forget Marlene Baughman's screams. Still, her mother is getting older. Vanessa may wonder if the situation ever presented itself if she'd not have attempted the same.

Her attempts to retreat to nature prove more difficult. Clyde Baughman had created his horror somewhere out in a place like this. It made it hard for her to relax.

Nik improves his accounting skills and leafs through the books Baughman so nicely left for him.

Edmund keeps a close watch on his sister, appreciating the normalcy after what he's seen. He vows to keep her safe. He also examines the tape, and from it does some research on the Pastor on the side.
OOC:   Both of the results of your actions can be found in the OOC thread if you've not looked already.  
It isn't until nearly three months later that the group is called for again.
May 10th, 1999
The email shows up in all three agent's inboxes early in the morning.

Subject: A Night at the Opera


Your team has been invited to an opera performance in Long Island, New York.

Arrangements have been made with your superiors to assign you the case later today. Once assigned, make your way to Glenridge, Long Island, and report in to the authorities there. We have reason to believe they are investigating a case that requires Opera Lovers intervention.

Below is a number for a local Agent in the vicinity. Once you've reported in to the locals contact MARCUS and brief him on the situation. He is to be your source of contact to the group for the duration of this mission.

This is a high profile investigation, so caution is strongly urged to avoid exposure of the organization's existence or goals.

Be Seeing You.

It takes a few hours, but all three agents are called into SAC Hobbson's office. Of course, SAC Hobbson himself is long retired now, happily spending it at various fishing spots across the country. Their new superior is a stern faced man in his 40's named Reynolds. He lacks Hobbson's social tendencies and is very much no nonsense, but he does not seem overtly vindicative. But then, why would he be? He had gotten the job he was angling for.

"Agents, glad you all could make it. We've got a case in Long Island, New York and you've been asked to assist with it by the higher ups. Apparently your cracking of the Santana case carries a lot of weight.

"I'm afraid I don't have much detail at the moment, but some serial killer has been stalking the town of Glenridge, Long Island. You've all been assigned to assisting the local police with the case. Make your arrangements, we're taking you out on the 4'o clock flight today. Whoever wants you there wants you there today
."
OOC:   Let me know if you guys want to do anything on the flight or so forth, research, etc. I'll update tomorrow with the arrival.  
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Re: A Victim of the Art

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Nik

“Opera, huh?” Nik whispers to the others as they prepare to leave. “I hope its Philip Glass. I don’t really like opera otherwise. I’ll see if there is anything on VICAP about this case.”
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Re: A Victim of the Art

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"I'm sure 'opera' is just code for 'operation,'" replies Vanessa. "I'll look up past crimes in the Glenridge area. Serial killers generally start smaller. Arson and cruelty to animals are big indicators. Bedwetting's the other major one, but that won't be in the police records."
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Re: A Victim of the Art

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Nik finds the first Glendridge murder had taken place on April 3rd of this year. Another had taken place on April 28th and May 7th. All three murders were characterized by brutal trauma and extensive mutilation. In all three cases the heads were removed, and in only one case was it recovered. The agents discover the killings have made the news. A local reporter for a tabloid had given the killer the nickname The Glenridge Chiropractor, and it had apparently stuck.

There were few reports of past crimes though. According to what Vanessa finds, Glendridge is a very wealthy and self contained community. The last murder she can find took place in 93, where the wife of a prominent doctor shot him for cheating on her. The case had attracted some attention, including an airing of Inside Edition. Other than that though, there are no real other crimes that stand out.

The team flies into John F. Kennedy Internal Airport. From there, they're given a rented car. It takes less than 50 minutes to arrive on Long Island, and only fifteen or so more before they're in Glenridge.

Glendridge is a very wealthy community. Mansions and large homes are the norm here. The grass is pristine, and sprinklers shower every lawn they pass. Joggers are out and about, and almost every home has at least two cars out front. It's a charming little community with a history dating back to before the Revolutionary War. The large Great Peconic Bay borders the town, along with the historic Old Sampson Lighthouse that seems to overlook the rest of it. Needless to say, the agents may feel a bit out of place, especially because the car they were given was a Ford model a few years out of date, with a few scratches and flaking paint .

The small police station is located in the middle of the small downtown. It's not much bigger than the San Carlos police station had been, but Glendridge has a small population of just over 15000, and a lesser of a crime rate.
The insides of the building are as immaculate as anything else. An officer is at the receptionist desk. She seems to be in her late thirties, early forties, and looks at the group with tired disgust.

"I told you we don't have any comment. Now get outta here before..." Her eyes narrow and she frowns. "Wait, you're not reporters. You look like the feds we were told to expect."

Presuming someone shows her a badge, she gets an embarrassed look on her face. "Shit, sorry. This whole horror show has attracted a lot of attention. But it takes one cop to know one, and you're not cops, but you're close enough. You don't have the self satisfied look of the reporters." She gets up and introduces herself. " I'm Officer Kathy Greenwich. Real glad to have you here. Follow me if you would, Detective Gregson is our officer in charge of the case. He's going to brief you on it."
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Re: A Victim of the Art

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Nik is hoping that the perpetrator isn't another one of those traveling space parasites. He wonders too if they will get a visit from the ' NSA'.

"I'm Siilasvuo, this is Rue and our team leader, Marchand. I hope we can help you clear this up" he says sincerely.

With the others, he follows the officer.
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Re: A Victim of the Art

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"Pleased to meet you," says Vanessa, following the officer. "Hopefully we can be of help. Glenridge rarely sees serious crimes, which is nice most of the time, but when it does happen it's not easy to deal with it when you don't have as much practice."
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Re: A Victim of the Art

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"We appreciate your help," Kathy says. She seems to mean it.

The officer opens the door and the investigators find themselves in the briefing room. It's a spacious one, certainly bigger than the San Carlos briefing room had been. A dozen or so black chairs surround a large table. The only person in it appears to be Detective Gregson. He's an older man, mid 50's and looks fairly plump. But his uniform is pristine and his yellow badge shines, suggesting a certain pride in his work. He puts down a folder he's reading and greets the team.

"These the Agents, Greenwich?"

"Yes sir."

"Good to hear. Please, have a sea.t I'm Andrew Gregson, the Detective in charge of this case. I'm afraid I don't know your names yet, so if we could get reintroduced. Kathy, would you get us guests some doughnuts and coffee?"

"Sure thing."
OOC:   anyone who likes can make a HUMINT roll. success makes it clear Kathy's not appreciating being the team's errand girl.  
"Now," Gregson says, folding his meaty hands in front of him after the team settles in. "I want to start by thanking you all for coming. And I want to reassure you we're giving you full authority over this case. There won't be any power plays here between us locals and you feds. We've got a dangerous criminal on the loose, and I know my officers well enough to know we're all out of our league in stopping them. Myself included. So anything you need, I'll do what I can to provide.

Officer Greenwich returns with the refreshments. She goes to leave, but Gregson allows her to stay, and she happily takes a seat.

"That said, let's get to it. Just be warned; some of these pictures will require a strong stomach." Taking a doughnut, Detective Gregson gets up from the table and activates the projector at the front of the room. A picture appears. It was of a smiling middle aged man with dark brown hair and eyes and perfect, shiny white teeth. He looked to be in good shape and had probably had a face lift.

"Right, this right here is Dr. Carl Maretti, one of our local dentists. Dr. Maretti was 45, married, two preteen daughters. He was reported missing by his wife on April 3rd. when he didn't return home from work. Apparently this was highly unusual, as he usually came straight home. He was found the next morning in a culvert around 9 by a jogger in Adams Park, just off the Bay."

He flips to the next picture, and the smiling man is replaced by an obvious corpse lacking a head. Extensively mutilated, It looked like nothing more than a bashed and ripped bag of severed muscles and shattered bones.

"That's Dr. Maretti. What's left of him, at least. As you can see his spine was forcibly removed and many of his bones were completely shattered. His head was missing but was located a short way nearby in the park, lacking a jaw. Both eyes were, let's see here, ah, removed from his head like they were gouged out. Of note, this is the only body we've recovered the head for. Based on the damage we assumed it was some sort of large animal attack, but none of them are known to be loose in Glenridge. And the second murder dissuaded us of that notion."

Another picture came on this screen. This showed a small woman who seemed to shirk back from the photograph. She wore conservative clothes and her smile was very clearly forced. She was the textbook definition of a wallflower.

"Vanessa Hatvan. 41. She was a librarian at the local high school. Unmarried, not seeing anyone as far as we knew. Few close friends, which makes it hard to pinpoint the exact time of her disappearance. She was found early on the morning of April 28th just before school started by another teacher, forty feet up a tree right on the school grounds. She was also missing her head, and we've not managed to find it." he moved forward to the next picture, which showed the librarian headless and her body absolutely devastated by severe physical trauma, her clothes torn to shreds." Gregson shook his head. "Never gets easier to look at." He takes another doughnut.

The next picture came up on the screen. This one showed a smiling teenage girl dressed in a cheerleading outfit. She was absolutely stunning, with long blonde hair, blue eyes, and a toned, athletic body.

Lauren Harrogate. 17, Cheerleader at the high school. Well liked, very popular. She was kidnapped from her home on the night of May 6th. We actually have a witness to this one, her mother. The assailant gained entry by smashing through the balcony door that connected the exterior of the house to her room. This caused a silent alarm to go off, and the police were alerted. We got there in under fifteen minutes, but by then the assailant and Lauren were both gone. When we got there, we only found Lauren's mother sobbing uncontrollably. We suspect she witnessed the event, but due to psychological problems she could not tell us anything. In fact, since the incident she's gone into a catatonic state and had to be committed."

"We conducted a wide scale search, but it wasn't until the morning of May 7th that we found her. She was found the next day on an electrical tower just off highway 31, sixty feet up in the air. Her body was just like the others." A picture confirmed it.

"We're assuming the killer must have access to a helicopter to dispose of the bodies, but none have been reported rented in the area recently."

He settled back down into his chair. "So we got some sicko offing people in this town, and Glenridge is on edge. Hence why you feds were called in. Hopefully you can use your skills and get to the bottom of this. Because I'll be honest; none of us can."
OOC:   Can everyone please give me a san check for violence 0/1d3. The brutality done to these bodies has only been matched by the San Carlos killer. And given what it turned out to be, that may bode ill for the type of case this will evolve into...  
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Re: A Victim of the Art

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Rolls,HUMINT 70: [url=http://orokos.com/roll/507580]HUMINT[/url]: [u]1d100[/u] [b]95[/b] SAN 62: [url=http://orokos.com/roll/507585]SAN[/url]: [u]1d100[/u] [b]9[/b]
Nik has mentally prepared himself for the sights to follow, although the sheer violence of them is not what he had expected.

"Yeah, this is definitely not your average killer." How the hell did they get left up in these high places? Perhaps the key to this is finding out why these victims were chosen.

"Detective, did the victims know each other? Is there any connection between them that you know of?"
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Re: A Victim of the Art

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Rue sits quietly trying not to show how much these gruesome scenes affected him, especially the young girl, so much like Amy.

He grabs a coffee with a shaking hand and downs a lot of it in one long swallow. Although this has still affected him, he feels a bit more in control now, especially knowing that his sister is safe, well she was just a few short hours ago.
Come on guy ... focus thinking:   these people and their families deserve your full attention - right now!  
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Re: A Victim of the Art

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Image

Vanessa shudders when she sees the gruesome pictures, blinking back tears. "Well, the second and third victims were both at the high school," she says when she recovers. "Were they patients of the dentist, perhaps? Also, how were the bodies without heads positively identified? I realize that it's highly unlikely that one of the bodies would be someone else and the missing person still unaccounted for, but it's best to cover all the bases."
OOC,HUMINT roll (52% skill) about [b]Kathy[/b]: [dice]0[/dice] Sanity roll (current level 70) for seeing the pictures: [dice]1[/dice] Sanity loss for seeing the pictures: [dice]2[/dice]
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Re: A Victim of the Art

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"These murders have been very rough on all of us." Gregson says, noticing the groups discomfort.

"Two of the victims working at or attending the high school did make us curious, but Dr. Maretti has no connection to Glendridge High as best as we can determine. He's not an alumni of it and neither is his wife; both moved here from upstate. His two daughters are still in elementary school.

"Let me see
..." he goes through his papers. "We do know that Lauren Harrogate did see Dr. Maretti for a routine checkup around three months ago. His secretary can't even remember the appointment, which suggests it was routine. As you said, small town. A coincidence like that's not unusual. Vanessa Hatvan--that's the librarian-- there were no records of her ever visiting with Dr. Maretti. Sot here does not seem to be an obvious connection between all three.

"The two victims being from the high school is interesting. But from what we could determine, Harrogate and Hatvan hardly knew each other. Lauren was a very popular student with plenty of friends. Hatvan was the school librarian who, according to her co workers, mostly kept to herself. We haven't had one friend of hers come forward, and her parents live in Georgia. So we're really struggling to find something that puts all three of these folks together.But hey, that's why you're the FBI and I'm just a local cop
." Gregson says this without a hint of resentment, and one gets the feeling this arrangement suits him just fine.

"The bodies were identified by forensic testing. In Ms. Harrogate's case,a small butterfly tattoo on her left ankle offered us quick confirmation. If you want to see the lab evidence, I suggest you consult with our medical examiner, Dr. Stephen Santorini. He's been working this case since the first body. It's just after 6 now, but he might still be a this office. He's a hard worker." He gives the address.

"You might want to talk to the victims friends and families as well. We've done so, with little success, but maybe we're missing something. and if any of you want to see Dr. Maretti's office, Lauren Harrogate's home or Vanassa Hatvan's home or place of employment, we can drive you out there.

"The only one who might be hard to get in touch with is Lauren's mother. Mrs. Harrogate is currently a guest of the Swansea Psychiatric Hospital. She's apparently unresponsive, which is pretty frustrating, since we think she witnessed her daughter's abduction. Probably for the best though. If she knew her daughter was dead who knows how she would react."

"But it's late, so if you want to hit the hay and get to it in the morning I can't blame you after your long flight. We've got you reservations at the Excalibur Hotel. It's right on Glenridge Bay. Has a wonderful view of it too in all its rooms
."
OOC:   You've got a lot of options for your first move. This scenario is a bit more open than the others. So think carefully and let me know what you want to do first.  
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Re: A Victim of the Art

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Nik

" I'd like to speak with Lauren's mother if nobody objects" Nik tells everyone. " I understand her situation but we really should cover all the bases. I'll be discreet about the fate of her daughter " he promises.
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Re: A Victim of the Art

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"Thank you, Detective Gregson," says Vanessa. "All right, Nik, see what you can find out from her, if anything. I'll go talk to the medical examiner, if he's still there. I speak the lingo, and I'd like to get his take on the bodies and see the autopsy reports."
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Re: A Victim of the Art

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Gregson nods in agreement to both ideas. "Lauren's mother may prove hard to get much out of, but I certainly welcome the attempt. If she could remember what happened to her daughter that would go a long way to cracking the case. I'll call over to let them know you're coming, but I can't imagine they'd have any objection to it. And I'm sure Doc will appreciate the opportunity to go over what he's learned. Just be aware he can be a little...eccentric."
OOC:   If there are no other questions I'll move us on once Rue declares if he wants to go with either of you or set out on his own.  
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Re: A Victim of the Art

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OOC:   With Nik following up the girl's mother and Vanessa seeing to the ME, Rue volunteers to have a go at Dr Maretti's wife.  
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Edmund Rue
"I'll go see if I can get anything from Dr Maretti's wife. Do we know anything about her, and is the culvert where he was found have any significance, i.e. within a certain distance from their homes or workplaces?"
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Re: A Victim of the Art

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"I don't mind eccentric," says Vanessa with a smile. "I have a feeling I'm going to like Dr. Santorini."
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Re: A Victim of the Art

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"Dr. Maretti's widow is named Caroline. She's a homemaker and cares for the children. We don't think the culvert's of any significance, though it's part of the park Maretti was known to jog through at times. It's plausible someone waited for him and chose to strike while his guard was down."

The trio leave and gets in their vehicle. Gregson had given all three of them directions, and thankfully the town was small enough that all three stops were on their route. Nik could drop off Rue and Vanessa on his way to the sanatorium.

But the agents are barely on the road before a black van abruptly pulls along side of them. The side doors open, and a woman gets out. She is beautiful, with a toned body and fashionable clothes, and a Winona Ryder styled head of black hair. Her brown eyes are big and expressive, and she offers the group a dazzling smile as she raps on the car window with her fist.Should the agents bring the window down, she leans in.

"Sonja Dewey with Phenomen-X. Can you confirm the interest the FBI has taken in the Glendridge Chiropractor investigation, and if you are presently pursuing any leads? Our viewers find this case most interesting and want to know what's really going on." She's leaning into the car's window as far as she can, and her eyes look hungry for a scoop.
[/i]
OOC:   everyone can roll Bureaucracy. Success indicates that the reporter tracked you all down remarkably fast. It's highly likely she has a contact at the station who alerted her to your presence.  
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Re: A Victim of the Art

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Image

"I'm sorry, we can't comment," says Vanessa.
OOC,Bureaucracy roll (41% skill) about the reporter: [dice]0[/dice]
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Re: A Victim of the Art

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Nik
Bureaucracy,Bureacracy 11: [url=http://orokos.com/roll/508531]Bureaucracy[/url]: [u]1d100[/u] [b]13[/b]
“Goddamn, she’s stunning” thinks Nik, getting a good look at her.

“Step back from the car, now!” he growls, revving the engine.
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Re: A Victim of the Art

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Edmund

Bureacracy,skill 40%

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