CH2-3a Saving Lives?

[ghill]

Inquiries about Professor Grundy at UCL's School of Slavonic and Eastern European Studies reveal Grundy phoned in sick recently - (nothing suspicious) apparently its the the result of a long term back injury. This is a regular occurrence which doesn't raise any suspicions beyond the fact the back injury frequently coincides with major sporting events (specifically Rugby world Cup and Formula 1).

Inquiries about Professor Mathers at University of Warwick's School of Russian, Eurasian and Eastern European Studies indicates he is on a short sabbatical (started before Gosshams death and is due to end in a week or so's time)

Trying to get the either college to reveal the Prof's home details is a difficult Persuade

[Mr. Handy]

Spoiler:

Can I try to find the details online? What about email addresses?

[ghill]

OOC:   Getting e-mail addresses both work/private is not really a problem although it takes a few hours. Again what is the substance of your emails.

[Mr. Handy]

Spoiler:

I think we should have Albert send the email from his Brichester account, and we need to be consistent with what we tell Maria, as they're likely to talk to each other. We should tell them that we believe that the professor was murdered by an Albanian organized crime outfit led by a known terrorist (the old man seen in the video) and mention what they were responsible for in London (though not our own roles in those events), and that we suspect they targeted him because of his latest research. We should emphasize that the three of them could be in danger as well due to their connection to him and the fact that they were sent copies of his latest work, especially Maria, who is in Albania, and Professor Grundy, since they are known to operate in London.

[Papa Gateau]

I don't think we want to be too alarmist with our tone. We want them to take this threat seriously. Do we want them running to the police?

We need to somehow engage their trust that we want to help them - they could easily think that we are the bad guys and that this is a ruse to get at them.

I think that we should frame an email something along the lines:

"Dear whoever,

I was a colleague of Professor Gossham at the faculty of languages here at Brichester.

We are trying to recover all the copies of his latest thesis as it is believed that it may have a connection to his senseless murder.

We believe that he sent you a copy. We would be grateful if we could meet at your earliest convenience to return your copy.

I do not wish to alarm you but we have been told that possession of this document may put your own life at risk.

If you have any hesitations or doubts please call me on 07973 889964

Yours etc


If they phone up then we can arrange to meet them - we can explain that the police don't really want the thesis motive as public knowledge and that they asked the college to approach Gossham's associates in trying to recover the copies, so as not to raise suspicions.

[ImpInTraining]

Greg nodded, sounded like a decent plan... honesty was always a good policy. But he wondered aloud, "What if they are already compromised? Then our email alerts the Verbotoi goon squad, and they come looking for us."

Greg said to Liz, "Do you think you could find the name of Grundy's doctor and his office? I could perhaps gleam some information about his back condition and use my medical skills to get his address and an opportunity with him."

[royya]

Send the email anonymously ... from a different ip address. They will not be able to track us down and put different phone number.
Jacob suggest.

[ghill]

OOC:   Patient confidentiality in the UK means they would never give Greg any details without Grundy's permission. Actually thinking about it there is almost no way to find out which doctor's surgery he goes to

[Mr. Handy]

"Sounds like a plan," says Liz. "I think I can reroute the email so it looks like it's coming from a different IP and put in a few extra levels of indirection to make it harder to trace back to us. The best way to get information about Grundy's doctor would prolly be from Grundy himself, once we convince him to trust us."

[ghill]

OOC:   OK a few contradictions here, you have Albert sending the email from his Brichester account, then Jacob suggesting changing the name and telephone number and then Liz suggesting she covers the back trail? I'll assume the mails are sent to speed things up, but if you're using Albert's college email address any precautions seem irrelevant. BTW there is no immediate response from either mail address.

OOC:   Shauna the Prof's Girl Friday, Probably has contact details for both these people.

[Mr. Handy]

"Although...I'd bet Shauna might know how to reach them," adds Liz. "She and I are chums now, so I could try to find out from her."

[ghill]

OOC:   A simple Persuade will get Shauna to hand over the addresses for both men. Actually, in order to move the story along a bit lets assume she passes the contact details of both men over. There is no answer from either man's phone, neither is there any kind of response to the emails. Professor Mathers has a cute answerphone with his whole familly (Wife, daughter and himself) all taking a part. Calls to Grundy's mobile or house phone both go to the same generic answer phone. Grundy's home is in East Dulwich, London. Mathers’ home in on the outskirts of the town of Kenilworth (half way between the Royal Lemington Spa and the Industrial town of Coventry) They are nearly but not quite equidistant from Brichester.

[BenTheRat]

"So who's up for a road trip?" Clay asks.

[Mr. Handy]

"Sounds good to me," says Liz. "London's my old stomping grounds, and the prof there is not on holiday, so I'd like to go there. We could also split up to cover both faster."

[royya]

The plot thickens ...
Jacob says and sighs
let's go

[Papa Gateau]

Well Kenilworth isn't too far out of the way - a quick trip up the M5 and then we can take the M40 back to London, get them both in a single road trip

[Mr. Handy]

"All right," says Liz, "we can do that."

[ghill]

Assuming you all want to go, Its possible for the five of you to squeeze into Jacob's Volvo and Albert's old BMW estate (once he's taken out the photography equipment)

OOC:   If I don't hear from ImpIT or BenTR in the next 24 hours, then assume as NPCs they're quite happy to follow your lead.

[BenTheRat]

"Sounds good, Shotgun." Clay speaks up.

[ImpInTraining]

Greg shrugged, "Don't see what other choice we have really. Let's go. ... SHOTGUN!" He looked at Clay - having only been a second behind the man's statement and shook his head, "All right... you got it this time."