"Don't worry," Malcolm whispers into his phone. Best get right to it, he thinks as he is tempted to get a cup of coffee. Resiting the uge Malcolm stats his search of the of the records looking for dates matching the dates the victims were killed.
The search proves to be troublesome for Dr. Grey, even with his knowledge on the medical field's reports. An hour passes before he finds his first lead, but once he pursues that ray of hope, more and more facts begin to unravel.
One of the Roshburg citizens, Seymour Maxhold, age 51, was a regular visitor to the hospital due to his backache. He hasn't visited the hospital since Feb 2nd (Mon), even though he used to check in weekly. More search shows that some of his information has been marked 'classified'. His age also matches that of the third victim's.
21:00
Using similar methods of search, Malcolm is able to get similar findings: the names of three other victims. Their combined, current information on the victims is now:
January 30 (Fri), female college student (29), at a park
February 1 (Sun) Ron Parks, male taxi driver (35), in his taxi
February 9 (Mon) Seymour Maxhold, male corporate director (51), in his office
February 17 (Tue) Desiree House, female secretary (40), in her home
February 25 (Wed) Lewis Herring, male construction worker (29), on the job
March 4 (Thu), female bank teller (43), on the job
March 4 (Thu), male office worker (33), in his home
Outside, Jake and Adrien notice lights turning off in other parts of the hospital: some of the doctors that stayed late are starting to head home.
Suddenly, Malcolm hears the elevator door opening on the same floor. Malcolm himself was in the middle of paperwork. Because many of the medical records have been moved from their original places to the desk he's been using, signs of his thorough search could be discovered anywhere in the archives.
"Anyone here?" a distant male voice calls from the direction of the elevator, some 50 feet away from Malcolm's current location. Malcolm can't see the entrant, but likewise neither can he see Malcolm.
"Is that you Dr. Proctor? You're ten minutes late, grab a cup of coffee and help me put these away," Malcolm hurriedly responds as he begins picking up his files.
Milo will just call it a day and head home for the evening
"No, sorry. It's Dr. McConnel," the voice responds. The name is unknown to Malcolm, though that's not really surprising, given how much personnel there is working at the hospital. Even the people-knowing Malcolm runs into new people every now and then.
McConnel walks closer to Malcolm, and gives his co-worker a quick wave. He is a broad-shouldered, dark-haired man in his forties. Dressed in a lab coat, obviously.
McConnel looks past Malcolm, and sees the pile of files Dr. Grey was desperately trying to make look less like a thorough search. "Huh, that's quite a mess someone's done. You, uh, working late hours too?"
Mal continues straightening up, Dr. McConnel, can't place the name. He qucikly replies, "Unfortunately, it seems like late hours are my specialty lately." He looks down at his pile and adds, "I guess I better put this away." He continues putting the files away.
As he talks with Dr. McConnel Malcolm begins to feel sweat starting to drip down his back. Hope he doesn't notice, Malcolm hopes.
Malcolm finishes putting the records away and heads to the parking lot to meet his cohorts.
When he arrives he quickly gets into the car and announces, "Okay, I've got some info. Lets get out of here."
In the future, Dr. McConnel might wonder why Dr. Grey left before his supposed colleague Dr. Proctor showed up to help him with the work. Malcolm can only hope this doesn't come up in the break room conversations, which are already awkward enough as is...
March 9 (Tue)
7:00
The morning comes, and the rat race continues: people have jobs to go to. Each member of the Fisher St Club receive a text message early in the morning. It's from Silvia Bond: "Fisher St Club members: 5 PM, same location."
17:00
You arrive back at the assumedly-empty office building in Labrador Street, and head to the basement.
Some got there earlier than others: Silvia and Adrien are already there to greet the other Club members as they arrive, more or less on schedule.
After the pleasantries are exchanged, Delgado gets to the point. "Yesterday I made a small discovery about the real clubhouse on Fisher St. But before I get to that," she turns to Jake, Malcolm and Adrien, "what did you find out?"
"Sorry, I know I'm late. I hope you had more luck than we did." Will shows up only a couple minutes past five, today in a navy blue affair and a slightly larger briefcase than yesterday.
Artemiy is once again punctual to the minute, and takes his seat without comment. He also looks to the three who split off to gather more information.
After the pleasantries are exchanged, Delgado gets to the point. "Yesterday I made a small discovery about the real clubhouse on Fisher St. But before I get to that," she turns to Jake, Malcolm and Adrien, "what did you find out?"
Malcolm stands up and fiddles with his notes for a few seconds. He clears his throat and begins, "We found some good stuff. I've got a couple of names ...." He relates the information he found out to the group.
January 30 (Fri), female college student (29), at a park
February 1 (Sun) Ron Parks, male taxi driver (35), in his taxi
February 9 (Mon) Seymour Maxhold, male corporate director (51), in his office
February 17 (Tue) Desiree House, female secretary (40), in her home
February 25 (Wed) Lewis Herring, male construction worker (29), on the job
March 4 (Thu), female bank teller (43), on the job
March 4 (Thu), male office worker (33), in his home
"We have names, that's good... What else? Does anyone recognize any of these poor folks?"
Mrs. Bond has that sly and obnoxious fake smile on her face. "I can't say I do. But no, hold on. Maxhold? Hm. I might know a Maxhold. But I can't be sure if that was the same person."
She clasps her hands. "You do enough social networking, and you start forgetting the first names. I'll look into this."
Delgado picks up where she left. "In that social club of theirs, there is a premium members-only section behind closed doors. I managed to convince some of those premium members to let me take a tour there. Long story short, I believe they're running some sort of old boy network: upper class, successful men doing favors to other upper class men. So it's less about chess and more about social networking."
"It could be that our Sponsor is a member himself, seeing that he's supposedly so rich. If all this isn't some kind of practical joke."
"Rich men doing favors for rich men? That is the way of the world, Lisa Delgado. I see no reason for surprise." Artemiy fixes the woman with his gaze for another moment, then shrugs. "Still, it is good to hear progress was made. Names will lead to information. We should look into this."
Milo arrives eventually, he walks in wearing the same coat as before. "After noon",The young man pulls up a chair, "I could get in there, probably... one way or another" He scratches the back of his head, leaning back in the chair yawning. " By the way, i'm pretty sure the official's know as bout as much as we do maybe even less. They don't have enough to put together a case."
In the morning Adrien try to stay in his regular academic schedule, and only in the breaks he thinks about the roshburg killer.
Adrien arrives 15 minutes earlier to take a look at the place and the people around, Though later the idea that so predictable behaviour could present a problem in the future.
Right to the point Adrien says -Four males, three females. From taxi driver to corporate director. No deaths on saturdays yet.
The first one or two victims might have been tests for the killer's method and te following one be a ralated to the killer. Between Ron Parks and Lewis Herring there was a murder every eight days, asuming they where murders of course. Nine days later two killing the same day. The eight day regularity is intriguing, I wonder if the killer planned the last two deads for march 3 but something delayed him.
Freeman seems inspired. "You were able to figure all that out, just from looking at the dates?"
"Anyone can work that out," says Delgado, putting Freeman in low spirits, "but I wonder if it means anything."
"Assuming we haven't missed any victims the lack of killing on Saturday could mean something. But what?" Mal wonders. "The first thing that jumps out me is something religious."
"In ye olden times, the Sabbath was a Saturday event. Of course, I am talking about millennia ago. Hmm." Will stops to think for a while.
"All of these victims died in the city? Do we know where they were killed? If time and occupation don't help us, hopefully location."
"The files just gave a general location. We'll probably need to do some more leg work to get exact locations."
"Assuming we haven't missed any victims the lack of killing on Saturday could mean something. But what?" Mal wonders. "The first thing that jumps out me is something religious."
Or it could be a coincidence, we'll have to wait until march the 20 to have more information. Assuming the killings doen't scalate as we have two deads in the same day...uhm,...these last two,... we have to check if any of the last two victims had previous cardiac issues, it could be a misleading data.
"I think our next priority should be figuring out if they're connected in any way. They seem to come from completely different backgrounds but who knows. Maybe they all eat at the same cafe on the way to work or school, attend some meeting or social gathering, have the same personal trainer or therapist...who knows."
"The not killing on a Saturday seems significant, but assuming it's religious might be a stretch. For all we know, maybe our killer gathers information every Saturday, or spends his time some way else."
"Almost all the victims seemed to die on the job as well. Maybe the ones that didn't actually did have heart attacks. Too many variables. Any ideas on narrowing them down?"
"Well, at least we have some names and dates. I think our best bet is the dates, they have to mean something. also I think Adrien is onto something, I wouldn't be surprised if we had two deaths on the 20th," Mal adds ominously.
"Very few criminals actually see themselves as criminal's, some justify it by saying they need to, other's think they are heroes, then some are just in it for the money. No killing's on Saturday is probably more than a coincidence, we could try and follow that lead. See if the victims are part of the same religion or church. Some of the victims must have families, we could check that way...all i would need to do is flash my badge, say i'm here to ask a few follow up questions." The young Fbi agent looks a bit nervous or worried, "Though i'm gonna need to be careful, if the chief in the city get's word i'm looking into this, it could mean trouble for me. Legally, i'm not here investigating murder, the cops don't have enough to send up to use for FBI to get involved. "
"Then maybe just ask, Milo Halden. No need for a badge in that case." Artemiy frowns and clasps his hands on the table. "If we could determine how the killer does his work, it might shed light on who or why. Any thoughts on where to look for this?"
"We would need access to autopsy reports for that, wouldn't we Mr. Sewick? Or to see the bodies themselves. Of course, if we ask our benefactor, the murderer has voodoo dolls in his apartment. Regardless, I would prefer not to see a corpse up close." Will gives his briefcase an aside glance, fiddling with the lock.
"I hope we could learn something useful from the families. Perhaps I could speak with them. Mr. Halden and and Mr. Jake could accompany me if they wish. Their presence would lend an air of credibility to my questions. Would help with procedure as well.
We have a lot of questions and no answers. Something has to lead somewhere useful, right?"
how the killer does his work, it might shed light on who or why. Any thoughts on where to look for this?"[/b]
Artemiy thinks on whether anything in his... experience would relate to this sort of thing.
As the group discussed the killer and his methods Malcolm searches the recesses of his memory, There has to be something I've overlooked.
Malcolm thinks about the cause of death of the victims and offers, "There are a few drugs or poisons that can cause heart failure the two most likely are dyatrinide and luscrin." He paused for second and scratches his chin, "But we cant rule out a biological weapon like saltwater gas either."
He looks down at his notes and shrugs his shoulders, "Unfortunately, with as little information as we have at this point we have to consider the real possibility that voodoo or dark magic is involved."
"i'd say rule out most drugs, the cops wouldn't be struggling as much as they are if it were something identifiable. if it's something biological, it'd need to be something new." Halden comments, casually
"I happen to be out of ideas myself. Though Mr. Halden, I have to wonder if you're overestimating the resources of a single police department. You mentioned that RPD doesn't have the evidence to create a case of this situation. They likely can't afford to place enough resources behind investigation of these murders to find a drug. Mal? Do you know where our killer could find dyatrinide or luscrin?"
Will shifts in his seat, apparently uncomfortable with something.
So, besides waiting for the next killing, they only thing that seems viable is to learn more things about the victims. In that regard, everything that involves showing our faces to other people could backslash to us, my opinion is that we should minimize our exposition and things like interviewing witht he families, at least face to face, should be a last resort if everything else fail. We should first look for autopsy reports, criminal records, financial information and...that's all I can think, it will be hard to get the information, at least legally.
"I just don't think it's Drugs, i know it sounds weird coming from a fed and a computer's guy at that but i've seen some pretty weird things i'm willing to believe voodoo and the occult are involved, i mean there's a shred of truth in every myth and legend somewhere if you look hard enough." Milo yawn's shifting around, "We could visit the crime scene's. police might have missed something, it could help. "
"Mal? Do you know where our killer could find dyatrinide or luscrin?"
Will shifts in his seat, apparently uncomfortable with something.
Mal nodded his head as he replied, "Well Dyatrinide would be hard to come by and it would require a laboratory and someone with chemical background to produce." He paused for a second, looked around the table, and continued, "On the other hand synthesized Luscrin is a bit easier to produce by an amateur or in a home lab. Also, regular luscrin is widely used and is easy to acquire making it the more likely of the options."
"So, besides waiting for the next killing, they only thing that seems viable is to learn more things about the victims. In that regard, everything that involves showing our faces to other people could backslash to us, my opinion is that we should minimize our exposition and things like interviewing witht he families, at least face to face, should be a last resort if everything else fail. We should first look for autopsy reports, criminal records, financial information and...that's all I can think, it will be hard to get the information, at least legally."
"Well we could try several different approaches. We could try to find who has access to the drugs that might have been used, visit the crime scenes, review the police records, look at the voodoo angle, or talk to the victims families. All of the options have risks."
"We could visit the crime scene's. police might have missed something, it could help. "
"This gets my vote. There's only so much I can do with phones and computers. I deal better with the real, things I can see, hear, smell, and touch."
"Visit a crime scene?" Artemiy shrugs and folds his hands on the table. "This sounds like a fair idea. If we wish to split apart again, I would join that team."