At the airfield, you can rent a car to go into the city or wait for a bus. Let me know what kind of accommodations you're looking for- anyone with Credit Rating 2+ can cover a pretty standard hotel. Renting a suite or apartment for a longer stay can be done with Credit Rating 5+, or on the other end of the spectrum, there are fleabag flop houses near the harbor that cater to sailors for even less.
Amadeus will spring for one of the standard hotels, noting his rather thin wallet. Still, the option to have privacy is a nice one. Especially since his nightmares have recently become so... intense.
I choose a standard hotel as well. Antiquities have a razor thin margin and I'm afraid my adventures here have been doing little to fill my wallet...unless I was able to sell any of the less dangerous books?
Like Amadeus, Evelyn decides to settle for a run-of-the-mill hotel. While she has tasted some of the finer things in life, she certainly did not need something overly luxurious. Nor was she willing to stay in a flea-ridden hovel - she did have standards.
The six of you squeeze into a rental car, piling what luggage doesn't fit into the trunk onto the roof. Driving into Valletta shortly after sunrise, you find yourselves at the reasonably priced hotel the car rental clerk recommended for you. Like much of Valletta, it's an old building that's been refitted for modern use- a handsome baroque building with new electrical fixtures installed. Your rooms are a bit small, but they're clean and the common washroom at the end of the hall is well maintained. After cleaning up from the long flight, you face the question of how you'll go about tracking down this Montgomery Donovan and the Mouth of the Liar.
"I wouldn't think this type of problem would go un-noticed. Perhaps we can check with the local newspapers, or police for reports of unusual activity. Perhaps the local university might have a professor that is an expert on the occult"?
"The library would be a good place to start," Evelyn agrees with a nod. "We need to know whether the nectar here has already started to circulate through the populace."
Asking around before heading to the library, Evelyn finds out that the only hospital in Valletta is Hospital Superbissima on the east side. A few people volunteer that there's a sanitarium further inland, Mount Carmel, where a friend or relative was sent to recover from tuberculosis.
"I can check the local precinct. Things can't work too much differently here than in the states. I'll see if I can find anything on this Donovan character and maybe see if they've caught on to the Nectar trade yet."
Anatoly offers to accompany Evelyn to the library, as research is anot activity he finds rewarding and relaxing.
A quiet day in a foreign library seems just the thing. I join Evelyn and Anatoly on their trip to the library.
The team splits up to cover more ground and gather information on their target with Evelyn, Ralph and Anatoly going to the library, Freddy to the police precinct and Amadeus to an occult bookstore.
You're walking (or driving) through Valletta's streets and plazas when the sky starts getting darker. A storm blows in from the sea, its thunderhead dark and low, lightning splaying across the sky and touching the sea. People on the street seek shelter as cafe and restaurant vendors move to stretch out awnings. You hurry toward your destinations.
The local library branch is in a stately stone building. It takes little time to find the newspaper archives where Evelyn, Ralph and Anatoly get to work. Scanning headlines and articles, the three investigators find that Donovan has either never made news or has taken the steps to keep himself out of the papers. Nor is there any mention of Nectar and drug busts are mentioned only rarely. Nonetheless, after several hours of searching you find an article about a black tie fundraising event held several months ago at the Royal Opera House. The photo attached to the article of a lanky, dapper man with a thin mustache and goatee arm-in-arm with a well-dressed woman has the caption "The evening's fundraising efforts raised record amounts from remarkable glitterati at a gala affair. Montgomery and Portia Donovan are new donors to the opera house. The two of them look happy.
Freddy approaches the police station, huddled under his jacket from the rain. After waiting in line to speak with the desk sergeant, he asks if there's been any police reports on Montgomery Donovan. The PI is told to wait on one of the wooden benches nearby; after a few minutes, the desk sergeant tells another cop something in Maltese, nodding toward where Freddy sits. The cop walks off, back into the offices. While he waits more, Freddy catches the desk sergeant giving him the side-eye once in a while which doesn't fill him with confidence. Once the cop presumably in charge of looking through the reports comes back, the desk sergeant calls Freddy over. "We don't have nothing on anyone by that name. Ok?"
Meanwhile, Amadeus walks through alleys and side streets hunting down an occult bookstore without a name. An old woman in black sitting in a doorway gives the mystic the evil eye as he passes, laughing to herself once he's out of sight. The bookstore, marked with a signpost depicting an Egyptian bird, smells of incense and old books. Prominent displays of tarot cards sit out along with crystals and other fortune telling accessories. Unfortunately, the clerk has never heard of Montgomery Donovan or anything called Nectar and none of the books seem as interesting as they might have now that Amadeus has had a real taste of the forbidden texts that are out there.
Freddy lowers his voice a bit to try to seem sneaky. "Look, I'm just looking for some harmless info on this Donovan fellow. Nothing that would cause any waves. Maybe I could make it worth your while?"
Freddy lowers his voice a bit to try to seem sneaky. "Look, I'm just looking for some harmless info on this Donovan fellow. Nothing that would cause any waves. Maybe I could make it worth your while?"
He lowers his voice, not looking Freddy in the eye while he fills out some information in a log book.
"I'm gonna tell you something, and it's not what you're here to find out. But it might keep you out of trouble, okay- there are some people that can pay very well for their privacy. And unless you got the kind of money to, say, have a hospital wing named after you, you can't match that kind of pull. So you gotta be careful who you ask questions about, my friend. Sometimes someone ends up learning about you instead, you get me?"
"Hardly a debaucherous affair," Evelyn remarks, looking over the photograph before filing it away in her handbag. "I doubt that it is directly tied to the cult, but the opera house might be worth a stop."
Freddy gives a short nod to the officer. "Understood."
When Joseph makes his offer, money in hand: "We may need to change tack here."
Evelyn, Ralph and Anatoly catch a cab down to the Royal Opera House, situated toward the center of Valletta on Strada Reale. It's an incredible classical building, with a great many pillars and a terrace, built to accommodate the sloping streets.
During the day, the building is relatively quiet while rehearsals go on within but a ticket vendor waits behind a desk within.
Amadeus abandons the faux occultist shop and heads back to the hotel, disgruntled and a bit dismayed that the delight he would have found in the shop have been lessened by his brush with actual evil from beyond.
I follow along quietly to the hotel but stand in the back. I'm not really a "people person"
Anatoly walks up with Evelyn to the guard. In his most fluent Italian he speaks to the man. "Pardon me good sir, but there was a fund raiser hear a few months back, and unfortunately I was unable to attend due to a last minute case of food poisoning". He then directs Evelyn to bring forth the photo. "Can you think of anyone who might be able to give us information about this man? I have a donation that I was preparing to give that evening, and would like to contact him to arrange the gift"?
Anatoly walks up with Evelyn to the guard. In his most fluent Italian he speaks to the man. "Pardon me good sir, but there was a fund raiser hear a few months back, and unfortunately I was unable to attend due to a last minute case of food poisoning". He then directs Evelyn to bring forth the photo. "Can you think of anyone who might be able to give us information about this man? I have a donation that I was preparing to give that evening, and would like to contact him to arrange the gift"?
The ticket vendor gives you a good natured laugh.
"I'd say you're a bit late, that event was almost a year ago! We take donations any time, though- the gentleman in the photo doesn't work here. I can offer you membership benefits such as...", he says, beginning to rattle off the benefits for various thresholds of patronage.
Anatoly flatters the man, talking up the beautiful building and what a wonderful cultural institution the opera house is until he can turn the subject to Donovan.
"Oh, yes, Mr. Donovan gave us a generous donation about a year ago, before the poor man was widowed. I'm not sure what happened, but he has a donor plaque outside in her memory."
Evelyn thanks the man, assuring him that they would be back to discuss the particulars of the donation they would never make. She makes sure to take a look at the donor plaque outside, to see whether there is anything of interest about it, before suggesting to Anatoly that they should return to the hotel to see how the others are doing.
You find the plaque just where the clerk said; it simply reads In loving memory of Portia Donovan.
Freddy nods quickly, happy to hear a different suggestion. "Good. Sticking around here is only going to be trouble. At least we have a better idea of what sort of connections this guys has now. Let's head to the office now."
Freddy and Joseph depart the police station, talking a short walk to the records office. You sign in (using fake names) and start rifling through paperwork.
Montgomery Donovan has filed lots of paperwork for three properties: a harbor-view townhouse in western Valletta near the Great Siege Road, a yacht registered in Donovan's name and a warehouse owned by him in the western end of the southern harbor. There aren't records of a business, exactly, so nothing is incriminating. The records alone suggest a very wealthy man with almost no legal footprint. But you write down the addresses for the townhouse and the warehouse and make a note of what kind of yacht to look for in the harbor.
On your way out, you bump into Evelyn, Freddie and Anatoly on their way in- since they had the same idea after hitting the library. With most of the day spent, you all adjourn to the restaurant next to your hotel for dinner after finding Amadeus returned to the hotel earlier.
"Well last time we staked out a house we ended up blowing up a basement, stealing a car, and killing a couple of guys... so that was a good plan. Shall we do the same?
"Why change what works?" Amadeus dead pans.
"With the address, I can case his house. See if I notice anything strange." With a shrug, Freddy adds; "Not a bad idea Joseph. Even if you don't get invited back to his place, you may be able to get an idea of he's about."
"Well I'm probably not the "Yacht" type unless it's working on one or loading one, so perhaps I can check out the Warehouse. Maybe ask around to see if anybody working close by has seen what's going in and out... and if necessary scout out a place and watch it for a while myself".