While you look at the desk you note that the Butler starts muttering to himself and suddenly wanders off out of the room his eyes and mouth slack.
Marcel frowns as he watches the butler begin to wander off and he stands to follow him and tries to listen to his muttering.
"He seems broken. You didn't break the guy did you, he is just doing his job." Ben chimes in as he followed, having been mostly quiet and interested in random bits of the houses decor.
The man mutters to himself about by being involved in business that He shouldn't be and sits down in the lobby chair placing the shotgun beside him and sliding the stake into an interior pocket and stares at the front door as if you are not there.
Marcel follows him and frowns at him as he considers what this means and how he should proceed.
As the Tremere stays in library doing who knows what the two of you flow the Butler and realize that he is under some sort of domination which is not a usual power associated with Kindred except for a line which is from Scotland...
"Someone broke his mind." Ben commented and shrugged. He felt bad for the butler.
Craig follows the man, studying him.
Marcel nods and says, "Yes, but was the one who did this the one who killed the Primogen or just someone using him to spy on his master. And for that matter, was it just one kindred or was this poor man working for several kindred at once." Marcel purses his lips as he considers it and then says, "Ah well, shall we continue our search?"
"More than broke it, remolded it... someone is a master of dominate. That makes it more likely his.. master is of a certain clan." He sighs, "Mine among the suspects. Dandy. Yes, Marcel, let's search further."
"It seems odd to kill the Brujah in charge when you had so strongly infiltrated his organization. But it is still the easiest answer for whoever removed him." Marcel returns to the desk and says, "But do we assume whoever he called was the Brujah or his real master? And do we risk the Brujah being angry by our continued search. I am new in town, how powerful are the Brujah here?"
You recall earlier that you met William Mcgillivray who is one of the three Dukes beneath the Prince and who rules Duluth. He is a Brujah and from all accounts one of the most powerful kindred in the area.
Marcel frowns as he considers the fact that the Brujah are powerful in the city, and whoever did this to the ghoul was strong in their disciplines. It seemed likely the man called the person who was his true boss, but the possibility existed that he called the Brujah and they were not being helpful for some reason.
With a nod, Marcel turned and returned to the office. He begins by pulling open the next drawer to see what they can find while keeping a careful eye where everything is so as to try and make sure nothing is out of place when they leave.
You find a legal notebook for cases in mental health court and you find a another books with legislative numbers for senators and such and you find a picture in the wall showing Richard Mattox as a former senator in Minnesota and Lawyer who works on retainer for mental health court now that he is retired. The pictures show him as an old man.
"Should we put him out of his misery if he isn't him no more"
Craig shares his knowledge, then looks over the picture "talk about in the limelight."
"No, whoever did this is powerful and possibly more connected. We need to keep him alive at least as long as we are here as evidence. Unless there is a connection that crosses space, the Kindred who did this does not know he is broken. That gives some time for others to see what we have discovered. That and the Princess did not seem to want us to damage the Brujah property if possible." Marcel leaves all of the information and then moves onto the next drawer. If he has ran out of drawers he looks around for any safes in the room behind pictures or other things that might hide it.
The next drawer down has assorted files for past clients which would take some time to read and is the bottom larger drawer. You looked in the middle and on the right is another drawer. When you open this you find it empty but it once held files like the other side.
"This drawer is for more files, and they are gone. But were they removed before or after the Primogen disappeared." Marcel muses.
You start shifting pictures and paintings looking for a hidden safe.
Ben moves one random bit just to help keep things tidy.
Marcel looks around until he finds something of interest.
Ben scuffs on the floor and a heavy carpet makes a metallic sound beneath it
"Well done Ben." Marcel says as he moves to flip over the rug and see if they can get into whatever is below.
"It looked funny with the weird dot on it." He beamed a toothy grin.
You do indeed find a safe that is closed and locked mounted into the floor with support made of metal around it and under it to hold it in place.
"Anyone trained at these things? I could give it a try but I'm hardly a burglar"
Marcel looks around to see if there is any security cameras in the room.
"I have no training at all. If you know anything of locks then feel free to try. I will go and check his bedroom while you open this up since our time is passing quickly." Marcel backs off to let Craig deal with the lock and will go to find the bedroom.
You find what are obviously the kitchen which is stocked for the ghouls and you find a kitchen staff working away as well as a wing for servants quarters. There you find the butler's room due to the pictures which is plain and a maid who is very fetching and also appears to be another ghoul by the fact she is lifting a bed to dust.
You find a master bedroom suite but it looks off as if never used and very well dusted.
Marcel continues looking through rooms to try and find where the Primogen spent his days.
"Sure got a lot of things, Here I thought my rucksack was a bit much, but I guess I'm good."
After searching the penthouse you find nothing to suggest that Richard Mattox stayed here at all. You fail to find his resting place. The time alotted is now running low as well.
Marcel returns to the room and watches Craig work on the safe.
"Let m try that safe." He does, using superior hearing to get clicks and whirs.
As Craig works the safe he hears the clicks and whirls of the numbers and hears the tumblers slowly fall into place until with a click the safe opens.
Inside you find some stock portfolios that are very old and well tended in a small glass slide case. You find another section of the safe with gold bars and some cash stocked as well, but most interesting at all, you see a small switch on the side of the safe.
"Excellent job. Hit the switch and let's see if it opens up his actual living space." Marcel says as he waits to see what Craig has discovered.
"Let's hope the switch isn't an alarm" and he flips it.
From the hallway you hear a click and you hear some mechanism moved by weight behind the wall working a pulley and a portion of the wall in the hallway slides open and you see a stairwell descending in the space between the walls in some most clever architecture.
"Well well... you were right" he says to Marcel
Marcel smiles thinly at the other two and says, "We should move quickly. If the ghoul did call the Brujah, then they will want us out soon." Marcel then turns and moves to head down the stairwell.