New York Police Department
January 16, 1925



This message was last edited by the GM at 14:00, Mon 11 Aug 2014.

On the way downtown, Bishop had explained that there might come a time when he and Poole would need to speak privately to gain the access to case files or some other confidential information. He asked Dr. Elias to be prepared to step away for a moment. Bishop kept to his habit of looking for tails, and cruised the street before pulling into a spot and approaching the precinct house.

Bishop flashed his Pinkerton badge "We are here to see Lueitenant Poole. We are expected."

At Bishop's lack of greeting and brusque manner, the officer on duty furrowed his brow a bit, looked down at the desk and flipped through a few pages in his appointment book before closing it. "You say you're expected, Mr. Bishop, but I don't any record of you're having an appointment with Lieutenant Poole."

---

OOC:
Make a Fast Talk or Persuade attempt - a roll with an accompanying post.

"Sergeant, I think if you speak with the lieutenant you will find I am expected." Bishop added. He also made a note of the man.

While in the car, Leo shook his head. "I don't need to see Poole, unless you think it would be useful. If we're going to offer our assistance and resources, my presence might useful, but if we're not going to join forces, as it were, then I don't think there's much I need to discuss with him."

Once they got to the station, Leo let Stanley take the lead on seeing Poole.

After taking both of their names, the officer asked them to wait, returning minutes later and asking them to follow him. An office lay just down the hall where they were greeted by Poole, who politely bade them sit down and had the Sergeant close the door behind them as they left.

"Mr. Bishop, Dr. Elias, I'm not surprised to see you here. I'm afraid it's been too soon to discover anything about the case, so I'm sorry to report that I have no information for you as of yet. Rest assured, as soon as we have made progress in our investigation into the matter that we're able to report, you'll know first."
This message was last edited by the player at 13:43, Thu 14 Aug 2014.

"Thank you for seeing us Lieutenant. If you remember, last night we spoke of meeting to get a list of the other victims you thought might be connected to Jack's death." Bishop said trying to be as considerate of Dr Elias as possible.

"We were going to have the others go over the list to see if they recognized the names as people known to Jack."

Poole stood up and walked over to the door behind them and closed the blinds, shading them from view from the outside. He walked over to a file cabinet next to his desk and pulled out a folder.

"We've worked together on cases before, Bishop, and this isn't the first time we've shared information on things but...usually not active investigations. I trust in your discretion as to the things that we discuss today. I can't give you this folder, not that we have much anyway, but if you should happen to find some leads wherever you find them..."

He pulled out a typewritten sheet of paper from the folder and casually dropped it on the desk in front of Bishop.

"Nobody talks to the police anymore, especially not up in Harlem. And some folks around the department don't take all this cult business as seriously as I do, so there's some resistance to pursuing it in the first place at all. They pull men from my unit, and move money around for other things. Mostly bootlegging bullshit. I'm gonna crack this case if it's the last thing I do. If you can help me bring this thing down, I'll count it as a solid."

On the sheet of paper placed on the table was a list of names, some notes, and corresponding addresses.

• Walter Van Buskirk (Queens)
• Rev. Elijah A. Johnson (Harlem)
• Michael Conley (Queens)
• Richard “Ritchie C.” Cederecci (Brooklyn)
• Roberta Barlow (Harlem)
• Adolf Thurmond (Brooklyn)

---

OOC:

Assume that each of those area listings has an actual corresponding street address on the paper Poole gives them.

"This will all stay between us."

"Well .. unofficially if we  turn any thing worth pursing we will turn it over to you." Bishop said.

"Did anything come of the car seen fleeing the scene?"

"No, nothing on the car yet. We're still looking into that," he said.

"These people whose names you have now, I can tell you a little about them, but just that. Buskirk was a private investigator. Reverend Johnson was a minister - pretty active in preaching against immorality in Harlem. Conley was a longshoreman. Ritchie C. was a low-level goombah. He's been in and out, but mostly out now since he got in with the Frankie Yale and them Italians. Roberta Barlow was a seamstress up in Harlem. Adolf Thurmond lived in Brooklyn and owned several successful bookstores. Believe it or not, that's all we got. Not much of a pattern. White, black, Irish, Italian, rich, poor, law abiding citizens, criminals, you name it."

"An odd collection. I am guessing they are link by the savage way by which the victims were killed. If so there must be something that links them."

"Dr. Elias hoped we might be able to retrieve Jack's things from his room at the hotel." Bishop asked looking over to Leonardo.

"Perhaps we might find something that could help clear things up in his belongings."

Leo followed the back-and-forth between the men, generally content to stay in the background, though Poole seemed to have quite a few good leads. At Poole's request for assistance, Leo perked up a little. "I obviously have an interest in seeing you crack this case as well, Detective. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help."

At Stanley's prompting concerning items of Jackson, Leo nodded. "Yes, unfortunately I also come here as next-of-kin. Understanding that anything of importance to the case might need to remain in your possession."

He thought for a moment about possible connections between the other victims. "Is there any pattern to the location of the deaths of the other victims?"

Sympathy showed in Poole's face as he looked at the doctor. "Dr. Elias, I must seem cold to you, only considering the case at a time like this. You must forgive me - I've been wrapped up in this investigation for some time now and am quite driven to bring it to its resolution. I lost my son in the war, so I know what it's like for such a thing to happen. My thoughts and prayers are with you in this."

"You won't find his things in the hotel room, however. We have retrieved and cataloged all of his items and have them here at the station. I believe we can return them to you today. There was unfortunately little in the way of any information that might have been helpful to us in unraveling the investigation.

"There is one bit that does add support to your narrative of the events, Bishop, bolstering the case for self defense. We matched the prints on the Luger to one of the dead man's hands. The gun it turns out is registered to Jackson Elias, so he must have gotten it out of Jackson's luggage. It's a good thing you managed to get it out of his hands. We'll be returning that to you as well."

Leo shook his head and gave Poole a wan smile. "You don't seem cold, just professional. I'm glad that someone unattached to Jackson is trying to track down these leads."

Leo nodded at the mention of the return of Jackson's belongings. "Thank you for returning everything to me, Detective. I will let you know if anything within his belongings appears to be a clue concerning what transpired. Or perhaps more importantly, why it happened."

Leo then furrowed his brow. "Did you inspect the headpieces that the men who killed Jackson and assaulted us wore?"

OOC: I don't recall us indicating exactly what we were doing with the headpieces on the men. If we took them all, Leo wouldn't ask that question.

"Those things...they've been linked to some kinda African death cult, just like the markings that were...on his forehead, and all the foreheads of all the other vics. The negroes in Harlem won't talk to us about it. Not that they'll ever talk to us about anything," he said.

"As to your earlier question, there doesn't seem to be any pattern that we can discern, and let me tell you something - I've busted a couple of serial killers in my time and have studied this kinda thing. You'd probably know more about this than I do, doc, but most serial killers are maniacal...but there's a method to their madness. And when they mess up - they leave a web of clues behind. A good investigator with the right information might be able to connect the dots, with time. This damn cult though, they're organized and secretive and who knows what kinda nonsense superstitions they believe in. Good at covering up their tracks, too. But I'll get 'em eventually."

Bishop was glad that Leonardo had joined him. It gave him a chance to see that Poole was a dedicated cop. It also gave Poole a chance to become more committed to the case.

"I did find one thing. It was on the ground after the fight. It did not seem related until I noticed the back. Seems like an African name. Could be they had found what they were after." Bishop handed over the card from Emerson Imports.

"Emerson Imports...Silas En-Kwah-Nay...En-Kwayne??" he said, trying out a couple of different pronunciations of the surname. "Sounds African to me. Or at least some kinda foreign."

"Glad you remembered to bring this by, Bishop," he added dryly.

"Could be a connection. Maybe the first we've had in the way of a name. Just 'cause he's African don't mean he's the one, but it's a good lead to start with. Of course, those people never talk to us, so you know...not sure how far this'll lead me. But a good start."

"Well hopefully we can turn up some other leads. If we find anything useful we will contact you immediately."

"If your theory is correct these killers need to be stopped. Knowing Jack he was digging into their nefarious practices and had uncovered there secrets. It cost Jack his life. So we will be careful. I have no doubt they will target anyone who threatens there dark ways. That may even include you Martin." Bishop said.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:42, Thu 21 Aug 2014.