Morris tries the knob of the northeast door, surprised to find that the knob turns freely in his hand, the unsecured door opening slightly.

"'Come into my parlor,' said the spider to the fly," Jake whispers in a fake ghoulish tone. He swings the door open and peers inside.

He also cocks his head to one side to listen for any noises within, and, remembering the smell from the tunnel in the crypt, he sniffs the air as well.

The professor didn't know what he was doing there that night with these other men, breaking into crypts and going into mortuaries, but he felt himself guided as if by an unseen hand down a path that he couldn't help but follow. He was silent as he did so, following along with the others.

Sully enters the building and wishes again that he had thought to bring a flashlight. He peers around the darkened space.

As soon as he swings the door open, Jake is met with the strong scent of fresh sawdust. Peering into the room, the detective quickly discerns that it is a carpentry shop.

Several caskets, in various stages of completion, rest on sawhorses in the center of the room, taking up most of the floor space. Three completed caskets have been placed against the western wall, beneath the only window.

Following Jake inside, Sully finds his attention drawn to the eastern wall. There, neatly arranged on shelves and racks, the reporter finds the kind of tools one would expect in a shop of this kind: saws, a drill press, a planer, clamps, and a lathe. On one of the shelves, Sully spies an oil burning lantern, a can of kerosene beside it.

Aside from the door the investigators entered through, there are two exits from the quiet shop: a door in the southern wall and another in the room’s northeastern corner, leading east.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:13, Fri 25 Mar 2022.

"Well, finallly some light." Sully crosses to the lantern. He sloshes it to estimate how much kerosene it contains.

Are these coffins or caskets? A casket is what we bury people in nowadays with a hinged lid and usually some sort of lining made of silk or another quality cloth. A coffin is more of a box with a separate cover that gets nailed in place. In any case, are the ones against the wall open or closed?

OOC: They’re caskets. I edited my last post to eliminate the confusion I caused. The completed caskets against the western wall are all closed.

As best Sully can tell, the lantern is full.

Arthur posts up momentarily at the southern door, peering out to check whether there was anyone outside who might catch them in the act. He would let the others check the Northeastern exit of the room.

Sully picks up the lantern and, on a whim, carries it over to look inside the various closed caskets in the room.
This message was lightly edited by the player at 15:42, Tue 29 Mar 2022.

Cracking the southern door and peering out, Arthur observes that it opens onto a covered walkway. To the south, the photographer can see that the walk leads to several entrances into the larger mortuary building on the left and right, coming to a halt at a large, polished oak door.

Immediately to the right of the door Arthur opened is a closed and locked iron gate. Beyond the gate he can see a small, concrete walled building with a chimney. To the left he notices an open area that appears to be used for loading and unloading vehicles. No automobiles are currently parked in the space.

Opening each of the caskets in turn, Sully finds that each has been lined with satin, one in dark blue, the other two in a rich wine colored fabric. Although the reporter is no expert, the caskets appear to the product of good workmanship.

Jake will listen at the door to the north east and if he does not hear anything try to open it quietly. The lantern is a blessing and a curse. It allows them to make out details, but will announce their presence far beyond their vision, even under the cracks of closed doors.

Jake hears only silence behind the northeastern door. Trying the knob, the detective finds that the door is locked.

Shutting the door, Arthur lets his fellow comrades know what lay on the other side of it. He waits to see where the others might prefer to go, once they are done here.

Leaving the lantern to aid Jake's efforts, Sully steps through the door onto the walkway and peers through the locked gate.

"I bet that's the crematorium," he says to his companions.

Jake tries his lock picking skills on the door.

The tumblers feel like they should give way . . .

12:57, Today: Jake Morris rolled 21 using 1d100.  Pick lock in woodworking room. Skill = 51%

With careful manipulation, Jake turns the lock. The door opens with a soft, metallic click.

The detective is greeted with the faint scents of wax and oil. The large room beyond the door is a garage, with two cars parked inside. Jake recognizes the first as a newer model Rolls Royce Silver Ghost with a white exterior. Beside it, in stark contrast, is a black Deusenberg hearse. Even at a glance, it is clear that both vehicles are immaculately maintained. No dirt is visible on either automobile.

The twin garage doors are each secured with a lock.

A number of tools are neatly arranged on a rack on the western wall. Below the rack sits a workbench. Cans of several different sizes occupy the bench’s right side. On the left, seemingly out of place, rests a large, cloth bound book.

Jake gives a low whistle at the classic lines of the Doozie and then moves to examine the large book. He sets the lantern down and turns the pages carefully.

Even at a glance, Jake can tell that the book has been frequently perused, but well cared for. Opening it, the detective sees that it a carefully maintained album.

The album contains newspaper articles, each one neatly clipped and pasted onto one of the book’s blank pages. Although he is only able to skim the book’s contents briefly, Jake sees that each article is concerned with the disappearance or murder of an individual in New York City, the majority specifically involving persons in the city’s Lower East Side.

Approximately four fifths of the album’s pages contain the clipped stories, the oldest of them dating from the late 1850’s. The most recent stories are from the Tribune and Pillar-Riposte and concern the grisly killings that the investigators are familiar with, the last articles discussing the untimely death of Jennifer Hargrave.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:42, Thu 31 Mar 2022.

Having stepped into the room after Jake, Arthur looks on as Jake flips through, shocked.

"I...can't even understand what this could possibly mean. What's this all about? Every thing we find, I'm less sure about what I think might be going on here."

Jake is careful to not tear any of the pages or leave any indications that he has looked through the book as he lets Arthur see what is in it.

"Could just be a morbid interest," he shrugs. "But I think our friend, Mr. Bishop has just become our prime suspect. Though I doubt he's been doing this for seventy-odd years. Maybe it's a family thing? Father and son killers?"

He beckons the others to see what he has found.

"Do we keep this as evidence? Or leave it here?" he asks.

No matter what they decide, their investigation of the cemetery has just turned from an odd hunch into a solid lead in the case.

Sully peers at the book, looking over the shoulders of the other men.

"Just to take up a different slant, it could be that the Bishop interest in these disappearances are in a vein of scholarly study of some sort. Still, I feel we need to talk to Mr. Bishop soon and at some length."

"I have a feeling he wouldn't take kindly to such a conversation. There isn't an easy way to explain that we found this collection of clippings here."

He took furious notes on his notepad, trusting that he'd be able to read it better in light making notes of the most recent killings.

"If we take it, we tip him off and he goes quiet for a bit. Maybe we could offer some anonymous tips to the police? We'd also want to ensure that he doesn't do this again."

"I could take some photographs of some of the pages, here?" Arthur gestured to his camera. "The quality would not be on the level of a full reproduction, but it's better evidence than nothing, don't you all think?"

Jake closes the book and picks it up.

"Let's just keep it," he says. "It's weird that anyone could get those old newspaper clippings if the book was assembled recently -- they look pretty ancient some of them. And I'd like to read through them in detail. Bishop don't know we're here -- not yet anyway. And if he suspects that the men who came to look at a crypt are involved with taking it, so what?

"It's the closest thing to actual evidence we've seen so far, and I don't want to risk it getting destroyed or hidden somewhere else.

"As for now, I think we should take a quick look at the rest of the joint and then skedaddle as quickly as we can."

He tucks the book under his arm and lifts the lantern high, giving the garage a brief examination, including shining the light into the vehicle windows to see what is inside each of them.

Unsurprisingly, the interior of both automobiles appear to be as meticulously maintained as their exteriors. Jake sees nothing within either vehicle that draws his attention.

Outside, the walkway leading to other portions of the mortuary, as well as the larger cemetery, remains quiet, with only the occasional gust of wind interrupting the silence.