“Also, Parsons, did Jennifer, Miss Hargrove I mean, have her own maid?”

Parsons shakes his head. ”No, sir. Mrs. O’Malley, Mrs. Thurber, and Miss Royce share duties within the entire household. None of them worked exclusively for Miss Hargrave.”

Morris has slipped the tiny glass vial into his jacket pocket. He's still unsure if he should share what he knows about it with the others, but he's sure as shooting not going to blab it out in front of the hired help.

"Times a-wastin'," he declares. "I've got a detective to interview, and then some young ladies to call on. You guys want to do this all in a gaggle, or break it up and reconvene later in the day to share details?"

When they leave Jennifer's room, Sully asks Parsons if Mrs. Hargrave expects to see them before they leave.

To Jake, he suggests they go to a local eatery or speakeasy to discuss their ideas and plan for the investigation.

[What time is it?]

Jake gives him a manic grin. And then shakes his head violently.

"Trying to stay off the hard stuff, these days," he mumbles. "Coffee and Coke for me.

"Speaking of coke . . . "

He tells the others as soon as they are out of the house that the glass vial he found had at one point contained cocaine.

"Recognize that smell anywhere!" he declared rather vehemently. "Girl was using uppers, fer certain. Course, she's a pretty young thing, college co-ed, playing around, trying to impress her friends. Don't mean she's an addict. But could be the reason she went somewhere off the beaten track that night.

"We should ask her friends if they ever, you know, tooted a little snow with Jenny. And if they did, do they know where she scored."

”I don’t believe so, sir,” Parsons tells the reporter, “I think that the next time Mrs. Hargrave, she hopes to hear some new insights into her daughter’s case.”

Parsons dutifully leads the investigators back downstairs to the first floor. After ensuring that all have their hats, raincoats, and other possessions, he sees them to the front door, wishing each of them a pleasant afternoon.

As the group emerges from the mansion, it is just a few minutes past one o’clock.

---

The Corner Pantry is a small, well maintained diner located several blocks away from the Hargrave residence. Business seems steady, roughly half of the tables and booths occupied when the investigators arrive. The menu consists of sandwiches and a number of familiar home style dishes. The special of the day is meatloaf.

Leading the group to a booth near the back of the restaurant, a waitress takes orders for drinks, then departs, leaving the gathering to converse and contemplate the menu.

"I should like a hamburger sandwich with onions, fried potatoes, and coffee, cream and sugar. Thank you," Quinn tells the waitress, "And what pies do you have today?"

He fishes his notebook out of his pocket and sets it on the table, prepared for their discussion.

"So, Mr. Morris, you believe Jennifer was using cocaine. Any chance it was a prescribed medication, do you think?"

"Coffee, please. Blacker than midnight on a moonless night," he said.

"I hear from my students that cocaine has become quite popular among the younger people these days. One of my former students, a young Mr. James, would describe it as 'a helluva drug,'" he said.

"Yes, I'd like to know about your pies as well, and I'll have a coffee, with a cream and a sugar." Arthur put his camera away quite gently, and sat with his legs crossed.

"Well...if it was prescribed, would it have been hidden? Certainly a prescription is something you wouldn't hide from your family, yes?"

"I would think not. I'd imagine at least her father would be aware if there were such a prescription being dispensed to his daughter," he said.

"This ain't no drugstore vial," says Morris, placing the small glass bottle on the table between them. "And it ain't no twist of paper, neither. It's some drug dealer's fancy container for his uptown customers. Maybe the cops will know who uses bottles like this to sell their snow. I'll ask around."

He inspects the bottle carefully, looking for any clues to its origin or journey. Also racks his brain for any memory from his days on the force as to whether this is a signature container or a fairly standard delivery tool.

The waitress returns with the requested cups of coffee, assuring Quinn that his hamburger sandwich will be at the table shortly. She informs the group that the diner has apple, blueberry, and egg custard pies available today.

He turned to the waitress and said: "Oh, I would rather enjoy the egg custard pie."

After she left with any orders of pie, he turned back to the others. "Well, we should talk to some of her friends, I think. Someone in the group of them has to know where she was really going and what she was really doing. Maybe we could start with the friend she said she was going to meet?"

"Coffee: cream and sugar," Jake growls, not that he's being surly, growling is his natural conversational tone. And he can't afford pie or hamburgers.

"This could have come from any high-end dealer," he comments about the vial, tucking it back in his pocket as the waitress starts laying out cutlery and napkins.

"So, back to the question, do we divvy up the investigation or do we run around in a big group? I got cops I can speak to -- I know the investigating detective a bit -- but I don't think they're going to be talkative to a bunch of guys they don't know.

"But if we do split up, we need to get together fairly frequently and share what we find out. These things always have threads that link to other clues. You gotta have a crime board to lay it all out, see it all at once.

"Any of you guys got a place to set that up?"

He's thinking that his own flophouse would be more embarrassing than he's willing to share with these men he's just met.

OOC: Did we get paid? Not that he's being too mercenary, but he's pretty skint right now.

"I think at this stage, splitting up somewhat might allow us to make more effective uses of our time," he said. He had already pulled out a small notepad and started writing down some of the information they'd learned from the family before it left his mind.

"We know the area that this incident and others like it took place. We know at least friends of the departed who might shed light on her purpose or interests in that area - Miss Fisker and Miss Santoro being the local pair, it is perhaps best to focus on them. We know that she had access to illicit substances, which might help shed light on the matter, or point us to someone involved in these things. Mr. Morris has police contacts. Perhaps Mr. Quinn has contacts in the news business. I don't have any helpful connections myself, but I could return to the university library and conducts some research on the area and various other incidents that may have taken place to attempt to correlate similarities."

"If we need a place to meet periodically, I have an office space at Columbia where I have set up for research. It could serve the purpose."

"I doubt I  have any contacts among the police to equal those of Mr. Morris and his expertise in criminal investigation is undoubtedly superior to mine. I can utilize my connections not only at the Tribune where I am employed but among my colleagues at other newspapers, including Mondale Crief at the Pillar-Riposte whose article Mrs. Hargrave shared with us.

"I agree, Professor, that interviewing the three friends of Miss Hargrave--Miss Fiskar, Miss Pratt, and Miss Santoro--should be high among our piorities.

Ascertaining the exact locations where Miss Hargrave and the other unfortunate victims were discovered may help us begin to determine the killer's stalking ground. I myself have a suite at the Allen Hotel just off DeLancey. Its sitting room is small, but would suffice, I think as an alternative meeting place for us."

"Sounds like the professor's lab might be a good spot," Morris says. "We can probably come and go without disturbing anyone. Your place is fine, I'm sure," he nods at Quinn, "but it's your home and small. We'd be squeezing past you when you're on the john. The lab sounds better."

He moves on then to tick off the items they know about the case and suggests that while he goes to see the detective, the others interview the young women who were Jennifer's friends. They have phone numbers for them and can call and set a time and place.

"I'd start with Mollie Pratt -- she was going to be with Jennifer that day at the Sunset Coffee Shop in Manhatten."

OOC: Not going to format this as speech, but this is gleaned from our thread so far

Item 1: a newspaper clipping, a story from the New York Pillar-Riposte.

Fifth Slaying Baffles Police

(Special) The mutilated body of Miss Jennifer Hargrave, 23, was found by police shortly before dawn in an alley off Delancey street in the Lower East Side.

Investigating officers are withholding all details of this new outrage, and the area is completely cordoned off. The Commissioner announced that a statement would appear this afternoon. Such was the condition of the victim that police refused permission for the press to view the remains. A witness shakily told reporters that “blood ran across the sidewalk and down the gutter.”

Police believe that Miss Hargrave is the latest victim of a madman thought to have claimed four other lives in the past four weeks. At present, this paper has no information concerning the identity of this fiendish murderer, and advise readers to maintain constant vigilance.

Though they decline to state why they believe it, police have privately indicated that the Slasher, as the killer has come to be called, is a lunatic escaped from a hospital!

A check of institutions within fifty miles of New York City shows no escapes, and this newspaper’s search for answers has been widened to Upstate, New England, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Delaware, and Ohio.

Item 2: Mother says:
She left the house in the early evening, reportedly to meet with friends for dinner.

Jennifer did have her own bank account. Her father had access to her financial records, which he reviewed periodically. I know that she had some recent withdrawals that Jonas was curious about.

Jennifer had told me that she was meeting a friend from college, Mollie Pratt, at a coffee shop in Upper Manhattan. The Sunset.

Parsons provides you with addresses and phone numbers for both Miss Pratt and Miss Charlotte Fisker (best friend)

Also, speak to Elena Santoro, another friend in photo. She still resides here in Manhattan. She and Miss Hargrave spoke regularly. Miss Santoro works in an attorney’s office downtown.

Item 3: Jake knows the Police Detective in charge of the case who took items from the girl's room

Cameron MacBrady, a detective with the Police Department. He did take a few items. He provided Jonas and me with a list of the things he removed, which I can show you.

Morris knows MacBrady. Graded up to Detective after walking a beat in Hell’s Kitchen. He’s an intelligent man, reasonably thorough, and extremely cynical. Likely receiving kickbacks from from a handful of Irish gangsters to look the other way with regard to their speakeasies.

Item 4: Searching Room

Morris . . .  discovers a small object: a vial of amber colored glass with a screw top, no more than an inch in height. It appears to be empty. It smells of cocaine

"I am quite comfortable interviewing strangers in my line of work. I can work through my newspaper contacts today, Mr. Morris, while you consult with your former police associates. We can make appointments for tomorrow to interview these young women. If you take Miss Pratt, I'll talk to Charlotte Fisker. Perhaps Professor Wells and Mr. Flatt would each care to accompany one of us on those interviews. A second person may think of questions that a single interviewer might overlook.

"This evening, Mr. Flatt, if you will develop the photos you took of the pictures of Miss Hargrave and her friends. Is it possible to isolate an image of each person as well as to reproduce the group picture? If we each have copies it would be handy talking to possible witnesses. And Professor Wells, would you be so kind as to use your academic credentials to elicit information by telephone from the local psychiatric facilities about escapes over the past year of dangerous inmates?

"That would get us started, I think. We can then reconvene at the Columbia University tomorrow around five o'clock to exchange information on our progress and make plans for the coming days. What do you think?

"Here is a copy of my business card for each of you. A message will be taken at that telephone number any hour of the day or night. I also have noted my hotel number where the front desk clerk will take messages."

"Yes, I suppose I could accompany you on that particular interview, Mr. Quinn. We are in closely related fields, I suppose." Arthur finished eating his pie, and then carefully dabbed any food on his face away.

"I think developing those photos is a fine plan--I should be able to get prints made, so we would likely have copies. I think I should also like to see if I can capture a photograph of the location where the murder took place. It might help us to visualize the incident later on--would you all agree?" He asked this last question with a bit of uncertainty, as if the response might be a powerful and resounding "No." from each of his fellow freelancing investigators.

OOC: Arthur's place of business should be able to do accommodate him for one or several methods for printing photographs, whether photogravure or halftone. :)

"I'll see if I can get copies of the photos the cops would have taken at the actual scene," nods Morris and making a note in his notebook. "Though it sounds as if this was a nasty one and they may not want those getting out." He looks at Quinn.

"Which brings us to a sticky point, gents. We've been hired as Private Detectives," he stresses the word Private. "I'm thinking that none of what we uncover makes it into the newspapers unless Mrs. Hargrave agrees.

"Is that how you all see it?"
This message was last edited by the player at 17:04, Thu 30 Sept 2021.

Having finished his sandwich and potatoes, Sully attacks his pie.

"Certainly, Mr. Flatt, I should be glad of your company. Photos of all the known locations would prove most helpful, I think.

"As I explained to Mrs. Hargrave, it is my professional responsibility to make the facts known to the public, or at least, to my editor. However, I did undertake to her that I will not attribute anything to the Hargraves in anything I write for publication nor to connect my reporting to Jennifer's name."

Jake shifts uncomfortably in his chair.

"Here's the thing, Sully, if I manage to get copies of the crime scene photos, from what we've already heard they're going to be pretty nasty. And I don't want the Hargraves to see pictures of their daughter's dismembered and probably naked body splashed all over the Daily Yell.

"I need your word on this, or I won't ask for the pics. Plus the captain will be expecting me to keep it hush if he does let me see them. So I need to know we're good on not publishing any crime scene photos. Capiche?"

Arthur leaned back--he certainly had an opinion, but he didn't want to get into the middle of all of this just yet, certainly not to argue with one or the both of them.

After listening in for a bit, he said: "I can take photographs of the location on my own, and maybe we can return to all of this conversation in the future, after you either do or do not retrieve prints from the police. Once you do, we could discuss whether to examine them as a group. Is that an acceptable compromise to the two of you?" Arthur was clearly uncomfortable, but making an effort to navigate this to everyone's satisfaction.

Sully smiles at Flatt: "Oh, no compromise is needed in this case. I have no intention of taking any photos that Jake obtains. Of course, it may be that whoever is assigned to the story at the Trib is making arrangements to obtain such photos, not to mention all the other papers in town." He turns to Morris and continues.

"I do ask that you not give the pictures to any of the Tribune's competitors, Jake. At least not without giving us an opportunity to bid on them."

"Thanks, buddy," Jake grunts. "There ain't no way I want pictures like that published. I won't sell them."