Morris perks up and beams at the dollar amount mentioned. He's already cataloging who he can reach out to on the police force to get access to their side of this story.

"Sorry fer yer loss," he repeats, "but I think we can find out a deal more than you know already."

He wrings his hands, but he has to ask the next questions.

"Can you tell us why your daughter was in that part of town last week? Is it somewhere she went on a regular basis or was there something in particular that took her there? The Lower East Side is not noted for its restaurants or posh boutiques. It's kind of a . . . sleazy part of town." He searches for a delicate word.

"Did she go missing during the day, or was it at night? Did she live with you and your husband, here, in this house, or did she have her own place?

"When you last saw her, did she seem worried about anything? Did she have a boyfriend? Or anyone else in particular who might know her a bit better than her Mom?"

The questions are tumbling out now that his old hunting instincts are waking up, and forces himself to wait for some answers.

”Mr. Quinn, one reason that my husband and I elected to reach out to you was because your reputation as an ethical reporter. And your dedication to uncovering the truth,” Hargrave answers, ”I am quite certain that Jonas would have no objection to sitting down for an interview with you at the close of your inquiries.”

She nods in thanks to the Professor.

Sighing heavily, she says, ”I assure you, Mr. Morris, you needn’t be sensitive regarding my feelings. I appreciate straightforwardness.”

“I am well aware of the Lower East Side’s reputation. Although I cannot account for why Jennifer was there, I am certain it was for no good purpose. Jennifer was a free spirited, adventuresome girl and I fear that her father and I made the mistake of allowing her too much freedom, beginning at an early age.”

“She resided here with us. Although Jennifer did not disclose her true destination to us or any of our staff, she had left the house in the early evening, reportedly to meet with friends for dinner. So I am certain that it was after dark when she went to the Lower East Side.”

“Jennifer had begun taking courses at City College, something her father and I both supported. She was very intelligent and…opinionated. She did not have a suitor. The last young man she went out with had aspirations of making her his trophy wife, a role Jennifer was decidedly unsuited for. She had friends. Three young women that she grew up with and some additional acquaintances she had made at school. Her best friend is named Charlotte Fisker. I can provide you with her address and phone number if you like. If Jennifer was keeping any secrets, Charlotte would likely know them.”

Mrs. Hargrave shakes her head. “I have thought often of the last conversation that I had with Jennifer, Mr. Morris. I spoke to her in the early afternoon on the day she disappeared. She seemed perfectly normal. In high spirits, enthused about her studies, talking about George Gershwin and some of her other favorite music of the moment. I didn’t sense any worry or upset on her part at all.”

"You are too kind," Sully responds, "Thank you."

He listens to the rest of the woman's information, noting down a couple of points.

"Would it be possible for us to see Jennifer's room? To look through her possessions? Did she have her own bank account and funds?"

Flatt found himself dumbstruck. After all, he wasn't some investigator, and it seemed like his photography was the only skill he had to offer.

He thought of a few questions, but they all seemed very dumb to him as soon as they came into his head, so for a while he stayed silent and passed the very flimsy newspaper article over to Sully.

Now, Quinn was someone he could imagine joining in. A journo was just a few steps away from a private eye, after all.

But the fee was undeniable. Arthur was not a rich fellow, he was well-regarded by his colleagues, but not respected widely in his field (at least, he knew many photographers with greater success or capability than himself, and felt unaccomplished in comparison). He wondered if this might actually be work referred to him by someone at his agency. (He couldn't figure who it could be, at any rate.)

Without even thinking, he had brought out a cigarette and lit it. He did, finally, think of one question which didn't seem inane to him. "If we might look at her possessions, can you say if anyone's touched or disturbed any of her things since she went missing?"

A second one followed it. "Did you know these friends she was supposed to be meeting?"

“You may certainly visit Jennifer’s room upstairs,” Mrs. Hargrave replies, ”The only person that has entered that room since her death was Cameron MacBrady, a detective with the Police Department. He did take a few items. He provided Jonas and I with a list of the things he removed, which I can show you.”

“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. Neither Jonas nor I have spoken with Miss Pratt, but I know that Detective MacBrady has. Although he has not shared a great deal of information with us, he did not suggest that Miss Pratt was a person of suspicion.”
This message was last edited by the player at 22:21, Sat 04 Sept 2021.

"Thank you, Mrs. Hargrave. I don't think I have any more questions just now," he says, standing, "I'm ready to have a look at Jennifer's room, if it's convenient." He looks to the others.

"Yes, I think since we're here, that an understanding of her room and its contents, along with the list of items taken by the detective seems prudent. Even if we cannot see them, knowing what they are might direct us as to what the police believe to be important. I'm certain that should help provide us some guidance."

He felt a little bit out of his depth, but it seemed a rational suggestion.

"Yeah," growled Morris, " I know MacBradey. He'll play ball with us if we need to see what he took." And five dollars changed hands, he didn't add.

"You say this Molly Pratt was a college friend, Mrs. Hargrave. Do you know her very well? What kind of girl she is? Do you have an address or a phone number? And the same for Charlotte Fisker, if you please. Friends often know more about you than parents do."

He will follow upstairs, looking around the house as they move from room to room for signs of the daughter's presence, photos, clothes that likely belonged to her, and so on. Not really searching for clues but trying to create a picture of the young woman in this house - if she had been at ease here, welcome, a regular presence. If he sees a good picture, such as a portrait, likely to be her, he will ask if they may take it. If he does not, he will ask for one before they leave.

“I have met Miss Pratt on a few occasions. Her father is a professor at City College. He lectures on chemistry,” Mrs. Hargrave answers, “In my interactions with her, she seemed an intelligent, well spoken young woman. Her hairstyle and clothes were in keeping with the current fashion that girls of her age seem to favor.”

“However, I do not doubt that she was on her best behavior when around Jonas and myself. So, I would not be surprised if showed an entirely different side around Jennifer. As I said, my daughter was adventurous by nature.”

“I will make certain that Parsons provides you with addresses and phone numbers for both Miss Pratt and Miss Fisker before you depart.”

The butler, Parsons, escorts the group upstairs to Jennifer Hargrave’s bedroom.

A canopy bed occupies one side of the room, a matching wardrobe arranged in an adjacent corner. A vanity with an oval mirror faces the foot of the bed, a dresser just to the left of it. The wall opposite the door features two tall windows that provide a view of the avenue below. A writing desk is situated between the windows.

The surface of the vanity is taken up with bottles of perfume and various cosmetics. One side of the dresser holds several pieces of iridescent carnival glass; cups, vases, and plates. The other side is occupied by a Victrola phonograph and a neat stack of records.

The desk holds a pair of books; a text on English composition and a copy of Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway. A trio of framed photographs sit in one corner. One of the pictures is of Jennifer Hargrave, a pretty young woman with dark hair and piercing eyes, standing between her parents. Another features her with a group of four other women of the same age in what appears to be Central Park. The last is of Jennifer alone, standing in view of the Eiffel Tower, smiling.

Sully follows the butler into the room. Although the room is good-sized (as befits a princess, he thinks), with the servant and four men wandering around it still seems crowded. Between the police and Mr. Morris, he's certain nothing relevant will be missed.

He glances at the titles on a couple of the phonograoh records and checks a couple of pieces of the brightly colored glassware for any identifying marks. Drifting close to the photographer, Flatt, he murmurs, "Can you take pictures of the photographs?"

He asks Parsons to step into the corridor (to clear the way for Flatt) and asks him some inconsequential questions about how long he's been with the Hargrave family, how long he's been in service, where he's from, and the names of the rest of the staff, noting all the information down carefully.

Morris glances around, hoping to get a sense of the girl who lived here. She seems to be just an ordinary pretty college girl. Unfortunately, just the type that the creeps and lechers like to get their hands on. Probably just a case of her being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Nevertheless, he knows what he's doing in an investigation like this.

He heads to the writing desk and examines it closely. He will open drawers, pull them all the way out and look underneath them, measure them with his fingers for hidden places, and so on. If there is a writing pad on the desk he will hold it up at an angle to the light from the window to see if there are shadows of impressions on the sheet from any writing on the sheets that were above it.

He will look under the pillows and under the mattress on the bed for anything that might be hidden away from casual sight -- such as from her mother.

Wells takes interest in things that likely seem peculiar to others. He ponders the volume of Mrs. Dalloway for a moment, looks at the labels on the bottles of the perfumes, and studies the collection of records that are present in the room. He also takes some interest in the various photographs, particularly noting Jennifer's wardrobe choices. There were certainly more salient clues present that he figured the journalist and the detective would be able to parse far better than he would, but anthropology was the study of people. In the field, these were the very sorts of things that he would use to construct a composite profile of individuals and civilizations long since gone. The best he could do as he studied this matter would be to try to understand this young woman.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:23, Fri 10 Sept 2021.

Quinn notes that three of the pieces of carnival glass bear marks which indicate that they came from Steeplechase Park.

Frederick Parsons, the butler, informs Quinn that he has been employed by the Hargrave family for eighteen years. He explains that he was born and raised in Rochester, then came to the city after serving in the Army prior to the turn of the century. Mrs. O’Malley, the head housekeeper, has been with the family almost as long as he. Besides her, there are two other maids, Miss Royce and Mrs. Thurber. Both came with impeccable references. The family’s driver, James Lloyd, has been employed for five years, replacing the former chauffeur, who retired.

Wells comes to the conclusion that Jennifer Hargrave was a very modern, forward thinking young woman, blessed with considerable intellect and curiosity. Her taste in music focused primarily on recent jazz recordings and while some of her clothing is suited to the sort of societal events she might have attended with her family, most of her garments reflect more recent fashion trends, some that those in more conservative circles have condemned. Her reading choices confirm the anthropologist’s suspicions. Aside from Virginia Woolf, inside the writing desk he discovers copies of Hermann Hesse’s Steppenwolf, Frank Kafka’s Amerika, and Understanding Human Nature by Alfred Adler.

Morris carefully combs the bedroom for clues. The dresser, vanity, and desk yield nothing to the detective, save for the usual garments and sundries that he would expect to find among a young woman’s belongings. The individual drawers are free of hidden compartments and false bottoms. However, as Morris searches beneath the mattress, he 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.

Morris will show the vial to the others, and where he found it. He will carefully unstopper it and use his hand to waft any trace of scent so he can smell it. (He's not going to sniff it directly!)

OOC: Does it look like a drug container -- opium, laudanum, etc? (He would know, I think) Or perfume?

Out in the corridor, Sully thanks the butler for the information and clears his throat raspily.

"Sorry. My throat is dry as dust. Do you think you could bring me a glass of water?"

That should buy his fellow investigators a few more minutes uninterrupted and unobserved.

The books studied, after the manservant returned with water, Wells had a question for him.

"Do you know the names of the other young women photographed here?"

While the servant was out of the room, Arthur Flatt took it under his own authority to examine each of the photographs as closely as he could. He checked to see if he could dismantle the frames easily, to examine the rear sides of the photographs.

He would take it on himself to ask for Morris to hold the vial quite gently in the air for a photograph of his own: "Pose, if you could, Morris, I need a look at that vial."

He was being paid for this, after all, he would document the existence of this vial.

OOC: I'll respond to Sully in this edit, and say that yes, Arthur takes a picture of the photographs.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:29, Thu 16 Sept 2021.

In reply to Arthur G. Flatt (msg # 38):
Did he photograph the photographs as Sully asked?

Morris holds the vial up, using the middle finger of his left hand and his thumb so he is flipping the bird to the camera.

Parsons dutifully departs to fetch Quinn a glass of water.

Although he cannot be certain that the container originated from a pharmacy, Morris strongly suspects that it once held a drug of some kind. Waving over the open vial to catch any scent that might be lingering within, the private detective catches a faint, but distinct, floral aroma with a chemical undertone.


Upon returning with the requested water, Parsons listens to Wells’ question respectfully, then studies the photograph in question.

”The fair haired young woman just to the right of Miss Hargrave is Charlotte Fisker, Miss Hargrave’s closest friend. The woman to the right of Miss Fisker is Katrine Halvorsen. She married about a year ago and now resides with her husband in Syracuse. They are expecting their first child.”

“The first young lady on Miss Hargrave’s left is Madison Selby. Miss Selby’s parents are considerably wealthy and she has spent the past year traveling in Europe. The last of the group is Elena Santoro. She still resides here in Manhattan. She and Miss Hargrave spoke regularly. Miss Santoro works in an attorney’s office downtown.”

With photographs freshly taken of both the pictures which were the subject of conversation, and the curious vial, Arthur stepped back and asked a question.

"So, I take it that Mrs. Halvorsen and Ms. Selby are not likely to know anything about what Ms. Hargrave is up to these days?"

He felt awkward, there with a camera in his hands, not sure what sort of a question he ought to be asking.

OOC: Sorry about the spotty posting for a bit, should be back to normal.

Sully winks at Flatt and leans in close to study the faces, noting down the names in his notebook.

"Hmmm. You wouldn't happen to have addresses for these young women, Parsons, would you? Or perhaps Mrs. Hargrave might?"

"Yes, any contact information that can be provided might be nice, especially for Miss Santoro. I think we'll have Miss Fisker's already from Mrs. Hargrave," he said. He thought that speaking to those who knew her best - her closest friends - would be rather likely to turn up some credible information that might better characterize her and lend support to their inquiries as to what she was up on the night in question or even generally.

The butler nods in agreement. ”I believe that Miss Hargrave carried on a correspondence with Katrine Halvorsen, but of course, she would only know what she had been told within Miss Hargrave’s letters. I feel quite certain that the communication between Miss Hargrave and Miss Selby was only one way, with Miss Hargrave receiving occasional accounts of Miss Selby’s most recent travels.”

”Yes, I can supply you with addresses for each of them,” Parsons replies to Quinn, ”In Miss Selby’s case, I can give you the address for her family here in New York.”