Bob was quiet for a moment at Andrea's questions as he reflected on the brief conversation with Vicky. He couldn't have expected it to go any better than it did with Linda before she left or Vicky's mom when Jesse would have to appeal to her as to Bob. And then that was before the Chalk Brothers case when it all went to hell. Finally he snapped out of it,

"Completely improper. But then, I'm more concerned with keeping our circle small than propriety. If you opt for the hotel, which makes sense, we will widen who has access to you. Police protection will be inevitable because you will be assumed to be a high value target. You won't have freedom of movement. My apartment affords some anonymity for a short time. In reality, even that's just a quick fix when the press get involved. The ideal would be a safe house that doubles for operations headquarters, something appropriated from a previous case. We switch cars as needed. This is another reason we need your boss to intervene and make this our number one priority. Maintaining the case with resources and manpower is what killed us last time; namely, they didn't. It isn't just departmental lethargy.

Bob looked out the fire escape, checking up and down at the maintenance of it, whether the ladder had to be kicked loose or if it were a small staircase,"None of this is orthodox because I'm trying to be on your protection duty while keeping you involved. That makes me terrible at my job. After tonight, you shouldn't be enmeshed in this case. Either of you. But I can't keep you safe if I'm not with you. That's really my problem though. Andrea, you could easily maintain your job with an escort, go back to the hotel---wit sec would cover the tab. Vicky, you're probably not on the radar. Both of you should think on it, I guess, because it'll be hard to rationalize your continued presence. For my peace of mind, I'm willing to stretch credulity and keep you on."

Peace of mind...what mind. You're an idiot, Bob. Let em lead their lives. That wasn't it though. The case would spill over. He felt certain. Better to be used to it now, right? The endless querying of his own thoughts was making him weary. He gratefully took Andrea up on looking through the other rooms first.

Bob went through the room with a practiced hand and his eyes landed on an open jewelry box. He lifted up a single earring, "Cats-eye stone. You can tell cause of the striation in the middle, mimics the iris. Blame nights of misguided gifts and drinking for that tidbit. Real cute. He's really insistent on taking credit for both. Can you tell me if the earring has any more significance? Were they a gift? Who might have seen you with them? I'll go through the rest of the apartment. Your bathroom is clear. This room too."

He made his way to Kat's room and didn't have to search long. The intruder had left it right on the desk: a gift. There was a bag with a white powder in it and a scrawled note, ""Cats love their nip." It was neater than the writing at the crime scene.

"Vicky, your school is ostensibly kitted out with lab equipment. Can we analyze this on your campus? I want to get ahead of the curve. To the surprise of no-one, I don't think it's actually cat nip."
This message was last edited by the player at 22:47, Fri 15 Oct 2021.

When Detective Miller explained why he thought it was a good idea that they stay in the same location and not split up she had to admit to herself that it made a kind of sense.  She wanted to be a part of the investigation for her sister and whomever was behind all of this and Detective Miller, for whatever reason, was giving her that chance.  She knew that she should take it. But she was still hesitant about staying at the apartment of a man whom she knew as an acquaintance at the office.  She was sure that there was something to know about him and if she worked in the police station she would have picked up something, but basically she just knew what everyone knew and what she had picked up in their interactions.  He had a run of bad luck starting with the Yorkshire Murders and ending with the corruption investigation, he wasn't currently married (though she had an idea that he had been once), no kids and he liked his alcohol, though he could apparently hold it.  None of those things really effected how he might act toward her were she to stay with him and she wasn't sure if he would try to take advantage of that situation.  She certainly could see the benefit of a base in the same location.

Finally she nodded.  "If Vicky stays with you, I will too. It will make communication and coordination a lot easier.  I am not sure how much I want to go to work right now."  she looked down at the small watch on a dainty chain around her wrist.  "Considering...  I will probably take a personal day today."

She followed Miller into her bedroom and stood in the doorway while he looked around.  When he picked up her ear ring her face fell. She walked up to stand next to him in front of her dresser and looked at the lonely green stone in his fingers, the line bisecting it was perfectly straight and shone white against the green.  "Kat got them for me on a trip to Europe her Sophomore year- two years ago.  She said that they are supposed to bring you luck and ward off evil..."  She swallowed back a bitter remark. "They are real cats-eye, not the cheap stuff, tiger's eye.  I wear them all the time. So anyone could have seen me in them." She sighed.  "What else is this guy going to take from me?  I'd like it back when the evidence is released.  Does that make this a crime scene now? Should I be packing things or not?"

If given ok, Andrea went back to packing- taking enough that she wouldn't need to return to her apartment for a week or more.  She also cleaned out her fridge and pantry of the perishables. If she wouldn't be home she didn't want stuff going bad. And besides, if she was going to a bachelor pad she wanted access to more than rice, pickles, ketchup and beer.  At the last minute she threw Kat's half empty box of white wine into her cooler. At some point she would want to relax and she considered it better than taking a Xanax.  While they were still there, Andrea made herself an espresso in a single brew machine on the counter. She had a feeling sleep was not on the agenda and she wanted to remain sharp.  She offered some to Vicky and Miller as well.

Bob took out a thin blue glove from his coat pocket, snapped it on and brought the baggy into the kitchen, working through the agenda in quick order while gratefully accepting the espresso, You can pack. I'll attest to the condition in which we found that there was something taken from the apartment and CSU will do what they do. We'll put the evidence back as we found it with a little bit missing. Andrea and Vicky, if you wouldn't mind, I'd like Vicky to instruct you, Andrea, on how much to scoop of this powder into a bag for our own portion of it to examine. That way, Andrea, you'll have touched the spoon and bag and other surface---one less thing that Vicky and I touched. It won't matter in the long run since they'll need to eliminate our prints but better safe."

He'd appreciate if Vicky took up Andrea's suggestion not just to make her more comfortable. There would be time to talk and he could keep watch on her too. Somehow though, he didn't think Vicky would want to cross that divide. He couldn't blame her.

"I'm gonna call the sergeant now and let him know I did a preliminary search. Ask him if we can do elimination at the station later tomorrow. We should see if we can do that analysis at your school, Vicky. I know you must both be tired so if you want to crash at my place now, I can give you the address and key. For myself, I have to search Eileen Price's place now. If you both want to come, you can. I suspect though that it will not be pretty."

Vicky thought on it for a while, and then she responded to Bob. "Yeah, I'll stay im this. My friend might be in trouble, and I can't let that be. I need to look into this. So, yeah, I'm staying with you."

"I can get us in the lab at the uni. I know everyone in there, anyways, so I can even get people to overlook...whatever we end up doing."

She knew she would have to steel herself for it, but she decided to stay on even for Eileen Price's place. "I'll be able to handle it, I think. I'll come with you for that, too."

She turned to help Andrea with taking a sample.

OOC: Long day, busted computer. But, here's a phone post!

Bob did a quick mental calculus: college or Price. He gave into the part that said college. The hour wasn't ideal but getting a head start on figuring out what this powder is would be beneficial to keeping ahead of the main team. For as long as he could, he was keeping this unit together. And it gave him a good feeling hearing Vicky talk about her schooling, the social maneuvering or just being tied in. The side of him that wanted to catch this guy or "catch" him was more cynical---she can help to circumvent forensics and backlogs. There was a tug of war he wasn't ready for. Just keep focused. She is willing to go the distance.

"Just because we're going to your school now doesn't mean I don't want a tour and some cafeteria food in the future. Semi-joke aside, I think it'll be a better idea to go to your school first and avoid students going about. And hopefully we'll be out before the sun comes up barring processing doesn't take longer."

He shuffled his feet, not used to being on the in track anymore, "Thank you. Both of you. We should hit the road. Mind if we pile into your ride, Andrea? I feel like long rides in my car is a punishment you ladies shouldn't have to endure."

Andrea hesitated at taking a sample of the powder. She tried to recall from her law books if this type of thing would be considered tampering with evidence and how much terrible she could get into if it came out. She also wondered if it would cause any trouble for the DA's office during prosecution; if this ever made its way to prosecution. She decided not to ask Miller. Ignorance could be used as a defence in cases like this.

Andrea got a long handled spoon and took what Vicky directed, putting it into a zip lock. She avoided touching the bad that the power was left in and let the gloved detective handle it.

She washed the espresso cups and put them away before leading the others to her car. The sedan had a big enough trunk to hold her clothing, gun case and the food she had taken from her kitchen.

The interior of her car was grey leather and the back seat had fair leg room. The car was as neat as her apartment and the radio turned on to a news station.  Andrea turned it down when they got in.

"How did it go talking to your Sergeant, Detective?" she asked Miller.

She was glad she had had the espresso, it kept her awake for the drive to the university. Once there, no help in the lab, she sat in a chair and watched, fatigue pulling at her body as she waited.

"Let me know if there is anything I can do to help " she told her partners.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:43, Fri 22 Oct 2021.

Bob shook his head distractedly, "I'll let you know what Sarge thinks presently."

He radioed with his hand unit and waited for the fuzz to pass before his sergeant's voice came over the comm. Sergeant Bukowski. The man had chosen a different vice than drinking and that vice had turned Bukowski into something closer to unshaped clay than a sculpted person, fat cascading from beneath his chin and other places as if he were some sort of gelatin expanding. The man spoke labored and irritated, "I don't like surprises and I don't like being undermined. I'm going to do you the courtesy you didn't do me: I'm gonna let you run your rope. I'm not naive enough to think you haven't already squeezed your way through a corner. What do we have right now?"

Bob apprised him of taking Andrea back to her place as a potential crime scene and what they found there. He didn't mention the sample he took but he did say where they were going, "One of the cats belonged to my niece's roommate. I'm keeping eyes on her until the morning and then plan to go to the Price residence. After Price, I'll fall back in line. I have to see this through though."

Bukowski coughed a phlegmy breath into the radio, "I hate every word you said and the ones you didn't. Smart--keeping the DA's anointed next to you. I just hope she doesn't end up regretting it. When morning breaks, I don't want to hear anymore about civilians traipsing through crime scenes. You want company, you get a partner like everyone else. And don't make promises you can't keep. When have you stayed in line? For your sake, I hope you do color in the lines but I won't shed a tear if you flush your career for good. You want Price, fine. Bukowski out."

Bob wasn't sure whether the volume had projected and the ladies of the car heard him being chewed out but they certainly heard Bob equivocate and sidestep with his words. He offered a thumbs up to Andrea in the mirror, "I'm the sergeant's favorite blue son. Nothing to worry about."

No one seemed to be around when they went into the chem lab where Vicky seemed to light up being in familiar territory. Like Andrea, there wasn't much he could do with this aspect of the investigation. He decided to stand guard beside the door.

"You grew up in the country, right Andrea? What was that like?"

Andrea leaned forward on the empty lab table where she had taken up residence and put her chin in her hand.  She had changed into a pair of tailored jeans and a pretty green cardigan at home, something which was probably in her "casual" wardrobe, but was still very out of place at 3 AM on any college campus, excepting maybe an ivy league.

When Detective Miller asked about home she gave a small wistful smile.  "It was very different. It was lovely.  I mean, it wasn't all bucolic, but it was certainly less hectic, less dangerous and... happier... than the city. My family has over 1500 acres of farm, my dad and his two brothers.  They all work it together and split the cost and profits equally. I guess that's another thing that was different- it was all equitable growing up.  I've had this feeling that you know, you get rewarded equal to your effort, but you also help others to be able to put in the effort and you bring them up with you; help your neighbor and give to those less able. Unless they're just plain lazy, that kind of thing you don't tolerate." She chuckled to herself at that, perhaps at a particular memory she took a moment to consider.  "It was good.  But also not something that I wanted to keep doing."  She wrinkled her nose. "I don't love farm smell and farm schedule. Though I suppose I still get up with the sun.  It's not to feed cows.  And my mom kept putting these farm boys in front of me.  They weren't what I was looking for, so I had to widen my circle.  My sweet mother had the best of intentions.  I am sure they are still hoping I bring home a serious boyfriend for the holidays."  She yawned. "I am lucky to have the family I have.  They are all good people, no big mental or physical health issues. We are blessed.  We've not had any real tragedies..." She clamped her bottom lip between her teeth and closed her eyes momentarily, cutting her gaze off from the detective by the door. The words, unspoken, until now hung in the air between them.

After a moment she pulled in a shuddering breath and opened her eyes again.  Only a little moisture in them caused a bit of extra shine over her pupils.  "What about you Detective?"

Bob could almost smell the clean air and cow pies simultaneously, feel the callouses growing on his hands and he wasn't exactly a white collar smoothie. He knew what it was to work but not like farm life. Still, it sounded like the ideal way to grow up, boy or girl. Conversations are a game of tennis and she just served a big lob. What about you, Bob. He looked over at Vicky, who seemed absorbed in what she was working on but really who could say what she'll hear and what should he say.

He shrugged off his dingy brown overcoat and put it on a stool, rotating his arms to get more loose as if the mere act of talking personal details would be some kind of activity, "I did not grow up in the country. Born and bred with pavement under my feet. What's there to say about the city, right? Glass and steel sprouting like trees and the smell of gas and cigarettes. It has its own charms, I guess. The press of the people as you make your way down the street, we're like one big organism.

The Millers, despite our namesake, were not bread makers but we've always been true blue and before that wore tin stars and served our country. One could say we're a family that serves but the less charitable might say we're addicted to the blood. Either way, green, red and blue are the Miller colors I guess.

I grew up with one brother and one sister. If, um, if you're asking about tragedies, Jesse and I lost our sister Allison when I was fifteen and Jesse was five. She was eleven. She was a hemophiliac and an avid ice skater. Fell, cut herself on her skate. Help couldn't come in time. Dad took it hard and out on me. Mom coddled Jesse, understandably. I chased their approval, joined the academy right after the minimum in college. Became the youngest detective in my district. Eventually, I stopped chasing approval and forgiveness and just kept moving forward. Under the advisement of counsel, I have been instructed to invoke my 5th Amendment rights."

Bob watched Vicky move with precision and care in dispensing the powder into some solution. He then turned his attention levelly to Andrea, "You had more in mind though, didn't you. About Yorkshire... about the Chalk Brothers and the ensuing corruption scandal, didn't you."

Andrea listened intently. She had this way of listening to a person when they were talking, something that Bob had noticed before in their interactions, where it seems as though you are her only care in the world and the only thing that she is paying attention to.  "I'm so sorry." She told him in response to his tragic story and she looked sincere.  What else could you say to that anyway?

"I have a brother and and sister too.  Kat is 8 years younger than me, but my brother is only 11 months older than me.  It's called 'Irish twins.'  Of course, racial slur aside, I always liked the idea of being my brother's twin.  I think he tolerated me when we were younger." she smiled.  "He's ok with me now.  Might even like me."

Andrea rubbed her arms a bit over the sleeves of her sweater.  Science labs were known for being chilly; the better to preserve samples.  The lack of sleep and the fact that she hadn't eaten now for hours were getting to her though and her body was not doing an adequate job of keeping itself warm.

"I wasn't actually asking you to get into things that might be tough to talk about.  But I can understand why your attention might be on those incidents tonight and I am happy to listen if you want to talk.  In fact, hearing about it all from your perspective might help me understand better.  Not only what is happening here, but what happened to you.  And I would like to understand that better, truly." She leaned back a bit in the chair as though settling in to really take in what he was going to tell her and she watched him, meeting his eyes whenever he looked in her direction.

He wanted to offer her the overcoat but it was a microcosm of the city and its smells. Also, it was an act that presumed some intimacy he'd already leaned on quite a bit in the night. Vicky's brow was scrunched in concentration and he got the impression it was a sensitive moment in whatever was happening so he turned back to Andrea, steepling his fingers and leaning his chin on them as he thought about what there was to say. He didn't lack for subjects. The heterochromia served to knock him off balance and she had her way of drawing you in, both killer qualities for a lawyer to be.

"I have a hard time imagining your brother would need much persuasion to like you. You should know, assuming you intend to be a prosecutor, about the divide. We feed the membranous wall that keeps the people from seeing just how fragile our safety is. It lets them dwell in the world of life and only the occasional brush with the dead. We straddle the line. But Yorkshire--Yorkshire damn near tore the divide apart for me. It swallowed me whole. It's in my skin. Tonight is about holding up the wall. But if it falls, just---"

Close your eyes. That's the thought that ran through his head as he watched Andrea's intent stare, brown and blue, terra firma in one glance even as he was upended. Don't let them change or lose their shine. But he couldn't bring himself to mention the bodies, the odd ritualistic symbols and the dead eyed stare of Eileen Price, her vision diving into the void. He couldn't bring himself to think about what was coming next. But words came tumbling out.

"We're animals. That's the new message ostensibly. No speech or he refuses to hear. That's the violence with the tongues. We're all supposed to become Eileen Price. Shocked and awed, cowed into silence. If the incidents are connected. Andrea, tell me more about Kat. Is she brave, stubborn, shy, timid, strong, sensitive---is there more to her than meets the eye?"

Andrea appreciated Miller's use of the present tense with regard to her sister more than he knew.  She wasn't sure that she wanted to talk about Kat. He had piqued her interest in offering to talk about the cases that had ruined his career, but it would be incredibly rude to ask and she wasn't ready to step across a line and try to be a confidante or friend rather than a temporary partner.  So, she would tell him about Kat because he asked and perhaps, in a way, it would lend her strength and maybe Kat would know she was talking about her, working on finding her, coming to get her.

"She's vibrant." Andrea told him.  A smile, more in the eyes than her mouth, lit up her face as she looked into her memories of her little sister.  "I wouldn't describe her as brave so much as, hm, insouciant in the face of danger?  It's from my dad. He brought us up to feel like there's no need to be afraid of anything as long as you are capable.  And Kat is confident in her capabilities.  It's a good way of living really.  When you walk down a dark alley without a care in the world it's like the shadows don't fall over you, you know?" Andrea controlled her thoughts away from the darker possibilities of the present and what could have happened to make Kat disappear into the dark the night before. "And she's kind; she's helpful.  Kat is majoring in social work.  She wants to help people, lift them up when they have fallen, especially kids." she paused and then added. "And she's funny.  In a kind of intelligent sort of way. Like ironically and cracking witty jokes.  That's my little sister. I love to sit with her and just talk and then when we finally go to bed my stomach and my face hurt because we have been laughing so much.  She's a better person than me. She'll be a great mom. Do you have any kids?"

Andrea was self aware enough to know that Kat wanting to care for victims made her a better person than Andrea who wanted to see the bad guy punished. Andrea did a lot of things to be nice and kind and she took care of her boss, knew everyone by name and even sent birthday cards, but she did have this feeling that deep down she didn't do it just to be sweet and nice.  She always got something out of it- people who liked her did things for her, plus, she just liked to be liked, it gave her a thrill to know that they did.  Kat just wanted to be kind because she thought people needed kindness.

But something else that Miller had said also needed addressing.

She took a deep breath. "I know about the divide.  I work in the prosecutors office, remember?  There are certain people who have to be able to look over and confront the evil that exists. It takes a lot...  You..."  She had been looking at the table and she looked back at Bob again, looked him in the eye, assessing.  Being on the job with him rather than seeing him in the middle of the day at the office with no danger beneath his feet, made him look different. His eyes looked different, clearer, sharper with more purpose somehow.  "You're not gone.  Maybe you just need a little closure? I hope you get it with this case.  I don't... I think we'll succeed this time. Something about it is sloppier, all these clues and trails?  He wants to get caught. You will.  I'll help in whatever way you think I can."  Or that I think I can.  Since I won't rest on this until Kat is found and the bad guy too.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:53, Wed 27 Oct 2021.

Vicky worked diligently and, as always, at entirely her own pace, letting the more experienced of their trio discuss everything. She stood by, dealing with the powder properly. She figured someone would think it was weird, what they were going to do, but people at the university took to her quite well.

OOC: That's a joke there for y'all. Thanks for bearing with me, folks. :)

She did pause when Bob told the story about his sister--Vicky paused and listened, pretending to continue working when actually she was just curious what he was going to say. She didn't think the look of shock that crossed her face for just a moment had shown clearly enough for Bob to clock it, but she couldn't be sure of that. She really paused for just about a full second after he finished speaking about Allison.

After that pause, she returned to her task and finished it quickly.

She didn't know anything about the divide, not really. Vicky's dad had always kept that wall strong for his entire branch of the family. She was vaguely aware of how things really were, but she'd been sheltered from a lot of it.

When she had the chance, she did say: "Hey, uh, we should go soon."

She wanted to talk about her aunt, but she wasn't sure how to broach the subject. After all, her dad had never told her about--well, she hadn't heard about any of that. She hadn't known that her dad had a sister, nor had she known even that grandpa had ever...mistreated Bob in any way. Her dad gave the impression that everything was peachy keen growing up.

He found a tear trickle from the corner of his eye. Allison was mischievous. She would've been someone special, like Kat sounds to be. He felt more confident in Kat's chances to endure but would she put herself between a victim and the killer? Was there a separate clock they had to worry about? He felt like Kat would be the lynchpin this time. There was no sense sharing any of that though. It was the innocuous question that made him freeze and he looked over to Vicky unconsciously. What was she thinking with that look that he caught the tail of. Maybe he'd imagined it.

"My brother Jesse is a better man, Vicky's father. I used to be 'better, deeper may be more accurate' at the job but really, the difference between him and me was the alleyway. At some point, he would stop looking down the length of it, call for backup, preserve himself. I would go further. Never had kids. My wife left not too long after Yorkshire because of that and other things. I had no moorings. That's why I could do UC work. That's what Chalk was about...the gang that left only bodies and chalk outlines in their wake. There's certain latitude that's granted to the activities you're allowed to commit to maintain cover. But that means the line gets blurry. You choose between bad and worse. Jesse can't be anyone but who he is: a good man. He made a life for himself in a difficult field and he always comes home. I wonder if that's a design, the older sibling being the umbrella to keep the rest dry, unfettered, gloried. Either way, he made a family and I chose closure, as you put it. My case closure rate is still higher than the average by far."

He could feel the parch in his throat but left the flask where it was, "Your sister, I can't promise but she sounds transcendent enough that she'll pull out of this. You're here, among other reasons, to meet her in the middle because she'll need that."

Does he want to get caught or does he want witnesses, need them. The difference felt more than academic. "Besides getting them back, success is a troubled term. But I'll certainly take it," he offered with a small smile. The smile left as quickly as it appeared and he walked over to where Vicky had finished the work.


"I'm going to check the hall. You probably want to swing by the dorm, right? We should have enough time. You have her eyes, Vicky."

He didn't mean to be terse but the question about kids had him on edge. You get to a certain age and you have to reconcile the choices you've made. When he saw what Jesse had, it always brought doubt as to how much of that "good" was worth it. Vicky was good. And it didn't take sacrifice.

Bob shined his penlight in the hall and drew his service revolver. He had to squint to see he wasn't alone in the hall. They must be adjoined to a bio lab because there was a liberated mouse staggering. It let out a haunting squeak and then stopped moving. His eyes moved to the door and he moved slowly to the mouse. It had white fur that was ruffled and in the white were smears of red as if it had been brushed with fingers. But no wounds. The mouse died from fright. What the hell was in that room.

He returned to the chem lab and dragged a file cabinet in front of the door, "What kind of animals does biology work with here?"

He unclipped his gun and checked the ammo before reloading it, "Someone is or was here."

Andrea felt the awkwardness close in on their conversation and a little regret at asking him about kids because it stopped their exchange dead in its tracks.  Vicky finishing her work was only an excuse for him to get out of the conversation and knowing she created that reaction is what made her feel a bit bad.  She filed away certain details - his wife leaving him, the choices he had to make while undercover, what he wishes had been different- for things to know and perhaps avoid later, but maybe bring up too depending on the circumstances.

Andrea was preparing herself to get up out of her chair when Miller rushed back in the room and barricaded the door.  Not being alone in a dorm lab was not unusual, some people did work into the wee hours of the morning. But Bob's reaction and checking his gun certainly implied that this was dangerous company.  Andrea was suddenly wide awake, forgetting about being cold, tired or hungry.  The shock of adrenaline propelled her out of her chair and it fell back with what seemed like a very loud clatter.  She cringed at the noise.

"Shouldn't you call for back..." up she started to say, but cut herself off when she realized that if he did that he'd be asked about what the hell he was doing in the chem lab and then have to get into explanations about tampering with evidence, involving civilians in an investigation, working outside of police regulations and generally being a wild card.  She and Vicky were his backup.  She wished she had brought in her gun, even if it was better long range.

"What do you want us to do?" she asked instead.

She didn't know how to respond to Bob's exploration of his relationship with her dad, and so...she let him speak. It seemed like he had a lot of feelings about it that he maybe hadn't ever addressed.

"Yeah, your sister sounds...pretty amazing. I think she'll be fine." She tried to reassure Andrea, but in fact she wasn't as certain as Bob was, and this came through in her voice.

She contemplated, briefly, suggesting a therapist for Bob, before realizing this would come off as offensive. But he definitely needed it--for growing up, for the undercover work (which she had never heard of), for the cases that went bad, for the drinking. For not being able to stay connected with her. So she resolved to listen as she led them through the halls on the way to the chem lab, which in fact was adjacent to a bio lab.

She did respond to Bob's comment about the dorms: "Yeah, we can stop by the dorms soon, once we figure this out." Then, he said that. She paused for a good second.

When they arrived at the chem lab, she met the grad student who was always around in the middle of the night, Lenny.

"Hey, Vic. You bringing cops in here now?" He looked, suspiciously, back at both Andrea and Bob.

Her embarrassment was evident, and he almost laughed. "Shut up Lenny, this is my uncle and the DA's assistant and it's important--and you can't tell any professors for now. And, uh, you should stay here but...out of our way." He seemed unconvinced, so she simply said: "Favor?"

He looked at her, pushing his glasses up his nose, and then brushed a slightly oily lock of hair back out of his face. He held up an invisible bottle in his hand and took an imaginary swig: Vicky owed him a beer for this, at the very least.

As she was nearly finished getting set up, Bob arrived. When he asked about the animals, she said simply: "Uhh, I hope you didn't get too close if it was like, a mouse. They're doing some kind of an anthrax study over there."

"Someone's here? You don't think it has...anything to do with all this?"

She looked over at the far end of the lab, where Lenny was sat, listening to some music with his headphones. "What about him?"

Bob barely suppressed his mounting irritation and thought, "Is this the rompa room?" He knelt down, keeping his finger on the trigger guard and his gun angled downward between six and seven o'clock. He drew his ankle piece and surreptitiously gave it to Andrea, speaking quietly for the both of them, "Vicky must need to do more work in this chem lab. I don't know the difference between the two but given there wasn't a course on practical biology, the sciences did not hold as much appeal to me as they might have otherwise. Andrea, I want you to keep an eye on Vicky with that and I guess we're holing up here while she does more work. I'll try to get this plus one out of here. Because someone did get real close to that mouse and pet it with bloody fingers. Given the danger level of that room, I don't know how I'll get in there but I can't leave a suspect like we have in a room with a weaponized chemical agent. Christ, is that what he left behind in Kat's room? A brick of anthrax?"

He reholstered his piece, able to draw as quick as any gun in the west if he had to and donned his overcoat once more. With a sigh, he slumped down in a chair near Lenny and jiggled the wire, motioning with his flask.

"How about an advance on that favor? You get a pull at some nice fifteen year old scotch and then you hit the bricks back to your room with a sudden case of amnesia."

Why did Bob have to mention that possibility? Vicky didn't pause immediately, but after a few moments, as Bob was headed over to talk to Lenny, she did. She looked straight ahead, at a dim lamp on the other side of the room, quite dumbly. She had thought it would be cocaine or something, but anthrax was a definite possibility. She would have to find out--fortunately, she would be able to manage with the things here. There were a few biochem folks, so equipment got shuffled around occasionally.

She was done setting up. Then she realized that Bob was talking to her friend Lenny. She rushed in to pull him back with an immediate sense of urgency, saving Lenny from the probable embarrassment of interacting with Bob here. She whispered to him. "Hey, if that was anthrax, we can't let him go anywhere now that we've had contact. I mean, none of us can go anywhere else until we find out. Besides, he doesn't live on campus."

She looked back at Andrea, waving her over to the conversation. "And we don't have anything on hand to make sure any antibiotics we take are effective, so if he's going anywhere, he's definitely going to the hospital. For us, even if some kind of treatment is successful, we'll probably get sick."

"Andrea, I'm not trying to, like, alarm you or anything, but if it's anthrax your sister could have...a day and a half to two days left?"

Looking back to Bob, she had to ask something: "Was...was there any anthrax the last time? Did that ever pop up in your cases?"

Lenny had sensed something really big was up around the first time he saw a handgun. By now, with the way Victoria was acting, he was damned sure of it, and he stepped forward to interject himself quite unhelpfully, addressing himself to Bob a bit nervously. "Hey, I can go if uhh...you need me to go?"

OOC: Woops, imagine all of those are Coral instead. I switched up my text coloring between two characters. :)

But, alas, I use Seagreen for untrustworthy sorts.
This message was last edited by the player at 09:41, Mon 01 Nov 2021.

Bob had stumbled onto a lot of luck spelled with a capital F. Why in the name of all that was holy did they deal with these kinds of things in a university? He shook his head at Lenny, "I'm afraid it's the opposite, kid. You're sticking around for a little bit. Maybe you can give us some insight in the meantime...I don't suppose you're a biology major? Can you tell us the work they do in the bio lab?"

He held Andrea by the shoulders and looked her square in the eyes because Vicky, while talented in many areas, had the tact right now of a world weary mortician and Bob suspected his own right now was barely better. He took her to the side, away from Vicky and Lenny, speaking in a hush, "Even if this is part of his plan, he wouldn't do that yet. Spectacle. He wants us all to witness so...it's not there yet and she hasn't been exposed. I'll bet my life on it. But I'm not confident about our clock. So, we're gonna keep it together but work like we don't have much time."

After one reassuring squeeze to her shoulder, Bob reunited with the others and couldn't be more miserable, "I need a gas mask and protective clothing. I have to go in that bio lab. You guys have equipment like that around here? Is there a computer around that stores the kind of general experiments being worked on, like a synopsis or abstract of the work?"

Lenny scratched the back of his head. "No, I'm pretty much chemistry all the way, but they're good lads over there in the bio labs. I only know a little bit about what they're doing, though. There's the anthrax stuff--which I guess you're maybe talking about--they're in Controlled Environments looking at, like, preventing and reversing antibiotic resistance. Let's see, there was the cockroaches stuff. They're doing experiments on cockroach social interactions and sleep rhythms. There was something else, too, since they got all these cockroaches now. There's a guy in microbiology doing something on HPV, I think."

Vicky spoke up next: "Yeah, they'd have all that over there."

Andrea took the gun from Bob checked that the safety was on and tucked it into the back of her jeans, pulling her cardigan down as much as she could to cover it. Luckily, as a weapon with on the ankle, it wasn't huge.

"Sure. I'll watch over her here. But, I don't like the idea of you going in there alone." she said quietly.

She watched the discussion about the possible anthrax exposure, thinking about the timeline.

"I don't think that sample could be anthrax. I mean, it's a huge sample and I doubt the lab would have bricks of it around. Plus the timing is wrong, if there is something going on now or some sort of staged spectacle now, he would have had to have stolen a sample earlier in order to leave it in Kat's room.  And a theft of that nature would have surely been reported. Then there would be heightened security and police presence around here. It's a week day, you'd have heard about something like that around the office right? Vicky, I think it's drugs, but we need to confirm that, please."

She looked at Bob, getting ready to go into the lab. "I should stand in the hallway. Then I can help monitor both places, right?"

It would be sure to draw some consternation but he took a slug from his flask and then left it on a chem table to show he wasn't planning on a bender.

"There are mice in there too or this one came through the venting. Whatever this brick is, it's turning into a big distraction which we have to dispel. 'Cats like their nip.' I believe that was what was on the note. I want to say it's drugs too but what. If we literally interpolate the theft of the earring and the 'gift' of the powder, I would venture it's a hallucinogen or something with psychotropic qualities. This is bending heavy in the belief that there is a logic to this buried in ritual. Anthrax is a whole other mode. It's political. Maybe if he were trying to simulate pestilence. Alright. We gotta figure out what it's in that sample we took and I'll check the lab. Andrea, I want you to keep the door open and stand between. Don't go direct in the hall. If you need to shut the door, do it. Look for venting in here. If it's a chem lab, there's got to be a system that sucks out dangerous fumes right? I don't know how big the vents would have to be but it might be a way out if you need an unconventional one. Vicky, text me as soon as you know what's in that powder."

He pulled his coat over his face and entered the bio lab, his free hand opening the metal locker and pulling free a mask that he put on his face awkwardly.

There were more animals in there than described. A lot more. And they'd seen better days. "Oh fuck."

"I don't think it could be our anthrax, but...any time you're exposed to, er...unexpected white powder, you can assume it might be anthrax just to be safe. I'm not even sure how much anthrax they keep here, but...there are other ways to get anthrax. If you gave me six months, I could make a brick of weaponized anthrax that size. I'd like to think it's just drugs, but we have to know for sure."

Once Bob left, Vicky got down to work, running a battery of tests and examinations on the material procured from Andrea's apartment. She was blisteringly quick once she had everything set up and the lab to herself, since she knew every lab protocol and piece of equipment like the back of her hand. She even directed Lenny to help her.

First, there was the obvious update: "Good news! Not anthrax."

A few moments later she followed up. "Cocaine, I think. But not pure."

She kept at it, a look of surprised suddenly going over her face in the middle of her work.

Thinking on it, she stepped away and went to Andrea. "Now, I'm not a pharmacologist, but I think this cocktail would kill most people. Cocaine, amphetamines, along with a bunch of other psychoactive elements and some stuff I just plain couldn't figure out. It's obviously some sort of designer drug cocktail, but it'd be more likely to give someone a heart attack or a psychotic episode as anything else. If this guy's on this stuff and still walking around...he's very dangerous."

Vicky looked at the exit to the room, where just a few minutes earlier, Bob had left them here. She couldn't help but think that someone on a dose of this stuff could shatter the door to this lab with their bare hands. After Bob's

OOC: Good lord:

"01:53, Today: Victoria Miller rolled 4 successes using 9d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s.  chemistry!!!"

As Bob left the lab room, leaving his flask on the desk, Andrea set her black, leather bag down and picked up the flask and put it inside. She didn't point it out to Vicky, but she didn't try to hide it either. She wasn't totally sure what her reason was, but followed the impulse. She left her bag in the spot the flask had been and moved to take up position in the doorway as Bob had requested.

When Vicky told her it wasn't Anthrax she was glad for at least one reason they didn't have to climb up in the dusty vent system.  Her answer was "Thank goodness."

She waited and watched the hallway while Vicky finished her work, but nothing was happening in the hall and she couldn't hear or see anything from the bio lab.

Andrea pressed her lips together and opened her mouth with a snap after Vicky had finished telling her what was in the drugs.  "So someone strung out on it might keep coming even after two bullets," she decided. She had always been told to pull the trigger twice in self defense, not just once. "Text your uncle. I can't tell what's happening in there. I'm going to go see. Stay here, please."

Andrea pulled the gun Bob had given her from her waist band and held it with both hands as she advanced down the hall. As she pulled level with the door to the bio lab, she cautiously moved so she could see through the small viewing window into the lab, bringing the gun up a bit as she did so and putting her finger on the safety so she could click it off quickly if she needed to.

There were crisscrossing lines of fishing wire and hanging from them were skins of different animals, mostly domestic. On the table were meticulously placed organs arranged as close as possible to their anatomical positioning when in the body. There were conspicuous beakers, conspicuous because there was nothing in them. Bob presumed they were meant for blood but there wasn't a drop to be found.

On the opposite side of the room was a man of medium height but the muscles beneath his shirt were heavily contrasted to the fabric. He was mumbling to himself, bent over a desk and a harsh sniff sound followed with an enthusiastic whooping. When he turned around and saw Bob, he took a step back in surprise.

"Got damn, brother. You scared the leakies out of me. How'd you find me so quick?"

The demeanor didn't match the carnage and he didn't think this man knew about iodine for cuts, let alone intricate dissection. This was and wasn't their guy.

"Guess I'm wondering what you're doing here, stranger. Want to tell me your name?"

Bob put his hands on the table, uncomfortable at the proximity to the dissected animals organs but preferring to show himself as no harm. There wasn't any danger yet and he wanted to keep it that way. Even without juice, this guy could beat him to a pulp.

"Call me Trapp. Two P's. Mr. Red said you'd come. I just want my payment here, my junk. We don't gotta tussle. Let me outta here."

"Really wish I could but you're on the hook for some gnarly stuff, Trapp. Maybe you could tell me more about this Red. Might help your case. We could see about a rehab."

Trapp laughed, "Red's a bonified monster. He drinks these critters down like they're Kool Aid. I don't judge but...he looks at me sometimes like I'm a critter. I'd rather take my chances with you than cross him."

Bob slowly moved toward a bucket and took the mop out. Trapp shook his head, "Brother you don't know what it's in my veins. Whatever you do is gonna tickle. I promise it won't be the same for you. This labsite is burned. Red can't make me more of this stuff here. It'd be so easy for us to disappear to another county, another jurisdiction. I ain't gonna be so generous when this kicks in. Let me out."

Bob snapped the ropey part of the mop off and now it was just a long stick with an awkward point, He sounded tired, "I can't. But maybe you could keep in mind I'm aiming to subdue and not put a slug in your dome."

Trapp laughed and Bob could practically see him growing more vascular, his neck a tree trunk "You're all heart. Red would love you. But he wants you to cut down on the booze. Says it makes the taste skunky. Of course, now that you're travelling with honey on stilts, he might just change his mind about the main course. Maybe if he's real nice, he'll let me have the one outside the door for a bit of fun before he juice boxes her."

Bob couldn't help but look to the small pane to see Andrea trying to look in while being covert and he felt the smack of an animal skin against his mask. It slid down with a slow smear and Trapp moved as if his legs were springs, lunging at Bob. Bob barely had time to falter backwards and take a martial stance, the handle of the mop held horizontal like a staff.

Trapp was only separated from Bob by a lab table. "Fuck it. Bring it on Chuck Norris. You're gonna wish you'd went with the gun."

Bob shouted at Andrea, not taking his eyes off Trapp, "You get those kids away from here!"

No names. He didn't want this sicko to know anything but the taste of pavement. He was sure Andrea was going to stay and Trapp was contemplating the door now. Which would be better?

"You a good lay, Miller? I'm having a tough time figuring out who to go for first."

The table was in the way at this point for Bob's purposes. But if Trapp went for the door, he'd get one chance to do what he hoped. It's all about waiting now.