Vinnie paged back and forth between the pages of the coroner’s reports.

“Doc… you got two strangling vics, but no ligature marks mentioned on the neck?” He put down the report. “And why death within a minute? Asphyxiation takes longer than that. Unless this hole-punch the fuckin perp…” The detective stopped and looked between the Captain and the DA. “Scusi. … the wound inflicted by the assailant happened at the same time?

“I dunno... You can pin time of strangling death down that sharp?” He looked between Ghoulie and Perez: this was above his pay grade.

Coroner Gourdie says his first words. His mouth opens very wide when he talks, showing his yellow teeth.

"I am a professional, detective. I do my job.

"The victims died of strangulation, but not of asphyxiation. The vertebrae in their necks were shattered.

"We don't know exactly when the puncture wound was made.

"We do know that all injuries were made before the blood was removed from the body, because there was blood around them. Presumably, this means that the victims were dead before the exsanguination was started."

Magnus, sitting at the table by Pascal, pays careful attention to all this, his eyes inscrutable behind his sunglasses.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:33, Tue 30 Nov 2021.

"Based on blood found on the scene and estimates of how much might have flowed away, how much of the blood would we say is missing? The stories of claws and rending make it sound like most of the blood might have been splattered all over the crime scene, but it sounds like that is not the case." Amara sounds intrigued as she asks this.

Gourdie fidgets a little, looks at Matheson. Matheson rolls his eyes in a "who knows?" expression.

Gourdie says,

"Almost all of the blood is gone. Not just blood. Digestive juices, water, cerebrospinal fluid. Over 99% of the liquid in the bodies has been removed. The bodies look shrivelled from all the liquid lost.

"Before you ask -- I don't know. I have no idea what could do this. I have never seen such a thing."

Simon Magnus pulls out a notepad and starts writing something.

“So, like… they got turned into mummies?

“Doc, if you hadn’t been told this had happened to em in less than a minute, what could have happened to these bodies to turn em into this?”

Amara's eyes grow wide. "Whoa! That goes way, way beyond just exsanguination. I'm not sure I can even think of a way to do that so quickly. Whoever this perp is, he's got some specialized skills and knowledge."

Gourdie licks his lips with his long tongue and then speaks.

"You can exsanguinate a body artificially, using machines, dessication, and so on. I mean fully exsanguinate, not just remove enough blood to cause death, which of course can be done with a simple cut. In addition to removing the other liquids.

"This would be a lengthy process.

"I am as baffled as you."

Magnus, to the side, nods and takes notes. He casts a glance at Pascal.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:55, Wed 01 Dec 2021.

Dr. Conrad then adds,

"That's one reason why we -- I mean, the FBI -- are involved.

"You have access to our laboratories, as well as all our criminal databases, in DC. If you need something analyzed, run it through me and we'll express the sample to the labs. Same for the computers and databases. This case is top priority, and so you'll get a response ASAP."

He listened as they spoke - strangulation, asphyxiation, exsanguination...  Unreal.  He tried to focus on what would be the task at hand, from his perspective.

"Chief Matheson," he said finally.  "Where are Horace Cobb and Kate Rowlins now?  And what do we know about the immediate family of the two victims?"

"Doctor, where Cobb is, who knows. Passed out somewhere. Rowlins is in Bellevue -- not far from your old friend Lupus. Ha! She's psychologically unresponsive. Total breakdown.

"Take a look at what we have for the vics. They're there in the files."

And indeed they are, and are as follows.

Victim #1: Wendy Hughes
Age: 27
Height: 5'4" Weight: 120 lbs.
Hair: blonde Eyes: blue
Physique: ectomorph
Medical Conditions: none known
Marital Status: married to John Hughes
Children: daughter, Susan, age 6
Residence: condominium in West Village
Profession: computer graphic designer; employed by Future Visions, a large advertising company
Enemies: none known
Criminal Record: none
Hobbies: fencing, painting
Personality: described as fun, energetic, creative, well liked
Location of Body: Hob’s Court Park; was on her way home from working late
Religion: Episcopalian


Victim #2: Lori Atkinson
Age: 22
Height: 5'6" Weight: 133 lbs.
Hair: brunette Eyes: brown
Physique: ectomorph
Medical Conditions: asthma
Marital Status: single
Children: none
Residence: dormitory; lived with roommate Kate Rowlins
Profession: university student; working on M.A. in archaeology; thesis involved translations of ancient Sumerian tablets
Enemies: none known
Criminal Record: none
Hobbies: karate (brown belt)
Personality: described as bubbly, extremely likable, strong willed
Location of Body: alley leading off of W. Houston Street, between W. Broadway and Wooster Street; was coming home from a basketball game with Kate Rowlins
Religion: New Age

At this point, Simon Magnus speaks up.

"Both victims met their end around Hob's Court. That's my neighborhood. I have a brownstone there."

Vinnie scribbled some things down in his notepad — Lengthy process. — and mumbled, “We’ll need to talk to Cobb; I know some guys… they’ll find ‘em.”

“Would 12 hours be enough time, Doctor, do you think?” He looked back in the file, and asked the general question, “Who did the girls interact with before the incident, do we know? Anybody who’d spot an impersonator?”

After a moment he added, “A fencer and a ninja, eh?” He shook his head. “Takes all kinds.”

Gourdie says,

"Complete removal of liquids from a body, I must say, is not something that I have experience with. It would take quite a while, I am sure."

Matheson answers,

"The first vic -- Hughes -- was coming home from working late. As far as we know, the last people to talk with her were her coworkers.

"It looks like Atkinson and Rowlins were coming home from the YMCA. They were playing ball there."

"The idea of an impersonator is a good one. I was thinking we should keep in mind that he may be some sort of magician, having already killed his victims and then dumping their bodies with a performance. That might give him more time while also accounting for the theatrics. But to get any significantly extra time, an impersonator would be needed."

Amara stops to consider something else. "Well, if the perp keeps up this rate, he'll attack again tonight. That gives us little time. Perhaps trying to find his next victim takes priority over figuring out how he did it? How well could the Hob's Court area be patrolled tonight?"

Captain Matheson responds:

"We have stepped up patrols in the Hob's Court area. I can give you a police radio if you want; then you can be alerted if they notice something nearby.

"We're still hoping these will stop on their own, so we don't start a panic. If there's another murder in the area, we'll probably advise a curfew."

Pascal barked a laugh when Matheson mentioned his hope that these killings would stop on their own.  "Sorry, Chief," he paused, recovering.  "But this guy's not stopping.  Treating this guy like anything less than he is, the bodies will pile up.  And you know it."

He looked at Vinnie, then back to Matheson.  "This guy's on fire."

He waited a moment, hoping the pipe dream of a quiet night had been quashed, then turned back to Vinnie.

"What's your plan?  Think we should talk to the husband?"

Matheson looks at you. D.A. Boulder looks at him. Matheson looks at D.A. Boulder. Matheson looks back at you.

Matheson says,

"You're probably right, detective, but who knows. Sometimes these guys kill themselves, or leave town. Or something.

"Right now, we're trying to avoid a panic.

"The reason you and Dr. D'Encre are here is that you caught that Wolf lunatic. You're known as successful. Knowing you two are on the job will help calm people down, when... if... this keeps happening. We've got Mr. Magnus here because of the weird vampire stuff. Dr. Perez is here because we figure we need another set of capable eyes on the weird way the bodies are looking. That's why you're our task force -- the public will know we're taking this seriously."

D.A. Boulder nods approvingly.

Get name in papers, become election leverage. Vinnie could see the bus he was gonna get thrown under by these maloccios coming down the boulevard when -- not if -- more bodies turned up. Good thing we're starting at night! The pricks.

"Husband's a place to start," Vinnie looked at his watch, "but guy's gonna be with his daughter. Give him a call now and get an interview set for the morning. Daylight would be nice for a walkaround but oh well. Get the locations of ... Future Visions and the Hughes' condo, the YMCA and Atkinson's dorm. May as well walk the routes they took and get a good start tomorrow when things are open."

He turned to Matheson. "How many badges are walking Hob's Court? Anybody I know?"

"About twice the usual number. I'm afraid I don't know the name of everyone you know, but maybe. They're not from your precinct.

"We'll be meeting again here tomorrow at 8 am. McGarnagle will make sure you get that info."

McGarnagle obediently pulls out a notepad and writes down Husband interview... FV, condo, YMCA, dorm.

I am assuming here that the briefing ends.

As the meeting adjourns and you are reminded to return at 8 am, and as you are given police radios if you want them (?), Simon Magnus comes up to Pascal.

He says in a quiet voice,

"Dr. D'Encre, if you don't mind, would you join me for dinner this evening, if it is not too late? There is something that I would like to discuss with you in private -- a professional issue that I believe may relate to this case. I know a fantastic Tcho-Tcho restaurant in the Hob's Court area, just a block from my brownstone. A fantastic oddity, but wonderful food! Have you heard of them?"

OOC: if Pascal makes an anthro, history, or occult roll (whichever is higher), he has.

This message was last edited by the GM at 23:17, Fri 03 Dec 2021.

Amara takes the offered police radio. That could be helpful. Amara looks back over the photos just to make sure nothing else pops into her mind at the moment. Then she carefully returns everything to the folder to take with her.

Pascal moved to take a police radio when Magnus stepped in front of him.  He listened to the invitation with more patience than he felt, then looked at his watch again.

The last thing he wanted to do was spend more time talking to this guy, but the case would need to come first.  Besides, David would be asleep at this hour anyway.  Might as well see what Magnus had to offer.

"Sure.  Not familiar with that place, but let's do it," he said, reaching around Magnus and taking a radio.  "I'd like to walk the neighborhood a bit anyway."

Taking a radio Vinnie shrugs and says, “Ah, I can find out from the 4th Precinct duty officer who’s making the rounds tonight. If you’ll excuse me, I gotta go make a phone call. See you’s in the City Hall atrium if you wanna take a nighttime walk.”

Vinnie nods a goodnight to the DA, the Captain, Ghoulie, and McGarnagle, then heads out to the front hall to find a phone — Mrs. Dicicco was gonna give him an earful already; may as well prep her for another string of late nights.

"Sure. I'll go. Good to get to know your partners, right? I'll need to get a bite while walking. I've gotta make a call first, though." Amara goes to a corner of the room and pulls out her flip phone. When the other end picks up she goes right into speaking exclusively Spanish. If anyone in earshot understands Spanish, she's telling her mother she'll be running really late, not to hold dinner, and to make sure Carlos goes to be soon.

OK, I will close this thread.