OOC: Chapter One
As far as rolls and spending points, in Gumshoe you're supposed to declare how many general points you want to spend on a roll before doing so, I'm not going to be super strict about that just for ease of play by post. You can always ask how difficult an action looks and I'll let you know before you attempt anything. General abilities refresh every in-game day, generally.
Your investigative abilities you want to be slightly more conservative with, they'll only refresh at the start of Chapter 2. Feel free to spend a point whenever you think you need to, if it's information or an effect you would have gotten anyways it'll be refunded.