CTI: Crime Team Investigation

[Cassiebsg]

OT: Thanks for the heads up JackPutter.

Yes, we need to find the location from the message, that I agree, but I'm not sure going to a location looking for a guy/gal we know nothing about (except that's he/she is a Stephen King fan and obvious crazy) is enough to find the perp. 

[Ian Aloser]

Let‘s wait for what the film crew has to say
Maybe it will bring us closer to the killer

[heltenjon]

We've already ordered investigations in Alphabet City (which is probably nothing) and Silver Creek (which could very well be it). While we await Jack getting ahead of his busy schedule, we've got to further examine all the clues about our culprit. The spelling sure is odd!

Here's another, admittedly out-there, solution: New (I am not old) ton (my bones do not creak) Haven (I can escape).

[Ian Aloser]

Newton Haven, very smart, Officer Heltenjon

[JackPutter]

Apologies for the delay everyone, full update coming tomorrow!

[JackPutter]

THE KS CASE

FINAL CHAPTER

Collins knocked on the door and examined the porch. This was the last house they had to visit in Silver Creek, and Collins's hopes weren't particularly high. He could tell by looking at White's face that hers were practically submerged. The house seemed well-kept, nothing out of the ordinary. Probably another bust, he thought to himself as the door swung open.

He found himself looking at a petite woman, probably in her mid-twenties. Auburn hair, pale skin, relaxed posture. She was wearing a dressing gown, his knocking had clearly disturbed her from some peaceful activity. No different from any of the other residents he had spoken to today. In unison, he and White produced their badges, and Collins rattled off their standard opener. "Hello ma'am, my name is Officer Collins, this is Officer White. We are checking the area for anything suspicious as we've been given a tip that there has been some criminal activity in these parts. It's nothing for you to worry about, but if you've seen or heard anything unusual then we would appreciate if you could let us know."

A worried look spread over the woman's face. "Gee whiz officers, I hope it is nothing serious. Have you been talking to all the residents?" White nodded. "Yes ma'am, in fact you're the last house on the list." The woman's eyes widened with concern. "My, you folks must have been out here for hours! Please, come in, I've just made some fresh lemonade, I'd be flattered if you'd take a glass and a few minutes to refresh yourselves."

The woman stood back, opening the door wide and gesturing for the officers to come inside. Collins looked at White, and the pair communicated in a language of silent facial expressions which they had honed over their years spent patrolling together. He raised his eyebrows, asking if White wanted to oblige without saying a word. The corner of White's mouth puckered, what's the harm? Collins's lip curled, I guess so, and besides, I could use a cold drink. Collins and White turned back to the woman. "We'd be happy to take you up on that offer ma'am, thank you for your generosity."

The woman smiled as she led the officers down the hallway. The house was neat and proper. Collins threw a passing glance into each doorway. A living room fitted with leather furniture. A small bathroom. A room with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. Collins stopped and took a closer look at the third room. It was practically a library! In the centre of the room stood a high-backed leather armchair, and a small coffee table stood next to it, adorned with a ceramic coaster and a coffee cup still filled with steaming liquid. "Wow," Collins called to the woman, who was just leading White into the kitchen. "This is quite the little bookstore you have here! Mind if I take a look inside?" The woman turned to him and presented a chipper grin. "Not at all! It's my pride and joy." Collins gave White a look that signaled for her to be on the lookout, before stepping into the room.

He was surrounded by books on all sides, almost all of them hardbacks. Collins had a gut feeling that if he was to examine them, he would find that most would be original first editions - the entire room was dripping with literary ancestry. A brief scan of the shelves revealed that every book had been carefully placed in alphabetical order. There were plenty of authors he recognised, Edgar Allen Poe, H. P. Lovecraft, Ray Bradbury... but dozens of names which were complete mysteries to him. As he slowly looked around the open, square room he could hear White chatting with the woman in the next room.

It was at this point that he realised that the armchair wasn't the only furniture in the room. In the corner behind the door, there was a small desk and a hard wooden desk chair. The desk was narrow, just wide enough to hold its contents, namely a small notepad, a fountain pen, and an old-fashioned typewriter. Curious, Collins walked over. The typewriter looked untouched, like it could have rolled off the factory floor yesterday. It had a fresh sheet of white paper spooled halfway through, ready to be typed upon, but at the same time it looked arranged, as though the entire desktop was merely a display piece. His curiosity got the better of him, and he started to push on the keys. The CLACK CLACK CLACK of the old metal keys filled the air, drowning out the sound of the women talking in the next room.

"C - O - L - L - I -   - S"

Collins swallowed. He had heard the CLACK of the "N" key when he pressed it, yet there his name was, without that particular letter. Maybe he just hadn't pressed it hard enough. He punched downwards on the key with his finger, and the little arm swung forward to strike the page. Collins bent down to take a closer look. While the black ink had clearly left an impression on the paper for all of the other letters, there was definitively no mark being left from the "N" key. He began to sweat. Quickly he bashed the "E" key. CLACK! But again, nothing on the page. He tried "T" immediately. CLACK! Not a mark.

Quickly, Collins headed for the door. As he stepped into the hallway, he heard the homeowner calling out. "Officer Collins, here's that lemonade..." Rounding the corner, Collins found himself only a couple of feet from the woman. Her left hand was holding glass of cloudy yellow liquid, while her right was in the pocket of her dressing gown. Collins tried to disguise the worry on his face, but he could tell the woman had noticed something was wrong. For the briefest of moments, Collins's mind worked overtime, trying to read the microexpressions on the woman's face, hoping to predict her next move. In a flash, her arm was moving.

Dropping his hand to his sidearm, Collins instinctively yelled out for his partner. He saw the revolver emerge from the woman's pocket just as he unclasped his holster. He was the fastest draw of anyone in their station, but the woman had gotten the drop on him. He was just starting to raise the barrel of his gun when the flash burst forth from the muzzle of the woman's pistol.

The bullet hit Collins square in the chest, and he dropped. He gasped for air as he hit the floor, his head spinning and his ears ringing. He desperately tried to focus his eyes on the woman, rolling on his side to get a better look. Amazed, he watched as White grappled with the woman, trying to disarm her. The first gunshot had been deafening, so to Collins the whole scene played out like a macabre silent dance routine. White's face was determined, stony, she was shouting something. The ordinary-looking woman's features had twisted into that of a shrieking shrew. The gun waved around at arm's length from the women, occasionally coughing forth bullets which tore through the walls and rained ceiling plaster down on top of them.

Eventually the woman got the upper hand, clobbering White on the back of the head with the handle of the pistol. White flopped to the floor, falling as a dead weight, landing hard on her head. The woman fled out through the kitchen, the last Collins saw of her was the now-empty revolver falling to the floor at the threshold of the hallway. Collins looked down at his chest. Great pain shot across his torso every time he inhaled, but he saw no blood. He fumbled his hand across the front of his chest and found something hard and metallic embedded in his uniform, just in front of his heart. It was the bullet which had struck him. The bulletproof vest he had started wearing after the bomb attack had saved his life. He may have some broken ribs and a punctured lung, but he was breathing.

The chief cracks the lid off a fresh bottle of whiskey and takes four long glugs straight from the neck. He wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. "Well, we found the killer's residence, but we have two more officers off the street. Collins is in hospital with a collapsed lung, and White's being treated for severe blood loss and concussion. Ullman has just started traction to get his leg back in working order, and Pangborn only regained consciousness yesterday. The house Collins and White were in belongs to a woman named Annie McGee. She works in a book store in Charlesburg. Her whole family's from the area, she went to the local schools and never moved away for college. By all accounts she's kept to herself, no criminal record. We've no confirmation that she is the woman who attacked officers White and Collins, but her appearance does match the description Officer Collins has given us.

"We've interviewed all of the film crew, for the most part they were able to give us some details about the production but not much information on the crimes. They're working on an adaptation of the novel "Revival" and they were going to use some of the natural beauty spots in the area as shooting locations. They got a subsidy from the local authorities as long as a certain percentage of their employees were locals, so they cast some minor parts from the area along with some of the smaller crew positions.

"The only one with any real insight to the killer was the director, Mike Flanagan. He says he's worked on enough Stephen King-related works to know the audience pretty well. He says that King's fans are some of the most dedicated, rabid animals out there. They seem to sniff out every detail, whisper, and rumour that's King-related as soon as it happens. He wouldn't put it past them to hack into the Intrepid Pictures systems to find out details of their production. He also said that if you put a gun to his head, he could hazard a guess as to who is behind this... At the New York Comic-Con panel before the release of Doctor Sleep, a crazed fan forced her way onto the stage, ranting and raving about how everyone associated with the production was going to hell for ruining Stephen King's books. The woman was put on the blacklist for media events. Flanagan couldn't remember her name exactly, but said it sounded like it was Irish in origin. "Amy McCoy" or "Audrey McGill" or something along those lines. He said this without being informed of what happened to our officers earlier and whose house they were in at the time.

"Nothing was found in Alphabet City, though I can't blame you for thinking outside the box. Now that our killer's home address has possibly been exposed, she'll REALLY be on the run. I suggest we put out an APB based on the description we got from-"

Out of nowhere, the phone on the corner desk begins to ring. The chief does a double-take. "What the... that hasn't rung in weeks! Everyone, get to your phones!" The chief hurries over to the desk and yanks up the receiver. A woman's voice speaks hurriedly.

Oh you think you've spoiled my climax? All good plans contain a failsafe so they will be successful! Once I get out of here, I'll put a stop to the destruction of the master's work, believe it! Kidnapping and murder are just the start, there is so much to take care of! Just watch me!

The phone line goes dead. The chief slowly puts down the handset. "Looks like we have one last chance to catch this maniac. All hands on deck!"

[heltenjon]

I was sure that all was lost now. I must say I look forward to hearing from Jack what had happened if we had chosen differently in some instances. Great writing, as usual! i particularly liked that the gun coughed out bullets. 

So, gang...do you think the phone call contains our final clue?

[Ian Aloser]

Yeaaaah !
Great writing, Chapeau !!

But now to catching the killer :
First thing that comes to my mind is Joe's Hill (Climax)
We have only one shot left, let's be careful !

[Laura Hunt]

I wonder what she means by "when I get out of here". Where is "here"? The town itself? Or was she wounded in the struggle and she's in a hospital? Can we call all nearby hospitals and find out if somebody matching her description has checked into the ER in the last hours?



[Side note / personal pet peeve: it's Edgar Allan Poe, not Allen ]

[JackPutter]

The chief rapidly calls all the hospitals in the area, but no-one matching the woman's description has been checked in for any injuries that could have resulted from a fight.

[I feel great personal humiliation at that typo. I have a copy of Poe's complete works sitting on the bookshelf next to my desk, it was literally in my eyeline when I was writing that passage. I have brought shame upon my family.]

[Ian Aloser]

Oh you think you've spoiled my climax? All good plans contain a failsafe so they will be successful! Once I get out of here, I'll put a stop to the destruction of the master's work, believe it! Kidnapping and murder are just the start, there is so much to take care of! Just watch me!

The only places related to "climax" , i.e. elevated locations, would be Joe's Hill or Sallynoggin Heights.
That would be two places already, if one of them is the location, we would have a 50/50 chance.
I wonder what is meant with "Kidnapping and murder are just the start", what would be next?
And last but not least: Do we have any officers left?
EDIT: Can it be that only officer Leland is left ?

[Laura Hunt]

[I feel great personal humiliation at that typo. I have a copy of Poe's complete works sitting on the bookshelf next to my desk, it was literally in my eyeline when I was writing that passage. I have brought shame upon my family.]

I absolutely feel you. When I was informed that not one, but TWO typos had been found in IOAWN4T, it hurt my pride way more than any technical bug.

I wonder what is meant with "Kidnapping and murder are just the start", what would be next?

I'm guessing a bomb?

[heltenjon]

[Side note / personal pet peeve: it's Edgar Allan Poe, not Allen ]

I firmly believe that in this universe, existing side by side with ours, the author's name was Edgar Allen Poe. And the director is called Woody Allan.

When Stephen King was confronted with an error in one of his books (The Colorado Kid, IIRC), he answered that it was not an error, but a hint. 

So...the case at hand. If this is another of those letter jumbles, there's only one location with the letter x on the map.

[Laura Hunt]

Putting this brief off-topic detour under spoiler tags:

Spoiler

[Side note / personal pet peeve: it's Edgar Allan Poe, not Allen ]

I firmly believe that in this universe, existing side by side with ours, the author's name was Edgar Allen Poe. And the director is called Woody Allan.

Hahaha yeah, one wrote "The Crow" and the other directed "Brooklyn".

When Stephen King was confronted with an error in one of his books (The Colorado Kid, IIRC), he answered that it was not an error, but a hint. 

That... actually happened too. I had to clarify that a couple of things in the game were indeed very intentional and not oversights. Maybe not a good sign

[close]

[mkennedy]

Get a warrant for Annie's residence and place of business. Interview her entire family and coworkers. Call the DMV to see if there are any vehicles registered to that name and what their license plates are. Get a sketch artist to make a picture, though she may be using some sort of disguise by now, at least that's what I would do if I were her.

[Ian Aloser]

I totally agree with searching her house,
we should focus on the books and check if there
are any books of Stephen King, especially „Revival“ and
if they contain any comments
One of the main characters in „Revival“ is a reverend
Could this be related to the audition with the priest ?
Maybe we find a clue there, the theory with the locations
connected to „Climax“ is still a bit too vague for me
But who would do it ? I believe that Officer Leland is our only person left for the job
EDIT: Maybe we can recruit some staff from the academy...
MORE EDIT:

Once I get out of here

I looked up the dictionary and found the verb "to sally forth", which could be related to "get out of here"
Along with height being a synonym for climax, that would make Sallynoggin Heights a suspicious place...

[JackPutter]

The chief scratches his chin and looks around the room. "Any progress folks? After such a strong beginning, is this really how it ends?"

[Ian Aloser]

I am totally confused about whom we can send to search the killer's house.
I believe we could find more clues there, but as I mentioned above, we have
only officer Leland left and I would never send one officer out there alone.
EDIT: From game rules and setup :

Firstly, this criminal has many crimes lined up, but a big finale planned. To stop the finale, you need to do one of two things. You either need to figure out who the final target is and get them into protective custody, or you can track the criminal to their home town and arrest them. However, if you arrest the criminal without identifying who the final target is, the criminal may have had time to put their final plan in motion and you won't be able to save the target. On the other hand, if you manage to get the target to safety without identifying where the criminal is, then they might be able to escape.


Fourthly, to add an extra element of tension, the little town that the crimes are about to take place in has a very small staff of local officers. There are FIVE and ONLY FIVE members of the town's force.
Sergeant Pangborn
Officer White
Officer Collins
Officer Leland
Officer Ullman
Be very careful that you don't go after any obvious red herrings, as they might be traps laid by the maniac... Needless to say, if you fall for too many traps, there will be no police left, and the criminal will have free rein until new officers can be put in place.

Facts:
We know who the killer is and where she lives
We found the target and I guess they are in safety now
BUT: We don't know what the big finale is and the killer's current whereabouts
So Chief, what are our resources ?
We already suggested to search the killer's house for clues....

[mkennedy]

Heres a plan to set a clever trap. We contact Steven King and ask ask him to do a commercial to be televised on the local stations asking the killer to turn herself in, or if not that, then call the police hotline to talk to him personally. Then when she calls we have him talk to her long enough to get a trace. Bit of a long shot but then for all I know Steven King might be the intended target himself.

[JackPutter]

The chief comes in with a status report. "Right, listen up y'all. We've searched the McGee residence, and we've turned up nothing related to the crimes, apart from a complete collection of Stephen King books which have all been signed by the author. It looks like she covered her tracks well. Her family and friends all seemed very shocked when Officer Leland questioned them, they all said she was always a quiet, reserved person who was never angry a day in her life. She loved to read and tried to write a little herself, but never got anything published. She has never owned a car, she cycled everywhere she needed to go. We've circulated a sketch based on Officer Collins's description to all police departments in the NYPD.

"Detective mkennedy, I like your outside-the-box thinking. I believe that despite what he writes, Mr King is staunchly anti-violence so maybe a televised plea from him would work. I think it's a bit of a gamble though, and I'd rather not put too many people outside of the police force in danger.

"I think it might be worth going over the killer's last call with a fine-toothed comb. If she just wanted to make a getaway, she never would have drawn attention to herself. She called us for a reason, call it a hunch but maybe there's one last clue in there..."