[TBP] Turnabout of the Elements (Investigation!)

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Ferdielance
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Re: [TBP] Turnabout of the Elements (Investigation!)

Post by Ferdielance »

Crowe seems to have been deep in thought. Is it possible that this would hurt his case? Nah.

"Let's look at entry and exit for every witness we've called, as well as the victim."

He gives a list of names and starts looking.
Spoiler : OOC :
FAST FAST POST to keep things going.
"A slow sort of country!" said the Queen. "Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!"
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Re: [TBP] Turnabout of the Elements (Investigation!)

Post by Calvinball »

Connie shakes her head. "I think we've gotten all we can so far," she says. "Unless either of you have any ideas why Johnny Smiles's watch might be almost an hour off from actual time? We still don't know why that happened."
Spoiler : OOC :
Still hoping I'm not missing anything obvious... I always make the mistake of developing tunnel vision in mysteries.
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Re: [TBP] Turnabout of the Elements (Investigation!)

Post by Enthalpy »

Fulbright thinks back, as if in thought. "I could swear something was mentioned in the trial about why his watch might be an hour off... Still, it can't hurt to ask him. I should be able to get a hold of him, if need be."

Gray looks over the ledger and hands it to... Ledger. This can only lead to good things.
Spoiler : OOC :
Some of the finer points aren't there just yet, but one of the pages on here has some clues!
[D]isordered speech is not so much injury to the lips that give it forth, as to the disproportion and incoherence of things in themselves, so negligently expressed. ~ Ben Jonson
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Re: [TBP] Turnabout of the Elements (Investigation!)

Post by spd12 »

At the very least, the presence of everyone involved minimizes the odds of any of these pages somehow being magically faxed to some foreign nation in a confusing and embarrassing mix-up that could spark international incidents.

Upon receiving the ledgers, Ledger flips through them while leaning in ever closer to the Detective - after all, it is evidence they're looking at.

You don't know if it's sleight of hand or maybe it came that way to begin with, but somehow the papers end up in the wrong order with nary a perceptible movement of the hand by the time he's done first going through them. It's magic. Maybe he should've been a stage magician instead.

"Okay," Ledger sniffs - hopefully he's not working on catching a cold here - "if... um, I'm reading this right? If we are? Then-- um, right, Detective, here, see..."

"Alexandra Kraaaanf," Did he really need to stretch out her name? Did he forget where it was on the list? Who knows, with him. "Day of the murder, 10 AM... exactly, name comes up, all of... er, the name comes up once. Just the once. On that day." Ledger nods along. "She never was recorded leaving before police arrived." Why would that be? (Hint: she died.)

"Jackie Rie... mow... ski," still can't speak her name in confidence, "shows up... at, at... arrives 12:43 PM, then... goes home at 8:04 PM," Ledger clears his throat, "seems right? Meets with the victim around, uh... 1 PM, left after that... that thing with Mr. Moebus much later, also... accounting for that one hour problem by Mr. Smiles into account," and he sure doesn't look happy to have to take that into any account, ledger, or canon.

"Ross... where's Moebus, I can't fi-- w-wait, it's under my thumb, this is our Ross, had me going..." Ledger sheepishly removes his thumb, "Ross Moebus, here at 9:28 AM... leaves at... 8:26 PM." He looks up to the rest. "Lines up with the camera log, the times... y'know, seems like they seem reasonable, if he stayed with the victim during the first part of the day."

"The defendant... Nick Johnson," Ledger leans a bit closer, "comes to work, clocks in at 10:56 AM, then... escorted off by 2:18 AM the next day with the detective, arrested for suspicion of murder, y-you... you all know that part." Do they ever. "If he's more of a night person, and... may have had to work late with escorting the visitor on their inspection, well... that's... reasonable too?"

"Johnny Smiles," Ledger murmurs, "is that a 2 or a-- yes, 2. He arrives at 2:55 PM, if... if it wasn't a 2 I'd..." Ledger never completes the thought. "Likely started work around 3 in the afternoon when you account for, well... getting to your station, and everything... leaves at 1:24 AM with Officer Crespo," probably an unimportant name in the big picture, "might've been when he was taken in for questioning as our... star... ace... reliable... surefire... air-tight... witness." Each passing word is said with more dread, disbelief, and even despair. "I'm moving on..."

"And... Detective Bobby Fulbright, over there," he doesn't look him in the eye, "arrives at 12:33 AM the day after, since... well. Dead body. Police coming in, and... everything. In line with the testimony from yesterday." Beat. "I'm just... just reading that aloud to be thorough?" Ledger looks up to nothing in particular.

"Please don't make me read the name of every police officer that might've showed up after the call yesterday..."
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Re: [TBP] Turnabout of the Elements (Investigation!)

Post by Bad Player »

"Wasn't he on vacation...?" Simon murmurs, still attached to Detective Fulbright. It's hard to tell if he's actually replying to Connie, or just talking in his sleep.
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Re: [TBP] Turnabout of the Elements (Investigation!)

Post by Calvinball »

"He was, but he insisted that he reset his watch," Connie answers, uncertain if she should be expecting a response. "Maybe I just need to go over my notes again..."
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Re: [TBP] Turnabout of the Elements (Investigation!)

Post by Enthalpy »

Fulbright thinks back. "That's what he said, but... did we ever actually check that?" If there is any witness who warrants fact-checking on something like this, it's the court's least-favorite chocolate muncher.

The general silence continues...

"Oh, have a map." The tinny voice almost makes you jump.

Fulbright looks at the speaker, the other security guard. "Thanks, but, we... could have used this earlier."

Grey only sighs as Fulbright picks up the papers. "They do call him the late Arthur Aldridge, you know. Now then, if that's all you have, I had best resume my station." And so he does, right as a car begins to pull up.

Fulbright hands copies of the map over the group. A few things catch your eye - some unmarked (presumably irrelevant) buildings, and flowers everywhere. "As you can see, we're at the front gate here. Justice Ayala specifically requested told me that while she encourages a more, in her words, adequate investigation," Fulbright makes no effort to hide his heartbreak, "not to use that as license to turn the place upside down. Keep things focused, she said! I'm inclined to get a hold of Smiles to clear up this timeline once and for all, get the valet records that Mr. Crowe wanted, see if we can look into this hacking incident, and then focus on the crime scene. Of course, we don't have to stick to this. If there any specific questions you want to investigate, bring them up. But for now, we passed the parking lot on the way here, and I think I saw a valet station."

It's a show of authority that... is less than typical of Fulbright.
Spoiler : OOC :
Up to page 35. Slowly but surely, this is happening...

Meanwhile, I finally have the map done. Don't take the scale too literally. The moat is narrower than the map suggests. And if there are any problems with it, the sooner I hear about them, the better.

EDIT: Updated to pg. 40.
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Re: [TBP] Turnabout of the Elements (Investigation!)

Post by spd12 »

Ledger sighs in relief. It's the biggest damn sigh anyone's heard as he is now thankful he doesn't have to read any of the other officer names aloud! Some of them probably sounded really weird and would've made everything devolve into giggle fits. They're all grown-ups. That's the last thing anyone wants or needs right now. The ledgers are likely taken out of his hands at some vague point between then and now. (One hopes.)

He casts a few idle glances around after Fulbright drops his insight on the matter, rubbing the back of his head. "Anyone? Any... preferences? No one need to use the... restroom, or," he's tempting fate at this point as he nervously glances down to that weird lunchbox-shaped thing he brought in. What is the deal with it? That's not important.

When no one else steps up waving their hands to go 'ooh, ooh, ooh, I want to check out this thing,' Ledger gazes outward in the vague but correct direction of what falls out of his mouth next. "If... if no one else has any objections, how about we just... recover the valet records? Put a fine, final, finishing point on the whole... finicky timeline business... maybe?" Why is he eyeing the way off the entire facility? (Still probably not important.)

"It'd... it'd probably be easier to put everything before in order with Smiles after that's all established... d-don't you think?"
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Re: [TBP] Turnabout of the Elements (Investigation!)

Post by Enthalpy »

Spoiler : :
Up to pg. 45...
Fulbright nods. "It would likely take some time to get Smiles. The cause of justice does not easily sway that man from his television. I'll order Detective Lynne to bring him up while we head to the valet station."

Ledger is leading the way - a scary thought, and so, the group heads over across the parking lot to the valet station...
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The parking lot is as uninteresting as you remember it being. There's a bike rack over on the side, but aside from that, it's as generic as it gets. Thankfully, this should just be a quick stop on the way to more important things.

You find the station quickly enough. The uniform of the woman manning it is minimalistic - white dress shirt, black slacks and tie. As for the woman herself, she makes eye contact with the group as they approach, nods, and puts on a smile. "Hello, Detective...?"

"Detective Fulbright," he says with a proud grin and a salute, "serving Japanifornia! I hope you don't mind, but we have some questions regarding the day of the inspector's murder, Ms...?"

"Christine Ravela. And, questions, right." You see a brief look of confusion on her face, but she quickly explans. "Of course. I was not there on that day, but the news get around, so I'll tell you what I can."
[D]isordered speech is not so much injury to the lips that give it forth, as to the disproportion and incoherence of things in themselves, so negligently expressed. ~ Ben Jonson
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Re: [TBP] Turnabout of the Elements (Investigation!)

Post by Calvinball »

"My understanding is that you're with the valet station," Connie says, looking slightly quizzical, as if she's not entirely sure of what she's saying. "That's... right? We're looking for the valet records from the day of the murder. Just trying to figure out who left the campus and at what time. Narrowing down the pool of suspects. That sort of thing."

Connie's gaze drifts upward for a moment, as though she is thinking, and she adds, "Are there any records as to who was working as the valet on the day of the murder? I doubt we'd need them as a witness, but it doesn't hurt to know, right?"
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Re: [TBP] Turnabout of the Elements (Investigation!)

Post by spd12 »

Ledger wordlessly presents his prosecutor's badge as to signify he belongs with the investigation team, because he sure doesn't look (nor really carry himself very well as) the part.

"Um, before we start... l-let's try to be careful about... facts versus hearsay?" Ledger says, as though he might be explaining what could be a vital gameplay mechanic in the near future in a well-hidden tutorial! (Or not.)

"I mean, getting the records is... well, that's okay, that is evidence," maybe Ledger was expecting a less to-the-point inquiry from the defense? He casts a few glances around the gathered. "I'm... I'm just saying..."
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Re: [TBP] Turnabout of the Elements (Investigation!)

Post by Enthalpy »

Spoiler : OOC :
Page 50 now. Progress marches on!
Fulbright turns to the new victim of the question barrage. "Yes, if we could have a look at those records...? Is something wrong?"

It seems that he caught the valet's none-too-well-hidden look of annoyance when he asked that question! "The records that day, yes, but who was working here... That'll be a tougher one. If you haven't heard yet, the day after was going to the 50th anniversary celebration for the Institute, so many people took the day off. And somehow administration didn't realize until too late that I was one of them. Which... left the station unmanned. Normally there are some people who float from position-to-position, and one of them would have handled it, but... They underestimated the understaffing that day pretty badly, from what I've been told, and the people running it didn't know what they were doing, which caused problems. There was a lot of moving around, and the people who did it and the people who administration scheduled to do it didn't agree at several points... I don't have those records, and even if I had them, I wouldn't trust them. You'd need to deal with administration to figure out what happened there/"

That's... quite annoying, but is it even worth the trouble of getting the full records?

"As for the timing records, I can fish those up for you. Looking for anybody in particular?"

Fulbright nods. "Ross Moebus, Nick Johnson, and Alexandra Kranf, though it wouldn't hurt to add the other witnesses to the list as well."

The valet, since nobody else is pulling up, starts fishing. It'll be a moment or two before she finds the records, which gives you another chance to ask a question if you've got one...
[D]isordered speech is not so much injury to the lips that give it forth, as to the disproportion and incoherence of things in themselves, so negligently expressed. ~ Ben Jonson
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Re: [TBP] Turnabout of the Elements (Investigation!)

Post by Ferdielance »

As strangely quiet as Crowe has been - perhaps because he suspects that saying too much here might genuinely hurt his case - he does perk up when "understaffing" is mentioned. He then looks at the moat from the valet station, trying to see how clearly murder scene and the rooftop are visible from the parking lot. He compares it to the map for scale. Hmm.

Using his phone's compass, Crowe then checks to see if the map image is really oriented with the top facing north, the left facing west, and so on. He'll also try to recall when sunset is at this time of year... hmm. That could explain some visual issues...

Then there's the matter of those flowers. Looking at the map, he taps Fulbright on the shoulder. "These gaps in red near the bridge, on its east side. Are those gaps in the flowers? Could a person walk through those gaps?"
"A slow sort of country!" said the Queen. "Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!"
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Re: [TBP] Turnabout of the Elements (Investigation!)

Post by Enthalpy »

By the valet station, you can just barely make out the building. You could get a better view of things if you moved to the other side, but even then it doesn't look like you'd have a particularly get view. You suspect that you shouldn't take the scale of the map too seriously.

As for the sunset... That would have made it a bit harder to look in the direction of the Brain Imaging Lab a bit before Ross crossed the bridge, but Smiles had sunglasses, so it isn't that important either.

That leaves the flowers... You squint. You're not sure what you were looking at it earlier. You double-check both maps to be sure.

At this juncture, Fulbright speaks up. "So, do you all want to go talk to Smiles, or do something else? I need to know where you're going to show you around, after all. And if you're not sure where you're going. Try thinking of what you think happened. Any unanswered questions, or gaps in your information as you try to construct what happened, are important! We're not in court, so for now, let's focus on chasing down any leads!
Spoiler : OOC :
A few notes...

1. The RP has information glut as-is, so I'm loathe to add in technical details when the simpler ones are readily available.
2. There's been a retcon with the two maps for consistency! The original map didn't have the full flower wall because I didn't know it would be needed. I decided not to retconn it when making the second map, which I now see was the wrong call. The maps I've linked in this post are the correct ones, and I'm just sorry I didn't have it in me to make the retcon the first time. I also removed both parts of flowers directly in front of the bridges. Those should never have been there.
[D]isordered speech is not so much injury to the lips that give it forth, as to the disproportion and incoherence of things in themselves, so negligently expressed. ~ Ben Jonson
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Re: [TBP] Turnabout of the Elements (Investigation!)

Post by spd12 »

Ledger makes a hissing noise in the background at mention of the understaffing. It does make sense for what was going on that day. This fact inconveniences largely everyone involved! The hissing also makes a great white noise for the fact he appears to have little helpful to say or add in the wake of it that could build upon anything already stated or shared.

You know. The usual stuff. That's Ledger.

"Thanks for the help, Ms. Ravela," he says without looking her in the eye, casting all sorts of nervous glances everywhere. "The timing records will do for now... I think."

"It... it hasn't been a great set of days for any of us," he says, "almost feels like, uh... much longer than that..."

Clearing his throat, Ledger turns to the detective while his senior partner mulls over little details, "I guess... now we put stock in--"

He stops. "I'm... I'm not even comfortable using that as a metaphor in regards to the idea that, um, we should... go settle the matter with Mr. Smiles once we have the timing records on file."

Beat.

"In fact, I-I say we just... go on and do that - see Mr. Smiles." No 'if that's okay,' or 'if you think that's a good idea, sir' to Crowe, this is a stealth assertion!

One may receive a dreadful premonition that if Ledger continues to be allowed to steer proceedings, there will be an influx of blue text in parenthesis... and from there, things would just go downhill.

Beware! Ledger as the viewpoint character would be the doom of us all.
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