Set 1: Reignite
Patricia's Wellness Journal
Shiraishi Hayami.
That is Hayley's proper name. She told me herself when I came to the church to assure her that we had let her friend about her situation.
Hayes told me perhaps a bit more about her than perhaps would be expected. I probably should have asked Hayley herself rather than let him tell me, or us rather, but I couldn't know what would be said until it had been done. Her tale is woeful and achingly familiar.
She was the daughter of a Greek businessman in a similar mode to my own parents. Corruption, crime, and the like. Excepting only that her parents valued her. There was an arranged marriage to a member of the royal family but then the War happened. Her husband died, the country was overrun and she and her mother found their escape a passage into slavery.
The Heart of Gold's mistress purchased her off the block when she came into the city. Apparently Virginia Wolf has an eye for "unsullied" girls, as Hayley put it. I know of the place and don't usually have much call to be there. My budget wouldn't cover such entertainments and you know just how my Contact gets excited over such matters.
At least part of it.
And yes, I wore the dress. And yes I spent too much money on that dinner I brought back to Hayley. I didn't want to just be a cold messenger like a courier with a delivery receipt. I wanted to give her comfort. Yeah, she can't see well, so maybe I could have gotten away with leaving the dress at home. But I'd know, and I think she would too.
Hayley told me that it had felt good at the time. Wolf protected her and didn't put her to work, as it were. Unfortunately Wolf has her enemies and one of those is a boss of the Greek mafia by the name of Panos Minos. He came while the mistress and her warrior women were out on other tasks and left a message by assaulting Hayley.
After that, I guess she wasn't clean enough for Virginia Wolf's liking anymore and Hayley was put on the streets. My Contact has its own opinion, it seems to think that Wolf may have thought this was protecting Hayley, but that feeling had an undertone. As if there was more to it than just that. I may have to think about speaking to Wolf at a later date. I hadn't thought about it before because they protect themselves quite well without needing me and I hadn't known about the human trafficking.
I have nothing against a brothel. It's a profession and would be largely cleaner than war if weren't so wrapped in bands of being outlawed. Courtesans that can protect themselves don't need a guardian angel...or vampire. But if they're predators, then perhaps I may have to look in to that. But I shall have to be quiet about it. I wouldn't want to bring attention to Hayley if I didn't have to.
Since then she had ended up living with Derrick Hayes as a favor to a private investigator by the name of Constantine. Which led to the circumstances that brought her to the church and our protection.
Regardless, I should discuss the case and how to keep a vicious serial killer away from attacking Hayley.
Derrick Hayes is a fellow veteran, probably from the earlier parts of the War than me, he's certainly a lot older. Somewhere outside of the desert I imagine. He looks a bit like an old biker and maintains a bike repair shop filled with all manner of American built motorcycles. Harleys and the like. To start he probably didn't think much of me, a barbie doll playing dress up I suppose. It took a little work to convince him that I actually was a military vet, I guess the steel is still visible in me even if my Contact has softened my image.
I can still feel where Hayley, Hayami...I should probably ask her which name she prefers. I can still feel where she held my hands as we danced in the church. I used to have calluses there. But now it's smooth and clean skin. I shouldn't complain, one shouldn't use a harsh rag to clean delicate skin.
Yes, yes...the case. I know.
He told us a lot about Hayley, as I've already said, and he gave me an offer of aid when he heard my own situation. However, he definitely didn't have any information for us regarding the murderer. For that we went to the library and Kelsey's agent, Bobby Cray. That and my comrades have largely more insight into the supernatural than I do.
The microfiches at the library told us about the results of the previous time that Jack had been around. The case had finally been broken by a Detective Denman who had arrested one Trenton Horne. The accused was executed not long after and Denman was transferred to a federal job with the ATF. From what we could tell it didn't seem to be a matter of a reward or bribe or anything, just coincidence, but Evan felt the turn around time on the execution was quite suspect and I agreed.
I should mention something else. We had a bit of a visitor coming out of Hayes' garage. My father apparently doesn't appreciate me embarrassing him in front of police officers. He warned me off of involving myself with the Eldred family. It was a curiously specific warning and he mentioned not trusting Alex Eldred's son. It did spark a bit of a curious thought.
Evan put himself a bit in the middle of my chat with my father and I worry this might not end well for him. The look my father gave was not one that promised good things to happen. Evan later suggested that my father and Kelsey's had a business arrangement that turned sour at some point.
After delivering his message without ever leaving his limousine, father had his driver leave off so I did the appropriate thing and gave a nice little curtsy wearing my fatigues and khakis. Then, with the message from Ophelia's ghost, we looked into the history of Kelsey's family.
Turns out ghosts like to talk to Ophelia. I wasn't in on the conversation, but she came back with a bit of information about Alex Eldred. He'd died about two years ago, a little bit after the Jack the Ripper killings last ended. Died of Syphilis painfully and horrifically by reports. He'd left dozens of potential heirs which had presented a lot of blockage for Kelsey getting his proper inheritance. Liza had helped figure things out and navigate those confusions.
This is where Evan's sword and ancestors came into the matter. He had a bit of an epiphany, so out of nowhere that it had to have come from whatever his special nature is. There is a cycle to these killings. We knew this wasn't the first cycle, but the killings two years prior weren't the first either. The killings kept happening every so often and apparently always happened a little bit after an inheritance or estate sale. In this case we Alex Eldred's estate passed on and many things were sold or bequeathed to other people.
I hate to hope someone to be a murderer, but I suppose it is more that I hope we'll find that Kelsey is not the murderer and the presence of numerous half-siblings creates a potential explanation for why so many signs point to Kelsey. And indeed, in the logs of inheritance kept by Mr. Cray we found reference to an antique doctor's bag and kit along with an scalpel that fits the description of the blade Evan described before. It had been bequeathed to a Vera Sinclair, a half-sister of Kelsey's who desired to be a doctor.
We might still want to talk to Kelsey, but I'm going to make sure that these murders stop. It's a bit complicated now though. We can't just stop her behind the scenes without Kelsey facing the hit. Assuming she is the murderer we seek. But I also can't let her stay out there. I can't let this murderer remain to track Hayley and threaten her again.
Hayley. Hayami.
I'm going to listen to waltzes for a bit now. I hope you don't mind.
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| The GM will be adding more photos later, so I may have to rebuild this pic. |
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