BURIED IN THE SNOW

[thedirectors]

A dead body. Romero's dead body. After Ozaki confirmed the means of death, it's become painfully apparent that one of your fellow passengers is a murderer. After a brief initial investigation, Ernest hurriedly shooed everyone out of the sleeper car so the staff could drape the body in white cloth and shove it somewhere in the caboose.

The snow continues to pile up slowly outside the train, and it doesn't look like you're going to be leaving anytime soon. The air is thick with tension as you realize that perhaps the only way you're going to be continuing your trip on time is by figuring out whodunit.

The question is, where to look first?

---

OOC: As mentioned yesterday, we are now in the investigation portion of our game! What does this mean? Well, it means you are free to continue mingling as you have been, but you can investigate certain locations to turn up more evidence regarding the murder mystery.

Multiple people are welcome to participate in a single investigation thread, and multiple people can investigate the same area more than once to find different information. Additionally, we encourage people to question other player and non-player characters to try and figure out what they know and see if it's consistent with your clues! Chat with your friends, spin some theories, and see where the trail leads you.

Not sure where else you should investigate? Take a look at the investigation notes and see if there's anything odd that stands out to you or any questions that need answering. Alternatively, try talking to other people to see what they know, or interrogate the staff members. Different staff members, such as the engineers, the luggage clerk, etc. may have seen different things. Conversation sometimes reveals hidden truths!

A final parlor discussion will be posted on Saturday, December 3rd, where you will determine who you think the culprit is.

DAY 4 | DAY 5 | DAY 6

Locations | Cast List | Investigation Notes
Private Conversations | NPC Threads | Pre-Murder Check-In

Comments

[thedirectors]

[Looks like good ol' fashioned bludgeoning causes the suitcase to pop open! Thank goodness.

The suitcase seems to be full of suits and nice clothes. If Kotoko looks through them, there is no sign of any papers or the folder that the wolverine mentioned. But, then again, Romero isn't the type of individual to leave things easily accessible. Perhaps there's a hidden compartment....]

[agoddeal]

[Hooray and a victory for violence! Kotoko will take absolutely everything out and search for anything dodgy. Something hidden in the lining of the suitcase? A discrepancy in the dimensions somewhere, perhaps? Of course, maybe Romero just took everything with him...]

[thedirectors]

[It looks like there's something inconsistent about the depth of the suitcase. Maybe only an inch or two--unnoticable if you have stuff in the suitcase, but when carefully inspecting it, you will certainly notice it. It seems like this suitcase has a false bottom that can easily be lifted.]

[agoddeal]

What a fascinating man! Such a shame we couldn't have been better acquainted.

[By all means, let her lift this up! What mysteries does she uncover as she sits in a ransacked pile of fancy clothing, looking like the cat that just raided the basket of still-warm laundry.]

[thedirectors]

[Lo and behold, it's a folder, thick with papers. It has been inconspicuously labelled "business proposals". If Kotoko digs through them, they seem to be separated out into packets, grouped together with flashy bronze paperclips.

But these are no ordinary business proposals--as Kokoto looks at the contents, she'll quickly realize that this is blackmail material. Some of which is about her fellow passengers.]

[agoddeal]

Or perhaps not. Goodness.

[She has absolutely no compunctions about reading this, thank you! Any names she would recognize as being related to the people here?]

[thedirectors]

[There is. This file has blackmail material on Arcade, Laerryn, someone named...Tim? There is some information on Nathan and Linhardt, too.

The file about Arcade is mostly about his work and connection to an organization called The Enclave. For Laerryn, there's some details here about her involvement in a subway project in New York. For the guy named Tim, there are extensive details about him looking into Romero's business and his movements--it seems like Romero had him tracked.

Linhardt's file has information about a gristly murder between two academics, though investigation into Romero's business. Nathan's seems to just be about whether his family could potentially prove useful, though there's some mention of "longevity" and "supernatural forces?". Both of their files are literally only one page, and at the bottom of each a written note, "NOT USEFUL."

Each of these, as stated before, are clipped together with a bronze paperclip. This shit is fancy.

Anything she wants to look at more in depth?]

[agoddeal]

[Well, she's a student of literature! She's going to read through all of these, naturally. Anything particularly eyecatching about the paperclip as she sets that aside?

Nathan's file gets a long look and a little moue of displeasure. No interest in supernatural forces, Romero? For shame. But she's otherwise going to focus on the mysterious Tim and Laerryn first. What kind of gossip does Romero have on them?]

[thedirectors]

[They're custom engraved with the initials AR. It's really hard to tell, but there's a barely perceptible, tiny etching that runs all along the metal. Kind of ostentatious, really, to get custom paper clips....

Tim seemed to be investigating Romero's own criminal activities, and Romero didn't seem to like that very much. There's details about the people that Tim talked to frequently, his schedule--you could create a complete profile with this much information. One person that Tim talked to frequently was someone by the name of Mabel Mora.

For Laerryn, it seems like there's a lot of information here about a subway expansion project. There's a draft of a subway car schematic, with what seems to be red outlines along the car where someone might be able to transport large crates in a discrete manner while riders are none the wiser--though, details on what those crates might contain is not included.

There's also a folded up map of Manhattan, with lines that depict the current subway lines and additional red pen marks that trace the possible new routes of the expansion project. Several different blocks along the new route have been circled with business names jotted down. One block near the end of the line has been circled multiple times with an underlined company name--Apex Investments. A small, scribbled note underneath reads "Shell company, owners from Japan?"

As she opens up the map, a card with a pressed lilafee drops to the ground. The card reads: "check with legal".]

[hardyboys]

[ Mabel steps into the luggage compartment just as the lilafee drops to the ground, stopping briefly to look at Kotoko. ]

Looks like we had the same idea.

[ She moves to pick up the card and look at the flower, squinting as she flips to see if anything is on the other side. ]

There was another flower like this that I found pressed into a notebook of his in his room. Anything about what it means in there?

[agoddeal]

Oh, how timely! You'll have to tell me all about 'Tim' later.

[What is tact and can Kotoko eat it. She'll obligingly check over the map and then flip through the papers for anything else flower-related, though.]

Not that I've seen yet. His papers are mostly about people, from what I've seen. Quite a nosy man.

[thedirectors]

[There are a few notes here and there throughout the different notes about calling saul legal advice. Though there is no mention of the person's name, the flower keeps reoccuring in tandem with it. It must be that the flower is some sort of calling card or something?

Anyways, does she want to keep checking over the blackmail, or does she want to investigate other compartments/the break room?]

[hardyboys]

[ At the mention of Tim, she pauses, looking at Kotoko like she's got three heads, before she shakes out of it. ]

It's... kind of a long story.

[ She came here to look through luggage, so she'll go through the other compartments and see what's going on here. ]

... I know he's been investigating competition, so I guess that's not completely surprising.

[agoddeal]

He didn't mention Romero to you? It seems it might have come up, with... all of this.

[Kotoko will stick with her pile of papers, then! Arcade and Laerryn, and then anything else in her collection.]

[thedirectors]

[Compartment 1, near the back of the car, has nothing really going on in there. But Compartment 2...something's up here, because it looks like Mabel's belongings have been dumped out onto the ground inside of the compartment! The luggage itself is nowhere to be seen, but...perhaps she wants to take a closer look at that?

We already went over Laerryn and the subway stuff, but for Arcade, it looks like the information is concerning a defunct think tank organization called The Enclave. There's a copy of transcripts for a federal court case twenty years ago called The Enclave v. United States of America, where those involved in the Enclave were found guilty of conspiring to influence federal politics. There are also records of medical care and supplies being redirected from a research organization called The Followers to Romero's limited operations on the west coast.

For Nathan, there's some discussion on his ties to older families in New York City and questioning the year of his birth, but it quickly loses the thread. Seems like Romero didn't want to spend that much time dwelling on him.

Finally, for Linhardt's single page of information, it seems like there are some articles regarding a ghastly murder involving two high-profile academics at his old alma mater. It labels Linhardt as a potential witness, but there is no following up on it. Perhaps there was an attempt to determine how much he knew, but was ultimately discarded.]

[hardyboys]

No, Romero was researching competition. I saw it in that notebook. Tim was... we hadn't spoken in basically ten years.

[ She clenches her jaw as she goes to open up Compartment 2, to find............ ]

What the fuck?

[ She knows those tasteful yet modern clothes anywhere. There's no sign of her cases, but first she's gonna look through her stuff, to see if anything got dumped in the pile that she wouldn't recognize. ]

[agoddeal]

I see. So you weren't very familiar with Romero, then.

[Whoops yes, wrong name! If Kotoko's read everything in the blackmail folder (with every sign of nosy enjoyment, much apologies to all), she'll start repacking the clothes into the suitcase. At least until Mabel's exclamation makes her suspect that something much more interesting is going on.

She takes the blackmail material with her and temporarily abandons the rest of Romero's things to go lurk in the doorway curiously.]

[thedirectors]

[Looks like among Mabel's stuff are clothes, a Hardy Boys book, and a knitting suit. There doesn't seem to be anything unrecognizable--but there is something off to the side that she would recognize, and may be of interest to Kotoko.

It's a letter. It lies open, tossed to the side. It reads the following in neat, typewritten font.]

Dear Mabel,

It's so good to hear from you again, I'm glad you're doing well! Of course you'll be more than welcome here in Paris--I have more than enough room in my studio. We can spend a few weekends seeing everything the museums here have to offer. Feel free to stay as long as you'd like, even after that dreadful investigation of yours calms down.

Send me a telegram when you're due to arrive, and I'll make sure to cook up a feast!

Signed,
Aunt [CONVENIENTLY SMUDGED TEXT]

[hardyboys]

Not really. We lived in the same apartment building, but I didn't realize it was him until the train left Istanbul.

[ Luckily for Kotoko, Mabel's a little too focused on the clothes and items inside to notice the letter on the side.

She flips through the Hardy Boys book, looking to see if the picture is still in it, before going back to the compartment, seeing if her luggage was just shoved to the side or if it's just straight up missing, along with anything else inside it. ]

What did someone go through my stuff for?

[agoddeal]

I don't suppose you were smuggling any exciting contraband? They do seem to have been in quite a hurry.

[Thank you Mabel, Kotoko will help herself. She pounces on the letter before it can be confiscated from her grabby little hands, reading quickly. Anything else notable about it?]

[thedirectors]

[Nothing else, besides the fact the paper seems relatively new.

That's all in the luggage compartment--besides the break room, but that's technically it's own room.]

[hardyboys]

Not as far as I'm aware. There's really not that much worth stealing in here.

[ She is going to grab hold of her knitting needles, though. Best to keep an eye on those. ]

Did you get the other rooms in this car? Or just the luggage compartments?

[ She turns to squint up at Kotoko. ]

[agoddeal]

[This letter sure looks benign... But Kotoko will slip it into the folder of other papers she's carrying for future perusal. Please disregard.]

I was still at work on the luggage. In fact, a helpful source told me that Romero had a meeting in the break room here shortly before his death. I was heading there next.

[Which she will do, short of anything impeding her!]

[thedirectors]

[Up they go, then! To the break room!

The break room is...a kind of sad affair, really. There's not much here except for a table with two chairs seated across from each other, and a nearby counter with some drawers and a trash can next to it. There are windows on all four sides of the break room, showing a grand 360 view of...snow, snow, and more snow. Great.

This place looks incredibly neat--though, that's not saying much, given how little there is in the room to begin with. But that doesn't mean the mess is completely gone, does it? No--it's just been displaced somewhere else--like the trash.]

[hardyboys]

Huh. Definitely worth checking out, then.

[ Honestly, Mabel will go check out the window, to see if there's anything thrown out the window, or if there's anything suspicious out the view. ]