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Sep-10-2012 20:17

CASE/ RP TITLE : "Devils In the Nectar"
CASE CLASSIFICATION: Homicide
DATE: 13 November 1934
LOCATION: The Sahara Nightclub, New York City, New York

VICTIM NAME: Janie Eugenides
VICTIM AGE: 23
VICTIM PROFESSION: Chorus Girl (read: exotic dancer), employed at The Sahara Nightclub, NY

CAUSE OF DEATH: Lethal poisoning (unknown compound)
CRIME SCENE DETAILS:
Victim found in dressing room of nightclub, slumped over makeup counter. Apparent distress of victim- discoloration of face, swollen tongue, rash on arms, forcible evacuation of stomach.
NOTE: Bottle of red wine, overturned on counter before victim.
NOTE: Bouquet of flowers on counter before victim. Addressed to "JUNO- Thy voice is like sweet nectar'. from AMBROSE BIERCE.
NOTE: Victim discovered by fellow chorus girl, VERA ELSPETH.


NOTE: Due to staffing demands, case has been turned over to private investigations agency.

Sep-25-2012 19:26

Completely miffed that there would be a huge loss of tips, Kesla scanned the room.To her right sat Molly, talking to Vivien and an aggressive looking lady detective.Vivien then sashayed away as a burly man with a badge approached them.

Since she had not yet been questioned or released, Kesla decided to go backstage towards the dressing rooms to see if she could catch a glimpse of the crime scene.

Kesla noticed Janie's dressing room door was shut,but she could here muffled conversation and shuffling on the other side. She quickly dashed past Janie's dressing room, and rushed into the larger dressing room all the other chorus girls had to share.

On the right, there were racks of costumes, and the walls displayed shelves filled with headpieces and shoes of all colors and sizes. On the right, there was a counter with one large mirror running the entire length. Bare bulbs outlined the mirror and the counter was cluttered with cosmetics and accessories.

Kesla darted past the counter and slid into the first of three curtained dressing stalls situated in the back.She drew the curtain tight behind her and moved aside some hanging costumes,revealing a small crack in the wall that gave her a clear view of Janie's dressing room.

She peered through the crack, and took notice of Janie draped over her vanity, arms hanging awkwardly towards the floor. Her face looked purple and swollen, not at all resembling the posters out front that featured her as the star act.

She could also see the detectives as they rummaged through Janie's things.The woman looked exasperated as she listened to the old man ramble on about women in the workplace and being positive he collected all the evidence.

The woman suddenly looked over and walked toward the closet that barely hid Kesla's peering eyes from view. Kesla held her breath for a few heartstopping moments, praying that she hadn't been discovered.

Just when she thought she would pass out from fright, the burly man said "Look here, girl, I think I've found another clue."

Distracted by the gruff man calling h

Sep-25-2012 19:29

Distracted by the gruff man calling her girl, she shook her head and turned her attention to him.

Kesla thanked her lucky stars and silently tiptoed out of the dressing room, and hurriedly returned to the bar out front.

Sep-25-2012 21:09

Therian watched all the other girls sob as they sat at the tables from the shadows of the curtains. She stepped back further as the two Detectives walked towards her. They past without seeing her. She watched them as they walked toward Janie's room. It had been mere seconds before Kelsa slipped past the door. Ignoring Therian completely.

She raised an eyebrow and slowly followed her. Kesla walked into the dressing room and stayed a moment. Therian heard her footsteps and moved out of sight. Kesla passed and she moved back into the light...

"What was she up to?" she thought and heard the distinct sound of Janie's dressing room door open. She froze. No time to hide.

"Hey!" she heard a man yell. Slowly she turned and found the hard glare of two detectives on her...

Sep-26-2012 18:02

“Sad isn’t it?” Edward asked as he quietly came up behind a strikingly beautiful woman.

“What?” she asked.

“How someone will just...pull the trigger on someone else’s life and end it so abruptly.”

The woman turned to face him. She reeked of Alcohol and was obviously drunk.

“Allow me to introduce myself,” he said. “Edward Carlyle, toxicologist when needed, slash, private detective.” He extended his arm to shake her hand.

She looked down at his hand and back at him. “Charmed,” she said blankly.

Ed felt like an idiot while he kept his hand extended as she said that. He put his hand down and there was a silence between the two of them. Finally he spoke. “May I ask your name?”

“If I told you my name�"”

She was interrupted by Ed. “I think we’re going to have to learn each other’s names anyway. After all, it is going to be a very long night.”

She sighed either in frustration or annoyance. “Riza Hawkeye,” she said.

“A beautiful name for beautiful woman,” Ed said. It was his sad attempt at flirting, but sometimes it worked.

Riza moved faster than he had ever seen. In the blink of an eye she grabbed him and pinned him against the wall, with her arm at his throat. She moved her head towards his ear and whispered, “Not on your life.”

“What a woman!” Ed thought to himself.

She let him go when a voice boomed in the room. “Riza Hawkeye?”

“Yes?” Riza said, sounding very annoyed. She staggered as she turned around.

Molly Maltese came closer with another woman at her side. “This is Violet,” Molly said. “She’s with Pinkerton Agency Detectives. She has some questions for...well both of you now.”

Sep-26-2012 18:13

"We had a deal." Vivien hissed as Molly came through the dressing room door. With an aggravated look, Molly cast a glance around and pulled Viv behind a costumes rack.

"Quiet down, those nosy flatfoots might hear you." Freed from the constraints of her usual airy staged tones, Molly's voice was sharp and nasal, reminiscent of a New York upbringing. "Its not my fault you're making me cover your ass too. Putting it over like that, like you're moving up the second Janie said curtains. What are they supposed to think? Sheesh, I thought I put up a smart cupcake, not another empty-headed Patty."

Viv lit another cigarette and swiped her hand over the costumes impatiently, entangling her fingers in colorful feathers and sharp spangles. " Honestly, Maltese. The more you cover and play keep-away, the harder they come down on you. You know that."

"We don't need them coming down on us at all." Molly hissed, snatching the cigarette from her dancers lips and taking a drag herself. "Not when things are so...delicate. Mind your tongue, don't say anything I wouldn't, and keep your head down. If somehow we don't all wind up belly-up down the river, you'll be headlining 5 nights a week."

Viv gave her employer one long measured look, then threw a smirk. She snatched her cigarette back, inhaled and tossed it to the aged tile beneath her feet, grinding it with one well-heeled tap shoe.

Sep-26-2012 18:30

Heimlich gestured towards Janie's body. "That's exactly how she's been since they found her." he said, "Now do you really think there's anything here that someone like me would have missed?"

Vulkie pawed through the dead woman's belongings. There had to be something that could help.

"I tell you," Heimlich began ranting, "women in the workplace is going to be the death of the American workforce. Next thing you know they'll want to hold office, and that's the day they put me in the ground."

A shuffling was heard, and Vulkie's head snapped towards the dressing stalls. She cautiously began approaching, was there something there?

"Look here, girl," Heimlich called out, "I think I've found another clue."

Vulkie turned towards Heimlich, her attention momentarily captured. "What did you find?" she asked.

Heimlich pulled his hand out of his pocket extending his center digit towards the ceiling. "Think this is of any relevance?" He asked with a smirk.

Vulkie rolled her eyes and turned from the foul old man back towards the dressing stalls. She hurried over and threw each open, finding only a few scattered costume pieces. "Must have just been some fabric falling over." Vulkie said. Then in a moment of clarity, "Mr. VonVictor, turn out your pockets!" she ordered.

"Whoa there girlie!" Heimlich said defensively, raising his hands in protest, "I am not a suspect, and you have no right to search me!"

"I won't ask again," Vulkie said defiantly, "turn out your pockets or I will have one of the bouncers do it for me."

Heimlich, giving a look of disgust, emptied his pockets and threw the contents on the floor, "Look for yourself... bitch."

Sep-26-2012 18:44

Vulkie took immediate inventory of the items, 1 spare badge, 1 pistol, 1 brown leather wallet containing $24.59, and a folded piece of paper. She unfolded the note and read it to herself:

"I can't do this anymore. You need to make this right, and you know what needs to be done. Either go to your wife and tell her what's been going on between us, or I will.

-J"

"Mr. VonVictor!" Vulkie shouted, "You would dare try to hide this from me?"

"Now look here girlie," Heimlich said nervously, "I meant to inventory that... I er... I forgot it was in my pocket. These things happen when you get to be my age. No harm done..."

Vulkie stared at the old man. Could she trust him? Could the note have been addressed to him? Did he really just make an honest mistake?

"Well," Heimlich said quickly, "I think we've found all that we can here. I'm going to interview some more witnesses." He quickly moved out of the dressing room, and Vulkie followed.

Heimlich immediately caught sight of a chorus girl standing by the door. "Hey!" he shouted at her, "Just what do you think you're doing?" He grabbed her arm and locked eyes with her, "Just what did you hear?" he demanded. The girl was absolutely speechless as Heimlich dragged her off.

Vulkie began to follow when she felt an arm on her shoulder. "Ah, there you are dear. I've been looking all over!" Molly said with a smile, "One of our regulars, a Miss Riza Hawkeye, seems to have disappeared for a few hours with no accounting for her whereabouts. I've just now come across her, and I knew you'd want to speak with her."

Sep-26-2012 19:55

Riza sat slumped over her table, one hand clutching a half-empty glass of amber fluid and the other caught in the tangles of her obsidian hair. Her head was pounding, and even whispers sent spasms through her head.

So a girl had been killed, big deal. It wasn’t like people didn’t die every day. And those damn nosy-bodies had leapt on it like beggars on scraps.

Riza saw things. She heard things. But no one ever saw her as more than the drunken woman. Partaking in a fair share of drink may have dulled her senses, but not her mind. It was an interesting gathering of people here tonight. And it seemed everyone had something to hide.

Riza had decided several things that night regarding those present. The man she had run into earlier wasn’t to be trusted. The woman accompanying him was a hothead. That smooth-talker was no idiot. And that Maltese woman…well, she was a tough one to read. Riza just derived great pleasure from aggravating her.

Upon seeing two figures approaching her, Riza sat to pour herself another drink, but found the bottle to be empty. She flung it across the room, where it smashed against the wall.

Riza didn’t feel well. She stood up unsteadily, but found her path blocked by the hotheaded woman whom Molly was introducing.

“Gout mah way,” Riza slurred.

“Miss Hawkeye, I need to ask you a few questions regarding--”

“Moo!” With a sudden burning sensation, Riza violently projected the contents of her stomach onto the front of the woman, who stepped back in disgust.

Riza stood up unsteadily and began to stagger over to the table with flowers on it which seemed to contain a bottle of wine she could have. Approaching the table, she saw a wilting bouquet of flowers. And there was a note attached. Curious, Riza leaned in closer to inspect the writing. Losing her footing, she tumbled forward and caused the table and all its contents to go crashing to the ground.

Sep-26-2012 19:56

An outraged voice barked at her from behind. “What the HELL do you think you’re doing? Get away from that!” A pair of hands pulled up by the shoulders.

Riza turned and began to laugh: a cruel, hyena-like laugh which gave her the appearance of being deranged. “Wuff header, Valerie,” she mumbled, throwing a glance at the mess both on the ground and on the woman.

“Victoria!” the woman screeched. “And I’ve had just about enough of--”

“Note,” Riza interrupted, gesturing vaguely. “Ehh…flowers.”

“What?”

“Beers,” she said pointedly. “Devil dick knee.” She paused a moment at the blank look on Vulkie’s face. “Neck turd,” she said slowly, as if talking to a particularly slow child.

Riza swayed, squinting. She then meandered back to her seat, muttering something which sounded to Vulkie suspiciously like “idiot.”

Sep-26-2012 20:08

Heimlich yanked Therian into an empty room. She turned and blinked at the rather angry man. He was yelling his head off, his face turning positively red. She forced back a smirk.

"ANSWER ME! WHY WERE YOU BACK THERE?" He snapped again. Therian made no attempt to answer. VonVictor's fury was bubbling over. He had had enough with the young chorus girl. She sighed and decided to answer before she was shot.

"My name is Therian Wolf." her quiet voice came out just over a whisper. He had barely heard it.

"That wasn't the question." He glared.

"It wasn't?" She blinked and tilted her head.

"The question was, why were you back there and what did you hear?" Therian bit her lip a moment in thought.

"I didn't hear anything come to think of it.... Should I have?"

"Why were you there?" He watched her carefully. She shrugged and quit talking again. Heimlich wouldn't be able to make her talk by yelling threats. He would have to think of something more creative.
Therian sat down in a chair beside the small table in the room. She acted nervous for a minute then suddenly acted like she owned the world. Heimlich couldn't tell if she was serious or playing with him... He watched her closely, suddenly her eyes widened ever so slightly as someone walked up behind VonVictor.