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The Case of the Vanishing Turkeys: A RP stage holidays short
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Joseph Zeo
Joseph Zeo
Tale Spinner

Dec-5-2015 09:28

Everyone was invited.

The Bureau Chief of NYPD decided to open his house for all detectives, both NYPD staff and private eyes, to celebrate the holidays with his family. The scent of cinnamon and vanilla candles filled the air, and his three-story Georgian home was decorated from the tip of the roof to the base of the footing in red and green and gold.

"Wow your wife really did a number with this place!" Joseph Zeo applauded, who usually did not give praises to anyone.

"Oh you are too kind!" The bureau chief beamed, knowing they had topped their neighbors once and again this year, "Wait until it gets dark and we turn on the electric fairy lights on both the tree AND the house! It is quite a novelty, I must say!"

Just then, his wife rushed over and quietly talked to the bureau chief in nervous whispers, and they excused themselves and hurried to the kitchen.

Joseph Zeo took the opportunity to chat with some old acquaintances in the lounge. The room was overly decorated to a point he almost run a fake snowman down to make room for others to join in. The scent of food began to drift through the air, but something was missing. Joseph could not pin point what it was until whispers around the halls began to reach his ears.

People spoke in hushed apprehensive tones, "I heard the turkey is missing, and it's not just happening in this household..."



[This is just a RP short for the month of December. Everyone please feel free to take a stab at it, anything goes, and have fun! muhahahahaha....!]

Replies

Riza Hawkeye
Riza Hawkeye
First Nomad

Dec-10-2015 17:47

Riza’s beautifully fuzzy warmness was slowly dissipating, and each passing second brought a greater awareness of her surroundings. She glanced around the gravy-covered room. By the look of things, it would be a while yet before she would get the chance to take a shower.

While the Professor introduced himself to Molly, Riza stepped outside the front door and grabbed a handful of snow. She rubbed it all over herself in an attempt to wash off most of the gravy before the smell permanently sunk into her leather clothing.

As Riza mashed icy snow into her jacket, her thoughts turned to the Professor. He was a quick one. Calm under pressure and highly rational, just the sort of person needed to temper the overeager nonsense of others. Riza decided that she liked this fellow.

Upon returning, she found Vulkie moping slightly off to the side, while the others were engrossed in conversation. She was probably still upset over the window lurker escaping. Riza walked up to Vulkie and heavily patted her on the back. “There, there.” Riza paused. What did people usually say in moments like these? She wasn’t sure. “Don’t worry. I’m sure if you lost some weight then next time you’d be able to--”

Molly cleared her throat loudly. “Riza, darling, why don’t you come over here? We were just discussing how everyone should split up for the investigation.”

Oblivious to the glare boring its way into her back, Riza walked over and joined the rest of the group standing in a semicircle underneath the pipe, from which errant drops of gravy occasionally dripped.

Joseph Zeo
Joseph Zeo
Tale Spinner

Dec-10-2015 19:44

Professor Troof and Vulkie went upstairs to check on the gravy mechanism, to Joseph's relieve. He dreaded getting too close to that sauce spitting beast after the incident.

Under Vulkie's suggestion, Joseph headed out with the two ladies to check on the neighbor. The quiet neighborhood were dotted with stately homes much like the one the Chief of the Police Bureau had. The grey stone structure across the street seemed bare and unadorned. The one with red bricks on the left of the Chief's home was over decorated much like the Chief's, and Joseph could hear loud music coming out from the small house with a green roof on the right.

The three decided to split to cover more grounds, and Joseph decided to head for the green one, knowing someone was home. He knocked and waited, but the music was probably too loud for the people inside to hear him. Joseph had no choice to bang on the door. Someone inside turned off the phonograph, and slowly a lady with a sharp nose suspiciously peered out from the crack of the door.

Professor Troof
Professor Troof
Lucky Stiff

Dec-12-2015 16:25

Upstairs in the Chief's house, Vulkie had just pulled out a feather from underneath a pipe: dark and light striped, it was unmistakeably from a turkey.

"Well done, Miss Nouson!" exclaimed the Professor. "Whoever installed the gravy mechanism must also have handled turkeys! But there are more clues here, I'm sure," he added, eyes twinkling.

There was a timer on the mechanism. The Professor surmised that it released a valve in the pipe to which the gravy-sprinkler was attached, the same valve triggered when Joseph had pulled from below. The Professor wondered when the timer was set to go off, and considered extracting the whole lot to try and find out, but thought better of it - they had messed up the house enough already.

He stood up, and glanced down at the floorboards underneath which the mechanism lay, stroking his chin.

His eyes traced a path from the gravy sprinkler along the pipe, all the way to the wall where a travel trunk was positioned, looking for all the world like it hadn't been moved in years. In that respect it matched the rest of the room, which seemed to be used as a storage space.

The Professor walked over to the trunk and gingerly opened it.

"As I suspected," said the Professor, "this is where the gravy came from." The inside of the trunk had been lined with thick glass, so thick that it looked like the whole thing had been turned into a heatproof container. Traces of gravy gradually dripped towards a hole in the bottom, which connected to the pipe.

"This could have kept the gravy warm for some time, and did not need to be filled at the same time as installing the pipe," he continued. "Certainly a lot of planning has gone into this."

Someone had been able to get a lot of things into that locked room without anybody noticing, but with the amount of to-ing and fro-ing going on at that house putting up Christmas lights, taking deliveries of fake snowmen, organising a party ... maybe not too difficult after all.

Riza Hawkeye
Riza Hawkeye
First Nomad

Dec-13-2015 14:46

"I'll take the one across the street," Riza announced, and proceeded to quickly jaywalk over to the stony edifice. Behind her, a few words drifted into the night, among them "that goddamned turkey" and "lack of propriety". Riza paid it no mind, instead intently focused on scouting out the premises.

The lights appeared to be on downstairs, though the curtains were drawn. Riza gave the door three swift raps and stood back to wait. A moment later, the door swung open to reveal a stout man with a scowl.

"Can I help you?" He eyed Riza with suspicion, taking in her attire. She wasn't the sort of woman usually found around this type of neighborhood.

"Good evening. I was wondering if you'd heard about the recent turkey thefts?"

"Heard about 'em? 'Course I have. Everyone's going nuts about it." The man threw a glance over his shoulder.

"Are you a victim?"

"Yeah."

"Can you elaborate?"

"No. Look lady, I ain't got time for yer stupid questions." The man began to swing the door shut, but Riza quickly stuck the heel of her stiletto in between the door and the jamb.

"I'm not done talking with you," Riza stated.

Molly Maltese
Molly Maltese
Old Shoe

Dec-16-2015 07:15

Molly first detoured to her car and pulled a sumptuous fur-lined coat out of the back seat, which she swung over her gravy soaked wardrobe. "Really, turkey napping is just too gauche." She said to no one in particular before turning to the brick residence on the the left of the Chiefs house. She knocked on the door and checked her lipstick in the dim reflection of the glass window pane before returning to the task at hand.

The door opened on a sleek woman, dressed in upscale casual wear. She regarded Molly curiously and with a society matron smile inquired "Can I help you?"

"Ooh yes, darling. I've just come from next door and don't you know I'm soaked in gravy? There was a vicious attack with foodstuffs all pouring from the ceiling and someone had the audacity to nab a turkey! In any case, do you mind terribly if I borrow your washroom to scrub some of this mess off?"

The woman eagerly shooed Molly into her house, undoubtedly excited to be on the scent of some gossip. She led Molly to the washroom and together they began wringing gravy out of her hair and off her face and neck.

"Have you heard anything about this turkey thieving?" Molly asked with her head partway in the sink. The woman made a clucking noise.

"I know our neighbors across the street have had their turkey nabbed. We haven't- we have a specific diet because of my husbands allergies. But I've heard the awful stories- the turkey seemingly disappearing into thin air and a cloaked figure running from the scene."

"A cloaked figure?" This piqued Molly's interest. "Tell me about the cloaked figure- has anybody any clues to his identity?"

The woman shook her head. "No, just that he's cloaked and escapes in a little Ford with the plates blacked out. However when our neighbor Mr. Allen told us about it I went to have a look. I found this in the grass where he was standing outside their window." She retrieved a damp memo pad. It had been waterstained but an address and phone number were still legible

Molly Maltese
Molly Maltese
Old Shoe

Dec-16-2015 07:16

on the first page.

"231 Pleasant Hill Apt 44." Molly noted, busily copying the address and accompanying telephone number onto her own notepad. "Perhaps this is a clue! Thank you very much for your hospitality. I better get back to my friends so that we can each properly fortify ourselves from turkey theft!"

As she bid her adieus, she wondered how many of the houses had been robbed of their fowl. Was it specific neighborhoods, or was there a pattern to the attack? She knew her friends would undoubteldy find the answer to this question, and hopefully it began at this address.

Vulkie3
Vulkie3
Haynes

Dec-22-2015 05:57

"So what you are saying," Vulkie began, "is that someone actually planted this device here, in the Chief's house, without the Chief knowing?"

"Exactly my thoughts, Miss Nouson... or was it Vulkie? Is that your nickname?" the professor asked.

"You may call me Miss Nouson or Vulkie. I don't care either way," she answered, before she started to think about it.

It would be hard to go by unnoticed with the preparations of the Christmas party. Either the Chief or his wife would be at home, to allow the decorators and the personnel in their homes. But this looked like it had been planned... and for a long time as well.

"Might I suggest we ask the Chief and his wife a few questions? Maybe they remember that someone went upstairs, to check on something? Or maybe they had a break-in while they were shopping?" Vulkie wondered.

The Professor nodded, before saying: "I think it's best if I ask the questions. The Chief is already on a high note and if we pressure him more, we might not be getting any work for the rest of our precious lives."

Walking towards the kitchen, they could hear the Chief ranting against his wife, who was tearing up more than the Niagara Waterfalls. "I DON'T BELIEVE THIS. MY WHOLE CHRISTMAS, RUINED. RUINED!!!" he screamed, while his wife ran outside. She probably needed to cry and didn't want the detectives to see it.

"Might we ask you a few questions, Chief? It's about something we've discovered upstairs. You might want to walk with us and see the contraption yourself," the Professor politely offered. The Chief, after a deep sigh, walked with them upstairs towards the device...


Professor Troof
Professor Troof
Lucky Stiff

Dec-22-2015 15:36

"Who has access to this room, Chief?" asked the Professor, outside the door.

"My wife and I have keys," said the Chief, "we normally keep it locked. We use it for storage - some of the Christmas decorations were in here before we got the place decked out"

"I see," said the Professor, glancing knowingly at Vulkie as he pushed open the door. He thought it best not to mention that Vulkie had expertly picked the lock earlier.

Inside the room, the Professor pointed out the trunk and pipework that had caused so much trouble. The Chief looked increasingly astonished and it was clear he knew nothing about the apparatus.

"So, this isn't your trunk?" asked the Professor.

"No, and I never asked for any pipes to be put in, and I'm darned sure I would have noticed someone spending hours up here making a racket!"

"The whole thing could have been done quite quickly with the right access," pronounced the Professor, authoritatively. "Tell me, did you have many deliveries come to the door in the last few days?"

"Yes, of course," snapped the Chief. "We had to get a lot of things in and we were all busy putting up decorations. I personally did the lights outside," explained the Chief, and added, almost snarling, "that I didn't get to turn on!"

The Chief thought for a moment, realising what the Professor was driving at.

"I remember my wife did let some delivery people come in," he said, "when they came with some of the larger things for the party that we'd ordered. They were back and forth fetching boxes in for a while, as I was putting up the lights. My wife would probably have told them to put stuff in here..." the Chief tailed off, realising they might have delivered more than he'd ordered.

"Who were the delivery people, Chief? Do you have any contact details?" pressed the Professor.


Professor Troof
Professor Troof
Lucky Stiff

Dec-22-2015 15:37

"I don't know. The details would have been arranged by the store we ordered from, Cringles, on Pleasant Hill. You know the one, they do all the festive supplies; decorations, specialist glassware. They even sorted out the band for us."

The Chief suddenly remembered the money all this had cost.

"Look," he said, "a lot of people have been in this house! Get on and find out who did it!"

Martin Kane
Martin Kane
Vigilante

Dec-28-2015 15:19

This sh- stuff is going around in my head and I'm trying to make some sense of it, but I think I'm hopelessly at sea here. Vanishing turkeys, a rather large gravy dispensing system with a seemingly single purpose of dousing the Chief's guests, all happening right under the noses of the inhabitannts. My first reaction would be to check the local loony bins. The Chief seems to have no idea how any of this happened and seems genuinely upset by it all. I think that perhaps we need to hear his wife's version of what has happened here. Although I think I might want a smaller version of this gravy system. I love gravy on my turkey though, not necessarily on my guests. Where is the Chief's wife?

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