At that moment two policemen and three men in suits enter the room. One of the suited men says. "If you would please take your sets." The men sit at conference table at the head of the room and tall well dressed man with short gray hair in his mid 40's stands up. "Welcome everyone and I would like to make some introductions. I am District Attorney Chester Boulder." He then indicated the slightly overweight balding policeman with a salt and pepper beard next to him. "This Police Captain Jules Matheson, NYPD. The other policeman next to him is Sergeant Ben McGarnangle, NYPD" A slender man in his 30's with a pockmarked face. " Dr. R'as Al Gourdie, police coroner", a balding man with tuffs of gray hair on the sides and yellow eyes "and Dr. Blake Conrad, a psychiatric consultant for the FBI". He is in his early fifties with a Freudian beard and gold rimmed spectacles.
D.A. Boulder begins. "Welcome. You have been called here to form a core of a task force to apprehend a killer or killers. You might have wondered why needed to call upon all of you for this. To the point, we believe these are serial murders and that they are out of the ordinary, as you will see. We want minimal press coverage of this investigation. We feel that if certain details of the killings are released, it may cause a panic. The autopsy reports are currently sealed - we are labeling the deaths 'Undetermined cause, still under investigation'."
Captain Matheson then stands and
speaks. He drops a few files on the table. McGarnagle hands one to each task force member. Each folder contains profiles of the two victims, the autopsy reports, and a map of SoHo showing the location of both murders. "Their names are Wendy Hughes, age 27, and Lori Atkinson, age 22." says Matheson.
Dr. Conrad speaks up. "The motive of the killings was not robbery, not vengeance, and not rape."
Matheson clears his throat and studies the assembled members' faces. "There is more to this weirdness. We have witnesses to the killings. I am going to play the taped statements of both. We felt that the first witness was an unreliable drunk, until we heard the witness to the second murder. Their testimonies seem to support each other.
Matheson motions for his aide, Sgt. McGarnagle to set up the tapes. "The first witness is Horace Cobb. He was picked up for questioning when the police searched the area of the first killing. He was found drinking, babbling about monsters. He saw a pretty woman attacked near the area that he was sprawled. She matched the description of Wendy Hughes." He motions for Sgt. McGarnagle to start the
tape.
OOC: His complete statement is below.
Dr. Conrad the speaks up. "The
next tape your are about to hear is from Ms. Kate Rowlins, the person who walked home with the second victim. She was Lori Atkinson's roommate. She saw the killing take place before her eyes. However, the event has severely traumatized her. The following dialogue is an interview of Kate Rowlins at Bellevue Hospital. Due to her agitated state she was given two milligrams of lorazepam before the interview. This allowed her a few moments of lucidity."
OOC: Her statement is below.
After the interview is played Dr. Conrad continues. "Even with addition medication we have not been able to bring her back to a state of lucidity. Currently she is in a dissociative catatonic state."
D.A. Boulder then says. "Both witnesses, of course, are questionable in their ability to give an accurate history, but we are probably dealing with a maniac or maniacs into ritual killings, or who think they are Dracula!"
Dr. Conrad nods and
says.
Matheson adds. "We are probably dealing with a sadistic, psychotic psychopath who is high on drugs. We want him caught fast, before he kills again. I recall that a few months back that a group of kids who were into blood drinking in South Carolina were also into Goth culture. They killed their parents as well. We need someone to check on that angle as well. McGarnagle can show you some of the Manhattan nightspots that those punks hang out in. Maybe you can also check into any patterns of the killings with those new fangled computers you Fed's have. I hope some of you will help out in forensics as well." You notice Dr. Gourdie give a slight scowl at that last statement. "A few of you might also be able to shed light on the occult thinking of the killer or killers. If they are part of some satanic cult, vampire cult, or whatnot. So, are there any questions?"
