Log:Guilt Complex, Scene 23

Guilt Complex 2013/11/04 	 Bee Sapphire Shield 23

Champions Mush - Monday, November 04, 2013, 5:54 PM

Dear Vicki,

While reviewing the ritual murders case, I came across a disturbing series of events. At this point in my investigation, it is pretty easy to connect the dots. The main thing now will be collecting evidence to actually *prove* what we suspect is true followed by a swat-style attack on the final location. However, when we cast our minds back to the dockyard, the suspiscious timing of certain events leads me to believe that some of the people supposedly investigating this crime may also be involved.

As you remember, the plan appeared to be "Feds show up to execute warrants, ambushed by mechs, mechs fight to railyard, blow up track and a minute later the train with the poison gas arrives." For that to work, the feds had to show up at pretty much exactly the right time. If they had been fifteen minutes late, for instance, the train would have been and gone. Similarly if they had been fifteen minutes early the meta-humans would have had a chance to stop the train.

So how does a criminal organization control the actions of federal law enforcement that exactly? I'm assuming a mole, but they have already controlled more than 70 people in flawless choreography already, so mind control is possible too. Whether a mole or mind control, the only conclusion remains that freely sharing information with law enforcement may badly compromise the investigation. However, if I proceed with this investigation alone without police verification, I may be compromising any chance of conviction. What I need is filtered law enforcement, and I am trusting you to be that filter.

I consulted with a magical authority and determined five locations where the patients would have to be for the ten ritual slayings to have affected them. As you can see from the enclosed map, the locations are not located on the vertices if the pentagram as would have been the case if there were only five murders at the points of the pentagram. These locations turned out to just be a starting point because smaller (non-fatal) rituals near the ideal locations drew the energy indoors out of public view. Otherwise, how would the target be affected and not a bystander?

In the suburban setting there is one house currently unoccupied, it's owner died in a traffic accident three months ago and the estate is still being processed. It is located about twenty meters from the map mark.

In the apartment blocks you have a short list of locations you would consider suitable for providing discrete access with a gurney. Of those, only two have changed hands in the past six months, one of those the family is still there, the other candidate is locked up and apparently deserted though it's rent is paid off. The apartment is about fifteen meters from the map mark: the mark in this case falls in the car park

In colonial heights the four estates are roughly equally plausible and none are vacant. Silver Spider was made aware of this location and concluded that the ritual took place in the home of Mr Sylvestri, based solely on an anagram she made of his name, but it is his neighbor's estate that interests you more - it is regularly accessed by an ambulance.

I started my physical examination with the vacant house. In the house (and later in the apartments) anti-intruder equipment was wired to the door and windows which if disturbed will set off a large incendiary. In addition, a photon detector in a darkened room would have activated the device had I employed a light instead of night vision goggles.

The house is scrupulously clean. Particularly the room nearest to the mark, and your surmise is correct, they seem to have prepped that room to attract magical enemies, much of the evidence has been removed, and they've gone to some trouble but there are still traces of wax and bloo in that room, which incidentally contains a gurney and a selection of the stolen medical gear. It has been washed down with what seems like industrial grade antiseptic and an organic solvent. Moving through the house my impressions are: (a) the intruders had keys (b) they did their best to stay inside the house and out of sight of the neighborhood (c) they only used a small portion of the house

The only guess I have as to why they left equipment and didn't torch the place was that they may have judged removing the equipment would increase their profile and destroying it would bring attention to this spot and its involvement in the ritual and would lead to immediate identification of the other sites. Now here, they have successfully kept a low profile, no surveillance cameras, no security footage, no atms, not much traffic. The same is NOT true for their office space"

This situation begged another question: why is this house not on the market, three months is a long time. In this case, the executor is a law firm: Wolfram and Associates.

After leaving the house, a search of Wolfram and Associates showed that they have handled some minor matters arising in the affairs of Gerald Spencer, Miles Sylvestri's neighbor: Gerald Spencer who is on life support and whose family are bickering incessantly over control of his fortune. Also Wolfram & Associates were part of the legal team representing a pesticide company who brought harassment charges against several environmentalist groups. That company owned the shipment on of MIC on the train at the docks. Wolfram & Associates have also down work for several companies in the office complex, including their own office.

On checking the financial transactions associated with the apartment I traced back to a supposedly private account that is fairly recent and that doesn't possess a regular income, two million dollars was deposited as a lump sum and paid out in small amounts. Money from that account was used to rent storage space in one of the warehouses in the warehouse district your interested in and office space in a corporate structure

Property rentals though an estate agent cannot legally be conducted with cash.

After teleporting inside the apartment and disabling the incendiary, I found the same situation repeated, though on this occasion as they were in the apartment legally they didn't keep as low a profile.

At the warehouse space, I did not contaminate the scene with my presence. I restricted my active search to cameras outside the space. The security camera directly observing the warehouse seems to have been vandalized, but when I spread the search to access points I noticed at the corner is a traffic mirror. In warehouse areas these mirrors allow truck drivers to make sure they're not going to hit anyone or anything coming round the corner. So the cameras around the corner may have picked up something. Also, out on the main street there are several establishments with security cameras. Even if they didn't pick up people walking into the building, they may have picked up cars entering or leaving, even cars with faces inside.

During a cursory review I was able to get an image of a van that you could tell accessed the storage unit. His face is different now but gait analysis demonstrates conclusively he was one of the four people at the hospital. A clearer view of his face can be found on CCTV footage buying coffee.

I realize that this has been a frustrating case and that it has taken some time before conventional investigative techniques have come into play, but now you have that evidence at your disposal. Non-military domestic issues are outside Starguard jurisdiction, so I cannot get warrants for listening equipment, etc and I want to do everything by the book so no one can be accused by a defense attorney of planting evidence. That's one of the reasons I started with the locations least likely to actually have evidence.

Go get them. Call me if you want help.

Bee