(Cold Case) Away Team back home

[Samaritan]

Truce started sifting through the case files. They were quite thick. A lot of evidence, it appeared. Lists with persons of interests. Suspects. Statements. Why had Cook been in posession of case files, that were six to seven years old? Were those files closed?
Cook was listed as investigating officer for both cases. He had been responsible for interviews of several persons of interest. The missing persons were one Thomas Wilkins, 21 years of age, medical student and one Charlene Thompson, age 23 and a promising college hockey player, that might turn professional one day.
It was a lot of material. And Truce wasn't sure, if the reports were entirely complete. Regarding Hollis Cooks involvement in the murders, it was entirely possible, that these files were devoid of all hard evidence, which would incriminate Jim Denton or Hollis Cook themselves. Was that Cooks story? Did he tell people, that this was his "hobby-case"? Something which had been dismissed as unresolved but deemed to be not worthy of the police departments time, because more pressing cases needed attention?

Sighting and evaluating the files to get another lead would require an extended Intelligence + Investigation roll with a base of 5 successes and an increment of 30 minutes per roll. Finding related newspaper articles would be a simple Intelligence + Computer roll.

[Truce]

  Evaluate Files, 1.5 hours | Newspaper Articles, 2suxx

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-12-07 12:21:34		Truce rolls 5 to look for news articles on the computer [INT+Comp] (10 Again)		2, 8, 4, 8, 2		2 successes
2014-12-07 12:20:39		[03] Truce rolls 6 to examine the missing person files for another lead [INT+Inv] (10 Again)		1, 8, 4, 4, 8, 7		2 successes
2014-12-07 12:20:39		[02] Truce rolls 6 to examine the missing person files for another lead [INT+Inv] (10 Again)		3, 5, 1, 7, 5, 4		failure
2014-12-07 12:20:39		[01] Truce rolls 6 to examine the missing person files for another lead [INT+Inv] (10 Again)		8, 6, 6, 1, 10, 2, 9		3 successes

For the next hour and a half, Truce pours over the files, trying to reconstruct a timeline in his mind. Were there patterns, reasons for targeting these two individuals? Their connection to Denton was pretty straightforward by their own testimonies. But why, and for what purpose? It seems more than the thrill of inflicting pain. The symbolism and ritual had to have greater meaning. What was the meaning behind the Asclepios? It resembled the Caduceus that he had been familiar with in his medical training.

Truce grabs a notepad from the other room and begins to take notes of his findings.

[Samaritan]

It was tedious, but after spending some time and effort, Truce was able to paint a picture. The timeline after each incident was more or less the same. Someone went missing. Initial search was unsuccessful. The list of suspects was updated to include the parents in order to make a case for domestic violence, abuse or something else along those lines. Interviews and interrogations did not produce conclusive evidence for putting someone behind bars. In both cases, a private investigator named Aaron Cleric was named as a contractor to produce evidence. His reports on the files suggested, that someone was laying a false trail. His investigations were turned down as circumstantial both times.
After six months, investigations were stopped and the officers reassigned to other duties. There were requests from the parents to continue investigating, but they were turned down. Officially, Thomas and Charlene were most likely still reported as missing. The name Jim Denton never appeared on any of those lists. Not even as a witness. That, as well as some considerable gaps in the reports, where investigations seemingly dead-ended, lead Truce to believe, that Cook had indeed covered for the murder and mislead authorities.

The newspapers were something else. Most articles were from a local newspaper in Portland and all of them were either written by or edited by someone called Andrew Preacher. The articles painted an entirely different picture. Either their authors were hell-bent on increasing the sales of the paper or there was some kind of unseen conflict. All in all, there were twelve cases of missing persons documented by articles. While the two reports of Cook suggested some random acts of violence or something related, the articles hammered accusations at a clinic in downtown Portland, that belonged to a financial group owning several retirement homes, clinics and a pharmaceutical company. The whole story culminated in the investment group being ran into the ground by an investigation, which turned up cases of corruption, ethical misconduct and medical malpractice in all related institutions.
The latest article from roughly 8 years ago stated, that three members of the board of the investment group committed suicide. One of their names caught Truces eye.

Jim Denton.

Even more curious was the fact, that the author of most of the cases seemed to be a resident of Sacramento nowadays. Andrew Preacher worked for the Sacramento Bee. One of his recent articles described a drug bust in one of the bad parts of Sac, no older than 2 months. It seemed, he was still active in his field of investigative journalism. Maybe he could shed some light on the whole affair...

[Truce]

Truce's hopes built up as he began to draw the lines, connecting the events and Cook's involvements. This Andrew Preacher seems to have done much of the work for him, it seems. And then Jim Denton, dead from suicide, no doubt backed into a corner and desperate. Perhaps the cult really was gone. The letter Cook had received seems to imply as much, but Truce wouldn't have been satisfied with that alone. There is Chelsea to think about.

"It says here Jim Denton is dead," he says aloud but then realizes that his spell has fizzled out to speak with his dead occupants. He recasts the rote with a few gestures and repeats himself. "Jim Denton is dead, suicide it seems. Looks like whatever organization he was a part of was dealt with eight years ago. But apparently that didn't stop Cook from continuing his murderous habits."

Truce taps his pen against his chin thoughtfully as he processes all he's learned. He should at least touch base with this Preacher fellow, confirm his findings. He didn't wish to draw too much attention from a journalist, especially a sharp one, but he could just play ignorant if the Sleeper pressed him on anything sensitive.

Truce looks for a phone number for Andrew Preacher if listed, whether at the Sacramento Bee or elsewhere on the internet. He could always glance through the yellow pages as well.

[Samaritan]

Charlene manifests next to Truce.
"Oh, he tried. But I wouldn't let him. I was the last one he worked his knife upon. Cook was a murderer in Portland back then, but just a cop in Sacramento for seven years." she whispered.
"She is right. That was our sole purpose in existance. Keeping him from murdering others. When we could." Thomas agreed.

Andrew Preacher was listed in the yellow pages and on the website of the Sacremento Bee along with phone-numbers, E-mail adresses and office hours.

[Truce]

"Then I'd have to say you both made good use of your time in Twilight. For each life you saved, you've ensured that your deaths were not in vain," replies Truce with a soft smile. In the end Cook was outdone by his own karma, his crimes literally came back to haunt him. A fitting end for the man, he supposes.

If it isn't too late in the day, Truce takes his phone in hand and dials the number for Andrew Preacher.

Ring Ring