(AGTOO) A Crow Left of the Murder

[Vincent]

1 PM, hands are shaken and the last customer leaves the gallery satisfied. With his associates gone for lunch, the Moros occupies his office, bereft of distractions.
Alone with his thoughts.
For the past few days his attempts at contacting the Portland consilium have been rebuked. No single call has been taken, no reason has been offered. His nightmares have subsided, a sign perhaps denoting less urgency than they had anticipated, but the Necromancer knows that danger always lurks beneath the dark waters, no matter how calm the sea might appear to be.
He sits at his desk immersed in an eerie silence, a stony expression on his face. His gaze falls over a copy of today's SacBee, he recognizes one of the pictures on the front page, it's a shot of Gagosian's gallery.

Slow paced plot via glimpses, this way Campanella won't be left out of the game. Since it's a glimpse, it won't hit continuity until the thread is closed and that gives us a bit more of freedom and flexibility

Campanella Yumyumcrow

[Vincent]

Campanella Yumyumcrow Bumpage

[Campanella]

Silence is golden.

Sighing with relief, Campanella slides into his chair and massages his temples. The morning had been particularly gruelling with a number of meetings and some tough bargains to boot. And the Moros knew that beneath it all, his lack of progress with the Portland Consilium was gnawing at him.

The quiet of his office was solace and for a few long, treasured, moments he simply sat and relaxed in his chair.

Eventually he roused himself and turned to the tasks of petty administration.

Which was precisely when he noticed the Sac Bee and the story it was running. He saw it. Paused. Tried to ignore it. Got up and made some coffee.

Saw the paper again, staring - no, pleading like an unhappy pet demanding attention - up at him from his desk.

His mouth twisted into a grimace as he settled into his chair.

He reached out, took up the paper and began to read.

What is the story about? Any connection to what happened at the gallery?

[Vincent]

It's not the sport section that catches the Moros' attention but the Crime headlines, two succinct reports tucked away in a small corner of the page.
The first one recounts of an unclaimed terrorist attack against a convention center in Portland, two days ago. At least ten bodies were recovered from the charred remains of the building.
Strange that he hadn't heart of the news before.

And then there's that shot of Gagosian's, right beneath the suggestive headline of Murder in the Museum, like that old movie. Under normal circumstances, the Hierarch would have dismissed the article for what it was, a piece of speculative fiction, yet the details rang true with what he knew.
According to Tricia Smith, the reporter, Gagosian was involved with the Cartels. Large shipments of illicit substances transited under his name, the profits were then funnelled through his companies, either to finance the purchase of art or the forgery of manufacts.
What the Moros wasn't privy to, were the gory details of his acquaintance's grisly demise. A settling of scores, which according to the writer's source, exhibited a level of violence uncommon even for this kind of Gang related crime. The unlucky fellow had been hacked to pieces, each body part had then been arranged around a wooden cross in some form of ritualistic pattern.
According to Officer Julius Luther - the detective assigned to the case - this level of violence sans the peculiar arrangement did fit the modus operandi of the Cartels South of Mexico, nevertheless, to not leave anything unturned the police had requested the records of the mobile cells in the area and requisitioned the victim's phones.

Suddenly the Hierarch's placid reading is interrupted. The phone on his desk rings.

[Campanella]

Campanella's mouth twisted again. He placed down his coffee mug and lifted the paper with both hands. The familiar throb pulsed at his jaw as he read the articles.

Scanning quickly, the re-reading more slowly, the Moros found himself ignoring the more lurid details written in glorious, gory, detail by the media hack. He was more interested in the words (no, the name) of the police officer. Luther - it tingled the back of his memory, a hint from a conversation at the beginning of the year...

But before he can reflect further, the phone rings.

Grunting sourly, he casts aside his paper and picks up his phone...

And some book keeping: -

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2019-09-24 05:57:50		Campy to recognise occult symbolism rolls 6 to Intelligence + Occult (10 Again)		2, 5, 6, 3, 4, 5		failure

  

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2019-09-24 05:58:40		Campy might recall stuff rolls 6 to Intelligence + Composure (10 Again)		4, 5, 9, 10, 4, 3, 3		2 successes

Campy misses any important clues relating to how the body was carved up and... arranged.

Campy may recall Officer Luther's name from his discussions with Eurydice at the start of the plot. I can't remember off the top of my head if she dropped Luther's name or not. I leave that in the ST's hands.

[Vincent]

He had heard that name before, straight from Eurydice's lips. It was the detective leading the Eisenduller investigation. Call it a Guardian's farewell gift.
The Moros is quick on the uptake, one does not simply become Hierarch or achieve mastery if he can't connect dots. The police was investigating Gagosian's contacts. No doubt that he would be on that list, if not for his conversation with the man a few days before, then for the sheer number of calls the two idiots had made to his phone the night of the crime. But he had been careful, he had avoided the cameras.
Those carvings though, a description could only go so far, without a picture or access to the scene, even his library and experience were of little use.

From the other side of the phone, the raucous voice of a man: "Is this ***. I'm Detective Luther of the Sacramento Police Department. May I speak with Mr. *"

[Campanella]

Campanella does not miss a beat, though if anyone was there to witness it, there was a slight stiffening to his posture.

"This is Frederick Bartram, yes. How can be of service, Detective?"

[Vincent]

"Hey, shut up. I'm on the phone", you hear the other man shout in a vain attempt to silence whoever is disrupting your conversation,"Hmm, Mr. Bartram, yes. My name is Julius Luther of the Sacramento police department. I was referred to you by Miss Daniels down at the Crockers Museum. Your name came up when she praised your reputation as an antique dealer, and mentioned that you could help us in appraising certain works we recovered from a crime scene. For a fee of course", he concludes.
The detective is direct, as if he's running off a script, something he's tried and tested several times already.
"̶̤̠̼̤͓̯Ḏ̺͡o̼n̲̰̺̞̬̣̗'̣͕̟͓͖͇̝͜t̶͎̙̰ ̴̭ṱ̗̖r̟̕u͕s͞t͚͓̹̼ ̷̫̼h̙̹̺͕ͅi͍͍̖͎̦̱̮m͚̺͔.̬̪͝ ̧͈̣̣͉͚Ḫ̶͇̙̦̻̹e͍͇̯̤̹̙͢'͈̯͙͇̹̪̭s̥̖̖̙̥̖̠ ͢l̙͇͢ỳ͚͔̻̼̣̩̙i̜̹̫̜̙͝n̢g̤̙͉͉̰"̖͕̰̩̙

[Campanella]

Campanella frowned and resisted the urge to take the receiver away from his face as the conflicted noises - and speech - registered in his mind. He really needed to practice more with Mind to filter out these unwanted intrusions!

"I see." Campanella said with his mouth wrinkling in distaste.

"I would be happy to assist your investigation, of course, but please let us waive the fee. I am only a citizen doing his duty. Were the staff at the Crocker unable to value the recovered works, or are you seeking a second opinion?"

The Moros spoke carefully, measuring his words.

Was there even a Miss Daniel's working at the Crocker Gallery?

  

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2019-10-05 00:10:05		Campy to recognise name dropped Crocker Gallery staff rolls 6 to Intelligence + Composure (10 Again)		10, 8, 7, 5, 4, 9, 5		3 successes

[Vincent]

There is a Miss Daniels working as a curator at Crocker's, he's heard that name before. Nevertheless, the question automatically arises. Gagosian dealt contemporary art, and the warehouse stored a considerable amount of pre-columbian artifacts. His domain expertise lies within antiques, that much was known among the circles of Sacramento cultural elite. Off the top of his head he could name at least half dozen of people in the area more qualified than he was in the appraisal of those specific items. Certainly the police, with a list of authorized consultants, would know. As much as the endorsement was welcome, either Daniels was mistaken or somebody was lying.

"Hmm", the cop offers back, "we're thankful for your generosity. Truth be told, it's a preliminary appraisal, we have chosen to not involve the Museum any further, too many eyes looking into something that right now requires the utmost discretion. It's a sensitive investigation, you should understand. We haven't even moved most of the works. Are you familiar with the owner of the Gagosian gallery, downtown?", BINGO.