Criminal Intent: Getting the Painting

[Edward Heinrich]

Edward laughed, "truly? Oh my." He gave a sardonic smile to the sky, Poor Mr. Clay.

Edward re-levelled his gaze upon Melanie: "You will be unsurprised to hear he has made many enemies within his short tenure. I surmise he has resolved to find greener pastures than the ones Sacramento offered him. Let alone coming here tonight, I doubt he is even within the city. You shall not be subjected to his presence."

Edward gave an opaque smile at the probing question: "I suppose we shall see soon enough, Ms. Melanie."

Her request was answered by Edward flipping the cane with ease, offering it handle first: "but, of course."

Mable's Beast registered, but not heavily; he had just seen her after all. He turned back to Melanie. "That would be my other associate. Ms. Mable Wood. Would you appreciate an introduction, Ms. Melanie?"

[Dirt Nap]

Inside, up above the lighting among the rafters, Dirt Nap in rat form notes the room with the pictures and possibly the artist in it, and begins carefully tracing the electrical cabling to a central location from which he should be able to cause the lights to fail in the building, with some strategic chewing with his sharp, rodent teeth. If he sees cameras independent of the electrical system that the lights are on, he notes that too, and looks for power cables to take them down too, after the lights are out.

[Mable Wood]

Mable gave the guard a soft sweet smile. "Thank you, Sir. I promise I will not enter until the correct time. But I am here to meet with my companion." She gives a nod towards Edward.

"Is it alright for me to go over and speak with him?" She notes his respectful tone and treats him with great respect also. After all he is just doing his job.

[Seryna]

"Doesn't surprise me much. Your buddy Dirt Nap saved that guy. I was going to give him a hell of an ass kicking." Melanie replies casually. Melanie accepts the cane from Edward. She steps a few feet away from him, so her motion of testing out its' heft and an exploratory jab is not seen as an attack upon Edward. She feels along the shaft and inspects it for several minutes, apparently looking for any hidden features. Melanie closes the distance to Edward, again standing at conversational spacing.

"I kinda like it." She replies, expertly spinning its' handle back towards Edward. Melanie turns her head and stares at Mabel. She turns her head and glances down the street for a moment and replies: "Yes, I would like that."

The guard looks from Mabel standing inside the building and back out to Edward and Melanie speaking outside of the building.
"You can go ahead and exit to speak to them, ma' am." He says politely.
"I'll see you in an hour and a half. Please exit the building at this time."
He says firmly, the suggestion now a firm order to move on. He holds the door open for her to exit.

Melanie sees this from her position outside of the building and remarks. "Oh, we tipped off Rodney, I see." She says dryly. She glances to Edward, a wry expression on her face.
"I could call the artist..." She pulls out her phone and dials, speaking to the device when it is picked up.
"Hey, it’s me. Can you come collect some friends and me at the door? Rodney is being a decent citizen about it."
A pause.
"Hey, I never meant to do that. Let's talk about it." Her voice takes on a smooth operator tone, smooth as butter. She covers the phone and says to Edward.
“Curious thing. You didn’t talk to Simone, did you?” She looks at Edward’s face closely.

Dirt Nap

Dirt Nap is able to trace the electrical wires to the central box - likely a fuse or some sort of thing. Some judicial application of chewing would likely cause the lights to fail. He does locate four cameras and their wires on his walkabout high above in the rafters.


One camera faces the door of the glass building, the one that the guard is watching. One camera is facing the entry way to the room where the art show is being held. One camera is facing down at the paintings and a few pencil drawings being hosted by Small. Small is likely in sight of the camera as well. The fourth camera seems to be facing a wall pointing at the street, perhaps to watch anyone trying to sneak in unseen from a window in another area?
He finds the wires for the lights - they are not very easy to follow, often going back into holes drilled for access in the walls.
As Dirt Nap moves, he can hear the sound of a phone ringing and being answered. He hears a cross male voice respond.
“You got some nerve, woman. Simone’s pissed at me, all because you took my painting and hung it up here! I got to get it out, now!”

[Dirt Nap]

Dirt Nap focuses on taking out the lights in the building. The cameras will have to wait.

[Edward Heinrich]

Melanie's confidence meshed with Simone's warning of Melanie's combat abilities. Edward remained relaxed with Mable close — Alessandra wouldn't choosing a Keeper who had bark without the bite to back it up. Although Mable lacks a proclivity for barking.

Edward laughed, "in all likelihood, you could have made a small fortune should you have sold tickets." If Melanie was an enemy of the Invictus, Edward figured it was best to project that he didn't take things seriously.

He accepted the cane back with a smile and turned towards Mable. "Ms. Wood!" He called out and waved. He remained turned away out of respect during the phone call but turned back at the question. "We held lengthy discourse. Forgive me, Ms. Melanie. If I had advanced knowledge of the art show, I would have made contact with you directly." A lie of omission, he would have prepared by dealing with Simone and Small anyway.

Edward thought about offering to take over the call, but they had over an hour and letting Melanie realize she had been outmaneuvered without any aggression, verbal or otherwise, seemed best to Edward. May the night remain at peace.

[Mable Wood]

Mable looked out the window. She saw the cane being waved about and smiled. Turning back to the Guard. "Thank you so much." She looks at her watch. "Gotcha, and hour and a half."

She was just about to ask to use the restroom when she glanced out the window again. Melanie was on the phone and looked stressed. A last smile at the guard, "Thanks again." She hurries out the door to face the most immediate potential issue.

"Hello." She responded warmly. She almost used the terms of endearment she had at previous encounters. A quick glance to Melanie then back to Edward.

[Seryna]

Melanie's eyes soften somewhat. "Wish I'd known that, then." She speaks to Edward.
"I need a minute to see if I can get us in earlier than the show." Melanie explains to Edward.
"Melanie." She greets Mable with an East coast accent.
She gives Mable a nod of greeting and indicates the phone as a reason for her rudeness in not giving a proper greeting. Melanie lifts one finger in the universal signal and steps aside to speak on the phone.

Behind the three, the guard carefully flips the lock and secures the door. Edward and Mable have some time to have a semi private word while Melanie is distracted.

Dirt Nap is able to work his way into the box to reveal his task. He would have to continue at it for some time to complete his task. Dirt Nap, give me a Dexterity + Larceny extended roll with a target of 10 successes. Each roll is going to represent 3 minutes of work.

[Dirt Nap]

Dirt Nap gnaws in earnest with great resolve, though inexpertly.

Gnawing for 36 minutes to get 10 sux to bring down the lights.

1 success

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2020-11-27 22:49:10	[01] Dirt Nap rolls 3 to chew through wiring with rat teeth (Rat form Dex 4 + Larceny 0 -1) (10 Again)	1, 6, 9	1 success

2 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2020-11-27 22:49:10	[02] Dirt Nap rolls 3 to chew through wiring with rat teeth (Rat form Dex 4 + Larceny 0 -1) (10 Again)	2, 1, 10, 8	2 successes

2 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2020-11-27 22:49:10	[03] Dirt Nap rolls 3 to chew through wiring with rat teeth (Rat form Dex 4 + Larceny 0 -1) (10 Again)	8, 9, 6	2 successes

1 success

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2020-11-27 22:49:10	[04] Dirt Nap rolls 3 to chew through wiring with rat teeth (Rat form Dex 4 + Larceny 0 -1) (10 Again)	8, 6, 2	1 success

failure

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2020-11-27 22:49:10	[05] Dirt Nap rolls 3 to chew through wiring with rat teeth (Rat form Dex 4 + Larceny 0 -1) (10 Again)	7, 5, 7	failure

1 success

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2020-11-27 22:49:10	[06] Dirt Nap rolls 3 to chew through wiring with rat teeth (Rat form Dex 4 + Larceny 0 -1) (10 Again)	1, 3, 8	1 success

failure

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2020-11-27 22:49:10	[07] Dirt Nap rolls 3 to chew through wiring with rat teeth (Rat form Dex 4 + Larceny 0 -1) (10 Again)	7, 5, 7	failure

1 success

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2020-11-27 22:49:10	[08] Dirt Nap rolls 3 to chew through wiring with rat teeth (Rat form Dex 4 + Larceny 0 -1) (10 Again)	2, 8, 6	1 success

failure

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2020-11-27 22:49:10	[09] Dirt Nap rolls 3 to chew through wiring with rat teeth (Rat form Dex 4 + Larceny 0 -1) (10 Again)	7, 7, 4	failure

1 success

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2020-11-27 22:49:10	[10] Dirt Nap rolls 3 to chew through wiring with rat teeth (Rat form Dex 4 + Larceny 0 -1) (10 Again)	10, 6, 7, 7	1 success

failure

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2020-11-27 22:52:12	Dirt Nap rolls 3 to to chew through wiring with rat teeth (Rat form Dex 4 + Larceny 0 -1) (10 Again)	4, 2, 3	failure

1 success

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2020-11-27 22:52:26	Dirt Nap rolls 3 to to chew through wiring with rat teeth (Rat form Dex 4 + Larceny 0 -1) (10 Again)	10, 6, 2, 6	1 success

[Mable Wood]

Mable gives Melanie a smile and a nod.

To Edward, "Are we still a 'couple' or have we given up that pretense? My friend is hard at work and may be a bit late." She lifted a brow. Hoping he would understand that Dirt Nap was on it.

"It's such a lovely evening. Perhaps when Melanie is off the phone we could go down to that coffee shop? I'd like to get a treat for the Guard. He was very sweet to me." Mable suggested.