Delta Green Campaign: Our Ladies of Sorrow [Part 2]

 

The team reconvenes at the breakfast to plan out the day. HORATIO comes in late, smelling of cigarettes and with a half drunk 4Loko in his hand. JETHRO and HORATIO volunteer to canvas the other residents of the Three Sisters, and to see if they can take a look at the sealed apartments of the 4th and 5th floors. WALLADA decides to do some research on the Three Sisters Building while she waits for a response from Kurt Winter. QASIM and Bravie will head to secure the Green Box before QASIM meets with the coroner to take custody of Ryder's corpse. 

HORATIO and JETHRO get to the Three Sisters a little bit before 7 am and decide to make their presence known to the building superintendent Todd Beach. The Agents inform him of their investigation into the death of Frank Ryder and say that they'll need access to the sealed floors. Clearly torn between being intimidated by two officers of the law and his employer, Todd Beach demurs and says he'll have to call the building's owner first and that they should talk to her. HORATIO enthusiastically agrees through gritted teeth as the balding man retreats back into his apartment. 

Before making their way to the 4th floor, HORATIO and JETHRO take a moment to individually speak with Maria Infante of apartment 302 and Maddie Mercer of apartment 301 respectively. Knocking on apartment 301, JETHRO is greeted by Sisters of Mercy loudly playing on a stereo and a black haired 19 year old woman with a tooth brush in her mouth. She invites him in so talk while she gets ready to go to nursing classes at UIW. Having already finished all her coffee, she offers JETHRO her only two other drinks, orange juice and Pabst Blue Ribbon. Politely declining, JETHRO begins asking about Frank Ryder. Maddie is saddened by the death of the "consummate old gentleman," explaining that he was best friends with her boyfriend, Kurt Winter, and that they bonded over a mutual love of literature and poetry. It isn't everyday you find someone who can recite Poe by memory. 

When asked if Frank Ryder had been acting strangely the last few weeks, Maddie mentions that he and her boyfriend recently seem to have been convinced that the building was haunted, something she laughs off dismissively, pointedly saying that "reality has a duller edge than fiction and fantasy, but most people can't really accept that." When asked about strange dreams or nightmares, Maddie says she doesn't dream before sarcastically asking if unlawful dreaming was a part of the Texas Rangers' jurisdiction. 

HORATIO's second interview with Ms. Infante is somewhat more fruitful, almost as if she sees a kindred spirit now in his bitter, sleepless eyes. The first thing HORATIO notices is that Ms. Infante's apartment is packed with Catholic paraphernalia, crucifixes and votive candles competing for space with portraits of of Jesus, the Virgin Mary, the Pope, and black and white photos of a young married couple from a life long lost.

HORATIO's questions are much more to the point this round, though Maria isn't able to offer much. She says that's she's only lived in the building for 6 years since her old home was condemned. She says she knows the building is old, but it's never had any sort of reputation that she ever heard of. She cautions him that the works of Satan are many, both clear and hidden, and that he must walk with Jesus if he hopes for salvation. Handing him a rosary and promising to light a candle for him at the Basilica, HORATIO exits to re-unite with JETHRO to conduct their search. 

Upon reaching the 4th floor, HORATIO and JETHRO find a wall separating the two apartments facing the street, 402 and 403, from the rest of the 4th floor and that the stairs leading to the 5th floor have been completely walled off with a padlocked door barring entry. Examining the wall more closely, HORATIO notices scratches on the tile floor indicating the wall can be moved, and upon carefully removing the flimsy base-board and edging the pair discover that the wall can be made to pivot, allowing access to the sealed half of the 4th floor.

The hall smells of smoke, and fire damage can clearly be seen. Judging from the distribution of the soot, the door to apartment 402 had been opened relatively recently. Exploring the burnt apartment, the pair find impressions in the soot of furniture or equipment that had been moved into the apartment and then moved back out, as well as evidence of a hole drilled through the wall to apartment 401 large enough to run wires through. As they ponder the implications of this, a women's chuckle can be heard from the shadows. As they shine their lights to where they think they heard the laughter, a voice only HORATIO can hear says "oh, I remember you, my dear" 

JETHRO only hears HORATIO start to mutter a litany of curses and vividly descriptive threats of violence to a party not present, and suggests that perhaps they should wait for the rest of the team to join them before continuing on. Agreeing, they make their way to leave sealed section when they begin to catch the refrains of a song from an unknown location that ceases upon crossing the threshold to the inhabited portion of the apartment.

Meanwhile, QASIM and Bravie arrive at the Law Office of Darnell Guerra to take inventory of its contents before moving it to a newly set up Green Box. Its contents can be found here, with the only item taken is an illegally modified, fully automatic MAC10, which Bravie Soto gleefully spouting quotes from GTA San Andreas as he points it around, much to QASIM's dismay. They're just finishing transferring the items to the new Green Box at the U-Haul self storage when they get the call from JETHRO to pick up WALLADA and meet them at the Three Sisters.

Making their way downstairs, JETHRO and HORATIO encounter Bridget Willis of apartment 204 walking her 8 year old daughter to the bus stop for school. Naomi is very excited to see a "real cowboy" and says she likes drawing Cowboys and Indians after finding some old crayon drawings of them in the basement. When asked about seeing any strange old women around the apartment, Naomi mentions how "Gramma" comes to visit, with Bridget quickly explaining that "Gramma" is Naomi's imaginary friend. Naomi cheerfully says that Gramma tells her all kinds of stories about old times and people who live or used to live in the building. When asked where they could find "Gramma" Naomi simply says "I think she's already found you, you'll probably get to see her soon." HORATIO turns away to hide his uncontrollably twitching left eye and Bridget, thoroughly weirded out says she has to get Naomi to the bus stop and then to work, but she says she gets off work at 10 if they have more questions. Tipping his Stetson, JEHTRO wishes them a good day and Naomi says in her best John Wayne voice "take her easy, pilgrim." 

With some time to kill before Bravie shows up with QASIM and WALLADA, JETHRO and HORATIO decide to investigate the basement. Unusual for most buildings in the city, the Three Sisters has a full basement housing several laundry machines, the boiler, and some storage space. Descending the stairs, they hear one of the machines running and investigate to see a Korean man in an HEB uniform smoking a cigarette and watching a washing machine on spin cycle. With JETHRO's alertness and HORATIO's HUMINT, they're able to tell that though he's not facing them, he's noticed them and is monitoring them through the reflection in the washing machines, electing to not let them know he's aware of their presence. 

Deciding to play his game, the pair announce themselves. In a noticeable but understandable Korean accent, the man introduces himself as Walter Park, apartment 401. He's guarded but friendly, happy to answer questions but using it as an opportunity to ask many questions about HORATIO and JETHRO. He's suspicious, but he's hiding it very well. HORATIO throws him a curveball by asking if he was ever a soldier, commenting on his baring, but Mr. Park simply answers in the affirmative, he did his compulsory military service under the military dictatorship of  Major General Chun Doo-hwan in the 80s, just like all South Korean men his age. Intrigued but unconvinced that he's truly related to their investigation, the pair wish him a good day and make their way to search the storage area.

It's not hard to find the box with the drawings Naomi spoke of, as she apparently looked through them often. Clearly very old, the drawings are all signed "William Dodge" and are dated 1920 or 1921. An Idea roll estimates the artist is eight to ten years old. Among the pictures is one of a woman dressed in black kneeling on the ground amid dozens of crosses; a lady with three dogs on leashes; a few pictures of the outline of a child’s hand; an ornate silver key; a gold bug; countless drawings of various types of dinosaurs, often fighting each other in bloody combat; several more of cowboys and Indians fighting, sometimes on horseback; a man accompanied by a dark humanoid shape with bird wings; an evil-looking woman with a big bloody knife; and a leering witch and a cat with arched back standing next to a black cauldron with a hand protruding from it; and finally, perhaps most ominously, an exceedingly well drawn face of an old woman, her eyes closed. Almost as soon as JETHRO looks at this final drawing, the lights go out.  

JETHRO and HORATIO spend a few panic stricken seconds in the dark before hearing Mr Park's voice say "oh sorry, sometime the dryer flips the breaker. Let me fix it" and the lights return. The reveal something disturbing that JETHRO chooses to keep to himself; the drawing of the old woman now has open eyes. 

WALLADA is just finishing up doing some research in her motel room when one of the lightbulbs burns out. Getting up to inspect it, she notices how the new play of lights seems to have created a second shadow of herself. Sleep deprived, she writes it off and heads to the parking lot to get in Bravie's Taurus. Open opening the door, the back seat ceiling light loudly burns out. Cursing the Ford Motor Company, Bravie drives QASIM and WALLADA to the Three Sisters. 

They arrive at the building just as JETHRO and HORATIO are ascending the stairs to find three figures standing in the main hallway. An well coiffed middle age woman immediately focuses on the the two men her employee Todd Beach called about. Pointedly introducing herself as the building owner, Layla Starrett she demands to know what they're doing in her building. When they tell her that they're investigating the death of a federal employee, Frank Ryder, Layla points out that the police stated his death was an accident, that he had not been a federal employee for decades, and that he was two months behind on rent with no living will or next of kin, thus entitling her to liquidate his belongings with the help of her appraiser, Jerry Nagel. 

HORATIO attempts to use his FBI intimidation tactics, stating Frank Ryder's work was as a consultant for national security and begins spouting off lines about obstruction of justice and the PATRIOT Act. This is a mistake, as her lawyer Saul Goldberg cuts him off saying "so nearly everything you just spouted is pure bullshit, and I will not allow you to intimidate my client." JETHRO and HORATIO engage in a little social combat with the utterly fearless Goldberg, but it's not long before they realize discretion is the better part of valor and depart, with JETHRO having to give Saul Goldberg WALLADA's phone number, saying it's his DPS supervisor. 

 The three non-law enforcement members of the team (well, Bravie technically is a member of federal law enforcement, just with a narrow remit) had already reached that conclusion and chose to wait down the street where they would meet with JETHRO and HORATIO to discuss further actions. QASIM had taken the time to set up a conference call in the secure Green Box with LAMBERT at 3:00 pm for a status report and further orders. This left them with a good portion of the afternoon to kill. WALLADA opts to do more research in the newspaper archives as she waits for a call from Kurt Winter for an interview while QASIM has a not so hot date with the morgue to take custody of Ryder's corpse and personal belongings. 

JETHRO and HORATIO are a little less then enthused by Bravie's new choice of fire arm, particularly when he says "I've played GTA, I know how to use this thing. It's basically a street sweeper, right?" HORATIO calmly suggests that he and Bravie spend the afternoon at the range so Bravie can learn some of the finer points of firearms while JETHRO decides to stick close to his Bronco as a mobile reactive element in case anything happens to the others that requires his rapid assistance. 

Either Bravie is a good student or HORATIO is a good teacher, because Bravie gains a full 5% to his firearms for a total of 25% (god help us all). 

QASIM uses his credentials to pose as a VA case worker to take custody of Ryder's body, something made much easier by his lack of a next of kin. The city would rather not be burdened with the corpse of someone who died in a traffic accident, after all. In fact, that's something that disturbs QASIM greatly when reading the attached police report. There is no mention of any old woman being seen with him at time of death, despite numerous eye witness testimonies. Apparently, only QASIM, Ryder, and the rest of the team saw that vicious old crone. 

Recovering Ryder's personal affects, QASIM finds two things of note. A temple recommend card, blank except for what appear to be coordinates, and the key to a footlocker, both inside his wallet. 

WALLADA is able to assemble a fairly complete timelines of obituaries associated with the Three Sisters building, as well as acquiring an article on the building's construction by the Salmon Sisters in 1892. What most disturbs WALLADA is the countenance of Elizabeth Salmon, pictured between her other two sister in front of the building. She's a dead ringer for slightly younger version of the hag they saw at Frank Ryder's death. 

Almost like clockwork, upon making this final discovery, WALLADA gets a phone call from Kurt Winter, responding to her email requesting an interview for a memorial article about Frank Ryder on her faux Sci-Fi website. She's fortunate in that he only just found out about Frank Ryder's death and is in a state of shock, and thus agreeable. Setting up a meeting at his apartment, WALLADA begins the walk down San Pedro from the library to the apartment building. 

Approaching the staircase to the front door, WALLADA isn't able to dismiss what is clearly a shadow without a source standing next to her. Refusing to show fear, she steels herself and walks in and up to Kurt Winter's apartment on the 2nd floor. She's greeted by a disheveled, bearded young man in flannel and holding a small package in his hand. Entering into his very cluttered apartment, WALLADA begins the interview with the shell-shocked Kurt Winter. When asked about the package, Kurt answers that Frank had asked him to order a book for him, a collection of essays by Thomas de Quincey. The old man neither understood nor was willing to learn anything about computers or the internet, so he delegated that sort of thing to Kurt. 

Asked about why he wanted that book, Kurt rather sheepishly answers that he and Frank had a theory that the building was haunted, and not necessarily by a traditional form of ghost, but rather a more esoteric spirit. he begins to excitedly ramble about the bizarrely high rate of hag riding night terrors in the building and their statistical distribution globally and cross culturally before shaking his head, he hands over the book, Suspiria de Profundus, to WALLADA. "My girlfriend is right, this stuff is just delusion." 

During the course of the conversation, in which Kurt relays Frank's wild stories about he and his PBR boat crew dropping acid and getting into a firefight, WALLADA notices a death's head hawkmoth inside a display case almost identical to the one found in Frank Ryder's apartment, but with one variation, a small plaque containing its scientific name, Acherontia Atropos, a name WALLADA recognizes as one of the three Fates from Greek myth, the Inflexible One that cuts a mortal's thread at the end of their life...

When asked, Kurt says his girlfriend Maddie bought it for him, also bought one for Frank when he remarked so admiringly about it. He mumbles something to himself about etymology before looking out the window pensively, not so quietly saying to himself "nah, I'd survive that fall."  Realizing that WALLADA heard that, Kurt quickly says that he can't really offer a good interview right now, it's too soon, and asks WALLADA to come back another time. Now armed with a book sought out by Ryder for his own investigation, WALLADA decides to call JETHRO to give her a ride to the Green Box. It's nearly 3:00 pm. 

Arriving in his personal vehicle, a fully restored 1978 Ford Bronco, JETHRO asks WALLADA about what she's discovered during her afternoon. Most of it honestly goes over JETHRO's head, but when she reads out the 1921 obituary of 8 year old William Ford,  JETHRO immediately recognizes the name and date as the same he saw on those crayon drawings and in his mind's eye sees that horrible facing opening its eyes. After nearly crashing his car and driving over a few traffic cones, JETHRO profusely apologizes and the pair make their way to the Green Box with only the sounds of Hank Williams Sr. to fill the silence.

The team gathers in the cramped, cement confines of the U-Haul self storage unit and trade info as they wait for LAMBERT's call. During this team meeting, Bravie notices that while there are 5 people in the room, there's a sixth shadow. Seemingly perceiving Bravie's attention, it turns itself to its profile and make the gesture of putting its index finger to its lips, telling Bravie to be silent. Bravie is not silent. 

In fact, Bravie is extremely loud in announcing what he's just seen. The shadow disappears almost as soon as Bravie starts hollering, and despite WALLADA's earlier experience, she chooses to join the others in being skeptical of Bravie's claim, at least outwardly. In a voice only Bravie has the misfortune of a hearing, and elderly feminine voice says "I will remember that tonight." 

Deciding that there must be something cursed among the items stored here, Bravie declares "fuck this, nu uh, no sir, not me, not today, fuck this. If you need me I'll be having a smoke outside. Nope, no sir, this can fuck right off." The others can hear this stream of expletives continue from the other side of the shutter and as he walks away. And just like that, the clock strikes three, and the chosen phone begins to ring. 

LAMBERT sagely receives their report and listens to them list off what items they could recover from Ryder's apartment and the Green Box. They've mostly gathered the things he was worried about after he consulted his notes on what should be there, with one very important exception, inside what looks to be a typed manuscript called KADATH is a large amount of incriminating photos and notes on several other, still active Agents. Almost completely unconcerned with the apparent haunting that killed his man, LAMBERT exhorts the agents to get  those pictures at all costs, noting it could either be in his apartment, at the coordinates found in Ryder's wallet, or potentially now in the possession of either Layla Starrett or her appraiser Jerry Nagel. Emphasizing the importance of this, he says he can arrange a delivery of $12,000 tomorrow morning to just outright buy the damn thing if they need to. 

When asked about the cause of Ryder's death, LAMBERT is glib, saying that the threat those loose documents pose to important parts of his network are a more present danger to their ability to contain the Outside than what sounds like a ghost that's been inhabiting the building for nearly a century. However, LAMBERT promises them full support in tackling the situation however they see fit, so long as they get him that blackmail material first. He can arrange for a 5 hour layover in San Antonio tomorrow night for a second debriefing, and ends the call. 

Cross referencing the coordinates with some maps, the team finds them to indicate to a spot near the San Lorenzo Cemetery, across Calaveras Lake from the power station, to the South East of the city. Ominously, HORATIO notes to himself that Calaveras is Spanish for "skull".

Bravie and HORATIO volunteer to investigate the coordinate while there's still daylight and the rest of the team decide to head to the Three Sisters to first check if they can find the photos in Ryder's apartment, then to talk with Kurt Winter again as "official" investigators and then to meet Bridget Willis after 10:00 pm to see her daughter's drawings.  

While JETHRO, QASIM, and WALLADA wait for Bridget Willis to get off work at 10 pm, they decide to interview the 4th tenant on Frank Ryder's floor, Robert Dorder of apartment 304. A middle aged man in a silk shirt and slicked back hair leans out of the doorframe, apparently the Agents caught him just before he went for a night on the town. They begin with the boiler plate questions and get boiler plater answers before moving onto stranger questions about old women and other residents. This piques Dorder's interest right away, as he's a photographer by trade and takes a lot of photos of the street out of his window. He says he doesn't recall seeing a woman like that, but he hasn't developed his most recent roll of film, and he's be happy to go over them and get back to the Agents.

When discussing Frank's relationship to the other residents, a sly smile crossed Dorder's face. "He was a sly old dog, I'll give him that. It was about a week ago I see that cute little goth girl living on this floor coming out of his apartment, must have been around 3 in the morning because I was just coming back from the clubs. It wasn't hard to imagine what she had just been up to." The livacious joy at the telling oozes from his voice. 

JETHRO decides to take the opportunity to have a little chat with Maddie Mercer, what with him being in the neighborhood and all. Maddie is listening to a Black Sabbath record and drinking a pabst blue ribbon while sandalwood incense curls from a holder shaped like a black skull. She invites the team in, amused by the strange company. Playing the gracious hostess, she starts making some tea for her guests while answering questions. JETHRO casually mentions her nocturnal visit to Frank Ryder's apartment last week and she freezes mid motion. All the sardonic humor drains from her as she coldly says "I really don't see how that's any of your business."  QASIM is easily able to recognize this very strong defensive response in her posture and tone, she interprets this as a threat and is taking it deadly serious. 

With QASIM's gentle tone, he's able to explain to Maddie that they don't want to interfere in her relationship with Kurt, they just want to know about Frank. Maddie calms, and explains that it was a drunken indiscretion, a one time deal that they mutually agreed was a mistake, never to be repeated. If Kurt found out about it, he's be devastated, "he's a fragile guy, he'd fall apart if he found out, especially right now." QASIM is able to read just the barest hint of insincerity, just the smallest tug of  a smile at the side of her mouth when speaking of Kurt, the kind of giddiness one experiences when getting away with something guilt free, perhaps a hint of sadism. 

They quickly finish their tea and take their leave to search Frank Ryder's apartment, replicating Bravie's credit card trick with some effort. They immediately begin searching and are able to notice a few changes. The books are out of order, and a couple of the older, more valuable ones are missing.  Small sticky notes have been places on each shelf, indicating the approximate cash value of each book on the shelf. Much of the furniture and even his personal awards and photographs have been given a similar treatment. The most strange absence is that of the death's head hawkmoth, because it's empty case has been left behind. A chill runs along QASIM's spine when he lays eyes on the empty case, remembering the identical moth he found fluttering against his room's window.  

They quickly search is desk and filing cabinet, WALLADA remembering seeing a yellowing folder marked "Works in Progress" near his financial and medical records when they first searched the apartment. It's gone, no doubt pilfered by the appraiser. QASIM notifies LAMBERT who arranges to have an asset of his deliver them a large sum of cash early in the morning, citing it being easier and cleaner just to try buy it off him before resorting to more criminal means. WALLADA uses her established alter identity as a sci-fi enthusiast to call the appraiser, Jerry Nagel, and to arrange a meeting between him and her "purchasing agents." He's clearly surprised that someone has found out he has Ryder's unfinished manuscript, but his greed wins out when he hears "cash payment." 

Bravie stops by the hardware store to grab painter's jumpsuits, helmets, high vis vests, and shovels, figuring there's a good chance they're gonna have to dig and that they can be pretend to be municipal workers fixing a mane or something in case anyone asks. 

Arriving to the chain link gate of a small cemetery on a lonely, rural road just as the sun begins its decent past the horizon, Bravie and HORATIO grab they equipment and disguises and make their way through the cemetery to the copse of trees at the back and set about their work. 

Despite it being October, some insects are still about to provide a soundscape to the digging. They don't have to dig too deep before finding a foot locker which the key in Ryder's wallet fits perfectly. Opening it up, they see what appears to be an old, illuminated manuscript with the words El Testamento de Héctor Manuel Villalobos embossed on the front, and something shrouded in a purple velvet cloth. HORATIO pulls back the cloth to reveal a bizarre, Meso-American mask. Bravie is extremely relieved when HORATIO closes the box back up and hefts it over his shoulder while Bravie begins filling in the hole.

With just the sound of the crickets and the *shush shunk* of the sandy soil being dropped into the hole, HORATIO looks around and notices they are not alone. Inside the cemetery, kneeling at a grave stone is a woman, all in black. HORATIO tells Bravie to stop and hands him the footlocker before walking towards the woman. Bravie, with the two shovels precariously held in one hand and the footlocker in the other follows behind, nervously chattering about powerlines to maintain the charade. HORATIO reaches into his pocket to switch off the safety on his pistol, but does not draw it as he approaches the lady in black. 

Bravie is desperately trying to signal to HORATIO not to engage, but he does it anyway. A tearful woman turns to face him, revealing a grave to two children buried earlier this year, 4 and 5 respectively. HORATIO's stomach drops as he realizes he's made a terrible mistake as the woman turns back to the graver maker, almost whispering "it was my fault." HORATIO offers his condolences and hands her the rosary given to him by Maria Infante, which silently but graciously accepts. The two return to their vehicle, noticing a Ford Fiesta with a crumpled rear door and two child's seats in the back, empty, now and forever.