Martin's Diary, Entry 3


The next day (well, later the same day I suppose, as it was well past midnight when my last entry finished) when I moved back to my normal host I found a message for me - "Mysterious phone call where person rang off". This was bound to be one of my fellow Angels, so I hit dial-back and found myself talking to Bernard.

He was able to fill me in on a few of the things I had missed - Tony had been the one who had first run into the gang at the church. He (or she) had been seeking out injustice (though there is more than one judge in this country who would have said anything that happened was her fault, given her style of dress) when she had heard a noise in the Symphony. Investigating this she had spotted the gang, acting in a distinctly dubious manner.

The gang had spotted her, and asked her to join them for a drink, but instead led her towards the church. Realizing the danger she made a break for it, but was caught. She decided to resonate the group to find out more, and discovered that it was in fact a small evil cult, let by a Shedite, and that she was slated to be a sacrifice.

This was more than she had bargained for, and again tried to break free, this time turning invisible as she did so to elude capture. Bernard, Lucas and Nathaniel arrived soon after (Tony had phoned Bernard just after spotting the gang), and the fight that Case and I saw began.

Bernard had also checked up on the morning news, to find the incident reported as either a gas main explosion or gang warfare (the latter being Terry's version, having been scaled down after the loss of videotape).

We decided that Terry needed watching, so I headed over to his hotel to find him cavorting with his PA, a rather cute redhead. I briefly consider possessing her so as to keep a closer watch on Terry, but decide that such a close watch is not required, and it would be unkind to take the memories she will have of the morning from her - she is obviously enjoying herself.

About mid-day I got a call from Case. Apparently he has found something interesting but doesn't want to talk about it over the phone, so sends Lucas round to the hotel to talk face to face.

It turns out that Lucas had found a note in the coffee bar at the university, tucked into a plant pot. This in itself wouldn't be strange, but unless the university role-playing group has been leaving notes about, the contents were decidedly odd.

By Order of the Mistress:
The news is to be given to the bloody-handed and the cold-eyed. Matters shall be kept in balance. The gateway must be found.
J.
Servus Regardantium.

Bernard and Tony also turned up to discuss things, Bernard materializing a computer to scan the note and send a copy upstairs. He also took the opportunity to do a search on Terry Jackson, and turned up a number of possible cases of infernal involvement. Bernard and Tony then went to see Terry, while Lucas and I returned to the university to see if we could find any further clues.

We wait by the plant holder that had the note in it, Lucas managing to look particularly uneasy. After a while a man sits down opposite with a newspaper, and it is soon obvious that he is watching us (and us him, for that matter). With a bit of prompting Lucas gets up and goes for a walk round the campus, followed none too discreetly by the man (who doesn't appear to notice the pigeon regarding him).

They both arrive back a while later, and as soon as I tell Lucas he was followed he gets up and goes over to the man and asks to borrow his paper. He is a little perturbed by this, but hands it over, so Lucas flips though it, then hands it back, smiling. The man gives Lucas a significant look, gets up and heads off. I guess he may have thought he was just being passed a message, so return to pigeon mode to follow him.

He eventually arrives at the Civic Centre, where I am able to switch for a short while to the security camera system to watch his progress. He ends up in a private office, so I perch on a ledge and wait, checking in on the cameras now and then.

Meanwhile, Lucas is approached by an Indian woman, who politely asks if she can join him. He stammers a yes, and then mumbles replies to her questions - obviously completely unused to having a stranger talk to him like this. She introduces herself as Halley, explaining that she is also doing Psychology (the course Lucas is supposedly on), and likes men who box (Lucas having earlier signed up at the university boxing club). After a bit more chatter (or babble, in Lucas's case) he makes his excuses, heads over to me and we leave.

Lucas had somehow failed to notice that a stranger to him knew what course he was on, and that he was interested in boxing, and was amazed when I pointed this out. He was obviously being watched, but by what group and why was a mystery. I leave Lucas to jog down to the Civic Centre, and posses a guard to check up on the mystery man.

The sign on his office says Mr. Green, and when I check his door he is busy writing a note. He quickly dismisses me, saying he will be an hour or so, and will lock up himself. I leave the guard to continue his rounds.

Next time I check the cameras I spot the Indian who introduced herself as Halley heading for Mr. Greens office. This time, however, she has lost her caste mark and is in a business suit rather than jeans and T-shirt. She is in the office about five minutes then leaves for a waiting car. Lucas turns up as she reaches the car and calls out to her, but she ignores him and he decides he must have been mistaken. I note the number as the car is driven off.

My pigeon follows the car to a hotel in town, which the woman enters. I perch and think while wating for something to happen.

Back at the Civic Centre, Lucas is failing miserably to stand still, so jogs round the outside of the building a couple of times. Inside, Mr. Green has yet to emerge, so I switch back to a guard to check his room. Fortunately the guard has a passkey, as he door was locked (though the light was on), and inside Mr. Green is dead at his desk, a small vial smelling faintly of bitter almonds by his side. Whatever note he was writing is gone, the top sheets torn from the notepad.

I call up my computer and scan the top page that is left of the notepad, and with a bit of fiddling am able to bring out some of the words from the last message he wrote

...ady, ...ave failed y... ...all into the hands of the Oppress... ...give me, I beg of yo... ...swear that I am a loya... ...sire only to regain wha... ...ince the Outcasting. If I ... ... be forgiven, I will bring ... ...ant of the false Maker ... ... Forgive, I beg...

I send a copy upstairs, for later reference. In his pockets I find a number of business cards, but nothing unusual. Checking I have not left anything too badly disturbed I leave the office, then set about arranging for the guard I was in at the time to discover the body during his regular patrol - it could be awkward for him to explain why his fingerprints were everywhere to the police otherwise.

I fill Lucas in on the situation via a cat, and he arranges to meet Case at the university sports centre. He heads off there at a run, and once I have seen the police arrive and get shown things, I leave the guard and I too head that way, courtesy of one of the few owls to grace our city.

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