Sidetracks And Coincidences

It's been a long day. Salina Gaultier had come on Interpol business, to assist in the private Cloud Trust fraud investigation, and was stuck in England. In London. At Victoria Police Station, even. And now it's nearly midnight, and she is _starving_. Vague smells of English cookery waft from the canteen. English, admittedly -- but it's food. Her colleague who was helping with the accounts has already left for the night.

Salina walks into the canteen, trying not to look as tired and drained as she really is.

The canteen seems reasonably active. Food is being served, from bland chips and burgers to stronger stuff like curries, or even a tiny salad bar. A small group of people is chatting at the far end.

Salina reads the menu, while slowly walking up toward the counter. She orders a spicy curry, and ponders her investigation.

A slurryful is tipped onto her plate. There's a burst of laughter from the group at the far end, and the words, "Gabriel Knight, his name was..." drift vaguely across her hearing.

<> Demiurge says "You remember a Gabriel Knight. That time you were handling a major corruption inquiry in Taiwan in a minor warzone. That reporter there who was getting the scoops."

<> Demiurge says "And who saw you as an information source."

Salina, heading toward a table, stops in her tracks at the name Gabriel Knight. She instead looks for a seat at the bar near the group, going into eavesdrop mode.

The man at the centre of the group is vaguely recognisable as one of the detective inspectors. He's having a thorough moan about a group which he had to interview earlier today. One sat on the table, another claimed they'd fought zombies...

Henderson swallows some coffee. "And that Knight boy was carrying a sword, and running off at the mouth. Fairfax handled him."

Salina takes a bite of her dinner, such as it is, and then removes a notepad from her briefcase. She begins taking notes between bites of curry. Boy, ha! Sword. Fairfax-investigator?

One of Henderson's friends makes a sympathetic comment about how rich kids are, well, rich kids.

Henderson says, "The Costello one tried to tell us off about our manners. Can you _believe_ it?"

<> Demiurge says "Oddly enough, the Cloud Trust affairs which Salina is investigating are owned ultimately by the Costello family, of which only one is alive - Kate-Lynn Costello, young woman."

Salina blinks. She says aloud, "Costello?"

Henderson looks across. "Hey, did you run into her too?"

Salina looks back. "Do you mean Kate-Lynn Costello?"

He nods. "Spoilt rich kid. You should have seen her standing on the table and lecturing me and Fairfax on manners."

Salina says "Interesting. I haven't seen her, but her name came up in an investigation of mine. Does she live around here?"

Henderson says, "She seems to be in London for the moment. We had her in about another inquiry."

Salina smiles, and takes her briefcase and dinner to join the group. "Can you tell me about it?"

Henderson's eyes shift slightly cautious for a moment. "Rough details, of course. Nothing confidential." He gestures for a couple of the others to make room for her.

<> Salina says "He does know who I am, right? I assume he's just being stingy with information."

<> Demiurge says "Yup. He recognises you."

<> Demiurge says "This is just general confidentiality about a case in progress."

Salina nods. "Of course. And I'd be happy to offer any relevant information I have found that might help you."

Henderson nods. "Sure. Okay. We had a shooting at the Regency hotel, what looks like sniper fire through a window. Ms Costello and four friends of hers were present. We also found three rotting dismembered corpses on the carpet."

Henderson shrugs. "We just had her and her friends in for interview. They claimed the bodies were *zombies*."

Salina scribbles notes, and grins. "Do you think we should all start carrying around holy water?"

Henderson and the others at the table laugh.

Salina says "So, what did they say happened?"

Henderson says, "They *say* they'd got letters telling them a relative had died and to attend a will-reading. They say they saw the guy get shot down before he could say anything relevant."

Henderson drinks more of his coffee. "They *say* the sniper then phoned up to check on things, and that three zombies attacked, and they cut them to bits. They then went off with the man's suitcase."

Henderson says, "I'll lay you good money they didn't give us back everything that was in it, either."

<> Raquel . o O (We kept the _really_ good drugs.)

Salina says "Not likely. Do you know where she's staying? Though it doesn't sound like she keeps the best of company."

<> Jo | Fairfax: They injected the really good drugs.

<> Raquel shows Fairfax her arms. No trackmarks.

Henderson nods. "We've got their hotels and phone numbers."

Henderson says, "Quite a crew they were. The rich kid, the reporter, the Hispanic, the punk, and the sweet little convent innocent."

<> Raquel hides behind the punk.

Salina ponders briefly. "Can you give me that information? It'd save me several phone calls in the morning."

Henderson thinks. "Okay. Just keep me updated, all right?"

Henderson winks. "I'll see to the paperwork."

Salina grins broadly at Henderson. "I'll be in touch." She finishes the last of her curry and heads for her hotel room.

<> Salina assumes she also writes down addresses and such. :^)

<> Demiurge says "Yup."

<> Demiurge says "You now have addresses and phone numbers for the group."

---

The League