09: Welcome, Norman!

09: Welcome, Norman!

Characters: Norman Jayden and Ethan Mars

Virtual Boredom

Now it cuts to the Police Station, and we are FBI Agent Jayden again - clearly we are waiting for the Captain of the squad, who has us cooling our heels in a chair in the waiting area outside his office.  You ask his secretary Charlene if this is going to take long, and are told no, of course.   Fidget around for a bit then eventually you will see the command to pull on those tricked out glasses and a control interface glove that you can use to play a video game - in which you bounce a light ball against a light wall and then catch the ball.  Those are some cool glasses, I need to get me a pair of those oh yeah!

After you bounce the ball for a bit the Captain you are waiting for exits and talks to his secretary, who asking her to cancel all of his appointments for the day as he is on his way to the daily press briefing where I imagine he will find a new way to tell the reporters they have not caught the Origami Killer yet!  She points you out to him, and he somewhat reluctantly greets you, asking you to walk with him while you have a chat to save some time. 

As you walk towards the other end of the building where the press conference is taking place, this brass hat fills you in on things.  He stops and asks you to tie his tie for him - really!  While you are doing that he talks about Lt. Blake, telling you that he is a good cop but has his own way of doing things, but that he is sure you two will get along, and after you finish tying his tie - and hey you are actually pretty good at that I want you to know - as a parting shot he tells you to check in with Charlene, take a look at your office, and maybe look in on the press conference.  Probably be an idea to check your thoughts as well, right?

Before you head over to Charlene you can explore the station - there is a break room on the far side with a drinks machine that makes some nasty coffee, and a bulletin board on the wall that you can examine.  In the left front corner the press conference is going on - you can go look in on that and hear the Captain talking to the press and answering their questions.  As the conference progresses one of the reporters asks a question indirectly about you, and the Captain confirms that yes, indeed, a profiler from the FBI was requested and is on the case.

In an alcove on the right side of the room as you are heading back towards Charlene there is a map on the wall that you can look at, and there are holding cells along the right wall you can look into - one has a prostitute in it :)  In the right read corner is a green door that lets you into the observation room for one of the interrogation rooms, and inside you can see a perp being questioned by a pair of uniformed cops.  In the back of the building there is a briefing room that you can look into and see the shift sergeant haranguing the ongoing shift.

You know where Charlene is - over at the desk near the chair we were sitting in - and when you check in with her she hits you up for a donation to pay for the new Lieutenant's watch.  Why not?  In my real life experience working as a consultant for the police I found that contributing to things like that made them more friendly towards you - the more you fit in with them the better off you are, but never forget that at the end of the day the thin blue line still divides the world into "Us" and "Them" and you are not a cop, you are a Fed, which makes you "Them" as far as the cops are concerned. 

You drop your 5 bucks into the kitty, and then ask her to show you to your new office and she does.  It really is not much of an office though it does offer you some privacy, but then again the local cops do not usually take a shine to the FBI anyway, so it will have to do!

Now would be a great time for you to check your thoughts for direction, and then when you are finished with that move over to the desk.  After you sweep everything onto the floor and push the desk against the wall, take a seat and put on your killer glasses to analyze the case file...  Well, actually your first step is to pick the wallpaper for your new office - just do it, you will see what I mean :)

Now that you have done that throw the screen to the right and open the clues - looks like there is something new in there!  As you analyze it, you learn about the tire tracks near the rail road line.  There is no data for geoanalysis yet, and the origami figures reveal no prints or clues, though geoanalysis of the origami does reveal that there is only one origami store in town - wait, origami store?!

The tire tracks indicate that the suspect vehicle is most likely a 1983 Chevy Malibu, and the flower -  a common species of orchid - can be found all over the city according to geoanalysis.  Well, that was not very helpful, but at least we have fulfilled that hidden requirement, and now we can move on. 

Let's switch to the files and take a look at them... In the past 3 years there have been a total of 8 known victims, all of them boys between 8 and 9 years old, and all disappeared from public places with no witnesses in the Fall.  The bodies are usually discovered about three days after they died, and the dump sites for the bodies are all near railroad tracks.  The abductions and murders usually happen either before or in the rain.  This file has some geoanalysis, and you can tell that the killer began in a smaller area and as his confidence grew, moved further from his base. 

The next file tells you about the evidence - the flower and the origami - and despite an exhaustive investigation you have not a single lead!  Analyze the file to learn the killer's profile - sounds like our architect doesn't it?  Man I hope that is just a coincidence as I sort of like Ethan... 

The last thing for you to look at is the map itself - but there is nothing there to see - so now you take off your glasses and start having the shakes.  This guy must have a major drug problem!  And it turns out he does - or so it seems.  The shakes give the world a blurry edge and make it harder to walk in a straight line with confidence, but hey drug addiction is a bad thing, so you are better off resisting.  Just head out the door, press the buttons you are prompted, and go wash your face in the bathroom.  You have to resist this insidious drug!

Next we get a floating CS and we see Ethan entering the police station!

Ethan Morris is sitting in a chair at a desk being interviewed by two uniformed cops; as they question you about Shaun's disappearance you try to answer their questions but you do not want to tell them about your blackouts - which makes it a bit more difficult.  You remember that you brought Shaun to the park around 4:15 (X), and that he was wearing a beige coat (X) and green pants (X).

After you tell the cops what happened - and you should stick close to the truth because cops being cops they will probably back-check your story - you explain as best you can and they try to reassure you.  You ask if they think it could be the Origami Killer - and they tell you if it is, well, then they have four days to find him alive. 

As you return to the lobby your ex-wife is waiting for you - and of course she unloads a major guilt trip on you.  A lot of "Why?!" and of course she throws Jason into the mix.  You just have really bad luck hanging on to kids man!  If you got the information correct when the chapter change menu pops up you should unlock the trophy "Got To Remember!" (bronze).