CASE

CASE
VI
VI
Suburb
ia
#601 FIELDWORK
2h
The weather in Cleveland hasn’t been particularly kind
to us this year. The nasty, cold February forecast keeps
the whole city in shackles of darkness. You cover the
distance between the parking lot and the cafe at a fast
pace and go inside. You are welcomed by the pleasant
warmth and smell of freshly ground coffee. You sit at
a table near the window, order a black coffee, and go
through your phone while waiting patiently for Smitty.
A couple of minutes pass, then the door opens,
letting in the cold February air. A young man wearing
a Batman sweater looks around with a somber face.
A moment later, he moves towards you. He hesitantly
slides the chair out, sits down, and mutters a faint
“Morning.” You get straight to the point:
“Why did you go to the house?”
He looks out the window and says nothing.
“Why did you go to the house?” you persisted.
“What were you looking for? Did you kill her?”
“No, it’s not like that,” he finally says. “I’m not a
murderer.”
“Then what happened there?”

▸▸Read QUESTIONING@601

question him about his contacts

and the neighborhood
#601 b
“Okay, Johnny, it’s clear you’re not telling the truth.
You knew exactly who you were going to meet
there. Your dealer, right?”
John fidgets in the chair. Then he explains slowly.
“I sometimes ... met ... various people there. (MSL) They
are usually all right, if you’re not up to something
... (LSL) Sometimes I took some stuff from them,
but it was not a big deal – only for private use, for
recreation. (LSL) But I’d rather they didn’t know I’m
talking about it, because still ... you know, I wouldn’t
trust them with everything.” (LSL)
“OK. We can agree that your name will not come up
in any way, if you give us some contact information
on these guys.”
“Ehm, I feel like I’m going to regret this, but I’m
here to cooperate with you, right?” (LSL) You smile
crookedly. Smitty is a young guy and he clearly
doesn’t know he’s in for more serious problems.
“They were from Johannson.” (LSL)
“Steve Johannson, right?” He is known to the police.
“Yeah... They usually walk around the neighborhood
and deal with people who’ve got the dough and don’t
cause problems.” (LSL)
“OK, thanks, Johnny. We’ll be in touch. Don’t leave
town. And ... keep a low profile. Who knows where
Johannson has his moles.”
You are satisfied to see that Smitty turns pale and gulps

▸▸Check Johannson’s personal files –

NAME@SteveJohannson
▸▸Bring Steve Johannson, the drug dealer,
in for interrogation – #612 - Headquarters
#602 FIELDWORK
2h
You pull up to the house at 602 Dawnview Street. The
garden has been neglected and the house itself is
small, rather atypical for the affluent neighborhood.
You can see that one of the windows is heavily charred.
This must be because of the fire Rowland mentioned.
In front of the house, the head of the forensic science
department is wiping his shoe on the grass. He clearly
stepped in something. He waves hello to you.
“Shitty job” he laughs, shaking your hand and pointing
to what he stepped in. “Another team will come by
later today and take the rest of the evidence in for
analysis. You have some time for the crime scene
inspection, but please be careful.”
#602 b
You go inside and pass the spot where the body was
lying. There’s a bloody pool and an outline of a figure.
The floor is half-burnt near the fireplace. A chair has
been overturned and a table has been moved. A half
unpacked suitcase is lying on the table. Some of the
clothes have been placed on a nearby sofa. You put
on your gloves and go through the pile: jeans, two
sweaters, and some t-shirts. There is still a baggage
tag on the suitcase. The girl came here on a bus from
Michigan 3 days ago.
You go from one room to another, waiting for something
to catch your eye. Nothing. Upstairs, on the dresser,
there is a photo of a girl with who appears to be her
grandmother. At first glance you might think that it’s a
boy’s room, because of all of the Cleveland Cavaliers
posters hanging on the walls.

▸ ▸Check the police files from the fire –

#614 – Police station
▸▸Look around the neighborhood and determine
which neighbors to question – #622 - Fieldwork
#603 courthouse
2h
The coroner’s report is to be transferred to the police
and the Antares agency in a few hours, but if you put
some effort into it, you might get it earlier - at least
the preliminary version. All you need to do is try.
You reach the courthouse, go through the gate,
and after a short conversation with the guards, go
downstairs to the basement where Dr. Pine, an Antares
consultant, has his office.
You enter the cold, steel-grey space. Pine has just
finished printing the first version of the report. He
hands you the file, but the expression on his face says
there’s nothing interesting there. More will be known
after further tests, but that takes time.
You sit on the chair and open the document.

▸▸Read FILE@603

discuss the report with Pine

#603 b

You close the file and look at Pine.

“Anything else?”
“Too soon. This is just the preliminary report.”
“Anything catch your eye? Anything you won’t
include in the report until it’s confirmed with tests?”
Pine puts the victim’s photographs on the table and
points to some of them.
“Look, the victim was defending herself, grappling;
it was a struggle. If a strong man attacked her, there
would be no struggle, she’s a relatively slim girl.”
“Could the murderer be a woman?”
“This is just a tentative statement, but yes, a woman
or a man who, at first, did not want to hurt her and
just held her down, could be the murderer. It just
escalated to a gunshot.”
#604 THE LAB

2h
The first batch of items secured at the crime scene has
already reached the laboratory. The second forensic
science teams visit, and any additional requests of
the investigators, will increase the collection of items
to be examined, but right now the most obvious and
important items are being thoroughly analyzed.
You go to the sixth floor, pass the work-spaces of the
forensic scientists, and reach the laboratory’s office.
Six computer stations welcome you with the blue glow
of their screens. You walk up to the first one and select
the forensic science report from the menu. You enter
the case number, your access code, and soon you
have access to the materials. You print the files but
also send them digitally to the ANTARES server so that
every member of the team working on the case has
access to them.
When leaving with your file, you pass two investigators
from another Antares team having a heated discussion
about the case of a stolen watch. You don’t think they
even noticed you.
You start reading through the report in the elevator.

▸▸Read FILE@604
#605 FIELDWORK
1h
You knock on the door and hope that Rose Flowers is at
home. Luckily, after only a short time, the door opens.
Rose Flowers is about 50 years old and, despite
her name, is not actually associated with anything
floral. She invites you to the living room and, after a
while, starts answering questions. Yes, she knew the
neighbors, and yes, she knew and liked Susan Novak.
She was a nice girl. Too bad, that asshole got her so
confused.
“Who do you mean by ‘that asshole’?”
“What do you mean who? That athlete, Tom
Richards!”
“Did they know each other? Are you sure?”
“Of course! You know, when she was still living
here, before the fire, I sometimes saw her getting
into his car. I tried to talk her out of it, but she
wouldn’t listen. Richards impressed her. And
he took advantage of it. He was only afraid of
Mellissa, his wife.”
“The wife knew?”
“Susan believed that she didn’t, but who knows.”
You get the feeling that Mrs. Flowers is not very fond
of her neighbor; when she mentions her, you notice
a grimace on her face. They are definitely not best
friends. You thank her for the talk, and leave your card
in case she remembers anything else.

ask about the disappearance of Susan

▸▸NAME@TomRichards
#605b
After you say goodbye to Mrs Flowers, you stop on the
doorstep and ask another question.
“Do you know where Susan was all those years?”
“No, she sent me a postcard once saying that I shouldn’t
be worried, that everything was fine with her. That she
would come back and deal with it as soon as she had
the strength. Susan was a delicate person, quiet and
sensitive. She was afraid of making decisions. That’s
probably why she chose to escape after the fire. She was
afraid that she would be in danger, too.”
“What could she be afraid of?”
“That she would die like her parents.”
“I thought they died of carbon monoxide
poisoning.”
“Maybe they did, maybe they didn’t. Susan knew
something and that’s why she disappeared.”
“I see. One last question - do you have a gun in
your house?”
“Yes, of course.”
“What kind of gun is it?”
“An old forty-five. It belonged to my husband
before he died.”
“Thank you. We won’t take any more of your time.”
#606 THE LAB

2h
Luckily, the city is not jammed at the moment, so you
reach your destination quickly and enter the laboratory
building. You take a quick ride in the elevator and
reach the 7th floor, the ballistics laboratory.
You place the gun in a special container and, after
5 minutes, some unshaven guy reeking of cigarettes
comes and takes the package.
You put on special laboratory attire and follow him to
assist during the tests. You want these results as soon
as possible, and this is the best way to put pressure on
the guys in uniform.
Finally, all of the preliminary tests are completed and
you grab the report from the printer while it’s still
warm:
Gun: Sig Sauer P938, 9 mm.
Owner: Tom Richards
Gun purchased on 17 March 1998 at Marmack
Firearms.
In the last week, the gun was fired once. All of the
bullets, save one, are still in the magazine. The gun is
assigned the SM tag and transferred for further tests.
SM: AST76T-RTW42H
Partial fingerprints have been lifted off of the gun.
They are mostly unclear:
SD: xxxxZx-x4xxx2
#607 FIELDWORK
1h
The house at 607 Dawnview Street is neat and tidy.
Unfortunately, there is no one home when you arrive.
You get the phone number of Robert Doxx, the
homeowner, from ANTARES and contact him over the
phone.
You get to chatting with him and learn that he and his
wife work at city hall. They leave for work around 7 AM,
and on their way, drive their son Patrick to school. They
would not have heard the shots or seen anyone.
“The house has been an unoccupied ruin ever since
the fire, and unfortunately no one has bought it yet
so it stands abandoned. Sometimes you can see
some suspicious guys there. My son Patrick saw
someone enter the house through the back door a
couple of times. We reported this to the police, but
no one was interested. We had the impression that
someone had been around again in recent days,
but we just told Patrick to stay away from the fence
between the houses.”
#607b
The Doxx’s have been living here since 1998. A couple
of years back, on the tragic day of the fire, they were
at the stadium. Their neighbor, Mrs. Richards, got them
tickets to the game. They stated that unfortunately
her husband did not play in that game because of an
injury. The Doxx’s were relieved that the fire brigade
came quickly and stop the danger. If the fire had
spread, who knows what would have happened.

▸▸Interrogation of the neighbor, Mrs. Richards –

#616 - Fieldwork
 #608 headquarters

1h
Tom Richards arrives at the meeting right on time. He
is wearing a tracksuit with the Cleveland Cavaliers logo.
You show him to a seat in the conference room and start
the system.
“You testified that on February 12th, between 8 and
9 AM you were on your way to work. You got to the
Quicken Loans Arena just before 9. Is this correct?”
“I arrived later, because I got stuck in traffic. I was at
the Arena around 9:30.” (MSL)
“Did you know Susan Novak?”
“Yes, she’s the daughter of our neighbors. I mean,
former neighbors, before they died in the accident…”
(MSL)
“Did you see or contact Susan Novak since her
disappearance?”
“No, why would I contact her?” (HSL)
“We’re just asking. You don’t need to get upset.”
“How can I not be upset? This shark, Cathla, is waiting
for some scandal to pop up so she can feed on me.”
“The journalist, Merry Cathla? Don’t worry, so far we
are not going to disclose anything to the press.”
You pause for a second.
#608b
“Do you have a gun?”
“Yes.” (MSL)
“What kind of gun?”
“A normal gun. I mean a pistol. I don’t know exactly.
I don’t use it. My coach told me to buy one just in
case; this was years ago.” (LSL)
“Did you notice anything disturbing when you left
for work on February 12th? Anything strange?”
“No, nothing.” (MSL)
Richards is sweating bullets. You haven’t had such a
stressed-out witness at Antares in a long time. Can he
not deal with pressure, or is he hiding something?

▸▸Spend 3 and 1 from the Token pool to

get a warrant to examine Tom Richards’ gun –
#606 - The Lab
▸▸Check the journalist – NAME@MerryCathla
#609 FIELDWORK
1h
The Boon family lives at 609 Dawnview Street. Despite
the fact that the weather is rather discouraging, Mrs.
Boon is working in front of the house.
“May I have a moment of your time, ma’am?”
“I already talked to the police. I didn’t hear the
gunshots. I know nothing. I didn’t know the people
who lived there; I moved in here two years ago.
I already told you everything. I know nothing.”
“And on February 12th, did you see anything
strange or unusual?”
“No, nothing, I told you, it was a day like any other.
Unless you think it’s strange that the crazy lady
Mellissa Richards started jogging again,” she says,
shaking her head. “I met her in the morning along
my route as I was going back. She was completely
out of breath. She creates the image of a healthy
type, fit and all, but she was totally red in the face.
Crazy, that’s all.”
“What do you mean by crazy?”
“I mean that she’s crazy. I’m telling you. My brother-
in-law recognised her when she was doing some
tests. He works at MetroHealth in the psychiatric
ward. Crazy, I’m telling you.”

▸▸Check Mellissa Richards – NAME@MellissaRichards

▸▸Visit the MetroHealth hospital – #619 - Fieldwork
#610 headquarters

1h
You sit in front of the computer and wonder how
to find proof that Tom Richards was at the game on
June 16th, 2015. Cameras at the arena are the first
clue, but after a short phone call to Quicken Loans
Arena, it turns out they don’t have records from two
years back. The man suggests checking with the
company handling the tickets. In the meantime, you
connect the main computer to the game coverage
shown on ABC to look for Richards in any of the
frames. The second computer goes through all of
the photos on Twitter from that day. Maybe a fan
caught Richards on a photograph.
You call Magnetic Security Solutions and, without
much hope, ask for the database of cards from
2015. The lady doesn’t know. She puts you through
to somebody else. He doesn’t know either, but puts
you through to somebody else. Judging by the voice,
with every subsequent connection it seems that
you are talking to younger and younger employees.
When you hear what sounds like a high school kid
pick up the receiver, you decide to hang up.
#610 b
“I can dig it out,” you hear just before you click the
button.
“Really?”
“We’ve got everything on the server. What exactly are
we looking for?”
“We’re checking whether Tom Richards was at the
Quicken Loans Arena on June 16th, 2015.”
“OK, I can do that,” says the voice in the receiver. You
hear tapping on the keyboard and, after a couple of
minutes, you get your answer.
“I have his record in the database, this Richards guy. He
was a Cleveland Cavaliers player;. Every player on the
team has a card issued for the event. His card had never
been activated, so officially he was not at the stadium
that day.”
The ANTARES system also did not find him in any
picture or frame.

▸▸Discard the #608 card from the deck – it is no longer

available.

▸▸Interrogation of Tom Richards –

#613 - Headquarters
#611 headquarters

1h
It’s usually a shot in the dark for an investigator to
follow a weak, old lead. This is one of those times. You
sit in front of the computer in the office and check the
information on Safe & Epic Fire. It’s true that at that
time there were also some problems with the fireplace
and ventilation at the Richards’. Since Tom Richards
was a basketball star, a scandal broke out and the bad
PR nearly killed the company.
You take the phone and dial the number.
“Mike Gerard, Safe & Epic Fire, how may I help you?”
You hear the tired voice of a middle-aged man in
the receiver.
“Hello, I’m calling about the fireplace failures from
three years back at the estate of Tom Richards …”
“Leave me the hell alone, for fuck’s sake!” you hear
in the receiver just before the call ends.
#611 b
You dial the same number.
“I don’t want to talk about this!” you hear in the
receiver.
“Mr. Gerard, I’m not a journalist, I’m calling from
the FBI. Please remain calm. We’re conducting an
important investigation.”
“There wasn’t a failure. Our sensors do not fail. I
was there, and I said that someone had fucking
tampered with them. No one would listen to me.
Now, you all can go fuck yourselves!”
The connection is broken again.

▸▸Spend 2 from the Token pool to call in Mike

Gerard for interrogation – #623 - Headquarters
#612 headquarters

2h
The police took a while to detain the guy, but luckily
he’s no mafia boss - just an ordinary street dealer. All
you had to do was ask around among the informants,
and he was quickly found near one of the high schools.
He was smart enough not to have anything on him.
And now he’s sitting in the Antares interrogation room
looking blankly into a one-way mirror, having heard all
of the automatic warnings moments before. You start
the interrogation right away.
#612 b
“Mr. Johannson, I hear that you and your friends can be
seen in the area of Dawnview Street, dealing drugs. Do
you know anything about that?”
“As I say to the police every time, we are simply health-
conscious. (LSL) And the air in that part of town is great,
like nowhere in Cleveland. (LSL) The nosy neighbours
probably don’t like the fact that we wander around the
area. (MSL) They’re always watching anyone who simply
passes by.” (LSL)
“Sure. Were you in the house at 602 Dawnview Street on
February 12th?”
“No.” (LSL)
“Do you know anyone who could have been there?”
“Maybe some kids from the neighborhood took a peek?”
(LSL)
“Do you know anything about the murder of Susan
Novak?”
“This is the first time I’ve heard about a murder. (LSL)
Listen guys, you don’t shit in your own backyard for
fuck’s sake. I like that neighborhood, and I wouldn’t be
here if I had done any of the things you suspect me of.
Can I get back to my business now?” (MSL)
Without any grounds for an arrest, Steve Johannson is
released. Though, you know that it wouldn’t be hard to
track him down again.
#613 headquarters

1h
Tom Richards comes to the Antares headquarters pale
as a ghost. The screen on the wall is flashing images.
One screen displays rotating images from the crime
scene, the other one shows photos from the accident,
and yet another one shows photos of the 2015 NBA
finals.
You begin the interrogation.
#613 b
“You testified that on June 16th, 2015 you were at the
game in which your team played.”
“Yes.” (MSL)
“We checked the electronic ticket records. There is no
record of your presence at the stadium. We are not able
to confirm your alibi. Could you tell us where were you
on June 16th, 2015?”
“I was there! I left the card at home. They obviously
let me in, because everyone at the stadium knows me.
What does it matter that there is no record of my card
being checked in?” (HSL)
“In June, 2015 you forgot your card at the same time that
there was a fire that killed Mr. and Mrs. Novak, and now
you were late for work because of traffic at the same
time that their daughter, Susan Novak, was killed?”
“I know ... knew Susan; we were friends” (HSL) She wrote
to me the day before she died, she wanted to meet.”
(LSL)
“Did anyone apart from you know about this?”
“No, I don’t think so.” (MSL)
“You don’t think so.”
“My wife sometimes goes through my phone, she’s
suspicious.” (MSL)
“Did you kill Susan Novak?”
“We only had an affair! It was not a big deal. I liked her,
I would never hurt her!” (MSL)
#614 RICHMOND PD

1h
At this time of year the entire main hall of the police
station is covered with mud and snow, dragged in from
outside. A quick visit to the station will get you the
files on the 2015 fire at 602 Dawnview Street.

▸▸Read FILE@614
#615 FIELDWORK
2h
You have an appointment with Samuel Cropper,
commanding officer of the fire fighting operation, in
the small cafe opposite the park. You save a table
and order coffee. After ten minutes, a tanned, broad-
shouldered man in his fifties arrives. He throws his
heavy, rain-soaked coat on the chair. You invite him
to sit down.
“As I mentioned over the phone, I’m interested in
the fire at the house on Dawnview Street. A married
couple died as a result of smoke inhalation,
and their daughter disappeared. You were the
commanding officer.”
“Yes, we were watching a game; our team was in
the NBA finals. It’s hard to forget. All of Cleveland
was stuck to their TV sets; even the car thieves took
a day off.”
“The couple is said to have inhaled toxic gases,
without any foul play being suspected.”
#615
605b b

“That’s what it looked like. There was no

circumstantial evidence to dig deeper, and a couple
of weeks earlier there were also some problems
with the unit ventilation in the house of one of
the neighbors, the Richards guy. His wife reported
the problem. The fireplace company nearly went
bankrupt after that series of events. Safe & Epic
Fire, I think that’s the name. They had a lot of
problems. Never mind, that’s just a coincidence. To
sum up, a couple of days after the operation we
were informed that the case was classified as an
unfortunate accident. The famous sports reporter
Merry Cathla was sniffing around the case at the
time - she even interviewed me, but I don’t know if
she eventually found anything interesting. What of
it? Why do you ask? Have any new facts surfaced?”
“It seems that the missing girl was found.”
“Well, now. Finally some good news.”
“She was murdered.” You say, getting up from
the table. “Here’s my business card in case you
remember something else,” you add as you hand
him the card. You thank him, pay, and leave the
cafe.

▸▸Check the journalist – NAME@MerryCathla

▸▸Contact the Safe & Epic Fire company –
#611 - Headquarters
#616 FIELDWORK
1h
The house at 616 Dawnview Street is large, tidy, and makes
a very good impression. When you walk up to the door, you
hear a dog barking. You knock. The door is opened by a
middle-aged woman wearing a sporty outfit. Next to her a
small dog bares its teeth. You explain that you are here to
ask her a couple of questions related to the murder in the
house next door.
“According to the information we received, you were
not at home at the time of murder,” you start the
conversation while looking at the report you got from
the police.
“After my husband left for work at the Arena I went for a
run. I was back home after 9.”
“So you didn’t hear the shots?”
“No.”
“You didn’t notice anything suspicious in the morning?”
“No, it was a day like any other day.”
“Do you run alone? Did anyone see you to confirm this?”
“I run over there, behind the house,” she points to the
back. “We have a lot of space there. Just fields, wildlife,
mud and snow, come and see for yourself,” she says,
going to the window and moving the net curtain.
“Actually, on that day I met Betty Boon, from 609. She
can confirm this. Does all this mean that I am a suspect?”
“You don’t have to worry. We are checking all the
residents. Thank you for your cooperation. If you
remember anything else, please contact me,” you
say, as you hand her your business card.

ask if they have a gun in the house

#616b
Standing at the threshold and trying not to step on the
dog who keeps getting under your feet, you ask one more
question:
“Do you have a gun?”
“I don’t, what an odd idea. My husband does
though.”
“Do you remember what model?”
“Sig Sauer P938 . My husband brags about it all the
time.”
#617 RICHMOND PD

Xh
“Who told you?”
“The mayor. Tony Milos. And brother-in-law
of Dan Gilbert , the wealthiest man in the
neighbourhood. I had no evidence; the witnesses
were either not home or were not telling the
truth for some reason. For example, that piece
of ass Richards, what’s her name... Mellissa or
something. She twisted and turned during the
whole interrogation. It’s a pity I had to put up
with it. She didn’t seem to even know if she was
watching the game or not at the time. First she said
she was walking the dogs, but then she said she
stayed at home because she had a headache. She
and all those dogs shitting everywhere. She had
a whole lot of them. I remember we had made a
bet at the station about when her husband would
dump her because she flirted with everyone who
came her way.”
“Did she have an affair?”
“How would I know? I had two bodies, the coroner
who declared poisoning by carbon monoxide, and
the mayor’s request to close the case to focus on
more important ones. Ask the neighbors. They
know everything, don’t they?”

ask about the place of the accident

▸▸Check Tony Milos personal files -

NAME@TonyMilos
▸▸Check Mellissa Richards personal files -
NAME@MellissaRichards
#617b
“Nothing in the house caught your attention? Was
there anything strange?”
“Nothing. The remains of dinner for two in the
kitchen and the bodies on the carpet. It seemed
to have been quite a romantic dinner, if you know
what I mean.”
“The report says that they were lying naked on the
carpet.”
“Well, yes, they were fooling around on the carpet.
They had the house to themselves. It was a cold
night, and they wanted to be romantic, so they
must have lit a fire in the fireplace. They had too
much to drink, fell asleep on the ground, and the
botched installation did them in. Although, it was
actually a bit strange that they lit a fire in June.
With all this, we didn’t realize at the time that their
daughter had gone missing. I just assumed that
she had gone somewhere to watch the game. But
then the investigation was closed, she was placed
on the list of missing persons, and the world
moved on.”
#618 FIELDWORK
2h
Merry Cathla agreed to meet you in one of the cafes
downtown. You reach the location and the journalist
is already there, sitting with a coffee and working on
her laptop. When you walk up, she smiles and closes
the computer screen. Her long grey hair is tied in a
ponytail; she is dressed in a sporty outfit.
“How may I help you?” she asks.
“It’s about Tom Richards’ case. His neighbors had
a fire in June, 2015. Do you remember?”
“Yes, his neighbors died during the game. A sad
story.”
“What can you tell me about Tom that I can’t read
from the police files or his testimonies?”
“He’s a very interesting man. As with any young
basketball player, he had a glamorous life. He
enjoyed the high society, and was associated with
the mayor and the city’s wealthy businessmen.
He frequently surrounded himself with beautiful
women, partying all day long even though he had a
wife. After the Cavaliers lost the finals he changed.
After the events of that day he settled down and he
no longer seemed to enjoy the same glamour. He
still went to parties, but in a quieter way, and he
always came with his wife.
#618b
“And what kind of man is he today?”
“He’s the assistant coach of the junior team. He
settled down. He is much less present in the media.
Now is the time for his wife, Mellissa. She’s been the
one in the spotlight ever since Tom’s career ended.”
“Did anything from that period catch your
attention, anything that seemed weird?”
“Only how much the loss shook him. I remember
that he didn’t come out when the team thanked the
fans after the game. A couple of days later he told
me in the interview that he was stuck in the VIP
room and couldn’t get out onto the field. No one
saw him that day, he was so devastated.”

▸▸Check Tom Richards personal files -

NAME@TomRichards
▸▸Check Mellissa Richards personal files -
NAME@MellissaRichards
▸▸Check the alibi of Tom Richards –
#610 - Headquarters
#619 FIELDWORK
2h
The MetroHealth hospital is a big building, so it takes a
while to find the right ward, and then to find a person
who is not busy with patients or representatives of
some pharmaceutical corporation. Luckily, there are
members of the staff who regularly work with the
police, so after a quarter of an hour you manage to
find Mrs. Boon’s brother-in-law and ask him about
Mellissa Richards. Fortunately, he was not her doctor
so he is not bound by patient-doctor confidentiality,
but at the same time he has no access to the results
of her tests.
He says that Mellissa was examined at the hospital
many years ago. It turns out she was a difficult teenager,
a typical prom queen who bullied and humiliated her
“friends” from school. He remembered her because
she stood out. She looked down on everyone, but
she often got away with it because she paid a lot of
attention to her looks and was quite pretty.

▸▸Spend 1 and 1 from the Token pool to

get a permit to access the hospital file of Mellissa
Richards –
#619b
You lay your hands on the file with Mellissa’s test
results, as well as the comments and thoughts of the
doctors who dealt with her case. You consult with the
Antares experts about the results, and you come to
the following conclusions:
Mellissa Richards was a “control freak” who kept close
surveillance on her small group of friends whom she
also selected with great care. She was not prone to
violence, but she sometimes had anger issues. She had
multiple behavioral problems, particularly if things
did not go her way. She often placed her well-being
above that of others, even those she called friends.
It was recommended that she go into psychological
therapy.
Her parents insisted on conducting a genetic test. You
guess that they didn’t want to believe that they might
have failed as her caregivers.
SDNA: THY675-TK82WP
#620 RICHMOND PD

2h
You make an appointment with James Luketown. He’s
a short, thin man. You meet at the precinct and go to
the nearby cafe. He looks nothing like an ex-cop, but
after sitting at the table he orders coffee and a donut.
Old habits die hard.
“In 2015, you ran the investigation on the case of
death at Dawnview Street.”
“Yes, I ran the investigation. I remember it well
because June 16th, 2015 was an important day for
the Cavaliers. It was a tragic accident though. The
victims died of carbon monoxide poisoning. After
two days, they told me to close it.”

▸▸Read #617
#621 courthouse
1h
Standard procedure – car park, gates, and a labyrinth
of corridors until you finally reach the door to the
archives. You submit the relevant requests at the
desk and after a couple of minutes you get all the
documents you need:

▸▸Read FILE@621
#622 FIELDWORK
1h
The house at 602 Dawnview Street has a view looking
upon several of the neighboring houses. You log
in to the system and gather information about the
neighbors.
The ANTARES System quickly gives you the basic plan
of the neighborhood.

605 609

607 616
602

p l a n o f t h e n e ig h b o r h o o d

▸▸Conversation with the neighbors at 605 Dawnview

– #605 - Fieldwork
▸▸Conversation with the neighbors at 607 Dawnview
– #607 - Fieldwork
▸▸Conversation with the neighbors at 609 Dawnview
– #609 - Fieldwork
#623 headquarters

1h
Two cops sit Gerard down on the chair in the Antares
interrogation room.
“Good, thank you very much,” you nod to them and
they leave you two alone. “Mr. Gerard, we’re in the
middle of a very important investigation. You might
have been wrongfully ignored then. Now I promise you
that we will carefully listen to everything you have to
say on this matter. Please start from the beginning.”
Mike Gerard takes a couple of deep breaths.
“At that time, this compa ny was a fresh startup. A lot
of money went into it. I busted my ass all day and all
night selecting the components. It’s not possible that
our best model fucked up without being tampered
with. And suddenly, boom! Two failures in less than a
month. First in the house of this Cavaliers player. I went
personally to see what was wrong and if someone had
botched up the installation. We replaced the device,
and I kept the faulty one. I have it to this day.”
“And the death of Mr. and Mrs. Novak?”
“Fuck me, that went totally wrong. Another
malfunction, but unfortunately at the worst possible
moment. The whole company collapsed because of
it. I am still trying to get out of debt, even now. They
had the same model. The whole neighborhood had it
because it was a wholesale deal, and then everyone
withdrew from it right then and there. But I’m saying,
again, there is no way that it would stop working
unless someone tampered with it. The investigation
found squat about this. When the case was closed I
managed to get the piece back to me. We examined it
and couldn’t find anything specific, but again, without
external tampering it would not break.”

test both devices in the laboratory

#623 b
The laboratory sends a note that there are fingerprints
on the device from the Richards’ home.
SD: 867YZ2-M4Y862
Most traces have been erased on the other device.
It is obvious that the device was taken apart. They
managed to extract partial fingerprints from the
inside:
SD: 8x7Yx3-xxx8x2