[IC] Act One: Los Angeles

Lillian finds herself accidentally picking up some god awful gossip.magazines in addition to the sheaf of more.respectable.publications; the content is enough to give anyone nightmares

After spending the rest of the afternoon poring over gossip mags and society pages, Lillian spends the evening at a variety of bars and clubs (which are, surprisingly, integrated) and chatting to likely-looking society people, journalists, and the like.

She quickly finds that if you aren't currently in the news or being seen at events, you're no-one in LA. Absolutely no-one that's about in today's scene remembers Clark, though a good proportion are fairly recent arrivals (within the last 2-3 years) and thus have no idea about people who might have been around more than 10 years ago. Those who do remember those times don't seem to remember her either - presumably because she wasn't from this area, and didn't do any photo work here, which suggests by the time of the events of 1924, she was devoting her entire time to the investigation. She does find one old guy at a rather seedy bar who's well into his cups who thinks he remembers her (though Lillian isn't sure that he's not just telling her what she wants to hear, as she has to remove his hand from her knee at one point), and that was came around here asking questions about some other people, wanting to score some drugs, or something, it was all too long ago (and more than a few beers ago) for him to remember clearly.

So in the morning, having a coffee, Lillian imparts her opinion that, "Clark might not have even been from LA. If she did hang around for any length of time, it might have been because she was fishing on the expedition."

She lifts the cucumber slices from her eyes and takes a sip of her caffeine hit.

"Very plausible. Thank you for your evening research. Shall we dip our toes in Californian Academia now?"

He taps a note with the address of UCLA main reception building.

"Of course, Doctor. Just as soon as I finish this," Lillian polishes the coffee off.

The two of you (Samuel isn't feeling too well - something he ate, probably, so decides to stay behind) prepare to leave to go to UCLA when the man on the front desk of the hotel calls you over.

"We just had a call from a Marv Burlington over at the FDIC, says to tell you that your box has arrived early."

"Marvellous! Thank-you for that." Lillian replies to the hotelier.

When out of earshot, "Well, Doctor, let's go there first. We could consider putting the contents in a more solvent institution."

"Ha! Maybe some pieces of this complex jigsaw will fall into place after all... Long Beach it is, then," he says, then asks the receptionist to call them a taxi cab.

June 3rd, 1937

The cab ride to the FDIC in downtown LA (not back to Long Beach!) doesn't take long, and you soon find Marv Burlington's office again. The receptionist calls him as soon as she sees you, smiling at the pair of you, and Marv waves you into his office. There are several different piles of paper on his desk, some more files by his feet behind the desk that peek out as you take your seats, and a safe deposit box sitting on the desk.



"You have your key, I assume," Marv says, producing a keyring from a drawer (which itself is unlocked by a key that the official takes from his pocket) and sorting through the many keys on it before deciding on one. Dr Walker produces the key they found buried in Savannah, and slides it into place in the lock on the box, which it does easily, and turns as if the lock has been freshly oiled. Marv does the same with his own master key, and the top of the box clicks as it opens up.

"I'll leave you to it for a minute, go get a coffee - you want one, either of you?" as he departs from the office, leving you in private to examine the contents.

Inside you find two things - a thick book, with the title "ledger" on the front in embossed lettering, and an unmarked, closed envelope that appears to hold several thick sheets or similar inside it, from the feel of it.

"Yes, thank-you, Mr. Burlington, that would be most welcome.," Lillian says, more to get him to spend extra time out of the way, in case what is inside is as strange as the book she'd read on the aeroplane.

Holding the envelope flat, she uses a pencil to slide open the envelope seal, taking care not to spill the contents.

Gabriel thanks Burlington profusely for the remarkable speedy recovery of the safety box, accepting his offer of a coffee.
He opens the ledger nervously, unable to shake the feeling that he is trespassing some forbidden threshold.

Don't be silly, old man. It's just some old notes...

Lillian opens the envelops to find that there are a number of photos (that explains the "thick paper" feel) inside - about a dozen in all - and judging from the one on top, these are rather racy. It's probably best if you wait to examine the others somewhere private, so Marv doesn't get the wrong idea if he comes in to see you poring over them.

Dr Walker, on the other hand, finds that his reading material is far less racy - it is in fact some sort of accounts book, though a slip of paper does fall out of the book as you open it.

Echavarria... Like the name of that dead cult leader, he thinks glancing at the paper.

As Dr Walker flips a few pages of the accounts ledger, he realises something - firstly, it's fairly obviously a working copy - each date's entries were down on each day, rather than a copy where everything was written at the same time (you can tell by variations in ink fading etc)., and secondly, it's encoded. Rather than specific names and amounts, everything is in some sort of code, including symbols. Dr Walker reckons it would be take a few days to try to work out the code.

"I hope we will be allowed to take these documents with us, Mrs Blakey. The ledger is written in code, and will require time to study it. Or involving an expert, perhaps..."

He ponders on the two names on the slip, and the corresponding words in quotes.
Codename? Passwords? Places?

"For all intents and purposes, they're ours, though I'm glad I was careful with the envelope. I have either a collection of hobby photographs or blackmail materials. Right now, I'm not sure which."

She pauses.

"Might need that coffee after all."

The contents are yours, so you can take them away with you and do whatever you wish with them.

What next? Anything else with Marv?

Lillian is pleasant with Marv when he returns, but soon aims to head somewhere and unobserved to study what they have.

Gabriel thanks the man and his office, and pays any fees that are due for their prompt service.
Like Lillian, he is eager to get somewhere they can examine their findings in peace. However, what he glimpsed of the envelope contents makes it difficult to imagine studying it with Lillian. It would be awkward and quite inappropriate.

"I am wondering if we could find an expert able to help us with the ledger code. Perhaps some mathematician..."