Mid-West Campaign
Session One

Tuesday, 26 September 2000

Special Agents Joshua Blackthorne, Artemis Black, Nathan Harlow, Elijah Stone and Jane Munroe arrive at the headquarters of the mid-western branch of Evidence Response. It is a warehouse located next to the railway line on the outskirts of Wichita, Kansas. The group convenes at midday to begin work on case WK001 (USAF Duplicate Uniforms).

Before work can begin a mysterious envelope arrives for Blackthorne. Inside is a playing card, a joker, bearing the legend, "B, the game has begun." It is placed in the evidence local for later consideration.

Blackthorne and Harlow go to McConnell Airforce. They are pulled over for speeding by local law enforcement. At the base, the pair speak to Staff Sergeant Christian O'Toole who tells them of problems he has faced over the past few months: UFO watchers, Fighter Jock incidents and the uniform issue. The uniforms were collected from Ho Fung's by Private James and PFC Keller. The duplicates were noticed by Supply Sergeant Rollston. The pair take one of the duplicate uniforms and a new uniform in order to compare the two.

Munroe, Black and Stone investigate Ho Fung's Chinese Laundry speaking to Ho Fung and the day shift manager Charles Fong (Ho Fung's son). Black is suspicious of the girl on the counter. Jane finds a paper record that says 200 uniforms were accepted, and 200 returned. However, it obviously once read that 400 were returned and has been inexpertly doctored. They discover that the uniforms in question were the responsibility of night shift manager, Luke Miner.

Stone talks to the tramps that cluster around the back of the laundry for warmth. One tramp says that the cleaner Vicky Costworth lets the homeless into the laundry at night, and allows them to take unclaimed clothes. It seems most likely the duplicate uniforms came in through these open doors during the night. When Stone asks if the tramp knows of anything suspicious he says that fellow homeless "The Professor" and "Lady Elizabeth" used to come to the laundry as he does, but he hasn't seen them in weeks.

Blackthorne and Harlow talk to Private James and PFC Keller. They were simply following orders and didn't realise they were collecting more uniforms than they should have done. They say they certainly took four hundred uniforms from the laundry. The privates sent to collect the uniforms are permitted a little R&R in Wichita before returning to the base. Both men parked the van at a diner where the dubious Juicy Lucy worked. Harlow volunteers to check out Juicy Lucy.

The agents circulate the description of Lady Elizabeth and the professor to hospitals and morgues hoping to find some trace of them. They discover a homeless woman answering the description of Lady Elizabeth was found dead in some railway sidings not far from HQ on 10 August 2000. "The Prof" turns out to be Professor Jensen Gilgoolie who used to be a biology professor at Wichita University before he had a psychotic episode and took to life on the street. He was last at work in February 2000. His work involved experimenting on neuro-viruses.

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