Mid-West Campaign
Session Forty-Six

Sunday, 28 January 2001 (continued)

Benedict is taken to hospital, while Artemis, Jane and Alex 'babysit' headquarters while the door is being repaired. Artemis is due to have rescheduled meeting with Eisenstein in Washington on Monday 5 February.

Friday, 2 February 2001

Benedict returns to work and the agents reconvene in the Wichita HQ. Chuck is still on holiday. Artemis wants to find a way to tell the Inspection Division that the Joker case is closed without telling them what really happened. The consensus is to use another body, claim it was the Joker and that we killed him. Artemis suggests using the body of Albert Johnson but that will be tricky as he is been in the deep freeze for so long. The agents decide to leave Inspection Division to it for the moment (and keep McLaughlin and Zimmerman in Beverley Hills) and use the first fresh body that comes along.

Next the quintessentially professional Black proposes that they draw lots to see which case they do next. To Jane's delight they are heading to Missouri and case JOP312 that could feasibly have a link with Vitrano and Lavin. The agents then drive to Joplin, Artemis deciding he hasn't spent nearly enough time in his Lotus-7 of late.

The most exciting thing in Joplin a Tri-State Mineral Museum. Fortunately, the agents are not hear for the sights. After booking into a motel in the Dennis Acres area of Joplin and removing incriminating equipment from the 4×4, the agents contact Lieutenant Peter Farrell and request a meeting. Shortly afterward the agents are at Fort James Cohen and speaking to the lieutenant. Farrell gives them the facts of the case.

Six graves have been disturbed (see JOP312 casefile for details of the buried), but no exhumations have been performed because they are waiting on permission of the local judge, James Davies. Until the graves are exhumed they do not know for sure that the bodies are missing. There was no sign of a break-in, and no-one noticed intruders despite dogs being routinely loosed at night. With the exception of some minor vandalism nothing else of note has happened in the cemetery. Farrell suggests the agents speak to Sergeant Donald Robinson at the cemetery (he is in charge of security) as well as the civilians who work there: Charles Jackson and Thomas White of the Jackson & White Landscaping company, and the stonemason Thomas Harris. Farrell believes that the disturbances are pranks perpetrated by students of the nearby experimental hospital.

The agents arrive at the Irongates Military Cemetery at 16:30 and speak to Sergeant Robinson. They discover that surveillance cameras were put around the perimeter after the third grave was disturbed (17 December 2000). After the fifth grave was disturbed (3 January 2001) the cemetery was flood-lit like a football pitch, but when nothing happen for more than two weeks Lieutenant Farrell ordered the lights switched off to save money. The very next night (20 January 2001) the sixth and latest grave was disturbed. The lights are back on now, but Farrell has ordered them turned off on Monday 5 February and Robinson suspects the grave robbers will strike again then.

The agents are shown photos of the graves which are now mounds of earth, and look a lot like new graves before the soil has had a chance to compact down. Robinson suspects the headstones have been tampered with but cannot say for sure. He suggests checking that with the stonemason Harris (although Harris is on holiday until Monday). All the disturbed graves are within a twenty grave radius. The only suspicious thing that Robinson can tell the agents is that the dog handler, Corporal Clark, has moaned that his dog Rosie was unhappy. They can talk to Clark when he starts his shift at 04:00 on Sunday morning.

The agents patrol the grounds, look at the bandstand and pond and take Geiger readings at the site of the latest disturbance but discover nothing. As neither Harris or the judge are available until Monday they head to the library to see what they can discover about the town before it closes.

In the library, Drake finds a book called Civil War Joplin: Environs that a Baptist church used to stand at the site of the Irongates Cemetery but it (and the graveyard that once surrounded it) has now gone. The church would have served the community of Shoal Creek, but probably fell out of use before it was knocked down in 1918. The agents retire to the Black Oak Lodge for dinner (and cigars) to discuss the case.

Saturday, 3 February 2001

While out for a her morning run, Jane again sees Kirsty Faber. She tells Artemis who tries to reassure Jane that she isn't going mad. Today the agents plan to split up: Jane and Artemis are heading to the cemetery while Drake and Benedict will return to the library.

Drake seems particularly accident prone this morning. Not only does he drive his car into the back of the 4×4 he also manages to spill coffee over the original newspaper Benedict was reading, melt a piece of microfiche, squirt jam from his doughnut all over the bookshelves and set fire to the library. The librarian, Bertha Stimson, is justifiably annoyed and demands compensation.

At the cemetery Artemis and Jane talk to Corporal Clark who can't really tell them much more than Robinson did. His Alsatian attack dog, Rosie, seems on the verge of ripping out Artemis's throat throughout the interview. The pair then speak to Jackson and White who are working the grounds. Jackson says that he found the first disturbed grave with his trainee, Eddie Lee, when they were doing the weekly circuit. He suspects the earliest the first grave could have been disturbed was 6 September last year. He too blames students, and says there has been trouble with them before - they stole a stone angel once. Jane takes a soil sample with the intention of mailing it to Bradley Ecks for analysis.

Jackson & White have held the contract to manage the cemetery for the last ten years, and currently employ five people on the site. Both Jackson and White have been at work here since 1976 (they worked with the previous company before setting up their own). They share the work with the punishment detail from Fort James Cohen, that is periodically sent to do some weeding. Jackson speaks of ghostly goings on and rumours of apparitions in the graveyard. He doesn't believe it, but his secretary Edina does.

At this point Benedict and Drake arrive with news of Drake's activity at the library. Artemis leaves Jane and Benedict to go through the surveillance tapes and count visitors in and out the gates while he takes Drake to see Edina Lewis. Edina is a big fan of Artemis's and believes they are connected on a psychic level. Most of what she says is rubbish, but she does mention the old church. She says that it was surrounded by a confederate cemetery, but the union town didn't want to bury confederate soldiers. The spirits of the confederates were restless and they drove away every priest who tried to practice in the church after only a few weeks. She says it is all happening again now because the stars are right.

Outside, Drake meets a young woman that anyone else in the group would have recognised as Kirsty Faber. They get talking and Kirsty tells Drake that she knows Jane and is planning to start a practice for the two of them. They make a date to have dinner together at 6:00pm.

Artemis discovers a local historian named Brian Walker owns a local bookbinders. He might know more on the subject, but he can't see Artemis until Tuesday. Outside, Drake tells Artemis what happened and he realises that Drake was talking to Kirsty. He tells Jane who is shocked but a little glad that she isn't seeing things. Jane determines to be at Drake's dinner date this evening, and leaves for the motel with Benedict (they found nothing on the tapes). Artemis drives Drake back to the motel, but the unlucky agent breaks the wing mirror of his prize Lotus-7 and rips the upholstery. Artemis dumps him on the side of the road and phones for a taxi.

The unlucky Drake takes three hours to get to the motel after being picked up by a Indian taxi driver who didn't speak English and didn't know the area. This gave Benedict enough time to go to Church. Drake is hurried to the local restaurant while the other agents lay in wait and observe. Kirsty Faber does indeed turn up and see Drake, and talks amiably to him and to Artemis when he walks over.

Jane approaches with great trepidation. As she gets closer, Kirsty turns, the warmth draining from her face until only a ghostly visage remains. "There is something important you need to know," says the ghostly Kirsty, and then she vanishes, her coffee cup smashing on the floor.

The other agents didn't hear the words, so Jane repeats them. Artemis is somber. The last spirit that came back from the dead was Harlow, and they now know that was connected to The Game. Could this be the reason Kirsty's spirit has returned. Jane slumps into a chair. She can't take much more of this.

Mid-West Campaign Index | Previous Session | Next Session