An unexpected sighting...

Having been frustrated by a number of dead ends in their investigation, MI6s recently reformed team of enhanced individuals have finally managed to interview one of the injured Flying Squad officers who is being honest about what he saw during the Battle of London Airport. MI6s team consists of Alfie Baldrick, the one man rifle section; Mimi Dubois, maîtresse of skills; Madeline Forsyth, the living shadow; and Sven Hyse, the Norwegian shapeshifter.

London, England, March 1948

Madeline continues to interview Alan 'Jock' Brody, whilst flirting a little with him, and manages to get him to admit that he did see a man on fire and not only that but he is sure that it was Jack 'Spot' Comer. He is also sure that Frankie Fraser was the man who was shooting cones of frost and ice, and that he hit with at least two shots on Big Alfie but that it seemed to have no effect on the bronze skinned criminal. It is clear while he is being questioned that the pain relief drugs are slowly wearing off and Jock starts to get a little confused and distracted.

Corporal Billy Baldrick, who we had dispatched to watch the reception area, mentally contacts Alfie and lets him know that Detective Superintendent Chapman has just arrived. We get the ward Sister to return Brody back to his ward and while she is wheeling him back to his bed Madeline transforms into a shadow and slides onto me, I walk to Brody's bedside and say goodbye while Madeline slips from me to the underside of Jock's bed. I then head back to the private room and transform myself into a shadow, using Madeline's borrowed power, and slip behind a piece of furniture just in case Chapman interviews Brody in a private room in the way that we did. Alfie and Sven manage to avoid the Superintendent by ducking into a broom cupboard, and so by the time that Chapman is interviewing Brody he is unaware that we have been there, or in fact are still there.

In shadow form on the underside of the hospital bed, Madeline overhears the initial conversation between Chapman and Brody. Again, Chapman asks if he can have the use of a private room and when the ward Sister brings the wheelchair and is lifting Brody into it, Madeline slips from beneath the bed to the underside of the wheelchair. They end up in a different private room than the one that I am waiting in and so I don't find out what was discussed until Madeline shared later in the day. Chapman had interviewed Jock and had asked almost the same questions as Madeline, it was then that Jock had said;

I told all of this to the lady from Internal Affairs!

During the interview Jock started to become more lucid and insisted on telling Chapman everything that he had seen during the Battle of London Airport including all of the enhanced activity, and Madeline was pleased to note that at no point did Chapman tell Brody not to share his information.

Madeline and I rejoin the others back at the car and get Charlie to drive us to Dorset Square, on the way we get Alfie to communicate with Jonny at Hanslope Park and relay the latest information that we have discovered about two more potential enhanced individuals as well as the names of the gangsters that we believe are enhanced and what their powers might be. Major Sawdon asks a few clarifying questions via Alfie and we let him know that we are on our way to report to Special Agent Philby.

The smartly dressed man shows us into the waiting room and informs us that Philby is not there but that he will be contacted and we are to await his arrival, much to Alfie's delight there are drinks and food provided for us. Taking the opportunity of an empty office, Madeline transforms into a shadow again and slips out of the window and up the shady side of the building and into Special Agent Philby's office. Once inside she attempts to pick the lock on his desk drawer but fails, so she slips her head inside and can see a file labelled 'Flying Squad' but can do nothing to see what is inside. Next, Madeline moves onto the filing cabinets but finds that the filing system is structured using an encrypted system and so realising that she doesn't have time to search she exits the way that she entered. And just in time, as by the time that she was back on the ground floor Philby is entering the building.

Special Agent Philby takes us up to his office and begins the process of debriefing us, we tell him everything that we have discovered so far and he probes us with questions to confirm his understanding, all the while making neat notes of the information. Two hours later and we are leaving Dorset Square and climbing into the back of the Rover P3, as we do so paranoia gets the better of me and I push out with my senses to make sure that there are no enhanced in the area, and was relieved when the only responses I got back were my colleagues. And so we headed back to our house in the Mews and I cooked a nice coq au vin, much to Alfie's delight.

The following day we received a call from Detective Superintendent Chapman informing us that the van used in the robbery had been found burnt out in the East end of London and asking us how the investigation was progressing. Madeline discussed with Chapman why one of his men was willing to talk but that the others had been very closed lipped, Chapman agreed and told her that he intended on pulling in the others to question them harder on what they had seen in the light of the new evidence. And that was where the trail went cold again. We were informed by Hanslope Park that we were to stay in London under the authority of Special Agent Philby and so we waited.

London, England, April 1948
It wasn't until Friday 15th April, just over two weeks from when we had questioned Jock Brody, that something happened that put us back out in the field.

Corporal Alfie Baldrick was contacted mentally by Corporal Jonny Baldrick and informed that Major Sawdon had picked up something unusual that he thought that we should investigate. On Thursday afternoon in the area of St Johns Wood London a brutal murder had taken place, and it was the viciousness of the incident that had caught Sawdon's eye. The Flying Squad had taken charge of the investigation and on the Major's request we jumped in the car and headed for Scotland Yard and Detective Superintendent Chapman's office.

Ah! The Emily Armstrong case! John Franklin has been put in charge of that investigation.

Chapman sat back in his chair and took a long draw on his cigar. When we had arrived at Scotland Yard Madeline had flashed her credentials and we were shown straight into the Superintendent's office. Chapman continued;

The particulars of the case as I remember them, the owner of a dry-cleaning shop, one Emily Francis Armstrong, in the St John's Wood area of London was found beaten to death inside her premises. The shop had failed to reopen after lunch and a queue had begun to build up outside. After a while, two women went round to the back of the shop to try to find out why it was closed and discovered her body.

The Detective Superintendent went on to describe Emily Armstrong as a frail, friendly, and bespectacled widow of sixty nine, who did not have a lot of money and seemingly had no enemies. She had been viciously beaten, with over twenty blows of great power to the head. Chapman says that if we are interested in the case then he will get a copy of John Franklin's case notes sent to us. Madeline thanks him and we leave, getting Charlie to drive us to the scene of the crime so that we can carry out our own inspection.

When we arrive we find the building locked, but the back door has a broken window that has been poorly boarded up. Sven transforms into a snake and slithers through the gap in the boards and once inside he unbolts the back door and lets Alfie and myself in, while Madeline remains in the shadows outside keeping a lookout. As soon as we are inside Alfie duplicates into eight Baldricks and begins to search the premises, while Sven and I head for the service area and try to work out who the last customer was. Unfortunately, the ledger and the tickets give no clue as to the identity of the last customer to use the shop and Armstrong's administration skills left something to be desired.

Corporal Eddie Baldrick shouts out that he has found something and so Sven and myself wander through to the back of the laundry and find him pointing to a chalk outline on the floor, there is a significant amount of blood at the head of the chalk mark. Eddie also says;

We also can't find any sign of a purse or a handbag Ma'am. That seems odd!

I agreed with him, or is it them? As did Sven who said that perhaps it was a robbery after all, but the level of violence just didn't fit. Sven headed outside and started to cast about the rear of the building for tracks, and discovers a set of heavy walking boot prints that seem to walk up and down outside the back door of the laundry several times before heading to the back door. Sven inspects the broken door a little more closely and realises that it was only broken the day before and so was likely the point of entry. Thinking that if it was a robbery they would find the missing purse or handbag nearby we split up and began to search the back alleys and passages of the local area.

Thirty minutes later and the Baldrick that I had accompanied, I forget which one it was as they all look alike to me, informed me that Corporal Harry Baldrick had found some more tracks in the corner of the De Walden Buildings, across the street from the alley that lead to the laundry. We all converge there and Sven confirms that the prints match those outside the rear of the laundry, but that this time Sven says that the imprint is deeper, almost as if whoever it was was carrying a heavy load. Once again we spread out from the De Walden Buildings courtyard and I am lucky enough to discover more heavy footprints in the passageway leading out towards Charles Lane, I point them out to Sven and he is able to follow them right into Charles Lane but he loses them again as they head left onto the main street towards the Star Tavern public house.

We crossed Charlbert Street and searched the empty plot behind the inn and Sven discovered a discarded handbag. Inside the handbag Sven found a bloodied handkerchief marked with a dry cleaning ticket bearing the number H-612, but knowing that there is no information linking the tickets to customers we realise that it is another dead end. We agree that if this is the work of one of the gang then they may well be staying in the area and so we agree to stake out the local public houses to see if we can spot any of the known members. As it is only early afternoon we head back to Canning Place Mews and arrive just in time to take delivery of John Franklin's case notes, as well as a copy of the postmortem results.

Madeline reads through the report and tells us that the victim died due to blunt force trauma to the skull caused by twenty two blows to the head. Most likely from a fist delivered with tremendous strength. It was a frenzied attack and as yet the police have been unable to identify any suspects and are working on the theory that it was a robbery gone wrong, possibly perpetrated by a tramp or vagrant. With that she throws the report onto the table;

They haven't exactly put much effort into their investigation!

We head out to the pubs of St John's Wood, with Baldrick covering ten pubs much to his pleasure. Three of the Baldricks are accompanied by Madeline, Sven, and myself. The two Baldricks who got to spend the night with Madeline and I would brag about it to the others for a long time to come. But we do not spot anyone that we recognize in any of the pubs, but Sven does overhear someone talking about a lady that reported a suspicious man seen nearby. The Baldrick with him quickly makes sure that all of the Baldricks are informed of this new piece of information and after questions in each pub they discover that the lady is called Mrs Lynn Denhim. They also manage to discover her address and agree to interview her first thing in the morning.

Corporal Charlie Baldrick drops us off before eight in the morning and with a quick flash of my credentials we are let into her home. Mrs Denhim is very happy to talk;

Well you see me dear, I was walking back about three in the afternoon and was cutting through the alley when I saw him out of the corner of my eye. He was an odd looking fella wearing a pinstripe suit and a hat. He was short and squat, and looked more like one of them monkey's that you can see in the zoo than a normal man.

As Mrs Denhim was describing the man that she had seen, a cold sensation was creeping up my spine. I looked around the room at Madeline and Sven, and could see the same look of recognition in their eyes. Mrs Lynn Denhim had just describe Mr Hades!