Open ACME Retro

[Sophie]

There had been little external response from the reticent medical student since the Junior Detectives and instructors assembled at the provisional shooting range. While she was not called upon to demonstrate any adeptness at the use of firearms, she had little difficulty with them. Her father had given her proper instruction since she was twelve-years-old, much to the initial chagrin of her mother. Yet, they would all agree on principle that every little bit of knowledge Sophie could acquire from either one of them would be beneficial—to know more is always better than to know less. Thus, as Sophie Conrad watched the exchange between Jason West and Kidman, she was suitably impressed at how the instructor tailored the lesson to suit the fearful Junior Detective, instead of closing the door on her hesitance. All these, she observed and recorded in silence.

Undoubtedly, there was no one strength Sophie possessed that was more salient than her observational acuity. Always, she preferred to pause and consider the situation with its myriad details before formulating an action plan. Some matters, upon proven evidence and continual repetition, were immediately solvable—there was little hesitation at applying pressure to a bleeding wound before deciding if it required stitches or how many… But, other matters, such as writing up the fifth haemodialysis order for an elderly gentlemen with acute and likely irreversible multi-organ failure required so much more reflection.

In this manner, Sophie entered the abandoned storage facility.

She allowed her senses to absorb the space, her mind already dividing the expanse along imagined gridlines. Dust particles flooded the stale air, reflecting sunlight as they drifted along.

“The ladder on that wall is not safe,” she hazarded a warning, gesturing lightly towards the iron-alloy structure that was suffering from extensive oxidation damage. A zigzag of stairs, further on the interior and though partially damaged from some form of impact, would be a safer choice to the mezzanine level.

Then, the strangest sight came to be: A broken Kokeshi, its lacquered golden grain stark upon the sand-laced concrete floor. It seemed almost grievous, the subtle smile on its painted face incongruent to its fate, but another detail caught her eye. With the unsharpened end of her pencil, Sophie pointed towards jagged hints of a smooth cylindrical groove within the doll.

“There was something in here.”

 

[Nace Bilby]

As Nace supervised the two volunteers (@Lee and @Julie Justice) after he had removed the explosive components from the two glass jars he did some thinking.

Even if the dolls were valuable Edo era artifacts why booby trap their storage site with explosive charges? There had to be something more to these things.

"Right," Nace said to Julie and Lee, "Bag up those glass jars, those are the best ways to lift the prints of whoever planted them here. Also take care of the wiring and the motorcycle battery, we'll see if we can't also see if the lab can't run a trace on those."

He looked over the explosive fillers of the jars, the two softball sized bags of ANFO and the two M80 firecrackers that had blasting caps taped to them for the initiator.

He pulled out his communicator and said, "After we're done searching the place I'll need to destroy the explosive components of that device I disarmed earlier with a controlled detonation."

 

[Jason West]

He pulled out his communicator and said, "After we're done searching the place I'll need to destroy the explosive components of that device I disarmed earlier with a controlled detonation."

"I'll gladly help with that. I have the GAP-10 and a few tracer rounds with me to get that party started." Jason replied to @Nace Bilby. He planned to set components out about 500 yards and load a tracer round into the rifle. The heat from the tracer round would be enough to ignite the explosive material and dispose of it in a very safe manner as everyone else would be a safe distance away behind him.

As Jason entered the facility, he noticed the empty bullet casings. Jason thought that the thief or thieves must be getting sloppy if they had left an empty doll and empty casings around. If that was the case, they're gonna make themselves easier to apprehend. While Jason was interested in the bullet casings, he was going to wait for a Junior Detective to ask for help in regards to the caliber and type of weapon they could have come from. This was their case and Jason was more than happy to step back and assess their progress until they asked for his assistance.

Jason stepped outside and pulled the GAP-10 out of its case and ran a boresnake through the barrel followed by a wet cleaning patch. Jason decided not to run a dry patch as the heat and humidity were high enough to dry the barrel out in a matter of seconds. He then loaded an magazine with a few regular .308 rounds and topped the magazine with two tracer rounds.

The tech guru sent a private message to @Nace Bilby using his communicator asking him to help set up a safe area to detonate the explosive material.

 

[Julie Justice]

Julie Justice was happy to be helping Nace. It was an important job.

Julie got on floor, to get a closer look. She *put on a pair of gloves* picked up one of jars, and looked at it a little more closely as she bagged it for evidence. She said,"Well..it's glass...so it's fairly heavy..even when it's empty...compared to a plastic jar. Plastic jars are only really heavy when they're full. And because these are glass..if this bomb had gone off.. it would have caused a lot more damage and injuries, too."

She *sniffed one of the jars, and noticed a faint, familiar scent* and said, "Yeah, from the color and smell, there was definitely some kind of store-bought mayonaise in here. Homemade mayonaise looks and smells different. It is more yellow, due to the yolks from the eggs, especially if you're using fresh eggs from your own chickens. Store bought mayonaise has "white" color added to it, because "city" people don't like their mayonaise "yellow" I guess. Haha. There was a label on this one, but it has been partially peeled off. So maybe this person didn't want us to be able to trace where it came from. Although, I suppose it is possible to find out how many stores there are in this area, that still sell mayonaise in glass jars...rather than plastic ones. But that's probably a long shot. This person probably found these jars somewhere...and brought them here...just for this purpose." After *putting the jar in the bag* Julie picked up the second jar, and saw that it was the same as first, and also *put it in an evidence bag* as well.

 

[Chase]

"Uh oh... guys? I think the front door is trapped..."

Zachery's sudden hush at the door put Euge on alert, and he quickly made his way up to the door.

That was nice teamwork, and a great start to the task.

"Everybody proceed with caution," Chase reminded. As harmless as 'evidence collection' may be, oppositions like the trap seemed too jarring to ignore.

...pulled out his communicator and said, "After we're done searching the place I'll need to destroy the explosive components of that device I disarmed earlier with a controlled detonation."

"I'll gladly help with that. I have the GAP-10 and a few tracer rounds with me to get that party started." Jason replied

Hopefully, this developing friendship would move beyond temporary. The instructors today might additionally consider returning to ACME full time. Even Eugene Grovington was engaged, he could tell the man's attention was on the kids now despite previously coming in for what may or may not have been a poker bet.

While Chase's job moved from fieldwork to academic, he knew it was a good decision to become instructor. Teaching will consistently be more rewarding, although not as immediate as fieldwork in some cases.

"This is a big area and there seems to be a lot to look into, let's split up. There are the crates, the window, or the table over there to start with."

Leadership initiative, noted.

With the unsharpened end of her pencil, Sophie pointed towards jagged hints of a smooth cylindrical groove within the doll.
“There was something in here.”

Chase nodded. That did not look like how someone might treat a priceless doll.

"Ms. Monaghan," he said to one of the older Junior Detectives, "Assign someone to your location and go with Dr. Conrad to tag the doll."

The teams were naturally dividing into two groups, Chase liked to credit previous Junior Detective training on that.

 

[Jason West]

After getting everything set up to detonate the explosive material from the trap placed by the door, Jason turned his attention to the evidence collection efforts inside.

"How is everything going in here boys and girls?" Jason asked as he walked inside. He hoped to see someone take some interest in the bullet casings as a lot can be told from the ballistics on such casings.

As he walked around the interior of the building, Jason began surveying the walls and doors for any sign of bullet holes that may contain projectiles that would further help the ballistics tracking of weapons that may be in possession of the thieves. Jason spotted a couple of possible holes and made a mental note of their locations so that the Junior Detectives could gain some experience extracting bullets and identifying potential bullet holes.

 

[Joe Kerr]

"Ms. Monaghan," he said to one of the older Junior Detectives, "Assign someone to your location and go with Dr. Conrad to tag the doll."

Addressed as she was, Ivy Monaghan had been standing in the centre of the open space, with a clear view of the warehouse interior. Julie Justice appeared to have a good eye for detail, she thought, considering the comments the fellow Junior Detective made on the mayonnaise jars. Perhaps, she would be best suited to look over minute evidence.

“Julie,” Ivy called, “mind taking photos of the crime scene while I head over to Ms. Conrad? There’s a camera in the kit.”

Then, having made sure that the area and task was covered, the stalwart redhead joined Sophie. She peered closer at the fragmented wood, “I don't know much about these dolls, but whoever left this behind probably wanted only what was inside.”

Moving to stand beside the ladies, Joseph Kerr silently appraised the deduction.

Yes, but more importantly, why open one now? Unless… they needed to make certain they had the right dolls. Professionals don’t usually make that mistake; then again, they don’t usually plant bomb traps either. Better make a note of this for later.

“We should bag and tag this,” Sophie recommended, lifting her eyes to look at the younger woman.

Nodding, Ivy put on a pair of gloves and brought out a fresh evidence bag from the ACME toolkit.

Joseph observed with a small measure of amusement as the Junior Detective went about her task with gusto.

“I wonder if we can get any prints off that?” he asked, mainly to prevent the young woman from getting careless in her haste.

Pausing, Ivy went about pulling out the instruments that would help her lift any present fingerprints off of the broken doll. “The surface is smooth,” she remarked, “we can try some magnetic powder. It doesn't look like the doll was handled with too much care.”

She exhaled to calm her nerves before picking up a small metal applicator. As she dusted, however, it seemed that the culprits were more careful than anticipated. They had left no discernable prints on the doll.

“It's peculiar,” Sophie contemplated as she watched Ivy work, comparing the rich gold appearance of the doll to the stark grey surroundings. “There is such incongruence--Why would they bother to set a trap, and yet damage and leave such an artifact behind?”

“Arrogance, perhaps?” supplied her fellow ACME instructor. “They might have expected the bomb to take care of both us and the warehouse.”

But, why not just torch the place? It would have been faster and more effective. What is it that we’re missing here?

“Perhaps,” Sophie prompted, lifting her head from the doll to look around again at the warehouse, “we should do a quick search for any other possible clues…”

With a nod, it was not far from where the doll was discovered that Ivy spied a cracked pinewood case filled with more than just the standard packing materials. “Someone ate here,” she mused, walking over with Joe and Sophie following, “from the looks of it, they have a junk food diet.”

The Junior Detective began to pull out various food wrappings from the crate. There was nothing like digging through trash to make you feel like a real investigator, she appreciated. Gloves were a godsend.

Bent slightly at the waist to watch, scanning the litter that began to dapple the cold concrete, Sophie suddenly interrupted: “One of these things is not like the others.”

Ivy paused, and both Joseph and her took a moment to look at what had caught the eye of the doctor. Using a pair of forceps from the ACME toolkit, Joseph picked up a small square of colourful, glossy paper.

“El Guero Canelo,” Sophie peered over his shoulder, reading slowly. “It’s a coupon for,” she frowned in open wonder, “Sonora-style… hot dogs?”

“Salchichas Rojos--bacon-wrapped pork sausage, smothered in chili and other generally delicious toppings,” Joseph explained, “Reminds me of some ‘old friends’; they were always raving about this stuff.”

Which also reminds me, I should place some calls.

“El Guero Canelo…” Ivy repeated the store name printed on the coupon which--unlike the other trashed items--had been neatly clipped and kept in a plastic sleeve with the intention to be used again. “This seems to be usable only for the South Tucson branch on the I-10.”

“Well,” the fledgling doctor exhaled, raising an eyebrow and looking at her companions.

“Anyone for lunch?” Joseph piped up, a mischievous smile forming on his face.



[fieldset=Written With:][with]3[/with][with]11[/with][/fieldset]

 

[Julie Justice]

Just as Julie had been happy when Nace had asked her and help to bag and tag the evidence from the unexploded bomb, she was also happy to help Ivy by photographing the broken doll, which also very important evidence in this crime.

Julie knew that she was at least 10 years older than most of her fellow Junior Detectives...not to mention most of the instructors here. But she was still new at ACME. So it meant a lot to Julie that people who had seniority and were respected at ACME...an instructor like Nace Bilby...or another Junior Detective with a lot more experience...Like Ivy...thought that she would do well at such important tasks...and valued what she had to say.

"Sure, Ivy, I'll be right over," Julie said.

Julie got up from the floor, and ran over to where Ivy, Sophie and Joe Kerr were standing around the broken Kokeshi doll.

Julie looked @Ivy as she said,"Excuse me, Ivy," as she went to get the camera from the evidence kit. Julie made sure the camera was ready and walked a little closer to the doll, getting down on the floor to get a better look as she began to take pictures.

"Well..I'm not really an expert on this kind of doll...or any other really. But I enjoyed playing with dolls when I was younger...like a lot of girls did. And even back then...I liked to think that I noticed details. And usually, if there are a lot of details...especially in face...if it's a hand-painted doll...no matter what it's made of...is usually a sign of fairly good quality...which is part of what makes it valuable." *Moves around the doll, and takes some pictures of the dolls face, from slightly different angles.*

"So you would never break a doll like this, unless you wanted what was inside it. And the size and style of this doll obviously doesn't leave much useable space inside it. So you wouldn't put anything inside this kind of doll..unless it was something you wanted to hide...something like illegal drugs...or uncut gemstones...like diamonds, maybe. Or if this thief was working for someone else...it might also have a note, with instructions on what to do or where to go next." *Moves around, to take pictures of the inside of the doll, from different angles.*

"But...even if you knew there might be something in this doll that you thought you wanted...you wouldn't want to risk damaging what might might be inside...so you would use some kind of tool, if you had one...like a hammer, maybe. So, either this person didn't know which doll the item was hidden in...which to me...would say that their "employer" didn't trust them with that kind of information...or that they didn't have a hammer, or something like that...or that maybe they were in a rush, or something...and just had to get the item out in fast."

"But even so...you would think that even the most amateur thief would know to take the broken doll with them...and not leave it behind for us to find. Which either says that whoever booby trapped this place, thought that everything would be destroyed if the bomb went off...Or that there was more than one person here at some point...and the the last person here had to leave in a hurry...like I said." *As she talks Julie, continues to move around the doll, she takes pictures of the outside of the doll, focusing on the broken pieces, from different angles.*

"Or if this was a thief...or a group of thieves...that was stealing this doll for someone else...maybe the person who wanted this item told the thief...or thieves to leave it behind...as a "clue" for us to find...which would be both very nice...and very devious of them. As if they are saying that they want us to chase them..which might point us to a more "professional" thief. Or at least someone with a lot of money...and time on their hands...who would know about this kind of item...and could afford to send someone after it." *Moving around the doll, Julie took pictures of the outside of the doll, focusing on the details.*

*Finally, Julie stops moving around the doll, and stands up.*

*Julie looks first @Sophie...and then @Joe Kerr, and says,"But considering our "friend" was kind enough..or stupid enough...or maybe both...to leave us a really obvious clue...the coupon at for El Guero Canelo in South Tuscon on I-10...I suggest that we either take a "road trip" or that some goes and picks up some lunch. I don't know about anyone else...but it has been a long morning..and all this evidence gathering and analysis has made me kind of hungry. Hahahaha."

 

[Agent Z]

Zack watched as everyone started to find their place. He liked that @Ivy took control of the Junior Detectives. It made them seem more organized in front of the instructors. With Julie taking charge of the photographs, he decided to make himself useful at the far corner where @Jason West seemed to be supervising.

There was some obvious bullet casings on the floor, but they were scattered and seemed to have rolled around.

"It looks like there was a fire fight somewhere here. "

Wearing gloves and picking up the metal object with some pliers from the field case kit, Zack looked at one closely.

"Should I try do an infoscan for what kind of gun this came from?"

 

[Jason West]

"It looks like there was a fire fight somewhere here. "

"I don't exactly think it was a fire fight but looks more like target practice from the looks of things and the lack of return fire casings."

"Should I try do an infoscan for what kind of gun this came from?"

"You can try but I'm not certain it will come up with an exact match."

The casings appeared to be a common caliber that most any handgun chambered in that caliber would fire. Once the casings and any potential projectiles were collected, they could be scanned in for comparison against a potential weapon that might be found on a suspect.

The fact that the thieves might be armed concerned Jason. He was worried about the safety of these Junior Detectives and knew that if it came down to it, he would put his life on the line for any one of them. He subconsciously checked to make sure his weapons were in there holsters and that he had his trusty pocket knives with him.

 

[Nace Bilby]

Nace had watched as @Jason West had collected the explosive material and made his remark:

"I'll gladly help with that. I have the GAP-10 and a few tracer rounds with me to get that party started."

"Right," Nace said, "And I'll get rid of the other bit my way."

In truth he was knowledgeable about detonating explosives by shooting them. He had seen some snipers do it during his time with South African Special Forces and it did work.

"Be sure you aim for the M80 and blasting cap. It'll do well to set off the bag of ANFO." Nace remarked as he set his own primed C4 charge beside the other bit of explosive material.

He would wait till they had clearance to detonate the devices, "Right, @Chase , requesting permission to carry out controlled detonation.

---
After setting up the safe area to detonate the explosives, Nace returned to where the rest of the non-explosive parts of the bombs were being processed for evidence.

@Julie Justice had elected to go and help and he watched as she got to one knee, putting on gloves and picked up one of the jars to examine it before putting it in the plastic bags:

"Well..it's glass...so it's fairly heavy..even when it's empty...compared to a plastic jar. Plastic jars are only really heavy when they're full. And because these are glass..if this bomb had gone off.. it would have caused a lot more damage and injuries, too."

Nace nodded, "As with the bits of metal inside, that's exactly how I would have rigged a booby trap using these type of materials. Very good observations."

He added, "And because they're glass they should retain finger prints."

He listened for a moment before Julie spoke again, after sniffing the second jar.

"Yeah, from the color and smell, there was definitely some kind of store-bought mayonaise in here. Homemade mayonaise looks and smells different. It is more yellow, due to the yolks from the eggs, especially if you're using fresh eggs from your own chickens. Store bought mayonaise has "white" color added to it, because "city" people don't like their mayonaise "yellow" I guess. Haha. There was a label on this one, but it has been partially peeled off. So maybe this person didn't want us to be able to trace where it came from. Although, I suppose it is possible to find out how many stores there are in this area, that still sell mayonaise in glass jars...rather than plastic ones. But that's probably a long shot. This person probably found these jars somewhere...and brought them here...just for this purpose." After *putting the jar in the bag* Julie picked up the second jar, and saw that it was the same as first, and also *put it in an evidence bag* as well.

"Huh, didn't know that, but thanks for the information." Nace said with a grin, "Again, very observant."

 

[Agent Z]

"I don't exactly think it was a fire fight but looks more like target practice from the looks of things and the lack of return fire casings."

Zack nodded. He bagged and recorded the bullets according to how they were taught at the Detective Academy. He made sure to pay extra attention to the ones embedded in the wall and record them precisely.

Zack also noticed how well @Julie Justice was doing, she was making great observations. He didn't even think about the Mayo jar before.

The young detective then noticed @Jason West checking his own weapons.

"Are you alright Mr. W? You seem a little distracted."