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Chapter 27: Case 4 Part 2

October 15th, 1920

After two days of intense prep, Lucia and her team were finally ready to set out. In 2 1918 Pierce-Arrow Model 66, which each had enough space to fit two people and a decent amount of supplies as well. Though William and Jerry were hesitant in accepting the responsibility of driving what costs nearly 7,200 dollars (106 thousand dollars in today's money.).

So on October fifteenth the day that the team is to set up. They meet up at the office at around 5:30 in the morning so they can arrive at the town at around 8 to start investigating as soon as possible.

That morning Lucia was the first to wake up and had taken to making herself a cup of coffee while waiting in the reception area for her fellow employees.

Thomas was the next to come in, still groggy and half asleep annoyedly greeted Lucia.” Good morning, did you really have to make us get up so early?”

Lucia wasn’t phased by the tone and answered earnestly. “Yes we have to maximize our time and leaving later today would only cause us to lose a day of investigation.” That answer was only answered with a groan from Thomas.

In the next half hour William and Jerry arrive also giving half asleep answers. That is quite similar to the ones Thomas gave. Though Lucia thankfully had the foresight to make enough coffee to ensure that they are sufficiently awake for the two hour drive ahead of them. Since the last thing that Lucia wants is for their drowsiness to cause an accident. So the next fifteen minutes was spent with the four of them drinking coffee and going over the directions to the village.

After they finished, they went to the two cars to double check that everything was loaded, before setting off on the trip North to the small town of Bourne. Which is somewhere between an hour and a half to two hour drive there. Though due to planning it will be closer to an hour and a half.

The actual drive there is rather uneventful as the scenery is mainly woodlands separated by the occasional farm or town that break up the forests of New England. The sun rising oftens makes for some beautiful sights that make the trip less dull than it might have been without some of the sights,

Though for Lucia it has brought back some feelings of annoyance as she remembers the modern wonders that she now lacks. Though two currently stick out, one being modern cars, though the speed is thankfully not one of the problems her current car has. Since the cars top speed is about 55 miles per hour which for the time period is respectable. What Lucia is having a problem with is some of the accessories which had become standard in her past life. Such as A.C, a radio and a Gps system that she misses as all three would have made the ride more comfortable would have made the ride better. Though the time that they are driving makes the A.C not as necessary for this drive. The only thing that Lucia missed more at the moment is her phone or a portable camera, since if she had one she would have been taking tons of photos of the sunrise and the landscape that they pass. Though Lucia is only able to reminisce in silence as she drives through the New England forests.

After a total of around an hour and forty minute drive, the group finally reached Bourne which is a smallish town of about two to three thousand. The town has a bit of an oldy vibe with most of the buildings looking like they date back to the late 1800s. With only a modern city center, it appears to be built in the early 1900s. Though that is only a guess from Lucia’s rudimentary knowledge of architectural history that she learned at some point in her career. Along with knowledge that she has learned in this life of her’s.

The first view of the town comes from the farms that dot around the town. Then comes some rural residences that are quite distanced from each other. Then finally there is the town itself which is set around a small urban center that is the size of around 4 or 5 blocks of relatively urban buildings. With the buildings in the urban area commonly being two to three stories. Though there are still quite a few single family homes there. On a final note as Lucia and the others enter the somewhat urban part of the town, she can see what appears to be an old looking estate on the North side of town. That she makes a mental effort not to look into. Due to it looking relatively interesting in terms of architecture. As Lucia has grown quite fond of the somewhat spooky looking atmosphere during her time working at the Agency in her past life.

Though back to the present moment the first thing that group does after they enter town. Is to find a place to get breakfast, which they do at a diner in the outskirts of the Urban area of Bourne.

Though it is not without gaining attention as two expensive cars enter a relatively poor town that is not used to being passed through by two expensive towns. So when Lucia and the others leave their cars and head to the inn, they can’t help but notice the stare’s that they receive from the locals. Though they pay it no mind as they go in and order their food along with a second round of coffee. To keep them awake on the little sleep they had gotten the previous night so they had to have something to keep them alert.

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This went on until a deputy sheriff entered, most likely to get their morning cup of coffee. He was wearing a blue police uniform with a m1911 holstered in a leather holster that is attached to his leather belt.

Though he must have noticed Lucia’s group and possibly the guns in the cars which Lucia did not take much effort to hide. Though she did take some effort to make sure that it couldn’t be stolen easily.

The officer stepped towards the groups in a way that gained their attention with a fake cough. Which it did successfully as Lucia turned her head to look at him. Though the officer spoke before Lucia could greet him.

“Hello, I couldn’t help but notice that your car has quite a few guns in it? What are you planning to do with them.?”

Lucia was prepared with an answer though. “Well officer, we are private investigators that were contracted to investigate the string of disappearances and murders that have been happening over the past year.”

The officer had a conflicted response partially due to the lack of progress that the police have been making. Though on the other hand he is annoyed that they might interfere with the police work and be an annoyance. Though the annoyance is mostly hidden when he answers. “Well I can’t stop you, but stay out of the way and report anything you find to the police. Also be careful with those guns of yours.”

While Lucia picked up on the slight annoyance she ignored it when she responded. “Of course officer, just think of us as assistance in solving the local incidents. Since everyone will benefit from the culprit being found.

At that the officer nodded before realizing that he had forgotten to introduce himself. “Ah I have forgotten to introduce myself, I am Officer Nolan Clarke. While I am reluctant to say so, we would appreciate any competent help we can receive since. As you said, everyone would benefit from the culprit being brought to justice. So if you come by the police station, I will make sure that you get a copy of the information on the cases.”

Lucia then nodded gratefully. “Well thank you for your assistance and I promise that I will keep the police in the loop, if we find anything.”

Officer Nolan then nodded, “Well I will let you folks get back to eating, have a good morning.” He then turned and went to order his own food.

The other customers who were quietly listening in also turned back to doing their own thing. Though people had been listening in for different reasons. Some due from curiosity and some for some perhaps. more sinister reasons. Though Lucia only noticed from her peripheral visions as she was focused on the conversation with the officer and then her food and coffee.

After the group had finished eating after around a half hour, they then went back to the cars and drove to an inn that the diner's waiter owner had suggested to them which was a short two to three minute drive to the inn. The inn was a 3 story structure that seemed to be one of the biggest buildings in town. It also seemed to be one of the newer buildings. As it was built almost entirely of brick.

EIther way Lucia and her group quickly checked in and brought some of their luggage in, which included enough clothes to last them 2 weeks. Without having the clothes washed. Though there was probably some place in town that they could have their clothes washed if the investigation took longer.

Though it may be strange, they all decided to rent a single room for several reasons. The main reason being for safety as they wanted to take precautions against their rooms from being broken into. Which would have been easier if they each had their own room. So they decided to get one of the suites that had two bedrooms, a bathroom and a common area. That was on the fourth floor. They then decided on the living arrangement. In which Lucia had her own room due to the fact that she was the only woman in the group with the other three coming to their own argument. Though Lucia wasn’t aware of it as it didn’t really matter to her.

Another part of their security preparations was that they brought in a Winchester Model 1907 as extra security. As it was determined that bringing in a shotgun would be too risky when it came to friendly fire.

Though after they had settled all of their luggage they had convinced the common area to plan the day of investigating the case. Though there were already several places that were already on the to visit list. The list included the police station to get the information from the police along with a visit to the morgue to try and get some information from some of the victims' corpses. Other places that the group has to visit are the local newspaper, Henry’s wife and last but not least the archive building to look into some of the older buildings.

The plan that the group had developed was that Lucia and Thomas would investigate the police station and morgue and finish up with Henry's wife. While Jerry and William would investigate the newspaper and archive to look into the past incidents. It was around 10 A.m after Lucia and the others finished planning for the day.