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Kangra
May 7, 2012

Case 2, Clue 7

Pike is a good instinct, and I'd rather give a clue than wait until later.

2 SW (Societies Club)

By sheer luck, we find Langdale Pike alone at the Societies Club. He is writing in his notebook and taking suave puffs on his imported cigarette. He doesn't seem to mind when we interrupt him; in fact he's eager to exchange gossip. "What tid-bits do you young sleuths have for me to-day?"

"There was a murder at the Elephant & Castle Theatre last night."

"Is that so? Who was it? No — let me guess. Sir Clayton Partridge? Lord Rutland? No, hmmm? Perhaps –"

"That's the problem, Mr. Pike, we don't know. No one does yet. But whoever the victim was, he had some connection with Minnie Cavill. What could you tell us about her?"

"Ah! Minnie, Queen of the Nightingales. Her singing has captured the hearts of many respectable men. But I have heard that although she is wooed backstage almost every night of the week, she is still true to her one lover."

"And who is that?"

Langdale Pike strokes his chin a few times, sorting through his prodigious memory for the name he had filed away countless months ago. "Ah, yes. I remember now; Roger Thornberry. Quite a crude and uncouth fellow, I understand, although I have never had the displeasure of meeting him. Not the first time a fair maiden has been under the spell of an evil prince."

We express our gratitude for his help, and as we are leaving, he calls out, "And when you solve the case, don't forget to give me credit."

You'd think Pike would say 'tit-bits' given that he almost certainly reads George Newnes' publication.

The next few days can be for working on the cryptic message, I guess. I may not be available for directory look-ups.

CPs visited: 13 SE, 3 SE, 20 WC, 10 EC, 13 SW, 11 SE, 2 SW
non-clues: 1 NW

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Hyper Crab Tank
Feb 10, 2014

The 16-bit retro-future of crustacean-based transportation

Kangra posted:

Roger Thornberry

Smashing! We have a name, and a second place to visit if we don't come up with anything more interesting! Thanks poster Mort for suggesting Pike in the first place.

Please do a lookup of Mr. Thornberry (no rush, though, we still have a note to solve) at some point. Nothing else about Pike's testimony seems helpful, though I will never cease to be amused by the old spelling of "today" as "to-day".

Kangra
May 7, 2012

Here's Roger:

Thomas Wallace & Co .......... 46 EC
Thornberry, Roger ................. 30 SE
Thorne, Babette .................... 87 E

Take some time to think on the cryptic message a bit more, but I'd like to select the next clue on Sunday (~ 8 pm Holmes/London Time).

Tax Refund
Apr 15, 2011

The IRS gave me a refund. I spent it on this SA account. What was I thinking?!
Reading back over the earlier parts of the case, I found this:

Hyper Crab Tank posted:

I'm a little curious about the hotel bill. It's dated March 3rd, two days ago, a Sunday. The victim had been in London for the past week at least; now, I don't know much about hotels and their billing practices, especially not in 19th century London, but is it usual to bill customers in the middle of their stay? Was he billed because he left the hotel and was staying somewhere else the night to the 4th?

Reconstructing the events, here's how I see it:

* FACT: He spent the night of the 3rd with Minnie Cavill, claiming to be a married couple (as you would have had to do in Victorian England, since no respectable hotel would have rented a room to a man and woman who did NOT claim to be married).
* FACT: Someone killed him during the evening of the 4th, while he was watching the performance at the Elephant and Castle.
* CONJECTURE: Roger Thornberry had found out about his affair with Minnie, and killed him in revenge. Still need to prove that.

Also:

* FACT: He was dead by the night of the 4th, so the night of the 3rd was the last night when he slept anywhere. Hence the hotel bill for the 3rd.
* FACT: The clerk at the Bridge House Hotel says that "Mr. and Mrs. Donald" checked in on the 3rd, claiming to be in town overnight and wanting to stay for just one night.
* CONJECTURE: The clerk has no reason to lie about this. We can assume he's telling the truth.
* CONCLUSION: He wasn't actually staying at the Bridge Hotel.
* CONJECTURE: He's from outside London, given the Scottish accent, so he doesn't have a house in London.
* CONCLUSION: He was staying at a different hotel, and if we could figure out which one, we might still be able to talk to the clerk there and search the deceased man's room.

Hyper Crab Tank
Feb 10, 2014

The 16-bit retro-future of crustacean-based transportation
I agree on those counts. My initial question was based on the assumption that he'd been given the bill for his stay the day after, but it looks like the series of events is as you describe it. Of note is also that the victim came in alone on the morning of the third, and returned later at night with Ms. Cavill in tow. So this probably wasn't a spur of the moment thing... the two had planned the stay at some previous time.

The victim had been in London for several weeks prior, and since he doesn't seem to have a private residence anywhere in the city (assuming his name is indeed MacDonald), he must've been staying at a hotel or flophouse (unlikely given his apparent wealth) or something. Perhaps at an acquaintance's house. But for whatever reason, he couldn't bring Ms. Cavill to his usual hotel. As I mentioned previously, there are two hotels right next to Simpson's Cigar Divan, where he spent a lot of his time, so perhaps he was staying at one of those?

The note is still vexing. I still can't make heads or tails of it, but it has to be important. Any new ideas at all on that?

Oh, one more thing. That note with directions. We know the directions are from the Bridge House Hotel to Simpson's Cigar Divan. But I'm really starting to wonder why he had that note on him. He was only staying in that hotel for one night, in the company of Cavill. He went there twice. Clearly he has no particular problems navigating the streets of London, so what is the purpose of that note?

Hyper Crab Tank fucked around with this message at 10:45 on Nov 28, 2015

Tax Refund
Apr 15, 2011

The IRS gave me a refund. I spent it on this SA account. What was I thinking?!
Let's see. The directions were in his pocket, but the ciphered note was hidden inside his hatband. Clearly he didn't need to pull it out often and look at it; he'd probably already memorized it. (If he was the recipient, that is. If he was planning to give that note to someone, or leave it for them, then he never managed to communicate with its intended recipient.)

On the ciphered note, nothing I try has been working out, but maybe I can list the things I've tried that HAVEN'T worked.

I tried assuming that "March 5th" wasn't just today's date, but was coded instructions like "go forward 5 letters", e.g. "skip every letter but the 5th". No dice. I tried "skip every N", both taking spaces into account and skipping spaces. Still nothing that looked even vaguely like English.

I tried assuming that the capital letters, one per column, meant "going in order of columns left to right, use the next word from the row where the capital letter appears". In other words, use the words in the order "A", "sHe", "BlaDe", "rApier", "dIrk", "BlaDe", "rApiEr"... Nope, that makes no sense.

I tried taking the capital letters only and reading them in column order from left to right, but only reading every 5th one. Nothing.

I notice that every single letter of the English alphabet appears in the note, except for X. I don't think that's significant, but who knows. I did think the capital letters appearing no more than one per column of typewritten letters was significant, but I haven't managed to turn that into anything meaningful just yet.

Now on a different subject... maybe the directions were for Minnie Cavill to make her way back to the theater after their rendezvous? (But then, why was it in his pocket?) Maybe they were directions for the cabdriver he hired. But again, why would it have been in his pocket? If you hand a driver some written directions to your destination, do you usually ask for them back?

... Maybe the directions were included in the letter he received from Minnie Cavill several weeks ago, giving him directions not from the Bridge Hotel to Simpson's Cigar Divan, but rather from the London Bridge station to the Elephant and Castle.

I'm also puzzled by his regular 4:45 departures from Simpson's (quite promptly, too). Maybe he was catching a train from Charing Cross Station, which is just across the road from Simpson's?

Kangra: Is a train timetable available to us as part of the notes? Or could we reasonably expect to see a train timetable if we visit Charing Cross Station? I don't particularly want to take us down ANOTHER dead-end...

Also, just for the sake of figuring it out, I traced the directions in that handwritten note on the map, and compared them to the distance / travel-time scale given. My very rough estimates say that it would have taken about an hour and a quarter to walk those directions -- so if he was leaving Simpson's at 4:45 PM each day, he would have been getting to London Bridge Station around 6:00 PM.

If he really was catching a train, then, he was either catching a 4:45ish train from Charing Cross, or a 6:00ish train from London Bridge Station. I'm inclined towards the latter, because it might explain why he picked the Bridge Hotel for his liaison with Miss Cavill: it was close to where he'd normally be, so it was convenient for him, yet he wasn't known there since he was staying somewhere else, so they'd believe his story about being named "Mr. and Mrs. Donald".

That's all I have for now, and I'm still getting nowhere with the note. What about you, Hyper Crab Tank? What approaches to the note have you tried (unfruitfully) so far?

Hyper Crab Tank
Feb 10, 2014

The 16-bit retro-future of crustacean-based transportation
I'm not sure where the "directions to the Elephant & Castle" theory is coming from, exactly... since the note has street names and turns on it, it can't be directions from anywhere other than London Bridge Station (or thereabouts) to Simpson's Cigar Divan (or thereabouts). In particular, there's no way to get those directions to take you to the Elephant & Castle...

It is true though that the directions are not necessarily for the victim's own use. They could be intended for someone else. If they are indeed for the victim, then one possible explanation is this: The victim had a habit of visiting the cigar house every day, and wanted to do so on the day he died, as well. However, that night, he'd been staying at a hotel he normally did not lodge at. Perhaps it is as simple as him needing directions from the hotel to the cigar house because he was used to taking another route and wanted to make sure he got there on time despite a different starting point? It could also be, as suggested earlier, that his normal hotel is near the cigar house and he needed directions back "home" after their little rendezvous.

Regarding his departures from the cigar house: The only thing we know for sure he did on a daily basis was visit the Elephant & Castle. We don't really know when the theater opens for performances, though... it could be that 4:45 was simply the time he would have to leave at in order to get ready in time for that night's performance. It's a pretty boring answer, but at least it's consistent with what we know of his habits. If your estimation of the travel distance is correct, then... well, by the looks of the map, the distance to the Elephant & Castle looks to be roughly the same as to the station, yes? Perhaps the theater opens at 6?

Things I have attempted to do with the note to no success:

1. Interpret the capital letters as a Caesar cipher, both in row and column order.
2. Same, but as Vigènere cipher.
3. Interpret capital/lowercase letters as a Bacon code.
4. Convert letters into numbers (A=1, B=2 etc.) and using those numbers to pick words from the message.
5. Generate a bunch of anagrams using the capital letters.

Tax Refund
Apr 15, 2011

The IRS gave me a refund. I spent it on this SA account. What was I thinking?!

Hyper Crab Tank posted:

I'm not sure where the "directions to the Elephant & Castle" theory is coming from, exactly... since the note has street names and turns on it, it can't be directions from anywhere other than London Bridge Station (or thereabouts) to Simpson's Cigar Divan (or thereabouts). In particular, there's no way to get those directions to take you to the Elephant & Castle...

Whoops, you're absolutely right. I had previously noticed the Tivoli Music Hall right in the area those directions take you to, and later I misremembered the Elephant & Castle as being there. But it's in SE 13, right there on the SE map.

Pf. Hikikomoriarty
Feb 15, 2003

RO YNSHO


Slippery Tilde
I had a theory about the note but it didn't seem to work. The relevant facts are that there is at most one capital letter in every column, and there's an oddly mispelled word `spiript'.

What I figured was that the positions of the capital letters were supposed to encode which letters to choose from the words in the note. So perhaps the person writing the note wanted to encode the letter p with the word spirit, (or script), but then realized they couldn't put a capital letter in the right position, so they substituted the letter. Unfortunately this theory didn't actually match up with the actual message in a nice way. There are also more words in the note than there are columns, but not that many more.

The other thing I'm wondering about the note is, who wrote it? It seems reasonable that the mistress with a jealous boyfriend would communicate in code, but the partially deciphered note is kind of macabre and threatening, which is not what I'd expect. My hunch is that it's not her who wrote it, but then who?

Kangra
May 7, 2012

Tax Refund posted:

Kangra: Is a train timetable available to us as part of the notes? Or could we reasonably expect to see a train timetable if we visit Charing Cross Station? I don't particularly want to take us down ANOTHER dead-end...


It's not part of the standard resources, no. If it turns out to be relevant to the case the train station would probably have the information (in situations like this you typically get a short list that contains at least one item relating to a clue you've likely already seen). If it's not relevant, you'd more likely get a non-clue rather than an unhelpful one.

Hyper Crab Tank
Feb 10, 2014

The 16-bit retro-future of crustacean-based transportation
Well, I've got nothing new on the note, but since we have a lead I should at least record a vote: Roger Thornberry's place, at 30 SE.

Tax Refund
Apr 15, 2011

The IRS gave me a refund. I spent it on this SA account. What was I thinking?!

Hyper Crab Tank posted:

Well, I've got nothing new on the note, but since we have a lead I should at least record a vote: Roger Thornberry's place, at 30 SE.

I concur. He's not going to just give up and say "It's a fair cop, guv'nor", but he might let something slip.

Kangra
May 7, 2012

Case 2, Clue 8

30 SE (Roger Thornberry)

Roger Thornberry's landlady asks if we would do her a favour on our way up. "Would you be so kind as to tote a basket of laundry. I ain't so good as I used to be with the stairs. Oh, and tell him I done the best I could with them overalls. That muddy clay just won't come out."

We cart the laundry up the stairs and deliver the message.

Roger Thornberry's gentle manner and soft voice are in striking contrast to his hulking frame and hard face.

"I can't think of a single soul I know with red hair, I'm afraid."

Seeing the framed photograph of a young woman in a theatrical costume, posed as if she is singing, and the theatre poster of the bill at the Elephant & Castle, it is unnecessary to ask if he is acquainted with Miinie Cavill. In fact, there seems nothing more to ask him and so we take our leave.

Insert red hair/soul joke here.

CPs visited: 13 SE, 3 SE, 20 WC, 10 EC, 13 SW, 11 SE, 2 SW, 30 SE
non-clues: 1 NW

Hyper Crab Tank
Feb 10, 2014

The 16-bit retro-future of crustacean-based transportation
That's... strange. Okay, it's not the first time someone with a rough face turns out to be all meek in reality, but Langdale Pike explicitly described him as "crude and uncouth". Then again, Pike had never met the man in person, but rumors don't spring out of nothing.

I guess the other clue we should take from this is that Thornberry has been somewhere muddy recently, though with the dearth of clues in general I have no idea what that signifies.

Tax Refund
Apr 15, 2011

The IRS gave me a refund. I spent it on this SA account. What was I thinking?!
The Thames is known for being quite muddy, so that might be an indication that Thornberry has been wading along the banks of the Thames for some reason. There are other sources of mud in London, but I'll bet we'll find another clue pointing us towards the Thames (or some building very near the Thames) at some point.

As for Thornberry's gentle manner and soft voice, maybe he's an actor? That would certainly be a useful profession for someone who wanted to mislead the detectives interviewing him, and would also easily explain how he and Minnie Cavill met in the first place.

Hyper Crab Tank
Feb 10, 2014

The 16-bit retro-future of crustacean-based transportation
The Bridge House Hotel is quite close to the Thames... but any link there is pretty tenuous at the moment. I don't think we can conclude that he was there based on that alone.

I wonder if the note has some connection to today's newspaper (hence March 5 - yes, I know the victim received the note before that newspaper came out, but still). There's some precedent in coded messages relating to publications in some form or another, like Porlock's message in Valley of Fear and such. But if that's the case here, I don't know what you're supposed to do exactly.

Hyper Crab Tank fucked around with this message at 02:06 on Nov 30, 2015

Tax Refund
Apr 15, 2011

The IRS gave me a refund. I spent it on this SA account. What was I thinking?!
If so, it would have to be something that the cipher-writer could control, like a personal ad. The one that springs to mind is the "J.V.— They were quite delightful.— A." ad at the top of the second column. So far I've been unable to see any way to make that fit with the cipher, though.

The Merry Marauder
Apr 4, 2009

"But she goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own."
Re-read from the start of the case to refresh my memory.

I don't think the victim is Scottish, as you wouldn't say your family were "originally" from Scotland if you were yourself, nor would that slight accent be "very strange" to a Londoner, I assume.

The "5" in the date on the coded message must be important (It isn't the Caesar shift, because E->A is a shift of 4, right?) so it makes sense something in today's paper is relevant, I suppose.

Hyper Crab Tank posted:

I'm not sure where the "directions to the Elephant & Castle" theory is coming from, exactly... since the note has street names and turns on it, it can't be directions from anywhere other than London Bridge Station (or thereabouts) to Simpson's Cigar Divan (or thereabouts). In particular, there's no way to get those directions to take you to the Elephant & Castle...

It is true though that the directions are not necessarily for the victim's own use. They could be intended for someone else. If they are indeed for the victim, then one possible explanation is this: The victim had a habit of visiting the cigar house every day, and wanted to do so on the day he died, as well. However, that night, he'd been staying at a hotel he normally did not lodge at. Perhaps it is as simple as him needing directions from the hotel to the cigar house because he was used to taking another route and wanted to make sure he got there on time despite a different starting point? It could also be, as suggested earlier, that his normal hotel is near the cigar house and he needed directions back "home" after their little rendezvous.

I don't quite see how you can turn "left" onto Borough High St from the Bridge House Hotel, as the entrance must be on Montague, so it could be directions from his other lodgings. It would be singular if his need for cigars and chess were so strong he would cross the Thames for them immediately from the train station. I imagine it's a lot to ask for, but can we get a lookup for Boardinghouses, Hotels, and Inns (in SE London)? Perhaps one will leap out that would fit a left onto Borough High better.

On the other side of things, we might want to visit/look into things around 20 WC (Simpson's Cigar Shop), since the victim's daily 4:45 appointment could be nearby. It would again be strange if he traveled across the river every day just to kill time before the theater. The directions may, in fact, be to that appointment and not the cigar shop, though Villiers isn't really a long street.

The Merry Marauder
Apr 4, 2009

"But she goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own."
Goddammit.

Reading down from every fifth character (counting spaces) in the coded text:



meet roger gold noon sixth mint out cox

Is "gold" Roger's surname or a goal? Is it Thornberry?

Pf. Hikikomoriarty
Feb 15, 2003

RO YNSHO


Slippery Tilde

The Merry Marauder posted:

Goddammit.

Reading down from every fifth character (counting spaces) in the coded text:



meet roger gold noon sixth mint out cox

Is "gold" Roger's surname or a goal? Is it Thornberry?

Wow, nice find. That's a devious bit of steganography right there. I think we should now assume that the decrypted message is a red herring. In this case the reason there was the typo `spirpt' is that it was the encoded message that mattered, and so it went unnoticed.

Can we get lookups for the London mint, and Cox?

So, here's a theory: The victim and Roger were part of a conspiracy to rob the London mint. There's a third conspirator who might be Minnie (the note refers to Roger in the third person). They were digging a tunnel a little bit each day, hence the victim's regular departures from the cigar shop and the stains on Roger's clothes. Presumably the plan went wrong when Roger discovered that Minnie and the victim were romantically involved (and possibly going to cut him out of the loot?). This seems to fit the facts we have, granted there's a lot of conjecture here.

And finally, a little bit of metagame evidence: (should I spoiler tag things from the original stories?) The conspiracy is similar to the conspiracy in the red-headed league, and the victim had red hair.

Edit: Actually, the victim didn't seem like the kind of person who was used to manual labor, so he probably wasn't doing any digging.

Edit2:

The Merry Marauder posted:

I don't quite see how you can turn "left" onto Borough High St from the Bridge House Hotel, as the entrance must be on Montague, so it could be directions from his other lodgings. It would be singular if his need for cigars and chess were so strong he would cross the Thames for them immediately from the train station. I imagine it's a lot to ask for, but can we get a lookup for Boardinghouses, Hotels, and Inns (in SE London)? Perhaps one will leap out that would fit a left onto Borough High better.

On the other side of things, we might want to visit/look into things around 20 WC (Simpson's Cigar Shop), since the victim's daily 4:45 appointment could be nearby. It would again be strange if he traveled across the river every day just to kill time before the theater. The directions may, in fact, be to that appointment and not the cigar shop, though Villiers isn't really a long street.

Looking at the map, the only building that seems to fit besides London Bridge Station is 7 SE.

Pf. Hikikomoriarty fucked around with this message at 06:31 on Nov 30, 2015

Kangra
May 7, 2012

The game generally seems to want to reward knowledge of the 'canon', so I don't consider a problem to discuss the stories (unless you're trying to keep that particular one unspoiled). I have comments on many things, but I'm withholding them until the case is done.

Directory look-ups will come in ~ 10 hours (tomorrow morning for me). Although I know off the top of my head: No entry for 'London Mint' (or 'Mint' for that matter).

Fat Samurai
Feb 16, 2011

To go quickly is foolish. To go slowly is prudent. Not to go; that is wisdom.

Good job.

Hyper Crab Tank
Feb 10, 2014

The 16-bit retro-future of crustacean-based transportation
:psyduck: Are you kidding me? God damnit.

So... just to have all our bases covered... are we sure this isn't the red herring? Or that there aren't multiple messages in the same ciphertext? Because right now I don't feel like I can trust anything that drat note is telling us.

The Merry Marauder posted:

I don't quite see how you can turn "left" onto Borough High St from the Bridge House Hotel, as the entrance must be on Montague, so it could be directions from his other lodgings. It would be singular if his need for cigars and chess were so strong he would cross the Thames for them immediately from the train station. I imagine it's a lot to ask for, but can we get a lookup for Boardinghouses, Hotels, and Inns (in SE London)? Perhaps one will leap out that would fit a left onto Borough High better.

We could try just visiting 7 SE, since that's the most likely candidate that's marked on the map and would exit onto Borough High St. Actually, we happened to look that one up in the previous case: it's the Russian Social Club. Does that seem like it might have any connection to our case?

I like the conspiracy theory, but as you say, our victim doesn't look like the kind of person who would be doing manual labor. There could be a third co-conspirator, or he might've written the note to himself, although why anyone would go to such lengths to write coded reminders to themselves is beyond me. A third person sounds more likely.

Lookup on "Gold", too, in case Roger Gold is a person that exists.

Hyper Crab Tank fucked around with this message at 11:32 on Nov 30, 2015

Tax Refund
Apr 15, 2011

The IRS gave me a refund. I spent it on this SA account. What was I thinking?!

The Merry Marauder posted:

Goddammit.

Reading down from every fifth character (counting spaces) in the coded text:



meet roger gold noon sixth mint out cox

Is "gold" Roger's surname or a goal? Is it Thornberry?

Wow. That's... I... Wow.

Okay, my guess is that "cox" stands for coxswain. If that's the case, then the "coxswain" might be whoever's in charge of whatever conspiracy they were involved in. Or they might have been planning to row down the Thames at some point in their plot (perhaps as their getaway?), in which case the cox would have been in charge of the boat but not necessarily the conspiracy. If there's a boat involved, that could explain Roger's mud stains without the need for a tunnel: you'd get quite muddy getting a boat into or out of the Thames.

I'm reading the note as "Meet Roger (to hand over or pick up the) gold (at) noon (on March) sixth (by the) Mint. Out, (the) cox."

I don't quiet understand the "Out", because that sounds like radio terminology ("over and out") and radio wasn't around yet at the time. (In 1888 when this story is set, Heinrich Rudolf Hertz was just experimenting with transmitting electromagnetic waves and publishing papers about it, but nobody had really started using it for any practical purposes -- and certainly radio terminology was still years, or even decades, away.) So I might be getting that one wrong.

But, well, wow. Congratulations, The Merry Marauder. That one had me completely stumped. FINALLY we're going to be able to make some real progress!

Kangra
May 7, 2012

Here's the lookups.

Cox:

Cowper, Edward ........ 100 SW
Cox & Co. Bank ......... 22 WC
Crabb, Jack ............... 36 NW

Edward Cowper's address seems to go against my belief that shared addresses means 'the same block, or different parts of a shared building', although the reason why won't become apparent until the intro of a future case. It would still seem that is true for some places, though. In fact Cox & Co. is in the spot of the Grand Hotel.

Gold:

Goftman, Moses .................. 40 S
Goldberg, Suzanne .............. 72 NW
Goldblatt, Thomas .............. 35 E
Goldfire, George Taubman .. 82 WC
Goldini's Restaurant ............. 48 SW
Goldsmith & Olivier .............. 2 S
Goldsmith, A. A. .................... 1 NW
Gong, Wai Fong .................... 5 SE

Jerry Goldsmith scored The Boys From Brazil, but also did the music for the Sun Myung Moon production Inchon, a terrible movie that earned Laurence Olivier a Golden Raspberry.

Nothing for 'London Mint', and no people named Mint or anything even close to it either.

These listings only include locations in the SE (as requested)
Hotels
Bridge House Hotel ................. 3 SE
Midland Grand Hotel ............... 16 SE

Boardinghouses
Borough, The ............................ 86 SE
Dover Rooms ............................ 11 SE
Knaresborough House ............. 30 SE
Madame Charpentier ............... 59 SE
Mrs. Cory's ................................ 25 SE
Mrs. Jetley's .............................. 7 SE

Inns
Red Boar Inn ............................. 34 SE

Hyper Crab Tank
Feb 10, 2014

The 16-bit retro-future of crustacean-based transportation

Kangra posted:

Cox & Co. Bank ......... 22 WC

22 WC? That's right next door from Simpson's Cigar Divan! If there is a criminal conspiracy afoot, then this might well be their target. I still don't get the meaning of the secret message even knowing that, though...

I thought that "Sixth Mint" might refer to a street address, but there's no Mint Street on the map... so I looked at a real map of London, and lo and behold:



Mint Street is very close to the building marked "6" on the SE quadrant of the Holmes map. Could that be where the two were supposed to meet?

The Merry Marauder
Apr 4, 2009

"But she goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own."
Wow, yeah, that certainly invites a visit to the bank.

And apparently there is a boardinghouse in 7 SE alongside the social club; I guess the question is which lead to check first?

Pf. Hikikomoriarty
Feb 15, 2003

RO YNSHO


Slippery Tilde

The Merry Marauder posted:

Wow, yeah, that certainly invites a visit to the bank.

And apparently there is a boardinghouse in 7 SE alongside the social club; I guess the question is which lead to check first?

I agree that both look promising. My personal preference is for 7 SE because I'm still very curious about the victim himself, and we might find a clue about him there. If we're really lucky we might find another note in his effects.

Hyper Crab Tank
Feb 10, 2014

The 16-bit retro-future of crustacean-based transportation
I agree. We don't even know that the bank staff would be aware of who our potential criminals are; any conspiracy worth its salt would keep its conspirators secret. If the victim stayed at that boarding house, there's a good chance they can tell us something about him. Let's visit 7 SE.

Hyper Crab Tank fucked around with this message at 11:11 on Dec 1, 2015

Yvonmukluk
Oct 10, 2012

Everything is Sinister


The Merry Marauder posted:

Re-read from the start of the case to refresh my memory.

I don't think the victim is Scottish, as you wouldn't say your family were "originally" from Scotland if you were yourself, nor would that slight accent be "very strange" to a Londoner, I assume.

Maybe he's Australian? Since he was apparently at a Bunty & Clyde performance when he died.

Tax Refund
Apr 15, 2011

The IRS gave me a refund. I spent it on this SA account. What was I thinking?!

Hyper Crab Tank posted:

22 WC? That's right next door from Simpson's Cigar Divan! If there is a criminal conspiracy afoot, then this might well be their target. I still don't get the meaning of the secret message even knowing that, though...

I thought that "Sixth Mint" might refer to a street address, but there's no Mint Street on the map... so I looked at a real map of London, and lo and behold:



Mint Street is very close to the building marked "6" on the SE quadrant of the Holmes map. Could that be where the two were supposed to meet?

I don't think the "Sixth" can possibly refer to the building marked 6 on our map; that would be too metagamey. I think we're supposed to pretend that we're actual Baker Street Irregulars, and "in character" we'd be looking at the actual house numbers, not the arbitrary numbers-for-reference-purposes given on the game map.

And if we're required to know about a Mint Street that's not marked on the map, that would have been completely unfair in 1981 when the game was first published. So for both those reasons, I don't think visiting 7 SE will help us. But since I don't have any better ideas right now, I don't have an alternative vote to propose.

Hyper Crab Tank
Feb 10, 2014

The 16-bit retro-future of crustacean-based transportation

Tax Refund posted:

I don't think the "Sixth" can possibly refer to the building marked 6 on our map; that would be too metagamey. I think we're supposed to pretend that we're actual Baker Street Irregulars, and "in character" we'd be looking at the actual house numbers, not the arbitrary numbers-for-reference-purposes given on the game map.

Map numbers occasionally refer to street numbers.

Kangra posted:

That number is also the location that would be the street adress, if that is the only detail given. So if someone says they live at 34 Waterloo Road, you'd need to refer to the map to find that Waterloo Road is in SE, and go to the 34 SE Clue Point.

Besides, that's for 6 SE. 7 SE is a clue we got for entirely different reasons: It's the only house from which you can turn left onto the street indicated in the note with the directions, and it also happens to be a boarding house.

Kangra
May 7, 2012

Case 2, Clue 9

7 SE (Mrs. Jetley's Boardinghouse)

After enquiring up and down Long-lane, we come across Mrs. Jetley's Boardinghouse. The proprietress puzzles over our admittedly scant description until the man's red hair is mentioned.

"Oh, that would be Mr. Charlie Donald. He didn't come home last night. Some sort of trouble, eh?"

When we inform her of the trouble, she nods her head matter-of-factly as if tragedy were no stranger. As she shows us to his room, she tells us that Charlie Donald arrived about three weeks before. He seemed pleasant enough but evaded her questions as to his history. She did notice that he spoke with an odd accent.

"I don't mean to say he was a foreigner or nothin' but I ain't ever heard the like in London. He was a quiet fellow, kept to himself pretty much. He did this thing with a coin, runnin' it back and forth over the tops of his fingers like it had a mind of its own. Amazing it was."

At the door to his room she stops and asks us what should be done with his things. We tell her that we will send the police along to collect them.

"He's paid up 'til the end of the week. Will I have to give that back?"

We assure her that she can keep the money and that satisfies her immensely. She unlocks the door and lets us enter but hesitates, herself, on the threshold. Making a sign that is something between the Catholic sign of the cross and a pagan signal against the Evil Eye, she leaves us to our own devices.

The room is small but comfortable. In one corner, next to an armchair, are two well-worn suitcases. Both have stickers on them from Jardine, Matheson & Co. They are empty. Not so the carpetbag underneath the chair. It contains a pair of new overalls and a cap with a brass plate which reads, "Supervisor, City of London." It also contains a leather satchel, which in turn contains a stethoscope.

On the dresser top there are several items of interest. First, a steamship ticket made out to an M.P. Charles and dated January 4th. It is for passage aboard the S.S. Flying Cloud in the amount of £160. Next, a receipt from A. Marx & Co. in the amount of £200 and dated March 3rd. Then, a stack of unused tickets for the Elephant and Castle Theatre. There are tickets for each of the nights, February 26th, 27th, 28th, March 1st, 2nd, and 4th. They are Box M, seats 2, 3, and 4. Finally, there is a stack of playbills dated February 25th, 26th, 27th, 28th, March 1st and 2nd. In the one from February 25th, the name of one of the performers, Minnie Cavill, is circled and the word "beautiful" is written beside it.

On a small table in another corner is a chessboard, the pieces set up for play. On the washstand nearby is a shaving mug inscribed with the name "Mac."

Having completed our search, we seek out Mrs. Jetley once again.

"Did Mr. Donald have any visitors?"

"No, none. Did have a couple of letters delivered, though. One just yesterday."

"Delivered by post?"

"By messenger. Cummins and Goins Messenger Service, they was."

That seems like a rather swift identification. Mrs. Jetley hasn't even seen the body and she's all ready to clear the room out. It'd be kind of unfortunate if you just happened to be a red-headed guy named Charlie and had your stuff taken in by the police.

CPs visited: 13 SE, 3 SE, 20 WC, 10 EC, 13 SW, 11 SE, 2 SW, 30 SE, 7 SE
non-clues: 1 NW

Kangra fucked around with this message at 02:50 on Dec 2, 2015

The Merry Marauder
Apr 4, 2009

"But she goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own."
"Cummins and Goins" messenger service, for gently caress's sake. Argh.

Those are fairly huge sums, aren't they? £160 in 1889 might get you to Japan or, like, the moon, when a ton of coal costs 23 shillings. I'm American, so it helps to think in dollars, but ~$800 in 1889 is quite a bit.

"Well-manicured, almost delicate" hands and a stethoscope says "surgeon" or "safecracker" to me.

Why was he buying out the whole box (I assume) every night but not using the other tickets?

Hyper Crab Tank
Feb 10, 2014

The 16-bit retro-future of crustacean-based transportation
http://www.measuringworth.com/ppoweruk/ indicates that £160 in 1888 would be anywhere from £15,000 to £215,000 in today's money ($22,600 - $323,900). Another way of comparing it: a laborer in this time period would be paid in the neighborhood of £1 (20s) a week. £160 is a very significant amount of money - several years' pay for a laborer.

Jardine, Matheson & Co is a very wealthy Far East trading company, at this time firmly entrenched along the Chinese coast and trading tea, silk and other goods; but not opium, having ceased that trade a number of years prior.

I can't quite figure out what A. Marx & Co do. There is a Marx & Co toy company, but that only opened up some 20-30 years after the events here. Given the date on the receipt, I'm guessing they might be the jewelers he bought the pendant from.

The overalls and the cap with the "supervisor" plaque on it seem fake to me. If these people were indeed trying to dig their way into the bank or something like that, then this could be part of it. It's entirely possible our victim was the safecracker for the operation and it all went south when he fell in love with his accomplice's girlfriend. The coin tricks he did corroborate the idea that he had dextrous hands.

Presumably he was buying the whole box so he could be alone in there. I don't think there's anything more complicated to it than that.


Kangra posted:

In the one from February 25th, the name of one of the performers, Minnie Cavill, is circled and the word "beautiful" is written beside it.

Creepy. Who does that? Is it a reminder to himself?

e: On the subject of a vote, the bank at 22 WC is what I'm leaning towards.

Hyper Crab Tank fucked around with this message at 18:17 on Dec 3, 2015

Kangra
May 7, 2012

Case 2, Clue 10

22 WC (Cox & Co. Bank)

"I certainly wish the city would finish its digging over there," says the manager of Cox's Bank, pointing to the excavation across the street under city supervision. "The muddy clay seems to get tracked all over the place."

"Now, you're looking for a redheaded man, mid-thirties, medium height, who might have been in here in the past few weeks? Yes, I believe I know him. Let me just consult the file here ... Donald P. Charles. He rented a safe-deposit box on the 20th of February. He comes in every banking day at precisely 4:45, fifteen minutes before closing. That's all I know about him."

People can be pretty indiscreet about their customers in this town. And hateful towards clay.

Next clue will be decided on Saturday (evening London time).

CPs visited: 13 SE, 3 SE, 20 WC, 10 EC, 13 SW, 11 SE, 2 SW, 30 SE, 7 SE, 22 WC
non-clues: 1 NW

Yvonmukluk
Oct 10, 2012

Everything is Sinister


Well, we can clearly see how the clay and carpetbag fit together. Either the thieves were planning to piggyback on the excavation to tunnel under the bank, or just used it as a handy excuse to scope out the bank. Maybe we should nip across the way and ask around at the site for more information.

The fact that the suitcases have labels from a far east trading company lends support to my theory our victim was Australian.

Kangra
May 7, 2012

Any choices for the next clue? We do have a fair number of clues and could also close the case, but I don't want to push anything. (Although I would like to get done with this case within the week, which I think can be done.

Hyper Crab Tank
Feb 10, 2014

The 16-bit retro-future of crustacean-based transportation
So.

I think Mort's theory, slightly adjusted, seems pretty likely: Roger Thornberry and our victim, whose name is probably Charles MacDonald, planned to rob Cox & Co, possibly in collusion with a third collaborator. I think the roadwork is a ruse, based on our victim having a (most likely fake) set of overalls with a supervisor plaque on. Our victim is a safecracker, brought in to aid in the crime. Digging into the bank might be a part of the plot. Alas, he falls in love with Minnie Cavill, perhaps without even realizing who her boyfriend is. Roger wises on and kills our victim, and everyone shuts up and pretends not to know him in order not to get in hot water.

It's a plausible theory, although our evidence is still vexingly indirect. Because I'm still curious about it, I would like to visit 6 SE - I figure worst case, it has nothing to do with the case and we don't lose a clue point for visiting it. Best case, my admittedly somewhat far-fetched suggestion that it is what "sixth mint" refers to might be validated.

Open questions:

- What was our victim doing at the bank at 4:45 every day?
- What is in our victim's safe deposit box?
- Who has been sending mail to the victim?

If there is a third collaborator, we should probably figure out who that is.

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The Merry Marauder
Apr 4, 2009

"But she goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own."
Well. There's something.

Looking back over it, I can answer the third one in a terrifying way.

Look at the capital letters under each of the words I circled in the coded text.

Yvonmukluk posted:

The fact that the suitcases have labels from a far east trading company lends support to my theory our victim was Australian.

I like this. Was Australia using their own pound in 1889? If so, that might account for the inflated ticket price if it was purchased there.

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