Log:Night of the Lights - Prelude

Night of the Lights - Prelude
Participants Jack Fry ST:Bronwyn Gallagher	1 June, 2018 Jack visits the amnesiac killer from John Doe Burglar
Location Moreau Institute for Mental Health
The 'Moreau Institute for Mental Health' is not the kind of place you want to visit. It ticks off all the cliches of a horror house. Built in the 1850s, it is a Victorian block of a building, complete with corner turrets. The only thing missing are vampire bats overhead and a heavy storm. The latter slightly accommodated by dark clouds and a cold drizzle - so much for summer. The dirt driveway winds up from open iron gates, through thick forest, and finally to an open area in front of the building doors. Two ambulances are parked out front but there is no one to be seen near them. The thick oak front doors open into a small atrium where a desk is manned by a severe looking female nurse who glances up from her work at Jack's entry. The blast of cold air with him not lightening her expression. She looks him over before an abrupt, "Yes?" Wandering over to the desk with confident long steps, Jack sticks his hand out and shows his badge. Not that a Park Ranger police officer has the same clout as most other cops, but it's something - badges always help. "I'm here to visit one of your patients," he says simply. "Chris Kaplan." He adds a disarming sort of smile to this. The nurse peers at the badge and then at Jack and is lucky not to outright sneer at him. "Chris Kaplan" she repeats before starting to type. "Are you a relative or is this a professional visit?" The badge suggests the latter, but she will make sure. "Kaplan. Kaplan. Ah...here we are." Her brow furrows. "Hmm. He is in the high security ward. You will have to see Doctor Partridge. It will be up to him to approve any visitation." She presses the buzzer of the old style microphone on her desk. "Doctor Partridge to reception." "Official," Jack states simply. Considering there was a big crime on his 'backdoor' where he works, this is the truth as far as he's concerned. "Thanks," he says, polite and curt and ALL professional. He knows the drill around these sort of things. He lingers near the desk but doesn't chit chat with the desk clerk while waiting. The nurse returns to work, ignoring Jack now. And it is at least five minutes before the echoing sound of heels on the marble floor announces the arrival of the good doctor. "Doctor Elizabeth Partridge" she greets, "What is this about?" The woman is in her mid-forties, pushing her glasses back up her nose after she speaks. Offering a hand to shake, Jack has really gotten into the role of police again. "Jack Fry," he introduces himself. "A few weeks back, Chris Kaplan escaped and he broke into a cabin in the park. I promised him I would visit - and since I have some spare time, I'd like to pursue the chance to see if I can work out more around the mystery around him. He suffers memory loss? What's his diagnosis exactly?" The doctor shakes his hand and listens to Jack's reason for being here. "If you will come to my office" she states before turning on her heels and heading down the chilly corridor. She turns to the right at the first intersection and then into a plushly furnished office. A gesture to a visitor's chair. "Please have a seat." Elizabeth settles into her own before typing on her computer keyboard to bring up the file. "You promised Mister Kaplan you would visit him?" she asks in some confusion. She leans back in her seat as the file comes up. "Hmm. The cabin he broke into was the one where he killed all those people. You were lucky he didn't revert back to that state. Yes, he suffers memory loss. Complete. Unlike most amnesia victims, he can't even remember skills he possessed beforehand. What mystery are you trying to solve?" Following along, while studying the place with a trained eye - it gives him the creeps, to be frank - he settles down in a plush chair a bit awkwardly. "I did, yes. At the time I didn't know who he was and what he'd done. He just seemed like someone very confused and wasn't dangerous to any of us." He smiles benignly. "It's a mystery why he did it, isn't it? Even if he is mentally unstable, there must be some sort of motive. Even if it was 'the voices told me to'. Clearly, if he went back to the cabin where the crime was committed - he remembers /something/." Elizabeth steeples her fingers as she studies Jack. Almost as if she is considering what to tell him. "They never seem dangerous" she points out. "As to why he did it...a psychotic episode. He has attempted to build a story around his psychosis, many mass murderers do. Mister Kaplan's is that he blamed it all on the 'lights'. He was found amid the corpses of his friends while high as a kite. Do you think there were any lights involved? Deep down he knows where it happened, but I wouldn't encourage him to visit the place. Much too dangerous." "Fair enough." Jack's smile remains steady on his face. Calm and authoritative without being condescending. "I made him a promise and I would like to keep it. Maybe it is a pointless endeavor, but I still would like to talk with him." "Do you expect him to talk back?" Elizabeth asks in reply. "It is very near the anniversary of the murders and we like to keep him sedated during this time. He becomes more...agitated...when the date nears. He starts talking about the lights again. How they are coming to get him but he will kill them all this time. As you can imagine, who actually will he be killing instead of these 'lights'." "I don't expect anything," Jack says, his smile now reduced to a thin line. "And he is locked up, isn't he? What could he kill - a chair? An imaginary light?" He leans forwards, staring at the doctor intently. "Does he say 'kill them all this time'? That wording exactly?" "He is referring to the lights, Officer" Elizabeth sighs. "The lights that killed all his friends, this time he will kill them. As we know there are no killer lights, he will obviously attempt to murder anyone he can find. In his mind they will be 'lights'. He is certainly locked up but he was locked up before he escaped. Admittedly, he is now even more locked up and sedated. He is not going anywhere. Do you wish to see him? To put your mind at ease?" "I would like that, yes. And I might return, depending. Assuming your approval to do so, of course. He might be a serial murderer, but he's still human. A tortured soul." Jack gestures for the door. "Can I see him now? Or is he sedated?" "Both" the doctor replies as she stands. "You can see him now and he is sedated." She pulls open a drawer in her desk and takes out a set of keys; aged metal keys. "Follow me" she smiles, moving back out into the hallway. "This building is very old. Some of it is structurally unsound. You should never roam around by yourself." "I wouldn't dream of it," Jack responds dryly, standing up to follow. As before, he makes note of the place and tries to remember where they're going- mostly out of habit. "Very accommodating of you and I apologise for the trouble. But I feel I can't, with a clear conscience, break this promise. No matter who it is to." "We all have our drawbacks" Elizabeth smirks as she stops at an imposing door that looks a hundred years old. She uses one of the old iron keys to unlock it before pushing it open - complete with squeaking hinges. It reveals a stone staircase heading down, Elizabeth leading the way. After around forty steps, there is another door to be unlocked. This one opens out into a bright, clean, very modern hallway. "This is our high security ward" she explains. As they enter, a guard stands inside a secure booth to look them over before nodding acceptance of who they are. Jack withholds comments on the building itself. Not the time for smart remarks, clearly. So he walks quietly along, giving that security guard a curt nod. "How many patients in total down here?" he asks - that's just professional curiosity. How many crazy murderous nutcases is in the area? Might be good to know who the neighbors are. "Six down here" Elizabeth replies flatly. "A couple of mass murderers. A couple of serial killers. A couple of cannibals. A few of them are more than one thing. Kaplan is down here, number four." She leads him past clear walls of reinforced glass and plastic which allow the occupants to be seen at all times. The reach number four and Elizabeth gestures to the drooling man sitting on the edge of the bed and staring blankly at them...though not seeing them. "Here you are." "Branching out, eh." Jack can't stop himself from making a dark joke. But as they come face to face with Kaplan, he turns more serious and looks the man over; he walks closer to the glass wall, squinting at the sedated, drooling man. "Chris?" he tries. There is no response from the man...unless a little more drool is a response. The pristine white walls of his cell have been drawn upon with what looks to be blood, mucus and other body outputs. A date written over and over again - tomorrow's date. Pictures of what could be corpses underneath those numbers. "How was he able to write?" Elizabeth asks the guard who replies it was before the last sedatives were given and that they haven't had a chance to clean the walls yet - cleaners strike. The doctor rolls her eyes. "Anything else, Officer Fry?" "Fuck," Jack mutters, eyeing that date. A sudden worry creeps over him. Tomorrow's date. The cabin. Lights. "No, I think that's about it. Thanks for letting me see him," he says, giving a quick smile. "I'll be in touch." He's not giving up on Chris, not yet - because he smells something fishy. And now he's in a hurry to get out of here and warn someone... Hidden away in one of the drawings is an image of something that is definitely not human. Long limbed. Large head. It squats over the corpses. The doctor seems pleased that Jack is leaving, moving to catch up with him. "I need to escort you out" she points out, hoping to slow him down a little. "I'm sorry your visit was not more fruitful." "It's fine," Jack says, a bit more terse than he intended - he does however slow down, allowing the doctor to escort him properly. "Sorry. Just upsetting to see the human state of total decay," he admits. It is. "Both of our professions see this side of humanity every day" Elizabeth sighs. Stopping at the exit of the institute, she shakes his hand. "Have a safe drive back, Officer Fry." "Thanks. I might come back, at some point. Thank you very much," Jack says, nods curtly and then he strides off to his car.