2024.06.02: Wherein Lizzy gets in over her head

Lizzy glances over at Marcus, who seems to be otherwise occupied, and the otherwise dead bar (badum-tsh). "Hey. Did you want to do that thing now?" she asks Cerriphan.

"Yeah!" The trash panda whirled around to grin at Lizzy. At least, momentarily. It only took seconds for it to shift to something more serious. "If you are having time."

"I do." Lizzy nods. "What is it?"

"Things for you. Important things. I am believing they should being in your hands. Coming into mine own from poor timing." Cerriphan rattled off about it, fingers twitchy.

Lizzy cocks her head to one side. "Oh?"

"Yes. Lounge? I am bringing the things in. From the outside to you." She makes a sort of shooting motion.

Lizzy nods, then murmurs an "excuse me" to Marcus. She flags down someone on the bar floor to cover for her a moment.

Cerriphan then vanished outside momentarily, almost as soon as Lizzy had turned. When she looked back, the trash panda was nowhere to be seen.

Lizzy's coverage turns up and she is free to go and find out what fresh strangeness Cerriphan has for her.

Marcus nods with a smile at Lizzy and Cerri, and with most of his colleagues gone, asks the cover-barback for an empty wineglass, which he sets on the piano as he begins to play.

Lizzy heads toward the employee lounge, looking around to see where Cerriphan had gone.

Apparently, she was already somewhere in there, as Cerriphan popped out from behind the couch with a tote in her arms. "I am having the thing! Lizzy-friend should sitting down."

Lizzy sits down, furrowing her brow. "What is it?"

"They are... things for you," she tried to gesture, setting down beside it. "You should opening it. It is being meant for you. You are supposed to having it."

Lizzy frowns, then opens the tote tentatively... And... it was filled. Photo albums, old report cards, drawings, assorted objects that Lizzy would immediately recognize as things that belonged to her brother. The sort of things one would find in a garage, but now, loaded in here.

Lizzy gasps, and her hands start to tremble as she goes through the contents of the tote. "Oh my god...  where did you get this? I thought he had all this in stora-"

The word dies on her lips, and she looks at Cerriphan, terror building on her face.

Cerriphan wrings her hands together. She was always bad at lying. Very bad at lying, but she knew Lizzy had to have these. What was she going to do with these? It was better suited with his sister. "... It is supposed to being with you."

"Cerriphan, where did you get these." Lizzy's voice has an edge to it. "And do not lie to me."

Well, since she said so. "The storage unit," she mumbled, poking her fingers together.

Lizzy scowls, her eyes narrowing to slits. "When. And why were you there."

"They were asking me to coming and I was wanting to helping Lizzy-friend," she made puppy-dog eyes, "And it was having being the other dayyy."

"They who?" Lizzy leans in, not letting the poor trash panda get a break.

"Marcus," she continued to mumble, shrinking down, "Mister Toliver..." A small squeak.

Lizzy is shaking now. Her fingers are gripping the edge of the couch. "Why." The word is choking her, but she gets it out anyway.

Cerriphan covers her face with both hands. "To... doing an investigating..." Her voice was exceptionally strained, too. "They were needing mine helping. I could seeing... seeing things, there. Like before. I was just trying to -helping.-"

Lizzy takes a few breaths. Her voice comes out entirely too smooth and calm, given how utterly rigid her body has become with tensions. "...I am not mad at you, Cerriphan. You were roped into this, and your heart was in the right place. But clearly, someone is abusing that."

Her arms and fingers flexed, curling and uncurling. "It wasn't.. It was.. not something you should having seeing. Lizzy-friend. There is no other way to putting it. And it was..." She seemed to halt, as if prevented. "I do not knowing how to explaining. I am just wanting you safe. Wishing to giving the proper words and answers..."

Her hands stretched out, in an offering motion. "But I do not knowing the proper things to saying."

"And who are you to be the authority on what I should and should not see?!" Lizzy snaps. "ANY of you?!" She then pushes herself off the couch. "Where is this storage unit? I didn't see any billing records in his email."

"For your safety," she curled her knees up, "It was only to keeping you safe." Her voice wavered and Cerriphan hummed to try and calm herself a little after. "I do not remembering... I was having being driven there."

"What about your safety," Lizzy hisses. "You were never supposed to be wrapped up in this. None of you were, especially the dude that I only just met tonight."

Cerriphan makes a bit of a face, wrapping her arms tightly around herself. "I do not having the words to explaining. I don't. Mine safety is not being as pressing as you would thinking."

"Bullshit." Lizzy spits the word out. "Stay out of this. Please. I already know there is a lot going on, and it's dangerous. I don't want you getting hurt because of me."

There's a tiny flinch at the spitting word. A kicked dog, now, in her body language. "I am not being so frail. But I will trying."

Lizzy grabs her jacket and storms out of the employee lounge, heading back into the bar.

Cerriphan - Yesterday at 2:31 AM

Cerriphan merely slumped over at that point, whimpering and huddling on the couch.

And so Lizzy enters the main space, her eyes darting around the bar for Marcus in a predatory manner.

She sees him at his somewhat usual place at the piano, fingers dancing along the keyboard in some kind of jazz improv. His cocktail is just in arms reach, and there are a few twenties from patrons stuffed into a wine glass. He clearly has no idea what transpired between Lizzy and Cerriphan.

Lizzy goes up to him and murmurs in his ear as he's playing, and even at the low volume, it sounds furious. "We need to talk." She grabs her phone and starts texting, then, in a surprise turn, forces a smile to her coverage. "Hey, I have a family emergency and need to go, like, now. I'm texting Doris to let her know. Can you cover for me?" The distress on her face, and likely several instances of Lizzy covering for this dude in the past, makes her case for her, and the current bartender waves her away to take care of things.

He nods imperceptibly at her and stands as he finishes his piece. "I'll be back in a few minutes, ladies and gentlemen." Before following Lizzy out the door.

Lizzy is standing outside, waiting for him, coat on, arms crossed. "This is gonna take a while," she warns him, her voice low, nearly a growl.

He looks at her strangely, uncertain of what is going on. "My place, then? I can get the car."

"Get the car. There's a specific place I want to go."

Picking up on her anger, he nods and returns a few minutes later behind the wheel of his black Chrysler. He steps out and opens the passenger door for Lizzy.

She gets in, and once Marcus is settled in, she says six words that he probably does not want to hear right now: "Take me to the storage unit."

Marcus looks at her quickly and responds with one word. "Why?" His tone is not unfriendly or distrusting - the question itself is delivered decisively

"Because he was my brother, and I need to see it." She looks at Marcus. "No more hiding this shit from me, especially when you and your people are so fucking bad at it that I can dismantle the deflection in a fucking night."

He says nothing for a moment, easing the big sedan to a gentle stop for a light, and turning to look at her. He appears pained, and his tone is beyond concerned. "Elizabeth, if you believe nothing more I say for the rest of my days, believe this. Truly, you know not what you ask."

His attention is drawn to the road ahead, and he accelerates smoothly through the light. He appears to come to a decision, and the car gathers speed.

Lizzy says nothing for the ride, her gaze focused sharply out the window to pay attention to where they are going.

The path is unfamiliar to her, and she watches as he turns into an underground parking garage and pulls the car to a stop with the ease that suggests he is nearing home. He turns the car off and looks at her hesitantly before getting out of the car and opening the door for her. "Come with me."

He never raises his voice, and his tone is gentle, almost sorrowful, but there is no doubting the command.

Lizzy gets out of the car, but she looks him in the eyes with a determined stare, but the tension betrays her anger, and the wavering her in voice betrays her fear. "I trust you, Marcus." The plea for him not to betray that trust remains unspoken.

He places a hand gently on her shoulder "This will not be easy, nor will it be pleasant. As I said, you do not know what you ask. But I will not harm you."

Lizzy stiffens. "What are you doing?" She sounds wary, and fearful. Any Gangrel in the vicinity would know the smell of fear fairly easily.

"I'm explaining my answer to your request, in a location where I can provide the drink you will most assuredly need." His voice is calm. Not deliberately soothing but soothing nonetheless. "I live - and work - here when I'm not playing the piano for you or Ms. Ashview. If you want to see everything, this is where I show you."

The elevator door opens into a modern, well kept-up apartment, and upstairs, a battery of computer monitors, servers, and other electronics that seem more a laboratory than office. Marcus steps to the bar and pours two fingers of bourbon into two glasses. He hands one to Lizzy, and gestures towards the sofa in the living space.

Lizzy is not pleased. She practically snatches the drink out of Marcus' hand. "I'll stand," she says flatly. The tactical advantages to this are endless.

"As you choose." He is suddenly professional. Not unfriendly, just professional. "I'll be right back." He steps up the stairs and returns a few moments later, laptop case in one hand, and a file folder in the other. He places the folder on the table, amd swiftly pulls the laptop out of its case and opens it. He takes a seat on the sofa in front of the screen, swipes his hand over the mouse, and allows the screen to flash.

Lizzy picks up the folder to take a look at its contents. On top is the autopsy report she recognizes, followed by photos from Axiom, and a number of pages of what appears to be gibberish. Marcus draws her attention to the computer screen.

"Elizabeth, the events you are about to see took place on [OOC not sure of the date] and are the primary reason why I hesitate to bring you to your brother's storage locker. "You may want to sit down for this." He gestures to the seat beside him

She moves to look at the screen, not sitting down. The first thing she sees is someone who looks like Marcus with a submachine gun out and firing. Beside him is another man in a leather jacket with a large pistol, also firing. After a few seconds, both move out of the way, the man who looks like Marcus pulls out his cellphone and frantically swipes at something a few times before diving out of the way. A massive shape slides into view before the video explodes into static.

"Do you know what you just saw?" He asks it calmly.

Lizzy narrows her eyes. "Wait... that Toliver guy was talking about this. What does this have to do with Jason?"

As the video plays, Marcus gets his own phone out and sends a quick text. Lizzy looks over at Marcus, narrowing her eyes as he's texting.

He explains after the video "This took place during a look-see into your brother's storage unit. Somehow, someone knew we would be there. The large shape that you saw before the camera went out was a transport truck controlled by remote. It was programmed to try to kill us, destroy the storage units, and make it look like an unfortunate accident." A pause, and a few clicks of the mouse. "Camera caught this woman." it turns to a still photo of the woman, her face obscured by a hood "escaping from the truck into a building at the side. I'm running this through facial recognition software with limited success thus far." He looks at her gravely "This investigation is more dangerous than I had originally thought."

Lizzy frowns. "And you fucking dragged Cerriphan into it. Who is a goddamn cinnamon roll."

He quickly puts two and two together - Cerriphan's appearance at the bar that night, coupled with Lizzy's sudden anger. He does not answer Lizzy, but instead looks up and, still professionally, "We were told that a friend of Jason's would be coming to claim his property. We have the storage locker under twenty-four-hour surveillance and will be bringing in whomever shows up to claim the locker. We will not be breaching surveillance until that point."

"Who else would be claiming that locker besides me?"

"Well whomever it is is a person of interest, wouldn't you think?"

"Well, if they're watching it... if I go in as his sister, it might lure them out, yeah?"

"Or it might send them to ground."

"Look..." Lizzy folds her arms. "He's my brother. Whatever is in there can't possibly be worse than what I've already seen at the actual crime scene. With his body on the floor, his head just barely intact enough for me to confirm it's him."

"Do you know why your brother was murdered?"

"Well, the current prevailing theory is that he met a girl at Axiom, got involved with her, got involved with a shitton of prescription drugs, got really obsessed with her, lost his shit over it, and..." Her expressions becomes pained. "...must have done something to have her or someone affiliated with the club send two men to his home who either witnessed him shoot himself in the head, forced him to shoot himself in the head, or shot him in the head and made it look like a suicide."

"But this is why I hired Balcésar... not you... to find out. And now it seems like everyone else in the fucking bar is now on the case, and no one fucking ran that by me to see if I would be okay with that, given how shit has gotten very fucking real."

His eyes flash, and his tone hardens and turns to ice. "Are you quite finished complaining?" He pauses before continuing. "Yes, there are more people than just Mr. Cruz working on this case. For you. Precisely because, as you so nicely put it, shit has gotten very fucking real. We have made what headway we did because we are pooling our capacities. For you. A few nights ago, someone tried to kill us because we were working on this. For you. Let us do what we are doing, and we will bring this home. For you."

A pause.

"Oh, it might also interest you to know that there is probably another victim. Mr. Cruz and I are going to speak with their brother later this week."

He rises, his eyes and voice softening as he places his hand comfortingly on Lizzy's shoulder "We are - all of us - your friends. In our hearts, even if not in yours. We are working to give you closure, give you justice, and keep you safe. I'm sorry for losing my temper - it's been a long week."

Lizzy narrows her eyes. "Yes, for me. I am the one who requested this investigation, Mr. Antoninus. The person you are ultimately reporting to in this matter is me. Keeping me in the dark is the exact opposite of what should be happening here."

He steps back from her - hearing the way he is called a request for space. He is silent for a few moments, sipping his drink contemplatively. "Perhaps you're right. So first let me fill in the details. Does the term "blood doping" mean anything to you?

"Traditionally, it's a way that professional athletes can improve oxygenation in their bloodstream through the transfusion of oxygenated blood. It improves aerobic performance without risk of being caught by the anti-doping people. There is a syndicate operating in town, and I believe they are experimenting with a similar delivery mechanism for boutique narcotics. They are the ones who murdered your brother and paid the police to call it a suicide."

Lizzy looks perplexed. "Really? That... the drugs that we found seemed to be more like the standard stuff that most prescription drug abusers go for. If there's some sort of cocktail there that would improve athletic performance, that's... that's like saying all the processing chemicals that fry the fuck out of your hair on their own are the Holy Grail of hair care when mixed together. That... that doesn't seem remotely scientifically sound." Her disbelief does not seem to be rooted in Marcus now, but instead in the idiots who would think this is a good idea.

"I don't believe it's for athletic performance in this case." He's searching for an example. "People snort cocaine because it reduces the time for the drug to get into their bloodstream, and provides a better high than ingestion... What if you gave transfused blood that was infused with something similar?  Instantly high, with no loss to absorption."

Lizzy looks even more perplexed and horrified. "Good God... so, like, injecting blood already doped up with drugs so you get the high but don't have to do the drugs yourself. So many drugs that would be so inefficient..."

"And now you begin to understand. Shall I continue? How would you prefer to remember your brother, Elizabeth?" He is clearly not without sympathy for the young woman, but the time has come to overpower her trickle of doubt with a flood of naked truth.

Lizzy is silent a moment. Then she uses words Balcésar used with her when this whole thing began. "No matter what happened to him at the end, I still have 24 years’ worth of good memories of my brother, and no criminals or monsters can take those away from me."

"Good. Keep those memories - keep them intact." He pauses. "Someone murdered your brother, but the person he was - the person you remember - was gone before the bullet. I can't do more than offer well-educated conjecture at this point - but that cocktail seems to have robbed him of his mind - of his soul - and left him a shell of the Jason McCrory you knew." He pauses a moment to let his words sink in, gauging Lizzy's reaction before he allows his voice to soften.

"I am so sorry, Lizzy." He rises and extends his hands to offer an embrace.

Lizzy smiles softly and nods. "Yeah, I figured." She moves closer, then looks him in the eyes. "I still want to go to that storage unit, though." She then steps into the embrace.

He holds her in his arms for a few moments before releasing her. He nods "Okay. Then let's make a deal. I'll take you - after our surveillance operation is over." He continues before she can protest, speaking softly now. "Lizzy, I told you that I believe there is another victim - and they will not stop with just your brother. I'm going to do what is necessary to keep them from doing this to anyone else - I will not jeopardize that operation."

"You mean Darren McClaine's sibling? It's possible. It bothers me that I can't get in touch with him anymore. The whole conversation seemed so odd and out of nowhere. I have no idea how he found me."

"Yes, I do. Mr. Cruz and I are going to check in on Darren later this week." A pause, and a serious look up "You know it won't stop there."

She purses her lips. "I know," she says softly. "But please, in the future, don't try to hide things from me about my brother."

He nods. "Okay. I think I've told you ... even what is, for now, just conjecture."

She nods. "The minute that surveillance is done, you tell me, okay? Or at least tell me where it is."

He smiles, gently teasing "Well, maybe not down to the minute - but as soon as it's feasible."

"Thank you." She steps forward again to give him another hug... and maybe a kiss on the cheek, if he'll allow it. "I'm sorry I flipped out at you earlier."

He closes his arms around her and turns a slight shade of red as her lips brush his cheek before releasing the embrace and taking a sip from his mostly-still-full whisky glass. "I cannot imagine what you're going through right now. But you've got a lot of friends in this town - we're all here for you."

Lizzy nods. "I just don't want you getting hurt in the process, you know?"

"I know. I... Thank, you, Lizzy. Try not to worry too much? I'm a very hard man to kill."

"That might be true for you, but what about Cerriphan? Or Toliver?" She purses her lips. "Please. Just... be careful."

"We will. Toliver proved his mettle the other night. Cerri..." His voice trails off "If I had known that there was a compromise at the locker, Cerri would never have gone."

"I'm gonna talk to Balcésar about this before it gets too out of hand."

"Of course, and so you should." A chuckle "Though it may be a touch late for that."

"Too out of hand. An important distinction."

"Indeed." A smile, and a sip of whisky.

Lizzy has barely touched her drink, and she sighs. "Like... seriously... how do you fuck up a perfectly good cover-up? I don't understand." It's clear she means a general you here, as opposed to Marcus specifically.

He sets his drink on the table "Well, you start by involving a profession that usually hires for the ability to follow orders instead of whatever is going on between the ears." He grins "Throw in the keen powers of observation of the mourning sister, and add a few people who make Arioch himself seem positively mundane, and behold." He gestures "Cover-up. Blown."  He is clearly trying to cheer her up.(edited)

"Arioch?" Lizzy cocks her head, not understanding the reference.

"One of the Lords of Chaos in a series of books I read once. Maybe a bad choice of reference."

"What books? Maybe I need to do a bit more light reading anyway to take my mind off stuff. If it's on Audible, I can even knit and listen!"

He looks up a moment, thinking "Look up thw author, Michael Moorcock." He sighs briefly "I admit, I miss my library in Montreal - though I'm building one up here."

"I think I've read something from him at some point, but I will." She then frowns, an embarrassed flush taking over her face. "Feeling kinda dumb that I left work over this, though."

He puts his hand gently on her arm "Nothing to feel dumb about. You were upset - and with cause. Though maybe we SHOULD get you back, or Doris will start to worry."

"I let her know I was leaving for a personal thing, I was covered, and that I'm personally okay. I think I should be okay for now, but my car is there."

"It's no trouble at all to drive you back."

"Thanks." She smiles a bit sheepishly at Marcus.