• AndTheRockCriedOut

No hiding place, down here
No hiding place
There's no hiding place
Down here
No hiding place
And they went to the rock to hide their face
But the rock cried out
No hiding place
There's no hiding place
Down here

Episode 1

MrFlanagan came running into the Tea Room with an urgent call for RebeccaSwarovski. As she wasn't present, Robert took the call, only to find a dead line. MrFlanagan explained that he'd recognised the caller as RobertaHenry, and that she'd said "Rebecca... Help...". She had seemed in great distress, so he gone to get someone as quickly as possible.

The group immediately headed to the UnityTimesChronicle, where they observed - and were observed by - JudeTheGoon sitting by the entrance reading a paper (or the comics, at least). They found that Roberta had taken one her own articles up to the Editor, for the Sunday morning run, and had been asked to leave. They went down to Roberta's desk in the Archives, but could not find much of any use in the offcuts remaining in her desk - it looked like someone had already gone through it. Jack was able to interpret her shorthard notebook, and got her address from it.

The group immediately went to Roberta's home, a flat on the corner of 3rd and TBD, but heard sirens as they approached, and arrived to find the building on fire. The officers at the scene informed them that the fire seem started in Roberta's flat, but a public-spirited citizen knocked on the doors, and called the fire brigade, and everyone was able to get out on time. There was no sign of Roberta in the crowd.

The group returned to 122, and called the hospital on the offchance, only to find that Roberta had been admitted a couple of hours ago. She had been gunned down from a moving car, and was critically injured, though still alive. Robert, Jack and Hayes rushed to the hospital, and we admitted into Robeta's unguarded room without hesitation or complaint. Nurse Rachel explained that Roberta had been hit in the shoulder, chest and leg, and the bullets had broken the bones. The injuries were severe, and Roberta had lost a lot of blood, but she was young, and Nurse Rachel assured them that there was a 'good chance' she might pull through. Robert asked for some time alone, and the nurse left, giving them a chance to go through Roberta's things. Her clothes had been destroyed, but her bag was there, along with a docket listing her possessions when she was admitted. The list included a thick brown document wallet, which was unaccountably missing. The docket was countersigned by one Officer Blyde, who was listed as the Officer who brought her in.

The group returned to 122, to go through some papers, and see if they could find out what she had been working on. They made little progress, and Jack left to return home, and Hayes went to ask some questions of JonathanGrey's business associates. As he left, Hayes was grabbed by a couple of large men, bundled into a car and tied up, and a bag was put over his head. He was driven a short distance, walked through grass, and knocked to his knees and a piece of paper was put in his hands. After some time, when the bullet did not come, Hayes worked loose of his bonds, to find himself lying on a fresh grave. The headstone read "Jonathon Grey. Where is he now?", and the paper was a photograph of Lt Neiss. Hayes promptly went to his warehouse, handed the business over to JimmyBartlet, published Grey's obiturary, and filed for the life insurance.

In the meantime, when Jack reached his motorbike he found an envelope addressed to him on saddle. Inside were several addresses - Jack's home and Martha's parent's, as well as details of when people would be there, when Jack was normally out, and photographs of Martha and Jack Junior, with the heads obscured by bullet holes. There was also a photograph of Lt Neiss, with "Where is he" written on the back.

Jack rushed back inside, showed the documents to Robert, and they drove to Jack's house, picked up Martha, and drove to Boston. As they left town, they noticed they were being followed, and Robert picked up the speed, taking a tight chicane expertly. The car behind fluffed the turn, ploughed through a hedge and hit a tree. Robert stopped, and they went back to check. Both occupants were large gentlemen in plain clothes, and both were badly injured, but alive. The car contained a couple of pistols, binoculars, and a (broken) camera, and a hamper with a (broken) thermos of hot coffee, and some sandwiches. Smoke was coming from an engine, indicating fire spreading somewhere inside. After some deliberating, Robert left Jack with Martha and Jack Junior, and drove the men to Unity, and dropped them off with JuliusErlich. Robert returned, picked up Jack, Martha and little Jack, dropped them off with good friends in Boston, and returned in the early hours of sunday morning, to find that more large men had picked up the injured goons from Julius.

Having filed his insurance claim, Hayes turned up for work at 122, only to be informed by MrFlanagan that the committee had decided to offer him two weeks paid holiday, effective immediately. Hayes left a note for Flanagan to pass on to Jack and Robert and returned home. Jack and Robert arrived later, and were told by Flanagan that their membership had been temporarily suspended, and that TheresaBeatriceDee, the secretary of TheUnitySociety, would like to meet Robert at the University today to explain. Flanagan handed over the note, and they all met up at Hayes's home.

Robert went to the university to present a Sunday lecture he was booked for, and to see the treasurer. The lecture, however, was unattended, and a projector was set up to show a photo of Lt Neiss, with the message "Where is he" written underneath. On the podium was an envelope, addressed to SusannaJohnson's parents in Boston. Inside was a picture of Robert and SarahCarpenter kissing.

Robert met Theresa who explained that she was very sorry about the suspension, but several large men had come to her house, threatened her, and her family, and insisted that Robert, Jack and Hayes were expelled from the Unity society. They didn't give any explanation for this, and didn't invite questions. Theresa did as much as she could, and changed it to a temporary suspension, to be ended as soon as the situation was resolved.

Lacking many other leads, Robert, Jack and Hayes waited for nightfall and returned to the graveyard where Hayes had been introduced to JonathanGrey's headstone. In the secluded darkness, they uncovered the freshly-packed earth to find, only a few feet down, not a coffin, but the bodies of three unfamiliar policemen, dead of multiple gunshot wounds.

Episode 2

Unwilling to be caught with a fresh grave, 3 dead policemen, and picks and shovels, the group quickly noted the corpses' badge numbers, and covered the bodies over again. While Hayes displayed an unexpected knack for making the grave look as if it had never been disturbed, Robert spotted two seperate groups watching them - several fairly obvious ones under a tree, and another much further away and much better hidden.

The group turned to leave, and as they did so, noticed a police car waiting outside the graveyard gates. They hastily ditched their tools, and Robert - as the least muddy - went forward. However, rather than a unceremonious trip to the cells, the waiting policemen simply said "find what you're looking for? Where is he?" and drove off.

On the way back to the car, a pin that had been stuck in Jack's boot for some time worked its way through the leather, and into his foot. Attached to it was a part of cutting, clearly from the offcuts that had been by Roberta's desk in the newspaper archives. The cutting was only part of the article, but read

Jack had a full set of back issues of the Chronicle, and the group quickly confirmed that the article had never been published. They drove down 3rd street, and past the house, which had a lone bored policeman out the front, a largely missing upper story, and a police crime scene rope across the entrance. Also noticable was "Greenlands" painted over the door, and "rooms available" in the front window. Assigning to discretion the better part of their valour, they drove on. A trip to the town library revealed that John Sewall did not appear in either the trades directory, or the census, and also that the group was being rather obviously followed.

The group decided to pay another visit to Roberta, and see if she was recovering at all. As they approached the hospital they once again heard sirens, and arrived to find the front of the hospital crawling with police, and the receptionist being interviewed. The group sauntered past the police presence, and hopped into to lift up to the floor with Roberta's room on it. The lift doors opened to the sound of shouting, and Jack quickly glanced out to see a very angry Detective Sergeant LewisBrown, a dead policeman sporting several rather fetching bullet-holes, and rather more blood than can be easily accounted for by the body. The group quickly took the lift down a floor, and decided to exit circumspectly via the back stairs.

On their way down, they noticed blood seeping out the bottom of a broom cupboard, and opened it to have the corpse of Nurse Rachel - minus a bone in her right arm, several ribs, and one of her femurs - flop forward onto Robert. At which point Jack abandoned the "circumspection" part of the plan, and ran screaming for the police - who immediately appeared, in the form of one Sergeant Eames, charged them with murder, and dragged them to the station. The group was interviewed by Detective Sergeant Lewis Brown and Sergeant Eames, who seemed more intent on impressing on the group the importance of finding Lt Neiss, than any allegations of murder. In fact, Brown and Eames focused almost entirely on beating up Hayes and Jack. Eventually, their point made, the group was released.

Hayes immediately went to the hospital, stopping only at his family's solictor - who was unfortunately unable to help him. Hayes made sure both he and the hospital had paperwork listing rather more than the damage actually done (thanks to a couple of well-placed suitable denomonations), then the got in the car, and headed off to Providence.

As they left Unity they noticed a car closely following them, and this time Robert's driving wasn't sufficient to shake their tail. The car got closer, and as they left the more travelled roads, tried to overtake them. Robert executed a beautiful handbrake turn, sending them sailing past, then pulled off towards Unity - passing a second car, that had been tailing at a greater distance. Robert turned again as their tail caught up, but the second turn was less neat (ending up in soft verge), and gave the tail time to pull across their path, blocking the way to Providence. Police, including the redoubtable Lewis Brown, spilled out, and levelled guns, and Robert quickly pulled round and turned back to Unity again. This time he drove fast with the lights out, turning into a side road and parking up round a bend once the tail was out of view.

The team waited for some time before Brown's car appeared, creeping slowly, and scanning the turnings. As dusk turned to full darkness, Brown's car pulled up, and flooded the group in the full wash of their lights. They'd been spotted again.

Episode 3