The Carnivore Club

From HOTGT

Fortean Network: Polybius Subgroup Casefile #2: The Carnivore Club

Date: April 25 2008
Investigators: Devin Dominic Dawson, Kate Lynn Demassus, Stanley Ellin, Tommy 'Madfist' Ethrigan, Christopher King, Zeke Penn
Handler: Kevin

Mission Report

The Polybius team continued their investigation into the odd deaths of Greg Bow, Saunder Lewis, and Morris Keaton. After some deliberation they decided to pursue three leads:

• Penn and Demassus would speak to the widows of the dead men.
• Ethrigan and King would stake out the Left Field.
• Dawson and Ellin would speak to James Wyatt, the medical examiner that signed the certificate of all the deceased involved.

Note: This group has, as hoped, shown natural investigative ability.

Penn and Demassus spoke with Martha Bow, widow of Greg Bow, first. Using a modified version of "the truth" (in which they were curious about the odd events but no mention was made of the Network) they discovered the following:

• Roughly two weeks before his death, Greg Bow began wearing pajamas to bed. This was odd because he usually slept in just boxers.
• Greg Bow moved stiffly and claimed to have been beaned by a softball at the corporate game.
• Greg Bow owned a gun and had no need to set himself on fire to kill himself.

They later spoke to Tanya Strauss-Lewis, widow of Saunder Lewis. They discovered the following from her:

• A week before his death, Saunder Lewis had to suddenly travel to Cleveland to deliver a lecture for a sick colleague at a conference. He was in contact with his wife regularly via his cellphone during this time period. Further investigation there was no conference in Cleveland during this time in which Lewis, a trial lawyer, would deliver a lecture.
• Saunder Lewis broke into the grounds keeper shed at his apartment complex in order to get the gasoline he used in his "suicide".
• Saunder Lewis did not tell his wife he was returning. On the day of his suicide, as far as she knew, he was still in Cleveland.
• The day before he died, Saunder Lewis told his wife, via phone, that he had "something important to tell her".<

Dawson and Ellin, posing as an insurance adjuster and medical expert visited Dr. James Wyatt at the city medical examiner's office. They claimed to be investigating irregularities in autopsies performed by Dr. Wyatt. They discovered the following:

• During the discussion, Dawson asked Dr. Wyatt if both the kidneys of one of the dead, non-suicide C.C. victims were ruptured after the Doctor mentioned "a" kidney being ruptured. Wyatt quickly backpeddled and claimed both kidneys had ruptured. Ellin was sure Dr. Wyatt was lying.
• Dr. Wyatt seemed to find Ellin familiar.
• Dr. Wyatt knew Ed Stark, an executive at Blue United insurance. When he started to call Mr. Stark, Dawson and Ellin terminated the interview.

Shortly after leaving the M.E.'s office, Dawson and Ellin picked up a tail - a blue sedan. Shortly after they were cut off by a red SUV. Dawson managed to perform an impressive and quick U turn. The red SUV slammed into another car in an attempt to follow. The blue sedan continued to follow but through the clever use of a McDonald's drive-through, Dawson managed to lose it. Later, Dawson and Ellin both discovered their homes ransacked. Both had messages written on their mirrors (Ellin's in medicinal cream, Dawson's in movie make-up) to "Leave it alone".

Note: These B&E's were not the work of Sinneslogchen, who would not bother with warnings. More likely, Dr. Wyatt recognized Ellin (despite Ellin's use of a fake name) because of the small controversy caused when Ellin was stripped of his medical license. Dawson was likely tracked through his license plate number.

While investigating Mr. Stark online, the team discovered that he had co-chaired a Republican fundraiser with Gwendolyn Kestrel, a local sociallite. Demassus, it turned out, knew Kestrel and confirmed that she had red hair. There was speculation that Ms. Kestrel was "Gwen", the red head who regularly picked up men at the Left Field. While Ethrigan and King continued to stake out the Left Field, the others once more "split up".

Demassus and Dawson went to the Spruce Hills Country Club, to which both Demassus' family and Ms. Kestrel's family belonged. As hoped, they ran into Ms. Kestrel there. Dawson made several leading comments involving Greg Bow and suicide by fire. While Ms. Kestrel tried to act cool, she did flinch a bit. After he walked off, she hurried into the woman's lounge. Demassus followed and listened in as Ms. Kestrel spoke on her cellphone to someone. She and the someone agreed that this was a problem and made plans to meet at "C.C.".

Penn and Ellin visited the Blue United building. Using his less legal skills, Penn overrode some of the controls on the elevator and they traveled to the basement, where both of Blue United's T3 lines were cut. Penn and Ellin changed into workman's overalls, found in the basement, and traveled to the Blue United's lobby on the sixth floor. They convinced the receptionist that they were there to repair the downed net and phone connections and she sent them up to the ninth floor. Again, they used subterfuge to convince the adjustment manager to send them to the tenth floor. While Ellin distracted the adjustment manager, Penn remove the hard drive from Ed Stark's computer. They then left.

Using the information discovered by Demassus and Dawson, Penn was able to search Stark's hard drive for the right information. They discovered that Stark owned a commercial property, downtown, listed as "C.C.". All six members of the investigative team traveled downtown. A crowbar was used to gain entry into the C.C. property's back door. Beyond the door was a gourmet kitchen. In the kitchen's walk-in freezer, they found several human organs. The only other room in the building was a dining room beyond the kitchen.

Demassus' sharp hearing picked up the sound of a key in the front door. The team hurried outside but Dawson jangled some hanging pots on the way and chase was given. King and Ethrigan took up position outside. King shot the first man to come through the back door, an obvious bodyguard. Ethrigan pushed inside and used the crowbar from earlier to disable a second bodyguard. While Dawson took pictures of the scene, three people: Gwendolyn Kestrel, James Wyatt, and Michael Cortez. Cortez was the editor at the city desk of the local paper. Ed Stark and a fifth, unknown man, escaped. Kestrel, Wyatt, and Cortez were locked inside the freezer. The police were called and the team left the scene.

Note: Based on the facts, some conclusions can be drawn. This was not an unusual happening as the Network normally identifies things. Instead, it demonstrates the depths of human depravity. Stark would use his position as a vice president at Blue United to identify targets. Kestrel would then "happen" on the men in a bar and seduce them. During the seduction, the men were drugged. Organs were removed by Wyatt and saved for later. The man would wake up, likely with instructions on how to care for himself and an admonishment not to tell anyone or his wife would be informed of his would-be affair.

Follow-Up

The following article appeared in the local newspaper the day after the investigation ended:

Responding to an anonymous tip, police converged on a small building in the downtown area. There they found two people: James Wyatt
and Michael Cortez, locked inside a walk-in freezer. There were also two men found injured at the scene. Upon further investigation
police discovered several human organs preserved inside the freezer. Wyatt and Cortez made an immediate confession to the
authorities. Along with a man named Edward Stark, the two men were involved in an black market organ smuggling operation. The 
organs were smuggled in from overseas to be sold to desperate patients here in the United States. James Wyatt is a medical 
examiner who works for the city. Edward Stark is a vice president at the Blue United insurance company and Michael Cortez is,
this reporter is sad to say, an editor at this paper.

According to Wyatt and Cortez, the two injured men found on the scene were originally hired to deliver the organs but turned on
their employers. Edward Stark escaped while Dr. Wyatt and Mr. Cortez were locked in the freezer. Police speculate that the
two men then turned on each other but neither gained the upperhand in the fight and both were disabled. The men have been
taken to Portland General where they remain under police guard until they are well enough to answer questions. 

Dr. Wyatt and Mr. Cortez are being held by authorities pending arraignment. An arrest warrant has been issued for Mr. Stark but 
his current whereabouts remain unknown.

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