Homicide - Pursuit of Justice

After a bit of clean up last session, it's time to move forward. When we left, we had pretty strong suspicions that Gabe Babbett is our murderer. His prints are on the gun, he knew both victims, and he's apparently on the run. We've issued a warrant for his arrest on suspicion of murder, and alerted the State Police in Delaware and surrounding jurisdictions. Since we can't just run off to Delaware, let's chase some leads here.

We know the gun used in these murders was owned by Michelle Allen. We have Kevin Woods, a known associate in custody. Let's find out if he knows anything about the gun, and how Babbett got it. Our scene is Woods Interrogation, Round II.

• Altered Scene. The Mythic GM Engine suggests NPC Action, Break Fears.

That sounds promising, so I'm going to run with it. Evan and Jeff head to the interrogation room and sit down with Bosley, Woods's lawyer, and Woods himself. He's already admitted to the theft at the apartment office, and he knew what was missing from Allen's apartment. Let's use that to tie him straight to the murder and the missing gun and see what breaks. Evan is going to go at him hard with an accusation that he stole Allen's gun,  and see what happens. That's a game system roll. Evan has Good Charm, but I'm going to declare another of his unused skills as Interrogation Methods, raising his ability to Great. A random roll for Woods gives him Average charm. This should be a pushover. The die roll says: Legendary vs. Mediocre result. Woods cracks like an egg.

• Q1: Does Woods know how Babbett got the gun? (likely)
• Answer: Yes
• Q2: Was it part of the theft he participated in? (very likely)
• Answer: Yes
• Q3: Does Woods know why Babbett would shoot Marin? (50/50)
• Answer: No
• Q4: Does Woods know why Babbett would shoot Allen? (50/50)
• Answer: No
• Q5: Does Woods know where Babbett is now? (unlikely)
• Answer: Yes

Hmm. Woods knows something about Babbett's location. Let's press him on that.

• Q6: Does Woods have detailed information on Babbett's location? (unlikely)
• Answer: No
• Q7: Is Babbett in Delaware? (likely)
• Answer: Yes
• Q8: Does Woods know any of Babbett's associates / friends in Delaware? (50/50)
• Answer: No
• Q9: Does Woods know a city / town where Babbett might be? (50/50)
• Answer: Yes (randomly selecting Milford from Google Maps)
• Event: NPC positive. Stop a plot.

A few random rolls tells us the forensics team has found something out about the Allen apartment theft. It seems most likely that they've found prints that match Woods, since he admits to being there, so we'll roll with that as extra evidence against him. Let's dig into the religious item that was also stolen. It seems to tie everyone together, Woods, Babbett, Allen, Marin.

• Q10: Was the stolen item valuable? (likely)
• Answer: Yes
• Q11: Did Marin know about the item? (likely)
• Answer: Yes
• Q12: Was the item Allen's rightful property? (50/50)
• Answer: No

Hmm. So Allen had something that didn't belong to her. It was valuable and Marin knew about it. That leads me to the conclusion that Allen had stolen something from the place she worked, something valuable. That seems like a good question.

• Q13: Did Allen steal the item from her employer? (very likely)
• Answer: Extreme yes

A ha! Now we have a whole ream of motives. Allen steals something valuable. Marin knows something about it, which threatens Allen. Babbett gets involved, perhaps as a fence, perhaps as a way of getting rid of Marin. Things get ugly, and someone starts shooting. A few more thoughts:

• Q14: Does Woods know who has the item? (likely)
• Answer: Yes
• Q15: Is it Babbett? (very likely)
• Answer: Yes
• Q16: Is he trying to sell it? (very likely)
• Answer: Yes

Things are becoming clearer. All we need now is to get our hands on Babbett, and wrap this up! We'll send on additional information to Delaware State Police, and let them know that Babbett may be looking to sell stolen property. Woods knows what the item is, so we can pass that on. It seems we need to check in with Allen's employer too, and let them know what's up.

That sounds like a good place to wrap things up. Stay tuned for more!

• The next post in the series.