At Morland Chemical Works, the records office door hangs open. A young adult man in a brown clerk’s waistcoat, lean and narrow-faced with a crooked nose, lies unconscious beside the index cabinet, whose two-three section has been stripped bare.
Sherlock remains at Aurora’s shoulder, while Basil watches from a high shelf. A charcoal thread caught on the cabinet hinge matches the planted coat, pointing toward the cropped-haired woman.
Sherlock Holmes
A convincing implication, Aurora, but only an implication. Observe the floor before accepting it.
Near the loading entrance, a thin yellow smear crosses the dust, then breaks into two separate trails. One set approaches the cabinet; the other turns toward the delivery passage.
A middle-aged man with thinning ginger hair and ink-stained cuffs emerges from behind the counter, pale but conscious. He keeps both hands visible and stares at the empty index drawer.
the Morland clerk
I am Edwin Pike, the records clerk. I saw the woman near the cabinet, yes, but someone else left through loading carrying a sealed delivery tube.
Sherlock’s gaze shifts from the charcoal fiber to the chemical trail. The missing pages, the unconscious clerk, and the second departure now divide the crime between an apparent culprit and an unknown accomplice.
✓ Quest Accepted
Clear Aurora of suspicion for the staged crime
✓ Quest Accepted
Identify the accomplice who carried the sealed delivery tube
“*Uses her medical skills from Watson to examine the unconscious person* "What happened here?"”
FAILURE (Fair Health, rolled -3)
Aurora Dove
What happened here?
Aurora kneels beside the unconscious clerk and checks his breathing, pulse, pupils, and skin. Her medical training gives her a careful sequence; Keen Observer catches each small response, while the magnifying glass helps inspect his pupils and lips.
The examination remains inconclusive. His breathing is shallow but steady, his pulse difficult to count, and the yellow smear near his cuff makes the color of his skin unreliable through the glass.
When Aurora lifts his wrist to reassess the pulse, Edwin jerks and vomits a thin splash onto the floor, then sinks back into the same unresponsive state. The contamination makes close examination unsafe.
Sherlock Holmes
Step back, Aurora. We have established collapse, but not its cause. The residue must be treated as hazardous until Watson can examine him properly.
Aurora withdraws her hands. The clerk still breathes, but the failed examination has changed the problem: his condition cannot be safely diagnosed here, and the yellow smear is now part of the medical evidence.
“"Understood, father. Apologies. I was checking for life..." *Scowls at her failure and returns to her usual skills and examines the yellow trail* "What was in the missing files, mister?" *asks the concious clerk*”
SUCCESS (Good Investigation, rolled -2)
Aurora Dove
Understood, Father. Apologies. I was checking for life.
Scowling at the failed examination, Aurora returns to the yellow trail. The magnifying glass separates its edges and breaks, while Keen Observer tracks the two routes and Master of Deduction compares their spacing.
Obsessive attention checks each smear repeatedly, resisting cynical suspicion that the trail proves one culprit. It establishes that the cabinet trail carried residue inward, while the delivery trail carried it away. The exact chemical remains uncertain, costing several minutes of scrutiny.
Aurora Dove
What was in the missing files, Mister Pike?
the Morland clerk
Morland’s restricted delivery records. The two-three section held consignments of concentrated disinfectants, their destinations, and the signatures of recipients.
Edwin swallows and keeps his distance from the yellow smear. His answer gives the missing files a precise purpose: they could identify both the chemical shipment and whoever received it.
Sherlock Holmes
Then the theft was directed at provenance, not merely formulae. The delivery passage now matters as much as the cabinet, Aurora.