Chapter eight.
The case of the carriage wheel murders!
In which Our Protagonists Solve a Serial Murder Case, Meet Jules Verne and gain a
New Nemesis.
Dramatis Personae:
Katerina, Grafin (Countess) von Ulmfeld from Bavaria
Leutnant Maximilian von Ström, of the Austro-Hungarian Lancers
Frau Elsa Berg - An Nursing Austrian Sister of the Order of Cassandra
Captain Kenneth Campbell, of the British Black Watch regiment
Louis LeBrun had to briefly leave the party and head to Marseilles to deal with a court case concerning a serious injury caused by a “LeBrun clockwork apple peeler”, which he had invented a few years ago.
This chapter started with Captain Campbell being asked to investigate the death of an old Army friend, Major Charles Fremont, here in Paris.
After some conversations with the Military Attaché at the British embassy, he admitted that Fremont was a British government agent who was looking into the activities of the Temple of Ra.
A visit to the Sûreté provided the information that Fremont had been poisoned. Campbell then used the Military Attaché’s credentials to inspect the personal effects of his unfortunate friend. Hidden in the spine of a pocketbook, was a set of notes about some recent deaths in the city and the address of the secret Temple of Ra.
In the notes was the following:
1 - gaoler - crushed by a cart - a week ago - Rue de Temple
2 - waiter - stilleto & driven over by a cart post-mortem - no date - possibly 5 days ago- Rue St, Chad?
3 - street walker - strangled- 3 days ago - on the Promenade
4 - American tourist - crushed by a cart - yesterday - Jardin des Plantes
Campbell and his friends checked the local news papers for articles. They also visited the Paris Morgue, after pushing through the queues.
There they uncovered the facts that there was a distinctive mark in cart’s iron tyre track on one body but after further investigation, it was found to be partially imprinted on three of the others. All the cart killings had taken place late at night and, when eyewitness statements were compared, a least two different carts were involved.
The other murder victim was strangled with pendant ribbon and on the pendant was the same, now clearly seen, Hieroglyphic symbol. Their Police contact informed the group that using a pendant ribbon was the Modus Operandi of a strangler, Adriano Trapani, who was guillotined two years ago, his brother, Alvare, was never apprehended. Both are said to have had links with the Sicilian Mafia!
Whilst Our Sleuths were looking into the Murders on the list, another Dastardly Killing had taken place! The newspapers lead with a death that happened the previous day, Under the headline:
THE CARTWHEEL KILLER STRIKES ONCE MORE!
On the banks of the River Seine, two eyewitnesses claimed to have seen a young Streetwalker, Aimee Gaspard being pushed under a passing cart. She had been talking to a well-dressed man who spoke French with a strong accent, possibly a Savoyard, only minutes earlier.
Campbell and the Countess went to the Police to find out more about Miss Gaspard. Leutnant von Ström and Frau Berg went to the scene of the crime. The judicious application of a couple of bottles of schnapps, found a homeless man who had picked up a cigar that had fallen from the pocket of “The Savoyard”, probably when he pushed the girl. Although now just a butt, enough of the cigar’s band survived to identify the brand. Further investigation discovered that only two tobacconists in Paris stocked that particular brand. A visit to the shops in question, armed with the description of “The Savoyard”, extraordinarily successful and produced not only a name, the Count di Rigatorri, but also the fact that he was staying at the Hotel Maurice!
The Leutnant and Frau Berg visit the Hotel Maurice and found Rigatorri in his suite.Whilst von Ström fought one henchman, the Count and another henchmen escaped, Rigatorri shouted “You cannot stop me! I will kill them all!”. The defeated lackey refused to speak to the Police and was later found dead in his cell, probably due to Strychnine poisoning.
The Countess suggested that they plot the locations of the deaths on a map and then drew lines connecting them up. This led to the discovery that they form a pentacle with a possible Temple of Ra in middle pentagon
The Company went to the road where the Temple was thought to be. Frau Berg spotted the Count’s henchman as he ducked and ran down a stairway into one of the buildings. Pursuing him and looking in through the grill of the cellar, they saw Rigatorri and his aide handling large casks. Fearing they were preparing explosives, our Heroes sprang into action!
Whilst the Ladies set about getting the Scientist to evacuate the building, Campbell and Von Ström raced down to the basement! They charged at the Count just as he triggered a hopper to pour a red powder, from casks labelled “ Super Concentrated Fuel” in Italian, into the heating boiler. This would have superheated the water in the entire heating system and caused it to explode killing the assembled Scientists! Diverting their attack to stop the flow of the powder allowed Rigatorri to escape the scene, shouting “You cannot stop me! I will have my revenge on you!”.
Rigatorri had aimed to devastate a scientific symposium with the French Minister for Science,Jules Verne, and numerous other great scientists and inventors from across the world present at it. This was taking place in building next to the secret Temple of Ra. Rigatorri had set up an elaborate plot to lay the blame for the incident on a botched Magickal Ritual held by the Temple of Ra.
Through the Ritter von Schlan, our Heroes were ale to discover that the symposium was being used as a cover for a secret meeting to discuss the possible French withdrawal from the Papal State in Italy, a major step towards complete unification of the country, Count di Rigatorri was opposed to Italian reunification as his criminal connections were more able to carry out their misdeeds in the smaller states of the current Italy with their individual legal jurisdictions.
During these investigations, Campbell had caused the arrest of a French noble as a chief suspect in the last killing. Baron de Remartinont had proven his innocence but was so insulted by this Slur on his Honour, that he challenged the Captain to a duel. Campbell declined the duel stating that it was against British Army regulations for its officers to engage in such foolish activities.
Host’s notes:
This Chapter ran in Spring 1998.
More interesting information of the Paris Morgue can be found here:
A little note on Italy: In our campaign, the Kingdom of Italy is slowly re-uniting (as in OUR history) but as Austria & her Allies beat the Prussians in 1866, the Austro-Hungarian Empire still controls Venice and the surrounding region. Emperor Napoleon of France, is still supporting the Papal State in central Italy too. French troops are stationed in Rome to aid in this.
Worthy of High Merit: The whole group for truly getting caught up in the story. At one point, they were all squatting on the floor pointing at the places where the murders had been committed on an imaginary map (I.e. the carpet) and desperately trying to actually translate directions and descriptions of their suspect into French in order to talk to a French Host Character.
This Chapter also provided a quote which is still heard from time to time amongst our circle of friends. A Police Detective asked Captain Campbell why he was so interested in the murder of a Parisian Streetwalker and he replied ”Because she is close friend of my Private’s”.
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