Participants:
Amanda Dawson and Jackie Wilcox are NPCs courtesy of
| Scene Title | Not Just A Family Issue |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Elisabeth and Felix talk to Jessy Delany's RA and roommate in their investigation into her disappearance. The plot thickens. |
| Date | July 4, 2009 |
4th Floor, Brittany Hall, New York University
New York University's Brittany Hall, one of the various residences scattered throughout the city that are meant to acclimate freshmen to college life. Of course, being Independence Day, the University itself is closed, as it has been since Friday, but that doesn't mean investigation can't be done. A number of resident advisors are still on campus, opting to get some studying done over the long weekend rather than partake in the holiday festivities. One such adviser is Amanda Dawson, responsible for the floor on which Jessy Delany resides in, and as such, also where her roommate Jackie is. Of course, useless as they were, all the mother and brother provided were a name. No room number, which means the detectives get to visit Amanda Dawson.
Walking through the dorm toward the RA's room, Elisabeth murmurs to Felix, "Lord, I feel old…." A student on the way out the front door of the dorm gave them Amanda Dawson's name and room number as the person to speak to about finding anyone in the dorm, at least. Elisabeth knocks on the door in a businesslike fashion (not the really loud pounding that cops often do on television and such) and waits politely.
"Tell me about it," Fel says, sotto voce. "I used to live in this building, Liz. Back when I had blue hair and a tongue piercing. Didn't live on this floor, though," he notes. They aren't trying to keep kids from flushing their drugs down the toilet, after all. They get wary looks from the teens passing them in the halls - both of them really do sort of have AUTHORITY FIGURE stamped on their foreheads.
"Just a second," comes a soft voice from the other side of the door. There is the sound of a lock and latch being drawn before the door opens, revealing an African-American woman in her mid-twenties. Her curly brown hair is still wet and she's wearing a pale pink bathrobe. "Can I help you?" she asks.
Elisabeth blinks and stares at Felix. "You had a what?" she demands in a hiss. "Well, shit, Fel… now I'm bummed!" She turns to face the young woman who opens the door and gets back to the business at hand, flashing her badge. "Ms. Dawson? I'm Detective Harrison, NYPD. This is Agent Ivanov. We're looking for Jessy Delany's room?"
It is by main strength of will that Felix does not present that vulpine grin to the RA in question. It doesn't do to come smirking like Agent Smith, especially when you're in a nearly-black suit. He wipes it off his face right before she opens the door, and manages to look properly solemn and thus worth listening to. He doesn't flash his badge.
"Agent?" the title comes off the brunette's lips before she can catch herself. Then the question hits her and she thinks for only a moment before she says, "Forty-two, just down the hall back the way you came, not too far from the stairs." She gives Felix a quick once over before looking back to Detective Harrison, "Can I ask what this is about?"
Elisabeth offers a smile. "Nothing serious," she reassures the resident advisor. "She may have been a witness to a recent situation, so we just wanted to follow up with her. Have you seen her recently?"
In his secret and adolescent heart of hearts, Felix does get a thrill every time he gets to say this. "I'm with the FBI," he says, mildly. "Special Agent, technically, but I tend to think that sounds horribly pretentious." He's even got sunglasses on today, though he's taken them off, and he really does look like he should be asking her if she knows a Thomas Anderson.
Which doesn't at all sound 'not serious'. "The FBI? Seriously?" Which of course completely distracts her from answering the question, but she does get back on track. "I saw her at the beginning of the week. I don't think you'll find her in her room, though. She said she was leaving. She seemed really nervous, too. I tried to find out what was going on with her, but I didn't get anything."
Elisabeth raises an eyebrow. Indeed? "Did she happen to mention where she was going or when she'd be back?" she asks mildly.
"Do you know if she had any particular friends on campus we might contact?" Fel asks, tone equally gentle. He offers a faint, lopsided smile…..it isn't as reassuring as it might be, he just doesn't have the face for it.
"That's what I mean, she like just left. She came to me, said she was leaving, and then she was gone," Amanda says. "I tried to talk to her, but it was like she was ignoring me, or didn't hear me at all." Her eyes fall on Agent Ivanov again. "You could check with her roommate, Jackie Wilcox, but … Jackie came to me to tell me Jessy was missing. I gave her Jessy's home number, and told her what happened. She didn't have a clue."
Elisabeth purses her lips and nods slowly. "Well, in point of fact, we are not here looking for her as a witness — her family contacted the police. Though what you're telling us is that she left of her own volition, which technically no longer makes it a missing persons case, we'd like to go ahead and speak to Ms. Wilcox and to anyone else you can think of who's had contact with her in the past several weeks. Anything that you know about her will be of help."
Liz is saying what needs to be said, so Fel is merely looking sage and perhaps a little bit dour, as he wipes the lenses on those sunglasses with a scrap of cloth.
"Oh my God, they did?" Amanda is silent for a moment as she thinks. "Well, you can talk to Jackie and I … well, Jackie has Jessy's schedule — they're taking two of the same classes. I think she has a third." She scratches her head, "You can check with her professors, see if she talks to anyone in class and see if anyone knows anything. I'm sorry, but I don't really have anything else to tell you. I hope you find her."
Elisabeth nods to the RA and says, "Thank you for your time, Ms. Dawson. And if you do happen to hear something, please give us a call, all right?" She hands the young woman her card and turns to go, letting Felix lead the way this time.
"I will, Detective," Amanda says as she takes the card and closes the door behind them. She goes back to preening.
Fel has no further questions, apparently. He nods politely, but doesn't offer any kind of farewell aloud. He heads back towards the stairs and Jessy's room, glancing mutely at Liz as he goes.
Elisabeth shares the glance with him and frowns slightly. "This is sounding like she's running from something, not just a family issue," she comments softly. "It's probably nothing." But she doesn't sound sure. There's much about this young woman's social situation that isn't sitting well with Liz.
"Your intutition says different, and so does mine. You don't need to be a mutant to know it," Fel says, matter of factly.
And there it is, room 42. There's music coming from behind the door that is probably louder than would normally be allowed during school days. But it is a holiday, after all. Some people party even when they're studying.
Liz so doesn't want to do this. But she sighs and knocks loudly on the door. "You're so gonna tell me about a tongue piercing. That's just wrong. I can't even picture it," she comments as she knocks.
"Later," Felix says calmly, later. And he settles back into the proper flanking position. Not that it's likely that the students therein will have anything more deadly than an illegal joint, or something.
It takes a few knocks before Jackie hears it, and the music suddenly goes quiet, Josh Groban no longer blaring through the closed door. "Sorry," comes a voice as the door is opened, "Sorry about the … noise?" Clearly seeing people with that AUTHORITY FIGURE air to them has her stunned. Bright blue eyes peer out from under pink-streaked blond hair and way too much eye make-up. "Can I help you?"
Flashing her badge one more time, Elisabeth says, "Jackie? I'm Detective Harrison with the NYPD. This is Agent Ivanov of the FBI. We understand that you're Jessy Delany's roommate… her family is pretty concerned about her right now, and we're hoping maybe you can help us locate her."
Felix doesn't smile. He's never managed the art of reassuring the civilians - it always comes off as a supercilious smirk. So he contents himself with looking quietly from behind Liz.
"The FBI?" Jackie opens the door further, letting both law enforcement officers into the dorm room. It's fairly cramped, as one can imagine such educational accommodations typically are. There's a stereo, which was previously blaring, taking up a fair portion of the room, along with an overflowing collection of CDs on Jackie's side. The other side is more neatly kept, save for a few stray papers lying around. The only other things of note are the laptop computer sitting on Jessy's desk and the chessboard on the bed, which happens to be setup for play.
"I don't know what I can do to help you. I talked to Amanda — our RA — to find out what had happened to her when she wasn't here when I got back to our room on Monday night. She told me that like, Jessy'd come to her and said she was leaving, but I thought for sure she would've told me if she was leaving."
"That's what we're here to talk to you about, actually," Elisabeth says. "Amanda says that she looked upset that day. Do you know if Jessy was having any problems with anyone? A friend? A boyfriend? Her family? Anything that you can think of that might have upset her?"
Felix asks, quietly, "Anyone else she was close to, that you knew of? On campus, I mean."
"I … wasn't really here most of that day. As I said, she wasn't here when I got back and I didn't see her in class Tuesday or Wednesday, and then I talked to Amanda," Jackie says. "Well, she was seeing this like, total loser, but I think they broke it off a couple of weeks ago 'cause I haven't seen him in here in like forever." That actually makes her pause her rather high-paced talking, but only for a moment. "Actually, come to think of it, I don't think I've seen him in class since then, either."
Elisabeth raises her brows and pulls out a small notebook. "Why don't you start by telling us his name? Does he take classes with her? And does Jessy have any other friends that you know names for with whom we could also talk?"
"Sure. She's like, so organized, she's got it all right here in this book," Jackie says, as she pulls a spiral-bound day planner from Jessy's desk and hands it over, "Not sure about a number for Todd and I'm not sure what his last name is, but he's in our anthropology class." The day planner has a phone book in the back with only a few names and numbers. Conveniently, it also has her class schedule in it, complete with professor names, course, and section numbers, which should come in handy come Tuesday when the registrar's office opens again.
Elisabeth smiles at Jackie. "She's very organized," she compliments. "What else can you tell me about her, Jackie? What kinds of things is she interested in here on campus? Clubs? Extracurricular activities, anything make you think twice?"
"It's mostly out for the summer, but the Chess Club," Jackie says, pointing to the other girl's bed and the chess board on it. "She was playing with some guy online, but she lost. I don't know what she sees in it. I can't stand the game." Big shock there. She twirls her hair with a finger, "She used to go to some of the mixers, but one night she got totally blitzed and that just turned her off to the whole experience. Otherwise, she mostly just hangs out here on her computer or reading books."
Elisabeth nods slightly, considering. "How long ago was that?" she asks. "The night of that last mixer. And where was it?"
"It was back in October," Jackie says, "Just downstairs. All of the first floor opened up for it, and the common area."
Elisabeth nods slightly and makes a note. "Was it just being drunk that turned her off of them, or did something happen?"
"I don't remember anything happening, but it was a long time ago," Jackie says, omitting the fact that she too was completely smashed that night. Neither of them should have been drinking, but she'd managed to squeeze a couple of drinks out of a few of the juniors and convinced Jessy to go along for the ride.
At least one of the them learnt something.
With a quick nod of understanding, Elisabeth smiles slightly. "All right. Thanks, Jackie. We're going to take her computer with us, and if you think of any names that might help, here's my card." She hands it to the girl. "Hopefully she'll just turn up in a couple of days or so — if she does, please call or have her call us, all right?"
Jackie takes the card and nods, "Absolutely."