The art is at the designers, I've been killing commas, babysitting cut-and-pastes gone awry, and slapping some verb tenses into submission on the manuscript. Here's what's to come in The Casebook of Elisha Grey III - an exploration of the greed, and sometimes acts of protest, that propel crime's darker side.
The Missing Daughter
On the anniversary of Aurora Endymion’s death at the hands of an abusive partner - Elisha Grey's former partner and Ishmael Endymion's sister - Elisha Grey and Kiara Ptolmai visit Ishmael for a promised tour by daylight of Dark Ladder Laboratories. While there, Chief Nalte arrives to ask for Elisha Grey’s assistance in finding a young woman who has not returned home after going on a search, with her collective parents’ consent, for her natural parents. Her natural mother is a member of the hetirae and admits that she's not certain of the father's identity, though there is one possibility – Samax Rex Pahadron, wealthy businessman and suspected organized crime boss. Elisha's discussion of the case with his sister, Mara Grey, a hetira herself, together with his own experience with his late partner leads him to suspect that the worst may have happened. He requests Kiara's help as a healer as well as a chronicler.
The Jewel Heist on Riot Night
The trial of four constables for the violent arrest of a peaceful demonstrator advocating for economic equity and fair housing results in their acquittal, which is followed by a night of rioting. During that time, a business in the jewel district of the capitol is burglarized. Because of needed manpower for maintaining curfew during the remainder of the week, Chief Nalte asks for Elisha Grey’s help. Elisha and Kiara's inquiries lead them to pursue an elusive jewel thief by the name of Coral Fox, who has a reputation both in Atlantis and in Chungkuo, Kiara's former home, and the smuggler who most likely hired her to commit the crime. In order to do so, Elisha choreographs a subtle trap at The Pantry, where Coral Fox dines regularly, with Chief Nalte and a female constable in plainclothes to assist.
The Return of the Weatherchanger
Twylah Tecumseh, the landlady, informs Elisha Grey and Kiara Ptolmai that the traveler staying in the loft flat is none other than Kamay Pellay, the artist they met in the International District painting landscapes that echoed the extreme heatwave and thunderstorms of the previous summer. That evening Kamay asks Elisha Grey for his help – the traveler’s quarters have been ransacked while he was out. Elisha Grey and Kiara Ptolmai discover that what was taken had been sewn into his vest lining. After constables come with a hound it’s determined that the contraband was ying su ke poppy husks. Kamay Pellay relates details of his travel to the Lake Baikal region beyond Chungkuo to study under a Sarangeral in order to discipline his psychic gifts, and describes a fellow traveler who may be responsible. When Elisha consults with his friends Galen Toth and Ishmael Endymion about the apparent use of an innocent traveler for smuggling a drug when legal equivalents are readily available, they are pointed in the direction of a woman who is an anti-drug proponent, though according to Twylah Tecumseh, she is known to be the exact opposite.
Kamay Pellay reveals that he has enrolled in the Spiritual Studies curriculum at the Temple of Learning to complement his study of shamanism in the Lake Baikal region, and that he is enrolled in Sacred Geometry classes – which Kiara Ptolmai is also attending as her first year of study in her new subject, architecture. He will be a regular character in subsequent Casebook stories due to his psychic abilities which include a heightened insight into the connections between people.
The Missing Daughter
On the anniversary of Aurora Endymion’s death at the hands of an abusive partner - Elisha Grey's former partner and Ishmael Endymion's sister - Elisha Grey and Kiara Ptolmai visit Ishmael for a promised tour by daylight of Dark Ladder Laboratories. While there, Chief Nalte arrives to ask for Elisha Grey’s assistance in finding a young woman who has not returned home after going on a search, with her collective parents’ consent, for her natural parents. Her natural mother is a member of the hetirae and admits that she's not certain of the father's identity, though there is one possibility – Samax Rex Pahadron, wealthy businessman and suspected organized crime boss. Elisha's discussion of the case with his sister, Mara Grey, a hetira herself, together with his own experience with his late partner leads him to suspect that the worst may have happened. He requests Kiara's help as a healer as well as a chronicler.
The Jewel Heist on Riot Night
The trial of four constables for the violent arrest of a peaceful demonstrator advocating for economic equity and fair housing results in their acquittal, which is followed by a night of rioting. During that time, a business in the jewel district of the capitol is burglarized. Because of needed manpower for maintaining curfew during the remainder of the week, Chief Nalte asks for Elisha Grey’s help. Elisha and Kiara's inquiries lead them to pursue an elusive jewel thief by the name of Coral Fox, who has a reputation both in Atlantis and in Chungkuo, Kiara's former home, and the smuggler who most likely hired her to commit the crime. In order to do so, Elisha choreographs a subtle trap at The Pantry, where Coral Fox dines regularly, with Chief Nalte and a female constable in plainclothes to assist.
The Return of the Weatherchanger
Twylah Tecumseh, the landlady, informs Elisha Grey and Kiara Ptolmai that the traveler staying in the loft flat is none other than Kamay Pellay, the artist they met in the International District painting landscapes that echoed the extreme heatwave and thunderstorms of the previous summer. That evening Kamay asks Elisha Grey for his help – the traveler’s quarters have been ransacked while he was out. Elisha Grey and Kiara Ptolmai discover that what was taken had been sewn into his vest lining. After constables come with a hound it’s determined that the contraband was ying su ke poppy husks. Kamay Pellay relates details of his travel to the Lake Baikal region beyond Chungkuo to study under a Sarangeral in order to discipline his psychic gifts, and describes a fellow traveler who may be responsible. When Elisha consults with his friends Galen Toth and Ishmael Endymion about the apparent use of an innocent traveler for smuggling a drug when legal equivalents are readily available, they are pointed in the direction of a woman who is an anti-drug proponent, though according to Twylah Tecumseh, she is known to be the exact opposite.
Kamay Pellay reveals that he has enrolled in the Spiritual Studies curriculum at the Temple of Learning to complement his study of shamanism in the Lake Baikal region, and that he is enrolled in Sacred Geometry classes – which Kiara Ptolmai is also attending as her first year of study in her new subject, architecture. He will be a regular character in subsequent Casebook stories due to his psychic abilities which include a heightened insight into the connections between people.