Report: Bleeding Darkness Part Four

Part Four: "Nearer, My God, to Thee"

Parts One, Two, and Three

Writers note: This, and the next few, weren't written right after their sessions, and so certain details are going to only be half-remembered. Apologies if it gets confusing. 

7:00 AM, 11 March, 1999. Queens, New York. 

I-Cell (and Nancy) awaken, haunted by what transpired at the morgue. Irena doesn't feel sick after a night's rest. No weird dreams, no surprise visits in the night. 

The STOKER team fixates on two persons of interest. Imogen decides to lean on the resources of the IRS to investigate Amber Gowdie, the subject of Father Rozsavolgyi and Szary's fateful exorcism in 1980, meanwhile, Irena and Isaac meet with Gabrielle Gleeson, the gay rights activist who had become a close confidant with Father Szary, posing as journalists. Indigo decides to investigate Gleeson through less direct means, and looks to hack her personal electronics. All the while, Nancy takes the day to surveil Father Gus Yohn. 

Imogen discovers information that backs up Szary's claims about Gowdie. Her parents, Aloysius and Susan, were reported missing by a truancy officer who had come to their home to investigate after Amber hadn't shown up to school, only to find the girl, who couldn't explain where her parents were or what became of them. In 1983, they were declared dead by the State of New York. Aloysius Gowdie was born in Salem, Massachussetts, disturbingly bearing out Szary's claims of the Gowdies hailing from witches persecuted at Salem. 

Irena and Isaac meet with Gabrielle in person in a cafe in Brooklyn, where they discuss her work with Father Casimir, posing as journalists with the Village Voice writing a piece commending Szary for his outreach work with the gay community. They question Gleeson on her involvement in Szary's work investigating the deaths at the King County Medical Centre. She's reserved, Irena figures she's worried about airing what she knows publicly. Scandalous, or maybe she thinks it'll make her sound crazy. They goad the truth out of her, saying they want to know off-the-record. Gleeson indulges, and tells the tale. 

Gabrielle Gleeson

Father Gustav Yohn, Fr. Warren Gallagher, Fr. Kenneth Waclawski, Fr. Paul Reitano, Fr. Daniel Doyle, and Fr. Vaughn Schafer. Friends from days at Georgetown University. All six minister to the sick frequently at King's County. Yohn was known to Father Casimir through a mutual friend, Father Peter Rozsavolgyi. She explains that all those that died of the mystery disease passed only after having been ministered by Father Gustav and his cohort. They press her for her theory. She cites the Rajneeshpuram poisoning plot, saying it isn't outside the realm of possibility for a small group of people to organize and execute a poisoning plot, and posits that it's possible Yohn and his cohort are doing much the same, but for what purpose, she can't say, besides plain hatred. She can't prove anything, and she never had the heart to suggest so to Father Szary when he was alive. But she can't deny what she sees. Irena and Isaac exchange contact information, and tell them to let them know if anything comes up. 

At her terminal in the safehouse in Queens, Indigo succeeds at compromising Gleeson's electronics, a back-up plan should Gleeson not be so forthcoming. She downloads Gleeson's copy of Szary's notes and her chatlogs. An interesting conversation is discovered between Gleeson and a stranger met somewhere on the internet. The username of the stranger is "CMDANDCTRL". In it, Gleeson expresses interest in a book, Indigo's heart beats just a little faster as she reads the title. "Unaussprechlichen Kulten". She spends the rest of her evening attempting to track CMDANDCTRL, they're exercising better cybersecurity than she's used to. No luck. 

The cell reconvenes and shares its findings. Irena and Imogen take to investigating the backgrounds of the priests listed by Gleeson (Yohn, Gallagher, Waclawski, Reitano, Doyle, and Schafer), Indigo makes an attempt at compromising any personal electronics the priests own, while Isaac joins Nancy for surveillance. Imogen and Irena's findings indicate that for several of the priests, namely Doyle and Schafer, there's a conspicuous series of transfers between churches, schools, and dioceses, often times done for priests who the church knows is misbehaving, but won't defrock or otherwise punish. Despite only one of the priests even owning a personal computer, after a bit of sleuthing, Indigo is able to compromise it and gain access. The search history and chat logs that she downloads don't reveal an amazing amount about the priests or their activities, though it appears they're very active in their research on witchcraft, and in particular, the Salem witch-cult. 

As Irena and Imogen are wrapping up their research, they get a call from Isaac. Father Yohn and his cohort are on the move, carrying their "briefcases", they might be making a move. Irena and Imogen notify Indigo, then the three move to connect with Isaac and Nancy. The surveillance team have followed the priests, driving an oldsmobile in plainclothes, to a coffe shop in midtown Brooklyn. Indigo, Irena, and Imogen join with the team while they idle on the streetside, waiting for Yohn to emerge. Eventually he does, though notably, without the briefcase he entered with. Imogen enters the coffee shop, looking to see what Yohn was doing. She sees a pale, sickly man dressed in mix-matched clothes emerge from the bathroom carrying Yohn's briefcase. He stumbles and gawks dumbly about the coffee shop for a moment before his eyes roll back and he stiffens. After a moment, he relaxes, seemingly more aware, and walks calmly but swiftly out of the shop onto the street. Imogen runs back to the group. Indigo, Irena, and Nancy decide to follow the man with the briefcase, who they posit might be a Thrall, while Imogen and Isaac follow the priests in their car. 

After a few minutes of following, they see the man with the briefcase approach an apartment building which Imogen had earlier identified as being where Amber Gowdie lives. He awkwardly tries the front door before circling around to the back to use the fire escape. The agents pursue, unsure if they want to try to fight the man, as any gunshots would get the police involved, not to mention that if the man is a Thrall, like the believe he is, it won't do anything to stop him. Impulsively, Indigo moves and calls out to the man. Accusing him of being a sex-criminal attempting to break into people's apartments. Other new yorkers, annoyed at the noise, open their windows and join in on the hurling of accusations and insults, occasionally turning on each other. Seeing that he has been discovered, the man dismounts from the ladder and slinks down an ally way. The trio decide to move to try to warn Gowdie now before a reprisal, entering her apartment by entering through the front door after one of the tenants opens it on their way out. They pick the lock to Gowdie's apartment and enter only to find it empty, a brief search leads them to conclude that Gowdie must have skipped town after witnessing Father Szary's death. They reconvene with the rest of the STOKER team. Imogen and Isaac have little to report on the priests, except that it seemed that Father Yohn, who rode in the back passenger seat, appeared to be asleep or in an odd trance shortly after he entered the car.