Case No. 18
CAFE & DINER FOURTH CAFE · LONG BEACH, CA · UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT
EMPLOYEE NO. 17
DATE: 3-1-2020
FILE REFERENCE: STNO01
TOTAL: $0.12
They say it is good to be home, but I must disagree—there are many strange things in New Orleans. Well, that and my family have been… unwelcome for quite a few years now. Speaking of the Cafe and Diner, we will be staying in the abandoned manor of my youth while we conduct our market research here. While our focus should naturally be on the Antekey No. 2 covets, we have other customers in the area who might enjoy a cup of the Cafe's finest. We'll do our best to grab the Antekey and leave, but we can't get too much done if we have customers coming to our doorstep, yes?
We have only been here for a few hours, and already we've received word of two particularly demanding customers, Mrs. Brown and Mrs. Morrison. Mrs. Brown is a common enough sight this time of the year. She's known to indulge in the revelries that follow Mardi Gras. Tourists assume it is an elaborate costume, but our local family says otherwise. As for the ever-delightful Mrs. Morrison… She was spotted by Blind Lagoon. Two tourists saw her, one of which was chewed out by her. She's got a bit of a mouth on her, eh?
Mrs. Brown is a lovely woman, although she is often dressed in rags of French red. Enjoyed a nice roux, usually two servings with a side of G in between. As for Mrs. Morrison, she's rather rude, as charming as an eel, and as cuddly as a cactus, but at least she thinks about you more than I do. Mrs. Brown enjoys a glass of Green Tea, while Mrs. Morrison prefers her Orange Juice. However—indicating a total lack of taste, Mrs. Brown's Green Tea has been sullied with a splash of Orange Juice herself. See, she's one of Padre's dancers from another plane. Ah, but there will be time for all of that later. Today, let us enjoy my hometown for all that it can offer us, no?
Caffeinated Report: C-STNO02
"Twain, Wilde, Crowley."
Research | 3 Words
Caffeinated Report: C-GRM01
"Mrs. Morrison in Baltimore torsion."
Reference | Research | 3 Words
MANAGER NO. 4
DATE: 3-4-2020
FILE REFERENCE: AWNO01
TOTAL: $0.49
I've set up our meeting with Mrs. Brown. Expecting her on the 8th. The plan is to escort her back to Ottawa, if possible, though we might need to pay her tab in full. The tricky thing with customers who like to dance is they'll keep booging even if we send them home. Something feels… off. There's a storm coming in. I can hear flickers of madness, churning of ancient sins. Not sure what to make of that, but No. 5 and 6 should keep their guards up. The last thing we need is for something Wicked to come our way.
As for Mrs. Brown's service, No. 512 will be our bait. She's taken a vow for Lent and intends to break it on Sunday. Upon breaking her vow, it should entice Mrs. Brown to the manor where No. 26 will show her to No. 17's "Teal Room." It should make quite the suitable backdrop for our little tea party. Our service should only take 5 minutes. Still, those 5 minutes will be extremely dangerous. I'll be waiting in the Teal Room, but should that not be enough to contain her, it would be advisable to have the manor empty on Sunday. Unless, of course, you are interested in dealing with Mrs. Brown.
I don't believe No. 512 will have enough time to escape the manor—though, perhaps she can even assist in Mrs. Brown's service? The Angel Fish could use some actual fieldwork, and while it will be dangerous, to my knowledge, she should be able to take Mrs. Brown's verbal abuse. It wouldn't be ideal, of course, but it would be better than any of the rest of us getting chewed out. She's supposed to be thick-skinned, right? Perhaps we can put it to the test. That is, of course, if I don't settle Brown's tab first.
That's all.
Manager No. 4.
Caffeinated Report: C-TFF01
"Inky Whorl."
CaD Knowledge | 2 Words
Caffeinated Report: C-TFF02
"Under their Goddess…es."
Reference | Research | 3 Words
EMPLOYEE NO. 44A
DATE: 3-6-2020
FILE REFERENCE: TFF03
TOTAL: $0.34
I've been forced to do some research into Mrs. Ogeron to make her a customized menu or whatever. I wasn't really planning on spending all of my time in New Orleans at a library, but, oh well, at least the company of No. 5 was nice. He really likes this nerdy stuff, and he had a few "choice" connections in the area to some more… coffee-related libraries. Well, library-adjacent knowledge repositories. I think that's as much as I can probably say about that in the Diner, but, needless to say, it was really, really weird. Cool. But weird.
From what No. 5 and I were able to uncover, Mrs. Ogeron is indeed a senior citizen who sips Old Fashions. She also dines Italian but hasn't made it much of a habit. In fact, she tends to stay fairly hidden, as the ONE tourist report can attest to. Staying out of the public eye, she prefers to use her telephone to ring up tourists and the like to run errands for her. I think we saw that with No. 6's note thingy. Despite being an old biddy, Mrs. Ogeron can have her tab paid in full… almost. At least, it can be paid off to the point she won't be on our books for a very long time.
Lastly, and probably most importantly, we know where Mrs. Ogeron lives—near a small theater off of Algiers. Of course, her house is down quite a bit from there, but there should be a few ways to access it, though we were warned it'd be pretty risky to enter into her house uninvited. Then again… why would she ring us up if that wasn't to invite us? Or, at least, invite No. 6. But where No. 6 goes, No. 5 goes, and where 5 goes, 4 goes, and then at the end of the day, I'm roped into it too, aren't I? We'll start talking about paying Mrs. Ogeron a visit. Wouldn't it be nice if she just handed us the Pearl-whatever?
I can dream, can't I?
Caffeinated Report: CD-AWNO02
"A lecter of the evening star."
Theology Trivia | 1 Word
Caffeinated Report: C-AWNO03
"40 a week ago."
Theology Trivia | 2 Words