August 17 - 2.30 PM - The school

The Nathan Clifford Elementary School is located in Durham Street, between the Back Cove and the Deering Oaks Park. Constructed in 1907-1909 with up-to-date technology to the latest standards, it is considered a model for schools in the area. It is a three-story brick building in the Oakdale neighborhood. It is a Classical Revival structure, built out of brick with stone trim, set on a granite foundation. It has an H-shaped layout, with projecting wings flanking a central section. A parapet surrounds the flat roof, with a decorative medallion positioned above the main entrance.

Benjamin Oulette is the school principal, and meets the investigators in his office. There are comfortable armchairs placed in front of a large desk. The wall has many framed photographs, representing groups of students of the past years. Oulette is a late fifty bald, short man, with bulbous nose and leather skin. His suit is typical for a middle class man. He is wearing a notch lapel, dark brown wool, three piece suit with coordinating vest and pants. As the investigators arrive, Oulette appears visibly shaken and smiles with little naturalness, clearly simulating. He looks perplexed and worried about the impact on the school's reputation, if Timothy is not found soon.

He shakes everybody´s hands.

"It is difficult for us to deal with that. What happened is terrible. I hope you sirs won´t think this school is not safe for our students. They are like our children for us. We are building their future here.... We are ready to collaborate and hear your questions... also I´m gonna call here Mr. Allen the gymn teacher that was with the kids when Timothy disappeared...."

The gymn teacher is immediately called as the group gets there. He´s a young blond man, with athletic and muscular body. He´s wearing a tracksuit, and a whistle is hanging around his neck. He tries to hide his nervousness. He´s visibly concerned. His voice is sad and embarrassed.

"My name is Matthew Allen, I´m the gymn teacher. I was with the kids when Timothy disappeared. We were here outdoors. I had counted them, then I led them to their classroom. Halfway, I realized Timothy was not there. I came back, but he wasn´t there anymore. He wasn´t anywhere. I can take you there if you want and I´m ready to answer all your questions. The gate was closed. No adult other than the teachers and the janitors has been seen within the school perimeter. The gate and the entrance door are always closed. Even if an adult had sneaked inside here and kidnapped the kid, he surely could not get out easily without anyone noticing him. Our hypothesis is that the boy escaped by climbing over the fence, and did it when no one was paying attention to him. "

The gymn teacher takes the investigators to see the courtyard. A hedge and a wall surrounds the school, including the field in the courtyard. The hedge is four feet and dense with vegetation. The wall beyond the hedge is six feet tall. There´s also a closed iron gate.
The man leads the investigators to a specific point in the hedge where the branches of the bushes are broken, as if someone had passed through. There are leaves on the ground. Beyond the hedge is the stone wall. Here the wall is dotted with cracks and holes, many of which could serve as climbing grips.

Can I examine the wall . See if there are recent signs of someone climbing it ?

The teache answers
"I have not left them. Timothy disappeared while a was taking them back in the classroom. I think... he´s just climbed the wall. He´s a disciplinate boy, I never needed to watch him out constantly. I could not forsee he would do something like that."


There are indeed the footprints of a child near the wall. Moreover, after careful examination, the protruding points are dirty with earth, as if a shoe had pressed.

The principal arrives together with a kid.
"This is Murray. He´s Timothy best friend. Timothy was with him the last time Mr. Allen saw him. "
Murray is pale-skinned child with red hair. He´s wearing a pullover, a pair of knee-length trousers, accompanied by ankle socks and canvas shoes.
Noticing that other adults are present, he gets ashamed and scared, as guessing they could be there because he did something wrong. He would like to hide somewhere or run away. Murray says Timothy was indeed nearby that point of the hedge the last time he saw him.

Murray wins his shame and shyness

"I saw Timothy going over there. He wanted to hide and make a joke to Mr. Allen"

He indicates a point of the hedge.
"I promised him I wouldn’t tell anybody ... Don´t tell him that I have broken my promise. He... went there to hide.... in the bushes... and he didn´t want the teacher to see him... he was laughing..... Timothy joking... Timothy doesn´t like jokes. He likes boring things, like reading"

He cannot say anything else about what happened yesterday. He followed the others as soon as the teacher called everybody. However, he can say something about Timothy´s thoughts.

"Timothy told me his dreams. He swimming on the sea . He likes the sea.... he told me many times.... but his father is bad.. he doesn´t want to take him to see the sea.
The dream of Timothy, he swimming on the sea and seing the rocks.Then, there was a cave there, and Timothy wants to go back inside. "Why were you swimming for? Why going back? You been inside a cave, really? Never answered. He made many drawings and gave some to me. They are nice.
"

Murray goes to his classrooms and soon come back. Then, he shows the drawings. These are three drawings representing a beach and lighthouse landscape. They are the same kind of drawings the investigators saw in his home.

"He said these drawings are his dreams. Don´t tell John, because he wants some for him too, but these are mine now. "

All drawings are the same as those in the house. The same beach with the lighthouse. Timothy was obsessed. Here too, there are strong variations in tide between one drawing and another.

Murray points to the hedge near the point of the wall already investigated. It seems that the boy has actually waited for everyone to go away to go there and climb over the wall, so to run away from school.

At some point, the teacher approaches the investigators. His face is gloomy, showing embarrassment and indecision, as if he were thinking whether or not to say something he has in mind.
The teacher lowers the tone of the voice when talking.

"I noticed something that maybe might help in the investigation... but something happened one year ago ... a few days after Timothy's mother committed suicide. That day I noticed that Timothy had marks around his neck, as if something had wrapped around it tightly. I thought it could have happened while he was playing with his classmates. But then, the same day, Mr. Gilbert came to pick him up after school. Before taking his hand, he lifted the collar of the child's shirt, staring at the neck ... as if... as if he wanted to hide the marks from someone´s else view."

He pauses.

"I never said anything... I didn´t want to charge Mr. Gilbert with an accusation. Anyway, the marks passed and nothing similar has happened again since that day... Well, I don´t know if this has something to do with the disappearence.... but I feel so guilty for what that happened, and I would do anything I can to help. In general.. I had the impression Timothy was not happy in his family."

The teacher seems sincere in what he said. Of course, he could have raised this issue just to reduce his responsability. If the boy had troubles in his family and found a good moment to get away, the family is more responsible that the school is. After all... the cues here suggest the boy could have escaped by climbing the wall. Maybe Mr Gilbert is hiding something.

OOC: Just letting everyone know I read through the previous forums and submitted my character draft. Very detailed and compelling story.
Once we get the answer to Mr. Edmond's last question I am ready to contribute in character. I think it is fun to have some conflict between the PCs so anything negative I say to Mr. Edmonds is just in the spirit of role playing but as a player I am looking forward to playing with you Lwunder.

"You are talking about Timothy´s drawings, I guess." answers the teacher.

"The boy was obsessed with this subject. Everybody noticed that. The lighthouse of Portland doesn´t look like the one in Tymothy´s drawings. Once I took a look at them more closely. Always the same landscape, but with huge difference of tides. I would say... somewhere North.. close to Canada. There you would find such changes of tide.
But.. as far as I know... Timothy has never been anywhere far from Portland. "

One of the neightbours has seen something.
An old lady that lives alone. Her house is just in front of the school. The investigators find her in the front yard while she´s drying her laundry.

She is a tiny old woman, early 70, with haggard appearance and palsied hands. .

"Yes, I saw a child running down the street that day. He climbed into a car. I don´t remember what the car looked like. At the wheel, there was a person, with a long double breasted winter overcoat, one of those with very large notch lapels. He was also wearing gloves, a scarf and a flannel-lined oilskin hat ... the one the fishermen use. I did not see him in the face. The boy jumped into his car as if he knew him. ."

The point of the street is nearby the point of the wall where the boy has presumely climbed, based on the cues the investigators found in the school yard.

In the Portland area, the most important place hosting books, newspapers and records is the library in the campus of the Gorham Normal School. The campus is located in Gorham, at ten minutes driving distance from Portland. What do you search for specifically?

yes I am ok with it.