Act 2 - Monday, August 31, 2015

Yeah, just let us know what your plans are and we will do it.

I'm sorry. I thought we'd chat here. Get room service. Did you want to meet later instead?

Give me 15 minutes to wash up and change. No one tells you how humid Boston is in the summer! I will be right back.

I will stay and we can get started.

So...invite first? Have you refreshed yourself on Purson?

Ugh, don't mention that... being.

Don't even hint about it. I even used a fake name and it still ... heard me.

I'm not sure about this. You'll have to forgive me, I've been out of the investigation game for a long time. I see the letters marked "Help Me", but I'm not sure who needs the help. The birthday boy, or someone else? And does everyone else's invitation look as ratty as mine?

It might look ratty, but you need to look past that. The craftsmanship of the invitation is detailed and expensive this isn't just some cheap office depot linen and printed on a laser printer. The text is apparently rendered in fine handwriting but it has odd flourishes.

Huh, I thought it was just ours, but look all of them are identical. It is handwritten, but how could all four be this similar if they were handwritten? And the handwriting on the inner paper does not seem to match the invitation.

Yes, the little flourishes are odd. To me, it looks like someone added them later, like doodles. But the invitation caligraphy itself is so ... skewed for it to be hand written. I guess they could be.

I've seen mechanical devices that can be used by people.

It copies the person's hand movements as they write, in order to produce a "handwritten" copy. I remember one of the people in our research used a bunch of mechanical dodads....

But the inside thing could definitely be by someone else.

I guess the inside note is meant for someone other than us. Did someone sneak this out to us, wanting our help? Wanting to give us this clue?

Man, I look at accounting and construction logs all day, I am rusty too. Stevie said she had an idea about the internal note, she said she thinks Henry might have an idea too? Something about exemplars?
We got sidetracked on packing and the stupid video.

Dude, this is so far out of my wheelhouse anymore, I'm not even sure I could tell you if this is an invitation to a party or a trap. The only thing that makes me think this isn't a hoax is this thing.

Tell me again how you celebrated your last birthday?

Look, any excuse to throw a party with more than ten A-Listers is a good excuse, ok?! You got an invitation!

No thank you. I appreciate you remembering me, but you know I don't do the party scene.

Should we let her in?

I mean, if you want to. Or you could leave her out there and enjoy your freedom... until she breaks down the door and murders all of us.

You have a point. And I gave up freedom a long time ago. But now that you have a ball and chain I am sure you can understand that the freedom I gave up is well worth it!

Sweetest wife, how I have missed you and your dulcet tones!

I had hoped after almost 20 years I could fix you, but it might be time to throw in the towel.

Henry, in your current work do you ever ask anyone to give a sample of their handwriting? I think normal cops call it an exemplar? You just have the suspect write gibberish to get them to write different letters. I cannot be certain, but I think that is what this is. None of these words go together. I have played with using just the first letters, or just the capitalized letters and cannot find any code or even an anagram.

No, my current assignment doesn't deal with handwritting analysis, but I understand what you're talking about. To me, this doesn't seem disjointed enough to be code for something. It stikes me more as notes to someone you expect to understand the information you're providing, and who know what to do with that information.

Okay.

That sounds good. It looks like this is going to take a while.

Sure, we can eat in the room if you want. What do you want to review next? The video?

Yeah, we can break down the video. I've got a lot of notes. I'd prefer to do it after we eat, because it's long and involved and I kinda hate it a lot and it creeps me out. Is that ok with everyone?

Do you think we will see a real birthday party tomorrow?