Questions tab.”
Under a banner offering “half-off Tuesdays” were the game’s pricing levels.
Five hundred dollars for a single player staying overnight in Transylvania’s Randolph Manor.
There was a button to click for reservations.
When you arrive you will be greeted by Dr. Barlow, vampirologist and innkeeper of the Randolph Manor.
A description of the accommodations showed pictures of the inside of the manor and even an image of the canopied bed I’d slept in the night before! Under the player’s equipment section was a medical bag similar to the one Barlow had given me.
The player’s ranking page showed a list of FULL MOON ULTIMATE VAMPIRE SLAYERS. Head shots featured “failed and felled” players, most with bloody mouths and bite marks on their necks. The “About Us” page displayed a picture of the “Dark Coven Master.”
“That’s Forester,” I said. “Even dead I can see the resemblance. Knowing that Barlow, the guesthouse, and Randolph Manor are tied together helps with the case.”
Meg said, “It does?”
“Well, sure. Here’s how the virtual games work online. There’s an innkeeper who welcomes the players and gets them settled in for the game. Inside the castle is a Lord or King or, in this case, the Dark Coven Master. The object of the game is to combat demons and dragons, escape mazes and dungeons,and capture weapons and prizes until finally you confront the head bad guy.”
“But you’re not talking in real life, just as a game?”
“Right. D&D online gaming is huge. Except with what we’re looking at here, the game isn’t virtual; it’s real. You want to know what I think? I think the game got out of hand and someone accidentally killed Forester. Or maybe Raintree really did kill Forester in order to get the estate. I’ll know more in a few minutes.”
“What are you doing now?” Meg asked me.
“Sending my editor a text message asking him to send me the IP address of the form submission that tipped us off to the case. If I can trace the address, I can find out where the sender was when he or she filled out the form.”
After sending the message, I put my phone away and pulled Meg’s laptop toward me. “Mind if I drive? There’s something I need to check.”
I typed in the URL for my group’s TV Crime Watchers website. When the log-in screen appeared, I entered my ID and password.
Meg said, “And now?”
“Pulling up our database of television shows.” I typed in key words like
haunted
,
spooky
,
ghosts
,
vampires
, and
séances.
“If there has ever been a television show featuring a haunted house as a plot element, I’ll find it.”
“But I thought you just said Forester died because of a game that got out of hand.”
“That’s one theory, sure. And probably what happened, but to be sure …”
The screen refreshed and a list of popular crime shows popped up on the screen:
CID, CSI, FBI, JAG, NCIS.
“But those are all legal shows,” said Meg.
“Sorts uppercase first.”
More shows appeared:
Colombo, Dead Like Me, Deadly Bones, Ghost Whisperer, Magnum PI, Matlock, McCloud Monk, Kojak, Paranormal Witness, Rockford Files, Six Feet Under, The Mentalist …
“How many in your database?”
“Hundreds.”
“And you’ve watched them all?”
“Not all. But we’re constantly adding members to our group, so someone watched and loaded the synopsis into the system. Now I’m going to refine my search of the episodes to ones that only feature paranormal murders.”
“How long will
that
take?”
“Awhile.” Opening a second browser window, I asked, “Want to see where I work?”
The
Cool Ghoul Gazette
website popped up.
Meg pointed to one of the tabs on the page and asked, “Breaking Noose?”
“That was my editor’s idea. Here, let’s see what’s happening in the world of the weird and paranormal.”
I clicked on the button and a Breaking Noose article appeared.
The headline at the top of the page read GOAT MAN SPOTTED IN WYOMING
Under a banner offering “half-off Tuesdays” were the game’s pricing levels.
Five hundred dollars for a single player staying overnight in Transylvania’s Randolph Manor.
There was a button to click for reservations.
When you arrive you will be greeted by Dr. Barlow, vampirologist and innkeeper of the Randolph Manor.
A description of the accommodations showed pictures of the inside of the manor and even an image of the canopied bed I’d slept in the night before! Under the player’s equipment section was a medical bag similar to the one Barlow had given me.
The player’s ranking page showed a list of FULL MOON ULTIMATE VAMPIRE SLAYERS. Head shots featured “failed and felled” players, most with bloody mouths and bite marks on their necks. The “About Us” page displayed a picture of the “Dark Coven Master.”
“That’s Forester,” I said. “Even dead I can see the resemblance. Knowing that Barlow, the guesthouse, and Randolph Manor are tied together helps with the case.”
Meg said, “It does?”
“Well, sure. Here’s how the virtual games work online. There’s an innkeeper who welcomes the players and gets them settled in for the game. Inside the castle is a Lord or King or, in this case, the Dark Coven Master. The object of the game is to combat demons and dragons, escape mazes and dungeons,and capture weapons and prizes until finally you confront the head bad guy.”
“But you’re not talking in real life, just as a game?”
“Right. D&D online gaming is huge. Except with what we’re looking at here, the game isn’t virtual; it’s real. You want to know what I think? I think the game got out of hand and someone accidentally killed Forester. Or maybe Raintree really did kill Forester in order to get the estate. I’ll know more in a few minutes.”
“What are you doing now?” Meg asked me.
“Sending my editor a text message asking him to send me the IP address of the form submission that tipped us off to the case. If I can trace the address, I can find out where the sender was when he or she filled out the form.”
After sending the message, I put my phone away and pulled Meg’s laptop toward me. “Mind if I drive? There’s something I need to check.”
I typed in the URL for my group’s TV Crime Watchers website. When the log-in screen appeared, I entered my ID and password.
Meg said, “And now?”
“Pulling up our database of television shows.” I typed in key words like
haunted
,
spooky
,
ghosts
,
vampires
, and
séances.
“If there has ever been a television show featuring a haunted house as a plot element, I’ll find it.”
“But I thought you just said Forester died because of a game that got out of hand.”
“That’s one theory, sure. And probably what happened, but to be sure …”
The screen refreshed and a list of popular crime shows popped up on the screen:
CID, CSI, FBI, JAG, NCIS.
“But those are all legal shows,” said Meg.
“Sorts uppercase first.”
More shows appeared:
Colombo, Dead Like Me, Deadly Bones, Ghost Whisperer, Magnum PI, Matlock, McCloud Monk, Kojak, Paranormal Witness, Rockford Files, Six Feet Under, The Mentalist …
“How many in your database?”
“Hundreds.”
“And you’ve watched them all?”
“Not all. But we’re constantly adding members to our group, so someone watched and loaded the synopsis into the system. Now I’m going to refine my search of the episodes to ones that only feature paranormal murders.”
“How long will
that
take?”
“Awhile.” Opening a second browser window, I asked, “Want to see where I work?”
The
Cool Ghoul Gazette
website popped up.
Meg pointed to one of the tabs on the page and asked, “Breaking Noose?”
“That was my editor’s idea. Here, let’s see what’s happening in the world of the weird and paranormal.”
I clicked on the button and a Breaking Noose article appeared.
The headline at the top of the page read GOAT MAN SPOTTED IN WYOMING
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