[Holodeck 1, Victorian London, Dorchester House, Green Drawing Room]
Leaving Will to work on the communications angle, Caelene headed down the hallway to investigate further. She wanted to make sure that the holodeck program at least seemed stable enough for them to finish rather than try to take some kind of drastic measures to get out. Of course she wasn't sure what exactly they could do if finishing the program wasn't an option...probably being able to communicate with those outside the holodeck would be their best option if that was the case, but that would take time.
Seeing a flickering light coming from a room at the end of the hallway, Caelene slowed her pace to approach more cautiously. Someone was inside it seemed. Quietly the Trill moved forward and peered into the room.
By the light of the flickering lantern, Caelene could make out a desk, some tables, some shelves, a chair, medical equipment, and what looked like an operating table. Apparently in addition to his regular office, Doctor Drury had had a medical facility in his home as well. It seemed a little odd to her that he would have this much equipment here, but perhaps that was normal for the time period. She couldn't be sure.
Caelene saw a man kneeling next to the desk, but his back was to her. "Hello?" At her greeting, she saw him stiffen in surprise.
Turning slowly, a voice replied, "Miss Tam? It's just Doctor Adams (NPC)...I was going to look for some additional medical supplies to help your friend James." A drawer quickly shut and he stood slowly.
"Did you find any?" Caelene asked. Somehow she doubted that the relevant medical supplies would have been in a desk drawer, which made her suspicious as to what exactly William was up to. She moved forward slowly, towards the desk.
He looked at her carefully, searching her expression before answering, "It's just over here, on this shelf," he explained, moving over and pulling down a liquid of some sort and some bandages.
"Good, maybe that will help." Caelene continued watching him closely as she moved towards the desk. Perhaps it was just her imagination, but she thought she noticed William tense slightly. "Were you going to take them back to the drawing room then?"
"Yes, yes, of course. I'll do that right now. If I may, miss, you probably don't want to touch anything in here. Some of it can be quite dangerous," William answered, offering a reassuring smile.
Caelene nodded, "I'll be right behind you." She watched as he turned and left, then knelt down next to the drawer he'd been looking at. It was locked, but she carefully pulled a bobby pin loose and started picking the lock. Lock picking wasn't exactly an Engineering talent, but Milara had had to do so from time to time... It took her a few minutes, but eventually she go the drawer open.
Inside were several journals, stacked neatly on top of each other. Caelene picked up the first one and began flipping through it. The contents described, in vivid detail, what seemed to be experimental brain surgeries. Much of it was words, but hand drawn illustrations also accompanied part of the text...as well as patient information and, in many cases, a notation about how long after the surgery the patient died.
No wonder he had his own facilities at home; he was experimenting on people. Presumably Doctor Adams, as Doctor Drury's assistant, would have known about these. Could he have killed the doctor to stop him from doing more experiments? Or, on a more disturbing note, to take over the medical practice and continue with the experiments.
Caelene quickly gathered up the stack of notebooks and headed back to the drawing room. A few of her crewmates looked at her questioningly as they saw the stack of books she was carrying. The Trill caught the eyes of Oran, Ardyn, Kay, and Ser then motioned to the side - the others were busy interviewing the wait staff or working on their communications problem.
Once they were all assembled, she handed a notebook to each one. "I know it's still early to tell, but I found Doctor Adams in the medical facility here. He was initially trying to get into a drawer where these were located. It could be a coincidence, or perhaps not.... Any thoughts?"
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[Green Drawing Room, Margaret Wright's (NPC) perspective]
Wiping away a tear that had threatened to fall down her cheek, Margaret shook her head sadly. "I don't know of anyone... His patients loved him. I even sent some of my friends to see him before and, in all but one case, they're all doing much better now. Edward spent a great deal of time with William, just as Andrew (NPC) had with him when he was an assistant. He was good to his staff..."
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