*** Prologue - Scene 17 (of 17) ***

Eberhardt drives the car as fast as they can over to the O'Conner Mansion. As they pull up, they can hear a woman screaming from inside.

Le Doux calls to Chester to head around back while the rest of them head up to the front door. Boo tries breaking it down, but finds it very solid.

Chester heads around the back, heading past the windows of the ball room. He sees several figures in robes standing around Janet O'Conner, who appears to be tied up on the floor. He quickly heads over to the back door.

Fox finally breaks down the front door. Inside the hall, they find a broken vase and the unconscious figure of Claude. He takes out his government-issued .45 and tells the others to prep their guns.

The three head around to the ball room. Fox goes in firing, taking a big chunk out of one of the cultist's heads. Le Doux tells them to stop. Meanwhile, Eberhardt heads back into the study to check it out, searching through the desk.

Chester breaks open the back door. Heading through the kitchen, he quickly makes his way to the ball room. He pulls his gun on them.

The cultists draw large knives and head towards the group. Fox fires off a series of three shots, hitting with the first one. He manages to drop another of the cultists.

Le Doux fires several shots as well, dropping a second man. Chester, however, misses the remaining cultist with his shots.

The remaining cultist charges at Le Doux, but he fights him off. After a brief struggle, Chester finally wrestles the cultist away and pins him down. Pulling back the hood, Chester discovers it is Henry Carstairs, the bookstore owner.

Fox tries to interrogate the man, but before they can get anything out of him he says they will burn for this. His chest begins to glow with an almost fiery glow and smoke starts coming out of every orifice. Le Doux plugs him in the head.

Unmasking the other bodies, they find one of the men is Prichard while the other two are men they don't recognize. All the men appear to have the symbol of Allatou burned into their chests.

Janet is OK and Fox unties her and gives her his jacket. She explains how Prichard and the others came in and knocked out Claude before attempting to perform their bizarre ceremony on her. Fox tells her it will be all right and that her father will be their soon.

And with that, Le Doux is able to close the strangest case of his career so far.

*** Prologue - Session Notes ***

Welcome to the end of the first session of Cthulhubusters - Crescent City. Originally we planned to run a D&D one or two shot before starting the campaign in earnest, but the guy who was going to run that had a fishing trip so I had to put this together quickly.

All I can say is - wow! This session came together in a way few have over the years. It was almost a perfect session of character interaction and puzzle solving, with a little bit of action in the climax. I think this might be the first game I ever had where the PCs got most of the clues right.

I think of this as the two-hour series premiere of the campaign. It was meant to be a big, self-contained story that hinted at things to come without drowning the players in a web of conspiracies that wouldn't be explained until much later (the mistake I've made in the past).

A couple of things right off the bat about the characters:
* Eberhardt switched from a 2nd generation immigrant to a 1st generation one between the character creation and actual play. The player thought he'd get more humor out of having him be an ex-German Empire security specialist (sort of the WWI version of the post-WWII obvious former Nazi joke).

* Chester Lee Nibbons was created by the guy who missed the character creation setup session.

* Special Agent Millard Fox was originally a NPC I created as a joke on the X-Files character, Fox Mulder. However, the Le Doux player's son wanted to join us for a session so I thought he'd be a great character that could slip in from time to time.

Other notes about the session:
* The initial storyline is a bit of a play on Hammett's The Glass Key.

* When I designed the adventure, I thought out what events would (or could) make up the various acts as if I were writing a screenplay as an exercise to organize when clues would show up. I want to stress this is not intended as a railroad, just a structured way for delivering clues absent PC actions.

* The somewhat noir-ish intro paragraphs for most of the scenes were added during the write-up, I can't come up with that stuff on the fly during the adventure.

* I know I probably went overboard with the number of NPCs standing around during some of the conversations, but I wanted to impress the complexity of the political structures.

* Officer Kissel was based (mentally) on Bruce Kirby's character from Car 54 Where Are You? The other cops are random NPCs.

* James O'Conner was a real congressman at the time. Taylor and Janet come from The Glass Key (at least, their names do).

* O'Neill is based largely on the character of the same name from Orange is the New Black, though I made him even dumber.

* Chester's cigarette run was because the player had to leave for a second to feed his cats (he's our Skype player) and we thought suggesting he was buying cigarettes for his wife would be funnier.

* Jimmy Lee Farnsworth is taken from R. Lee Ermey's character in Fletch Lives. We'll see if he actually makes an appearance later.

* The Full Moon Motel is modeled on the Bates Motel with its six cabins.

* The "Parish Hall Women" is my mocking the "Church Basement Ladies", a play which only seems to appeal to old people and annoys the hell out of those of us in our 30s and 40s stuck taking elderly relatives to it. It's purely a joke and nothing to do with the mystery.

* The sulfur had to do with a brimstone connection rather than industrial use. That is one of the clues that never quite got explained during the adventure.

* Fisher and Sons comes from Six Feet Under. In all my prep work, I neglected to think of the need for a funeral home so I used the only thing that came to mind.

* The Solo Riflemen is a play on the Lone Gunmen of the X-Files. As is the reference to "spooky" Millard.

* Tobin's Spirit Guide comes, of course, from Ghostbusters.

* Allatou comes from a demon in Marvel comics; for me, it specifically comes from early issues of the West Coast Avengers (my absolute favorite title).

* Why the PCs became so focused with the idea that Taylor was the one using the matchbook, and not the killer, I'm not sure (particularly after they correctly deduced the body was dumped in the alley, not killed there). This was the biggest investigation miss IMO.

* Chez Louisiane and the characters mentioned there all come from Frank's Place, a brief sitcom from the 80's.

* I was worried they weren't going to investigate the bullet at all at first, which was intended as a major clue.

* The whole idea of a book store with a porn business in back comes from The Big Sleep.

* Scott Prichard is based on Will Patton's character from No Way Out. I realized later he has the same last names as some villains from the original Cthulhubusters campaign, but luckily my players did not notice.

* Carstairs and bit with the missing page in the book comes from the aforementioned West Coast Avengers story (though in that case, they were hunting a different demon and accidentally crossed paths with Allatou).

* The Great War trophies was mentioned as setting fluff to the players, though they correctly realized later it was actually a part of a clue.

* Medvig is another Glass Key character (though there, the character is Madvig).

* Janet's off-hand remark about her brother being her usual escort was another subtle clue the PCs recalled later.

* Esplanade Books is based slightly on a real book store (though I seriously doubt they stock occult tomes).

* Patricia "Patsy" Walker is another Marvel character who was involved in the Allatou story (as Hellcat).

* The guy who gives Le Doux the information about Bernie was based on Frank Haab, a bag man for gangster Alonzo Patterson.

* Bernie the bookie is based heavily on a Dustin Hoffman style character.

* The joke about Fox having his eye on a redhead back at the office is another X-Files in-joke (referring to Gillian Anderson's character).

* The teenager playing Fox completely missed the "modern woman" joke, though everyone else laughed.

* The in-game time to discuss what to do next took 20+ minutes. I nudged them slightly to go see Prichard because the night was getting late and we really needed to finish the session. And as a prologue, I wanted it to be a self-contained story over a single session.

* The altered Heironymus Bosch painting was one of my favorite clues when I was planning the game because it would come across as so ominous.

* Although the game should largely avoid violence, I liked having the action-packed climax.

* Never fear, Allatou and the cult will come up again; this was hardly the only active cell.

Sounds like a good/fun start:)

*** Session 01 - Cast of Characters ***

Bruno Eberhardt: A 1st generation German immigrant and seasoned police officer. He does some work on the side for Le Doux and others to supplement his income.

Boudreaux "Boo" Le Doux: A Cajun and former swamp guide turned private eye who styles himself after hardboiled pulp detective novels.

Chester Lee Nibbons: A younger, bookish White guy who works as Le Doux's "partner" in order to pay off a gambling debt to him.

Benjamin "Hawk" Brooks: A Black street kid turned enforcer. He works as muscle and provides information for Le Doux, for a price.

*** Session 01 - Scene 1 (of 14) ***

A couple of days after the O'Conner case was solved, Boudreaux "Boo" Le Doux and his investigative partner Chester Lee Nibbons sat around their detective agency waiting for new work. So far, the letter they got from the mayor's office had yet to translate to any new work.

Le Doux's cop informant and occasional investigator, Officer Bruno Eberhardt, had received most of the accolades from that case. Along with a commendation from the mayor's office, Eberhardt had gotten his shift changed to the day shift. Le Doux wasn't sure yet how that would affect his usefulness.

For now, all was quiet regarding the cult of Allatou. While they had discovered and eliminated one cell of the cult, the Bureau of Investigator agent and occult specialist, Millard Fox, assured them there would be more. Fox was off stuck on his work looking into an automobile theft ring in the city. Le Doux had Patricia Walker looking into the cult anyway; still not sure he trusted the government agent.

Le Doux was reading the paper, the Crescent City Times-Picayune, while drinking his coffee. He found a few stories of interest.

The first story was in the sports section:

Giants Triumph over Phillies, 16-7

The New York Giants climbed their way up the National League standings yesterday with another solid performance over the Philadelphia Phillies, scoring a total of 16 points to the Phillies' 5.

The game tipped in favor of the Giants in the 3rd inning, when Lewis Robert "Hack" Wilson scored two consecutive home runs, tying Ken Williams' record set in 1922.

Wilson's performance has had ups and downs this season, first hitting the longest home run on record against the Brooklyn Robins then having to be replaced by Irish Meusel after a slump in May.

John McGraw has been under fire since he purchased Wilson's contact for $10,000 two years ago from the Portsmouth Truckers. While Wilson's debut with the Giants was solid, he had a disappointing .233 average in the seven game loss to the Washington Senators by the end of the season. Rumors continue to circulate McGraw may have to send him back to the minors to play for the Toledo Mud Hens if his hitting continues to be inconsistent.

The second was in the business section:

Local Businessman to Reveal New Juice Drink

The Volstead Act may be in full force, but everyone knows the liquor still flows freely in town.

Local businessman Harry Batt, owner of the popular Polynesian-themed Bali Hai restaurant in Lakefront, isn't letting that stop him from trying to appeal to people looking for a new drink without breaking the law.

Batt promises to reveal his new drink, which he has not yet given a name to, this Friday at Bali Hai, though promises it is based on a secret recipe he discovered while on a business trip to the Caribbean as part of a cache of treasure believed to have belonged to Puerto Rican pirate Roberto Cofresi.

Sources inside the restaurant know very little, but did say Batt has been getting in extra shipments of pineapple and coconut.

The third was in the national news section:

Jury Selection Continues for Scopes Trial

Prosecutor William Jennings Bryan continued another day of jury selection today in Dayton, Tennessee for the highly-anticipated trial of John Thomas Scopes, the substitute teacher accused of violated the Butler Act passed back in March.

Scopes is accused of teaching the evolution students using a chapter from George William Hunter's outlawed textbook, Civic Biology.

An enthusiastic supporter of the bill and State Representative John W. Butler, Bryan has noted he wants to see Christian parents on the jury who understand the dangers of corrupting youth.

Bryan is opposed by the American Civil Liberties Union and famous defense attorney, Clarence Darrow. Darrow rose to prominence last year in his defense of Nathan Leopold, Jr. and Richard Loeb, the convicted murderers of Robert "Bobby" Franks in Chicago. While Darrow lost the case, his 12-hour summation did spare them the death penalty.

The final story was in the local news section:

Taylor O'Conner Laid to Rest

The private funeral for Taylor O'Conner, 30, was held yesterday at the St. Louis Cathedral followed by a burial in the family mausoleum in St. Roch. O'Conner was the son of local United States Congressman, Representative James O'Conner.

Archbishop John William Shaw himself personally performed the mass, attended by the O'Conner family and their closest friends.

Police Superintendent Thomas Healy broke the news yesterday about Taylor being killed while protecting his sister from a group of outlaw devil worshippers who had broken into their home. Also killed in the attack was O'Conner's local chief of staff, Scott Prichard.

Family spokesman and Democratic leader Paul Medvig spoke of Taylor's heroism and praised the O'Conner family for standing up against the enemies of the good Christian people of Louisiana and America. He called on the passing of laws to eliminate the practice of spiritualism and related heresies such as evolution, mirroring a speech he gave last year to support a local ordinance banning the sale of Oliver Lodge's newly-published book on spiritual evolution, Making of Man.

O'Conner is survived by his father, James, and sister, Janet, both of Crescent City. He is preceded by his mother, Clara.

Le Doux scoffs at the last story, as Medvig's lies to protect O'Conner's image are printed as facts.

*** Session 01 - Scene 2 (of 14) ***

Just after finishing the paper, the office phone rings. Le Doux's secretary and cousin, Madge Gravois, answers it and tells Boo it is someone asking to speak to him.

The French-accented man on the other end of the phone gives his name as Benjamin Devereaux. He says he has received a threat and wants to see Le Doux right away. He mentions being given Le Doux's name by an acquaintance, Mr. O'Conner, and has heard of Le Doux's expertise.

Le Doux is glad to see some business is coming in. He tells Devereaux he usually has clients come to his office, but will make an exception to come to him. He gets the address of the man's house, in a fancy section of the Garden District.

About an hour later, Le Doux and Nibbons arrive at the home. It is a nice, plantation-style mansion with large white columns in front.

Le Doux knocks at the door but no one answers. As he is knocking again, another car pulls up; a fancy car, driven by a chauffeur. The chauffeur exits the car and opens the back door to let out a well-dressed elderly woman.

The woman looks over at Le Doux and Nibbons and asks if she can help them.  Le Doux explains he is there to see Mr. Devereaux on a "private matter". She apologizes that no one was there to greet them at the door, mentioning her husband must be in the back of the house and didn't hear them. She goes on to explain that she and Robertson (indicating the driver) were out shopping and the maid left suddenly a week ago so they've been short staffed (noting good help is hard to find).

Robertson opens the door to let them inside on madam's orders. She gives her name as Violet and tells her manservant to take them back to the study.

Once they get to the room in the back, they spot a body on the floor. Le Doux can see the body is of a well-dressed elderly man, clearly Mr. Devereaux. There is a pool of blood around his head.

Robertson is taken aback by the sight. Le Doux tries to give Robertson orders, but he heads off to call the police.

Le Doux tells Nibbons to check for an assailant still on the property while he examines the body. The body appears to have been killed by a heavy blow to the head. Lying on the ground near the body is a bloody small, black statue of a falcon – likely the murder weapon.

Looking around, Le Doux notices a few other things. The body is missing his right shoe and one of the man's hands is clenched in a fist. Under the desk, Le Doux spots a couple of unused bullets. Le Doux does not spot a gun anywhere.

The area around the body has no footprints but has signs of a struggle. He also notices that in the man's clenched fist are a few strands of blond hair. Le Doux checks through the man's pockets but finds nothing except his wallet and pocket watch.

The body is lying in front of the desk, so Le Doux checks it next. On top of the desk is a small pile of mail with recent postmarks, mostly unopened with a single letter opened and lying on top. Next to the pile is a sharp-looking letter opener.

Le Doux looks at the letter; it is typewritten and unsigned. It reads, "M. Devereaux, Twenty years and 5000 miles cannot keep you from justice. I will have my revenge. Theophile Gautier" The envelope the letter was in has no return address, though it is postmarked in the city from the previous day.

Meanwhile, Nibbons comes back from his search. While he didn't find an intruder, he did find a handkerchief just outside the study with some blood wiped on it; it has the monogrammed initials, "T.G." Out near the main entrance, he also found a wallet lying on the ground that apparently fell out of someone's pocket; it appears to be a cheap leather wallet in near-new condition.

Le Doux examines the wallet to see if there is any identification inside. He finds none, but does find fifteen dollars in mixed bills (which he pockets) and three newspaper clippings from the personal messages section.

They read: "THANKS to Jesus, Mary, and St. Remigius – A.F.", "H.S. – You must find the jade monkey before the next full moon – M.B.", and "M.M. – Remember, everything useful is ugly."

Boo takes notes of everything then has the evidence returned to where it was found while he tells Nibbons about the clues he found. He doesn't want the police to think they are interfering with the investigation.

*** Session 01 - Scene 3 (of 14) ***

Just as Le Doux and Nibbons finish putting everything back in its rightful place, a uniformed officer shows up at the house to secure the crime scene. Le Doux is relieved to find it is Officer Eberhardt.

Eberhardt says he isn't surprised to find Le Doux there. Boo shares the information they found at the scene with him, including how they were called there by Devereaux. Bruno tells Le Doux not to mention the call to the detectives when they arrive.

Le Doux isn't so sure, saying he won't be able to explain his presence otherwise. Bruno is advising them to leave before the detectives get there just as they arrive. Eberhardt sees detectives Miles Dorman and Lester Jackson have been assigned to the case; the two are known as the dumbest, laziest members of the detective squad.

Eberhardt tells Le Doux not to worry, saying the men are idiots. He is proven right immediately, as after only a cursory examination of the crime scene, Dorman and Jackson determine Devereaux was killed by a burglar he surprised. Operating under the assumption it was an immigrant transient, they head out to go "make inquiries", which Eberhardt knows means they will pin the murder on the first poor bastard they come across. He tells the detectives aloud it is a good idea and he will stay to bag the evidence.

Around this time the Devereaux family lawyer, Luke Marshall, arrives. The grieving Violet Devereaux does not believe the detectives will find her husband's real killer and Marshall explains to Le Doux she would like to hire him to investigate. He quotes a fifty dollar upfront fee with ten dollars a day plus expenses, which Marshall agrees to. Le Doux elbows Nibbons and smiles; they have a chance to make real money this time.

Le Doux says they have some questions to start with, and Mrs. Devereaux offers to assist in any way she can. Le Doux wants to search the house while Nibbons asks her questions.

Nibbons starts to establish a timeline, finding out Mrs. Devereaux went shopping around 9:00 that morning and that Benjamin was home and just starting to look at the mail when she left. He asks her about any recent threats or changes in behavior, but she is aware of none. She also doesn't recognize the name, "Theophile Gautier".

After confirming there is no recent altercations the man had with anyone, Nibbons focuses on the finances. Marshall explains he is not an accountant but does handle the family trust. He agrees to let Nibbons inspect the books to look for any irregular transactions.

Pouring through the ledgers, a couple of strange transactions stand out. The first is a series of purchases apparently made to the Blue Acadian Bookstore; Nibbons assumes this is related to the purchase of pornography. He also notices a few transactions over the years to a "Dr. Broncati", who does not appear to be the family physician. He does not find any references to Theophile Gautier.

Meanwhile, Eberhardt has collected the known evidence and doesn't discover anything else around the scene that Le Doux and Nibbons missed. He notes the bullets appear to be from a .45 pistol, but doesn't see a gun anywhere. He also does not locate the missing shoe from the body.

When Le Doux gets back with the others, he asks Mrs. Devereaux if her husband had any guns. She mentions he kept a shotgun for duck hunting, but he never kept a handgun. They do find the shotgun is back in the trophy room, still locked up in its gun case.

Before they leave, Nibbons asks about hobbies Mr. Devereaux had, which Violet says only included being out at the country club. He and Le Doux then leave, followed by Eberhardt who takes the collected evidence with him.

*** Session 01 - Scene 4 (of 14) ***

Officer Eberhardt takes the bullets and statue to see if they can get fingerprints off them. He also wants the crime lab to compare the blood types of the blood on the statue and the handkerchief to confirm they match, along with checking out the hairs.

The lab technician says the other checks will take a day, but he puts the hairs under the microscope immediately to check them. He notes they appear to be cut hair, not pulled out. Eberhardt realizes the hairs were planted at the scene.

Meanwhile, Le Doux and Nibbons get back to the office. As they pull up, Le Doux sees one of his informants, Benjamin "Hawk" Brooks, a Black street tough, waiting outside. Le Doux figures the man is looking for an opportunity to make more money.

The two greet each other. When Hawk asks about business, Le Doux says he might have a murder investigation he could use some help with. He asks Hawk if he ever heard of Theophile Gautier, but the man doesn't recognize the name. Hawk has heard of Devereaux, an old, rich, plantation-owning white family; Hawk isn't exactly sad the man is dead.

Le Doux quickly breaks down what they found so far to Hawk. Hawk wonders if a coin or key was in the shoe; he tries asking Le Doux more about the shoes but the detective didn't pay a lot of attention to them and the two bicker a bit.

Once they are done arguing about the shoe, Le Doux shows him the newspaper clippings. Hawk doesn't find any significance in them.

Hawk is then interested in the servants. Le Doux again fails to see the point, but Hawk points out servants are good for getting information. He's particularly interested about the maid that suddenly quit.

Once he gets all of the details, Hawk heads out to hit the streets and see what he can find. He doesn't get much information about Devereaux outside of public knowledge and can't find anyone who knows Theophile Gautier or knows where the maid ended up.

Hawk decides his next destination is to try and talk to the butler at the Devereaux house. He waits until Robertson is outside cleaning the car to approach him. A tall, well-dressed Englishman, Robertson Thorpe is not thrilled to see Hawk on the grounds of the house and wants to know what he wants.

Hawk explains he works for Le Doux, though Thorpe remains condescending to him – noting how charitable Mr. Le Doux is in hiring them. Hawk asks about the maid, who Thorpe identifies as "Madeline".

Robertson relates he is not familiar with why she left, though notes she had been sick a lot lately so perhaps she left for health reasons. After some prompting, Thorpe tells him Madeline was friendly with the maid next door, Jill Dupay.

Thorpe, however, won't say anything about his employer's activities. Even in death, Robertson believes his employer's confidentiality must not be breached. The two part on chilly terms.

The Haitian maid at the house next door is putting out laundry to dry when Hawk approaches her. He tells her he's looking into the murder next door, which she says she knows nothing about. She warms up a little when he mentions looking for the former maid at the house, whom Jill refers to as "Maddy".

Jill tells Hawk the two became friends and chatted while they worked out in the yard. Jill clearly knows something about why Maddy left, but says she shouldn't say anything to Hawk. He tries pressing her, but she gets nervous about being seen talking to him too long. He gets her to agree to meet up with him later in the day, when her employers send her to the market to pick up eggs. Hawk flirts with her a minute more and then leaves.

*** Session 01 - Scene 5 (of 14) ***

A couple of hours later, everyone meets back at Le Doux's office.

Eberhardt explains what he learned at the crime lab while Nibbons tells the others what he found running down information on Dr. Broncati. He identifies him as Dr. Amenti Broncati, an Italian immigrant with a poor practice in the slums of Marigny.

Hawk then gives his information to Le Doux about what he found out from asking around. Le Doux isn't impressed, feeling Hawk is more focused on hooking up with the Haitian maid than helping with the case.

Le Doux then tells Hawk he'll pay him upfront for the next three days of work. He takes out a single dollar and gives it to him, telling him it ought to buy him some cheap wine. Hawk is not amused at being treated like a bad stereotype but says little.

Still trying to find information on Theophile Gautier, Le Doux asks Eberhardt if he can check the police records to see if they have anything on the name. For Nibbons, Le Doux tells him to check out the Blue Acadian and see what Devereaux was doing there. Le Doux himself is interested in seeing if either the letter or newspaper clippings can lead back to Gautier.

*** Session 01 - Scene 6 (of 14) ***

At the precinct, Eberhardt is having trouble finding what he is looking for. He gets frustrated and starts complaining about how disorganized the files are.

Ms. Kringle, one of the records secretaries, comes over and asks him if he needs any help. He tells her he is looking for Theophile Gautier. Kringle smirks and laughs a little at the name, saying he is one of her favorites but they won't find anything on him in the records.

Eberhardt wants to know why she finds the request funny. She is surprised when she realizes he doesn't know the name. Kringle explains Theophile Gautier was a French playwright and poet from Tarbes, but he died back in 1872.

Unfazed by the revelation, Eberhardt asks her what her favorite play of his was. She gives it as Une Larme du diable. Unable to control his lecherous tendencies towards attractive younger women, he asks her if she wants him to read her some poetry later but she begs off, saying she has to get back to work.

Kringle does want to know why he is investigating a poet. He tells her it is part of an investigation as the name was used in a threatening letter. When she bluntly tells him she doesn't think Gautier would write a letter like that he finally shows some frustration, telling her he knows (now) the letter was a fake.

Eberhardt thinks her for her help, though figures she'll be making fun of him with the rest of the girls later.

*** Session 01 - Scene 7 (of 14) ***

Le Doux starts at the post office. They don't recognize the letter and say it must have been dropped in the deposit slot. They didn't notice anything about mail to Mr. Devereaux and don't recognize the name Theophile Gautier.

Next Le Doux heads to the Times-Picayune newspaper office to speak with one of the editors, Amos Monteverde. He asks about the personal messages and the editor explains they don't track those; anyone can send in a message with a payment and they will print it.

Amos goes on to say the personal ads are one of their more popular features, with the most popular ones being the giving of thanks to a saint. Le Doux gives St. Remigius as a potential, whom Monteverde identifies as being a popular choice.

Le Doux asks for information on St. Remigius. Amos is surprised Le Doux isn't familiar with him. He explains St. Remigius, also known as St. Remy, was the bishop of Reims and apostle of the Franks. In 496, Remy baptized Clovis I, King of the Franks leading the entire Frankish people to Nicene Christianity, a seminal moment of history for the Catholic Church.

Not sure how that is relevant, Le Doux shows the editor the other clippings. Amos identifies the second clipping as a quote from a popular vaudeville comedy act between characters "Monty" and "Homer". The third clipping he recognizes as a quote from the novel Mademoiselle de Maupin by Theophile Gautier; the M.M. in the clipping clearly refers to the character of the same name from the book.

Le Doux asks the man if he knows the name Theophile Gautier. He does, calling him the French playwright. When Le Doux shows surprise the man "also writes plays", Monteverde asks if he is putting on one of the plays and wants to buy an advertisement for it. Getting frustrated, Le Doux says he wants to know if the man they explain he's been dead 50 years. Thoroughly flummoxed, Le Doux takes his leave.

*** Session 01 - Scene 8 (of 14) ***

Nibbons finds Arthur Gage manning his usual spot behind the desk at the Blue Acadian. After exchanging greetings, Nibbons tells Gage he's looking for information.

Gage wants to know what Nibbons is looking for. Nibbons explains he's looking for some information on a particular customer's purchases. When Gage starts to give the company line about discretion, Chester takes out a five dollar bill and puts it on the counter.

Taking the money, Gage says he might remember some vague details. Nibbons says he'll take vague over nothing. The shopkeeper is careful to mention certain clientele, the kind who like Italian food, he can't talk about at all. Nibbons assures him he's looking for information about a citizen.

When Nibbons gives the name Devereaux, Gage is more relaxed. He says the man had a particular interest not entirely uncommon in the area. He tells Nibbons that Devereaux was quite a fan of Josephine Baker. When Nibbons asks how big of a fan, Gage says he "strongly preferred that style of music."

Chester then asks if there were other places Devereaux might have gone for that type of music. Gage, not one hundred percent sure the man is following the metaphor, says his is the only "music shop" he knows of that Devereaux liked to visit though notes he likely "practiced his instrument at home." When Nibbons asks if anyone else ever came in with him, Gage simply says the man "never had a band."

Nibbons asks how often Devereaux came in by Gage's memory gets fuzzy again until a few more dollars leave the investigator's wallet. He then says he felt Devereaux came in whenever he was between maids, but won't say any more. He then tells him to leave before he drives off the other customers.

*** Session 01 - Scene 9 (of 14) ***

Outside of Langenstein's Grocery, Hawk talks with Jill Dupay. He stresses he believes Madeline is in danger and needs to know more information about her. Jill is still reluctant, saying she was told in strict confidence.

After some prying, Jill tells Hawk that Madeline was "in trouble". The last time she saw Maddy, apparently the old man had given her some money and a name to go take care of it.

Hawk also wants to know about visitors to the house on the day Devereaux was killed. She describes a short, balding middle-aged man with glasses wearing a white coat pulling up around 9:30-10:00. She says he didn't stay too long.

Taking notes, Hawk then asks her if Devereaux ever had a gun or kept anything in his shoes, but she doesn't know anything about that.

Brooks wants to know about the servant girls. Dupay explains she only really knew Maddy – there was a different girl when she first started working at her job but she left early and another girl that was there only a short time.

Jill doesn't know what happened to Maddy, saying she never showed back up after the day she left to go to the doctor. Hawk gives her his contact information and tells her to let him know if she finds anything else.

*** Session 01 - Scene 10 (of 14) ***

Later that afternoon, everyone gets back together. Eberhardt and Le Doux quickly bring up Theophile Gautier as being a false lead, as the man is just a dead 19th century playwright.

Nibbons offers up that Devereaux had a thing for Black girls. Eberhardt, not fully catching it, thinks he is talking about Gautier. Le Doux, however, wonders if Devereaux knocked up the maid and sent her away.

Le Doux lists the letter and newspaper clippings as dead end. He does mention the quote about "everything is useful is ugly" by Gautier. Eberhardt notes his mother used to say the same thing to him.

Hawk mentions he found some information, but says Le Doux only paid him to look for information not for the information itself. Le Doux is a bit incredulous at the suggestion. He flips a quarter over to the man. Insulted, Hawk flips it back.

Le Doux tells him if he comes across with good information, he might pay him more if he thinks it's worth it. Hawk tells Le Doux he is too cheap so he'll look into things himself.

Hawk won't let the matter drop. He asks Nibbons how much he paid for his information at Blue Acadian. When Nibbons gives the real amount, Hawk continues to harangue Le Doux about them throwing money around at everyone else but him.

The conversation escalates. At one point, Le Doux tries to set Hawk straight about the ways of the world, reminding him he's Black and earning a lot relative to the others in his community. Eberhardt starts to wonder if he needs to step in, but Le Doux tells him Hawk is OK, just greedy.

Hawk then leaves, intending to find where the doctor's office is located so he can deal with the problem himself. After all, he figures, the Italian doctor is victimizing black women in the neighborhood with his illegal abortions.

Le Doux, Eberhardt, and Nibbons think of what to do next. Le Doux decides he and Eberhardt should check in to the doctor. He wants Nibbons to head over to the library and look up information on Theophile Gautier to see if anything about his death or work ties back to anything.

Before that, Le Doux and Eberhardt head back over to the Devereaux home. Thinking back on the letter, Le Doux knows Paris is approximately 5,000 miles from Crescent City.

Boo asks Mrs. Devereaux if they are recent immigrants, but she explains their families have been in the area for over a hundred years, since the days of New France. When he asks if they've been to Paris, she explains they've been there many times, including various business trips. Unfortunately, the various meetings were with different people so no one in particular stands out.

Meanwhile, at the library, Nibbons discovers Gautier died of heart disease in Neuilly-sur-Seine. As he continues to dig into the French poet fruitlessly, he has an epiphany that this is a waste of time. He realizes they missed the most important clue of all at the crime scene – that all the clues were fake.

Nibbons deduces they are in fact looking for the opposite of the direction the clues are attempting to steer them in – they are looking for someone who is not named Theophile Gautier, who's initials are not "T.G.", who is not a Frenchman, who is not blond, who didn't own a handgun, who wasn't interested in a shoe, who wasn't looking for revenge, and who doesn't collect newspaper clippings. He heads back to Le Doux's office to inform the others.

*** Session 01 - Scene 11 (of 14) ***

Since they have the address, and a car, Le Doux and Eberhardt reach Dr. Broncati's office in Marigny first. They decide to head inside and see what they can get out of him.

Stepping inside, they find themselves in a small waiting room with a few poor clientele. A rather rough-looking nurse with a nametag reading "Edith" asks them what they want.

Still in uniform, Eberhardt says they are there to see the doctor. She goes out into a hall. After a moment, a middle-aged Italian man emerges and asks if he can help them. He has a thick accent, clearly a recent immigrant.

Eberhardt tells him they need to speak in private. He takes them back into the hallway to talk. Eberhardt tries to act tough, pressing him on information about Devereaux. Broncati is more offended than impressed, telling the cop off.

Le Doux tries to play "good cop", attempting to coax some information out of Broncati about why Devereaux was paying him. Broncati remains firm he only gets money from being a good doctor.

With that not working, Le Doux tries to bribe him with a fiver. Broncati is again insulted. He gets calmer when Le Doux gives him another five. The most the doctor says is he was being paid to help keep Devereaux's staff in good health.

Eberhardt tries a different tactic, asking if Broncati has a valid medical license. He calls the cop's bluff, saying everything is in order and showing his degree from the University of Venice.

Broncati starts losing his cool when Eberhardt takes out the cuffs. He tells them to get out of his office.

Le Doux is frustrated; they don't have enough on him to arrest him and can't seem to break him with their interrogation. He briefly contemplates just taking his gun out and shooting the doctor but realizes he would just get arrested and sent to death row.

They leave the hall and Eberhardt tries one more long shot. He thanks the nurse for all the doctor's help and says the doctor told him they could have all the information on Mr. Devereaux. She says she'll have it sent over to the station, but clearly doesn't believe him. Eberhardt takes note of the patients there as they leave.