Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Leah Hart (Nurse Practitioner/Counseling) in Investigation - Sunrises on Risa

Posted by Captain Rende Asam (Commanding Officer) in Investigation - Sunrises on Risa

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Leah Hart (Nurse Practitioner/Counseling) in Investigation - Sunrises on Risa
Posted by… suppressed (8) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

“We need to speak with anyone who was working last night. And I was hoping we could see fi she or her friends showed up on any security footage you have.”

Damas nodded. “Well, for starters, Sudin here”-he gestured to the man stocking the bar-” is our floor manager and was working last night. At the bar we had.... hey, Sudin? Who was working the bar with you last night?”

“Tairana. She’s on again today, so should be in later.”

Maliia smiled at the manager. “If Lieutenant Morgan shows you a picture of someone, can you tell us if you remember seeing them here last night?”

“I can try. It was really busy,” Sudin said, setting the case of bottles to the side and joining them.

~Constable Maliia and Co.

Morgan had pictures of Hart, Montri, Hunter, McMahon, and Kelreden. She had made sure that none of them were crew photos but candids. “Did you see any of these people in here last night?”

Morgan, sec

Sudin studied the images closely, going back over them more than once. He pointed to Hart and Hunter. “I remember these two ladies , but I don’t recognize the others. If they ordered drinks at all, Tairana probably served them. This one”-he pointed to Hunter-“ordered a round of drinks and I remember because she asked for something fruity and fun for a friend. I suggested a drink called imanahipi and she laughed and said it didn’t sound like much of a drink,” he said with a grin. “She laughed when I told her it was Risian for a moonlight stroll.”

He tapped on the image at Hart. “I don’t really remember her well, but I do know she was dancing with my friend, one of our regulars.”

Maliia exchanged a glance with Morgan before shifting her gaze back to the manager. “Is your friend’s name Alaria, by any chance.”

Sudin widened his gaze. “Yeah, actually. How did you know that?”

“She apparently spent a bit of time where with this woman,” she said, tapping the image of Hart. “We were hoping to also try and track her down, see what she could tell us about this friend,” she said, pointing to Kelreden.

“Is she in trouble?” Sudin said with a frown.

Tai shook her head. “Not at all. But she might have vital info about what happened to the woman she was dancing with last night. It’s really important that we talk to her. Can you help us?”

The manager nodded. “Yeah, she works nearby and I know she’s working today. I can see if she can take a break and meet us here?”

Maliia thought it was risky, in case Alaria got paranoid and bolted, but so far there had been no signs that the woman was involved in what happened later, and time was of the essence. She nodded. “Yes, that would be great. See if she can come now. Tell her we need her help to find out what happened to Leah.” Sudin nodded and stepped to the side to contact Alaria.

Damas was watching the whole thing closely. “What sort of thing are you worried happened here?”

Tai half shrugged. “We’re not entirely sure. We have a bunch of pieces in a story with a timeline. All we do know for sure is that she was here with this man”-she tapped on Daro-“until sometime before 1:30 in the morning. Would there be anyone who would have seen her leaving?”

The owner nodded. “Yeah, one of the bouncers. Hold on, I’ll grab the shift list and see who was on when.” He walked to the far side of the bar and around the corner to where presumably there was a staff area.

The Risian Constable sighed slightly and turned to Tracy, keeping her voice low. “Thoughts so far?”

~Constable Maliia and Co.

“I think,” Morgan said, “that the path to the answers, starts here at the club. Someone here had to have seen something, heard something, or knows something.”

Morgan, sec

Tai nodded. “I agree. And aside from Kelreden, Alaria seems to be the one who spent the most time with Leah here and, according to Kelreden, the three of them talked together for a bit. I’m hoping she can fill in some of the gaps of information.”

Sudin stepped back over. “Alaria is on her way over. She works in an office building a few blocks away.”

“Thank you,” Maliia said.

Samas also returned with a PADD that had the schedule. “So, it seems that Dousin was on duty at the door from Midnight on. Kas was on before that, so might remember them arriving, but Dousin would have bene there when any of them left. I can call him in if you think that is necessary?”

Maliia nodded. “Yes, actually. I’d also like to ask about security camera. Do you have any inside, or just outside?”

Damas pointed to the door, and then around the bar. At the back wall of the bar were three cameras that covered the bar areas itself. “We ony have cameras at the door and around the bar, as well as at the back entrance near the hall to the washrooms, so we don’t have blind spots where people can hide out. We have to balance security with privacy. We tend to get mostly tourists from the hotels, but we do have a small regular contingent that frequents. They’re rarely the issue, but the tourists can get pretty rowdy at times. Hazards of being a small resort town.”

~Constable Maliia and Co.

“Would it be possible to view the footage from all of those cameras for the times this woman was here until she left?” Morgan asked, tapping the picture of Hart. “I’d like to talk to the bouncer who was on when they arrived as well.” Morgan thought he might have seen Kelreden arrive.

Morgan, sec

The owner nodded and looked to Sudin. “Can you call Kas and Dousin in. Let them know the constabulary needs to talk to them about last night’s shift..”

Sudin nodded and took a few steps towards the back of the bar to make the calls.

Damas was about to comment when the front door creaked open and a Risian woman walked in. She was tall and slim, with dark skin and coiled hair that was piled atop her hair. She was dressed in a sleek asymmetrical skirt in a soft silvery material and a high necked sleeveless sweater in black. Her heels were stylish but not too high and she moved with ease into the club. She spotted the people at the bar and made her way over, noting that her friend was busy talking to someone, likely on a call.

She tried to not wear her worry on her face, but seeing the Starfleet officer and the constable made her heart race and her expression fall. All she knew was that something happened to Leah. “Hello, I’m Alaria. Is Leah okay? Sudin said something happened to her?”

Maliaa gave Alaria a reassuring look. “Thank you for coming down so quickly, Alaria. I’m Constable Tai Maliia, and this is Lieutenant Tracy Morgan, a security officer from the USS Sentinel. Before we give any information, can you tell me if you know this woman and how exactly?” she asked, pointing to Hart’s image.

“That’s Leah. I don’t know her last name but I know she’s a Starfleet officer. I met her here last night. She was on leave with her friends and we got to chatting at the bar while we were getting drinks. Then we danced for quite awhile and enjoying our time together, until…” Alaria’s eyes went wide. “Sudin said something happened to her. It was that Daro guy, right? Tell me she’s okay, please!” she said, trying to not feel frantic.

~Constable Maliia and Co.

“Alaria,” Morgan said calmly. “Please take a breath. Leah is on board the Sentinel. Can you continue? You were enjoying your time until what?”

Morgan, sec

They hadn’t said Leah was okay, but Alaria took a deep breath and nodded. “We were dancing for awhile, and really enjoying each other’s company. I mean, it’s not something I do often, but we were vibing pretty hard and we both hinted we were open to taking things off the dance floor.” Alaria couldn’t help the tiny smile on her face. We decided to take a break from the dance floor for a bit and I went to grab some drinks, while Leah snagged one of the standing tables. I looked over at her after I placed the order at the bar and a guy was talking with her.” Alaria frowned and shook her head a little. “She seemed… wary? As soon as our drinks were ready, I went over and she introduced him as Daro, an old friend. But Leah gave me a look and I knew that by old friend, she meant an ex. On the surface she was friendly, but her whole energy had changed. She didn’t seem to trust him, but she didn’t tell him to go away, so I stayed with them and we chatted for while. At one point, Leah leaned in to me to say that she might head out soon, and apologized for the change in our evening. I told her it wasn’t her fault and not to worry about it. A few minutes later, Leah was acting a bit… different? She seemed to have relaxed way more, and I don’t know how to describe it other than she was acting a bit odd, a bit more smily and flirty again. But nothing seemed wrong. Daro was a seemingly friendly guy, but exes can be weird you know? I didn’t like having to leave her, but I had to go home soon because I had work and it was already late. So I asked her if she wanted to leave with me, and Daro asked her for a few more minute to talk. She seemed reluctant, but she agreed and then gave me a this reassuring nod. So I went to leave, but first I went to the bar and was going to ask my friend”-she pointed to Sudin-” to keep an eye on them, to look out for Leah, but by the time I made it through the crowd to the bar, when I looked back, Leah and Daro were gone. There were so many people, and when I made it outside, I didn’t see them. She seemed certain she could handle it and so I just had to trust it would be okay.”

“Did you and Leah exchange info so you could contact each other?” Maliia asked.

Alaria shook her head. “No, I would have if we had left together. She said she was on leave for a few days, so there was a good chance she might want to meet up later. But we never had the chance.”

Tai looked to Tracy to see if she had any questions for the woman. All in all, the picture was coming together but they were still missing pieces.

~Constable Maliia and Co.

“Can you describe his behavior? You said Leah was uncomfortable and guarded, but what was he like? Was he overly handsy, did he handle your drinks, did he go order drinks or food? Did they disagree about anything?” Morgan asked.

Morgan, sec

Alaria rubbed her hands together as she thought carefully through events, trying to pull out the things she knew for certain. “I didn’t see them interact when he first showed up, so I don’t know how that went down, but when I got there, he was friendly and smiling. He seemed nice, charming actually. But she went from being carefree and relaxed to being almost withdrawn, tense. It was like she didn’t want to be too open with him?” Alaria shrugged.

“He did reach out and touch her a couple times but Leah pulled her arm or hand away and he stopped doing that.” She exhaled a breath and scrunched up her face, walking through her memories of that night. He never got us food or drinks, and I don’t think he touched our drinks. We were right there after all, but…”

“But?” Tai nudged gently.

Alaria shook her head, confusion sweeping over her face. “When Leah leaned in to talk to me privately, our attention wasn’t on the table for a few moments. I didn’t see him do anything, but I also can’t say for certain he didn’t. And Leah was next to him, so her glass was close by.”

“Did Mr. Kelreden say anything about how long he was staying or why he was there?”

“Just that he was on vacation and he made it seem like a coincidence they he had run into Leah. That I will say, made Leah react. I could tell she wasn’t buying it,” Alaria said.

Maliia nodded slowly adn then looked at Morgan. “Anything else you want to ask?”

~Constable Maliia and Co.

“No, but I would like to see the security footage.” She turned to Alaria, “Is it alright if we contact you if we have further questions?”

Morgan, sec

Alaria nodded. “Of course, I’ll make sure you have my contact info. And…” She sucked in a breath and sighed. “I don’t want to bother her when she clearly has bigger things to deal with, but can you let Leah know I’m thinking of her? I’d like to visit if I can at some point, but I understand if she doesn’t want to or it wouldn’t be allowed.”

Tai let Morgan answer that as it would be entirely a Starfleet matter, but she gave Alaria an encouarging look. “We appreicate you coming down so quickly and helping us fill in the gaps a little. It does help. We’ll call if we have more questions.”

Alaria gave a half-nod before she headed out.

Maliia turned to the owner. “Alright, this video footage. We need to see it now if we can.”

Damas gestured with his head. “We can pull it up from my office. This way.”

He led them around the bar and down the corridor that Sudin has gone down before Alaria arrived. Hanging a left at a T-junction (the right went to the washrooms), he moved to a door and entered in a code. The lock beeped and he opened it, holding the weighted auto-close door for them.

Inside the modest and pleasantly lit office, Damas had a large desk, a couple small shelves with trinkets and small boxes, and a replicator. There was a small counter beside the replicator with a sink. A door was in the back corner.

At the desk were a set of two comfortable looking armless chairs. “Alright, pull up a seat and we’ll see what we can find.” Leaning over the desk he typed in something and then he pulled his chair to the side of the desk, swivelling the computer monitor so they could see it. The security program was on display. “Okay, pulling footage from last night. We can start with all cameras”-he tapped a couple keys and the screen split into six boxes. “Okay, so top row is front entrance, back emergency exit, adn the washroom hallway. Bottom row are the three cameras covering the bar. How early do you want to start?”

Tai turned to Tracey. “Makes sense to start with when your crew arrived and see how it goes from there.” She flicked her gaze back to Damas. “If we see them on screen, can we have the program search for them in the rest of the footage.” He nodded. She looked back at Morgan. “Unless you just want to view it straight through?” It was hard to know exactly when Kelreden showed up since they only had a rough idea when he ‘ran into’ Leah. She didn’t want to miss something crucial, but slogging through hours of footage was something she could get someone back at the constabulary to do.

~Constable Maliia and Co.

“Let’s feed Daro’s photo in and search for him. We know that whatever happened, happened after he arrived. Let’s start there. See when he arrived.”

Morgan, sec

Maliia nodded in agreement and gestured to Damas.

He captured the image they had of Daro and uploaded it for comparison. Then set the program to scan for his likeness. It took a couple of minutes before it flagged some hits.

“Okay, the first we see is this,” Damas said, enlarging the image. It was fairly clear and showed Daro at the front door with the bouncer, having made it to the front of the line. This was at 2300 hours.

“So he enters well before Lieutenant Hart’s friends leave,” Tai said. It didn’t mean anything per say. It was a fairly large space, and if it was as busy as the staff said it was then in the dark it could take awhile to run into someone, even intentionally.

The second hit came up at the bar at 2310. He was on the far side away from the dance floor, closer to the hallway they had just gone down. He got a drink and moved off away from the dance floor and out of sight.

The third and final hit came up at 0052 hours. “This is the last one, but it’s only got a 60% match, because of the lighting.” It was from one of the bar cameras that angled out towards the dance floor and covered the end of the L of the bar. It also caught a few of the tables people could stand at that were between the bar and the dance floor. It was not the clearest but they could still make out what likely was Leah standing with Alaria on her left, but they could only view the women mostly from the back, unless either of them turned their faces towards each other. Someone who looked to be Daro was on her right, with a little bit more space than there was between her and Alaria. Then again, the tables were not all that big in diameter, keeping people in fairly close proximity. It looked like the three were chatting, a drink each on the table in front of them.

“The clip is longer than the others,” Damas said.

“Play it all,” Tai said.

It kept going. For the next eight minutes, they talk and sip on their drinks. At one point, Daro reached out and possibly touched Leah’s arm. She leaned away a bit towards Alaria. They kept talking, but then Leah turned away from Daro and leaned in to say something in Alaria’s ear. It was fairly brief, but Alaria’s lowered her head and leaned in so she could hear what Leah was saying. Daro moved a bit and his arm moved over the table, but they couldn’t see exactly what, if anything, he did. The clip kept going for another couple of minutes, but then more people moved in to view, blocking the camera’s view of Daro and the women. The clip ended.

“Does that help at all?” Damas asked.

Maliia gave a surreptitious glance at Morgan. It was clear the constable was not thrilled. “If you could send the Constabulary all of this footage, that would be great. Then I’ll make sure Lieutenant Morgan here gets a copy for her side of the investigation.” Damas nodded.

The Constable’s comm chirped. She pulled it out and glanced down. “I have to take this. I’ll be right back. Lieutenant, if there’s anything you want to see, let him know. We’ll compare notes after I’m back.”

Maliia stepped out of the office.

~Constable Maliia and Co.

“Do you have any outside cameras or know if any other nearby establishments have them? Did your man at the door see how they left?” Morgan asked.

Morgan, sec