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Post by sersi on Mar 25, 2013 11:52:20 GMT -8
From: D. Silverman
To: Carl Weaver, Teresa Auerbach, Malcom Sigurrdson
Cc: Seanne Ryataad
Subject: Inside Job
It's such an unpleasant sounding term, isn't it? Unless of course one is a surgeon, and even then it brings up thoughts that just cry out "long day". It has been a very long day.
I do believe Ms. Mila Cameron may have a bit of relevant information, although she seems a bit cagey when it comes to divulgence. You may wan to send an investigator who is good with jumping through hoops.
Mal - this is starting to have a "strange feel" to the whole thing. Set up the meeting and just stall for time right now.
- Dani
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Post by effinfitz on Mar 25, 2013 12:48:45 GMT -8
Derek's job sucked. "Pull the info on everyone close to Solveig during the Solvall's construction," she said. She hadn't seemed to realize that would involve going to HR. Going to HR meant...Jenna.
He tried to psych himself up. It was Sunday, he reminded himself. She was probably be at home. At most there'd be an assistant, and...wait. Did she even have assistants? ...hopefully not. He'd just pop the door open to HR with his master key, slip into the Restricted Archives, and be in and out. Like some motherfuckin' greased lightning on Dexedrine shit. He wasn't sticking around. The last guy who went to HR...
...well. They said he's in a happier place, now.
Here was the door. Main hall, level 3. Derek fumbled with his keys, found the master key, tried to guide it to the lock with sweaty, shaking hands. Be cool, Derek. Be cool. There was no way she'd be in on a Sunday afternoon. He missed the lock again, even dropped his keys on the floor. And, of course, as soon as he bent over to pick them up the door swung open, slowly. Creaking.
Jenna towered over him, all five-foot-next-to-nothing of her. He yelped, backed away. She didn't move.
The stand off held for nearly a minute as Derek recovered, pulled up his sagging pants. Found his voice again. "I, ah, I...but, but, but I --"
She still didn't move. He was pretty sure she was half mannequin. Her dress fluttered, as if by a breeze. There was no breeze, though, so...
She turned, walked further in. Left the door open behind her. Derek hurried to catch up...
Jenna must have been in a good mood. She complied with the request without any argument. Or, for that matter any speaking at all. It took Derek nearly fifteen minutes to stutter out what he needed, but one might forgive him for being distracted by low growls and blurred movements of the Restricted Archives' guard rakshasas prowling a loose circle around him. Jenna, meanwhile, had returned to her office and shut the door. There, she opened up her personnel records and highlighted the files that Syl wanted. A simple search, really -- search for all employees in 2009, ctrl-a, ctrl-click "Cameron, Ludmilla," and hit print. Then, when the print options came up, she even went so far as to sent the files to a spot more readily accessible to the Security team. One hoped Jean kept his private office printer well supplied. The records were rarely more than one page apiece....but there were a little over four thousand of them.
Four. Thousand. Files. It takes even longer to read them than it does to print, and one must feel a slight twinge of pity for the poor security guard who has to stand and read each one as it rolls out the printer while Jean sits, fingers steepled, and makes no mention of the vein protruding from his forehead. At least this guard gets to escape once, on a mad rush for new toner. Late, late, late in the night he finally finishes skimming everything. He wasn't entirely sure what he was looking for, but to his credit did he did notice one thing of interest: none of these names worked here anymore. In fact, as far as these files would indicate, only four employees ever worked for both Rystaads. Dieter Herman, Mary Gutierrez, Jenna Mercado, and Mila Cameron. Every other employee was fired, reassigned, asked to retire, or otherwise shuffled elsewhere during the restructuring of 2012. Employee Profile: Dieter Herman
Date of Birth: 1942-04-12
Place of Birth: Dessau, Germany
Academic History and Certifications -- University of Paris, 1964-1968: cultural anthropology.
- University of Paris, 1968-1970: postgraduate education, never finished.
Employment History -- Iceland Defense Force, 1960-1964: liaison's assistant/translator.
- University of Paris, 1968-1970: research assistant.
- Ægir Communications, 1977-2010: corporate secretary and personal assistant to CEO Solveig Rystaad.
- Ægir Communications, 2010-2012: interior consultant.
Current Status: Missing/Deceased, filed by Mila Cameron 2012-10-29. No incidents on file. Several commendations.
Known Family: None. Never married. No children.
Security Clearance Level: 1, full access privileges and Secret World clearance. Rescinded 2012-10-29. |
Employee Profile: Miriam "Mary" Gutierrez (née Laundy)
Date of Birth: 1974-12-18
Place of Birth: New York City, New York
Academic History and Certifications -- Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 1993-1995: English major, never finished.
Employment History -- Ægir Communications, 1996-2002: Shipping & Receiving.
- Ægir Communications, 2002-present: Manager,Shipping & Receiving.
Current Status: Employed, no incidents on file. Several commendations.
Known Family: Husband (Humberto Gutierrez), daughter (Marguerite Gutierrez). No contact with parents, two sisters.
Security Clearance: 3-Mo, no Secret World awareness, managerial access, limited operational awareness. |
Employee Profile: Jenna Mercado
Date of Birth: 1981-05-23
Place of Birth: Bellevue, Washington
Academic History and Certifications -- Bellevue College, 2000-2004: Psychology major, Business Ethics minor.
Employment History -- Stargazer's Books and Occult Supplies, 2000-2004: receptionist.
- Ægir Communications, 2004-present: Director of Human Resources.
Current Status: Employed, multiple incidents. All misfiled.
Known Family: Never married, no children. Father (Jaime Mercado).
Security Clearance: 1-Do, full Secret World awareness, directorial access, limited operational awareness. |
| Employee Profile: Ludmilla "Mila" Cameron |
[/color] Date of Birth: 1988-07-18 Place of Birth: Moscow, Russia Academic History -- Princeton University, 2007-2011: double major in Business Economics and Mathematics.
Employment History -- Ægir Communications, 2010-2011: intern, personal assistant to CEO Solveig Rystaad.
- Ægir Communications, 2011-2012: personal assistant and corporate secretary to CEO Solveig Rystaad.
- Ægir Communications, 2012-2013: personal assistant and corporate secretary to CEO Seanne Rystaad.
- Ægir Communications, 2012-2013: Director of Investigations
Current Status: Resigned, filed by Seanne Rystaad 2013-03-11. No incidents on file. Several commendations. Known Family: Never married, no children. One uncle (Greg Cameron). Security Clearance: 1-AXO, full Secret World, administrator, executive and operational authority. Rescinded 2013-03-11.[/td][/tr][/table]
...meanwhile, Derek still hasn't come back from HR.
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Post by tess on Mar 25, 2013 12:52:12 GMT -8
To: Public Relations, Investigations, Security
From: Tess
CC Seanne Rystaad
I'll talk to Mila. She owes me a coffee date anyway. IIn the mean time Carl can follow up with Screwtape. Can we get IT to deconstruct the security footage?
~Tess
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Post by terlari on Mar 25, 2013 14:22:17 GMT -8
From: Sylistra Erzaes
To: Carl Weaver, Teresa Auerbach, Malcom Sigurrdson
Cc: Seanne Ryataad, Gabriel Cartier
Subject: Files to review
Attached are 4 personnel files(See post 16 for files) that might be
worth investigating. Might also worth getting HR to look into others with high level access with in the company that have recently 'left' employment and also those that have shown discontent for treatment towards them by the company.
-Sylistra
P.S should HR lack the staff to go through the files, have them send them to security, we'll put a someone on the job.
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Post by tess on Mar 25, 2013 14:41:22 GMT -8
To: Sylistra Erzaes
From: Tess Auerbach
This is tremendously helpful. I'll start looking into these files immediately.
~Tess
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Post by Carl on Mar 25, 2013 17:56:27 GMT -8
Dieter Herman...
Why did it always seem to come back to Dieter Herman...
My search for all things Screwtape and SenTaxx had come to a halt when the "new e-mail" message popped up with the list of "suspects worth investigating." Right there at the top of the list was the name of a man I'd never met, but had caused me no shortage of anxiety and aggravation in the past months.
The Herman Case. The thorn in my side. Mila and I had begun investigating his disappearance months ago...and through everything that had happened in that time, Herman was still effectively "Vanished from the Face of the Earth." It was the one case that always caused me to lose sleep at night just thinking about it, the fact the case was still open ate at me from the inside.
I had briefly looked at the other profiles listed in the e-mail. Mary Gutierrez; she seemed reasonably content with her middle-management position at AEgir, and she didn't seem the type who could have pulled off such an elaborate heist. Jenna Mercado; the woman seemed to rather enjoy the little fiefdom she had set up in HR and scaring the younger employees, seemed a long shot at best. Mila Cameron; my former supervisor....not to mention my mentor, confidant, and someone I considered a friend. No...no way.
And back to Dieter Herman...a man who was probably either dead or corrupted.
...or was he?
My mind drifted back to a conversation I had with the Staff Psychologist, Dr. Irving....about Herman....
"Now, full disclosure time, and if the CEO asks you didn't hear it from me. But a lot of the, the, you know...the old employees? Worked for Ægir before the new Sponsors rolled in? They weren't a hundred percent happy with the new management. Heck, we used to have protests out on the front lawn about it. Someone might have known about it, maybe tried to pick him up. Recruit him. It's supposed to be frowned on these days, but that never means anything. That would fit with the sudden stop in communications..."
I had dismissed it at the time as the bored imagination of a quack doctor that didn't have enough to occupy him at his work.
But what if he's right.....Oh my.....An imbecile, I've been! I might have been looking at the case the wrong way round the whole time!
I grabbed the Herman Case Files from the corner of the desk where they had taken up residence. Started filing through them. I remembered the security video...the perpetrator was heading into a basement....
Was it the same basement Mila and I had investigated the occult circle on the floor and the mysterious Eddic writing on the side of the sump pump?
And what had that writing translated to in English? I pored through the records until I located it.
"A man, ere he goes in should look to and espy all doorways, for he can never know where foes may be sitting in another man's house."
My God....It could just be...
I opened up the e-mail program and started typing out a new message.
-----
From: Carl Weaver
To: Theresa Auerbach, Seanne Rystaad
Subject: Dieter Herman
The business of our mysterious burglar who knew exactly how to sneak in, steal the prototype, and the perfect means to escape? The person who may be a disgruntled employee looking to get back at us for some perceived past wrong?
I may have just found our prime suspect....
*The rest of the E-Mail summarizes Carl's new brainstorm on the Herman Case.*
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Post by onlycore on Mar 25, 2013 19:14:02 GMT -8
down at the vault where ESI's new toy was housed Anna take a seat next to the open vault and starts running the system diagnostic on the time lock and other security features to see just why the vault decided to obediently open ahead of schedule.
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Post by tess on Mar 25, 2013 19:18:57 GMT -8
To: Carl Weaver
From: Teresa Auerbach
RE: Deter Herman
Good catch Carl. I had drawn the same conclusion from my own look into the dossiers sent to us by Syl. Of the four employees who worked for both Solvig and Shay, he's the only one not accounted for. Mary is too much of a sweetheart and Jenna it too ghoulish and entrenched to try something like this. And Mila? Well, if Mila really wanted revenge on AEgir, none of us would be here right now.
This one if your baby, so I'm willing to take a step back and let you handle it. You've taken agency on this so far. And Hell, I know you could probably use the closure. If you'd like the help though I'm more than willing. You can start by forwarding me everything you have on the Herman case.
~Tess
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Post by effinfitz on Mar 26, 2013 14:41:53 GMT -8
BASEMENT SEARCH (Syl)
The basement hunt is a bust. A long, frustrating, annoying bust. Basement C is a warren of criss-crossing tunnels and empty spaces, all in exposed brick and concrete. All with minimal lighting. It's almost impossible -not- to get lost. The thought occurs that someone could probably hide down here with ease without any fear of getting caught, possibly for days. ...it may be a good idea to seal off some entrances, or place guards near them.
Basements A and B, at least, seem undisturbed. You even make sure to check the river access passages -- remains from when construction equipment was actually floated down to the building -- but there's no sign of any trespass. No broken locks, no walls broken through, no sawed-through iron bars. The floors themselves don't show any signs of traffic, being concrete. And the security patrols don't recall seeing anyone matching the intruder's description. Or, for that matter, anyone they don't know.
A calling card would have been nice. Ah well. |
VIDEO REVIEW (Gabe/Anna)
It's easy enough to find the feed of the intruder actually breaking in to ESI Labs. There they are on the fire escape stairs, in front of the emergency door. It's one of those ugly, heavy affairs with an attached alarm that goes off as soon as it's opened, or if the alarm is tampered with in any way. So why doesn't it go off?
Zoom in. What that they're doing to the alarm itself?
Zoom more. It's a nasty angle. But you've seen a similar treatment before. Putting their hands on it, and a brief, violet pulse. Then they stand back and gently open the door a crack. Pause, looking up at the camera. Silence.
Then they dart in. Hrm.
Rewinding, tracking their movements through the building. Obviously someone who's worked stealth and sabotage missions before. With a fast finger on the pause button and some fine tuning of the video settings lets you catch them darting about at the very edge of the cameras' fields of view. You can follow them back in time all the way to the passage between Basement C8 and Basement B8. They don't take the most direct route, instead purposely using passages set aside for maintenance crews in the event of something breaking.
Nothing's broken, so aside from the intruder the hallways are deserted.
They arrive, finally, at the emergency stairwell under ESI. Here they're forced to abandon stealth, since the door is in plain view of a camera. Again, though, the violet pulse before opening the door just a crack and slipping in. No alarms.
Hrm.
The fire alarms are networked with one another, but that's about it. They're not computer controlled. But it's easy enough to phone the NYFD and warn them of an impending fire drill before heading down to the basement to tug on the alarms in question.
As was perhaps expected, nothing happens. They're dead, Jim. |
ACCESS DATA LOGS (Gabe/Anna)
Computer-fu sheds some light on what's going on. Doesn't mean you quite know what you're looking at, but still.
By comparing the timestamp on the video to the Secure Access Requests channel, you're able to see why the vault door opened. It's a time-locked vault, set to open every 8 hours for a period of thirty minutes, so long as the other security measures are accounted for: a thumbprint, a retinal scan, and voice recognition. Anyone in ESI has this sort of access. As do Jean and Seanne, as part of their 1-AXO clearance.
The intruder found some way of bypassing that. You're not entirely sure how. It doesn't, in fact, entirely make sense. At all. But somehow, while tapping away on their smartphone, the intruder convinced the vault security door that it was Monday, March 11th, two minutes past midnight.
Two minutes past the time Brad used his own access code to admit the ODIN prototype. The vault system showed the security check as already having been cleared, and 2400 as an approved opening time. So the door opened.
Does anyone else's head hurt? |
SENTAXX (Carl)
Corporate investigation. Ohboy.
SenTaxx's website seems like a natural place to start. It's all bright and sunny,with smiling grandparents and smiling grandchildren playing under the longleaf pines. Promises abound of "working together for a new you" and "we're listening." There's contact info in small print along the bottom, with an e-mail and an 800 number. There's no mention anywhere of what, exactly, SenTaxx Pharmaceuticals actually produces.
More research. Wikipedia. Phonebooks. Newspapers. City hall records. The PIT Crew has never been so unexcited.
SenTaxx Pharmaceuticals is a rather small drug company rooted in the deep South, dating back to the days just following World War II. It's a "local hero" employer, placing their facilities on cheap-as-free land near the tiniest towns with the highest unemployment. They recruit manual labor and truck drivers and the like, making them generally well regarded by locals and politicians. The paranoid might suggest that they capitalize on this goodwill for capitulations, and they'd be right. Tax breaks, creatively interpreted trade and labor laws -- just about any rule that can be bent in their favor by local government, is.
Also, no one seems to know what they make anymore. On the one hand, at least you're not alone. On the other hand, you sincerely hope it's not just one of those companies who make money by having money. It's so...gauche.
Some serious, hardcore datamining gets you an employee list. It's big -- not quite as big as AEgir, but still. The records you skim confirm the press releases you've read. SenTaxx really does only recruit local talent. No matter how untalented they seem to be on paper. |
CHRISTIAN SCREWTAPE (Carl)
Well, this is uninspiring. The best you can come up with is that SenTaxx has never had a contract with ESI, or AEgir, before the current debacle. These people truly do keep a low profile.
Date of Birth: 1977-05-10
Place of Birth: Tallahassee, Florida
Academic History and Certifications -
Employment History -
- SenTaxx Pharmaceuticals, 1993-present: company representative, Department of Acquisitions.
Known Family: Single, never married. |
EX-EMPLOYEE FOLLOW-UP (Gabe)
Well, this is mildly depressing. A rather large number of former Ægirites are still unemployed. So much for a recovering economy.
At least it makes your search go by quicker.
After check of every record you have and several more of SenTaxx's that you, legally speaking, probably shouldn't have, you're able to determine quite conclusively that no one from Ægir was ever hired by SenTaxx. Similarly, no one for SenTaxx ever left to work for Ægir. It seems they're quite committed to working with their local demographic.
But.
It seems that they've some very specialized building needs. At least, that's the best into retain you can make when you see how often they contract out their construction needs to Joderhuebel GmbH, starting in 2010 and continuing to the present. A Swiss engineering company, certainly not local. Perhaps better known as the firm that got Solveig Rystaad into so much trouble when he asked them to design the Solvall.
Local unions didn't much care for the snub. Funny, then, that in Florida no one seems to have even noticed.
The company contractor directory still has information on Joderhuebel GmbH, in addition to more direct information on director Noah Yoder, the head of the Solvall project. |
DISENFRANCHISED EMPLOYEE HUNT (Syl)
Well, there are about four thousand of them. Massive layoffs will do that to a workforce. But Gabe's already determined that none of them were picked up by SenTaxx, and all of them were gone long before SenTaxx signed a contract with ESI.
Unless you were thinking of some other angle.
Since Seanne's reign, termination has been a remarkably rare event. One imagines the Sponsors frown on their puppet companies firing their stooges, but still. Only three records catch your attention.
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RENEGOTIATED CONTRACT FOR YOUR PERUSAL (Mal)
Oh, come ON.
These guys are made of ass. Ass and stupid. They have to be. Though the new contract's much shorter than the original -- no technical details to go over -- they've somehow made it even less comprehensible. It's deliberate, of course. Otherwise it wouldn't become so much more legible when it talks about how much money AEgir owes them. Apparently, they think it's quite a bit.
They're holding AEgir responsible for a breach of contract and associated dip in productivity. They've already included a pro-rated bill for the week up to now, and include a sliding scale of quickly escalating costs should AEgir not provide them with the prototype they need by the end of the month.
Y'know. Next Friday.
Also, they're refusing to offset any costs or support AEgir's internal investigation in any way. They're only interested in the prototype. The only contingency they're willing to consider is if AEgir's willing to sell off some of their outsanding shares. More accurately, they want Seanne to hand over 1% of her ownership. Exactly 1%. In that event, they're willing to extend the deadline another two weeks, until April 12th.
You'd have to double check, but 1% of the company share seems like it would be much less valuable than the giant numbers they've pasted all over the contract.
So, now what? |
((stealth edit: somehow managed to insert a wholly inaccurate and, in fact, fictitious date into one of the Gabe/Anna sections. Rectified!)) |
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Post by Carl on Mar 26, 2013 15:48:13 GMT -8
From: Carl Weaver
To: Jean Martinique, Anna Winston-Smith
CC: Theresa Auerbach
Subject: Security Footage
When you get the chance, can you send security footage of the Solvall's exterior from the past few days for my review?
I have a prime suspect in mind for this case. From what I've studied about this suspect, I believe he would not undertake such a daring plot without doing some recon and surveillance beforehand. I want to look for any signs he was staking us out. A car parked by the building for hours with no-one getting out or a man spending an awful long time reading a newspaper, for example.
Specifically, I'm going to be looking for a man that would match the description of one Dieter Herman.
-Carl
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Post by onlycore on Mar 26, 2013 20:41:09 GMT -8
From: Annabel Winston-Smith To: Carl Weaver CC: Theresa Auerbach Subject: RE:Security Footage Got all the footage and sending it to you, should include all the external cameras we have on the building plus a few handy cctv feeds from trafic cameras that I've been able to hack for you, we should have full coverage of any likely surveillance spots. I'll also send Jia up to set up some facial recognition software for you, should make the job a bit easier especially if you have a suspect in mind, still trust me dude I speak from experience here if you want to go over days of footage you're gonna want someone or a couple of someones to help out it's loooooooooooooooooooooong and tedious work and without fresh eyes you are gonna miss stuff. Anna ps. I'll also tell Jia to bring extra coffee... you'll need it  |
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Post by dthblayde on Mar 27, 2013 9:38:58 GMT -8
It was a long night, and despite being offsite Gabe still devoted his attention to the matters "back home." He found it difficult to sleep when security matters such as the attempted kidnapping of Shay, or the break-in at the labs. The only light in his hotel room came from the glow of the laptop screen where he'd been patched in remotely (through a secure, encrypted connection of course) in order to oversee the dissection of the security footage of the break-in. In another window was the information regarding the connection regarding Joderhuebel GmbH as well as a transcript of the data from the vault access.
His immediate curiosity was the means at which the alarms were disabled. Was it anima related, or more conventional means that resulted in the fried systems. This was something he was very much interested in learning, if only to figure out how to counter it. For now however, he was somewhat content that they'd managed to start finding the trail. Now it was a matter of putting it together .Tapping away at the keys, he forwarded the various files to their respective departments with additional notes as deemed necessary:
The video footage of the alarms being disabled was forwarded to Syl and Jean: "Anima or mundane: have sensitives check for possible residual energy"
The information on Joderhuebel GmbH was forwarded to Carl and Tess: "Shared architectural designers? Director helmed Solvall project. Did they design security as well?"
Finally, he opted to leave the data info on the vault in Anna and the rest of IT's hands, with an addition of "specific timing. Find out who was with King the night of the 19th"
After hitting 'Send' Gabe leaned back in the lounge chair of the hotel room and waited. It was going to be a long night indeed.
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Post by effinfitz on Mar 30, 2013 13:52:18 GMT -8
STAKEOUT (Carl)
So...many...videos...
The thing about the Solvall is, big as the basements are, there's a sizable campus around the actual tower. Mostly landscaped park. There aren't many places someone could hide out covertly, here. Especially if he wanted to see anything else. Still, you look. Perhaps you're a masochist.
Two full days later, you're able to conclude that no one was staking out building from inside the park. Further, with the help of a nameless security goon (how to get instant help from security, now: "Well, I could just go through HR...") you're able to ID all the cars that had parked in the building's underground lots for a full week before the incident. Nothing.
One thing of note, however. There's a sharp increase in the number of homeless person incidents between March 11th and March 14th. The park is comfortable, of course, relatively speaking, and it's not unusual for Security to have to pull vagrants off the bench in warmer months.
It's not a warmer month. And by the 15th there were no further problems. Coincidence? Is there a way to check? |
FOLLOW-UPS (Gabe)
Some things will be needing feedback from the relevant departments. Others, though, are easily checked out from within your own. There's definitely anima traces in the basement where the Intruder was. It's long enough ago that it's fading fast, but it seems to have followed their path through the building -- with spikes whenever a lock was bypassed.
The construction firm did not, in fact, have anything to do with the security. That was originally managed internally by an Ægir team headed by Herman. After Shay's takeover the Sponsors insisted on updated protocols, which Jean was in charge of. Long, dry, protocol. There's an aside about the Head Office countermeasures undergoing further revision back in August, but no details.
King, on the night of the 11th, was accompanied by Donna Swanson and Arthur Trumble, the two project heads for the contract. Records as follow:
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Post by onlycore on Mar 30, 2013 15:05:56 GMT -8
From: Megan Pacelli
To: Carl Weaver
CC: Theresa Auerbach
Subject: That Footage
I heard you've hit a bit of a dead end with that footage, if you like I could do some leg work for you and see why there were so many incidences of homeless people being moved on from the park. I know most of the local homeless shelters and have a few contacts on the street, your call just let me know.
Megan
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Post by Carl on Mar 30, 2013 17:20:03 GMT -8
From: Carl Weaver
To: Megan Pacelli
CC: Theresa Auerbach
Subject: RE: That Footage
Sounds like a plan. Your knowledge of the city makes you an ideal candidate for this. You're authorized to handle to pursue that lead.
Carl
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