Working Group Phoenix – Session 2 – Denial

Handler’s Log – Haywood Cotton
Case File ATL2021.067a – Sara Martin Killing – Working Group “Phoenix”

The Agents have requested technical support, and Sharon Liu from the NSA has been assigned to them. She is on her way to Savannah. This brings the total of agents on the case to 4.

• Gregory Jefferson (played by Horst W.) – Agent Jefferson is an admirable profiler. He was a professional counselor before joining the Agency. He has commented about a cult worshiping an “alien god,” but it has not interfered with his work.
• Sharon Liu (played by Abe L.) – Specialist Liu is being assigned to this case, though I do not understand why. She is a specialist in Computer Intrusion and Signal Intelligence. It is implied that she has other valuable skills. She was apparently a criminal hacker before being recruited by the NSA, but I have no choice but to accept her assignment.
• Jean Oliver (played by Will H.) – Agent Oliver was a very successful television news investigator before they were abruptly shifted to “human interest” stories by their station. This was related to a story they ran about homeless people being used as “human sacrifices.” As an agent, their interpersonal skills have proved invaluable.
• Jackie Taylor (played by Puckett) – A consultant, Ms. Taylor’s knowledge of Anthropology, Bureaucracy, and Computers have proven invaluable in the past. She is a dubious asset, but I am limited on whom I can contact and need someone who might find something from the body.

While waiting on Agent Liu’s arrival, Agent Oliver and Specialist Taylor have decided to check out the Savannah Artists Cooperative. When they get there, they find that it is mostly closed for the day, but the coffee shop, which also features beer from the Rising Tide Brewery, is still open. They start asking questions.

They ask about Ashland Dunwood and quickly find out that he is the sponsor for the co-op. He is the owner and CEO of Dunwood Engineering and Design (DEaD). They are a significant design and construction company of industrial facilities up and down the southeast coast. He is also a major supporter of the Arts and created the Co-op to encourage that.

They also discover that he is highly active in the Savannah Historical Society and the Savannah Epicurial Society.

They also ask about Calvin Diaz and Vicky Watkins, the persons they were told that Sara knew. They find out that Vicky is upstairs and that Calvin is currently working. They also discover that the third floor of the building is Ashland Dunford’s personal studio.

Despite a sign telling them not to enter, the Agents go up to the second floor. There, they find a handful of artists cleaning out their spaces. A few quick questions lead them to Vicky Watkins.

Vicky doesn’t tell them much that they don’t already know. Dunwood had started dating Sara a few weeks ago, and she seemed infatuated with him. The last time Vicky had seen her, she was excited because Dunwood had invited her into the Savannah Epicurial Society and that she was going to her first dinner with him. She is distraught to learn that Sara is dead.

She also reveals that the furnace used by the co-op has been offline for a while. It is used by the artists who did metal casting and those who did glass and ceramic work, which included Sara.

They find the location of Sara’s work area. She mostly did glass sculpture (primarily flowers), but she had been working on a stained glass project the last time she was at her workspace. There isn’t enough there for anyone to determine what she had been working on.

The Agents regroup. Specialist Taylor wants to check out Dunwood’s personal space on the third floor, but it is locked. They come up with the idea of starting a fire in a trash can using the oily rags from some of the artists on the second floor. The fire is set and, when the alarm goes off, Specialist Taylor quickly kicks in the door on the third floor.

She finds an open area. Most of it is filled with disturbing-looking metal sculptures in an almost brutalist style. Then they find a side table. There is a clay mold there, reversed, along with several marble slabs and a wheelbarrow and pallet mover. There are several sacks of cement nearby.

Also on the table is a map of Savannah, with several points marked and connected with lines. She can’t make sense of it.

They take photos of the map and clay mold and most of the other items in the room, then rush downstairs and out of the building. They state that they checked the third floor to ensure no one was up there before leaving the building.

—-

Agent Jefferson has been researching Dunwood. He is the current owner and CEO of Dunwood Engineering Design. This company does the design and construction of industrial facilities around the southeast.

Dunwood has only recently become CEO. Until approximately 18 months ago, the company was being run by Osborne and Melanie Dunwood, his father and sister. Unfortunately, they were killed in a plane crash at the Savannah airport when they attempted to land in an unexpectedly bad storm. The crash was considered an accident caused by pilot error.

Ashland Dunwood was living in Barcelona at the time. He had been living in Europe for several years, mainly in France and Spain. He had far more interest in Art than Architecture. He had expressed little interest in running the family business, so the family was not concerned about him not being around. After the accident, he was called home by his mother, Belinda Dunwood.

Ms. Dunwood withdrew completely after her husband and daughter’s death and has pretty much left the running of the company to her son. The company is still doing well, though some articles indicate that its success is in spite of instead of because of Ashland Dunwood’s involvement.

Since his return to Savannah, Mr. Dunwood has become a fixture in the local art and historical scene. He has spent a good deal of the company’s money on them. He is a significant contributor to the Savannah Historical Society and the Savannah Epicurial Society. He has also established the Savannah Artists’ Co-op, where he maintains his own studio.

—-

Meanwhile, Agent Liu has arrived. She immediately takes ownership of Sara’s phone and is quickly able to decrypt it.

The primary information is a few messages from Sara to Ashland, in which she says that she is going home to change and that she is ready for him to pick her up. There are photos showing people dancing on a yacht and other images depicting a beach house. The locations of both are quickly available. The Dunwood family owns the boat. The beach house is owned by Dunwood Engineering Design. The company primarily used it to host out-of-town clients, but it has been rented out for the past year or so. The current resident is Faye Sparks.

Agent Liu also researches Dunwood’s time in Europe. He had spent most of his time in Barcelona and had been a significant fixture in the art and party scene.

She does find one odd item in his background from a State Department file. During the time Dunwood spent in Barcelona, he was involved with an American named Sherri Sutton. Sutton was taking a year off before starting college and was travelling the continent and had spent some time in Barcelona.

Barcelona was also the last known location of Sutton; she disappeared after visiting Barcelona, and her phone and credit cards were never used again. Her whereabouts are unknown.

The Spanish authorities questioned Dunwood. He stated that she had decided to continue her travel and had left to continue to Italy. The Spanish authorities were suspicious, as he was the last person they could determine she had contact with. However, as a member of an influential family, the State Department suggested that the Spanish authorities consider someone else. The case is officially unsolved, and Sutton is listed as “missing.”

—-

The group gets back together and compares notes. It is now late in the evening, and they decide to wait until morning to continue.

—-

The following day they look through the information they have and decide to correlate the other reported deaths and locations where Dunwood Engineering Design has projects. They find several.

They then get the idea to compare Dunwood’s movement to the other deaths. They find several instances where Dunwood had travelled to that location on a Dunwood Engineering Design jet a few days before the body was found.

They also check to see who went with her and discover that Faye Sparks accompanied him.

The group decides that they need to get into the beach house since that is the last place Sara Martin was known to be and it is Faye Sparks address. It is probably where Martin was killed.

Which raises a new question; how did Sara Martin’s phone get back to her car near the campus?

The group decides to split up. Agent Jefferson and Specialist Taylor decide to visit the Beach House. Agents Liu and Oliver go to the campus to see if they can pull any security footage.

—-

En-route to the Beach House, Specialist Taylor convinces Agent Jefferson to detour to look at one of the historical markers that Dunwood had set up. They find a 7-sided marble monument about 4 feet tall with a bronze plaque on the top. The plaque states that this place is “near” the location of one of the first fish markets ever set up in Savannah.

They determine that the plaque is weirdly inconsequential. Why commemorate this particular point. Specialist Taylor wants to break the “obelisk” apart (she had purchased some items earlier with that goal in mind), but Agent Jefferson convinces her to continue with him to the beach house, promising that they will return to this location later. Specialist Taylor satisfies herself by taking several pictures of the obelisk for now.

Back in the car, Specialist Taylor starts going through the pictures and freezes. Even though it is daylight outside, all of the monument photos appear to have been taken at night, with an entirely unfamiliar and surprisingly clear starfield.