2019-09-03 - Security Concerns

They'd talked about this during the tenant meeting after Susan Lewis' murder and then another murder occurred in the same apartment building complex, that of the visiting Kelly Carr. Many things have changed since then with more killings spread out over the town. That doesn't mean that Byron Thorne or the Bayside Apartments couldn't use a new set of eyes, despite the security team that Thorne had already hired to help monitor and patrol the apartment grounds.

Perhaps it's because he had other business to attend to earlier or maybe this is the way he tends to dress when conducting something official, even if it's with a friend, but Thorne can be found in one of his well tailored three piece suits all in a dark gray hue to match the summer drizzle that washes over Gray Harbor. He's waiting for Geoff just inside of the complex gates, standing beneath an umbrella. The buildings next to be monitored, but so would the grounds themselves.

Geoff shoes up rather on time, wearing jeans a t-shirt, and a leather to meet Byron by the gate with a grin, of course he is on his bike when he pulls up to the gate, after all just because it is raining doesn't mean its a bad time to ride. Slowing down as he's let through, he raises a hand in greeting "Hey man, good we're finally able to get on this. I'm glad we've gotten together. Where'd you like to begin this shindig?"

Thorne looks well rested enough despite most recent circumstances, which he'll more than likely bring up as they are discussing security. Still, he greets his pal with a broad grin, knowing all too well that Geoff would be arriving on motorcycle. "Feel free to park it right over there." He gestures towards the covered parking , primarily used for guests, rather than the lower level parking for tenants beneath each of the three buildings. Once that is all said and done and the man's motorcycle isn't languishing beneath the light drizzle, the smile which Byron wears slowly begins to fade as he takes steps to join his friend beneath the awning.

"Please tell me that you have ways of preventing psychic assaults." Yes, Thorne knows what Geoff's answer to this will be, but it's an ice breaker and something that he's currently dealing with.

Geoff parks and strides back towards Thorne to clap him on the shoulder "Nah, I can't quite manage to prevent those. Though the best prevention is honestly making sure that no one knows where you're going or are at any given moment. If they don't have a bead on you they can't ruin your day." cracking his knuckles he muses "I've been thinking about it, I'm pretty sure I could set some place on fire from the other side of town." winking to his buddy he consoles "So at least your peeps haven't moved into remote arson yet."

Thorne is on the mend, so the jolt to his body by that one pat on the shoulder doesn't cause him much pain today. "I figured you'd say something like that." He'll start walking, of course, to give Geoff the lay of the land. The Bayside Apartments are elevated up on a cliff which gives it the perfectly expensive view of the bay itself. Well, depending on which apartment building you're housed in. "The murders were done remotely. No one stepped foot onto my properties." There's then this pause, "Just the other day," Two days ago to be exact, "Someone, unseen, broke several of my ribs during breakfast. I'm trying to figure out who."

Byron doesn't know where to start, but he'll assume that his front gate is well-manned, even if the walls surrounding the complex might be scaleable. "If not for the serial killer on the loose who knows that myself and several others are onto him, who else would it be?" He's just tossing out information to an outside party, one who he hasn't worked with in regards to the murders around town. He does flash Geoff a grin though, "There is that, I suppose. These attacks are being done on an individual basis. I've yet to need to worry about someone burning my apartment buildings down."

Geoff strides along as he looks at the perimeter with a thoughtful expression "Remotely is going to be hard to deal with. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a technique somewhere for severing the veil from a location, but I can't say for sure that's a real thing." gesturing to the wall he asks "Do you have security coverage of the walls there?" clicking his tongue he dips his head to the wall "If it was just straight up murder on a non psychic level, breach would probably come from over there. Though if there was a particular objective for infiltrating then exfiltrating, going by the front gate would definitely be the preferable means there. Not exactly the hardest thing to get in here."

With roguish grin and a gesture towards the buildings he says "Your tenants are your weak point. I was all but living here over the past two months. Look at my record. How hard would it be to find a lonely tenant and work your way up to them to get in and out without a second glance."

"I'm just hoping that we put an end to this before whoever attacked me decides to try and finish the job." Byron will admit his own concerns and worries. "Doctor Penny Faust survived her attack, the one that killed her brother. She succumbed to her wounds just recently. She was the only survivor of these murders and she still died." Then there's Thorne now. "The girl who was killed in my apartments, her sister watched it happened. Didn't see a damn thing. Just like how I didn't see a damn thing." There's this sobering look that he gives Geoff, "That sister, the witness, was at the tenant meeting after the first death of my building. She even spoke up and asked questions about what I was doing to keep everyone safe." This obviously has been on his mind for a time.

As they near the walls, he points to a few of the cameras, "Several sections are monitored yes, but there are blind spots unless I want to purchase and install extra cameras to cover those." Though what his friend says next has him arching a brow. "I... you're right, of course. But these tenants of mine are," He breathes in a deep breath, having that liberty now, "They come from money, many of them, and are not used to having heavy restrictions placed on them." Despite the need to go through the guarded gate of course...

Geoff cracks his knuckles "Well I'm not sure what we could do to protect them from a psychic assassin." Glancing at Byron he arches an eyebrow "Other then if you got a read of the attacks coming at you that we could maybe use to match up against someone. Then it would just be a matter of extra judicial community justice. Strike first before the fiend can strike again. Probably your best bet there." Geoff speaks of killing the serial killer as if it were an easy thing, like turning off a light switch.

Looking at the walls he nods "Yeah, with the state of the rest of the town you've made yourself a bit too big of a pain except for someone overly ambitious or with deep connections." with a gesture towards the security shack he says "And I'm sure you've paid off the right people so you don't have to worry about anyone professional getting in and out." With a laugh he shakes his head "Yeah man, I get that I really do. Let's talk about the guards, are they individually hired? Sourced from an outside company rentacops?"

Something which Geoff says has Byron murmuring, his eyes absently staring out at one of the cameras facing the protective wall, "Would you say the same thing, the whole community justice, if the person in question was being possessed by a murderous ghost?" There's this lift to his brow when he says this. It's quite an odd inquiry to make, but then again, this is Gray Harbor. "That's what we're dealing with as far as I know. Taking down the unwilling tool even if he may be innocent?"

He'll leave that out there for the other to ponder, before proceeding forward. "I have the placement for all cameras located on the property on a map that I'll send your way if you care to look it over later." Then the next question comes up, "They are from the same security firm. One that I trust, for the most part, but I'm thinking that some of my issues may be the camera wiring as well." The cameras are brought up again and this is not something he's happy to state, "When seeking out footage of the hallways outside of certain crime scenes, I've noticed that the cameras either have a lapse in time or nothing is visible at all. I don't know if they are being tampered with or someone's running interference." Pausing in his step, he looks to Geoff, "Is there anyone who can do that? I only know my own abilities and, well, I'm able to short the cameras out, sure, but not interfere with them, because the feed picks up immediately after the lapse."

Geoff wobbles his hand "Depends, if it'll be a lasting solution or no. If the ghost can be trapped in the person and you can put them in a medically induced coma, that would be better. Shut down the vehicle for the spirit." running his tongue across his teeth he says "I've never tried killing a ghost, not about to start either, but I'm sure it has to be possible. If killing the person would solve this issue, then yeah....Put them down. It's too bad but you can just consider it one more life the ghost took."

Looking up to a camera thoughtfully he says "Yeah...If I was familiar with the camera, I'm pretty sure I could make it stop transmitting then pick up when I was past." Pointing up to the camera he explains "Remember what I did to Lil's keys? It's be a more targeted strike then that. You take out what's transmitting the signal or the wire jack to connect it back to the feed. Since nothing is stored on the camera itself it'd be pretty easy to do with a little practice."

"We're hoping to trap the ghost within a box or a container. It was imprisoned within a coffin before something released it." Byron relays this information as he continues with a slow walk around the complex. "That might take a while. There are other options, like committing the person into some sort of," He draws in another breath here, because of how ludicrous this may all sound, "mental institution. One located on the other side, not here. I, personally, have no idea where that is, but I know others are looking for it. And the person in question, the one being possessed, knows all about it as well. He and his family said that that's where they'd be sending him, but when? I was just attached the other morning, so it obviously hadn't happened yet."

He then listens, nodding slowly to what Geoff said about how he decimated Lilith's keys. "So it is possible. I mean, it's either that or the systems were hacked, which would be understandable as well and I am looking into prevent measures to stop even that. But... knowing that others, people like you and Lilith," He'll assume, "are capable of doing that, it does give me a lot to think about." His steps are taking them towards Building A or the wall before Building A that protects the tenants from falling to their deaths down the cliffside. It does give a magnificent view of the bay from here. "Aside from this need to screen my tenants and their guests, is there any other advice that you can offer?"

nods easily enough "Oh I've been to a hospital on the other side. It was terrible and quite a trip, gotta get back with my friend to see when we're searching out the other facility." Geoff explains as if it were a common occurrence "Sounds like you've got the ghost on lock though. You should probably handle putting him in a box sooner rather then later if you don't to rack up more casualties." The tattoo artist does seem awfully okay with this idea of just ending someone because they present a menace.

Stepping up to the wall he says "Do you have any idea of how many keys are floating around? You probably want to go ahead and heavily suggest people change their locks. Go ahead and schedule your elevator maintenance, that way that's one more decent alibi for hanging around your buildings out of the way." gesturing to the guards he says "My guess is they don't get paid enough to care /that/ much unless you're using folks who are nigh paramilitary grade. You'd probably do better getting your own group of guys to do this, go for ex military or ex police. Give the leader a similar deal to the grounds keeper. Free lodging, just accessible twenty four seven. Having them paid directly by the company rather then being contractors will do something to buy loyalty."

There's this quirk of his brow now, "You've been to the hospital?" If Byron were told this before by anyone, he hadn't been paying attention. He's about to ask if it's the same place that he's referring to, but then Geoff comes and calls it a 'Facility', which is the same name he'd been give for it. "We're trying," He murmurs about the box situation, "We just need to figure out how. We're using an occultist to help us figure that out." He was right about to say witch! "We need to get the ghost into the box, seal him and hopefully no one else releases him anywhere within our lifetime."

Staring out over the half-way to glance over the bay, he tilts his head to the side, considering the man's words, "I can't say that anyone comes to mind, who I trust, to have a group of ex-military or police for that matter. And I try to only hire people who I can trust, which, to be honest is a hard call. I mean, I pay my head of security extra for what he does to keep his people in line. And.." When he speaks, he doesn't look at Geoff directly, "My tenants require a sense of privacy. Like most people with money, I'm sure that they have their own secrets that they'd like to keep. Which is also why I've refrained from hiring others like myself." Mentalists. Then again, he probably has other reasons for this. "But it's something to think about and something that I'll look into."

Geoff flashes a grin towards Byron "It's a long story, went to see a zombie doctor there and bust him out to get instructions to where we needed to go." This too is said as if it were another piece of information like the weather or the time the sun comes up. "If it requires occultists then I'm afraid I can't be much help there. Don't know shit about the occult."

Sliding his hands into his pockets he nods "Oh you definitely can't trust anyone in this field. Like honestly, who says 'yes, I want to stand around providing an air of security for a bunch of ungrateful rich people.'" tapping his foot lightly he says "Honestly not sure what to tell you about security if you're aiming more for preventing folks with our skill sets from getting in. I could get in and out if I wanted and without compromising ease you're going to have a hard time stopping me without significantly investing in mil grade equipment. Guys who deal in the spirit side of the spectrum are the natural enemy of security."

There's this moment where Byron's eyes narrow when he looks at Geoff, "Easton Marshall's uncle?" He'd apparently been told about this. "Yeah, Vivian mentioned it. Didn't realize that you were there with them. But I believe that's the very place, this Facility, that they were planning on sending the possessed to. I guess with the belief that if he's over there on that side, he can't hurt anyone on our side, which I'd say makes sense, but I'm still trying to grasp all of this right now, myself."

"I honestly don't even know the extent of my own abilities." He goes on to say. "How far would I have to be in order to, I don't know, access someone's mind. Get a read on an object? I mean, I figured you'd need to be able to visualize and see them in order to affect them. Unless this can all be done by just thinking about them. It's something to test out for sure. Most likely something easier for me to do and non-destructive than say what both you and Lilith can do. How do we gauge our limits, I wonder."

He then starts off again. Where the terrain is sturdy enough for a wall to be built, there is a wall. It lacks barbwiring or anything like that at the tops because at the end of the day, these were luxury apartments, not a prison. "How many of our close friends do you think are trustworthy enough and have the training, military or otherwise, to take on this task? Not many." He then hurriedly adds, this wide grin on his face, "I'm not saying that we grew up with untrustworthy individuals, but I kinda am. At least to in tenants' eyes."

"Yep, went and met Uncle Monty, he was very avuncular, if it wasn't for the smell I'd have loved the dude...Even if he was super sketch in life and death. It was a creepy place, imagine every horror movie you've ever seen that had a scene in a hospital. Seriously wasn't great." Geoff says with obvious distaste, "I mean I'd totally go there again, but still."

"As far as the limits of your powers, I told you I had a mentalist harrassing me and trying to make my life hell. I never saw here around, not saying she wasn't nearby but I could never get a bead on her, so it's possible she was across town and just taking a break to shit on me." Aiming a light punch at Byron's shoulder he says "You could have an experiment with Lil, see what sort of distance you can manage for putting things in her head. That would be a decent gauge for your overall range."
$r That last bit has him side eying Byron "Man, no one from our class is trustworthy. I mean look where my life ended up, and here you have me out here helping to advise you on security measures. The rest of our class isn't that great either. I mean how many of them are on the take or are straight up working not so legal jobs?"

"I've gone over to the other side a few times." Byron will admit, "Not to the hospital, but to a freakin' Harry Potter universe room within City Hall, filled with all kinds of interesting and sometimes horrifying creatures." A pause, "It doesn't sound as unnerving as where you've visited, but I get to meet a big pink blob monster and a pair of severed feet with mouths where the toes are... and a single eye ball hovering over it's, uh... body. Feet. What the fuck ever."

Then Geoff brings up testing this thing with Lilith. It's not something that Byron hadn't considered doing before. "I might try just that. See how she's feeling. What she's up to. It's a wonder that some of us hadn't thought about this before, the extent of what we can do. How far our powers reach." Then his lips purse in a bit of annoyance and he looks as if he's about to say something, then stops himself.

"There are people who are capable that I trust. You, of course. Joey Kelly, I'm sure he can handle his own, but... yeah, I don't need that kind of presence here. I've already got cops watching the apartments due to two murders as it is." He then has to laugh a bit, his words coming out with amusement, "I mean, I'm pretty sure it would be a bad idea if I decided to hire some goons from the local mob. As effective as they probably would be, but like I said, I don't need that kind of attention or reputation. If you hear of anything, let me know. Not sure why I'd expect you to have a bunch of ex-military, former cop buddies." He then considers, "I might but.. the GHPD was my father's gig, not mine."

Geoff snorts at that "Man you're losing your edge if you haven't thought of doing that yet. I've considered it but everything I can do is slightly less friendly or more flashy, no way I could do it without getting in the newspaper. I was thinking that if you had someone like me or Lil in the command center and watching all the cameras, if they were strong enough that'd be effectively all they'd need to lock on to a person." looking out over the bay he comments "Scary isn't it, one person watching all those cameras could single handedly maul all your clients. Even if the tenant went into their room, they'd still probably know where they were well enough to assault them. On the more proactive side, no one could get close to the buildings without permission."

"Yeah, hiring the local bruisers to hang around for protection probably wouldn't look too good, even if it would be a solid line of defense....I don't really know a lot of vets, gotta couple from the clink who should be out by now but I can guarantee you that you don't want guys with that level of anger issues playing baby sitter."

Byron just has to blink when asked why he hadn't thought of it before, "Why would I? I've read everything by touch so far. Why would I think I could do otherwise? It's how I learned to do it. If not by touch, gauging emotions rather than reading emotional imprints off of objects, I've always been in the person's presence, using my own eyes to look for tells, but my mind to open things up further. I mean," His shoulders lift, "I can't say that I've known anyone who had done anything of the sort remotely until recently, so if I'm not thinking of doing so, then no one else is either. Or they haven't tested those abilities yet."

Licking idly at his lips, feeling a faint breeze blowing through, the air humid with rain, Byron says, "I suppose that's right, unless someone's hacking into my cameras anyway to block out footage. I'll often go through some of the recorded footage myself, when I have the time. It's... interesting what some of my tenants get up to. Especially in public enough places." He then has to ask, "That feeling, whatever that one chick was doing to you, it's gone now? You're no longer being harassed? There's no feeling of dread any more?" He's curious about that.

"Because you need to push yourself, always keep pushing and getting better. Find what you think is a limit and see if you can drive past that. This town is playing for keeps, we got a pile of bodies and you got beaten up to show that." Geoff explains in a completely somber tone "There are no rules or laws to govern what we can do. Or rather the limits of law enforcement and written law can't convict us on anything. Prison was like that...What are you going to do to a guy serving three life sentences? You can throw him in solitary, but you can't keep him there forever. So all you can do is keep training, keep physically fit and keep your ear to the ground so you know who the monsters are and make yourself a dangerous enough target they go for someone weaker."

Digging a cigarette from his pocket he lights it up and takes a drag "Every now and then I still feel its gaze...I'm still straddling that line where the meal isn't worth the price it would have to pay to get it. I'm not the brightest glimmer, and I'm pretty decently tempered. Not the best tit for tat when it can follow a killer around and feed off the suffering in its wake."

There's this silence that comes over Byron when Geoff offers him this bit of advice. He knows that the other was right and he even knows where to begin. There were other complications and roadblocks of course, but it's something that he'd need to toy with. Allowing his long, lean frame to rest against the protective wall, he says, head lowered with this impish grin on his lips, "You're going to regret being my adviser for the day. Mark my words." Unlike some of the other power sets that can wreck a person, the mentalists can be incredibly intrusive.

"Do you believe that you can control your own powers to the best of your abilities at the moment?" It's a curious question, his dark eyes looking to Geoff. "I've only recently learned of things that I never knew was possible. And things that I've outright shut down because who wants someone else in your mind?" Even if that, in itself, is what he does to others. "I've got a ways to learn." He then turns, so that he's facing out onto the bay yet again, "I thought that I was at the peak of what I could do. Comfortable with what I was born with. It is interesting to know that there's something beyond even that."

Looking over his shoulder at Geoff as the other lights up, not that Thorne minds, while he's not a regular smoker, he does so when anxiety hits. "If you feel her presence or the darkness she's engulfed herself in, let me know." He faces forward again, "We all have a sense of this darkness and the shadow men who supposedly lurk within. But yours just seems of a more personal nature."

Geoff gives a dismissive wave "Probably not, because I trust you to either be so thorough as for me not to notice that you're fucking with me, or more likely that you won't because we're friends." Flicking ash onto the ground, he grinds it in with his shoe and says offhandedly "Pretty much anyone else and I'd be warning them that if they got in my head and I found out that they'd be the ones regretting it. I don't gotta tell you that though." Gesturing with his cigarette as if he is being reasonable "Another thing you learn in prison is you don't take /any/ disrespect. Not once, not over. The moment someone thinks they can push you, everyone else will think so to. Which sometimes leads to fights that you can't win, but gotta have on principle."

"As far as my powers, no, I'm pretty sure there are limits I can push past and things I can explore. Though since I'm not sure how much dark attention is on me, I don't want to chance pushing it too much." taking another drag from the cigarette, he holds it for a second before exhaling from the sky "I know for instance that if I wanted to I could blind someone, I could slice their tendons, break necks and be surgical with how I cut. Aiming with purpose so every cut accomplished something. For instance have you ever considered what would happen if someone with these powers decided to cut across your eyes, wrist or throat? Or if instead of crumpling you like a collapsible toy they broke your neck? Just snap" he snaps his fingers to go with it for added effect "Or while you were driving they decided to take out your breaks? It's a scary world man."

There's that smile again, one that Byron's friends are quite familiar with. It's the same kind of good-natured smile that he's worn throughout high school and before even that. "You don't have anything to worry about from me. And if I wanted to use you to test out, I'd ring you up ahead of time. You got that promise." He then says, lowering his umbrella as the drizzling has began to lessen, though doesn't go away entirely. "You learned a lot behind bars, man. Just wish you didn't need to. But you know me, I'll take your advice to heart. The... business world is a whole different arena. Sure, prison and the business world are similarly cut throat, but corporations and the like try to be far more sneaky about it."

There's this look of hesitation in his expression, though he does come out to say, "Lilith broke my wrist during that incident at the stone bridge. But then, I'd shot her just prior to that. We were possessed by a cursed ring at the time, so neither of us were thinking clearly as all we could do was obsess with the ring." Though with something else that Geoff says, Byron nods, "That's how our remote killer has been attacking people. Slitting throats and other such carnage. I figure what you mentioned about the brakes? That could've been what happened to Erin Addington's parents." When he mentions Erin's name, his eyes immediately drift away from Geoff.

Geoff catches that aversion of Byron's gaze and rolls his eyes "Come on man, her name isn't taboo. Just because she dumped me doesn't mean I'm going to go into injured puppy phase." crossing his arms he says with a faint hint of amusement "Man, if she was trying to get rid of me that hard, it obviously wasn't going to work. I enjoyed the time I had with her, and we ended as friends. Can't beat that."

"Oh, is that what happened?" Byron says still wearing that grin, turning towards the side to regard Geoff with an amused look, "I didn't ask for details when it was hinted at. She's a good kid and as her landlord and friend, she's one of my top priorities when it comes to which of my tenants to protect. Mainly because her family are dropping like flies all around her." He then considers his next question, shifting to face Geoff in full now, "Are you keeping an eye out for her still? I would assign more guards to her place and it seems like she's under the GHPD's protection as well, but we all know that with this killer, security isn't gonna be able to do shit."

Then out of the blue, he reaches into his slack's pocket to retrieve his phone. With how his screen is lit, he probably got a text message. "So she dumped you, huh?" His brow creases as his eyes lift from his phone's screen to toss a glance over Geoff's way. "That's too bad. You made a cute, if unlikely couple. But that's only because I've met her grandmother. Can't say whether she'd approve."

Geoff cracks a wry grin at his friend "Well I can tell you for sure I'm off the night shift there. I told her to not hesitate to reach out if she ever needed me for anything and I'd be there in an instant. Can't say she'll do it as things would be a bit awkward but hey, I put it out there." his attention turns to Byron now, fully facing him as he answers this question."

"Yeah yeah she dumped me...I came to her and admitted I didn't think I was good enough for her and thought maybe she'd only seen my safe side. Get this." rubbing at his brow he says "First she asked if I was breaking up with her, I told her very much no and I wanted to stay together. Then she suggested we take a break, then it was saying we should get married if both of us were still single in five years. Then she just jumped to saying she couldn't keep me caged up and was setting me free." Geoff gazes incredulously at Byron "Argued no till she just told me she was dumping me....Though holy crap that is not what I'd thought was gonna happen at all."

Whoever had messaged him seems to bring a smile to Byron's features. It's probably Lilith. He taps a few messages in response before the phone is lowered briefly. "That's good to know. We were um discussing ways in which she could protect herself and I kinda told her about Kelly's Gym." Because, that's the best place for a socialite to be! "Besides it being in a bad neighborhood," Hey, Geoff lives in that neighborhood! "and it usually filled with ruffians, many from the old crew, I figure that Joey'd take good care of her. In fact, I ought to see how that turned out."

That said, when poor Geoff explains his side of the story and vaguely brings up everything that was said and done all that Byron can do is start with a, "Huh." His brow lifted. "So the five year thing, that's off the table now or...?" All that he can do is a pal and friend is push himself off from the wall he's leaning on and extend a hand to pat firmly and reassuringly on Geoff's mighty shoulder. "Women. Am I right?"