Roger accepted the tea with a smile. "Thank you." He took a sip before setting it carefully aside. He picked up a stack. "Good idea. I'll go through this stack and see what I can find." He wasn't exactly sure of what he was looking for. Neither of them were. They did know that someone, no doubt a past friend, had sent Bea her father's letter. It had to be someone distant that her father would have trusted yet at the same time would not have been suspicious enough to have his enemies look at them - or at least closely. Professor Brown was intelligent if anything. He knew what he was doing. Pulling out a small notebook and a pencil, Roger set it beside him. "I'm going to make notes of every name I run across and the dates of the letters." He told Bea. "This was we can check patterns and last time there was contact." 

When had Professor Brown given up his teaching career? The rise of mysticism had slowly gained ground, even having a bit of traces of the movement at the end of the war. However, it wasn't until it really took off in 1925 that the Professor decided to stop all his work. It was interesting really. He had spent a lifetime studying mysticism with his colleagues laughing behind his back. That hadn't stopped him. He had kept going, pushing on. It wasn't until they turned and accepted him - pretending to welcome him in with open arms - that he had actually quit. Roger guessed the old adage was true: [i]Your friends are not those who are with when you are standing tall but the ones who are there when you were down at your lowest.[/i] Those were the friends that Professor Brown would trust. Those would be the ones he would ask to hold a letter for him.

Roger glanced through the letters. He skimmed them to get the general idea. Noting down the date, name, and profession - when applicable - he set it aside and moved to the next letter. Despite the fact that Professor Brown had gone reclusive in his latter years, he had quite a collection of letters ranging over the years. Most of them were business related. A lot of the more recent were requests for him to come back to studying. To share his findings. To research. To work in some university. Those Roger noted as well. Though he doubted the professor would have been on friendly terms with them, it might be something he would have done to cast-off suspicion. After about a dozen or so letters Roger paused for a second and stretched. He glanced over at Bea. "How's it coming?"
----
Estella followed the woman out. She didn't dawdle but she did look at the ship as she walked. Exiting the vessel she turned. She smiled. It was touching and very thoughtful of the woman. All she had done was deliver some parts and she now had a recommendation? Especially considering the fact her and professionalism didn't seem to match. Sure, she was friendly and nice. She put up with things but when Estella thought of professionalism she thought of someone more fancy, more...refined. She just did her work hard and with a good attitude. These people were...different. She didn't see this type of kindness that often. "Thank you," she said. She nodded to the ship. "If you ever need more parts, Rufus' got them." She smiled once more, gave a half bow/courtesy before heading off.

Several feet away she thought about pausing and looking back to admire the airship. She glanced back and flushed. The woman hadn't gone in yet. She raised a hand up in farewell, acting as if that was the whole purpose before looking forward again. Of course that was just tacky too. Either way, she kicked herself mentally before deciding to shrug it off. Oh well. It was doubtful she'd see them again anyway. She was only going to stick around with Rufus a bit more before moving on. She frowned. Well, she actually might see them. It depending on when they were planning on leaving. There was no way that vessel would take off - not without replacing that part. She made a mental note to find a replacement and pull it aside after she gets back to the shop. They were going to need it. She reached into her pocket and felt the tip. And they shouldn't need to worry about paying either. She smiled.