Ellie nodded metonymically as the team members gave their feedback on the brief presentation. For a moment her eyes dilated and her skin flushed slightly before she forced herself back to the business at hand. Sipping from her coffee cup allowed her a moment to focus her mind and force the hot emotions out of her mind. 

It was an interesting property of ideas, that they all seemed obvious in retrospect. When your professions included Doctor and Magician, you tended to think along the lines of patterns and formula, the team was far better at generating lines of inquiry than she was. 

As the discussion progressed Madeline grew increasingly hunched and defensive as though each new theory crashed on her like a physical blow. Ellie had seen it before, the woman was strong willed, but the existence of the supernatural world could strain the toughest of mind. Again, Ellie considered leaving the woman in Chicago, given the nature of the case it wasn’t likely she would be of more help. On the other hand, it wouldn't be easy to convince her to remain behind.

Ellie began to drift of into a semi meditative reverie as Morgan spoke. It was always easy to lose focus when the woman was talking. Morgan was talking, and talking to her. Ellie snapped back to full alertness and took another sip of coffee to give her mind a moment to replay the last few seconds of conversation. Travel arrangements.

[b]“We have tickets leaving for Portland, thats Portland Maine obviously, at noon. I’ve got a business class.”[/b] Truthfully it was an irritating expense but past experience suggested packing the team into economy could have unpredictable results. It was a good thing Delta had agreed to drop the suit. 

[b]“I shouldn’t need to remind you that this is a commercial flight, please make sure any weapons are legal so you can check them,” [/b]her gaze lingered frostily on Manny for a moment, indicting him for past sins. With slow deliberation she cycled each of the gritty crime scene photos again, giving everyone a last chance to see the images. The files were already uploaded to the office cloud and available but she found showing them in a group setting was still a useful tool.

Madeline made a strained choking sound and Ellie looked up at her with a touch of asperity. The woman was practically green, her hair hanging forward to partially obscure her face.

[b]“Down the hall and to the right,”[/b] Ellie directed and the woman dashed from the small conference room, knocking over several stacks of papers as she did so. A moment later loud retching could be heard from the bathroom. The mental overload affected everyone differently. Dealing with a sibling's death was strain enough for anyone. Still Madeline's absence was not without its advantages.  Ellie set her coffee cup down with a soft clack.

[b]“Let us assume the the police are as blind and incompetent as the usually are,”[/b] Ellie began, mulling the proposition over as she spoke.

[b]“Miss Carter, I’d like you to get whatever evidence the police have gathered, the late Miss Holts personal possessions might be useful to us as well. There shouldn’t be any difficulty given that the death has been ruled a suicide."[/b] That was theoretically true and another reason to bring Madeline along as the next of kin, but it wasn't her experience that police were particularly cooperative when it came to private investigators second guessing their work.

[b]“Miss Malone, get all the voicemails you can from Madeline when she is done… adjusting and see what you can put together about her mindset. You and Miss Blackwood can work the associates and this… cult angle.”[/b] As she spoke Ellie began ticking off points on the fingers of her right hand.

[b]“Leon will talk to his contacts and visit the site. It was nearly a week ago so they might be renting it out by now given the coroner's report.”[/b]

[b]“We need to assume that the boyfriend could be involved, it wouldn’t be the first time a desperate lover has tried to use magic to maintain waning affection,” [/b]Ellie smiled, she had been tempted herself on more than one occasion. Mind magic was a dangerous realm even for professionals and was insanely dangerous for both dabblers and their victims.

[b]“Manny you can cover that angle and look into the various sorts of charms that might have been used. You will also need to find us transportation once we land in Portland.”[/b] She pressed her laptop closed with a click and began to disconnect it from the AV equipment, snaking cables as she went.

[b]“Everyone gather what you need for the trip, if anyone has anything super illegal that they feel they MUST bring, come and talk to me about it.”[/b] She had no doubt plans would change as more information and new ideas came to light, but the important thing now was to get the team moving.

[b]“Miss Blackwood, Miss Grant, if I can have a moment?”[/b] she called as the meeting began to break up into the usual organized chaos of preparing for an investigation and for the hell that would be O’Hare at noon time.

[b]“Fiona,”[/b] she greeted as the young woman approached her. Ellie found she liked the young medium, although she couldn’t have articulated exactly why. The hot emotions began to rise again and she forced them down ruthlessly. She needed to talk to Morgan about the Cults she had described but that could wait for a moment. Even though Madeline still hadn’t returned from the rest room she lowered her voice to a private murmur.

[b]“Do you think you might be able to speak with Cassandra… or her shade… or whatever the term is? It certainly would make things simpler.”[/b]