James had neared the entrance after the man called Ferd had waved his hand and asked James to follow. James had kept his distance, as Ferd and Val had greeted and welcomed the new man. He was a police officer, apparently. James had never had much interaction with any police, even in the crime infested streets of New York. No one had ever even tried to pickpocket him!

James seemed a bit of an odd duck to the party. The others appeared either thuggish, private eyes or highly gangster-fashioned, and there he was, a college graduate and a journalist. [i]Well, this might prove interesting, but am I out of my depth?[/i]

James took his notebook out of his pocket. On the first page he had a photograph of himself and two others in military uniforms. He took the picture into his hand and glanced it quickly. The trio was standing their arms on each others shoulders. [i]No dull moment in Argonne, 1918[/i] read in the back. James put the photograph back and made a note to himself.

[i]Wednesday, 14/4/1925. Arrived at Jeremy's house and joined the other [s]investigors[/s] investigators. They are quite the unordinary bunch from all walks of life. If I wrote characters like them into a short story, no one would believe that everyone could be crammed into a single house in a single city in a single country.[/i]