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Letter from Janet Winston-Rogers

A letter from Janet Winston-Rogers with a generous offer of employment.

Sloane's Character Sheet

I'm participating in this campaign as the only player at the moment, so Carter Sloane was built a little better than your average Trail of Cthulhu character. He has been allocated a total of 30 build points for Investigative Abilities and the normal 65 build points for General Abilities.

CARTER SLOANE'S CHARACTER SHEET

Betty Moss

BETTY MOSS

Betty Moss is Sloane's part time secretary. Betty was a close friend of Gracie in the day and puts up with Sloane out of respect for her. Without Betty, Sloane Detective Agency, would fall into financial ruin. Sloane is unable to pay her full time, so she works Monday through Wednesday.

Carl Sloane

CARL SLOANE

Carl is Sloane's 12 year old boy. Shortly after his mother was murdered, Carl went to live on his Aunt Margaret's farm in Charlton, Massachusetts. The kid was 6 at the time and is unaware of what happened exactly to his mom. He lives a rural life now and has grown to accept the Prices as his "real" family. Sloane visits him at least a couple of times a year, handing over a wad of money to Aunt Margaret, but the man has become a complete stranger to the boy.

Owen Dunn

OWEN DUNN

The closest friend Sloane has, the pair having known each other since childhood; Dunn has always been a decent man and never strayed far from the law. He chose to join the New York Police Department so he could help protect "his" city. Dunn has had an outstanding career as a patrolman and after much hard work, has recently been promoted to homicide detective.
Dunn is a large, burly man, good in a scrap and a decent shot too. He walks with a slight limp, compliments of the shrapnel he received from a German landmine.

Sherman Billingsley

SHERMAN BILLINGSLEY

Billingsley is a former bootlegger and owner of New York's prestigious Stork Club. He gave Sloane and Dunn their first steady job after the war, working as doormen, when the club was little more than a speakeasy. The best boss a man could hope for, Billingsley later went on to help Sloane financially establish his PI business.  He is a very busy man with a wealth of contacts spread throughout the world.

Janet Winston-Rogers

JANET WINSTON-ROGERS

Janet Winston-Rogers first contacted me by letter appealing for my professional help in a case she would only discuss further in person. She keeps an uptown address on 5th Avenue, obviously filthy rich. She claims to have got my name through Billingsley, which is entirely probable (is there anyone he doesn't know). I'm to meet her at the Floyd Bennett Field in New York on the 31st October at 9 o’clock.

Turns out, Janet Winston-Rogers, was the daughter of the late Walter Winston, of Winston Pharmaceuticals. The old man had died in July of this year (1934), making Janet the sole heiress to the Winston fortune. Janet had already inherited a vast sum of money, after her late husband, Horatio Rogers, was killed in an automobile accident in 1933. Dunn ensured me that there was no foul play involved in their deaths, making Janet Winston-Rogers, a legitimately wealthy woman.

At the meeting, she told us how her father traveled the world studying folklore and had developed an interest in the occult. In 1924 he had been on the trail of some “bad people”, as he called them, but Walter wouldn’t tell them exactly who they were. 

Mrs Winston-Rogers hired us with a generous retainer and sizable resources to find out what her father had been involved in and exactly what had transpired in '24. Her only real leads were some unanswered letters from her father's associate, Douglas Henslowe.

Carter Sloane

CARTER SLOANE, PI

BACKGROUND: Carter Sloane was born in New York, in 1897, the son of Irish immigrants. He grew up in a rat-infested tenement in Hell’s Kitchen, never truly knowing who his father was. His mother told him it was a local criminal figure, Jimmy “Mad Dog” Donahue, but the mobster denied it. Sloane’s teen years were spent on the mean streets in a sordid jumble of robbery, thuggery and bare knuckle boxing, running with Donahue’s own gang, the Parlor Mob. He was a natural brawler, with an iron jaw and viscous left hook.

After the cops made a decent effort to break up the gangs of Hell’s Kitchen, criminal life became harder and much more dangerous. Sloane dodged a stint in prison, only by the intervention of a good local kid, Owen Dunn, who convinced and helped him to enlist in the National Guard. In less than two years, the United States declared war on the German Empire, and Sloane was on a ship bound for Europe with the American Expeditionary Forces.

Sloane served with the 42nd Infantry Division, seeing action at Saint-Mihiel and experiencing the horrors of the Argonne Forest. He was never far from his new lucky charm, Dunn, the pair somehow managing to avoid death. On more than one occasion Sloane put himself in harm’s way to save his friend and a lifelong bond was secured. A leg wound eventually earned Dunn a ticket home, shortly before the end of the war.

Sloane returned to his old neighborhood late in 1920, a war veteran and hero. People treated him differently now, with respect and admiration, and he vowed never to readopt his criminal ways. He easily found jobs working the doors of jazz bars and speakeasies, and Dunn joined him when he became well enough to walk again. They were eventually hired by Sherman Billingsley, the owner of the prestigious Stork Club, one of the finest nightclubs in Manhattan. They were employed to ensure Billingsley’s safety along with the patrons of the Stork.

It was during this time that Sloane met Gracie Moore, a pretty showgirl who was involved with a local gangster, Johnny “the Jip” Portelli. Portelli frequented the Stork Club along with his cronies, who often caused trouble there. One night Sloane intervened when the mobster was beating on Gracie and he pummelled Portelli senseless, breaking both his nose and pride, sending him packing. Gracie was eternally grateful, retired from dancing, and within six months the pair were married.

SLOANE'S FORD MODEL A

Tiring of the ritzy nightlife, and on Gracie’s behest, Sloane tried to convince Dunn to partnership a detective agency, but Dunn decided instead to join the police force. Undeterred Sloane opened his own PI office with Billingsley’s help. Sloane’s tenaciousness and street smarts served him well, and with the businessman’s contacts, the Sloane Detective Agency prospered, and quickly acquired an excellent reputation amongst New York’s upper-class. They could even afford to move into a decent apartment and hire a part-time cleaning lady. Soon after, Gracie gave birth to a baby boy, Carl Sloane, his father’s pride and joy.

On the 7th September 1928, Sloane’s world unraveled. The gangster, Johnny Portelli, who had never forgotten how Sloane had insulted him years ago, dropped into the agency to pay his “respects” to Sloane, but instead found Gracie there alone, as she would often help with the books. The gangster and his cronies meant to cut her face up a bit, but things got out of hand quickly and Gracie fought them like a wild cat. In the end one of Portelli’s men stuck her and she bled out on the office floor. There were witnesses, and when Sloane worked out who had killed her, he hunted the streets for them, delivering his own justice. Dunn and the cops got to Portelli first though and the gangster was sentenced to life in Sing Sing. Sloane was never the same.

For a long while Sloane drifted into depression and apathy, drowning his misery in whiskey. Carl was sent to live with Gracie’s sister in Charlton, Massachusetts, and he was forced to sell the apartment, moving back into a wretched tenement in Hell’s Kitchen. Dunn eventually convinced Sloane he had to return to work and once he mustered the strength, he threw himself into his cases wholeheartedly. But things had changed.

SLOANE'S S&W MODEL 27

Sloane found himself taking on every hopeless case the city could throw at him, atrocious cases that nobody else would touch, cases where the cops had come up empty handed or turned a blind eye. Gone were the cream jobs of trailing adultering wives and delivering subpoenas. Once a case was taken he dedicated every sober hour of the day and night, and if he got results, if he found out those responsible, he usually ensured they got what was coming to them. 

And so it has been for the last five years or so. Sloane lives in a perpetual world of death and despair, where the horrific is becoming mundane. But it’s what keeps him alive - the thoughts of revenge for all the poor souls - that and his kid.

SLOANE'S OFFICE

DESCRIPTION: Sloane looks older than his years; his face is drawn, his green eyes look perpetually tired. His short brown hair is unkempt, and although he tries to remain clean shaven, he often sports a 9 o’clock shadow.

Of average height and unimposing, Sloane maintains a sinewy build; his frame belying his inherent strength and resilience. His large, brawny hands, bare quite a few scars across the knuckles.

Sloane’s khaki trench coat is scuffed and stained, at the hems and cuffs. His usual attire is a dark grey suit, topped with a black fedora and crumpled necktie. His clothes are almost always disheveled and look slept in. His Smith & Wesson revolver hangs beneath his left arm in a worn leather shoulder holster.