Alexander Scaplehorn works for the Inland Revenue, specialising in money laundering. He was sent to investigate the Trophy Room near Woodside Park in Barnet. It is the sort of place that might be involved in money laundering, with very few purchases except large one-off payments from external parties.
The shop looked old; the taxidermy tiger in the window was faded and had a broken tooth. The owner, Daniel Rawlings, let Alexander in showed him around. There was a strong smell in the room "as though someone had murdered a lily and buried it under the floorboards," and Daniel smoked constantly, possibly to cover the smell. Daniel did not look Alexander in the eye, but the tax-man went to work explaining how to stop money laundering and looking through the accounts which Daniel had prepared.
Daniel explained that they had the oldest skins in the world at this shop including a buffalo skin from North America, a jaguar from South America, a wolf pelt from the Middle Ages, a hare from the Great Exhibition from 1851, and a 5th century gorilla skin from Carthage.
There was a knock at the door and Alexander heard two cockney voices, and Daniel went out of the shop to help the men with some deliveries. After Alexander was alone in the shop, he heard a voice from under the floorboards. Spotting a door, he opened it to reveal a stairway going down and a figure with an illuminated face swaying slightly. "We've got one down here, come on, I'll show you," the face said mechanically. The figure repeated the sentence and, unnerved, Alexander went back into the shop to see Daniel had returned. With a grin, the owner asked if everything was alright, looking Alexander in the eye for the first time; he noted that his eyes were empty and glassy like the ones of the taxidermied animals around the shop. When they all started to move, Alexander charged into Daniel, hitting him like a bag of sand, and he fled.
Post-Statement Follow-Up
The Trophy Room is still in business. Although Jonathan was hesitant to send anyone into a dangerous situation, Not-Sasha agreed to go, but returned stating that there was no figure in the basement, nor anything else strange, although Daniel still owned the place. One Daniel Rawlings went missing as recounted in MAG 1: Angler Fish, although he and the shopowner do not look alike, except for their hair.
Supplemental
Jonathan broke into Gertrude's flat; it had not yet been re-let owing to legal delays due to her disappearance and the flat was mostly untouched. She lead a very minimalist life and had had many books in the house, which she appeared to have thrown out after reading. Any books that had faces on the front, however, had the eyes cut out. There was also a laptop charger, but no laptop.