HayesWebster's personal account of the events in:
The Sanderson Ghost
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Sunday, October 29th, 1922
ProfessorMontgomeryScott had brought some things back from Egypt, and at some speed - and invited me to come along and see them at his lecture. A good man, we share a barber. He'd managed to bring back a 6' by 5' by 8' casket, by my reckoning, and three 6' urns. Imagine! After the lecture, he had a scary thought - the newfangled x-ray machine at the hospital for looking through people could be used to look inside boxes. I had to see that for myself, so I agreed to go along the next day.
Monday, October 30th, 1922
Spent the morning talking to JimmyBartlett - he says x-rays won't go through metal boxes. Panic over. In the evening, Professor Scott turned up at the Club with his x-ray photographs. Strange things they were, white on black, but once you got used to the idea it was really quite scary just how much you could see... three skeletons, which they said were the size of children, but with seven fingers on each hand and seven toes on each foot! You could see the bones in each finger! I thought they were some kind of new monkey but the scientists didn't seem impressed. They were all in a flutter about how unlikely it would be that these children would exist, when clearly they do, so I don't see what all the fuss is about. Dr Scott invited us to attend the opening of the casket. I felt like a regular Heinrich Schliemann!
Tuesday, October 31st, 1922
Got up at some ungodly hour to go and open the casket. We went in and, of course, it was a three-man job and he'd only brought one man, MrHughes, along, so I had to help open the damn thing. Well what do you know, it's empty. Looks like all the panic about x-rays and whatnot was all for nothing.
Wednesday, November 1st, 1922
Alsoud came bursting into the club in the afternoon looking as if he'd seen a ghost. Turns out Scott's been murdered! I gave away a round of drinks, I was so shocked! Then what do we read in TheUnityReporter, but that it was a double murder, and that some poor janitor at the Hospital's been killed. What a horrible day that was - I certainly hope things get better soon.
Thursday, November 2nd 1922 Erlich went off to get some doohickey which was supposed to count geigers (which I think have something to do with x-rays). He came back yelling 'They've found it!'. That drink, he had to pay for. Turns out the late Prof had kept notes on his digs, and they mostly confirmed our suspicions about the casket.
Friday, November 3rd 1922 Went down to Ingraham's to see what I could see about the bodies. Arnold was in a bit of a funny mood what with the police investigation, but our friend Mr. Jefferson changed is mind. He let me borrow some sketches, which I took back to Julius. He couldn't make head nor tail of them - how odd. Robert and Alsoud started reading through the book - They reckoned between them they had enough Latin and Arabic to get the gist of it.
Time Passes
Friday, November 10th 1922
Alsoud came back from his researches bone-white.. apparently those InvisibleMonkeys were alive after all, and they must have escaped and killed the Janitor and the Prof. - and worse still, he thought they might be after us! Then he showed us this hand gesture from the books - and HE WENT INVISIBLE!
- DAMNED INVISIBLE!
before I could force anyone to show me how to do it - Alsoud's voice told us that one of the creatures was outside. I got my gun, while the rest locked 122 up. Then, just when things couldn't get any worse, the phone rang for Alsoud. I didn't catch why, but we had to get to the hospital. There was a hole in the ceiling there, and we got out a ladder and climbed inside. Something attacked Lisa (?), and I caught a glimpse of it, and got a few shots off. I think I got one of them. Then FrankShort turned up, and shot another of them, and they disappeared. Thank God it was all over.
The SandersonGhost
Friday, January 12th 1923
A new member turned up this morning - RebeccaSwarovski, or some name like that. Into photography, apparently; rich, and a drinker. Excellent.
There was something in the Reporter about the old SandersonHouse - I can vaguely remember the 'Butcher of Butcher Road' from back in Boston. Apparently some workers are getting too scared to work there. Lazy swine. Anyway, we decided it might settle our uneasy minds to go and have a look, and if nothing else we could shut Lisa up about those damned x-ray ghosts of hers. She rang the foreman, and he said we could go round the next day. You could hear our eyes roll.
Saturday, January 13th 1923 The foreman told us a bit about what had happened - someone found some cats, someone fell off a scaffolding and someone disappeared in the basement. I asked to have a look at the basement, and down we went. The floor was full of boxes, and there was a grating that you could probably get down through. I wasn't about to volunteer, and anyway we found that the boxes were full of jewelry. Looks like someone's been using this as a hidey-hole. Not a bad idea, I suppose..
The others weren't interested in my idea - hide the loot somewhere else so that the crooks reveal themselves - so we went to the police. It was SergeantCalvin on duty when we got there, and he interviewed us all; but he seemed more interested in when the Social Club's next shipment was arriving than in the actual crime. Excellent - must make sure that one gets there promptly, and maybe with a little extra...
Sunday, January 14th 1923 Sent a little extra down to the social club; and what do you know, they accidentally put my interview in with the paperwork. Honestly...
Thursday, January 18th 1923
I heard BenjaminCohen got arrested. Just goes to show.
Sunday, January 21st 1923
Some vandals had painted some of the buildings on my way to work pink - and they got 122 as well. I reckoned it was students. Tom Flanagan had called the police, so I put the books back around the booze. RobertJohnson was not best pleased.
Eric and Rebecca went round town to see where else the pink was. Turned out they'd done 7th street all the way from McIntyre to 9th avenue, too; and they got my Barber! Rapscallions! I think the experience with the police had gone to EthanLocke's head, 'cos he got one of the maps of unity out, and started drawing lines and pushing pins into it. Well, Robert reckoned it looked a bit like the symbol on one of the Jenkin frat houses, so he went off to look into it.
That gave me an idea - once there was a lull in the drinking, I rang up JimmyBartlett and got him to go down to Jenkin and put it about that it was Brown students. then I rang round and got some cheap green paint in - I predict there may be a rush on it soon... Johnson came back with the news that the frat house are putting on a play. What does he expect from a house called New Theatre?
Monday, January 22nd 1923 More pink. Ethan and Alsoud were all jumpy 'cos their pins made some satanic symbol, with the theatre at the centre. Sent a shiver down my spine when I saw it, if I'm honest. Johnson went off to the Jenkin Library to try to find out more about the play. The hardware stores all ran out of green paint today, and Mr. Gray's phone was ringing off the hook. I love it when a plan comes together. Mrs Swarovski was asking after photographic supplies, too.
Tuesday, January 23rd 1923
Spent the day at home. JonathanGray had a good day selling paint, or so I hear. After that, I went round trying to find out whether anyone had brought any pink dye in, but they all went very tight-lipped. Something fishy's definitely going on here.
Wednesday, January 24th 1923
Boy, had Eric and Rebecca had a few too may Fruit Teas... she was transfixed by his collection of railroad tickets. Eric's a good man, but I wish he'd leave his work at work. Anyway, apparently Rebecca's found out what the dye's made of. ScandiumOxide, whatever that is. Good for her.
Thursday, January 25th 1923
Eric says dye was brought in through UnityHillsStation, and that it came from Scandinavia, or Norway.. he didn't seem sure which. I couldn't think of anyone offhand who brings stuff in from either of those, and practically everything comes in through Unity Hills. I had another go but I'm still getting nowhere.
Later on Rebecca sent a telegram off to the mine where the Scandium comes from (Which is in Norway, as it turns out). All this talk makes me want to go eat at Bork. I wonder why.
Friday, January 26th 1923 Mrs. Swarovski got a telegram back from Norway - they must be bored out there. It said that nobody's ordered any ore from them in those quantities for 2 years. Now, I know places you could hide stuff for that long, easily; but everyone was convinced there had to be a second mine. Eric went off to look up who brought the ore in at Unity; but it was smudged in the records. I could have told him that without looking. Well, that was a total bust, so then everyone started going on about this Merritt man who translated the play. We looked him up in the phone book and Rebecca went off to find him at home. She came back shaken - he'd killed himself and set fire to his apartment. Nasty. We bickered for a while about what to do next; Alsoud slipped off to talk to the law about the suicide; and Robert went off to Jenkin to find more out about the play. After a while we decided to follow Robert; when we got there, he'd already left, so back we came and there he was reading a copy of the damned thing. Al had got back, too, and he told us what was in the suicide not.
The man is mad. I mean, Merritt was mad; not Alsoud is mad. Though you never know.
Turns out HilaryMerritt had found the book at some point - aside from that, it didn't tell us anything we didn't know. We argued for quite a while about Hillary's part in things; but I managed to convince people that it was probably another of those Viking finds we've had lately.
Saturday, 27th January 1923 Robert seemed quite shaken by the book. He says that it's actually a ritual to summon 'The Shadow King', using the audience as a human sacrifice. Now, it sounds a bit far-fetched to me; but then so would the business with the monkeys. He said you needed a full pentagram for it to work, and we all had an argument about whether there was one or not. I stomped off up to the attic to see if there was paint on the roofs. At first look, there were just dabs.. then this pink mist started to rise, and the glowing mist was coming right at me! I ran downstairs as fast as I could; grabbed a drink and went home by the back door so I wouldn't have to cross the dye. Robert's right - something Very Bad is going on. I had a few drinks, settled myself down; and had just got comfy when Alsoud and Julius turned up at my door asking if I could drive them downtown; Robert had disappeared in the direction of the University brandishing a gun. I can see why they thought he needed support - one gun against whatever was coming? So I steeled myself and went back to the club; got my gun down off the bookshelf, made sure the crowbar was in the trunk, and we set off for the University. Halfway there we hit a wall of bodies - a small riot of Brown students were painting the town brown. Damn - if I'd known I was going to cause his, I'd have tipped off my sources in Providence. That could've been a lot of favours I'd be owed. Well, hindsight, I suppose. We were getting nowhere, so I got out and jimmied open a fire hydrant; that cleared the street out good and proper. We got down there just as Eric and the others were arriving; they'd been down to the Cop Shop to try to get the play banned when the riot broke out. The rioters came back so we fled into the auditorium. We were looking for something to stop the play, when we remembered Eric knows all about boilers. In the weather we've been having, there's no way they could get an audience for a play. So we went down there and Eric, um, 'fixed' it. We set off back for the Club, and all had a few celebratory fruit teas.
Sunday, 28th January 1923 Robert was in the papers brandishing his gun. When I saw him, he'd been down to the law and told them he was there - fool! Not only that, but apparently Eric 'fixed' the boiler all too well; the auditorium blew up, killing the people putting the play on! I hope he sleeps well tonight... Still, at least the damnable play won't be happening.
Sunday, 25th February 1923
Been a good few weeks - sales are up. Don't know why the gang should be so bothered by the MolassesDistillery closing - but I suppose that's what you get if you always follow the same team. Mrs Swarovski seemed concerned too, and she's only just here; but she was back to her usual self today, asking after chemicals for colour photography. What will they think of next? It had been a quiet week, too; until Julius came bursting into the tea room with a book which was making a chiming noise. Everyone else seemed worried by that, which is odd; it's not as if they've never seen a false book before. I thought someone had left a clock in there as a prank, but they opened the book and there was a tiny metal hand inside, holding a key. I couldn't see anywhere you could have wound it up; it must have been in there from the start. Well, so far so odd, but nothing untoward; and a nice mystery for people to solve. I've decided I like mysteries; they tend to be good for business. The key had a label - '122 Mallory way' on one side and '27' on the other.
We asked Tom where room 27 is - turns out that key's been missing for years; it's to one of the basements. Tom didn't know if it was 122's original basement or one of the buildings that used to be next-door. Well, we went down there, and then people insisted on recording everything so we had to wait for Mrs Swarovski to get back with her cameras. I used the time to get lamps; and the others wanted some Dutch courage. I like mysteries. Rebecca came back with two cameras - I think she wants to leave one at the society. We opened up the door and stepped through... Inside, there was a giant spider made of metal rods mounted over a big hole in the floor. Weird. Eric noticed that the door was mounted on a cog, with horoscope signs on the door, so we got out of there before it locked us in. Eric knew someone who had some spare low-quality sleepers, so me and Benny went along with him - you never know who's about on a night like this. When we got back, people were yelling - apparently Lisa, Robert and Julius had gone down into the hole, and Julius had got trapped down there - rushing in, like a fool!. They were asking for someone small to be lowered down into the hole, so before I volunteered I went back to get my gun; but when I came back they'd lowered Mrs. Swarovski down, and she'd found some bones. While the rest of them went off to look in the library, I had a look at the cage he was in. Nothing obvious in the way of locks.. I was all for cutting him out of it but they reckoned it'd do more harm than good.
We went back to the tea room to try to steady our nerves. Lisa seems to think there's an entire new country in the basement, or something. Robert and Benny had found something out about Robert and Louisa Burke, their maid HattieJenkins, A grim way to end the day, but business is up, again. Like I said, I like mysteries. I just hope this one is over soon.
Monday, 26th February 1923
After a lot of bickering about what to do, we went back to the machine; and RobertJohnson found a ladder leading down into the machinery. We went down amongst the cogs, and though Robert nearly fell in, we eventually made it to a panel, which by my reckoning was on the outside of the chamber that Julius was trapped in. There was a 7 by 7 square of switches on the panel; and on the wall there was a note in the dust: 'Remember your journal!'
Well, EthanLocke, RobertJohnson and Lisa DaVinci went off to check the county records, and RebeccaSwarovski, BenitoTorelli and I went to the old BurkeHouse. While Rebecca distracted the new owners with some Womens' Sufferings, I checked out the side. I found a window where I could have seen into the basement, but then I heard a dog barking. Now, I like dogs as much as the next man; but I decided to leave anyway. We set off back for the society.
Meanwhile, Ethan, Robert and Lisa went round to visit the BurkeHouse. When they came back, they spoke to a kid who took them to HattieJenkins; Ethan stayed at 122. When the others got back, they told us they'd seen Hattie, and she'd burnt all the Burkes' notes to stop them. Crazy old woman. Anyway, off we all went back to the BurkeHouse. We stayed in the cars while Ethan, Robert and Lisa spoke to the lady of the house. Turns out she has an interest in history; she let them look round her basement for free. They came back to get us from the cars, and we went down into the basement. The basement was very dusty; there were a lot of tables covered in books and clockworks. Rebecca photographed everything, and Robert pocketed some of the books, including a technical manual and one that Lisa found to be the journal we were after, and I covered up after him. I think someone offered the lady a trial membership in the Society.
We went back to 122, and Robert and I used the technical manual to release Julius. Lisa seemed quite shaken by what she'd read in the journal; apparently it's some sort of time machine! It lets you see what happened to things, or what will happen to them. Sounds good to me - it could be useful to know where certain people were on certain dates; but according to Lisa, it can show you some quite disturbing things. I was going to point out that that was what I wanted, but then she asked me for a fruit tea; her first in a while; usually she just sticks to the occasional grape juice. Ethan seems to have had a bit of a turn too - apparently he's seeing DrJackson now. Yeah, I like mysteries. Still, I could happily wait a while before the next one.
Sunday, March 18, 1923
Word got round this morning that ClementGreer wanted the opinion of TheUnitySociety on an item that had.. come into his possession. The usual gang of us ended up going round to his house. After a short wait in his lobby (nice house!) he took us into the room with his safe in. Some people should be more careful - if they stand a certain way certain people might see their combination (heh heh). He brought out what he said was 'TheJournalOfWilliamSmith' - an old book, which he said was about an early journey to this part of the world; they took boats up the Mossahuck!. You could tell it was old - Smith was spelt 'Fmith'. Alsoud said it was probably genuine, or at least a very expensive fake. Greer let RobertJohnson read some of it; it spoke about a settlement called 'Rayleigh,' or certainly something with R,L,Y,E and H in it. We recognised JenksHill and VillersHill from the descriptions; apparently Villers is where they buried their dead! Amazing how far back some traditions go... Suddenly, Robert stopped reading, and went very pale. He said he's seen a 'ritual to banish the shadow king' mentioned.
Suddenly it all fell into place - We knew HilaryMerritt had been digging up around the FirstEpiscopalianChurch, and that was where TheRingOfTheShadowKing came from. What if Merritt had dug up a book from Rayleigh?
Johnson persuaded Greer to let us see the book again, and we went back to the society, somewhat shaken. When we got back, Tom Flanagan (who was in a bit of a boisterous mood) told us there was someone here to see us in the Tea Room. We went in, and it was Toni DaVinci; and he didn't look happy.
Mr. DaVinci told us that he wasn't happy with the amount of time Lisa was spending around the police; but that we could win back his favour by consoling the widow of AlexBird - one of the guys who used to run TheWhiteHorse. Mr. DaVinci left, and there was a big argument about whether we should help him.
Some people have no sense of self-preservation; AlsoudHassam least of all.
Anyway, I ended up driving EthanLocke and RebeccaSwarovski over to the lady's house; them being the two of us who're probably best at this sort of thing. I stayed out and polished the car; it's good to show willing.
After what seemed like hours, the two of them came back out. Turns out, to everyone's great surprise, it actually was a suicide. Apparently the guy was a bible nut - they brought out a note the guy had had, from Revelations. Ethan said he'd seen something like it at Greer's... something fishy there.
Monday, March 19, 1923 Robert was working today, so Alsoud went back to Greer's to study the book. Benny and I went to the White Horse to find out more about Bird. Benny kept reporting back to Toni - keeping the man happy is a good idea, but you can take it too far.
Anyway, after we showed him a few PicturesOfLincoln, the... er... steward told us that Alex had been an odd job man who'd done Toni a big favour - perhaps even saved his life. He didn't know what the favour was, but he said he'd been working with Terry the Snitch and Bobby Goodhair at the time. We set off to find them, but they'd both gone to ground, so we headed back to the Society.
Once there, we got a call from Alsoud. He needed the safe opening; apparently there was a body in there. Nasty. We went round, and Ethan and Rebecca were there with him. To everyone's amazement I opened the safe (so where were they looking?). Greer fell out, dead. Al found another of the Angel's notes, and Rebecca and I pored through some account books (they looked all right to me). The maid was there, too - turned out she was working for the Chronicle. Al and Rebecca sent Benny to call the police; he called Toni instead, who said he was sending some cleaners round. We convinced the 'maid' she should leave, then Benny drove her home. I went back in and told the others the cleaners were coming, and they got all riled up - as if it were my fault! Anyway, then there was this knock on the door, and when I opened it a kid was running away and there was this note. I picked up the note and got in my car to chase the kid. Once I was going I looked at the note. It was from the Angel, and it was addressed to me...
I got the gun out of the glove compartment, just as the kid went round a corner. I looked up just in time to see that the alleyway wasn't big enough to take the car. I got out and jumped over the car, and ran after the kid. He was trying to climb the wall, so I shot just above him. That got him down. I took him by the ear and led him to the car; locked the door and unscrewed the lock.|HayesWebster, I know thy works, that thou art neither cold not hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing: and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor,a nd blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich: As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
As I drove back to Greer's, I started to ask the boy who he was working for. He said he was the son of BlackPhil, that he was working for his father's friends, and that they were big men in TheMob. After that he wouldn't tell me any more.
I got back to the house; the others were helping out the cleaner, who'd gone to dump the body. They had a little more success being nice to the kid; they found out that he had taken a letter to RuthSuto (nice of his father to send him there). Meanwhile I was getting worried that the kid was working for Toni, so I left with him before the cleaner got back.
I set off heading for 122, but I got an idea - so I got a bag out of the glove compartment and took the kid to the warehouse. Once there, I dressed up as GilCobbett, and started to scare the kid. He told me the men his dad worked for were called Alessi, and there was a tall one and a scrawny one. Damn. I hope this isn't about that one bad deal we had! I asked him how he knew to find me - he said he was just told the address. HE was getting pretty scared by then, so I put the bag back on his head, changed back into my clothes, and took him most of the way home.
I must remember to get Jimmy to redecorate the warehouse. It's not as if I don't know any paint suppliers... Got back to the society quite late. Benny was there, and Al had just arrived. Benny was in quite a state - apparently Toni had asked to see us all but we'd been gone. Well, the others got back, and after the usual arguments (do these people not enjoy breathing?) we set off to Toni's.
Toni was in a strange mood - he sat us all down, and told us that we weren't to repeat what he was about to say. Then he apologised. Toni DaVinci apologised. We told him what we knew.. he didn't seem amused by the Shadow King stuff, and when he found out about Sato he said it couldn't be Alessi. Well, that was a weight off my mind. Strange - of all the things to think of at that point, I thought I smelt smoke.
We headed back on home to 122, where EricColigny and JuliusErlich had got off work. Apparently Suto's brothel had burnt to the ground. While the others explained what had happened, I headed down to the Tea Room. I barely made it down there, my knees were shaking. Whatever was doing this had Toni stumped; it had got all the others; and it knew where to find me! I got the shotgun out. Julius came downstairs to find me. I gave him some free drink to test for poison. Slowly, the others came down, and asked for drinks... and I relaxed a bit. I told them again how the only person who was there every time was the reporter, and this time most of them went off to check her out. Alsoud stayed behind, and we got to talking... Greer's death has left a bit of a vacuum in the curios market in Unity. Perhaps he and I could fill it...
The others came back. Apparently the reporter had nothing to do with it. Then someone got down a bible and looked up the verses. After a quick call to FrankShort we worked out that the last one was about locks and doors. BenitoTorelli remembered that KeirLeary, the locksmith, owed Junior Alessi a few favours - perhaps it was for him. Benny and I went over to Leary's place, only to find Junior there. He blew up with this big speech about how this whole affair was so people'd take him seriously, and that we'd made a powerful enemy that day. Seeing as Benny and I had shotguns pointed at him, he let us get out of there. The rest is a bit of a blur - did we cut his brake line?
Sunday, April 15, 1923
Mr. Flanagan showed an old Russian down into the Tea Room today; he said we're getting a reputation as charitable investigators. Well, I was about to say charity begins at home - so why don't you go look for it there, pal? - but it seems he pulled the right strings for the others - EthanLocke just blurted out that they'd help him, for free! I wasn't having any part of it, but off they went.
The day was quiet after that - it's almost as if the rest of the society don't come down here - but later on, back they came. EricColigny showed me the title of the book they were looking for - KnigaIvana. What do you know, but it's the same as the one hiding the vintage cognac!
Suddenly, they're all bearing down on me, asking me why didn't I ask them? The cheek! What I do with my property is my business, and if they don't like what I do with it, they can get their FruitTeas elsewhere!
Monday, April 16, 1923 Eric didn't show up this morning. I hope I didn't offend him too bad with my little outburst yesterday.
AaronCohen called round for me, though.. said he'd like to ask for our help; and that he could pay us well. Knowing how eager the others were to help their dear Russian friend, I decided to put this one to them.
He said his son, BenCohen, was going to trial this coming Thursday, for being the SandersonGhost; he also said he was sure Ben was innocent.
EthanLocke was worried that helping him out was illegal; so he went off to work. The rest agreed to help him, what with being partially responsible for getting him in trouble in the first place. None of them asked him for a dime - all the more for me, I suppose.
Well, we went back to the SandersonHouse. The work's come along nicely - those apartments'll set people back a fair bit. We went back down to the cellar, and decided to investigate the grate. I was the only one who could fit down there so (as I was being paid for this, and we had plenty of rope, and a few carbide lamps) I took out my gun and down I went.
The tunnel opened back up after a while, probably 5' across and concrete. It headed north, then curved round to the east. It started to get a little damp - I think I may have even been under the river - but then my rope ran out and I had to head back.
Tuesday, April 17th, 1923
JuliusErlich was inspecting a bullet they'd found while I was down the tunnel. He said it was from a pistol, and that it could quite possibly be the same gun that had shot some of his more recent patients. I didn't ask, I don't want to know. The rest of us were trying to come up with a way of finding the end of the tunnel. I don't remember who came up with the idea, but we decided to try to blow smoke down it and see where it came out. Now, Julius knows some Chemistry; you'd think he'd enjoy coming up with something that made a lot of smoke - but he seemed quite worried by the idea. How odd. It took a little persuasion, but we eventually got him to brew up a batch of something that'd give off a lot of mustard-coloured gas. Benny got a spare prop engine to blow the smoke down the hole, and we were set.
We sent him round to meet Aaron at the SandersonHouse, while Benny and Rebecca went up in his 'plane (again...). Me, Lisa and Jack went round to the graveyard of the ChurchOfTheHolyCross, which seemed like the most likely place for the tunnel to come out. I drove Lisa, but Jack insisted on taking his motorcycle. I hope I haven't offended him as well.
We got there before any smoke was showing; I looked for Sanderson or Boucher gravestones, while Jack tried the door of the church. Just as he'd given up and was about to join me and Lisa, a FatherAdrian O'Leary came up to us, and wanted to know what we were doing in the graveyard. Luckily, at that moment the smoke started to show, so we said we'd seen it from a way off and come to investigate. I don't think he quite bought it, but it shut him up for a moment. At that moment, Benny's plane flew overhead. I saw Jack go for his gun, so before the priest noticed I led him towards the source of the smoke. It was a stone tomb, about 6' by 12' by 4' high. No wonder I didn't notice it earlier, it says 'BOVCHER' on it. Sounds Russian. While we were waiting for the smoke to clear, Benny and Rebecca turned up. This time it was a bit easier to convince him they'd seen the smoke... but when we finally decided to go down into the tomb, he asked for a torch... and got presented with 3. Rebecca had to explain everything to him. He took it rather well, considering. Rebecca and I drove back to get Julius and Aaron, but Aaron wanted to take the big fan back. When we got back, we all set off down into the tomb. It looked like the steps had been replaced; and the tomb was empty, except for a crate. Julius, Rebecca and Lisa had a rummage through the rags that were in the crate, but didn't find anything. It looked like the ground had been disturbed before we got there... there were bits of a broken door on the ground. Around the ceiling were carvings of people with plants coming out of their mouths, which Rebecca said she recognised as 'Green Men'. Benny found a door at the back, and behind it was a tunnel leading down, with rungs at one side. Down the tunnel, there were more carvings.. these ones were dancing, fiery people. There was also an opening into another tunnel; looked a little bigger than the other but it could have connected up. Suddenly Lisa took ill... eep. Benny carried her out, and Julius followed to look after her; but suddenly he started choking even worse than she was. Benny put Lisa in his car; she was starting to look a little better in the fresh air. He picked up Julius, too; he was looking worse, if anything.
The rest of us went back to the tea room. Rebecca was looking a little pale, but some of the old KnigaIvana brought the colour back to her cheeks. Benny came back, and told us that Lisa was OK.
Wednesday, April 18th, 1923
Lisa came in, looking a little the worse for wear but not too bad, and went into the library to look for books to help Julius. Jack went in too, and came out with a book on tomb carvings. He and Rebecca went round to GoldsteinAndSons masons, who the book listed as the builders. Benny came back from visiting Julius, saying he thought there was a spore or something on the sacks. Oddly, Benny asked me for my suit measurements. Later on, Benny turned up with Julius in his car, and asked me to come get my new suit. After a bit of persuading (which may have been helped by the shotgun I was holding) they told me they'd made a protection suit so I could go explore the tunnel from this end. Benny promised me the whole reward to myself, so I went along with it. I pulled on the suit and set off down the tunnel, with the rope and a carbide lamp in one hand, and my shotgun in the other.
Got to the end of the rope... still nothing. As I set off back, it occurred to me that there was no way BenjaminCohen could fit down this tunnel... perhaps that would be enough to save him?
We went back to 122, where Ethan was back from work. He didn't seem to think that the court would listen... he said we should just tell Aaron. Julius excused himself to talk to a patient of his, who he thought could help, and Lisa and Jack went to find more about the tomb in the library. RebeccaSwarovski wanted to see the masons again, so I gave her a lift on the way to see Aaron.
The mason had nothing to tell us - he said that his company was barely involved, and that most of the work had been done by MarshallAndGaiman from outside Unity. We set off to see Aaron. Aaron didn't like the news we had for him - he said the court wouldn't listen about the tunnel. I suggested we go and see what Julius had found, so we set off to his Surgery; when we got there, he'd gone back to 122, so there we went.
When we got back, Julius told him about the bullet, and that it matched a wound in his patient. I thought Aaron didn't look all that surprised, and what do you know.. he says he shot the man. He knew his boy had been framed, so he waited in the basement at night for a week.. and then when the man appeared, he shot him. Trouble is, when he called the police, the man'd gone, and the police accused him of time-wasting. Well, Julius said the bullet proved it, and that the man was in his surgery, so they could prove he'd been framed. Julius asked Benny to watch his surgery, and then him, Aaron and Jack went off to the police station, but came back even more glum (though in need of a stiff fruit tea, so it's not all bad).
Benny got back, and said the police'd arrested Julius' patient. That's not going to do him any good.
Time Passes
Monday, 23rd April 1923
They tried BenjaminCohen today, and he got sent down. Damn.
Sunday, 6th May 1923
Had the Centenary Dinner tonight. Alexander Isaiah Jenkin II was guest of honour, and the wine was flowing freely; most everybody was a long way gone, especially EricColigny. JuliusErlich had brought his nurse along; and EthanLocke was all over some flapper called Debbie, who Lisa wouldn't leave alone either.
It was shaping up to be a nice night when I spotted GilCobbett with some floozy at another table; that was enough to sour my mood. However, after not very long they were arguing loud enough that everyone was staring at them; she stood up and threw her wine in his face, and stormed off. I was in fine spirits, and even bought Mr. Cobbett a drink. Hehe. The president of the society gave most of a speech before gravity got the best of him. The treasurer's speech was more interesting; they've put me under 'Sundry medications and preparations' this year. The society's doing all right for money, which is good to know. Suddenly, the lights all went out, and this wailing starts; and everybody's looking to the window. There's a white, shining apparition there. At first I thought it was some strange party trick; but it started floating over to our table, moaning 'Alexander, Alexander'.
Most of the usual gang got up to investigate; The Maitre d' - WilliamSweet - tried to stop us; so I threw a bread roll at the thing. Straight through! It went straight through the damn thing. Lisa and I wondered whether it was another X ray Ghost.
The thing started to call out to Alexander Jenkin: said it was old IsaiahJenkin, out to make things right, wanting Alexander to use his fortune for good. Next thing, there's this great flash; the window'd broken, there was a storm outside, and Jenkin'd disgraced himself. Ewww. There was a commotion, and I noticed a lot of people helping themselves to the wine. We went outside, and after a while the police arrived; however, after a brief word with Toni, they left.
One of us noticed an open window in the building across the street - UnityPublicLibrary. I couldn't get in the front, so I went and got some carbides and rope out that were still in my car, and after a bit of hooing and hahing, we got Benny in through the window; he pulled the rest of them up - Eric, Jack, Rebecca and Lisa - and I kept watch at the bottom. After a while, they called me up to open a door for them. They were in a storeroom, and there were fresh prints in the dust leading out through a door. I managed to get it open - cheap two-pin little thing - and it led out into the main library. Aside from a pair of prints where he'd stopped to close the door, there was nothing much to see; so we closed the door again and got ready to go back down the rope. Damn cheap lock mangled itself while I was locking it again; but I got the 'driver out and went back down the rope.
Monday, 7th May 1923
Spent the morning organising a shipment of carbides that Alsoud had asked for. Came into 122 in the early afternoon. Julius was talking about WilliamSweet - he'd found out about his past as a fraudster. People spent a lot of time in TheLibrary, and Lisa went off to the UnityPublicLibrary. Last night had made it into both papers.
Lisa came back a while later and said a book on stage magic was missing; and Julius said he'd managed to break glass with gunpowder - as if you needed gunpowder to break glass! They both set off to talk to Jenkin. Eric came in; said he'd had a look round the JenkinMausoleum, but to no avail.
Eric and I spent the rest of the day staking out WilliamSweet. Strange to see how the other half live. No joy, though, so I went with Eric to the library and read the Boston papers while he looked through the cuttings for more about Sweet.
That evening, as people got together for a few fruit teas, it turned out the others had had more productive days (except JuliusErlich, who was nowhere to be found) and had found out a couple of things; first, FixMe had found out that there were a lot of odd coincidences. It wasn't just the society's 100th anniversary, but the incidents in the paper were exactly 100 years after the death of IsaiahJenkin. Not only that, but FixMeToo had come across an actor, JamesVincent, who looked and sounded exactly like the image of old Jenkin.
Late that night - well after 10 - ElizabethJenkin came knocking for JuliusErlich. Apparently Alexander had seen the ghost again, and taken a turn for the worse. We all went round to the Jenkin place on Crane Way, and were greeted by the maid, HattieBrown. Elizabeth took some of us up to the bedroom. Benny found the same powder we'd seen before all around the window. Alexander was babbling about the ghost, Isaiah, land, a wedding, and some guy named Vernon. We searched the room, but as the lady of the house was there we couldn't search too well. We went down to the drawing room, where Eric and Jack, who'd been outside searching the grounds. They'd found a projector in a tree, so we set it up and played it against one of the walls. What do you know, but we got a lovely (but silent) image of the ghost. They went back out in case the projector-man came back.
We showed the projection to ElizabethJenkin, who passed out, and her bumbling maid spilt lamp oil over the film, ruining it! Al started giving her odd looks, and said he wished Dr. Erlich was there, so he could check for poisoning. Now, I've some experience with chemicals, so I volunteered to see what I could. BANG! A shot rang out from outside, and everyone rushed outside to see what it was. Al and I took advantage of the confusion to sneak upstairs; and who was there, but Hattie... She said she'd heard her master call out, but then left us. Al chased after her. I checked what I could, but there was no poison I'd come across in the room, so I decided to have a better look around. I couldn't find anything in the drawers or the jewelry chest, but under the bed I found a gramophone with a record still on it.
I took the gramophone downstairs, where Rebecca was tending Elizabeth, who asked after Hattie. Apparently she'd attacked Elizabeth, then escaped; Jack was out looking for her. While I was setting up the gramophone, WilliamSweet piped up from under Benny. Eric'd shot him in the shoulder when he came back to get the projector.
Sweet said GilCobbett was behind all this. He'd set up Jenkin to believe that he should set right a land deal that Isaiah's called off with the Vernons, and give his fortune to SamuelVernon, whoever that is. I'll bet Cobbett paid the Reporter to run those stories, too. For all I know, SamuelVernon's his real name.
We all got together. Jack brought Hattie, who he'd found, knifed, by the river. We called for a doctor to tend to the wounded, and then, after Benny took Lisa home, we called FrankShort. It was a close call, giving him our story; he asked who else was there, but Eric changed the subject nicely.
Tuesday, 8th May 1923
Frank came in to tell us what'd happened. GilCobbett had been brought in, then released when they couldn't pin anything on him; WilliamSweet went down instead. Appparently, some idiot spilled the beans about Lisa to the cops - I just hope we find out who it is before we meet Toni next.
Tuesday, 4th September 1923
Strange crowd in today - if I didn't know better I'd have thought it was a Sunday. Eric was off working, JackProctor and RebeccaSwarovski were in New York at that new exhibition, and BenitoTorelli was fitting someone for some new overshoes; but RobertJohnson and AlsoudHassam were both in and looking down. I think the freshmen must be coming back to Jenkin.
It was getting on for being time for them to head back - Robert had had his third tea already - when Tom Flanagan came in with a call for him. It sounded serious straight away - MrFlanagan has strict instructions not to take calls from SuzannaJohnson, but she'd been so distraught he'd confessed Robert was at the club.
Apparently there was an abduction at Robert's kids' school, and they'd been sent home. The abductee was a girl called JessicaVaughn. That rang some bells - weren't the Vaughns quite wealthy? Perhaps there would be a reward involved... Robert and Alsoud went home, but Robert returned quite quickly, and said he was going to help search for the girl. A canny one, that robert. Doubtless he'd relaised there'd be a reward too. Lisa and Ethan were both interested too, and Lisa called Alsoud back to help. I suppose the difference between splitting it four and five ways is worth it if it means we actually get the girl back.
We set off for JenkinCommon in Robert's car. When we go there, two UniformedOfficers were trying to keep order among the mob that had grown up there. Damn, news of that reward had travelled fast.
FrankShort arrived, and said a few more calming workds to the crows. One of them asked him what he wa doing, and he said there were two more officers on their way. This didn't go down too well - I can see how people wouldn't want all that reward money going to the Cops. Robert suggested that the crowd could help the cops do a fingertip search, Frank said they'd destroy the evidence, but Alsoud had a good idea - get them to do something somewhere else to keep them busy. Frank made two lines of people - one with us lot and the cops in, and one with the others. He asked Alsoud to explain why archaeologists leave the scene undisturbed, but he just said the standard police explanation. Our line set off towards where the girl was lost, and after not very long we came upon a small stand of trees. It looked like something had been dragged off, and there was a torn piece of black leather on one of the branches.
A cop went away and came back with a camera - RebeccaSwarovski would have loved it - and took pictures of the scene. Strange, but no tracks led away from the bushed. We weren't being uch help, so Frank told us to go back to 122 and wait until he had more information. Nice of him to share.
A while later, Frank gave us a call at 122. We went back to the common, and met up with Dr. QuincyJones. He talked shop with Al for a while, then explained that the tracks showed someone hiding in the bushes, then dragging the girl back into them, but not leaving. Alsoud started to look for tunnels, but Robert noticed that someone had climbed up one of the trees, breaking the branches in a strange way. Lisa climbed up to see what she could see.
Damn! what if it's one of the InvisibleMonkeys that got away? We tried to find finger marks to see how many fingers they had had, but then Robert found the marks of another scuffle. It looked like either the monkeys were wearing shoes, or it wasn't the monkeys. Then, Ethan noticed we were being watched. Not by invisible monkeys, but by a man at the side of the road wearing a black leather jacket. Phew. We crept away and then drove round in Robert's car. Ethan and I jumped off, but i think maybe Robert had had a few too many fruit teas, because we both ended up on the flooor. I managed to get up and shout, 'Freeze!', and the man froze and the cops came and took him away. Robert and Alsoud said the remembered him from the University somewhere, but they took him away for questioning before we could ask who he was. Al did notice that his jacket wasn't torn, though. I hope we haven't got the wrong man. People tend to ask for the reward money back when you do that sort of thing...
Wednesday, 5th September 1923 That thing! Those horrible claws! Those terrible, torn wings!!
later
Calmed down a bit now. Seeing those kids must have got to me, is all. But if it was just nerves, what's in that book Robert brought back? And why do I find myself panicked whenever I look up at the sky?
Maybe if I work through what happened, I can undestand it... The day started well enough. Jenkin had given RobertJohnson the day off, and he was on this third FruitTea by ten O'clock. EthanLocke was sat reading TheUnityTimesChronicle, and there was an article about yesterday's doings in it; apparently we're 'concerned citizens', and they'd taken the man we caught, JonathanMason, in for questioning.
MrFlanagan gave us notice that FrankShort was coming, so I poured the jug of FruitTea into a teapot. Frank came in and told us more about Mason. Apparently he's an assistant at the Physics department at JenkinUniversity, and he has a cast-iron alibi - he was in a lab, with a professor and a whole class of students to back him up. Also, his jacket wasn't torn. Damn. So, the trail was pretty cold. All we had left to go on was the weird way the branches had been broken. Robert went to look through the society's archives of the papers, to see whether there had been any abductions like this in the past.
I got talking to Ethan, and the conversation got onto his brother, NathanLocke. He's met him the other night at TheAlibi, and apparently he's in the wireless business now, working at WHPL Radio over near VillersHill. I'm sure there's money in that business... I just need to give it more thought. Robert returned empty-handed. Ethan asked, 'If I were a kidnapped schoolgirl, where would I be?' and Robert replied, 'Don't know. Not at school' Why not? I thought, so I said so.
None of us were very familiar with WarrenHardingMemorialSchool, and it would all be locked up, anyway, so we went over to see FrankShort at the OldUnity police station. He was snowed under with concerned parents, so he sent us along to the school with two UniformedOfficers and a search warrant. Wierd to be the one carrying a warrant for a change. Robert drove us over to Harding Memorial, where we met the janitor, Howard Spencer. He took us round the school, but despite spending the beest part of the day searching all we found were the girl's notebooks, which didn't tell us anything we didn't know.
We were getting ready to leave, when the kid who sells Tom Flanagan the newspapaers turned up. He told the officers there'd been another abduction, and a lynch mob was getting ready on JenkinCommon to go after Mason.
Robert put his foot down and we got to JenkinCommon in time to see that interfering bible-basher CharlesGrayson stirring them up. Robert found out from one of the mob that a boy called ThomasJones had been taken while he was playing in his garden on Dee Lane with his sister Sophie. The mob tramped off to Mason's house, and we sped off in the car to get there before them. We got there just in time, bundled Mason into the car, and sped on to the Police station. They put Mason in an interview room, and the mob arrived and demanded to see him. Frank gave them a speech about how they shouldn't take the law into their own hands, though he sounded bored, like he was reading it out. Frank said he'd wait until they'd gone and then take Mason home.
As we left, a man introduced himself to us as MichaelScott of TheUnityTimesChronicle, but we gave him the cold shoulder and set off to Dee Lane to see what we could get out of SophieJones.
We got there and one of the officers we'd met yesterday, OfficerMike, was there. He let us in and we went ot look at some tall trees we could see at the back of the house - to see if they had the same strange breaks as the other tree. Ethan noticed Sophie watching us, and after a bit of persuasion, she told us a 'big bird' had taken him, and she pointed in the direction it had flown off. We got out a map from Robert's glove compartment, and traced the line on as best we could. It went straight through Mason's house. We flew over to Mason's house in Robert's car. Frank was there, having just taken Mason home. There was a small crowd, but quite a few officers this time. While I tried to persuade Mason to let us in, Robert slipped round the side of the house. I managed to get Frank to let me talk to him, but he was having none of it, so Ethan and I slunk off to find Robert. He was listening at a cellar door, and said he could hear chanting in latin. There was a new lock on the door, but that just meant it didn't make any noise while I picked it. I got out my gun and stood back, the other two opened the door...
..and my mind goes a bit fuzzy, then. I remember I saw the children, hanging from the ceiling, and then I saw... something.. and suddenly I'd dropped my gun, and it had gone off, and... something rushed passed me...
- ..and I was at 122, and Ethan was pouring me a Fruit Tea. Apparently we'd opened the door, and when I saw the children I dropped my gun, and the shot had scared Mason off. He'd left a book behind, which Robert picked up, but then the police who'd heard the shot came in and saw the children, and some of them went off to try to find Mason, but they didn't catch up with him. Apparently I gave a statement to Frank - I wonder what I said... and then we came back to 122. So now it's over. Mason's still out there, somewhere, but for some reason that's not what bothers me. It's that I still can't remember what I saw before I dropped the gun - I still don't know what that note in my journal means - and I still don't like the look of that open sky.
Sunday, 25th November 1923
Jack's friend's party came around, and since we were holding it here at the society we all got invites. I got JimmyBartlett to sort out extra staff we could trust so I could see what all the fuss was about some book.
Jack introduced me to the autor, SarahCarpenter, and the others asked her a bit about her book. She said she'd be reading from her new book, so we all took our seats. She read for a while, and after that we all clapped and got on with the business of party.
The party went well - we got through a lot of juice. EthanLocke and SuzannahJackson were as bad as each other. No, I take that back - Ethan was bad, but Suzannah was terrible. Poor Robert. She ended up passed out after Rebecca fed her some 'coffee' to get rid of her, while the hostess was busy on the dancefloor. Ethan had a go at her, but the competition was just too stiff. About half past one, people broke up and headed over to TheAlibi. Late next morning, I wandered into 122 and started reading the papers. Turns out Robert took the author home last night and found her place's been burgled. The others wandered in over the course of the day, and at about one O'clock Robert walked in with Sarah - and suddenly Ethan was all over her. Robert told us what they'd found - there was a broken window on the ground floor, so he went in first. He went up the stairs, and reflected in the dresser he could see written in blood the words 'BOOK SECRET' and a load of symbols. Lisa wanted a look, and Sarah said the police had gone after getting everything they wanted, so we decided to go. The symbols sounded like something Alsoud might recognise, so we picked him up on the way over. Going up the stairs, we saw that someone had shot out the mirror on the dresser - but Robert admitted he'd panicked and done that himself. The words on the wall were all backwards - like they should have been read in the mirror. Alsoud and Robert decided between them that the symbols were probably German - but they couldn't identify them.
Rebecca, Benito and Henry checked outside while we asked Sarah the obvious questions - any enemies, anything like that. Then we piled up her books to see if anything had been taken, but nothing was there. She had some books on German cults, though - Lisa found a book called Teufelworte with pictures of the symbols in it. Robert agreed to let Sarah stay at his place for the night, and the rest of us headed back to 122.
Monday, 26th November 1923 Next morning, Robert came back with Sarah in tow. Rebecca, Henry and Eric went off to her house, while Alsoud came back and told us of a new find. Him and Lisa'd got into a bit of a kerfuffle - apparently someone's been telling her some bad archaeology. She seemed so sure, though.
MrFlanagan told us that Sarah had come back - I hadn't noticed her leave. She'd gone home, and found someone had left her a note. She couldn't read it, but Lisa noticed that it was written backwards.
You told them everything, everything! You shouldn't have told them our secrets. I watched you, I couldn't stop you, but now I can.
Sarah said she'd found the note in DieTeufelworte. Robert rang up the DaimlerAndSons, the store in Providence where she'd bought the book, and made an appointment to meet them. He seemed a bit put off by the call - the store owner had said something 'nasty' had happened, but wouldn't say more.
It occurred to me that this store might have some things that ClementGreer's old customers might want, so I spent the afternoon chasing up old contacts, while Lisa, Eric and Rebecca trawled through the Providence papers looking for this something 'nasty'.
When I got back to 122, Lisa had found an article from last november about a break-in by a knife-wielding maniac at the store, and another about a week later where he was committed, naming him as FranzHoffer, a student from Brown. The others got back from Providence, having found out pretty much exactly what the guys in the Library had. Robert went home, but came almost straight back and demanded a bottle. Sarah had been stabbed! Robert and Jack wnt and got Martha, and took her to see Sarah at the hospital. The rest of us sat around, gossiping about Robert. I don't like to pry into why my customers drink, but safe to say he's got his reasons. He came back a bit later, saying she'll live but that she hadn't said anything yet; then he got on with his drinking. This Sarah's trouble, but she's good for the wallet. Lisa wanted to know what Sarah had been looking at when she was stabbed. Benito worked out she'd been stabbed from the front, so she was probably looking at whoever'd stabbed her.
I drove Eric and Rebecca to guard Sarah's house, while Benny, Al, Lisa and Ethan went to the loony bin. Robert went to look after Sarah at the hospital. I waited in the car while Eric sat with his rifle in a tree and Rebecca tried to go to sleep indoors. It was a long, cold, boring night until about 5AM, whien I saw someone run upstairs. I honked the horn to let Eric know, but it turned out to be Eric running in. Rebecca's been sleepwalking, and Henry had stopped her going out of the room. Eric saw movement and heard barking and ran inside, and that'd been what I'd seen. Rebecca decided she wanted to know where she'd been sleepwalking to, and so we waited inside while she went back to sleep; but she couldn't sleep with us there and so we got nowhere. I drove them to their houses, went home and collapsed into bed.
Tuesday, 27th November 1923 Eric, Rebecca and I met up again Tuesday night, and this time we wedged the bedroom door open and Eric and I waited outside. We played poker for hours. I'm never sure if Eric can tell I'm cheating - he picks up on so much else - or whether he's too polite to say anything. I made sure I only took a few dollars off him in the end, just to be careful. Nothing much happened that night, so we headed home early and got a bit of sleep.
Wednesday, 28th November 1923 Got up and went into 122, where Alsod called from Providence. He said the book had given Hoffa a split personalkity - and that it was bought out by morphine. He said we should go and tell the hospital not to give Sarah any morphine. Damn - hadn't Rebecca read the book?
I grabbed the shotgun, and we raced over to the hospital. There was a crowd around Sarah's door, so we ran over to get alook. Sarah was murmuring in German and holding a scalpel up to the neck of a nurse, and OfficerMike was pointing a gun at her. Robert was there too, with a funny expression, clutching the book. Robert tried to persuade her to let go of the nurse, and she did so; only to grab Robert and pull his gun! The officer took a shot and missed; Eric took advantage of the distraction, and barrelled into her, knocking her to the ground.
It seemed all was well, but then Robert pulled up OfficerMike, and him and Sarah started backing off together. Robert blinked a couple of times, then seemed to come to a bit, and threw down the gun. Sarah ran out into the corridor, straight towards me. I turned the shotgun on her, and she stopped. Everything went quiet. Next thing I know, Eric's taken a shot at her and nearly clipped me, and she's run off down the corridor, I ran after her, but she was too fast. She was getting away, so I held out the shotgun, aimed low, and fired. Nice clean hit, considering it's the first time I've actually used the damn thing. The doctors say she may even walk again, one day.
In the end, they arrested her for assaulting an officer. I had a word with OfficerMike, and we agreed that despite what some excited people might think, it was clearly he who shot her, since I wasn't even there. He agreed, and I think it's been a bit of a feather in his cap since. Nice to have friends on the force. That night, we watched Robert burn the book. He was quite twitchy, but he wasn't drinking so much.. almost as if he has a reason to keep control now. Well, good for him, even if is money from my pocket. I'd rather have him sober than pulling guns on cops.
Monday, 16th June 1924 With almost a month since the last of the wolf attacks, you'd have thought the silver bullet and wolfsbane sales would be slacking off; but they'd really picked up over the weekend. Brilliant idea of Benny's - I get them made by the same guy who does the salt shells - and his stories of werewolves only helped sales, even if they did worry me slightly. I didn't have Benny down as a good liar, or even that imaginative - but he was pretty convincing, and the story fit the rumours perfectly.
Anyway, Benny was off at the airstrip tooling up for a night flight, and JackProctor was hitting the bottle pretty hard. I'd heard he'd taken a bit of a scratch last month during the business with the wolves - still, I'd have thought after a month he'd be getting over it. Hmmm.
Around lunchtime, Benny came round to pick up a few more boxes of silver bullets. I couldn't think who'd buy them with two lots of mark-up on them, but if he's found someone gullible enough to buy them, I thought, good luck to him. MrFlanagan turned up not long after, saying there was another prospective member at the door. He's been a bit cautious since the business with that Russian, and since RobertJohnson was sponsoring the new guy, and he was off somewhere reading his books, Tom didn't want to let the guy in on spec. Eric went up to meet him, and brought him down to meet the rest of us.
Smart-dressed fellow, he was; Rich, obviously, but something told me he wouldn't be an easy man to fool. Said his name was AlexanderGreystone, and ordered a glass of cold water. Maybe not so smart.
He sat down and spoke to the others. Told us he was a banker - he'd just taken over the CornExchangeBank over by Jenkin as a favour to a friend. He came to the society because he'd thought there was something odd about the wolf attacks. Benny and Eric looked shifty, and Jack ordered another - a double. That was a bit disturbing - this Greystone fellow didn't look the sort to be fooled by our stories. What if everything Benny had told me was true? Before I had time to consider, Eric and the new guy got into a bit of a brouhaha about bankers - bit of a bee in Eric's bonnet about banks going bust.
Rebecca broke it up by asking him about some comment he'd made about having joined the RifleClub - turns out Eric wanted some silver ammo. Some stranger I could cope with, but coming from Eric I was starting to beleive they were necessary. Anyway, I put Eric down for another box, and the easy sale put me back at my ease; until he looked at the day's papers, and went white. The headline was just one word - WOLF. Eric wasn't the only one who'd gone pale - Benny, Rebecca, David - even Alsoud shut right up. Jack was worst of all - he looked like a man marked for death. The new guy was a bit taken aback by the reception the paper had got. David explained that Alexander's suspicions had been right - there was more to the wolves than had met the eye. Benny was taking Eric and Rebecca out to in his plane that night to hunt them. Alexander decided to stay at the club, where he'd be safe. From the moment he'd seen the paper, Eric hadn's stopped looking at Jack. He asked Jack how he'd been since his bite - and Jack just said he'd made arrangements; Davd nodded. We asked what arrangements, and he showed us a revolver with a single sivler bullet. He didn't buy that from me.
Now, Alexander had gone pale. David told him that though this might seem too horrific to believe, he himself had been at the society for only a day before circumstances at the TravellingCircus had had the same effect on him. Not exactly reassuring, but at least Greystone did relax a bit. I was only beginning to realise the enormity of the situation - not only were the wolves really people, but Eric and Benny had been shooting them, and JackProctor was one of them!
Rebecca left Henry with us, and Flanagan showed Alexander round the guest rooms. Denny asked me to stay on the wireless. Apparently, OfficerDown was on office that night, and he'd given them the police frequency to use that night. 33.10 - That number's going in my journal! Then the two of them went off with Eric to UnityAirstrip, and me and the new guy waited for sunset.
He wasn't a chatty person - he spent most of the night fiddling with his rifle. Later on, Flanagan came in; David was ringing from the UnityAsylum. Turns out Jack was staying the night there. I didn't know what to make of that; all I could do was send our best hopes. Alexander had stopped fiddling with his rifle, and started fiddling with his umbrella. He let me have a closer look - turns out it was an 1830s french revolutionary Umbrella Gun! In good shape, too. I'll have to find a source for bullets. Then the howls started. Alex and I went up to the library to get a view of street leve. We looked down into Mallory Way, where two wolves were baying at the moon. We radioed the plane, and they said they'd head over. I looked up, out of the window, and saw the plane silhouetted for a moment against the moon. All I remember next is the fear. I heard bangs, and howls, but I don't think it was them I was afraid of. It's strange, but when I think back on it, it't the plane that makes me shudder. When I looked out, there were two bodies - human bodies.
A bit later, the police came and picked the bodies up; and a bit ater still Benny radioed through. They'd had to burn some wolves - and posisibly one cop - on VillersHill. Rebecca came round not long after for Henry; she was in a bit of a state. David rang once; he said that Jack was OK, but that he 'wasn't himself'.
The rest of the night passed quietly. Alexander seemed shaken, but all in all I'm impressed by how well he'd coped. At dawn, I went up to one of the guest rooms, and I stayed there until Tom came knocking on the door to say that there were people in the TeaRoom.
Tuesday, 17th June 1924
It was about 8:30am. Benny, Eric, Rebecca and Alexander were there, as were Jack and David. David explained that Jack, during the hours of darkness under a full moon, transformed into a wolf. Jack, drawn and tired, handed over two letters which he said were from DrVoinea. The first said not to worry; the second said 'things were worse than he'd thought' and 'not to go outside'. This from the man who'd tried to cure him. Eric wanted to know what Silver did to Jack - so Jack cut his hand with a sharpened silver candlestick. Blood went everywhere, and Jack screamed - but by the time David went to bind the wound, it had closed. Cures were discussed - but only one seemed workable; and no-one wanted to even name that one - Eric more than anyone else. He'd 'cured' too many people already. While the argument went on, Alex had gone off to work and come back. He'd broguth with him an ingot of silver - 'A a small amount of his savings' - and he could get it reworked into a cover for the door of wherever they were keeping Jack. Eric asked him to accompany them in the plane that night; Rebecca was not amused. Jack and David took Alex off to see the door; I went back to bed. Tom woke me up in the afternoon - Rebecca'd come running into 122 saying someone had kidnapped Jack. She said someone had driven past him and put a bag over his head.
AlsoudHassam had arrived while I was asleep. He hadn't heard about Jack's condition, so David explained to him. He took it pretty well; but hten it was him and Robert who did all the reading about the InvisibleMonkeys, so I guess he knows a thing or two.
We were all wondering who would want to take jack. Tho only other person I knew about who knew he existed was DrVoinea - but Eric and Benny said there had been some people shooting with silver bullets last month on Villers Hill - maybe it was them...
Benny picked up Voinea's letters - and with hindsight, they did sound very suspicious. Eric rang FranksShort, and had Rebecca describe the kidnapping to him; then they gave him Voinea's description. Not exactly friendly if he was trying to help, but if it was him, he deserved everyhting he got. We decided that we needed to know two things:
Where was DrVoinea?
- Were there any new bite victims?
Alsoud went off to check the hospitals; Benny and Alex went to check the hotels. Not long after, Alex called back to say they'd found a package for Voinea at the NorthernPrideHotel. David and I went round there. We looked in the ledger and found Voinea's room number. The clerk said that Voinea had placed a call, so I called Frank and got him to put pressure on the operators to find out who he'd called. Meanwhile, Benny and David manhandled the package intot he freight elevator, and Alex rode up with it. After I finished with Short, I went up after the three of them to Voinea's room. The door wasn;t locked in any meaningful way, so I let usin. Benny went first. It was a nice room, but empty. Benny and david pushed the package into the room, while Alex went down to the car to get a crowbar. Benny checked the desk and found that this was definitely where Voinea had written the letters. Alex came back up and rang 122, but Eric and Al had gone out. Eventually, Frank turned up; he said they couldn't find the person who handled Voinea's call. Still, he was a good boy and checked again while we opened the crate. The crate was full of medical supplies. According to David, they were labelled in some Squirrel-alphabet. I didn't know squirrels could write. Frank came back; said that he'd phoned the station, and that Eric had left the address of a warehouse where Voinea was keeping his things.
Benny took Alex and Frank off to the plane, and I drove David to the WarehouseDistrict. I stopped one block short with a good view of the front of the place. There were two cars outside, and a man was walking in. We got out of the car and rushed over, just in time to hear a door slam. Then there was the sound of the door opening again, and a voice shouted from nowehre, 'YOU HAVE ANGERED THE PROTECTORS OF UNITY!' It sounded kinda familiar. Shots were fired, then, 'LEAVE THIS PLACE, OR MY CURSE WILL FALL UPON YOU, AND YOUR SONS, AND YOUR SONS' SONS, UNTO THE SEVENTH GENERATION!'
and then more shots. I realised why the voice was familiar - it was AlsoudHassam doing that trick the InvisibleMonkeys' book taught him! Well, if it was Al, then it hadf to be our friends in there; so I shot the lock off the door, and we went in. Al couldn't have missed it, because we got, 'EVEN NOW MY DISCIPLES COME TO HUNT YOU DOWN!' Nice one, Al. We heard Voinea scream - 'Vlad, Vlad, I need you!' By this point we were inside the warehouse, but the voices were coming from inside a wooden bok that pretty much filled up the warehouse. We ran to the nearest corner of the building-within-a-building, and as we put our heads round, another shot went off - straight past my nose! When he shot again, I told Davit to keep him busy, and ran round the other side of the box. I made it as far as the opposite corner, where I could see light coming out of a door into the inner building. There was another bang, and some foreign swearing. I ran past the door - and there were growls coming out, now - and all the way to the far corner, where the man who'd been shooting at us ws. He was running away down the corridor made by the box and the wall. I saw someone - David - crash into him at the far end, and they both went down. By the time I'd got down that end they were wrestling - but I pressed my shotgun to the man's head, and he let go. I left David with him, shotgun in hand, and went back to check on the others.
As I rounded the corner, a buck-naked Eric came out of the door and slammed it behind him, and ran; then the door opened and closed again by itself. I stopped Eric, and he told me there was a wolf in the box - not just any wolf, either, but JackProctor himself! Eric asked for my shotgun, and there was a coldness in his voice I'd much rather forget. I couldn't let him just go in there and shoot Jack while there was still a chance of saving him. The corridor lit up as Benny's plane banked over us, and there was a scream from inside the room. Then ther lights came on, and I could finally get a look at the door.
I made Eric promise - promise - that as long as Jack stayed in that room he would be safe. Then I gave him my gun, and turned to concentrate on the lock. I'm not sure who I was more scared of at that point - Eric or the werewolf. I must have spent an hour trying to lock the door while people braced it against Jack's repeated attempts to break it down. It's a hell of a lot harder to lock doors than unlock them - eventually I broke of my 1/72 gripley in the bastard, and had to give up and help people bracing the door. Jack was giving it a beating like I've never seen, but I guess we managed to pile enough up against it, because it held him off. The cops showed some time after midnight. They wanted to go in and sort it out themselves, but Eric and I managed to convince them not to. We got them to help barricade Jack in eeven further, and then waited the night out like that. I didn't like being the only one there without a gun, but all it took was one look at Eric to know I wasn't getting that one back. Dawn came. Time passed. Eric called in. More time passed. Then the door rattled, and Jack's voice, and his protests that he was himself now cae out. We dismantled the barricades and opened the door.
The inside was a total bloodbath - everywhere you looked, red. Jack stumbled out and fell to his knees. Frank turned up with Benny and dismissed the cops. He told us that they had identified the body of the wolf they'd shot from the plane as a young spaniards - probably JoseGarcia, the first one to have come across on the ship. Eric found some notes in the corner of the room, and frank arranged for all the books to be sent to 122. We headed bak there ourselves, and got some much-needed - and hard-earnt - sleep.
Monday, 9th February 1925 Benny, Rebecca, Lisa, Robert and Jack were drinking in the Tea Room - a usual Monday afternoon, nowadays. Jack was drinking more heavily than most; looking at the calendar, he's had a heavy night.
Tom Flanagan came in - a young man, GeorgePadmore, had come asking about Alex. He seemed a bit shy; didn't want anything to drink, and he's only talk to Dr, Johnson. He told Robert that he looks after Alex's apartments. Tom checked the signing-in book for us; Alex hadn't been in in days. George was expecting Alex yesterday, so he'd checked in Alex's room and found a note.
<<< FixMe, . >>> Sounds Jewish to me - shame Daniel's not here to translate. George reckoned it was from Joshua; it's certainly not Alex's scribblings. Robert went to get a Jewish dictionary from the Library, and Rebecca suggested calling the bank. When she called, she found that he hadn't been seen at the bank for a while now - but there was a letter there waiting for him. George started fiddling with a half-pendant, a bit like the one Alex is always messing with. Small, plain gold, fine chain, and a Jewish inscription which looked like it'd come off fairly easily. He said it had come with the letter, and he let lisa take a rubbing of the inscription.
Benny and Jack drove Georde off the the CornExchangeBank to pick up Alex's mail. They came back with a letter with a huge seal, which Rebecca took off to be photographed. Lisa said it was the "Kabbalistic Tree of Life". Whatever it was, George didn't like it. Benny asked George about the pendant. He said he though he'd seen Joshua with it, but he wasn't sure, and he couldn't say why he thought that. Rebecca brought back the letter. Jack wondered out loud whether there was a way to get into it without breaking the seal. Sheesh! Well, with some advice he heated up his razor (nice new silver one... and a tidy profit, given the motivated buyer) and opened the letter up. There was a funny, foreign smell, and loads more Jewish writings. George seemed really afraid of the seal; he said he'd seen the same thing on a threat letter that someone sent Alex over the New Year. He said that when Alex had read the threat letter he'd started mumbling about his mother, and he'd said his past had come back to get him.
We decided to check out Alex's place - luckily I happened to have a spare key - while Robert and Jack went to the JenkinUniversity Faculty of Divinities.
Benny drove us out to Alex's place in NewUnity. When we got in the door, we could hear some shuffling from above. George ran upstairs, and we followed him up to the 4th floor, where we found him sobbing over a slumped body - that of AlexanderGreystone! George wouldn't let go of Akex, so Benny moved him out of the way, and he dropped the master keys right down the elevator shaft. He ran down to get them, which gave us a chance to look over Alex. First things first - he was breathing. Phew. There was wax all over his back, his fists were clenched, and he had rope burns on his wrists and ankles. Someone had taken his shoes. Turns out I only had a spare key for Alex's outer door. It was all I could do to get the pins out before George came back - having managed to dig out the master keyring - but then he handed them right over so he could get back to Alex. Isn't clay a wonderful thing? With the door open, we went on into the apartment. It looked very lived-in, but it had been empty for some time. There were no signs of a struggle, but maybe he'd left in a hurry? Lisa found it very odd that there were no sgns of a lady's presence in the apartment - she decided he must have a secret amour somewhere else in town. We decided to try to wake Alex. Benny put him down on his bed, and Rebecca burnt some feathers from one of the pillows. He didn't wake, but she did see he was wearing two more half-pendants; one looked to be the twin of the one George was fiddling with, the other was definitely the one he usually wears.
While the others tended to Alex, Benny and I had a better look around the apartment. The writing desk was locked, but not in any serious manner. Inside there was writing paper, sealing wax, a ring, a few seals including the CornExchangeBank seal - damn it, sometimes there's just not enough clay to go round - and right at the back there was a crumbling, partly burnt letter, still with a recognisable wax tree-of-life seal. Benny shaded over the writing paper, and found a letter to Joshua. Rebecca looked in his address book to try to find an address for Joshua, but no luck. There were some New York addresses in there, though - in Jewish, but George could read them out. From the sounds of them, they weren't the nice bits of the Apple.
Robert and Jack arrived. They'd been to Jenkin, and met up with a Prof. ImmanuelGoldstein. He'd said that the letter was just the beginning of the Bible, over and over, and then a threat to remove part of his soul. The Professor had had the same tree of life on a biblical tapestry in his room, too... Benny and Rebecca carried on looking for Blackmai... gossip material. Benny found Alex's cheque stubs - the last one made out was for nearly a years rent on this place, made out to cash, dated the day after he'd received the threat letter.
Rebecca started asking whether this had anything to do with ElizabethEmai. Apparently while I was over in Boston, Alex managed to get himself bound to the Chinese Demon of the Yellow River. Three years ago, I'd have thought she was joking. She didn't think the demon was responsible for his kidnapping or the threats, though.
Finally Alex relaxed enough that we could see what was in his hands. One had a coin, the other a strip of tapestry. When we took them off him, he stopped moaning and fell asleep. Julius being unavailable, Rebecca phoned round almost all the doctors in Unity, but none of them wanted anything to do with Alex! Could they all be in on it? None of them would say why they wouldn't come round, not even to Lisa. Definitely something fishy there. Jack found a number in Alex's address book for a DrStevenson. Stevenson came round and had a look at Alex. He reckoned he'd been drugged; and gave Rebecca a suspicious look. He said he was surprised to see Alex here, because he'd had a call from New York saying he might be hurt. He did everything he could for Alex, and before he left we asked him why the other doctors wouldn't treat Alex. He didn't seem surprised, but he wouldn't say anything. Time passed, and we drifted around the apartment looking for clues. Suddenly, there was a scream! We rushed into Alex's room, where George said Alex had woken up, saying "run before she finds you!". George found Alex some pyjamas, him having been undressed by the doctor, and and we took him back to 122 in the card. On the way back, he mumbled, "they've all gone away". We signed George in and installed him and Alex in guest rooms. Benny stayed up as a guard that night; I went home to a troubled sleep.
Tuesday, 9th February 1925 Got in nice and early. No change with Alex, so we settled into the normal routine. Time passed.
Tom Flanagan turned up - Alexander had a visitor. He showed himself into the Tea Room, and introduced himself. It was Joshua. Joshua asked to see Alexander. He went up to ther room and spoke to George, but he stopped when we got cose enough to listen. He then asked us what had happened.
He was very worried when we said Alex had been missing. He asked whether he'd "received anything" - so we showed him the cloth, which he read. It was the same part of the biblical tapestry as the threat letter had been. Joshua said it was a calling card from the HermeticOrderOfTheGoldenDawn.
Benny observed that the last time Bible quotes were involved, JuniorAlessi was behind it, and things ended badly for all involved. Apparently Junior gives Lisa "the creeps". Huh. Rebecca showed Joshua the rest of the goods - the coin, and the medallions. Joshua said that the Order need sacrifices for their rituals, and it looks like they've chosen Alex. He said Alex has "power", and then looked at Rebecca and said, "You have something that belongs to him". She blushed and handed over a contract of some description - something to do with his pet Demon, apparently. How'd he know she had that? She ran off out of the room.
Joshua then asked whether any doctors had been. We explained about DrStevenson, and asked why only he would see Alex. Joshua said something about Old Money - didn't make sense to me. He said they'd threatened decapitation and disembowelling - but they couldn't take his soul without killing him anyway. He then took Alex's hand, and Lisa gasped at something. Benny asked what killed the Order? Salt? Silver? And how could we find them? Joshua replied that they'd have to be somewhere old. Rebecca returned with the seal from the letter at the bank. Joshua took off a glove and held the seal in his hand, and concentrated. He gave it to Jack, and said it was safe to melt it. He said the order puts curses on seals against the people who open them, but melting it should be fine... hope Jack's OK. Rebecca asked what the Order wants. Joshua said they want power - the power to rule. Lisa asked how he knew, and he told us he used to be the head of the local chapter.
At that, Benny asked for names. Joshua said he'd only known a few, since the society was so secretive. I asked how many people he'd sacrificed; he said none - there were slower ways, ways that he'd followed in his time, but obviously the present Order had become impatient. He did give us one name - ImmanuelGoldstein... the professor at Jenkin! Robert, Benny, Lisa and Joshua went to Jenkin to track down the professor. Rebecca, Jack and I stayed behind to take photographs of the seal, and then we melted it down. It didn't want to melt at first, but when it went, it went suddenly. There was some hair in it, and something with a chain. After wiping it off, we found the other half to Alex's pendant. We went up to Alex, placed the two together, and they read;
Alex stirred a bit. The others returned, with Robert in need of a stiff Fruit Tea. Joshua asked Jack, "may I?", took his hand, closed his eyes and concentrated. Then he said, "that's strange", and sat down. Odd man, though he did let Robert buy him a drink. The gang then proceeded to explain how Prof. Goldstein's office was in fact someone else's office, which he'd borrowed for the day. No-one at Jenkin had heard of him. Alexander cried out,a nd we rushed upstairs. Alexander was sat up in bed, staring at George. He still didn't respond to any of us, but when George took his hand, he said, "at least you're still here". Benny borrowed George's pendant, but Alex kept staring at George. Then Benny put a note in Alex's hand - that made him stare at his hand, at least - but when he read it, he just said "Why are you tormenting me?". The next note got "Evil temptress - destoryer of dreams! Damn you!" and at that point George took the notes away. Joshua took the new half-pendant off Jack. He said that they had thought that it was lost. Rebecca asked, "Who thought it was lost?" and he said the Order. He said the order was just a club, like ours, in New York - only they'd been around longer. Then he took the pendant in his hands, and concentrated. His hands started glowing! He said the pendant belonged to Alex's mother. The mother who'd abandoned him at Greystone station.One day I will
come and find you
I will bring the love
and fear you have never known
You will know me by
the light of my eyes
and by the
shape of my heart
Alex sat up agian. We asked George to tell Alex that he was safe, and so he did; and he said, "so it's really you?"; and suddenly, Alex was full of life - but still only responding to George. George told Alex what had happened, and then turned to talk to us, at which point Alex asked George who he was talking to. George asked Alex to describe the room he was in, which he did - with the exception of everyone in it except for himself and George. Rebecca fetched Henry, who it turned out he could see. She then went and got the camera, and we gathered round Alex. Jack went to get today's paper, and she took a picture then went off to get it developed. Alex seemed baffled by the whole thing - he asked George why the camera was moving. It seemed he could see everything but people. I picked up a pillow and took off the pillowcase. Alex seemed very disturbed by that, but at George's questioning he said yes, he could see the pillowcase. I cut holes for arms and my head, and put it on like a vest. Alex fainted. This time, we had some proper smelling salts, so we didn't have to resort to feathers. We decided we needed to work out how Goldstein had known we were coming to Jenkin, and were just about to go to try to track him down, when Alex piped up - "They're here, aren't they? The ones with the hoods? They shouldn't be here!" There was a rushing noise, and a smell of moisture, and then everything went black.
I woke up looking at a familiar ceiling - I was in the TeaRoom. It was dark, but I could make out the others lying on the floor. We got up, and I made sure everything in the room was OK while Benny got his chainmail. Joshua was the last to come round; when he did, he took Robert's hand and concentrated. He said he could see a river. Benny worked out that Alex must have accidentally asked his demon for us to leave. We went back up to Alex's room.
Joshua said we needed to find the Order. He asked for a UnityTownMap, concentrated; and then pointed to VillersHill. He asked whether anything supernatural had happened there. Sheesh. After we gave him the list, he said, "So... there's energy there." One way of putting it. Robert asked him how he'd done the trick with the map, and Joshua promised to teach him. Rebecca brought us the photograph. Joshua was impressed - they swapped cards. George gave the picture to Alex, who held it with a mixture of disbeleif and elation. Benny decided it was time for another note - this one read, "We're really here. What happened?" Alex said, "No, you're not here", at which point Benny got all glassy-eyed and shambled out of the room.
We decided that, rather than risk more of Emai's help, we should head to VillersHill. Benny drove; I rode shotgun. When we got there, Joshua started sniffing the air. He span around a few times with the pendant, and pointed back into the Jewish Quarter. He led us to the door of a dilapidated old house, and knocked on the door. Rebecca opened he door, and where you'd expect a hallway there was a stone-walled corridor, lit with old-fashioned braziers. Benny led us in. Rebecca seemed oddly cheery - she was asking Joshua whether he usually glowed. Robert was quite the opposite.. I think it was the Lord's prayer he was chanting. The corridor led downhill, then turned right. Seems whoever put Unity together left a lot of tunnels round this end of town. After a while, we came to a tapestry, hung on the wall, with one corner missing. Joshua held the cloth fragment we'd got off Alex next to the missing corner and concentrated; when he took his hands awy, the tapestry was whole. After that, the corridor turned into steps, leading down rapidly. Light seemed to be seeping up from below, and Joshua was visibly glowing. We came to a door, and Joshua said, "Alexander's in there." We turned the carbides up to full blast, hoping to blind whoever was in there, and we charged in. The door slammed behind us. There was an oily shimmer to the air inside, a bit like heat haze. The air smelled more like we were in a forest than underground. Glowing runes lined a path to an altar, and as Joshua passed them they glowed brighter. Rebecca, Jack and Robert walked past him towards the altar, and suddenly everything went black again. There was a lot of shouting and cursing. Benny and I got the carbides working again. The shimmer was gone, and halfway down the room there was now a solid wall, blocking our view of the altar. We checked the door behind us, and it opened freely. Phew. Joshua was outside, breathing heavily. He said there were spells here he'd never seen. Benny went back to the wall, and noticed four odd, protruding bricks. Jack got Benny to push the bricks in in different combinations. New ones popped in and out of the wall - he said there was a mathematical pattern to it all - and eventually a recess opened up over the door. Inside there was a lens. When Benny nudged the lens, the oily smoke and the altar reappeared. The lens was projecting some sort of mirage! Jack found another combination of bricks which revealed a door in what we now knew to be the room's far wall. The door had an opening for a key. I had a look inside it; there was no proper mechanism, just two bands of metal a way in. Rebecca obtained a wire from somewhere - funny how women seem to keep one on them - and when we made contact between the two bands, the door pushed a little way into the wall. Benny pushed it further in, until we could see a crack of light through it. Then we heard gunfire, and the sound of a richochet. Benny gave the door a good heave, and fired five salt shells into the room. We pushed into the other room, where there was a bleeding body in a red robe and a hood, with a wooden tree-of-life pendant. It was no-one anybody had seen before, and we didn't get the chance to ask any questions. There was a vial in his hand that smelt of bitter almonds. The room turned out to be a corridor, so we ran down to the other end. Benny crashed right through the door, and there was more gunfire - from them, and from Benny. There was another acolyte in the corridor behind the door, a woman this time, but the others pressed past her. I was struck by a familiar look to her face - she reminded me of Alex. But she'd taken the cyanide too, so there was nothing we could do about it now.
From the sounds of things, there was a bit of a gunfight going on behind door number three. I went in, and Jack had taken a hit. I bound the wound with strips from the acolyte's robes - since she wasn't in any state to object. The others had managed to pin down the one remaining cultist behind an altar - the spitting image of the mirage altar. They took off his hood, to reveal the face of ImmanuelGoldstein. Goldstein either hadn't had the time or the courage to take his suicide draught, and so he came back to us with 122. Rebecca and Robert went with Jack to the hospital; Rebecca gave me a letter to give to Alex. As we left, a wind picked up; and in the rear view mirror I could see the old building crumble away, to reveal a different dilapidated old house behind it. Weird. When we got back to 122, the place was in a bit of a mess. We rushed up to Alex's room, where Padmore was unconscious on the floor. We brought him round, and he said that prople came to take Alex away. He described the same hoods and pendants as we'd seen in the Order's dungeon. We were all relieved to see, though, that Alex was still sat in bed, looking with concern at George. He still showed no signs of seeing us, but he could see Goldstein. Alex lunged forward, grabbing Goldstein and shaking him. "What have you done with them?" he cried, as a wind and a damp smell filled the room. I think I heard Goldstein cry, "keep her away from me!" as I blacked out. We woke up on the floor of the Tea Room - agian - and rushed back upstairs. Alexander was on the bed, out cold; George had fainted into a chair in the corner of the room. Goldstein was on the floor, face down in a puddle of dirty water. Benny reached down to take his pulse, but there was nothing there to find. When Alexander woke, he could recognise us all clearly. He explained that, after receiving threats from the Order and trying to buy them off, they came for him and took him to the altar. In his panic, he'd shouted out, "make them all go away!" - and it would seem Emai had twisted his request into a curse - he could only see George. Now that Goldstein was dead, though, she'd lifted her curse on Alex. I gave him Rebecca's letter, which he opened; it was his contract with Emai.
The others got back from the hospital, and Robert got a promise from Joshua that he'd teach him how to do the glowing-hand stuff - without the human sacrifices. Benny and I took the body out to VillersHill. I decided I'd keep the bit about his mother to myself.
Tuesday, 17th March 1925 Today was the day I've been preparing for for years.
That damn JamesAtkins was in TheUnityTimesChronicle again, going on about "morality". A funny name for raiding speakeasies, but that's cops for you. Except the bent ones, of course. RebeccaSwarovski suggested we find something in TheLibrary and put a curse on him. Not a workable idea, of course - I doubt we've anything nasty enough.
Further inside the paper there was a piece on a body they'd found poisoned in TheSlums - Dr. RichardBlake, a professor from JenkinUniversity. They had another quote from Atkins, trying to pin it on bad hooch. Now, I'm the first to admit that if you want safety nowadays you have to pay for it - but we don't go around poisoning people. It's just not good business.
Speaking of business, another shipment for the RochesterClub was due - and they're paying top dollar. At least someone's still doing good busieess, despite these dark times. I put Jimmy on the case, and carried on with the day's work.
Around two, the cars screeched to a stop on the street outside - thank God for Toni's man in the police motor pool - and I only just had time to take everyone's drinks off them before Flanagan showed Atkins - with OfficerDown in tow - down to the TeaRoom. Henry got the right idea straight away - I don't think I've heard a better growl from him before or since. Lisa managed to distract him while I composed myself by aking him round to dinner. He said he'd "heard so much about her". I bet. Anyway, he'd obviously come looking for an easy bust. He demanded to see the alcohol, and I took the wind right out of his sails by showing him the whole stock - all accounted for, down the the last shot. You'd think more people would be wise to the trick, but I don't think many of them read the law before it came in, and fewer still thought to get their inventory notarised. Worth every cent - the look on his face was priceless. Ha!
Well, he stormed off, and Down breathlessly let us know they were off to the WhiteHorse. No rest for the wicked, I suppose. Benny tipped them off by telephone, while I took another full inventory. Never overstock, that's the key.
Later on, Down came back in, and slumped onto a chair. Atkins was working them so hard that he'd had to call in sick just to get a moment's rest. It didn't sound like the tip had arrived in time - they'd caught them stashing things down at the White Horse, and had taken a lot of people down to the Station. He said it was strange how the RochesterClub always seemed to get off so lightly - and that he was sure that the busts were somehow involved with Dr. Blake's death, but he couldn't say how. We asked if he could tell us more about the death; he said he heard QuincyJones talking about a dessicant. Rebecca drove him home.
Benny pointed out that if Atkins was taking tipoffs for busts, we could do a lot worse than tip him off about JuniorAlessi's speakeasies. Now, the man's as much as sworn to kill us, and though he's done nothing about it in the past two years, I'd like it to stay that way. Better that than walk to Providence along the bottom of the Narangassett. Rebecca came back, having had a good nosey around Down's home, but there was nothing suspicious to be found. How suspicious.
We started tryying to put things together. First, CraigShearer and BobbyArmstrong, fresh-faced students, roll into town to open the Rochester. Lisa said that a few days later, she overheard Toni having... strong words... with them; the next day, they come to me...ister Gray and accept the first offer. Sounds like they got their wrists slapped for not buying from an authorised seller's cellar. Nothing too far out of the ordinary there. Anyway, one week later Atkins scuttles in from Providence with a broom up his ass, ready to sweep Unity clean, but he leaves them more or less alone. Then this morning, one week later, Blake dries out for the last time. How does it all fit? Were the Rochester owners students of Blake's, maybe? We decided togo there and find out.
Evening came, and we set off for the Club. Benny walked us up to the doormen, and pointed out that if "Lisa DaVinci plus guests" wasn't on their list he was sure he could write it somewhere they'd remember it for a long time. It's nice not to have to queue. It's a flashy place inside. A long staircase leading down onto a wide ballroom floor, with an open bar at one end. They obviously don't feel they need to hide what they're doing. Benny hit it off with some floozy straight away, and Eric and Rebecca disappeared to somewhere, leaving me to dance with Lisa. I'm a dead man.
At about half past ten, the band struck up a quick round of "For he's a jolly good fellow", and Shearer and Armstrong came down the staircase. While they were mingling, Benny and Eric cornered them and asked them whether they'd like to talk to Mrs DaVinci.
They had drinks brought over to us - I think they called them ManhattanWhirlybirds - on the house, though neither Eric nor I even took a sip. We didn't get much out of them; they said they'd met Atkins, and that was about it. They called over a bottle of Champagne, and left. Rebecca and Lisa went upstairs to powder their noses, and Benny disappeared again with SuzieTheFloozy. I suggested to Eric that we leave when the girls got back - before the real fun began. Too late. The lights blinked on and off five times, and the staff went into action. Within a minute, there wasn't a drop in sight. Atkins burst into the room, shouting "this is a raid!" While his men gave the room a cursory going-over, he spoke to the owners, but I couldn't catch what he was saying. Then the cops left, having hardly started to search the place. Rebecca returned, having taken advantage of the distraction to check out the owners' apartments on the floor above. She said the boys were squeaky-clean, but loaded. Both of them had huge libraries decorating their rooms; one had business books, while the other had a load of greek books. Lisa planted her handbag under the table so we'd have an opportunity to come back out-of-hours; we retrieved the champagne and headed back to 122, leaving enny and Suzie be.
When we got back to the tea room, FrankShort was there. He said they'd taken in Dr Blake on a charge of drunkenness two days before his death, and released him on bail the next morning. Now he was under a lot of pressure to sort the case out, but Atkins was monopolising all the policemen. We gave him the champagne, so Quincy could see what was in it.
Wednesday, 18th March 1925 Got in a bit late this morning. Frank was there already, looking bleary-eyed. Quincy'd tested the champagne, but there was nothing wrong with it. Makes sense, I guess - you wouldn't want to put poison in anything you gave to Lisa. Rebecca and Benny showed up, looking awful; Benny said Suzie'd taken ill, too. They went to check on Down, to see how he was doing. Flanagan had put the papers out already, and Atkins was all over them again. Apparently a bunch of idiots had turned up at the White Horse last night, even though it's still shut, and were calling out for booze - even from the cops, when they turned up. Atkins had put them in the drink tank overnight. Eric suggested we go to Providence, to see whether we could dig up anything on Atkins or the Rochester boys there. Eric wanted us to go on the train, and Benny wanted us to fly out there. Benny won in the end, as usual, and off we flew.
We got to Providence, had lunch, and then split up. I went and sympathised with a few local businessmen; apparently Atkins' boss, CommissionerRobson, is just as much of a pain in the ass as he is. No word on any bad booze going round, though, and nothing on the Rochester boys. I met the others back at the airstrip. Benny and Lisa had found a bookshop where Shearer had bought up their entire stock of business books; nothing too odd there, I guess. Eric and Rebecca had found out about a club way over in Texas that Shearer and Armstrong had run before coming over to Unity; I'd thought they were local, and fresh out of college, but I guess they had time. We got back to Unity late evening. Benny and Rebecca were both looking very tired, so they headed home to their beds. I did likewise.
Thursday, 19th March 1925
JackProctor rolled into the society this morning, looking tired and ill-shaven... but not too ill-shaven. AlexanderGreystone had come back, too - he and GeorgePadmore had gone to take the airs in NewYork after that unpleasant business with the kabbalists. Eric and Lisa were around, but there was no sign of Rebecca. Benny turned up, looking very green around the gills and drinking water like a fish. Alex drove him to a doctor, but it was a waste of time - he'd just thought it was a hangover, even though Benny hadn't touched a drop since Tuesday. Just to be safe, I asked Rose Flanagan for an egg and made Benny some wake-up juice. First time I've ever seen anyone keep one of those down - damn, the man was thirsty! He wondered off upstairs to rest in one of hte guest rooms, telling us to check on Rebecca and Down.
Jack wondered off to TheLibrary, while Lisa and I drove round to Rebecca's place in NewUnity. Lisa went in while I kept the car warm; she came back, having spoken to Rebecca, who was laid up in bed looking much like Benny did. We went on to Down's place. There was no response, so I bent down to have a look at the lock - not that there was much point in that. I wiped Benny's boot-mark off the door-frame and pushed the door open. There were fresh-looking breakfast dishes in the sink; I guess he was out on another of Atkins' raids.
We went back to 122. Benny had found a book called "GOTHICK POISYNS", which listed a potion called the AngerOfApollo, made from crushed herbs and beetles; a dessicating poison that causes addiction to alcohol. Jack stammered as he read out the rest of the description: the potion is a fatal poison.
The book didn't list an antidote, but it did refer to an old greek book that Jack wanted to get hold of - we didn't have it in our library. He set off to JenkinUniversity to check theirs, and Alex rang round all the bookshops. Benny came back downstairs, looking worse than ever. On hearing the news, he decided to give in to his cravings and take a sip of alcohol. Under the circumstances, I let him have the good stuff. He looked better straight away, and asked if he could fill up his hip flask; that I let him pay for. Alex got me to mix up a shot in a flask of juice and took it round to Rebecca. Alex got back about the same time as Jack, who'd found the book listed in the library catalogue but missing from the shelves. We decided it would be a good idea to acquire it from Armstrong's library, since he obviously had a copy. Better yet, we could force a few Manhattan Whirlybirds down their throats, and let them do the hard work of finding the antidote. Eric really liked that plan - he's getting a real bloodthirsty gleam in his eyes, nowadays. Around opening time, Alex and Jack went to the Rochester Club to acquire some of the cocktails. They came back a while later, Jack in the car and Alex on foot. Jack had tried some of their booze - maybe he thinks he's immune? - and he said it was the best he'd ever tasted. Better than my best, and they don't buy my best. While we waited until just before the Rochester closed, Alex worked his way through the book we had, looking for anything Jack might have missed, and when he got to the end of it he took some more drink round to Rebecca. He telephoned the club to say she'd run out half-mad past her maid, in search of booze. We told tom to keep her here if she turned up; I locked up the drinks in case she did turn up; and we set off for the Rochester. Lisa went in to scope out the club, while we sat in Benny's car. After a while, Alexander's car pulled up further down the block. Someone walked over to his window, and they started struggling. It was Rebecca! The four of us in ran over to grab her, but she threw us off - even Benny! - and headed for the club. Benny held out his hip flask, which distracted her. Eric smacked her over the back of the head, and when she didn't fall he kicked her in the back! Benny caught her and we bundled her into his car before she could work out what'd happened. Jack gave me the title of the book he wanted - Rites of the Cult of Apollo - and he and Benny drove off with her in the back shouting, "Drink! Drink!". Time passed. Atkins put in another appearance at the club, but after nothing like long enough to have done a proper job he left again. As he was leaving, I caught sight of his face; he was looking a bit shrivelled himself.
A while later, Alex and Jack came back. The club was finally closing up, so we went over. We asked to go in, on Mrs. DaVinci's business. One of the two doormen said he didn't care if we were there to see some whore. Benny reasonably explained to him why he shouldn't call Lisa that, by picking him up by the face and throwing him into the street. The second doorman let us in.
Lisa was inside, talking ot a waiter, who was a bit surprised to hear us addressing her as Miss DaVinci. He scuttled off to fetch the management. The process of closing up shop went on around us, and after a while he came back and showed us upstairs. We were led into Shearer's room, where he and Armstrong were waiting. They didn't look like they expected us at all. Lisa explained to them that she'd had an ulterior motive when she'd left her handbag. Shearer said they were confused about why she'd brought so many friends. Lisa said they had something to tell us; they gave her her handbag, but she shook her head. There was a small bar-cum-kitchenette at one end of the room. Eric went over and took two glasses from it, and he and Alex poured the boys the Manhattan Whirlybirds we'd obtained earlier. Jack went to lock the door, but the waiter got in the way and called for help. They ended up brawling on the floor, and the waiter came out on top... so I went and pressed a shotgun to the back of his neck. Jack got up and got out a pair of silver handcuffs, and we 'cuffed the waiter to the radiator. Jack and I went looking for the book on the bookshelves, but all the ones in this room were Chemistry or Business. Alex and Eric advaced on the boys with the drinks. Armstrong fainted, but they managed to get the drink into Shearer. Benny started interrogating him; he seemed to know it was addictive, but had no idea it was fatal. He said everything was Armstrong's idea. He didn't know of any antidote, so we woke up Armstrong with a bucket of water, and slipped him the drink while wh was still groggy. He screamed when he realised what we'd done. Jack and I checked the books in Armstrong's room, but no luck there. We went back through, where Eric was asking what their connection was with Atkins. They said he used to get his drinks from them, and they'd been using that to blackmail him. He explained that he'd found the recipe for the potion in a book while he was studying at Jenkin. He had no idea it was fatal - to him, it was just a way of making money. Benny asked - at gunpoint - where the book was. Armstrong led us through to his room, and pointed at a painting on his wall. Jack took it down, revealing a safe behind it. After some persuasion, he gave us the numbers: 19 - 51 - 34 - 05 - 54 - 38 - 49. Inside, there was the book that had been missing from Jenkin library. Erick snuck off somewhere, while Jack read through the book. It didn't say anything about the potion being fatal, and it didn't say anything about an antidote, either. Jack pointed out that a rich collector like Armstrong would have bought the original greek copy, and Armstrong took it down from the bookshelf. Jack and I had missed it because he'd rebound t with a different title. Jack took it off him, but couldn't make heads or tails of it. Armstrong read it out for us, translating as he went along; he stopped when he got to the greek word for "victim". As he went on, it got less and less like the English version we'd heard earlier. It got quite grisly - talking about "walking corpses" - but eventually it got to the point: an antidote.
We decided the best thing to do was to use the club itself to distribute the antidote. Once everyone had had it, the boys could turn the club over to Toni and the books to TheUnitySociety. Then they could leave. The boys agreed - they only ever wanted to make money, not to kill people - or so they said, anyway. They started making up the first batch of antidote.
With them gone, we wondered what had happened to Eric. Jack went to see whether he'd gone to the boiler room; he always seems to turn up there. He came back quite quickly - I gather he met him on his way back from somewhere. Eric pointed out that they would have to pur away all their tainted stock and buy new - and happily they had someone close at hand who could sell them new. I was about to ask for twice what they'd been paying before - which was twice the going rate already - but Shearer just handed over a blank cheque. Wow. Alexander spotted it was a blank CornExchangeBank cheque, and tore it up. He said he could transfer the money straight out of the account; no paperwork that way. Excellent. We waited around while the boys brewed the antidote. Lisa pointed out that Atkins couldn't exactly turn up asking for the antidote, so he'd get a lot worse before we could make him better. Once he was desperate for booze, she and Toni could invite him round for dinner, and offer him a drink (with the antidote in, of course). A quick snap of the camera, and we'd have our own pet cop running the alcohol raids - and Unity could become the party town it deserves to be. She's smarter than we give her credit for, that girl. A while later, Armstrong came back with the antidote. They took theirs first, and then Benny, Alex and Jack. Benny had it worst; he was quite sick, but you could see the improvement straight away. Taking some for Rebecca, we headed back to 122. It was getting late, and the place was getting chilly. I hope nothing's wrong with their boiler.