November 5th
(late that evening)
The group of us reunited
that evening in Erik’s suite, to see what progress he had made with the
journal. Not wishing to meddle with
things he didn’t understand, the answer was: not much. The journal was protected by a stone bearing
the evil eye. Otto, our resident expert
in all things of the occult examined it briefly, but was undeterred – reaching
into the box to retrieve a letter, the journal, and a key.
Journal
page 11
The note and key were a
most unexpected but welcome surprise. If
only the contents of the box might shed more light upon the case. All of those involved seem quite in agreement
about the nature of their collective venture, and invested in the reality that
there is some other-worldly power involved.
Mr Henslowe again here refers to a creature, one which many of them
believe(d) truly exists (and is both evil and powerful). I have to agree with Dr Keaton in finding
the shared delusion intriguing, and look further to unravelling this mystery
further.
Otto, who will be leaving
tomorrow for a venture northwards (to the Arkham library), departs for the
evening. He has promised to update our
patron, Mrs W-R. The remainder of us,
however, stayed put took turns sleeping, reading and analysing Henslowe’s
journal into the wee hours. Sadly, there
was little of consequence within its pages.
I gleaned two items of interest:
“Vincent – Room 225” and “BA airfield 11th 10pm”. Of the former’s meaning we remain ignorant,
perhaps a reference to his flat or hotel room number at the time. Of the latter, we can guess this is the date
the group gathered for their flight to Los Angeles, since we (until proven otherwise)
are working with the assumption the
incident occurred on the 13th.
The remainder of the
journal was a collection of sketches and rambling thoughts. At the beginning, these are of his fellow
investigators – towards the end turning to the violent occurrences, the cult,
and the creature. Another glimpse into
the troubled mind of Douglas Henslowe, with troubling detail – but of little
use to us.
November 6th
(Tuesday)
The next morning, we
prepared to leave for Los Angeles.
Quincy dealt with the wrecked rented vehicle. The damages cost us $70 (I must remember to
include this in my expenses to Mrs W-R).
Erik and I went to the library to look up Mr Loman, but to no avail. Chastity went ahead to the airport to ready
Frank and the plane. After our various
errands, we checked out of the hotel and caught a taxi to the airport. Before taking off, we made one more attempt
at breaching the identity of the mysterious Daniel Loman.
Journal
page 12
We did find the airport
check-in staff rather helpful. A flash
of the badge (I’d forgotten how effective that can be; and in fairness a
Federal Agent was assaulted in a hit-and-run incident, even if she was off-duty
at the time) and a bit of truth was all it took for the clerk to spill the
details about our foreign attackers.
Our silent assailants were
ticketed to catch flights from Savannah to New York, then to Nova Scotia, on to
Ireland, and eventually to Bangkok,
confirming Otto’s theory that the tattoos associated them with Thailand. These tickets were, indeed, paid for by a Daniel Loman. The clerk further confirmed the group (or
some group which looks similar, possibly some of the same and some different
each time) are monthly visitors, using five very artificial Caucasian
pseudonyms.
Feeling certain there was
nothing more we could learn on the subject at the time, we returned to the
Silver Sable and flew off towards Los
Angeles. Chastity and Frank stopped
us in Oklahoma for a refuel. I slept,
although I rather wish I hadn’t, as I had an unusually disturbing dream – a
nightmare, even, if one were to define it.
I dreamt I was a patient at Joy Grove, bound by a straight-jacket and
legchains; treated by Nurse Bethany (unlike the charming young woman who was so
helpful to us, she bore two toothy, grinning mouths beneath a surgical mask)
who threatened me with a syringe bearing a toothless mouth of its own. The experience is one I hope not to repeat,
lest this investigation turn me into an insomniac.
At last we reached sunny
Los Angeles, whose weather was far more welcoming than muggy Georgia. After much debate about where it would be
most convenient to stay, we checked into The
Michelangelo Hotel in the city centre (leaving the Silver Sable and her
pilot Frank in Glendale). Over lunch we
discussed our options, then once more split up to follow various leads. Erik and I visited the local paper, and were
referred to one Arnold Freeman, a
pressman who would have been with the paper in 1924. Mr Freeman recalled the incident, and
mentioned that a B-movie actor, “Dicky
Spend” (star of The Vampire Mystery) was stabbed to death in the incident. He helped us find a single article, which was
merely about the death of this celebrity – citing the cause of death as
“natural”.
Journal
page 13
I jotted a few notes from
the article:
Richard Spend,
age 32. Missed the Young Actresses Debut
Ball (had taken a full-page ad which merely said “Thanks, Livvy. – Richard
Spend” (referring to his co-star Olivia
Clarendon from “The Black Cat”.
Contracted by Universal for next project “Phantom of the Opera”.
Mr Freeman
recommended we try Filmland Express
to delve deeper, that they would have been more likely to cover such a
sensational event.