Westland, NY, Thursday, July 18, 1929
Pursing Leads
The team separated to pursue separate lines of inquiry. Eric suggested that they meet at the Kovacs house on the west side of the village that evening to compare notes. Professor Kovacs had disappeared some fifteen years ago. The Kovacs house was maintained by the university awaiting his return. They met up again around midnight to compare notes.
Mookie
Mookie went to the municipal building to research the names on the deed. He discovered that all of them except Longborough had died under mysterious circumstance. There was nothing noteworthy about the property itself. He looked into the sheriff mentioned in the journal, but discover that he had died several years earlier. He uncovered the police report about the incident in Stuckley in 1882, but it was not very detailed. All it said was that one student was decapitated in a carriage accident and another lost his wits upon seeing the body. The six students were all mentioned by name.
Upon completing his researches, Mookie returned to his office to review his notes before the rendezvous.
Sam
Sam, in the mean, pursued his janitorial duties until the library closed at 10PM before entering. He picked the lock (Sam did not use keys), and made his way down to the basement. He was familiar with the library, so he knew where to go.
The book was in the Restricted Collection vault in the basement of the library. The director of the library had the only key to the outer door. Sam picked the lock easily. Beyond that door was a small hallway with cabinet inside and another door. Sam looked in the cabinet to discover boxes of thin white cotton gloves. He had no idea what they were for, but he took a pair anyway.
The inner door had a combination composed of mystic symbols, that were inlaid into the door itself. Sam took a few minutes to draw them in his notebook. He examined the glyphs, but could not discern any tarnish or other indicators of a combination. He decided to meet the others instead. He closed the vault door behind him after wiping away any marks he might have left and made his exit.
Otis
After searching the History and Egyptology sections of the library, Otis found a copy of the book mentioned by Brett Hanke in Longborough’s journal. It contained a drawing and short description of the small box now in the investigators’ possession. It noted that little was known about the box but that scholars believed it to have been the possession of the little-known Nophru-Ka, a would-be usurper of the Egyptian throne who lived sometime during the XIVth Dynasty.
The sarcophagus was supposed to have been given to Nophru-Ka by the gods and was said to have contained spirits that Nophru-Ka could call upon to serve him. For years the golden box had been owned by a noble family in Britain, but it was stolen in a burglary in 1876, and not seen since.
In the book was a translation of the inscription carved on the box.
Seeker of Wisdom, Servant (son) of
Yugr (Yoag) Setheth,
Deliverer of the people (slaves) of
the water, Bearer of the
spirits of Nar-Loth-hotep,
child of Thoth, Seeker of Wisdom.
The summary briefly mentioned the odd glyphs carved on the inside lid but made no attempt to explain or decipher them. After relating this information back at the Kovacs house, Sam examined the interior glyphs and noted that some of them matched symbols from the Restricted Collection vault combination.
Eric
Eric remained in the Chemistry lab to study the Amber extracted from the sarcophagus. It revealed small particles of an inorganic material among the remains. The material taken had been removed as a single flat blob about an eighth of an inch thick. The foreign particles were scattered throughout.
Looking up from studying samples under the microscope, Eric was shaken when he saw that the remaining blob had reformed into a quarter inch cube, with the foreign matter collected in the center. It did not resemble anything recognizable, just a small, dark blob.
Eric did further analysis of the organic material, poking a needle into the cube to extract some of it. He could determine nothing more about it. The matter did not have any animal or mineral properties that he could recognize. When he looked back at the cube. it had reformed itself up again.
At the Kovacs House
Having compared notes, Mookie and Sam checked out the rest of the house. There was a four poster bed in the main floor with bedding and pillows. It had been unused for a long time.
On the second floor, they noted the portrait of Kovacs’ late wife, which glanced toward a small study with a desk. There was nothing behind the painting.
They searched the upper floor and found nothing else of note. They searched the basement and found the remnants of a vagrant’s bedding and refuse there.
Mookie scanned the street outside to detect any surveillance. He noticed a man in a hat and dark suit watching the house from the shadows near the street. Mookie pointed the man out to Sam, who said it was the same guy.
Mookie left through the rear of the house and walked around the river side to sneak up on the man. The man did not see him. Sam stumbled out the front door, pretending to be intoxicated. The man was distracted by Sam, but not convinced.
Mookie ran up from cover and confronted the man. He was not intimidated by Mookie. He started to walk off. Mookie grabbed his shoulder and asked him what he had been doing at the hospital. The man said that he had not been at the hospital. He suggested that Mookie release him before he called a cop. Mookie let go and the man walked off across the bridge.
They waited a few minutes and then followed the man stealthily. He proceeded down the street and rounded a corner going into the elementary school. Sam and Mookie watched the school from cover, and Sam saw the man run off. He want to follow, but lost the trail. They entered the school, picking lock to gain access, and Sam noted signs that the man had been watching out the door in the direction they had come from. He must have seen them.
They returned to the Kovacs to tell Eric and Otis about the man, and to see if they had come up with anything new. When they returned, they found the other two looking over a thin book that Eric had found taped to the top of the drawer in the desk in the study entitled the Field Manual of the Theron Marks Society.
They agreed to meet there again at 9:00.