Westland, NY, Friday, July 19, 1929
At the Library
Otis and Eric went to speak with Dr. Feldman about gaining admission to the Restricted Collection and Inviolati Conditori Pueri. Sam decided against trying to break into the vault again provided Feldman granted access. They made a rubbing of the sarcophagus, but also brought drawings of a couple of the icons from the Theron Marks Manual. The receptionist directed them to the second floor, and they found the office.
Dr. Feldman was aloof but cordial. Eric told him that he had found some runes during some field work. He said he had showed them to the father, who was a professor of theological history, and the father suggested seeing Feldman. The librarian asked to see what Eric had brought. Eric handed him four pages, each with a character from the vault, including one that was deliberately wrong. Feldman barely concealed his interest in the three, but did not react to the wrongly drawn one.
They asked if Feldman knew of any resources in the library that might help, but he stonewalled them. Eric suggested that he might have more of the drawings and that he would go collect them. Feldman said he would be interested in seeing them, and that he would be at the library for a few more hours.
They left the library and went to Eric’s office. There they searched for a an old field journal from an Italian survey and found one from Sicily in 1910. Otis then expertly drew fragmentary glyphs in the journal margins such that they appeared to be as old as the other writing. He drew the four glyphs they had shown Feldman, one more from the vault, and a glyph from the sarcophagus. He then tore the page with the sarcophagus so that only part of it remained.
They returned to the library and were directed to the Greek and Roman statuary gallery, where Dr. Feldman was looking at a very early statue of Hermes that was found in Turkey where he was depicted as a winged serpent. They noticed that the eyes and wings of the statue resembled characters from the sarcophagus. Otis realized that the winged serpent for was present in many cultures (e.g., Quetzalcoatl, chinese dragons, etc.), and associated with trickster gods, such as Loki or Coyote in the American Indian pantheons. These deities were characters as misleading humanity or at best not providing straight answers.
Doctor Feldman suggested returning to his office to discuss the findings. They went there and the librarian called for refreshments to be brought in. They convinced Feldman to share some other resources. He led them to the basement and the Restricted Collection Vault. Feldman produced a chain from around his neck. Eric noticed that, in addition to the key to the vault, there were three charms. One was a star with the flame in the center. One was hollow and circular with three jagged designs linked together in the center. The other was an elaborate Celtic knot.
After opening the vault door, they entered a small chamber ending in the other vault door with the keypad of symbols Sam had described. The librarian requested that Otis and Eric each don a pair of thin white gloves from a cabinet in the small chamber to protect the ancient and valuable books in the vault from contamination by their skin. As they put on the gloves, Eric noticed in the corner of his eye that Feldman quickly tapped the glyphs in the order presented in the Theron Marks Manual.
The chamber beyond the second door was meticulously clean. Inside were two rows of book cases whose shelves were protected by locked glass doors. Feldman unlocked one of the cabinets and removed two books. He then led Eric and Otis down a hallway deeper within the vault and to a small room containing a table and two chairs. He explained that they must not touch or write in the books, and that he would inspect any notes that they made before they left.
The first book Otis had seen before. Inviolati Conditori Pueri was a treatise on contacting otherworldly beings written in the fourteenth century in Brasov, Rumania, by a sorcerer named Aldric Drust. The text was written in fourteenth century Latin, Greek and Aramaic.
The other book was entitled Travelers from Beyond, and it was a partial English translation of Inviolati Conditori Pueri written by Meirion Colwyn, a Welsh philosopher, in 1749. Travelers from Beyond was augmented by woodcut illustrations.
Feldman told them to push the buzzer next to the door when they wanted to leave. Then he left the room and closed the door behind him with a dull clang. Eric listed as the librarian’s footsteps faded in the distance.
At the Police Station
In the meantime, Sam and Mookie went to speak to the current sheriff. When they arrived at the police station, Mookie recognized Officer Laura Crane, the meter maid. She avoided any flirting banter. Mookie asked to see the Sheriff, and she agreed to take him and Sam back to his office.
As they walked into the office, Sheriff Wagner and Detective Sergeant Banks were laughing at a joke. They told the sheriff that they were fact hunting about the Meyer Kovacs case. He said that there was really nothing noteworthy. One day Kovacs was there, then next he wasn’t. There were no signs of a struggle, and all of his belongings seemed to be there.
Wagner remembered that Kovacs had been reclusive for a couple of years prior to his disappearance. It began after his wife Maria died in the house from a chronic illness. He mentioned that during those years, Kovacs had sent assistants to deliver things and retrieve references.
Mookie asked about the farm in Stuckley. It predated Wagner’s time, but the previous sheriff had talked about it over a drink. He recalled that there had been half a dozen college kids out there, and someone had been decapitated and another had been committed to an asylum. He suggested speaking to Jack Barnes, the owner of the Tikhoosue Club on the lake.
Sam asked the sheriff if he knew who the man in the brown suit was. Sergeant Banks said that his name was Arthur Coffin, and that he was a private investigator for an insurance company, who had been inquiring about the Kovacs case a few months ago. Sam asked if he had Coffin’s business card. The detective went to find out and returned with a telephone number, that he said was to the insurance company. They thanked him and went to the pay phone in the lobby.
Sam dialed the number. It was to the Greater New York Life Insurance Company. Mookie then called and said that he was looking to purchase insurance from an agent named Arthur Coffin. The receptionist said that there was no agent named Arthur Coffin in the company directory. After he hung up, Sam realized that Mookie was asking for an agent, while Coffin was a private investigator.
Mookie called back and asked for information about the Kovacs case. He was transferred to a brusque man. Mookie called himself Augie Kovacs, nephew of Maria Kovacs-Haugwitz, and had been out of the country for the past fifteen years. He convinced the man that his story was legitimate. The man asked for contact information to get back to him. He said to leave a message for him with the Geology Department at Reister University. The man said that he would look into and leave a message, probably on Monday as it was already 4:00.