A Brief Timeship
The investigators deposit Helios Rebecca on the front steps of Kendrick Sanitarium. She is currently a patient there. It is unlikely that she will recover from her experiences, but time will tell.
Police and fire crews searching the aftermath of the fire discover the secret temple to Hylmunder and the bodies of Zebulon Davis, Alpha Solaris, and Molly Scott.
Saul Frenkel returns home to his pharmacy, having had more than enough of Port Harbor.
Dr. Miller, horrified and pushed to the brink by his experiences, also returns home. After a stint in a private hospital, he returns to normal life.
The First Selectman of Port Harbor, Gerhardt Scholl, resigns abruptly—and possibly under scandalous circumstances—triggering a special election scheduled for the first week of January, 1925.
The Thanksgiving holiday passes without incident, and the remaining investigators are once again called to the law office of Alexander Sebastian, Esq. on December 13th, 1924.
New Members of the Circle
Per the stipulations in Nicholas Fresno’s will, Mr. Sebastian has contacted two more people from “The List” to see if they will serve as heirs to the Fresno Estate. The two new people meet with and exchange pleasantries with Mr. Sebastian and the other investigators before signing all the appropriate documentation. The new arrivals are as follows:
A no-nonsense older woman with a stern demeanor and a very firm
handshake.
She smokes cigarettes out of an exceeding long holder and always gets
right to the point.
Alfie Davenport
A famous actor and native son of Port Harbor.
He is currently living in
his family’s house in southern Altergarten.
He is a very nice, very charming
boy. All of the ladies swoon when he walks by.
At the end of the meeting, the investigators offer to show the new arrivals over to the Fresno house. While making plans, they discover that they are being watched by a gaggle of girls standing on the other side of the street. Ms. Delacroix descends upon them and suggests that they quickly find something else to occupy their time. The girls scatter, but not before blushing and casting moony gazes over at Alfie.
Dale leads the caravan to the Fresno house in the Fresno car, followed by Alfie in his posh vehicle and Ms. Delecroix in her practical Duesenberg.
Upon arrival, the investigators discover a letter that has been sent to Dr. Miller from Kendrick Sanitarium. Since Dr. Miller is no longer in the area, the investigators perpetrate some mail fraud to see what the letter contains. It turns out it’s from Dan Heidecker, the sailor they met at Kendrick. Dan has written Dr. Miller to say that he is improving, and has asked when Dr. Miller will be stopping by to take him on his aversion therapy outing.
Dan's Letter to Dr. Miller
The new arrivals are given a quick tour of the house, while the veterans hem and haw about how badly they should scare their new companions. After a brief visit, Alfie and Ms. Delacroix depart, but not before Alfie invites everyone to his parents’ house for a dinner later that evening.
The remaining investigators have a long discussion about what to tell the others. They ultimately decide that the only moral choice is to tell them everything and hope that they don’t terrify them into fleeing Port Harbor. To that end, the investigators decide to bring several souvenirs of their recent adventures to Alfie’s house, including several of the Fresno journals.
A Dinner Party
Alfie’s parents are quite wealthy, and their house is both large and immaculately decorated. As they are welcomed by Alfie’s butler, the investigators notice several large, professionally made signs in a nearby room. These signs are all for Merle Cottonwood, Jr.’s election campaign for First Selectman.
Alfie explains that the Cottonwoods are long-time friends of his family. The Cottonwoods are also very wealthy. Merle Sr. is a real estate developer who owns the buildings occupied by many of Port Harbor’s most successful businesses. This includes Corrine’s, the local department store.
The investigators proceed to have a delicious, multi-course meal and discuss their recent adventures. Despite the veteran investigators’ misgivings, the new arrivals take the information about their recent inheritance rather well.
As the investigators discuss what to do next, Ms. Delacroix notices the top of a cloche outside of one of the dining room windows.
A Scoop
Without a word to anyone else, Ms. Delacroix leaves her seat at the table and opens the dining room window, confronting the cloche-wearing person beyond. This person—a small, slim woman in her mid-twenties—loudly declares, “this isn’t the library” before trying to flee into the night.
Ms. Delacroix closes the window and resumes her seat, quietly pleased about having done her due diligence. Alfie, overcome with curiosity and a desire to be a good host, excuses himself and runs outside, catching up with the young woman as she flees.
He learns that the woman is Catherine Planchett, the gossip columnist of the Port Harbor News Reader. Catherine, it seems, was trying to get some good information on the local boy turned famous actor. After leaving her flustered and a bit tongue tied, Alfie allows her to resume fleeing into the night.
Catherine Planchett, Roving Reporter
A Second Candidate
After-dinner conversation resumes, and the investigators decide that they should follow up on Maude Collins to try and track down the Book of Black Tourmaline. Ada remembers that she has Maude’s card, which contains an address (in Old Town) and a phone number. No one picks up when she calls, however. The investigators make plans to pay the location a visit the next morning, to see if they can find any leads.
On the way home, several of the investigators drive past a nighttime political rally for one Mr. Cornelius Rose, who is running for First Selectman. Rose is standing on a box, ranting at a small crowd of onlookers through a bullhorn about how the Jews are trying to destroy Christmas. Everyone finds this somewhat alarming.
Mr. Cornelius Rose
Old Town
The next morning, the investigators head to Old Town to discover that the address on Maude Collins’ card is for a secondhand furniture store which is located next door to Stolas Books.
Dale speaks to the proprietor of the furniture store—an older woman of Eastern European descent. She explains that she has a back room, with a phone, that she rents to people who need office space. Dale asks to see the office and finds that it is a room empty but for a table, a chair, a telephone, and some shelves. The proprietor describes her last tenant, who left a few weeks ago, and who sounds a lot like Maude Collins.
Wondering if other people in the neighborhood had seen anything, or if someone who dealt in books might know something about Maude Collins, the investigators visit Stolas Books. There, they meet a young Italian stock boy and his boss, an older Slovenian man with an impressive mustache. Ada York, herself a dealer in rare books, recognizes the proprietor as Bor Vodopivec, someone she has communicated with by correspondence.
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