The Monster
 |
| AAAAAH! AAAAAAAAAAAAH! |
As the monster charges down the darkened hallway, Ms. Delacroix primly turns and runs up the ramp to the surface. Father Wilk thinks he sees a mortally wounded Saul Frenkl stagger out of the shadows and rushes to his side to render first aid. Almost everyone else draws their guns and opens fire. Most of the bullets strike home, ripping the monster’s flesh to shreds and spraying black ichor all over the walls, but it continues onward, undaunted.
Ada suddenly realizes that only the monster’s head is vulnerable to injury. She grabs a piece of metal pipe and, in an uncharacteristically reckless act, charges the monster. Ducking under a pair of its clawlike hands, she swings the pipe upward and caves in the monster’s skull. It collapses, thrashing, and Ada leaps on top of it, beating it to a bloody pulp. She has never felt so alive.
Martin tries to pull Ada off of the dead monster. Alfie, hearing Father Wilk’s cries for help, rushes to his side to help with Saul. He discovers that “Saul” is a pair of bulging, sodden paper trash bags stacked on top of one another. “Saul’s” grievous stomach wound is simply a rip in the side of one of the bags, which is disgorging used coffee ground and other detritus. Alfie only makes the tear worse as he treats “Saul,” but fortunately this causes Father Wilk to recover from his delusion.
Meanwhile, Dale runs upstairs, gun in hand, to look for Ms. Delacroix.
A Disorderly Encounter
At the top of the ramp, a panicked Ms. Delacroix is approached by one of the orderlies, who assumes she is one of the kitchen staffers. He asks her if she is okay as Dale runs up the ramp to join her. The two still panicking investigators try to blame Ms. Delacroix’s fright, and the sounds of gunfire from downstairs, on her—or Dale—dropping a tray. They both talk over one another and the orderly and are unable to get their story straight.
During this baffling display, the orderly realizes that Dale has a firearm. He tries to keep Dale calm while slowly retreating to a nearby phone on the wall—presumably intending to call for help. Dale, not wanting to hurt the orderly, tosses his gun at his head, but misses. Ms. Delacroix, who does want to hurt the orderly, whacks him in the ear with her cane before fleeing up the hallway.
As she retreats, Dale notices that they have emerged in a long hallway that connects the main entrance to the sanitarium with the kitchens. Down at the main entrance, another orderly and the woman the investigators saw outside have paused their argument to look up at the source of the commotion. As the second orderly steps out from behind his desk, Dale desperately tackles the first orderly, throwing them both onto the carpeted floor of a nearby office.
Dale hopes to overpower the orderly and escape, but the orderly has had some experience wrestling agitated patients and manages to keep a firm grip on Dale. Dale tries to break free, tearing his shirt in the process, but does not get very far before the second orderly—followed by the very curious woman—step into the office.
Dale, realizing that he is beaten, uses thermal mastery to rapidly lower the temperature in the office in an attempt to intimidate his way out of the situation. The two orderlies (who Dale learns are named Eugene and Glen) are taken aback. Believing that that Dale is yet another kitchen employee and tell him that if he leaves the sanitarium now and never comes back, they won’t press charges. Dale agrees and the two men frog march him down the hallway to the main entrance. The woman follows.
As Dale walks down the hallway, he realizes that Eugene, the first orderly, is the same orderly who was guarding Dan Heidekker’s isolation room. He also realizes the second orderly is G. Grainger, who Alfie bribed during the investigators’ previous visit to the hospital.
He is almost out the door when Glen pulls a syringe out of his pocket and tries to inject him. Dale swings the door hard enough to knock the syringe out of Glen’s hands. He makes a cutting remark before fleeing off into the night.
While this is happening, Ms. Delacroix has escaped through the kitchen out the way the investigators initially came in. Discomfited by the experience, she returns to her Duesenberg for a calming cigarette.
 |
| Glen Grainger |
The Morgue and the Boiler Room
Downstairs, the other investigators venture down the dark hallway to see where the monster came from. They soon encounter a wall of knife switches and a pair of double doors that lead to, among other places, the morgue. Martin tries the switches and discovers they turn the lights in the hallway back on. He wonders if the monster had a human assistant, as he doubts it was smart enough to turn off the lights on its own.
Passing through the double doors, the investigators discover doors leading to a pathology lab, an underground parking area, and the boiler room.
They find the pathology lab fastidiously clean, with no signs of human remains. Overcoming their squeamishness, they check the vaults in the room and find that these are empty, clean, and smell faintly of ammonia. Alfie finds several patient files on the table, which are stamped DECEASED. They all seem to have died of natural causes and are all slated to be buried in the sanitarium’s cemetery. Alfie finds the DECEASED stamp in the drawer and wonders if he could use it on Dan Heidekker’s file to end the sanitarium’s search for the escaped patient.
The investigators proceed to the boiler room, which is both very large and very hot. They notice a line of chairs has been awkwardly arranged across one side of the room. On closer inspection, the chairs appear to be a makeshift barricade to keep people from falling into a very deep, very dark hole in the floor.
The investigators toss in a small stone and listen as it hits the ground and then splashes into (presumably) some water. Ada calculates that the bottom of the hole is somewhere between 70 and 80 feet down. Inspecting the edge of the hole, she finds a torn scrap of white canvas clinging to it. She takes it, suspecting that it comes from a shroud or body bag.
The investigators are all fairly certain that this is the surface entrance to the Shaper of Flesh’s lair that the gravetenders told them about, and that someone has been inadvertently creating monsters by dumping corpses into this hole. Exhausted and more than a little creeped out, they decide to leave.
Ada opens the door onto the underground parking lot and sees several vehicles, including something that looks like a hearse or ambulance. She also finds a ramp leading out to the surface, which the group takes. They find emerge near the sanitarium’s two garages and retreat to their cars.
On the way, they spot the angry woman walking back to her own vehicle.
Crissy O’Keefe
Seeing that the woman is clearly upset—and also carrying something that looks like hospital records—Alfie takes a risk and hails her. The woman is quite startled but recovers quickly and eventually introduces herself as Christine “call me Crissy” O’Keefe.
In talking to her, the investigators learn that she has been trying to get Kendrick Sanitarium to release her aunt’s remains, only to be stonewalled each time. She mentions that she has numerous legal documents, including a court order from a Middletown judge, that proves that she has a right to her aunt’s remains and personal effects. She says that she keeps getting the runaround from santarium staff and, especially, from Dr. Neumann.
Ms. O’Keefe also mentions that no one in the family was aware that her Aunt Gertrude had been a resident of the sanitarium for ten years. When she finally discovered this, she went to visit her aunt only to learn that she had died a few months previously, and that the sanitarium had already interred her in their cemetery.
The investigators are sympathetic. Alfie suggests taking the story to Catherine Planchett at the Port Harbor News-Reader. He also mentions that the sanitarium is also facing a bit of a scandal—what with the escaped patients—and that they may become much more cooperative if they are aware they are about to receive more bad press.
Ms. O’Keefe thanks the investigators and drives off in her car.
The investigators return to their own cars, only to discover that Ms. Delacroix’s Duesenberg is gone.
The Caravan Ride Home
After leaving the hospital, Dale took a circuitous route to the parking lot, so that the orderlies would not be able to track him to his friends’ cars. He passes by Ms. Delacroix’s car and sees smoke curling out of the window but passes her by without acknowledging her. This annoys Ms. Delacroix, who stubs out her cigarette and follows him. They have a whispered exchange through the car window—with Ms. Delacroix driving and Dale walking—in which Dale explains himself. After hearing this, Ms. Delacroix eventually lets Dale get in the car and pulls over to the side of the road.
A few minutes later, they are passed by Crissy O’Keefe’s car and then approached by the rest of the investigators in their cars. After more whispered conversations through car windows, the investigators head home for a well-earned rest.
On the way home, Ada, who has been riding an adrenaline high, finally realizes she is covered in black ichor that smells strongly of a campfire. She has a little freakout, and Alfie offers to let her stay at his place and use one of his fancy bathrooms to clean herself. She accepts.
The investigators part ways. Ada cleans herself up and goes to bed. That night, she dreams that she is in a cavern, naked and standing waist deep in black water. She looks at her hands and is horrified to realize that her fingers are twisting, growing, shrinking, merging together, and separating.
December 17, 1924
The next morning, Ada goes downstairs to take breakfast with Alfie, only to discover that she is also taking breakfast with Merle Cottonwood, Jr. (a family friend of the Davenports and one of the candidates for first selectman) and Alfie’s parents. The conversation becomes very pointed, considering Ada is not married and older than Alfie. Alfie’s mother is horrified, but also curious. Alfie’s father is smugly approving. Merle, for his part, tries to stay out of the conversation and pushes his food around on his plate.
Desperate for anything to alleviate the awkwardness, Alfie calls the Fresno house and all but orders the rest of them to come over. They do. The usually unflappable Ms. Delacroix becomes nervous and quiet when Mrs. Davenport starts grilling her about her life, habits, and a recent trip to Paris.
“How did you find Paris, Ms. Delacroix?”
“Well, I got on a steamship and eight days later…”
“Ohohoho. How very droll of you, my dear. No no, what I mean to say is did you enjoy Paris?”
“Yes.”
“And what did you do there?”
“Things…”
 |
| Mr. and Mrs. Davenport |
On the other side of the table, Mr. Davenport regales the other investigators with today’s plans. He is going to take Merle (or, as he calls him, “Cottonwood!”) down to the town square to do a bit of gladhanding and promotional work for the campaign. He is hellbent on helping Cottonwood get elected, and he wonders if the investigators would like to help pass out fliers and talk to people.
Father Wilk demures, saying that he cannot get involved in politics due to his vocation. Mr. Davenport replies that it’s all right, as Cottonwood is Catholic and so is Father Wilk. This prompts Merle to remark that he is, in fact, Presbyterian, which astonishes Mr. Davenport.
Mrs. Davenport suggests that perhaps not everyone would like to be so coarse as to perform politics in the cold. She begins to say that anyone of more genteel breeding could stay at the Davenport home have tea, and discuss the…
She is interrupted by Ms. Delacroix, who proclaims in no uncertain terms that she would love to help young Cottonwood with his campaign. She immediately stomps off into the foyer to get her coat. The others follow her.
Campaigning
 |
| Merle Cottonwood, Jr. |
Mr. Davenport insists on walking to the town square. As this requires them traveling for the better part of a mile in the bitter cold and snow, Ms. Delacroix takes her Duesenberg. Father Wilk, desperate to be out of the way, hops in the back seat. Everyone else walks.
Mr. Davenport makes a comment about Alfie’s “lady friend,” prompting Alfie to take Ada’s hand for the look of the thing. Unnoticed by all except Father Wilk, seeing this gesture causes Merle to react as if someone had stabbed him in the heart.
As they walk to the town square, Alfie and Ada question Merle about his platform. Merle responds very woodenly about wanting to improve the town and make Connecticut’s most vibrant seaside community. Noticing that his heart isn’t in it, Alfie and Ada ask if he believes everything he’s saying.
Merle hastily replies that he has been coached on what to say, but he is not a public speaker and, therefore, has difficulty sounding natural. He seems to grow excited, and then frantically asks Alfie—who is an actor—if he can teach him how to act more natural and say his lines with conviction.
This prompts Alfie and Ada to ask, “do you really want to do this?”
Merle casts a surreptitious glance at Mr. Davenport’s retreating back and mumbles quietly, “oh no, God no. Please help me get out of this, Alfie. I don’t want to do this…”
