Re: 31 March 1925: A Week Later...
In reply to Alexander Hussein Mahfouz (msg # 71):
Professor Fulty laughed. "My Lord, this almost makes me want to join you! Of course, it's the unpleasant parts that I'm afraid would do me in. I recommend something subtle. When we arrived here in London after our voyage from New York, we stayed in the noted Park Lane hotel on Piccadilly. As befit our resources and station. We reasoned being in the public eye would protect us. Little did we know the depths of depravity the Dark Brotherhood would stoop to to protect themselves, although when we learned of the scores of unfortunates that were suspected to be their victims, we should have well guessed!"
Actually, JM had guessed. It was this fear that led him to obtain the run-down house to-let in Barking. When the inevitable attack came, it provided a useful place of refuge for those who were not native to London. JM's contacts among his fellow Free Masons had proved very valuable in arranging the use of the house on such short notice. This was before the Count's building of flats above his bookstore near Charing Cross were ready to receive them.
Fulty continued, making sure they weren't overheard.
"Early in our investigation, we were alerted by the good Detective Sergeant to Tewfik's possible involvement in the Soho Slayings. We got the bright idea to break into his warehouse, looking for evidence. We found some very strange occult materials, like inverted ankhs and a pair of sceptres. Later, we were hard on the heels of that rat, Gavigan, and while we were burgling the Penhew Foundation museum building, I think he sent his dog Tewfik to steal back that which we, ah, stole from him earlier. Plus some tomes we recovered from Roger Carlyle's study in New York. Someone broke into our rooms and took everything occult-related we'd amassed, plus much of our possessions. Tragically, we'd left Howard's manservant Simmons to guard our suites and he was cruelly attacked and murdered in a way the Detective Sergeant confirmed was the mark of the Brotherhood.
"Later, we learned that someone had bribed the switchboard operators to intercept all our telephone calls. Further, one of the bellhops tipped the Brotherhood that we were away, giving them the opportunity to strike, and he left a rear stairwell door open. Poor wretch never got to spend his thirty silver, I guess he got his desserts. Not just Simmons was killed that night, while they were ransacking our rooms and murdering poor Simmons in their foul occult manner the hotel detective, a former Scotland Yard CID man, burst in and tried to apprehend them. They killed him, too, but not ritually."
Shaken by the memory, Fulty refreshed himself with an Old Fashioned. "Dang! It's going to be tough, going back to Milwaukee and America. What with that damned Prohibition in effect. I'm sure it'll be repealed soon, but not soon enough for my tastes."