NOVEMBER 1, 1934: In Savannah, he Investigators left the decaying Henslowe Estate. A rain storm continued around them, as they made their way back to the DeSoto Beach Hotel. It had been a very long day. Dorothy Howard momentarily nodded at the wheel. She had a brief dream or vision in which she walked the Joy Grove Asylum’s halls, which were now empty. Inside the rooms she passed, she could see people moving. One of these patients came to the window of his room to stare out at her. He opened his eyes to look at her, and she saw two small mouths, whispering strange words. Dorothy woke at the wheel, before the car had any trouble.
The Investigators gathered in one of their rooms at the DeSoto Beach Hotel. Luke made the sign of a Hamsa on a piece of paper and stuck it to the wall, in hopes of protecting the group from whatever force seemed to be haunting Douglas Henslowe and Edgar Job—and which might be responsible for the strange mouth-like apparitions Luke had seen at various places since the investigation began.
With a little effort, the Investigators were able to open the box they had dug up at the Henslowe estate. It contained a key for another box—this one at the First Bank of Long Beach in California. Douglas had mentioned that he’d stashed some items there in 1924. In this box were a few other items—a strange volcanic stone, a diary from 1924, and a note for Walter Winston. Douglas seemed to have believed that Walter would’ve come looking for the box.
NOVEMBER 2: The Investigators checked in with their contacts, with Arthur Rowe writing to his friend Myra Banks to tell her what was happening with him. James “Tick Tock” Cohan checked in with his friend Joe Kelly to see if any more information had surfaced about the strange men who’ve been following the Investigators. It had been confirmed that one had been killed by Tick Tock’s associates in New York, and that he bore tattoos on him that were in Thai and that seemed to allude to a mouth or mouths. Dorothy Howard sent telegrams to her family, assuring them that she was fine and behaving in a proper fashion.
Chantelle Perrault also sent out a telegram—in this case to her mother, telling her what she’d found about Walter Winston’s past activities. Finally, Luke Davis checked in a dealer in black market antiquities, Elmer Wicker, to say what, if anything he could find out about the strange stone from the box. Wicker determined that it might be Abyssinian in origin, specifically from an area populated by the Afar people. He mentioned other digs that had happened there recently, including one led by a disreputable archaeologist named BARTOLO ACUÑA.
NOVEMBER 3: The Investigators reconnected with JANET WINSTON-ROGERS’ pilot, FRANK KEARNS, who flew them to Mines Field in Los Angeles. Along the way, they questioned him about his past travels with Walter Winston. Cheerful but guarded, Frank mentioned said that Walter was well-traveled. He mentioned stopovers in England and places “south of the border.” He said he’d heard about Walter visiting more distant or inaccessible locations like Southeast Asia and Africa.
Frank suggested some hotels for the Investigators to use while they were looking into the safe deposit box and possibly into the events of 1924. They settled on the Hotel Cecil, with its history of hauntings and strange deaths, in hopes of encountering real supernatural phenomena. Despite the beauty of the weather, they noticed prominent signs of the economic hardship inflicted on the area by the Great Depression.
As it was night, and the bank would most likely not be open, the Investigators decided to spend a night out. For the dilettantes and artists in the group, the natural stop-off seemed to be the Cocoanut Grove Ballroom at the Ambassador Hotel. Tick Tock and Luke went along. The former was looking for a game of cards and hobnobbed with some criminal types. The latter was just tolerating his companions’ interests, but met a young woman who insisted on buying him a drink and flirted with him somewhat aggressively.
Dorothy, meanwhile, was fascinated by the robotic monkeys that hopped around in the trees at the Cocoanut Grove. She and Chantelle made their way inside, hoping to meet a celebrity. They were unable to locate Clark Gable, but found friendly John Barrymore, who bought them champagne and took in the floor show with them. Arthur made his way over to the bar area, where he engaged a group of bohemian types in conversation. One of them, LEE DEMPSON attempted to get Arthur to leave with him to engage in sex and/or drug use. Dempson was a visibly beat up and obviously high and mentioned drugs from Bangkok. His companions mentioned him leaving L.A. for a while and then returning in his current broken down state.
Everyone noticed the entrance of a handsome, well-dressed man who made a big show of inappropriately eyeing the women around him. He was accompanied by an entourage of large men in zoos suits, who seemed out of place in the Hollywood crowd. They positioned themselves around the room, appearing to keep an eye on the scene. We left off with the Investigators enjoying libations. The players did the same as we celebrated a real life 2020 presidential victory for JOE BIDEN.
