The Watchman Watches in Vain

Emma cannot rule out the crash itself being the main contributor to his present state. But she is also reminded of some obscure accounts, collected in a volume of esoteric Jungian lore. These dealt with travellers in remote Austrian locations who encountered otherworldly beings --fairies, witches, but sometimes confusingly vampiry--and were befuddled. In one recent (post-war) story, in the Austrian Alps, a wanderer was found mute, semi-paralyzed and also turned green. The pilot understands Melody's strategy and is able to answer with shaky nods. He was taking a photo. The rescuers did take his camera. O'Bannion now has it.

"Show ....King...." he manages to whisper.

Clancy is not able to make sense of the medical notes--neither is the sleepy med student able to enlighten him much. Some of words are legible and self-explanatory. Biofluorescence. Paralysis, fading [scribble in Latin] temporary. Electromagnetic or electrochemical trauma... Clancy looks through the box where Harrington's clothes have been stowed. His battered leather coat and boots are clearly those of a wartime USAS pilot. Motorcyclist, indeed! But without the flying hat and goggles, Clancy guesses, most folk would not make the connection. In the coat pocket he finds a sodden mess of paper. Carefully laying this out on a nearby medical table, he is able to extricate several pages--a letter, a bill and a map that has been crudely traced onto thin paper. The words 'LOS on mystery light' are written on the back.

The letter is from a firm of attorneys demanding payment to debtors. Harrington's business is not going well.

King receives Melody's call with interest. He is relieved that the investigators have found Harrington. He knows who O'Bannion is (far from common knowledge). He offers no advice as to whether the photographs are a priority, asking Melody to trust in her own intuition.

Only the description of the phenomenon of the green light seems unexpected to him.

When Melody and Alex drop in on the wife of an important local dealer in photographic equipment, the lady mentions Jack Hall. He is a young photographer who has recently spent a small fortune buying silver nitrate, even though his position as a junior photographer for the Advertiser would seem to make this expense unnecessary.
"Sure. Maybe I did do something for O'Bannion. The guy's a local businessman, appreciates my talent. Yeah, I developed some pictures using my own silver nite. O'Bannion's guys snatched them away before I got much of a look. Weren't too polite about it either..."
...

"I'm not going over this again! Pictures showed blurry aerial stuff. Looked like the weirdoville blocks out on the west edge of town. Pics of some guys running around in the western cemetery. A kind of round blotch near the dairy there. Maybe the film was damaged? Do you know those duds at the dairy still use a horse and cart? They were staring up at the camera the whole time, the washouts!" Emma's work in the city archives and Misk U library starts out well, but runs into frustrating dead ends. She has occasionally come across pages before that have been removed with a note "removed for restoration" (followed with a cryptic symbol) attached. Usually this is blamed on mold, carried by the dampness of the Miskatonic. But this search always seems to end with such a find.

Nevertheless, she is able to identify the names of local Merchant District families buried in the graveyard. Most older families have some ancestors resting there. One short list includes the Cowley / 'Cowlee' name. Emma also finds a few translated pages from a work known as Les Cult des Ghoules (full copy also removed for 'restoration' ). Different theories are offered as to the necrogenesis of ghouls. One that it is a congenital curse, carried by some family lines as a recessive but persistent "gene". Though the tome does not use this fashionable new term.

There is no mention anywhere of green light.

At around 11 o'clock in the evening, Melody gets a call from King. King apologizes for the late call but asks her to attend an incident in West Arkham, on W Main St, near the cemetery. There has been a report of 'vandals' running down the street from the cemetery.

The Arkham police used to call in King and his defunct Society to attend such unexplained incidents. King's Society would offer advice and help to keep a discreet handle on events. King has suggested that Melody and her new colleagues may wish to attend and offer similar assistance.

A single police vehicle will be stationed to meet them when they arrive.