Session 3
From Tatters of the King
Contents |
Session Report - Played Monday 22th May, 2006
November 6th 1928
This is the date of the Presidential election in the USA. Herbert Hoover wins by a large margin. The BBC is reporting blizzards across Scotland, and London itself wakes up to an unseasonably sharp frost. Its more like January than November. The Met Office is predicting that the snow will move south in the next few days.
Saunders calls the police to report last night's incident with the Tall Man and Detective Inspector Andrew Taylor asks him to come in and make a statement.
Bartlett and Withers decide to catch a train to Hereford and visit St Agnes Asylum.
Browne is looking in bookshops for a copy of The Walker by the Lake when he is threatened by the Tall Man, who claims responsibility for the murder of Frederick Long.
Saunders gives his statement to Taylor.
Browne calls the police and also visits DI Taylor. He gives a statement during which he informs Taylor of the murder of Long. Taylor phones the Herefordshire police. Browne helps to make an identikit picture of the Tall Man.
Bartlett and Withers are delayed by snow and spend the night in Hereford. Bartlett calls the asylum and is told that the police are limiting access, but Highsmith will be able to talk to him tomorrow.
November 7th 1928
Bartlett and Withers visit St Agnes Asylum. They meet Inspector Atkins of the Herefordshire police, an unpleasant and arrogant man who seems to have a problem with army officers and the insane (he strikes Withers as the 'Bad NCO' type). The meeting with Highsmith is not very fruitful, but Bartlett arranges to have lunch at the Wheatsheaf pub with Nurse Price.
Price meets with Bartlett and Withers and tells them about his discovery of Long's body and the circumstances of the murder, which does indeed seem very similar to the Cuthbert Yates case.
Bartlett and Withers return to London, arriving home very late. London is snowbound.
November 8th 1928
Browne calls Bartlett to discuss events since Bartlett left town. It is agreed that everyone will meet at Bartlett's home for dinner on Friday.
Withers phones the private detective he hired and learns Delia Hartston's last known address - Withers also asks about Vincent Tuck and is told he's a reasonably good man, except for his drink problem.
Withers sends a telegram ahead to Delia announcing that 'Captain Withers and Doctor Bartlett' wish to visit her tomorrow.
Saunders and Browne visit Tuck at his office in Wapping, ostensibly to have him investigate The Tall Man. Browne, unaware of exactly why they are seeing Tuck (he thought they were just visiting any old private eye), unwittingly reveals the connection to Alexander Roby causing Tuck to become suspicious and defensive. Finally, however, after some cajoling, he agrees to tell them what he knows if they leave him alone.
He tells then that he followed Roby for 3 weeks in November 1925, during which time Roby spent most evenings in the company of Lawrence Bacon, Malcolm Quarrie and a man called Edwards. He provides addresses and background information for these 3 men.
Tuck seems to be holding things back. He invites Browne and Saunders to the pub, where after several pints he decides to tell them the 'whole truth'. returning to his office, he gives them a typed report, tells them not to read it until they have left, and wishes them goodbye.
Vincent Tuck's report turns out to describe Lawrence Bacon's apparent use of black magic to kill a vagrant. Its clear that this incident scared Tuck badly, and may have precipitated his heavy drinking.
November 9th 1928
Delia Hartston's mother calls Withers to inform him that her daughter is now living in Enfield, is married and is called Delia Morrison. Withers asks if she can possibly call him. Delia phones shortly after this, and impressed by the credentials of an army Captain and an eminent Doctor agrees to meet them that afternoon at her home.
Delia proves to be beautiful and petite, and to have an apparent bruise under her makeup. Taking into account some pictures on the wall which show Delia almost pulling away from her husband and her desire to not have them in her house when he returns Withers concludes her husband, Peter Morrison, beats her, a thought which greatly disturbs him.
Asked about Alexander Roby, she explains that they split up over his association with Lawrence Bacon, Malcolm Quarrie and Edwards, who she knew only by their surnames, and never met, and also mentions a fourth man she did meet, a thug called Coombes who seemed to work for Bacon and who fits the description of the Tall Man.
She gives Withers a copy of Roby's book, 'The Walker by the Lake' and says that shortly before they split, Roby kept talking about 'an event' due to take place in December 1925 in a Suffolk village called Clare Melford, and that 'nine teeth' had been prepared on a hill for this 'event'. The 'teeth' appear to have been standing stones. Bartlett and Withers leave but they both leave her a card in case she remembers anything else.
That night, everyone meets at Bartlett's house to discuss what they have learned and to decide on their next steps. Saunders gives Roby's book to Browne.
Thinking about the 'nine teeth' at Clare Melford, Bartlett remembers a dream that he had in Weobley and, shaken, recounts it; himself walking and a vast, indescribable creature appearing to him within a circle of nine standing stones.
Continue to Session 4.
Audio Recording
Session 3 - Total Running Time : 2h 17m (32 Meg)
Alexander's Friends - Note: This recording has some quality issues.
