Last Rites, part 2

The Diary of Thomas Grady

Sunday 2^nd November

13:00 – Lucie requested that I open the hatch to the basement. She then entered and moved to the door we found there. She proceeded to knock three times and called out, “Are you there, father?” There was a reply of three knocks. Taking this as proof that someone is there, Lucie then proceeded to direct him to the next target, the local doctor, Alan Ettringer. The others heard this and I noticed that none of them seemed over eager to inform the doctor of this possible threat to his life.

15:00 – Freddie, Belinda and Emily said they were going out and I assumed they had felt they should warn him but I was wrong as I was later to find out they instead went to see the doc’s neighbour, Maurice Talbot. Barbara, James and I remained at Drummond house with Lucie.

17:00 – Started to go dark before the three returned and I noted that the two ladies had changed their clothing.

17:30 – The three revealed that in their meeting with Talbot he had told them that he had suspected Lionel and his son-in-law, Henry Ennis, because there had been some sort of occult marking on young Sophie’s body and the belief that a lot of murders are instigated by close family members. He also suspected that his investigation at the time had been closed down to political pressure from these two and had moved to Cliffside upon his retirement to do his own investigation.

The ritual markings were apparently from a book named the Necronomicon, a book that only seems to have five copies worldwide.

Talbot was apparently surprised to discover that Fraser was also involved in ritual practices and he was also unaware of his spousal abuse.

The group had left Talbot at 15:45 and had visited Dougal McInnes’ house as they wanted information about the mine workings. These were for the mining of zinc, did open onto the cliff face and had a number of rumours about hauntings by evil spirits, but I don’t see the relevance in this questioning.

Freddie also reported passing the doc on his way back but still did not inform him of the threat however. The doc informed them that he had been visiting Mrs Fraser at the vicarage but Emily suspected he was not being honest as he appeared to be coming from the wrong direction.

As we were all in attendance Lucie then revealed what she had seen when touching the doc. Fraser was the one who sliced Sophie’s neck while the doc had put her in the water and done CPR post mortem to put water in her lungs. It appeared that the ritual had called something but it scared them and that was why there had been no repeat. However Lucie still did not reveal the identity of the third person involved, but to be honest I should have guessed who it was.

18:45 – The phone rang and it was the reverend informing us that Toby had phoned him to state that someone had killed the doc. So it appeared the local phones were back but we still could not contact anyone outside the village.

19:00 – Lucie was pleased and asked me to open the cellar door for her. I thought this was detrimental to her and initially refused but she was insistent and she made it clear she could summon her father into the house which would have been worse as I noted that beside Lucie both Barbara and Belinda were a little flaky. However on this occasion when she knocked there was no reply so she asked for a chair and she then sat watching the door.

19:15 – Freddie, Emily, Belinda and I headed down to the doc’s to check that Toby was unharmed. I left Lucie in the care of James and Barbara.

19:30 – We arrived at the doc’s house, Emily knocked while the rest of us stood back and we were soon greeted by a blood splattered Toby. It appeared they had been sitting down to dinner when the attack occurred and the table was still set yet there was a round shape on the table covered by a tea cloth. I suspected that this was doc’s head as the remainder of the body was laid on the floor of the hall, sans head. This was a little unnerving.

Toby also had four deep wounds on his forearm, apparently caused as the figure had pushed Toby to one side, which I admit would have taken considerable strength. The wounds were deep and would probably require stitches but I did what I could to bandage them up.

We talked to Toby and he revealed his belief that Lionel was the one who had killed his father in revenge for Sophie. Toby also provided us with goat mask from the back of his father’s closet an item his father had beaten him for seeing at an earlier time; there were apparently robes too at one time, and a book which had been borrowed from Mr Fraser. Freddie excused himself as he informed us that he wished to return to Drummond House in the hope of discovering Lionel’s location.

When we asked if anyone else was involved Toby looked shifty before quietly revealing the name of the third conspirator, Bernadette Springer – the woman who had complained that Lucie had crushed her hand during the wake.

19:45 - Toby would not leave the house but we left strict instructions that he should not clean-up before making our way to inform Talbot of the incident. Talbot immediately stuffed a pistol into his pocket and joined us and we headed back to the doc’s.

Toby, as we suspected, has not followed instructions and had already begun cleaning up, which caused issues with Talbot but to be honest if there is evidence linking the killing to Lionel it would raise more issues than it would solve.

18:00 – After 15 minutes of this we informed Talbot that the doc was in league with Fraser, that we believed they were the true culprits in Sophie’s death and that there is a third suspect, to whit Mrs Springer, so the three of us, and Talbot, headed out to Mrs Springer’s house.

However, before we had travelled more than a few meters, Mrs Springer emerged from the fog looking very nervous, so I approached her.

As I reached out to her she screamed, “No Katherine, I told them nothing”, which was swiftly followed by a strange chittering noise which emanated from above her.

Then, much to my surprise, Mrs Springer began to lift into the air so I attempted to grab her and haul her down but as I did so I heard a scream and someone yelling, followed by the report of two shots. This caused my mind to flashback to that terrible night in Helmand.

Hitting the dirt I scrambled for my pistol but there was nothing to be found so I took cover as best as I could. The screaming lasted for about a minute and I heard another four shots then it all suddenly stopped and I heard a sound like someone throwing a bag of sticks onto the floor.

I rose to find the dry husk of Mrs Stringer on the floor near my feet and Talbot lying in foetal position next to Belinda, who was stood with Talbot’s pistol aimed into the sky. Emily meanwhile had disappeared. I noted straight away that there appeared to be something different about Belinda as she began to take control.

Suddenly Freddie emerged from the steps that led further up the hill but Belinda did not appear to recognise either him or me and was insistent that she be called Glorianna. I suspected Belinda had suffered a serious mental break.

Anyway we now had a fourth name, ‘Katherine’, and the only Katherine I knew was the magistrate so we headed in the direction of her home. Yet as we approached the house, first Emily re-joined the group then we came upon a creature of claws and teeth that bore a resemblance to Lionel. (Was this the sluagh that Lucie had summoned and the others had been talking about?)

18:20 – We arrived at Mrs Smythe’s to find the front door unlocked and, while the creature and the others headed upstairs, I made my way to the back of the house to check that there wasn’t a second set of stairs. What I did find, however, was Lucie at the back door requesting entry so I found the key and let her in. Lucie said she wanted to observe the end game before moving towards the stairs. I accompanied her as protection, yet as we climbed the stairs there was another shot from above us.

18:30 – We arrived in the attic as the creature was grabbing Katherine Smythe, who was dressed in long black robes. It was quick and mere seconds later Mrs Smythe’s decapitated head was rolling on the floor. Things then began to happen: first the creatures’ claws and teeth receded and then it seem to deflate, returning back to the form of Lucie’s beloved grandfather, and from there it slumped to the floor, a corpse once more.

It was finished and Lucie was happy. Meanwhile the others collected the ritual items from the room which included a large wooden chest. They decided to leave Mrs Smythe’s body where it was as there already two similar bodies in town. But we still needed to re-inter Lionel’s remains. Carefully I lifted his body and headed out. Yet as we left we encountered the reverend, who insisted on accompanying us and he even helped dig out the grave.

19:50 - A small ceremony took place in the graveyard and Lionel was once again laid to rest. The reverend said a prayer and blessed the grave and, after we had finished, offered his services as a counsellor should we require it.

20:00 – We arrived back at Drummond House to discover Emily, Freddie, Barbara and James in deep discussion over the items they had removed from Mrs Smythe’s house.

Apparently the Smythes had moved to Cliffside as her husband was a Satanist and a member of The Order of the Goat, yet his wife was more committed than he and she desired real power. She was the driving force behind Sophie’s sacrifice as she intended to contact Yog-Sothoth. In a way she was successful in her quest as she acquired a number of abilities, one of which was a glamour. However the manifestation shocked them all and ritual was never repeated.

21:00 – It had been a troubling day and we all retired but I wonder if this is what Lionel had concealed from me.

Monday 3^rd November

07:00 – We awoke to find the fog had lifted and that several black cars and a van had arrived. The cars contained several guests who had left after the wake, to whit Mr Forbush, Ms Kensington, Mr Blawke, the very mysterious American Mr Green and four other Americans.

Mr Forbush then informed us that they were there to clear up the mess and obfuscate any lines of investigation into the events of the last few days. Maurice Talbot was confused and like me was unsure what he had seen was actually real. Belinda meanwhile was no longer delusional and appeared to know who everyone was again.

08:00 - Mr Forbush informed us that it was he who had created the fog and that a trench had been dug across the road leading from the village, indicating that we could not have left even if we had wished to. I was tempted to hit him but controlled myself as this would have achieved nothing. However it should be noted that I will keep careful watch on Mr Forbush.

Mr Green was also trying to recruit the services of the others but as he did so I noted that Forbush was insistent that any he did recruit were only on loan and that included the three he had already acquired.

09:00 – I thought all this was finally over but the others stated that there could be a way to free Sophie’s soul but this would require using something called the ‘Evocation of the Damned’, which we could acquire from Lionel’s library, and a spell which would need to acquire from someone called Toby Higginbotham.

Hopefully this won’t be hard to achieve but it soon became clear that this Higginbotham character presently resides in somewhere called the ‘Wilmarth Facility’, which is apparently part of Broadmoor, which implies the guy is criminally insane. I have my misgivings but this may help my beloved Lucie to acquire closure and I am willing to move heaven and earth to please her, so once again I am on board.