NaNoWriMo 2006 novel. Writing 50,000 words in 30 days. Quality may suffer.
They were interrupted at that moment by the arrival of Miss Willett together with her mother and a gentleman Montague had not met before. Miss Willett had just started to call across the room to him when the gentleman exclaimed 'Lovecraft! Good god man I haven't seen you in years.'
Howard Lovecraft took one look at the approaching party and turned away again, holding his hands up to his face and mouthing something. The look in his eyes was one of profound discomfort.
'Howard Lovecraft,' said the gentleman loudly as he walked across the bar, 'what on earth has dragged you from your room in Providence all the way to New York?' Lovecraft visibly cringed away from the man.
Montague found himself filled with pity for the pale shy young man from Rhode Island and stood up and intercepted the approaching gentleman, extending a hand and beaming, full of bonhomie, and saying loudly 'Montague Rhodes James, I don't believe we've been introduced.'
'Montague,' said Miss Lucy Willett, dashing across the room to catch up, 'this is Charlie Ward, a friend from up north.'
'Pleased to meet you,' said James, shaking the man's hand firmly and vigorously.
'Likewise,' said the gentleman. 'Miss Willett has had us chasing all the way across Manhattan for you.'
'Oh Charlie that is hardly true,' said the young woman. 'We called the university to make sure you were okay after all that business with the police and they told us that your conference was cancelled and we thought, we can hardly leave poor Montague left to his own devices in an unfamiliar city we have to take him out and show him the sights. But I see you already have company, I do hope we are not intruding.'
'Not at all,' said Montague, 'this is Howard Lovecraft, Howard is a, err ...'
'A fan,' said Lovecraft, rising reluctantly and shaking hands, 'of Mister James' ghost stories.'
'Oh so am I,' gushed Lucy.
'Howard is an old school friend of mine,' said Mister Ward.
'Oh how perfectly lovely,' said Lucy, 'you will join us won't you Mister Lovecraft?'
'Actually I have some business I should attend to.'
'Oh nonsense,' said Ward, 'you'll stop and have a drink won't you. Lucy would be terribly offended if you just upped and left, she'd think it was something one of us said.'
'I would,' said Lucy, failing to keep a straight face at the joke.
'One drink then,' said Lovecraft.
'Fantastic,' exclaimed Lucy, 'Champagne, we must have champagne to cheer Montague up after coming all this way for nothing.'
'The journey that allowed me to meet you could never be wasted my dear,' said Montague, bowing low with a sweep of his hand so that he nearly sent Lucy into a fit of giggles.
'And we must celebrate Howard coming all this way,' said Ward. 'He has been something of a recluse these past years.'
'Hardly a recluse,' said Lovecraft, 'I have merely been concentrating on my studies.'
'How interesting,' said Lucy, 'what do you study?'
'Oh Howard is quite the astronomer,' said Ward.
Lovecraft nodded.
There was a lot of fuss with introductions and catching up on the last few hours that had been missed and the ordering of drinks and the fetching and arranging of extra chairs until the entire party, Montague, Lovecraft, Lucy, her mother Mrs Willett, and Charlie Ward were all sat down and holding full champagne glasses and able to toast the good fortune that had brought them all to the same place at the same time, along with the promise of an entertaining evening.
Charlie Ward was a hearty, friendly, handsome young man with a tanned face and the look of one who spent much of his life in vigorous active outdoor pursuits. It was obvious to anyone watching that he had something of a fondness from Miss Willett, he had been careful to arrange to sit next to her and could barely take his eyes off her when she was not watching, when she was watching his voice rose in volume and his nature became even more ebullient than normal.
It was equally obvious that Lovecraft had something of a dislike for Mister Ward, the poor man positively leaned away and grimaced when he spoke. Lucy had sat herself between the two men and so Ward was permanently inclined in her direction, and thus, Lovecraft's.
'Mister James,' said Mrs Willett, who, Montague noticed, had also been regarding the young people with interest, 'how was your interview with the inspector?'
'McGarvey,' said Montague, 'he was suspicious, as I imagine all police detectives must be, but I have not been arrested so I must have done well enough.'
'Oh you must not joke about such things, we talked about it earlier and Lucy said how attractive a suspect you would have made to the police. I wish now I had thought to say more in your defence when they talked to me.'
'Thank you Mrs Willett, but I doubt the police would have taken much notice, McGarvey, to his credit I must say, seemed far more interested in the facts.'
'I'm sorry,' said Lovecraft, who had been decidedly monosyllabic and uncommunicative till then, 'there was a matter with the police?'
'Oh there was the most frightful murder aboard the boat,' said Lucy, 'it's a travesty they even thought of suspecting Montague, he has done more to try and solve it than anyone else.'
'It is unsolved?' inquired Lovecraft.
'It seems likely that the killer drowned attempting to escape through the porthole and up the side of the ship,' said Montague. 'It was simple matter of theft.'
'Oh there is far more to it than that,' continued Lucy, 'there were scratches all the way down the side of the hull where the killer fell, and the item that was stolen was a holy African relic, a solid gold sacrificial dagger.'
'My god,' said Ward, 'it is like something from a dime novel.'
'Scratches you say?' said Lovecraft quietly.
'I admit it has some singular aspects,' said James.
'And,' said Lucy, 'Mister James was the only other man who saw the dagger.'
'Really?' said Ward, 'what did it look like?'
'Well as it happens,' said James, 'I have a sketch of it in my case.'
'Do show it,' said Lucy, 'none of us have ever seen it either.'
Montague retrieved the case he had stood beside the chair and placed it on his lap. 'It's not of especially high quality,' he said, 'it's a copy of a document Frank Pabodie had in his possession that I was hoping to translate, I put most of my effort into transcribing the writings, I only made a rough copy of the sketch for the sake of completeness.' He opened the case and removed a sheet of paper on which he had done a pencil sketch of the original document and then later gone over it in pen and ink. The representation of the knife was sketchy but not badly done, and it was accurate to all the details from the original, down to the tiniest carvings.
For a second, nobody spoke, and then Ward said 'vicious looking thing isn't it,' but Montague and Lucy's attention had turned to Mrs Willett who gasped audibly, went pale in the face, and shuddered briefly.
'Are you alright mother?' asked Lucy.
'I don't know,' stuttered Mrs Willett weakly. 'Those carvings! The thought of it just cutting in ...'
Montague snatched up the picture and hid it back in his case. Lucy went over to her mother and held the old woman's hand. Ward leaped up, announced he would fetch some brandy and marched off in search of a waiter.
'I'll be fine,' said Mrs Willett, 'it was just the thought of it rather gave me a turn. I'll be fine now.'
Lovecraft fixed Montague with a stare and, leaning forwards, said in a low voice 'I have seen a picture of an item like this before.'
'A knife?' asked Montague, also talking quickly and quietly.
'No,' said the young man, 'a tiara of a kind, but also of gold, and also with those same carvings.'
'Where?'
'In a book on local history in Providence library.'
They were interrupted by the return of Ward accompanied by a waiter, and then several more waiters and hotel staff all anxious to make sure that Mrs Willett was looked after. The associated noise and fuss of which made it impossible for Montague and Lovecraft to continue their conversation. After everything that could be done for Mrs Willett was done, and she had pronounced that she was all fit and dandy again so often and with such force that none could deny it, it was decided the party should go out and take Montague on a short tour of the better parts of Manhattan before finding somewhere for dinner. Howard Lovecraft no longer asserted that he had any other business to attend to and tagged along much more willingly, if no more talkatively, than before.
'So Mister James,' said Ward as they sat down in a restaurant after the tour was concluded, 'what will you do now with your time in New York?'
'There are certainly a few things that may occupy my time,' said Montague, 'tomorrow I shall drop in on the University and hopefully they may have something of interest, but I also intend to pay a visit to White Star Lines and see if I can not bring forward my date of departure.'
'Oh no,' cried Lucy, 'you must not leave when you have only just arrived.'
'I imagine I shall be here for a couple of weeks at least,' said Montague.
'Only two weeks,' lamented the girl, 'but then you shall already be gone when we return.'
'When you return?'
'Oh my gosh we forgot to tell you,' said the girl, 'and that was half the reason we presumed to intrude on you on your first day here, we must go to Maine.'
'There is some business at the estate that needs attending,' added Mrs Willett.
'Nothing serious I hope?'
'No' said Mrs Willett, 'I suspect it is only a misunderstanding, but these things have to be attended to promptly.'
'That is why Charlie is down here in New York,' said Lucy, 'to fetch us both back up to Maine. Charlie runs the estate for us don't you Charlie?'
'I deal with the day to day matters,' said Ward.
'He does most everything,' said Lucy, 'since father died we would have been lost without him.'
Charlie Ward tried to smile modestly but could not disguise his pride.
'When do you leave?' asked Montague.
'In two days time,' said Mrs Willett, 'we will take the train to Providence where we will stay with friends for one night, and then to Boston from where Charlie will drive us up to the estate.'
'It's a long old drive,' said Ward, 'which is why I recommended they rest a couple of days after only just completing an Atlantic crossing.'
'Recommend!' said Lucy. 'He insisted.'
Montague turned to Lovecraft who, as ever, had been sitting quietly but studiously interested in everything that was said. 'Didn't you say it was in Providence where you saw a book with illustrations of an artefact similar to my knife?'
'I did,' said Lovecraft. ' I saw it there last year. I remember because the nature of the engraving struck me as extremely curious.'
'I should very much like to go and see them myself.'
'You are going to Providence?' Lucy nearly shouted.
'I thought I might, before I leave.'
'Oh that is marvellous, we can all travel together. And maybe you can even find time to visit us in Maine, it is beautiful this time of year. Charlie tell him, isn't summer in Maine the most wonderful time of year?'
'It is certainly better than the winter,' said Mr Ward.
'Isn't it marvellous mother?'
'Positively serendipitous my dear.'
'Well then it is settled,' said Ward. 'We shall all travel up to Providence together on Wednesday and then if Mister James has time to spare after completing his researches he is invited to come and join us in Kennebunk. What about you Lovecraft, will you be joining us on this little jaunt?'
'Unfortunately I must return to Providence tomorrow,' said Lovecraft, 'but I will happily meet you there and hopefully assist Mister James.'
'Is it a matter of money?' asked Ward. Surprising Montague, who had guessed it probably was but would not have dreamed of asking in company.
'It is,' said Lovecraft, quite unabashed, 'I have not brought enough to cover the expense of staying an extra day.'
'Well that is ridiculous,' said Lucy, 'you must stay with us in Chelsea.'
'Oh I would not dream of imposing.'
'Nonsense, you would not be imposing a whit. We have far more room than we know what to do with, even with Charlie stomping and shouting about the place it feels empty. And after travelling it is almost unbearably lonesome to come back to an empty house, we need all the company we can get don't we mother? I insist, you must stay, give me your address and I will have a man come and pick you up first thing tomorrow morning.'
Montague concealed his amusement as he watched the young woman filibuster every attempt by Lovecraft to decline her hospitality until the shy young man was left with no option to accept. Ward called a waiter over in order to procure pen and paper with which Lovecraft could write down his address.
'And I think another round of drinks is called for don't you?' he said.
