Tapestry of Whispers Session 11
Return To the Scene of the Crime
“Ain't no sleep when the wicked play
All we do is yodel ay ayy, hoo, y hoo-oo
Ain't no love when the wicked run
All we do is yodel ay ah, ay ya ay ya
We're the wicked ones, wicked ones”
-Dorothy, “Wicked Ones”
Even at 3 a.m., the oppressive heat still hung in the air over the Ouachita, bringing forth an eerie fog over the levee. Trenton Street was deserted save for a single West Monroe Police cruiser. It pulled into a space right in front of Taken For Granted Antiques, and Daniel and Chance emerged, gazing up at the shadowy edifice. Daniel, distractedly plucking a leaf from the peculiar vines, inspected it. Unfamiliar with the species, he was uncertain whether it was magical or merely decorative.
Taken For Granted certainly possessed the ambiance of a Haunt, as far as Daniel was concerned. However, something was unmistakably off. The stir of restless souls that accompanied such a place was absent. Chance produced a key. "It's lucky I'm part of the investigation," he murmured. "The detective would take my badge if he found out I brought you here."
“Then it’s a good thing the detective isn’t going to find out.” Daniel told him.
Chance opened the door, turning on the lights. Stepping inside, they noticed several Roombas moving across the sales floor, cleaning methodically. The pattern of movement was odd, but Daniel couldn't divine any meaning from it. While sorting through the store’s inventory, he sensed a watchful presence. Riley’s spirit seemed almost tangible, though no ghosts or other entities materialized.
In the main room of the house, the only items of note were Riley's television and the bloodstain marking the spot where he had fallen after being shot. Behind the sales counter, Daniel discovered an exit that led to a back alley. Following the alley, he soon came to Riley's elaborate and artistic ritual altar and sanctuary. The altar was amply supplied, and Daniel was able to find everything he needed to restock his magic kit.
Given the strange events described in the news story, Daniel was surprised that Riley's ghost didn't put up more of a fight when they entered the antique store and started gathering supplies. He had honestly expected the ghost to be furious, but it didn’t appear at all.
Daniel approached the altar and examined it more closely. The altar was set up for a ritual similar to the Apoklesmos that he knew, but from a different magical practice. It The ritual had used some of the same items, but arranged in a different pattern and different symbolism. Unfamiliar with the practice used, he wasn’t able to divine what the effect on the spirit would be.
Next, Daniel found a beaded curtain hanging in the back of the room. He pushed the curtain aside and discovered a large, open space that appeared to be a storage area for Riley's collection of magical weapons. Daniel was disappointed to find that the cache had already been looted, and everything of value had been removed.
After gathering as many components as he could carry, Daniel sifted through Riley's collection of ritual supplies, trying to deduce the deceased man's intentions. Among the dead wizard’s effects he found two vials of a substance that looked to him like a healing infusion. Chance had beaten him pretty badly, so he consumed one of the vials. It made him feel better almost instantly and the bruises faded.
Daniel noticed that Chance still looked unsteady, so he handed him the second vial of healing infusion. Chance drank it and seemed to feel better as well, though he still favored his arm somewhat. However, a search through Riley’s books yielded no recipe for healing.
They found a lot of files and receipts, but nothing relevant to their investigation. They did, however, find a closet full of costumes that Riley had worn in holiday parades on Antique Alley. The costumes were all meticulously preserved and dated. They were from various eras and themes, from Revolutionary War soldiers to Renaissance nobles to contemporary superheroes. The costumes were well-made and looked as though they had been worn with pride.
A staircase above the closet led to the building's second floor. Ascending the stairs, they arrived in Riley’s cluttered, rustic studio apartment. The place was a mess after the police searched it for evidence. The apartment had been fortified against spiritual intrusion, but the cops had defaced most of the wards in their search.
The police did not take Riley's computer into evidence, and it was not password protected. A subsequent search of the computer turned up numerous emails between Riley and Gideon Blackwood. The emails revealed that Riley had discovered the existence of the Tapestry of Whispers and was determined to destroy it. Daniel wondered why Chance didn’t know about this, but perhaps Blackwood had soemthing to do with that as well.
He thought to himself that if Blackwood wanted the Tapestry, that would be a good reason for him to kill Riley. The Society of the Exalted Light was mentioned, but there was no mention of Zarellon Drellassi. Chance seemed to be in the dark about his involvement as well. Daniel wondered if Blackwood was behind everything.
Daniel discovered another vague email in which Riley seemed to think that King Hardware and its parent company, King Breweries, attracted negative spirits. He mentioned hearing that King Hardware had a greater incidence of workplace burnout and employee misconduct than similar stores. However, the issues that King Hardware was experiencing were within the anticipated norms for stores of its size and type.
Daniel soon discovered a bookcase above Riley's bed that had been overlooked by the police during their initial investigation. Upon closer examination, he found several ritual texts hidden among the books. Chance, ever the pragmatist, agreed to let Daniel take the texts with them if they could prove useful in their search for Evelyn. Though Daniel suspected that the texts might contain significant rituals, he didn't have time to analyze them thoroughly before they needed to move on.
After gleaning all they could for now from Taken For Granted, Daniel considered it wise to depart with their findings before Chance's colleagues arrived and questioned their activities. The street remained empty and fog-shrouded as they proceeded back to Chance's police cruiser. Not wanting to be seen leaving the building, Chance took a circuitous route through a back alley and over Endom bridge to get back to Monroe.
When they were back in the car and away from the crime scene, Daniel asked Chance, "Do you know where this Blackwood hangs out?"
Chance shook his head. “I don't have anything solid, but if what you say is true, I wouldn't remember anyway, right?”
“Can you use the police systems to find out?”
“Maybe.” Chance looked like he wasn’t sure.
“You want to be careful. If Blackwood can control you, he probably has other West Monroe cops under his thumb, and maybe others as well. And they wouldn't even know they were controlled until the right circumstances came up.”
Chance agreed to search the police database for information on Gideon Blackwood. Daniel asked Chance to drop him at home so he could talk to Beth and prepare for a possible confrontation with Blackwood. As he watched the police cruiser drive away, Daniel couldn't help but think about how much trouble they now seemed to be in. This Blackwood seemed to be a slippery character, and a dangerous one as well.
Daniel trudged up the driveway, sighing in anticipation of Beth's reaction to his returning to poking such hornets' nests again. He knew that it was hard if not impossible to come back to where you were before after something like what he and the old crew had gotten her into back in 2004. But he also knew that he couldn't just leave Beth out of it this time. After all, she was his only friend now. And he was already back in the hornet’s nest, for good or ill.
Beth greeted Daniel with her usual dulcet tones, but her eyes were narrowed with suspicion. "Just what in hillbilly HELL did you think you were doing?" she asked. Daniel was not surprised by Beth's hostile tone. He hadn’t been expecting a warm welcome. He was tempted to clam up and not tell her anything, but he knew that wasn't an option. "I was trying to find a way to stop whatever is going on," he said. "Or did you enjoy what happened at King the other day?" He waited for her answer.
Beth agreed that they were back in the hornet's nest. Daniel nodded glumly. "You know I'm in, then," she said. "You'll need someone to watch your back, and I always knew that was me." Daniel was exhausted after performing the Apoklesmos and needed some sleep. He told Beth he would decide what to do next after he got some rest and collapsed into bed without even undressing.
After a few hours of fitful sleep, Daniel was awakened again by his alarm clock. He was tempted to stay in bed, but sorcery didn’t pay the bills. Beth left for her own job, making him promise not to do anything until she was present. Work was excruciating, but coffee and willpower got him through it, barely.
After work, Daniel took a short nap and then attempted a divining session to see if he could locate Blackwood that way. The results were every bit as unclear as the last time, and his lack of sleep didn't help. Either Daniel’s divining powers had suffered since he hadn’t used them often in recent years, or Blackwood had cast a block against it. Either way, the result was the same.
Daniel was tempted to dive into Riley's occult tomes, but he didn't have time for more than a cursory read of the largest of them. He was intrigued by a formula he found for something called the Dracarys bullet, but he barely had time to find out what that was before Beth returned. After dinner, he told Beth it was time. Rummaging in the back of their closet, he returned with a small sandalwood box and pulled a collection of what appeared to be random trinkets from it.
Handing Beth a tacky brooch in the shape of Popeye the Sailor Man eating a can of spinach, Daniel told her to hum the theme song before getting into a fight for a boost. He hung a large ankh around his neck, retrieved a key from the wall, and went to the tool shed. In the back of the shed, he found a cloth-wrapped bundle and dragged it out.
Daniel had been waiting for this moment for a long time. The object he was about to use had been carefully wrapped and stored away, and they hadn't touched it in a long time. "It's been a while," said Beth. "Do you think that thing will still work?" Daniel unwrapped the cloth binding and revealed what appeared to be a common root cutting tool on a long handle. The wedge-like blade was covered with painted runes. Daniel inhaled deeply. Though a bit faded, the blade still bore the scent of magic and of ectoplasm. A sickly green light played over the tool for a second.
"Yeah," said Daniel. "It'll work."
Chance returned soon after with the results of his investigation. "I lucked out. I think I found Blackwood's base of operations, and I don't think I tipped off anyone in the department. At least everyone acted normal while I was there. So he's bought this old marina down near Cooley House. Trade on the river ain't like it used to be, but this place is still hanging on. It's a small business, but it's right on Grand, not far from the cemetery." Chance thought about this for a moment. "Why is it always cemeteries?" he asked.
Beth was about to volunteer her thoughts on why cemeteries were always involved, but then her phone rang. She answered it, spoke briefly, and then told Daniel, "It's my new trainee, Shantay. Hang on a minute. And don't say anything; she's related to Buford." Beth unmuted the phone and spoke some more, trying to explain how to access information in the King system and do a window blind detail. The minutiae were excruciating for Daniel to listen to, and obviously Shantay felt much the same, because it took almost a half hour for Beth to explain how it worked - a half hour that allowed Blackwood’s plans, whatever they were, to move that much closer to fruition
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