16/02/2020 - Murder at the Chelsea Hotel (1)

The Carlysle Expedition died three years ago, but investigator Jackson Elias believes he has uncovered a conspiracy to hide the truth. He is returning to London to report to this employer, Lady Cassandra Astor, what he has discovered.

Thursday, 10 January 1935

The Return of Jackson Elias

Jackson Elias suddenly sends a telegram to Cassandra Astor from a ship, to say that he is on his way back to England. He will be in London by Tuesday 15 January. He has uncovered a conspiracy involving the Carlisle Expedition. He will explain further once he is in London. He needs a group of people to assist him in his investigation.

Cassandra has Jeziah send a telegram to Erica Carlisle in New York, telling her of Jackson’s return and inviting her to come to England to meet him. Erica responds by telegram to say she will depart the next day, but it will take at least four days to get to England.

Jeziah attempts to find out which ship Jackson is on, with the hope of meeting him at the port, but his search is not fruitful. There is no option but to wait until Jackson contacts them again.

Tuesday 15 January 1935

A telegram arrives early from Jackson Elias, telling Cassandra that he is in London and he is staying at the Chelsea Hotel. They are to meet him there, room 410, at 4pm.

The Journey Begins

Cassandra has Jeziah and the Great Zalkador accompany her to the Chelsea Hotel. She also arranges for Alex Stevens and Tiger Johnson to meet them there at 4pm. She thinks they will all be useful in helping Jackson with his investigation.

At 4pm, everyone arrives on time and they proceed to take the lift to the fourth floor. Cassandra is keen and excited as she is finally going to find out what happened to Roger and she wants to know about the conspiracy that Jackson has uncovered.

Murder

As they approach the room, they hear the distinct sound of a gunshot come from within. Jeziah checks the door, but it is locked. He asked the strongly built Tiger Johnson to open the door. Tiger barges the door down and a man, who has been waiting by the door in case anyone enters, makes a swift stab at him with a knife, but misses. Tiger responds by punching the man, forcing him out of the room and into the corridor. Jeziah then trips him up.

Inside the room, Jackson Elias is lying on the bed, his throat cut, from which blood is gushing and a smoking pistol is still in his hand. Three swarthy, middle-eastern men in robes are in the room. One has a knife with blood on it on the bed. This man is in the process of taking Jackson’s pistol from his hand.

Another man has opened a leather Satchell and is trying to examine the papers that are inside. Startled by the sudden entrance, he begins to move towards the window.

The third man who attacked Tiger is now in the corridor. Zalkador is taken aback by this dangerous turn of events and backs away.

Battle with Middle-Eastern Murderers

Tiger Johnson immediately goes to attack the man on the bed before he can bring Jackson’s pistol to bear on them. He is able to grapple with him but the man fires the pistol, grazing Tiger slightly on the arm with a bullet.

Jeziah attempts to grapple with the young middle-eastern man in the corridor, but the man is nimble and is able to twist out of Jeziah’s grasp and run away down the corridor.

Alex runs into the room and attempts to stop the man from climbing out of the window. He is too slow and the man is able to get onto the drain pipe outside, but Alex grabs him and tries to pull him back in.

Cassandra enters the room and attempts to stop the blood gushing from Jackson Elias’s throat. She is shocked by events and does not want him to die, she needs to know what he has found out. In the process, she is covered in blood.

Jeziah follows her in and uses his medical knowledge to staunch the bleeding and keep Jackson alive, but it’s a close thing and it takes his continuous attention to stop Jackson from dying there and then.

Zalkador heads down stairs to summon help.

Tiger gets into a messy struggle with the man he is fighting. He is finally able to head-butt him and stun him.

Alex tries to pull the man back into the room through the window, but he is not strong enough. He then notices a motor car parked below the window at the back of the hotel with the engine running. A middle-eastern looking man in the car is looking up at the window and when he sees Alex he takes out a pistol and shoots, but misses.

Alex is shocked by being shot at and lets go of the man, who then has nothing to hold onto and falls four floors to the ground. His body is then dragged into the car by the man with the gun.

The man Tiger is fighting draws a small knife, but in a surprise manoeuvre stabs himself in the neck with it. Tiger then knocks him out properly.

Summoning Help

Cassandra is concerned that Jackson will die and she has Alex go to summon an ambulance.

Downstairs, Zalkador reaches the reception desk and tells the staff about gun shots in room 410. They should call the Police. He then heads outside to have a cigarette and recover from the shock of events.

Alex then comes down and has the staff also call for an ambulance. He then heads back upstairs, being out of breath by the time he reaches the fourth floor. As he does so, he seems the third middle-eastern man who ran down the corridor passes him heading down the stairs.

Alex immediately gives chase and follows the man down to reception. The man is quicker than him though and Alex calls out for Zalkador to help. Zalkador is too slow to stop the man from leaving the hotel, but discreetly throws a pin from out of his turban and hits the man, causing him to fall over in the street.

The Police Arrive

Alex is able to catch up and overpower the man. The Police then arrive and a constable arrests the man that Alex has caught, but not before Kalkador has retrieved his pin.

The two other Policemen then proceed up to room 410, along with Alex and Zalkador. The Sergeant asks Cassandra and Jeziah what is going on. Cassandra insists they summon an ambulance and the Sergeant sends his other Constable to do so. They then tell the Sergeant a quick summary of what has happened.

When he learns one of the attackers escaped out of the window, the Sergeant looks outside. He is then shot at by the man in the car. The Sergeant then departs to summon more help.

Tiger runs down to attack the man in the car, but as he approaches it drives away and escapes.

Alex takes all of the papers and anything else of interest he can find from the Hotel room before the Police return.

More Police and an Ambulance crew arrive. They take Jackson Elias away, with Jeziah and Cassandra going with them. Jackson is dead by the time they reach the Hospital. Jeziah discreetly empties Jackson’s pockets.

Cassandra is upset but resolves to return to the Hotel.

Collating the Evidence

Tiger, Zalkador and Alex end up answering all the Police questions as best they can. They then wait for Cassandra and Jeziah to return. They make statements to the Police. Cassandra and Jeziah agree to go to the station tomorrow to give their statements, as Cassandra is covered in blood and wants to get changed.

They finally leave the hotel and Cassandra has them all accompany her back to the offices of Astor Motors, where she takes them to the main conference room. They all have a stiff drink, while Cassandra changes out of her blood-soaked clothes.

Alex then takes out all of the clues he found in the Hotel room and Jeziah adds in what he found in Jackson’s pockets.

- A hand-written Letter to Roger Carlisle from Warren Besart in Cairo, dated 1929. It is difficult to read but suggests that Roger wants something and the man in the letter is telling him for the right price he can have it.
- A business card from the Penhew Foundation in London with Edward Gavigan named as the Director. Cassandra recalls that Aubrey Penhew was a member of the Carlisle Expedition and went with Roger to Egypt.
- A book of matches from the Stumbling Tiger Bar, 10 Lantern Street “Shanghai Fun and Friends”. Jeziah determines there is not a Lantern Street in London.
- A photograph of a ship named “DARK” in a port with Chinese ships in the background. The rest of the ships’ name is not in the photograph.
- A letter to Jackson from Mariam Arkwright of the British Museum Library, dated November 1934. It is addressed to him at a P. O Box in Alexandria, Egypt. It tells Jackson the book he is looking for is not available but maybe there are others that can help him.
- A business card from Emerson Imports with an address on the London Docks and the name “Silas N’Kwane” written in pen on the back.
- A business card from Jonah Kensington of Prespero House, Lexington Avenue, London.
- A flyer from “The Cult of Darkness in Polynesia and the Southwest Pacific”, which is a presentation by Professor Anthony Cowles PhD of Syndey, Australia.
- There are also some newspaper cuttings that report on the activities of the Carlisle Expedition.

An International Conspiracy

They realise that the only way to find out what Jackson Elias had uncovered is to track down every clue and try to piece things together, even if it means travelling to several countries. Cassandra vows to do so. She can leave the company in the hands of her new Managing Director.

Jeziah also discovers that a Telegram has arrived from Erica Carlisle. She arrives in Liverpool tomorrow and should be in London by the evening.

It is late and the group split up.

End of Episode One