12/09/2021 – Attack in the Night

Thursday 31 January 1935

Zalkador Changes

Zalkador goes to his tailor that day to change his appearance. He spends a long time there and emerges dressed in a dull, butler-like suit in brown.

Cassandra proposes to Jeziah having Zalkador in his well-known outfit go to get some more private investigators, one to watch the Penhew Foundation and another to watch Gavigan’s place. He should go in his usual outfit, as he is no longer living at his home place, anyone interrogating them would learn nothing new.

Jeziah picks Zalkador up from the tailors and is a little surprised by the new look, and he now speaks like and acts more like Jeziah. His new name is George Zimmerman.

Hiring Detectives

Jeziah then tells him he needs to change back into his fortune teller outfit, in order the hire the private detectives, which he reluctantly does. They return to Astor Manor and there he changes back into the Great Zalkador.

Jeziah then drops off Zalkador at the private detectives’ office and hires two men to watch the Penhew Foundation and another to watch Gavigan’s place. He uses the cover story that the reason for the investigation is the Egyptian murders and they think they have a lead. From tomorrow someone will be watching the Penhew Foundation, but it will be Monday before someone else is free to watch Gavigan’s Mayfair flat.

Zalkador returns to the pickup point and Jeziah returns him to Astor Manor. There is does a tarot reading, but it is inconclusive.

Friday 01 February 1935

Uneventful Day

The next day passes uneventfully. They lay low, waiting for their letter to stir things up, the private investigators to report and the Astor Motors engineers finish their investigation into the artefacts from Derby.

Zalkador is now dressing as George and acting much more like a butler, addressing Cassandra as “ma’am”, which draws sideways looks from Jeziah.

George calls the private detectives for an update on the surveillance of the Penhew Foundation.

Saturday 02 February 1935

Alex is contacted by a colleague of Joe Quimby, saying he has not been heard from and he has not returned to his family at the weekend. They ask if he has heard anything, which he has to tell them no. They tell Alex they will wait until Monday and then may have to inform the Police.

George calls the other private detective’s office to get an update on their surveillance. They confirm that on Friday their detective reported during the day the Penhew Foundation was relatively quiet, but that evening there seemed to be a lot of activity, with Egyptian types going back and forth. This contracts with the quiet activity with one delivery when Jeziah was watching the Foundation.

They wonder if this is due to the letter they sent.

Uneventful Day

A letter arrives from Erica Carlisle, New York, advising that her investigations in to Jack Brady’s family came to nothing, his family have not heard from him since the Carlisle Expedition. She also enclosed a cheque to pay towards the costs of her investigation.

Cassandra wonders if it would be possible to contact the families of other members of the Carlisle Expedition. Hypatia Masters and Dr Robert Huston are both American, too far away to investigate further. She focuses on Sir Aubrey Penhew, discovering he was a baronet, an only child, was in his sixties and did not marry. He has no surviving close family, his title was inherited by a distance relative once he was declared dead.

Sunday 03 February 1935

They have this day off.

Monday 04 February 1935

The Police contact Alex to ask further about Joe Quimby and his disappearance, which takes up most of his day. He tells them the investigation was due to the murder of their close friend Jackson Elias, who was killed by Egyptians and the Blue Pyramid Club is an Egyptian Club with a bad reputation.

Detective Inspector Poole is called in to speak further to Alex, who is still investigating the death of Elias. He questions Alex further about what he knows, without giving much information out himself. Alex does not tell him much.

Attack!

After a long day at the Police Station, Alex goes home late. He has a whisky with Tiger then goes to bed. He drifts off to sleep, but is awakened by noises in Tiger’s room. As he moves tries to listen further, an Egyptian man in his room suddenly jumps out of the shadows and tries to stab him with a knife!

Alex dodges out of the way and gets into a deadly exchange in which he attempts to avoid the knife man and get to his gun, which is in a draw on the side. Alex gets stabbed in the breast before he gets lucky and is able to distract the man and get his gun.

He shoots the Egyptian, but it’s only a flesh wound and he keeps stabbing. Fortunately, Alex is able to fend him off and shoot him again, this time shoot the Egyptian unconscious. Then suddenly a shotgun goes off in Tiger’s room and Alex hears him shout “Bloody fuzzy-wuzzies!”

Desperate Fight

Wounded, Alex heads out into the corridor and sees another Egyptian man with a club, who comes running at him, screaming. Alex shoots him in the chest and that staggers the man, but he continues to try to attack him with the club. Alex fires again and the man collapses back, though he is still alive.

With only six shots in his pistol, Alex decides to leave the man and head for Tiger’s room, where there are sounds of fighting. Two Egyptians are dead and a third is fighting with Tiger. Alex shoots at the man attacking Tiger, but misses. Then Tiger hits the man in the face with the stock of the shotgun and knocks him out. Tiger has a cut on his arm, but he is otherwise alright.

Alex now starts to find his wound is bleeding and starting to hurt a lot. He feels faint, but manages to stay conscious. Tiger goes to get something to help Alex, but when he leaves his room, he gets into a fight with the wounded man in the corridor who has the club.

Alex’s Address Known

He calls for Alex to get the shotgun shells while the man starts to escape. Alex fumbles for some cartridges before handing them to Tiger, who loads the shotgun and guns down the escaping Egyptian.

Tiger then gets the first aid kit and patches up Alex. Then he calls an ambulance and the Police. While they wait for them to arrive, they search through the possessions of the Egyptians. They don’t find much, but the man with the club has Alex Steven’s name and address written neatly on a piece of paper.

End of Episode Ten