University Women’s Club, Bond Street (morning briefing)
British Museum Library (research)
Pook’s flat in Lambeth (investigation)
3 Blithering Lane, Rotherhithe (nighttime)
Smith’s briefing
Smith shared two telegrams from Professor Demir in Constantinople
Telegram 1: Demir has been tracking cult activity. A woman named Menkaph came into possession of the Blood Red Veil and is traveling to England. His student Maria Pook volunteered to follow her
Telegram 2: Pook decided to steal the veil from Menkaph. Professor Demir warned her, but she wouldn’t listen
Smith told the party about her and Demir’s history in Constantinople: they ran afoul of Selima Makryat, a criminal cult leader who builds cults of personality around looted artefacts. Smith earned Makryat’s enmity and had to leave Constantinople in a hurry
Georgie was openly skeptical
Amelia grilled Smith about her trust in Demir. Smith says he’s a family man, progressive champion of women students, and she trusts him with her life
The foreign tickets, identified
Polat recognised Georgie’s papers that he picked up from “Mrs. Leeds” as ferry tickets from Constantinople to Prince’s Islands. All dated December 1892. Nine trips
The party splits
Research team (Polat and Saroch): British Museum Library
Field team (Amelia, Georgie, Smith): Pook’s flat in Lambeth
At the British Museum Library
Polat found the Apocrypha of the Veil, a mythos tome. Started with a Turkish book (library use success), which led to a Persian text
The Apocrypha gives the history of the Blood Red Veil: first spoken of in Ottoman courts around 1550, possibly older. Said to control minds and destinies. Wearing it destroys soul and mind. Spilling the blood of a prince while wearing it brings favour of dark gods or immortality
The text says the veil’s purpose can be halted, and directs seekers to a book called The Whispering Veil
These apocrypha contains a spell: ARREST VEIL DECLINE
Polat gained Cthulhu Mythos and lost sanity on the initial reading. He went into a trance-like state while reading. Saroch had to shake him out of it
Saroch also looked up Prince’s Islands: nine islands south of Constantinople in the Sea of Marmara. Named for exiled Byzantine princes.
The fall of Byzantium in 1453 sits close to the 1550 date when the veil first appears
At Pook’s flat in Lambeth
Top floor, 4A. Door locked. Georgie picked it in seconds
A single small room piled with papers, books, nasty tiny window. No signs of abduction. Pook left voluntarily
Amelia tossed books around looking for clues (spot hidden 86 over 30, fail). Georgie told her to stop making a mess
Georgie found Pook’s journal hidden in a mattress pocket His practiced criminal’s hand went straight to the hiding spot
The journal reveals: Menkaph has powerful influence over the cult. Pook was surveilling them as they staked out a house at 3 Blithering Lane, Rotherhithe, home of a “veil collector.” Menkaph plans to depart on the ORIENT EXPRESS back to Constantinople. Pook decided to steal the veil herself while Menkaph was in Rotherhithe. She was confident no one saw her
They found a photograph of Pook as she was before the veil. A beloved daughter. Her parents had sent it in an envelope
The Rotherhithe Veil Murder
Smith recalled a newspaper article: an elderly veil collector murdered at his home in Rotherhithe. Criminal gang still at large. Police say no veils were stolen. News story dated December 30, 1892
Demir’s reply
A third telegram arrived at the club: the veil is very dangerous, impossible to destroy, on no account wear it. Have trusted allies bring it to Constantinople at all speed. He will meet them at Sirkeci Station. Their lives may be in peril
Amelia is bothered by the contradiction: Demir says the veil can’t be destroyed, and yet Demir claims he can destroy it in Constantinople
Night expedition to Rotherhithe
Party left Worth and Smith with the veil. Amelia, Saroch, Georgie, and Polat took a cab to Rotherhithe
Georgie scouted the cottage. A constable was on patrol. Georgie hired a street urchin for a couple of pennies to heckle the constable and draw him off
Georgie climbed an upstairs window, came down and unlatched the back door
The house was ransacked. Veils pulled from boxes, scraps of fabric everywhere, a smashed display cabinet
Georgie judged the destruction was staged. Not the pattern of a real search. Someone found what they wanted and then trashed the place to cover it up?
Polat found a gap in the bookshelf. Amelia stuck her hand behind the books looking for a lever or button (nothing, but she flashed back to the dark room and the thing rising from Pook’s chest)
Saroch examined the murder scene: blood stain by the desk, major artery, the victim stood up and was killed immediately. Consistent with the staged theory
Saroch looked for a decoy veil to use as a stand-in for the Blood Red Veil. Most veils are black or white. None have the Blood Red Veil’s texture
The missing book
Polat found the collector’s cataloging system. A modified Dewey-style system organized by acquisition and provenance
The missing book: The Whispering Veil. A quarto volume in dark red leather, written in Persian and hieroglyphic. Purchased at auction in November 1893, valued at £25
In the ledger: a letter from Mrs. Leeds in Pera, Constantinople, offering £100 for the book. Dated mid-December 1893. No envelope
Mrs. Leeds is now confirmed in two locations: Whitechapel (Mrs. Grim’s account) and this letter from Constantinople.
