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Once again, I was out on the street, wandering in the pale reflected light of the moon. My borrowed abode was just ahead of me, and I was feet from the safety of a locked door, when I had my third encounter of the night. It was to be the most fateful of my life.
Moments before inserting the key into the lock lovingly, the rough clearing of a throat broke my mood.
Turning slowly, feeling cautious, I faced the offender.
‘May I help you, sir?’ I asked.
A man of average height, wearing a somewhat stark black suit and top hat, dressed in a style either slightly older than the vogue or slightly newer, I couldn’t tell. He had an untamed look about him, though very arrogant at the same time. Aloof was not even enough to describe it; it was beyond feeling he was better than the world around him, and into appearing that the world around him mattered not in the slightest and interested him even less.
I wish I could say he immediately struck me as some sort of incredible being, or I felt as if my fate would be intertwined with this man’s – but, no. Looking at him, I felt only that he was yet another crazy person on a night of crazy persons.
His somewhat wide eyes had a glint in them that reeked of mischievous insanity.
‘Maybe I can help you,’ the man said. ‘Ed whatever, pleased to meet you Thomas... Mann.’ He paused before saying my last name as if it contained some joke known only to he, then extended a hand cordially in my direction. It was his left.
It took me a moment to realize he’d glossed over his last name, and by that time I was shaking his hand automatically, albeit awkwardly, with my own left hand.
The man tipped his hat off to me, half-bowing as he did so. A thick mat of black hair coated his head, flat on top but flaring somewhat at the side to complement his muttonchops.
His accent betrayed he was not from London, neither did he sound like he was from any other part of England. Nor was it an Irish accent. Was he a Yankee?
‘May I ask from where you hail from, sir?’
‘No, you may not,’ Ed said. ‘And just call me Ed, all right? I can’t stand the ‘sir’ crap, especially when you don’t mean it.’
I blinked, trying to digest this odd behaviour. It was just my luck, I felt, to encounter yet another insane person on this night.
‘So, I understand you are interested in the paranormal,’ Ed said, rubbing his hands together. There was a glint in his eyes again.
Floored momentarily, I know I noticeably paled at his words. ‘I... Yes, I have some minor interest in them.’
He looked disappointed. ‘Minor? Hmm. Maybe you’re the wrong man, Mr. Mann. I was under the impression that you were obsessed.’
‘Well, I wouldn’t use that term.’ This man was insolent!
‘O, naturally not, my apologies.’ I sincerely doubted he meant that from the half-smile on his face and tone. ‘Well, if you were obsessed, I’d compare notes – I myself am quite closely connected to the paranormal.’
His wording there caught my attention. Closely connected, he had said. Not ‘a fellow paranormal investigator’ or ‘fellow seeker of the truth’. I was immediately hooked, at least until he proved himself a fraud.
‘How so, my good man?’
The man smiled, and little did I realize that this was the start of my marvellous adventure. I did note, though, that something about his teeth looked unnatural.
‘Well, let’s discuss this inside, shall we? Over a large brandy.’ The man seemed eager for a drink, and I was eager for his tongue to loosen, so I quickly obliged him.
Opening the door with fumbling hands, anticipation filled my heart. Somehow, I knew that at long last I would have the lead or clue that would allow me to burst the secrets of the strange wide open!
The man seated himself in the best chair, one Thomas Grave normally reserved for himself after a day of work at the racetracks. I imagined Thomas would not mind being so polite to a guest, and allowed him to use the chair. Pouring him a large glass of Thomas’s brandy, I vowed to re-pay him. If he noticed its absence, that is.
‘So, you were saying?’
He held up a finger for silence, raising the glass to his lips. In one long pull he drained the brandy. ‘Ah, that’s great, thanks a bunch. Give me a little more there, need to grease the tongue, ya know?’
I nodded, finding his vernacular rather odd. ‘Are you from the Americas?’ I ventured as I poured some more.
Completely ignoring me, he instead quaffed the new brandy. ‘Okay, let’s get started. Basically, I need the assistance of someone of your qualifications. In return, I’m offering a once-in-a-lifetime chance.’
I cocked my head to the side. ‘Pardon? What chance? Please elaborate, for I am afraid you are not being very clear.’
‘A certain amount of obfuscation is necessary, chum,’ Ed said, reaching over to pat me on the arm. I realized a moment later he was wiping his hand on my jacket. ‘But I am glad you understand and accept the terms.’
‘Terms?’
‘Of the deal we just made. A brandy is the universal sign agreement to a large and important contract, isn’t it? I’m glad it was this easy, really.’
I blinked several times in confusion. The majority of what he said made no sense to me at all. ‘We have not discussed terms, Mr... . Ed.’
Ed had begun to recline deeply back into the chair, his expression nearly euphoric. ‘It has been too long since I’ve had a chance to – what did you say?’
‘We have discussed no terms.’
He sat up suddenly. ‘I clearly outlined them all, as we talked before. You know, the usual way.’
I must have shown a complete lack of understanding of that, for he continued.
‘Didn’t you pick up what I thought to you? The whole deal? Why I need your help and how you can help me?’
This man was insane. I remember feeling that my hopes and dreams of getting real proof and answers crashing around me, then. This was merely another insane man, worse yet that I’d invited him into my home.
‘Er, perhaps we should go back out there to re-discuss it...’ I realized that a madman could be dangerous, as my encounters had proven earlier that evening.
‘No, you agreed already. The deal is set in stone, literally. It’s been chiselled. I’m afraid if you don’t abide by it, something terrible will befall you.’
‘I never agreed to anything!’
‘Yes, you did.’
‘No, I have not! Now, please-’ My request for him to leave was cut off by a terrible, terrible sound.
The front door opening and closing. This meant that the man with whom I lived, Thomas Grave, was home.
Before I go further, I should explain slightly about Thomas Grave.
Of good birth, Grave was a tall and strapping man who had his share of admirers amongst both men and women. I never asked and he never told about his various liaisons, but I believe he has had more than a score in the time I have lived with him.
He was notorious for his generosity when in good fortune, his miserly attitude when in bad, alacrity for bad odds on the hope of a rare pay-off, and extreme temper when his anger was roused. I secretly believed he must be part Irish, his temper was so extreme. Many claimed him to be mercenary at heart when necessary, but I had never thought so. While several years my senior, we usually got along quite well.
That famous temper was what I did not wish to get aimed at me now.
‘Get up, man! You must leave now!’
‘No, I’m Ed and you’re Mann.’ Ed replied, staring at me curiously
Then Thomas Grave walked in. His shoulders were hunched, his face drawn – clearly it had not been a good day at ‘work’ for my friend.
He stopped, leaning heavily against the ornate wooden door frame. Slowly, his eyes focused on Ed, sitting boldly in his chair. Something flashed in his eyes, almost like recognition. It disappeared just as quickly, as if he had mistaken Ed for someone else.
‘My good Mann,’ he began, and I knew right away he was furious, for he was always calm before he exploded. ‘Why is there a fellow I’ve never seen before on my most prized possession?’
Before I could inject a word, Ed stood and offered his hand to Thomas. ‘Spiffing to meet you, Thomas. Call me Ed.’
I could tell Thomas was about to blow. He looked at me, then at Ed. ‘Get out of my home, before I ring the police!’ He did not wait for Ed to even respond, instead seizing him by the scruff of his neck.
Ed was clearly completely shocked by this, as he struggled very little as Thomas Grave dragged him towards the door.
‘This is an unusual greeting’ Ed commented with abnormal calm, though trying to free himself at the same time. By this time, Thomas had the door open, and flung my guest unceremoniously into the night. I watched with both awe and horror as he tumbled down the steps and to the cobbled street below.
‘Thomas, man! You might have killed the fellow!’
‘He’ll be just fine – I should have knocked him on the head, and you as well! Bother me not tonight, Thomas Mann. I lost more money than I should have on a bad horse. Broke his leg and the jockey’s neck! It was an utter disaster. And to think I almost bet on his death, I would have been better off to follow my first instinct.’
I was angry enough that I wanted to argue more – though I had wanted to get the obviously insane man out myself, I still felt slighted that he’d come and done it in such an uncouth way.
Hot rage still coiled in my belly, I glared at my ‘friend’. He seemed entirely unbothered. ‘What was that madman doing here, anyway?’ Thomas Grave asked me. ‘And what was he doing in my chair?’ He spotted the glasses on the table and rushed over. ‘And drinking my brandy!’
Pausing, I realized that my answer would not go over very well with the man who gave me lodgings.
‘I... let him in and gave him your brandy... I believed he had some knowledge of interest to me...’
Going to the window, I looked out. Ed was picking himself up from the side walk, brushing off his coat and shaking his head in a slightly annoyed fashion. He didn’t look that terribly upset, which I considered odd since... Well, he had been hurled down a small flight of steps just a moment before.
‘And my chair?!’ Grave asked, grabbing my collar to make me face him. ‘You let some stranger in and in my chair?’
‘Well, he sat in it himself, I merely declined to stop him. I thought politeness to a guest...’
‘Damn it Mann...’ I could feel Grave’s hands clench tighter, and I knew he wished to strike me. But I also knew my friend, and I knew he knew I funded many of his habits with my rent money. ‘Bah! Just don’t let it happen again!’
He stalked away, stopping to grab the brandy as he went. Taking a drink directly from the bottle, he then continued.
I sighed, looking back out the window, but Ed was gone. I had a strange prickle on the back of my neck, as if I had not seen the last of that man.
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