The group split up to pursue various leads. Alisa went to discuss business with Mr. Scudder on Wall Street (with lunch at the Knickerbocker Club). Scudder told her that the Carlyle Group had been on the verge of bankruptcy before Roger Carlyle's death. After Erica took over, she returned the business to profitability. Alisa tried to set up an appointment with Miss Erica Carlyle's lawyer but he was in a meeting.
That afternoon, Alisa joined the Metropolitan Opera Guild and made a generous contribution to the general fund. She also purchased two tickets to the Opera Gala.
Lya recalled from her Boston Globe notes that Roger Carlyle had thrown a party at the Waldorf prior to their departure. From talking to waiters at the hotel, she learned that Jack Brady had acted as Roger Carlyle's bodyguard and general factotum. Brady seemed "in charge".
Nell returned to the New York Times to consult the society pages. She found an article from 1915 describing Hypatia Masters' coming out party. The article stated that Hypatia planned to attend NYU. Her escort at the Debutante Ball was Roger Carlyle.
Nell then visited Professor Fairwether at NYU. Together they searched the university records and found Miss Masters' academic record. They also interviewed one of her former professors, and learned that Hypatia had attended Swiss and French academies and excelled at languages. She had a talent for photography and had had her work exhibited at a NYU show, with good reviews. She had dropped out of NYU in mid-semester in Fall 1918. It was rumored that she was having an affair with a previously-expelled Spanish Catholic Marxist named Raoul Piñera.
Rupert searched through the files at New York Lies & Half-Truths newspaper and found that Hypatia Masters was sole heiress to the Masters' armaments fortune, the dark antecedents of which had previously been chronicled in Masters of Corruption by the muckraking radical Nikolai Steinburg. According to Steinburg, her grandfather, Aldington Masters, had established the family fortune supplying weapons to the Turks in the Russo-Turkish war of 1877. He further augmented his holdings by obtaining a long-term contract to assist in the modernization of the Japanese army. His son, George, sold weapons to rebels in Cuba (with the secret connivance of the U.S. government), and managed to sell weapons to all sides in the 1912-13 Balkan Wars (Greece, Serbia, Turkey, Montenegro, Bulgaria, and Rumania). After his death in 1917, the management of the firm was placed in the hands of attorneys until Hypatia reached the age of 30. After Hypatia Masters was declared legally dead (1920), control of the firm passed to a distant cousin.
That afternoon, Lya went to the offices of Alienists Today to research "American pioneers in the field of Alienism (the 1920s term for psychiatry)". She learned that Robert Huston had been born in Chicago in 1873. His father was an M.D who later founded a utopian religious sect. Robert Huston graduated with honors from Johns Hopkins as an M.D. in 1898 and became a specialist in circulatory disorders. In 1901 he abandoned his wife and went to Vienna to study with Freud. After a falling out, he transferred his allegiance to Jung. He returned to New York in 1908 and established a Park Avenue practice. His elegant manners and sardonic wit made him much in demand among high society. His fees were rumored to be as high as $50 per visit (this at a time when a college professor might make $4000 per year). One of his patients was Roger Carlyle. It was rumored that Huston went on the expedition in order to continue Carlyle's treatment, although another rumor had it that Carlyle had some kind of hold over Huston and forced him to come along to prevent the psychiatrist from revealing scandalous information about his patient. After Huston was declared legally dead in 1920, his medical records were sent to the Medical Affairs Board of the State of New York.
Lya then visited the Medical Affairs Board office on Park Avenue and 61st and requested access to Huston's files. Her request was denied, due to the confidentiality of such records. Only doctors with a valid medical reason are allowed to consult medical records.
Rupert then spent the afternoon in a speakeasy frequented by reporters, where he made inquiries about Jack Brady. According to the reporters, Brady had served in the U.S. Marines in the Philippines and China and later as a mercenary for an opium warlord. After returning to the U.S., Brady met Roger Carlyle in California, while Roger was in the process of flunking out of USC. The story was that Brady came to Carlyle's defense in a bawdyhouse brawl in Los Angeles' Chinatown, throttling his opponent with his bare hands. Brady was arrested for murder, but Carlyle used his money and connections to hire the best defense lawyers in the country, who proceeded to demolish the seemingly open-and-shut case offered by the county prosecutor and contradicting the testimony of seven eyewitnesses. Brady was acquitted on technical grounds, and from that time on Brady and Carlyle were rarely separated. At times Brady was Carlyle's bodyguard, at times his spokesman, at times his driver, and at other times his advisor. Brady was nicknamed "Brass" because he always wore a brass plate 4 inches square over his heart. The plate was described as covered with strange signs and runes and had been twice dented by bullets. Brady had told one reporter that his mother had had The Eye and had made this plate to guard her impetuous son.
The group again met at the Waldorf to compare notes. Lya suggested that "Fergus" could be a mercenary that Jack Brady had met in China. The group decides to travel to Cairo after the Opera Gala.
Nell and Rupert decided to pay their own visit to Emerson Exports. Nell took the time to sketch the African mask Lya had bought at the Ju-Ju House. Rupert used the sketch to indicate to Mr. Emerson the type of items he wanted to decorate his den and study. Once again, Mr. Emerson indicated that he could arrange with a Mr. Singh for items to be shipped from Mombassa.
Alisa finally talked to the Erica Carlyle's lawyer (Bradley Grey) but he was absolutely not interested in any new investment opportunities, especially something as unproven as "mutual funds".
Lya wrote a letter to Scott Theobald, describing the progress of the investigation and asking him to see if he could locate a copy of Africa's Darkest Cults.
Lya and Dan'l then drove down to the docks to investigate the ship that Elias arrived on. They talked to the harbormaster and learned that the Phalarope had departed New York on Sunday, bound for Panama. The ship was of U.S. registry, skippered by a Captain Morgan. Lya was unable to fast-talk the harbormaster into letting her examine the cargo manifest.
Lya and Dan'l then went to the nearby office of World-Wide Telegraph service, which Elias had used to send Lya a telegram from the freighter. Lya was unable to persuade the clerk to let her examine the log of telegrams sent from the freighter. She then sent a telegram to Enigma informing them that she was travelling to London, in the process leaving a generous "tip" for the clerk. The clerk then left the logbook open while he left the room. Lya determined that no other telegrams were sent from the freighter.
After lunch, Lya visited the Explorer's Club and told the doorman that she was interested in interviewing participants in expeditions that were unsucessful. She left her business card and returned to the Waldorf.
Rupert received a telegram from Harry Letchwell:
AFRICAN BOOK YOU SEEK TO BE AUCTIONED IN VIENNA MARCH 9 STOP
CONTACT AUSPERG HOUSE REP IN NY FOR CATALOG STOP SIGNED HARRY LETCHWELL
Consulting the phone book, Rupert located the New York office of Ausperg House, a reputable and long-established auction house with offices in Vienna, New York, Paris, Berlin, and London. He purchased a catalog for the March 9 auction.
Lya and Nell went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Nell examined the African art collection and found it rather sparse. Lya went to the Egyptian collection and managed to talk to a curator, Dr. Edgar Bridgestone, about Sir Aubrey Penhew. She learned that Penhew was credited with founding several branches of Egyptology and for major archeological discoveries at Dhashur. His research had been instrumental in establishing the dynastic succession of the Old Kingdom. The artifacts from these expeditions have been divided between the Cairo Museum and the Penhew Museum in London. Even after Sir Aubrey's tragic death, the Penhew Foundation continues to underwite many important researches at home and abroad and provides grants for many brilliant but penniless scholars. Dr. Bridgestone suggested Lya consult Burke's Peerage for more information about Penhew. Upon learning of Lya's intent to visit London and Cairo, he suggested she visit the Penhew Foundation (now under the direction of Edward Gavigan). He also gave her the name of Dr. Ali Kafour at the Cairo Museum as someone who might be of assistance in her research.
Lya and Nell then went to NYU to see if they could find some information on Raoul Piñera. None of the faculty seemed interested in discussing Bolsheviks, but they saw a student handing out leaflets announcing a lecture on Trotskyism at a Russian coffeehouse on the Lower East side. The student suggested they visit the Daily Proletarian if they wanted to know more about socialism.
Lya and Nell went to the offices of the Daily Proletarian but were denied access to their files.
On returning to the Waldorf, Lya had a message to call Jonah Kensington at Prospero Press.
That evening, the group discussed their next steps. Rupert proposed
chartering a boat to Casablanca. From there the group would travel
to Cairo, then to Constantinople and Vienna for the auction. Lya
and Nell proposed travelling by steamship to London to make inquiries about
Sir Aubrey Penhew, then by train to Vienna, and then to Cairo. This
plan was finally agreed to by all.
