The phone rings. It is Dr. Hardstrom, always at work, and he is rather agitated.

"Dr. Manzano, Dr. Manzano. Our patient has escaped. He assaulted the nurse and managed to escape from the premises."

"What! What dide you say? Atwater has escaped? Have you noticed the police?"

"No. This just happened. I'll call them immediately"

"Of course, you don'te knowe where he can be, ore where he headed?"

"No, he must have climbed over the fence. Nobody actually saw him leave the premises."

"Just oure luck? Thise Atwater person ise gettinge the more suspicious ase things unfold. I guesse it ise no use to go lookinge fore him, thate ise the polizie's departments. Grazie you fore calling. I'lle pondere over the mattere tonighte. I ame still waiting for Wilmarth to call. See you tomorrow Dr. Hardstrom.

*****

The phone rings again and this time Professor Wilmarth is on the other side.

"This recordings you gave me are really peculiar"

"Oh, do you saye? Tell me."

"Of course it is difficult to hear what he says and I can't make any sense of what he says, apart from isolated words. I have analyzed the grammatical dative of some of these words, and then I discovered something interesting." Wilmarth makes a deliberate pause.

"Whate? Whate did you discover?

"I hear your wife makes excellent Stromboli?"

"Yes, We will have Stromboli for dinner tomorrow. It would be an honour to have you at our table."

"It is an honour to be invited. The person that speaks on these recordings is using a form of the English language that are not used today, but that was used hundred of years ago! Who is the person that spoke on this recording?"

Manzano is speechless. "Hello Dr. Manzano. Are you there?"

"Yes, yes, I was thinkinge. What does this mean?"

"Isn't that obvious. The man is a scam."

"Of course. Well thank you very much Professor Wilmarth. See you tomorrow then. Bye."

*****

Charles rises early the next morning. After a bath and a quick bite to eat, he slips out the front door. He lingers on the porch for a couple of minutes, drinking in the fresh, early morning air. The green hills surrounding Cochroft Cottage are still shrouded in mist and apart from a lonely bird's cry, all is serene and in perfect harmony, much to Charles' appreciation.

"Rise and shine pretty boy...", says a pleasant, familiar voice. It is Tom Hacket. Charles was so immersed in himself, that he failed to notice Tom approaching slowly on horseback, leading another mount by the reigns. "Shaking his head he grins at the older man. "I never could figure out how he does that. He gets me every time", Charles thinks to himself, as he grips the pommel of the saddle and hoists himself up onto the horse's back.

"Thinking of that pretty lass who's company you enjoyed yesterday?", teases Tom and gives Charles a sly knowing look.

"You know Tom, I thought old age would make a refined man out of you, but the harder I look at you, the more I realise that I may have been mistaken...", he retorts with a smile. "Hieya!", he says sharply and nudges the horse below him into action with a gentle nudge of his knees. The animal responds instantly, it's hooves punching dark holes into the soft green meadow, sending divets flying in all directions.

"You WERE thinking of the lass, weren't you!", Tom shouts from behind and slaps his horse on the hindquarters. The animal rears, drawing a gleeful laugh from its rider, before tearing after the horse in front of it ...

*****

It is five to nine when Charles Cochroft pulls his car up in front of the Arkham Sanatorium. A quick glance at his watch confirms that he is early. Turning his head, he inspects the building that he is soon to enter. He finds little comfort from the sinister monument and instead reaches for the Arkham Gazette lying next to him in the passenger seat. Flipping the paper open he begins to read... (OOC : Anybody familiar with 1920 Automobile models? I can't find anything decent on the net, for Charles to drive *grin*)

In the morning Daria is dropped off at the Sanatorium at 9 o'clock and goes over to Charles who is already there.

Len is late, 15 minutes to be exact and when he pulls up in front of the sanatorium, he looks a little worse for wear and also seems to be wearing the same clothes he wore yesterday. He steps out and gazes up at the sanatorium, almost visibly shuddering before making his way over to Charles. He looks sheepishly at the archaeologist and then says, "Sorry I am late Chuck...."

"Are you okay Leonard?" asks Charles with a smirk. Mischievously he adds, "If I knew you could not hold your alcohol, I would never have poured you that second glass..."

Len glares over at Charles for a second before replying..."wasn't your second glass, was more like the eighteenth and nineteenth glasses. I will be alright Chuck, lets get on with this eh?" And with that he reaches into his jacket pocket, withdraws a tobacco pouch, withdraws a genuine portion of chewing-tobacco and carefully places it between his lower lip and teeth and begins to chew, slowly and rhythmically.

*****

Charles is talking with the receptionist. "Good morning. Is there a patient under the name of Henry Atwater, who is hospitalised here? Might we speak with his physician?"

The female nurse looks back at Charles with a questioning look. "Henry Atwater escaped last night.

Len lets out an explosive exhalation of air, which almost becomes a whistle, and Daria manages to hear under his breath..."Well the shit has hit...." but she doesn't catch the rest as her attention is distracted by Charles' continuing conversation.

Charles raises an eyebrow at Len's exaggerated response, but says nothing for the moment. The nurse quickly adds, "Dr, Pietro Manzano was his physician. Please wait a moment. I will call him and tell him that you want to speak with him."

Dr, Pietro Manzano was his physician. Please wait a moment. I will call him and tell him that you want to speak with him."

A minute later Dr. Manzano appears. "I am Pietro Manzano, Henry Atwater's physician. You are interested in Henry Atwater?"

"Well we were," pipes up Len, "Until you done gone and lost him!"

Dr. Manzano looks over to the speaker and sees a tall, fit looking man, in his late twenties with stained teeth, rather large ears and short, sandy, rapidly thinning hair. His face is dominated by a large, powerful looking nose and his other main dominating feature is his small, hooded eyes with rather striking blue irises.

Pushing his way past Len, is a handsome gentleman, perhaps in his early thirties, of medium build with dark hair and dark eyes. He smiles as he extends his hand towards Dr. Manzano. It is a grim smile. Charles Cochroft..." His voice is strong and clear. He gestures towards Daria, "...and this young lady is Daria Rose." His dress is casual, black, cotton pants with a green sweater and black, leather, laced shoes.

Manzano speaks, "Please woulde you come to my office where we can speake privately."

Len follows along, trailing a little behind the others, seemingly lost in thought.

*****

"Please lete me introduce Dr. Stuart Slade. We have been workinge together on thise case since yesterday." Manzano beckons to Slade who rises from his chair.

Charles nods at the other man and extends his hand in greeting, "Charles Cochroft. " Again he introduces Daria. He raises an expectant eyebrow as he turns his head towards Len. He catches a whiff of alcohol.

Len takes a seat in the nearest chair after nodding in Slade's direction.... Charles remains standing for the moment.

Len puts his hand over his eyes and then pulls it away before leaning forward, elbows on knees...."This is a "rum" happenstance." he says and then as if realizing introductions haven't been made, he stands and offers his hand to Dr Manzano and then Dr Slade, while saying..."My name is Leonard Colson, and we" he gestures at the other two, "were part of the search party yesterday."

A faint smile crosses Charles Cochroft's lips. He lowers his eyebrow and turns his attention towards Doctor's Manzano and Slade. As if taking a queue from Len, he adds, "We were concerned about the Atwater lad and thought we would look in on him." He pauses, waiting to see what reaction his words have, before continuing, "I believe that Henry Atwater terminated his treatment at the Sanatorium, by dismissing himself last night..."

Dr. Manzano looks puzzled for a moment before he catches the pun. "Si... yes, I guess that ise one way of lookinge upon it." His face takes on a more serious look when he continues. "Unfortunately, he checked out by knocking out one of the nurses. It ise now a matter for the polizia to finde him. They seeme to have taken much intereste in the boy, so perhaps you know why? Did you find his lost compagnione in the wood?"

"You could say that Doc...", replied Len. "We found him dead and buried but that wasn't the greatest shock, was it Chuck?" He looks at Charles....

"No it wasn't, buried under him was this old-hermit-like man, who I believe the Police brought here?" replies Cochroft. "Do you know of whom we speak?"

"Yeah, do you?" added Len "and I think we need to find Mr Atwater before the police do, I think somethings up here and it's more than just a plain old-murder, least-ways thats what the cops are calling it."

Manzano looks shocked by the news. "No, I haven't heard of this eremite that you mention. But the boy was dead, you say? How terrible." He glances toward Slade and says, "This sounds like something for you, Dottore Slade, at least if Mr. Colson is right in his assertion about 'something sticking under. I don't know much about murders, and I think it really is up to the Polizia to find out about this matter. But we have reasons to believe that the boy Atwater was an impostor." Manzano walks behind his desk and sits down in his chair as he speaks. "Either that, or we have a very interesting case of transferred personality."

Doc Slade speaks up, "Something out of the ordinary appears to be happening in this case and I wonder if the police are truly equipped to find out what. This is a small town where people tend to notice things. We need to see if we can track where Atwater went and those places where we would expect him if he was normal to go. We need to talk to his parents. Do you have an address for them, Doctor Manzano? If he is spoofing we will find him at his usual spots. If not, something usual is most likely."

Daria interrupts, "Atwater doesn't have any parents. He grew up in an orphanage."

Dr. Manzano says, "My professional interest in this case is in facte based on Atwater NOT being normal. When Atwater arrivede here Sunday evening, I recorded his babbling for latere analysis, and last night I had a linguistics profezzore analyse the recordings. His opinion was that the language spoken was archaic, like whate might have been spoken in this area more than a century ago, and he promptly assumed that the speaker was faking. I had not told him then where the recordinge came from. Now, the case from my point of view is that if Atwater was faking to cover up a murder, this is for the Polizia to handle. But, if Atwater wasn't faking, it is good chance that he represents a rare case of transferred personality that happens to be my special field of interest. Then he must be studied closely so that we may discover more about this type of insanity. Thus I am interested to find out more about Atwater, and I want certainty whether he is a victim or a criminal."

Doc Slade: "Interesting, we may want to try find some old maps of the area, and check out the inhabited areas on that map."

Len sits down in his chair and lets out a loud exhalation of breath. "It's a "rum" business and no mistake. As I see it we have several lines of inquiry and only the five of us to carry them out. I think we need to visit the orphanage and find out about Atwater's past, perhaps talk to people who knew him. Daria, perhaps you could return to the university and talk to classmates of Atwater and the dead boy, find out what they were like? We also need to revisit the site where we found the body and the hermit, perhaps take a bloodhound and see if we can track him and/or find any thing the police missed and we need to do some research on this language, don't you think?"

Daria disagrees on her going back to the University. "I think I already have found out what there is to find out about Atwater yesterday, when I was inquiring about Atwater at the university. I spoke to both his teachers and his fellow student. Atwater was a likeable and diligent student. Atwater was his closest friend. From the impression I got of Atwater, I can't understand that he has done what he has done. It is totally out of character. I see no point in spending more research time at the University. The only thing I couldn't access was his grades." Daria nods at Slade. "Maybe you, Doc Slade, with your credentials, will be able to access his grades?"

"Alright no one ever accused me of being an organiser unless it's a party in a brothel!" mumbled Len under his breath. "Anyone have anymore ideas?"

"I probably can get access, as I am a lecturer there." Dr. Slade says.

Manzano seems a little taken by the events. He looks from one to the other, noting how peculiar it must be that such a diverse group of people are engaging themselves in a search for a man sought by the police. "I am sorry, but I don't quite understande WHY we shoulde be tryinge to find Atwater before the polizia does? He might be a murderer, but he would still be a lunatic, and I expecte that the polizia will have him sent back to the sanatorium whenne they finde him, this time under guarde."

Dr. Manzano pauses briefly before continuing, "What hypothesis are we considering here? I can only see two possibles. A: Atwater killed his compagnione or b: Somebody else did. In either case it seems as if Atwater went mad with some peculiar effecte to his language. I don't see why we should prefere one hypothesis over the other at this point?" The challenge hangs there for anybody to take up.

Dr. Slade says, "I agree that Atwater might be dangerous, but he is suffering from some mental trauma. The police might not take that into account and hurt him unnecessarily. In addition, if we can successfully find him, we might gain some insight into what befell him. From what I have heard of the bodies in the woods, it is not natural and probably not man-made. If Atwater is responsible, which I doubt, than anyone near him is in danger and the police can use all the help we can give them."

Charles Cochroft carefully considers doctor Manzano's and Dr. Slade's words, before replying. "Under normal circumstances I would agree with Doctor Manzano. However the circumstances of this case are not normal. I witnessed an occurrence yesterday that threatened to disturb the order of my sanity. In fact I am still haunted by it. For me to find peace within myself, I need to digest that which has happened to me. I need to understand..." He wavers for a moment, before continuing, "The man we found buried under Richard Cardigan's corpse, he was an old man. He wore tattered clothes of a time long past. The first words he spoke when he sat upright in the shallow grave was and I quote 'Atwater...Henry Atwater' He spoke the words with some difficulty, but then again he would, given the trauma he had to endure. " He pauses to take a deep breath before adding, "My natural reaction at the time was to believe that the unfortunate fellow was Henry Atwater. It was a gut feeling, one that scared the living daylights out of me, but one that I have since resolved to be incorrect, given the fact that Henry Atwater was here at the Sanatorium. Even though I was aware of Henry Atwater's whereabouts at the time, my instinct still screamed out to me that it was Henry Atwater back there in that grave, old and withered though he was. But it could not have been him correct?" Questioningly his dark eyes roam from person to person. Softly he says "I am a man of science myself and therefore I have to agree with Doctor Manzano. Logic and reason has to prevail...yet my instincts have seldom been wrong. Either way, they tell me that something out of the ordinary has happened, something that defies logic. I hope that they are mistaken this time..."

Manzano nods at what Charles says while he is walking around the room. He stops at the window and says, "I think we should talk to that man."

Slade rises from his chair and walk to the window. "What man? What are you talking about?"

"It looks like our dear detective has found a witness. At least he is interviewing a man and writing down something in his notebook."

As Slade peeps through the window, "You are right. I'll go down now and talk to him when the detective is finished."

Slade leaves the room and the rest of you get a look at the man on the street. He is a young man in probably in his early twenties.

A constable comes over to detective Stuckey and whispers a few words into his ears. It looks like this was important news, because he thanks the man and drives right away in his automobile. Shortly thereafter, Slade walks over to the man. They talk for a minute before the man walks with Slade back to the Sanatorium.

"Friends. This is Pierre Clandine; he is on a visit to his uncle. He saw Atwater escape from the Sanatorium." Slade introduces everyone to Pierre. " I have told Pierre that we are investigating the case of Henry Atwater. He has agreed to tell us what he saw. Pierre?"

"Monsieur's and Mademoiselle, Well I was out for a stroll about 6.30 last night and I saw this guy climb over the wall and he run past me down this ah Peabody Avenue. I tell you I think he should be back in here that is for sure. He looked at me when he ran past and he looked like a cornered badger, that had been teased by a group of kids."

"That sounds like my man, Si!" Manzano steps forward from his desk to greet the young man. "I am Dottore Manzano, and this man you describe was my patient until last night when he knockede downe one of the nurses and escaped."

Manzano introduces the rest of the people present.

"Pleased to meet you Pierre, I am Leonard Colson but you can call me Len. Want a chew?" and he offers Pierre his pouch of chewing tobacco.."Or if that isn't your poison, how about a tipple?" and he offers his hip flask with the other hand.

Doc Slade comments "If your hypothesis, Doctore Manzano, of an earlier personality is correct, he would behave in the way described by Pierre. We may need to assume that he thinks he is from a much earlier time around here, with all of our developments confusing to him, including possibly our language."

"Whate an interestinge case. We need to finde Atwater again so we can study him. But until then, I think I knowe where Detective Stuckey went." Dr. Manzano goes back to his desk and picks up the phone.

"Hello, this is Dottore Manzano from Arkham Sanatorium. How ise the conditione of the patiente who wase brought in by the police yesterday?" Doctor Manzano receives good news. "Thanke you very much. By the way, ise the detective there?" pause. "He just arrived? Thanke you very much, again. Bye"

"Our patiente at the hospital is awake and his conditione is stable. The detective ise taking statements just now. I say we go and speake with thise man. What do you saye?"

General consensus.

Pierre says, "Do you mind if I follow along? I might be of help."

Not at all." Manzano responds. "You can ride with Dr. Slade."

Please read the who is the old Man, or go back to the table of contents.