The Shipley's House - No.6 Holbein Mews, London 7:00pm, Wednesday 28th January, 1925
The old lady smiles and crosses the studio to Elizabeth, leaving the padlocked door for the first time, “Excellent, I’m sure that your friend won't be disappointed. I can see that this painting affected you greatly”
“You must bring your friend with you next time! So that he can see Miles’ talent for himself.”
She points to the open door leading back downstairs, “We keep the cash box downstairs, Miles will carry the painting down for you.”
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Imme:
Spoiler:
If you want Elizabeth to carry around that amount of money (approx $500) then its ok with me.
As your current situation means that you never know when you’ll have to run / leave the country / etc., then it’s probably a good idea for her to carry a lot of cash.
Caroline is just glad to be heading downstairs, glad that the immediate crisis is over. Still, she takes a backward glance at the pale woman and is oddly wistful.
Miles follows down the stairs, carrying the painting of Andrei and Maks. Once everyone has reached the living room Mrs Shipley takes the cash box from the hearth and looks at Elizabeth expectantly as she opens it, “that will be seventy five pounds then my dear.”
Elizabeth opens her purse and digs through it impatiently until she has collected a wad of cash. She keeps the money sheltered in her purse until she has counted out the correct amount. With obvious impatience, and something that her friends may be surprised to identify as fear, she holds out the bills. "Here."
Mrs Shipley grins as Elizabeth hands the money over, and shows the visitors back to the front door once Miles has presented Timour with the painting.
Both of the Shipley's look delighted to have made the sale, as she unlocks the front door Mrs Shipley says, "You must all come back soon - with your friend, so he can see Miles' work for himself!"
Thank God that's over, Caroline says, somewhat recovered from her near-trace experience. Those maniacs could've attacked us for the money we had, and Beth wasn't any too careful about not displaying it.
Timour offers his hand to shake to Miles, and then accepts the painting. He waits for the ladies to leave the house first, then follows after them, nodding his goodbye to Miles and his mother.
After the door is closed, he breathes a sigh of relief. "Let's get the hell outta here." he says offhandedly, hurrying to the car to start the engine.
Once on their way, his eyes flicker to catch Elizabeth's and Caroline's. "Well? Was that entirely what you expected?"
You sleep well tonight because rough men stand ready to do violence on your behalf...
"Oh, certainly, Timour," Caroline says drippingly, "that's exactly what I expected."
She stops talking for a second, shaking a bit. "We're fortunate to have gotten out of that with our hides. What do you suppose those two were hiding up there? And what the devil is Miles capable of? And what do we do now? Is Maks all right?" She finally winds down.
"We go find Maks and Andrei. Do either of you recognize this damn place?" She waves at the painting, obviously high-strung. Elizabeth keeps a worried eye on the house until they have driven down the block and around the corner.
"The strange smell in there ... have either of you ever been to see the reptiles at the zoo?" She shudders and waits for a response.
Timour grimaces at Caroline's reaction, but he rather expected it. It was when Elizabeth chimed in that he started to worry.
"You can't really be thinking.." he scoffs, turning to Elizabeth with a raised eyebrow. "I mean...it's just a painting. You saw what wing nuts those two are. You're going to buy into the whole gig? You think he paints the future? I mean, honestly Elizabeth....I didn't peg you as that sort of bird." He grins at her and tries to squelch a rising snicker.
Timour casually lights a cigarette on the drive, puffing between turning the wheel and continuing on his rant. "What in blue blazes are you talking about lizards for anyways? Did you see something peculiar? I saw a crazy bachelor who needs to clean up his act, living with his old mum. I mean...rather run of the mill if you ask me." Timour sticks the cigarette in the corner of his mouth and grins precociously at the pair. "You gonna let a pair like them scare you silly? They let us out the front door. C'mon...you weren't scared?" He snickers as he says it and checks the rearview mirror casually.
"You two should know....you're out with big bad Timour. What do you have to worry about anyways?"
You sleep well tonight because rough men stand ready to do violence on your behalf...
"Were we scared?! Damn right we were, and don't try to pretend that you weren't. I saw you shaking up there. And what do we have to be scared of? Well, let's list them, shall we? First off, we were locked in the house of a crazy old lady and her drug addict son. Who knows what kind of crazy things he could have done. That alone would be enough reason for concern. But that's not where it ends. Somehow this man was able to paint our friends in clear detail, never having seen them before. And they look to be in danger."Elizabeth pauses her tirade to stare at the painting again. She feels she could almost name the place.
"Oh, and let's not forget the other paintings by this man. I'm sure we all noticed the one with the horrible beast and the cultists in worship around it, all wearing those damned masks. 'Just an image' you could say, except all of us dreamed of that image devouring you and when we awoke you didn't!"Elizabeth's face drops. She closes her eyes and brings her fingers up to rub her temples. "I'm sorry. That was thoughtless of me. There is far too much going on right now that I just do not understand. Why was Miles painting the images he was? And that strange smell ... I am sure it is exactly the same smell that comes from a reptile house. It was probably just that the smell was affecting my subconscious, but at one point up in that attic the light flickered in a funny way and I thought that old woman's shadow had changed into that of some reptilian beast.
So yes, I am scared and worried for our friends. If you are truly so invulnerable as you proclaim to be, I would appreciate it if you would at least humor us and help us try to find Andrei and Maksim."
