Ch.11. Emily’s Mother (Lawrence & William)

[Philulhu]

Thursday March 13th, 1930 15.55pm
74a S. French Hill Street, Arkham, Mass.

Leaving the Asylum, William drove himself and Lawrence to the return address on the letter sent to Emily in Amesbury.

S. French Hill Street was a residential street with a mix of properties, although older terraced properties dominated. It was in one of those, they found Emily’s mother. She answered the door, looking somewhat taken aback at William’s smart suit and modern car. Her relationship to Emily wasn’t at question - she was the spitting image of her daughter, albeit older, more careworn with greying hair.

She looked between William and Lawrence warily. “Can I help you, sirs?” she asked.

[Bullfrog]

"We're looking for your daughter, Mrs. Livingstone, and we'd be much obliged if you could tell us where she is. We're friends of her boyfriend, and we've got to relay a letter to her." Lawrence earnestly explains.

[Philulhu]

“My Emily lives up in Amesbury,” replied Mrs Livingstone. “She’s lived up that way since her boyfriend’s father took a dislike to her walking out with him.”

A small child peaked around the door and clung to her legs. She picked him up and held him to her, almost as a shield against any bad news her visitors might bring.

[Mr. Handy]

"When is the last time you heard from her?" asks William.

[Philulhu]

“Well, we don’t have a telephone in the house,” replied Mrs Livingstone, looking slightly abashed that their circumstances didn’t permit them to have one of their own. “So, we’d sometimes arrange for her to telephone me at the call box at the top of the road, though that was a bit hit and miss, with the little one here not wanting to be out in the cold and sometimes there’d be someone else using it......”

“But I’d always write to her,” she continued, almost defensively as if she thought she was being accused of neglecting her daughter. “Once a week, as regular as clockwork, to tell Emily all our news, to let her know how little Albert was getting on. I wrote to her last week, and the week before, but she hasn’t replied as yet. She isn’t the most diligent child with her letter writing.”

[Bullfrog]

"I don't know if you're aware of this, but the reason Emily didn't write back is because she hasn't been at her house in several weeks. A neighbor told us she was picked up by some men who looked to be from a sanitarium." Lawrence says, not pleased to be the bearer of bad news.

[Mr. Handy]

"To be fair, the neighbor didn't like her," adds William.

[Philulhu]

Mrs Livingstone looked visibly shocked at hearing the news. Her eyes widened and her hand flew to her mouth, causing Albert to grab ahold to his mother less he fall.

“She didn’t say! Oh, my poor girl!” she cried. “She was so upset when she was sent away by Mr Fraser but that it should come to this! My poor Emily! Taken away like that!”

The commotion was attracting attention, and Lawrence and William were aware that some of the neighbours were looking out to see what, or who, was upsetting Mrs Livingstone.

[Bullfrog]

"I think we should take this inside before we do any more talking. These are private matters, and I'd prefer that we not have an audience watching us." Lawrence gently suggests, not wanting to make any more of a public spectacle of this visit than necessary.

[Mr. Handy]

"Agreed," says William.

[Philulhu]

Mrs Livingstone moved back to allow William and Lawrence to enter. They stepped into a small front room, with tired but clean furnishings, while she closed the door and shooed Albert into the back room.

She bid them take a seat on the settee, old and unevenly stuffed with horsehair by the look of it, while she perched on the arm of an armchair. She pulled out a handkerchief and wiped her eyes as she tried to compose herself. “I haven’t had a letter from Emily for a few weeks,” said Mrs Livingstone, indicating a small pile of letters tucked behind the clock on the mantelpiece. “And Mrs Webster would write to me from time to time, but not more than once a month. Her letters are there, too.”

[Mr. Handy]

"Mrs. Webster seems to have disappeared as well," says William. "The neighbor last saw her a few weeks ago. He wasn't kind to her either. May we look through the letters? Perhaps there's a clue in there as to what happened."

[Bullfrog]

"Mrs. Webster was there when when Emily was taken away and seemed to know what was happening, according to the neighbor. Assuming he's right, it'd help us greatly to find out where she is." Lawrence states, taking the offered spot on the settee.

[Philulhu]

”Well, I suppose so, if you think it might help,” said Mrs Livingstone. She sounded uncertain but she stood up and fetched the letters from the mantelpiece. “I’ll put on a pot of coffee while you read them,” she said, and excused herself while Lawrence and William shared the letters out between them and began to read...

Mrs Livingstone had been right about Emily being a less-than diligent letter-writer. Her letters were mundane, mainly focussed on how much she missed James, how unfair his father was and how much she missed her family and friends in Arkham. In time, she wrote of her worries for James after his friends had visited looking for him and the letters took on a more heartbroken tone the previous November when she had received William’s letter, telling her that James had fallen in with a bad crowd and would not be returning. It was clear that the news had had a devastating effect on her as the tone of her letters were more self-pitying and her penmanship deteriorated markedly.

At the end of January, there was a sudden and unexpected uplift in tone. Emily wrote that she had had some good news, but couldn’t say more as she had been sworn to secrecy. That was the last of the letters that she had written...

Mrs Livingstone returned shortly with the coffee and what appeared to be her best china cups. She looked at the letter and said, ”That was the last one I received. I wrote back, but I didn’t hear from her again.” She sobbed and the tears started to roll down her cheeks...

[Bullfrog]

"This 'sworn to secrecy' business looks very suspicious to me; William, do you think it could have anything to do with those folks who picked her up?" Lawrence suggests, gratefully taking up one of the cups of coffee. With Emily's letters all looked through, Lawrence decides to start reading Mrs. Webster's letters.

[Mr. Handy]

"It is possible," says William. He also examines Mrs. Webster's letters.

[Philulhu]

The letters from Mrs Webster covered much the same ground as Emily’s letters; relaying what the young woman had told her landlady about James and her unhappiness with her situation. She too reported that Emily’s mood had improved in January. She had unexpectedly gone out for the day and was much happier when she returned, although why, Mrs Webster couldn’t say.

[Mr. Handy]

"If we could find Mrs. Webster, I'm sure she could tell us more," says William.

[Bullfrog]

"If anybody knows where Emily is, it's her. Not sure how we're going to go about finding Mrs. Webster, though, since the neighbor hasn't seen her for a week. Lawrence adds, finishing off his cup of coffee with a quick swig.

[Mr. Handy]

"Well, that's what he told us, anyway," says William. "And he's only one neighbor. We never talked to the others. We should speak to whoever lives on the other side of her house first."