It takes several months to put into place the concealment of the Father of Maggots prison and to ship out the treasures, but by the beginning of 1922 the work is complete.
Amy and Cynthia return to complete their studies at their respective colleges. John returns to his family in England, more mature for his experiences in Peru, he tells the others to look him up if they ever visit Britain.
After completing her degree in Chicago, Cynthia finds that the only college of note that will offer her a chance at her doctorate is Columbia University in New York City, coincidentally the same university that Amy now attends to work on her masters. The two friends room together and meet often with Jackson Elias while he is in New York.
Marcus and Atuachi, together with Anderson find employment with Dr. Sánchez, initially at a dig in Mexico, but by mid-1924 they are working at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. Sánchez then offers Amy a curators position on his team to support her studies, and both Amy and Cynthia can often be found together with their old friends in the huge museum's Hall of Mexico and Central America.
Jackson Elias spends much of 1922 and 23 in New York, working with his publisher Jonah Kensington of Prospero House Publishing to complete and market his book The Hungry Dead a much edited account of events in Peru. The book is eventually published in April of 1923, detailing how Jackson and his friends uncovered a criminal enterprise by European smugglers who masqueraded as ancient vampiric fat-sucking kharisiri in order to conceal their criminal activities, slaughtering any who got in their way. The book is Jackson's best seller so far, and Jonah is keen for the author to research a sequel.
During his time in New York, Jackson stays at the Hotel Chelsea on West 23rd Street and spends a lot of time with whichever of his Peru companions are in the city at the time. He and Amy in particular become very close, eventually dating and becoming lovers. They plan to marry, but delay a formal engagement for the time being, as mix marriage is socially awkward, even in cosmopolitan New York. Jackson plans to propose formally as soon as his next book is published, and departs New York for Europe at the start of May 1924, bound initially for London and Paris to research the history of Augustus Larkin. He plans to be "back by Christmas!"
He writes several times to Amy, initially from those two great European capitals and later a short letter from Nairobi in Kenya. The letters contain few details other tourist-like details about the sites and the weather, and reassurances that all is well, but he mentions that Larkin definitely come from the British colonies in Kenya, and that he has seen a photograph shows Larkin with a woman connected to a famous disappearance.
His letter from Kenya, dated the 8th August, arrives in early September and tells Amy that "I'm really onto something here, my biggest one yet."
After that she receives no word from Jackson other than a post card from Hong Kong, which arrives late the same month and simply reads - "It's bigger than I imagined, back by Christmas, JE x"
Fall turns to Winter, and Christmas passes by, but no word comes from Jackson Elias.
Amy enquires with Jackson's publisher Jonah Kensington at Prospero House with whom she is now good friends, but Jonah claims to have not heard from Jackson since September, when the author wired him from Hong Kong. The publisher is taciturn and Amy is sure that he knows something more, but she knows that Jackson likes to keep his cards close to his chest, and so does not push Kensington.
OOC: The adventure continues in Chapter One: A Message from a Dear Friend. |