Ebert and the Mysterious Encounters and Finds

[GodlyD&D]

"You are right!" Rodston said. "And he had not used his actual name. So we do not know what is true about him. He might not have been really employed to work at Supernatural Promotions."

"But someone does work there, certainly," Dan observed, "but Mr. Endemort was taking our money for the training!"

"I think I should go to the precinct, and see what I might about Mr. Endemort there," Dan said.

"Don't you want to hear about the source of those materials that came from the printing press?"

"Sure," Roger said, "but Ebert would be even more interested, I am sure. What about the source?"

"That material Ebert was looking through, and yet more materials, some distributed to Supernatural Promotions and to other places, and some still in stock, were printed from manuscripts they have from the Sons of Sharalden, which seemed to them to be a fraternal organization in Vancago! A man known as Mr. Dartford comes from there to have manuscripts printed up into many copies, and the places copies are distributed have a demand for those, besides Vancago."

"Really?" Roger responded. "There is a demand for copies of those manuscripts, like what was printed in the item Ebert was looking at that Dan brought from Supernatural Promotions? That item looked so obscure it did not seem that anyone would know about it."

"The printers knew about it, certainly. They had the information of the demand for that and other printed materials like it. So it must be so," Lenny explained.

Rodston jumped in. "It seems that a lot of answers about those materials must be in Vancago, and the source that sends that Mr. Dartford to Shiny Shelves for making copies of the manuscripts."

[GodlyD&D]

Dan said, "I still want to go over to the precinct to ask about that Mr. Endemort, or Mr. Entemoor as we should still know him as, to know if he was released. Would any here come along with me?"

"I will go, since we both were seeing him together," Rodston said. He turned to the others. "Ebert had left earlier and is trying to avoid coming back while Raul Weckland is pursued, and help Dan have the alibi for taking that item from Supernatural Promotions. He likely won't be back until really late in the day."

"Well, it is already after midafternoon now," Terry pointed out.

Dan and Rodston left soon, going from the hotel where Ebert and his friends had come to stay while there was the search for the lookalike who was the felon who was wanted, further along that street. That felon. Raul Weckland, was now in custody, and they saw that there was that man who had instructed them who had cooperated with Raul Weckland, that they did not know what happened to him.

They went along that street until they came at length to the precinct of this community of Washing Walls. They went up the steps and entered, and went to the counter.

"We both were going to Supernatural Promotions where we were instructed by Mr. Entemoor there, and we do not know what happened to him," Dan said. "We want to know if you know where he is right now."

"Wait right here," the attendant told them. They stood, waiting.

"Maybe they will be asking us a lot of questions," Rodston said.

A tall and slightly heavy officer came out, followed by the attendant who went back to the same position behind the counter. The officer addressed both of them. "You both were there at Supernatural Promotions being instructed by that man you know as Mr. Entemoor?"

"Yes," Dan said, and Rodston nodded.

"It might interest you that he is really Mr. Endemort, and he is here from out of the country, and his time here had expired. We were questioning him in connection to a felon we just brought in. He was taken back to Supernatural Promotions to retrieve the contact information of the owner of that building. He went in, and I and two other officers were at the door of the building waiting for him. He had gone, and we didn't see him there anymore."

[GodlyD&D]

"What?" Rodston asked, "You didn't look through any place in there that he could have gotten away?"

"We knew about hidden ways in the building, and we searched through those. It was tedious, as there were many spots further back where he could have hidden. But we searched meticulously and thoroughly, there was no place in there that he could have hidden without us finding him. There must be some hidden way out that we didn't see."

"Were there not a great number of places he could hide?" Rodston asked the tall officer.

"There were a very great number of places for that being possible, but those officers and I are trained well and experienced and very capable of checking every spot throughout the building, even among many boxes stored below. He really was not there. He got away."

"This interrupts what we wanted," Rodston said, "that man, who you say is Mr. Endemort, was training us, with claims he made that there was possibility to leave this reality and enter an entirely other one. But there really had to be some other way out of that building, that had been missed. Now he cuts out from our arrangement."

"But he could not stay here anyway," the officer said, "either we would have taken him in, or he would have been leaving the country because he had to."

"He is dishonest," Rodston said, "he has connection to that felon and covered for him, and was fleeing from you. There should be control of the borders to watch for him."

"Yes, borders are already watching for him, and there is notice at the terminals too. But what do you know of him covering for the felon? It would be relevant, please tell us about it."

"Our friend looks a lot like the felon," Dan said, "and there was concern that suspicion would fall on him though he is innocent. So we were watching for that felon. Rodston here chased him all the way from this street, over by the hotel, to that Supernatural Promotions building. That Mr. Endemort knew he was there, but covered for him, not telling the truth."

"And what did he say in place of the truth?"

Rodston said, "That the man I went after, who was the felon our friend looks like, left this reality going into that alternate reality separate from this, that he disappeared from our world."

"I see," the officer said. "And now Mr. Endemort went to that building, and was gone that we could not find him. How about that?"

Dan said, "If Mr. Endemort was gone in just the way he said it was possible for that one we know is the felon, and for us if we learned, to disappear from this reality going into an alternate reality separate from this, he is some supernatural being, and not just a human like us. We don't really think a human being can do that, and that felon, who you have in custody now, didn't do that either. There must be another way for exiting that building, that neither we nor any working with you saw."

"That is what we think," the tall officer said. "But we looked thoroughly and the only exit possible from that building to be found is the same wide door that is the entrance. And he did not come out that way."

Rodston said, "Then the only other possibility is that he was hiding there so well, you did not see him."

"It might seem so. But we are all trained for thorough searches."

"I don't know what you conclude about that," Rodston said, "but I would not stop searching."

[GodlyD&D]

"Mr. Endemort is being watched for in many places where he might go to, if he were to seek to leave this country, and other police stations have a description of him and watch for him as well."

"Alright, thank you for what you are doing," Dan said. He looked at Rodston. "I think we should go toward that Supernatural Promotions building again, and have a look ourselves."

The tall officer said, "You might go that way. But the building has a seal that it is to remain closed. It will be off limits to enter. We have notice for our precinct to be contacted, we are also waiting to hear any communication from the owner or his representatives."

"Thank you," Rodston said, "we understand." He turned to go, and Dan then went out with him.

"Do you think they will go and check there when we go to that Supernatural Promotions building?" Dan asked Rodston when they left the pricinct.

"I didn't think they would. But even if they do, we will only look around outside the building. If that Mr. Endemort did not remain inside, hiding, there must be some way out of that building, that was not seen before."

The two continued walking along that street, until they came to the one turning off that led toward the Supernatural Promotions building. Before they turned, Dan said, "Look, I see Ebert way over there. We should go tell him the felon that looks like him was caught, and was taken in, so Ebert can go back now."

Rodston said, "Alright, there are plenty of things to tell him. We should still check that building, right?"

Ebert was more than a block beyond the hotel, and he was facing a building window, looking over like he was thinking about going back to the hotel. Then he saw Dan and Rodston coming toward him. He waved, and when they were closer he said, "I think it is pretty late in the day, if there were none coming to check the building for me already none would be coming now."

Dan said, "The felon, Raul Weckland, was caught. We heard he was pretending to be the owner of the Supernatural Promotions place. He is in custody now, and no one will be looking for you now."

Ebert still said, "What about that manager who was told your friend was abducted and you had an investigation going for that?"

Rodston explained, "That was the one who told us he was Mr. Entemoor. He is really Mr. Endemort. He was the one who said Raul Weckland was claiming to be the owner, he said after that he had not seen the owner but only representatives. He was going to be investigated, as he had contact information for the owner, but disappeared when he was to retrieve it in that building. We were just going over toward the building, after coming from the precinct, to see if there is any place around there through which he could have left that building, which wasn't seen."

"I am interested in that too. He really sounds like he is faking everything. I will go with you to help finding anything to explain that."

[GodlyD&D]

Ebert went then with Dan and Rodston past the hotel where Ebert had stayed with his friends from Winding Down on to the street where they turned to go to the Supernatural Promotions building. Ebert had avoided this area since he first came pursuing the lookalike who was the fugitive felon, Raul Weckland, who was now in captivity, though Dan and Rodston were familiar with this way having come several times. There was no running or hurrying this time. Each thought about where a way out of that building, besides the entrance, would be.

They came to the lot along the side of the street, where they turned toward that building. There was no evidence anyone was inside. The door was shut with a clearly evident tape across it, and a notice in front of it, there was no light at all seen from within the dark interior. They stood there a couple of moments looking at it. Rodston then said, "Let us carefully go along the sides of the building, around it, looking for anything that would be a possible way out."

They went together, toward the right, to go in a counterclockwise direction along the sides. They looked up and down, to be sure anything above the ground for a way out would not be missed. Several minutes later they came around, thought they had to climb over fences to look all around it. There was no way out from the building that they could see.

[GodlyD&D]

"So how could Mr. Endemort get out, that we do not see, if there is no evidence of a way out from any side of the building?" Ebert asked.

"Well, there was the tunnel below the building," Rodston said, "maybe there was a tunnel from there leading below the ground out from there, coming up somewhere else."

"But how far could it go?" Ebert still asked.

Dan said, "We should still look around further from the building, for any place in the ground that could have been his way out."

Ebert, Dan, and Rodston spread out from one another, Dan remaining closer to the building, and the others looking along the ground further out. It was just the lot of the property with this building around to the back. But there it came to the great fence. "I don't want to climb up over that all over again," Dan muttered.

Ebert had come up to that back fence, and he said to the others, "Look, there is this flat structure there on the other side of the fence. What do you think that is?"

Rodston came nearer, to look. "Are you thinking this could be a cover to an open way from a tunnel coming from the building?"

"I don't know what it is," Ebert said, "but we are looking for where Mr. Endemort could have gone out from a tunnel that led away from the building. I don't know what this is, but I think we should check it if it could be that."

Dan said, "It could just be one of us climbing over to check it, to let the rest of us know. Ebert, we can help you over to find out what it is that you found, which you want to know."

"Alright, I will go first and you both can help me over. It is a difficult climb, as we found out before," Ebert said agreeably. "Help me up then."

Rodston and Dan helped with supporting his weight at the feet as Ebert used his hands to reach to the top and then pull himself further up and over it. He climbed a bit down and dropped the rest of the way, and there he walked over to see the structure, which was a wooden plank, which was colored a rusty red. He looked at it, and then bent down, and grabbed the edges carefully. He then pulled at it. It was moderately heavy, he yet slowly lifted it up, and it swung out from a dark space below it. Ebert looked at what was under it, and then he turned to look at Dan and Rodston on the other side of that fence, through the spaces between the boards of the fence. "It is a walled pit in here, there are open spaces on the sides at the bottom!"

[GodlyD&D]

Rodston said, "And no one is looking from that building on the property still? Hold on, I will climb over too, and we will look at that."

"I think I will wait here, and be a lookout, if that is alright," Dan said.

Rodston told him, "Alright, you help me up to the top, then, and I will climb on over then."

Dan helped bear Rodston's weight as he sprung up to catch the top of the fence, where Rodston brought his legs over the top, and sprung down from there. He came over to where Ebert was standing looking over the way down into the dark space below.

"It is really dark there," Rodston said. "But it looks like there is a passage down there, and it was probably used by that Mr. Endemort then."

"We would want to be more certain," Ebert answered.

"Then we have to go in it, and see it goes to that building of Supernatural Promotions. If there is a door or opening into it, that means this was a way out for Mr. Endemort."

"Fine. Do you see a way to go in there, or back out?"

Rodston looked carefully, and said then, "Here! There are these small steps along the way down, do you see? We can use those."

"But it is dark in there," Ebert objected.

"I have a light. I will use it once we are down there."

"Alright. You go first."

Rodston was down in almost no time. He called from the bottom, "Now you come down, we will look through this together."

Ebert said, "Where is your light? I want to know, is it really dirty there? Are there webs?"

Rodston brought out an object from his pocket. He slid a portion along the side of the object that opened up a glowing light from within it. He said, "It is not dusty here, and there are no webs that I am noticing. These are all stony walls that I see. There is a passage here, going both ways from this opening. We will go look that way where it would go in the direction of the Supernatural Promotions building."

Ebert overcame his hesitation, and climbed then down the steps along the wall to the bottom, over ten feet below. He looked up once he was down, knowing he would need to deal with climbing up that way.

Rodston said, pointing, "That is the way we should go, to look. I think it would go right to the Supernatural Promotions building. Let's go."

Ebert did not see much choice but to go along with Rodston, who carried that light he brought along, leaving the dim area below the opening behind.

[GodlyD&D]

As they walked on, there was not much to see immediately but the stony walls and ceiling of this passage, the air of which though not damp was not too dry either. Ebert asked Rodston, "What is that light you are using?"

"It is a Flowergem light. There is a special store in town, here in Washing Walls, where they are available. I can show you sometime, these are good to have."

They then noticed the passage was curving a bit ahead. "Hey!" Rodston exclaimed. "This is curving away from the way to the building!"

Ebert said, "But it must curve back to it then, right? How odd it curves away this way."

"But look here! See, there are designs on the wall over here."

There was something there, which they could see when the light came to it. They drew closer. It was a great round shape, but with many small projections pointing away from it. On the shape colored a brownish red close to the center appeared what looked like a shut eye. And a little way from that in a skewed direction was an opening drawn that looked rather like a small mouth. With all the small projections, drawn in places over the shape, and more thickly along the sides to the edge around it, the image looked hideous.

[GodlyD&D]

"What is it?" Ebert uttered in awe.

"I don't know. But I don't think we are finding the way Mr. Endemort came away from the Supernatural Promotions building."

Ebert said, "But this passage must turn back toward that building, further on. How else could he have left?"

"I do not know. But see further ahead, from this light? It is still turning further ahead, further away."

Ebert said, "Alright, if there is no turn ahead for going in that direction that we find ahead of us in a minute or so, I think we should go back, as this might not be the way Mr. Endemort used for getting away from the Supernatural Promotions building. He did get away, but how else could he have? That we won't know, if this is not it."

Rodston held that Flowergem light he had brought out, for them to see further, and they very shortly saw a wall that the passage came to. "Look," Rodston said, "there are directions to go either way from there."

There was certainly another passage this one came to, where it did not go further, but where they could go to the right or the left way along this passage at the end of the one they had gone through.

Rodston said, "The way left would be that direction more toward the building. So we should go that way to look."

Ebert agreed, and when they came to that passage, Rodston held his light toward the way to the right before they would turn their back on it. The passage that way led straight on to where it was darker further on. Nothing else was seen that way, so they looked with the light toward the left direction. There was something further on that way, but it was not clear at that distance from the light. They both then walked on that way.

They soon saw they were coming to a larger space, like a room, that the passage led to. And coming to it, they saw it was the passage's end, with no way leading out from any side of that wider room.

[GodlyD&D]

"Well this led to nothing," Rodston said.

"But there is something," Ebert said. "Shine your light toward the floor of that room, there."

Rodston did so. There was some flat item there. "Let us go see what this is," Ebert said. He went into the room, and looked down at the item in the middle of it. It was a square item laying flat on the floor of that room. After a short look, he bent down, studying it. Rodston came closer, with the light he brought. Ebert then reached out to the item. He pulled up along the edges of the square. It swung out from the floor, staying hinged on one side, It left an open space which continued downward Into the earth below that underground room.

"It was a trapdoor," Rodston said. Then after a moment, he said, "This wouldn't be where Mr. Endemort came out, still, would it?"

Ebert said, "Hold your light here, so that we can see what is below."

Rodston came and knelt down over the opening of the trapdoor across from Ebert. He reached into that lower space with the light he had brought. He then said, "See? There is a bottom way down there, it doesn't go anywhere. But something is there on the bottom, don't you see?"

"Really? What is that?" Ebert asked.

"I can't tell. But watch! I move this light over it. There is nothing there moving. It is nothing alive, then."

"But it is far down there. And it does not answer what we look for."

"Doesn't it? We can't leave it and not know if it has no answers. See here? The light is showing there are steps down that way."

"I will not go down in there."

Rodston said, "Alright. You hold the Flowergem light. Keep it right there. I will go down in there, and see it, myself." He left Ebert holding the instrument with the light, and climbed down into the opening, using the steps left there.

As he was left alone with Rodston now going below beyond the trap door, Ebert was more aware of all the darkness around, here underground, and it spooked him. "Do hurry!" Ebert called to Rodston.