The Journal of Jonathon Lindey From the main part of the journal - Page 4
Deep in thought I left the building. I was about to cross the road when I received a violent shove sideways. I stumbled back from the curb and fell over. As I did so I perceived an ebony carriage drawn by two black horses drive at speed through the space in which I had been standing. A young fellow apologised for knocking me over and explained that there had been no time to shout a warning. "It was almost as if he was aiming directly at you!", he said. I thanked the man profusely for his timely aid and, more than a little shaken, walked back to my rooms. I slept badly that night, wakened intermittently by nightmares involving being chased by a black carriage. Eventually I fell into a dreamless sleep and woke late. I caught a cab to the office and began to sift through the accumulated piles of work while I turned over the knowledge I had gained in the back of my mind. I had been working for about an hour when my manager came into my office. He looked at the pile of material I was working on, raised an eyebrow and enquired if there was a problem. Pushing the work aside I invited him to take a seat and laid before him the results of my enquiries about Crystal Falls. I concluded by explaining that I wasn't sure what the next step ought to be. He thought about it for a few minutes and then suggested that I write up a report and attach to it a copy of Mr McCandlass's original report. That way a decision could be taken at a higher level to investigate further. I agreed and after lunch set out to ask Mr McCandlass for a copy of his report. When I arrived at the central repository I asked at the desk for Mr McCandlass. The clerk looked very grave and informed me that Mr McCandlass had been involved in an accident and had died in hospital. Naturally I was shocked and enquired as to what had happened. The clerk described the accident with some relish. It seemed that Mr McCandlass and the reading room clerk had been standing outside the building discussing some matter when a runaway cab mounted the sidewalk and ran both of them down. The clerk had died instantly, kicked in the head by one of the horses. Mr McCandlass's back had been broken and he had died from the complications shortly after reaching the hospital. By the time onlookers had recovered from their shock, the offending cab was out of sight. The only description was that it was black, and drawn by a pair of black horses. The similarities with the cab that had nearly killed me did not escape my notice... |
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