The moon was full when Frank Cannon, Lotus Ashford and Mortimer, the unnaturally skinny undertaker, walked into the Lincoln Cemetery. Mortimer pointed towards the final resting place of cousin Jimmy, and although Mortimer's dialect was unintelligible, his gestures left little to the imagination. It was hard work, but just after midnight, the coffin could be opened. By then, the Mortimer was almost uncannily excited, but that could not compare to the dreadful sight of the remains: Jimmy was missing his upper arms, a foot, and his head! Lotus recoiled in sheer horror as Frank Cannon muttered something about Manhattan alleyways and their dreadful contents on certain nights. After regaining his composure, it was decided that cousin Jimmy's remains were to be sent back to Arkham.
Three views of Lincoln County.
It was an early Tuesday morning when Cannon and Ashford finally fell asleep. They woke up before noon, and decided to have late breakfast of early lunch at the Union Hotel's splendid dining room. However, just as Lotus Ashford poured himself a steaming hot cup of coffee, a gravelly voice asked if he could join. The badge on the shirt of the middle-aged person indicated a lawman, and he introduced himself as Sheriff Jared Donahue. He informed Cannon and Ashfor4d on no uncertain terms that Lincoln, New Mexico really did not have enough space for out-of-towners, and that Cannon and Ashford had better leave the town before noon on Wednesday, which also happened to be Christmas Eve. The sheriff left, and although Frank Cannon sneered about incompetency and country bumpkins, the duo realized that it may be advisable to leave Lincoln before bad things happened.
Sheriff Jared Donahue.
After packing up, Ashford and Cannon decided to have another chat with Father Joshua Bose, the Jesuit missionary who shepherded the Catholic congregation of St. Mary's church, a mainly Hispanic church. There were many questions to be asked about the condition of cousin Jimmy's corpse, and the Mary Shelley-like condition of the remains. Father Bose was preparing for Christmas, but he was more than willing to talk to the duo. This started a long discussion about how "Boss" Martin and his ranch hands harassed the Antahueca Apace north of Lincoln, how this might be connected to the rare mineral finds, and old, half-forgotten Indian legends about the dead being made to rise again to defend the hapless by particularly powerful medicine. A funeral involving another footless corpse seemed to point in a strange and disturbing direction.
It was decided to pay the Antahueca Apache a visit, and although Father Bose could not join Cannon and Ashford, he did write a letter of introduction to Antahueca Chief Nascha Alonzo Ruiz. It was once again dark as the enterprising investigators made it back to the Union Inn and Hotel. This time it was Frank Cannon who had his sleep interrupted by strange scratching sounds at the window. Fully equipped with wife beater, oversize boxer shorts and a cocked .38 snub nose, he peeked out the window, but there was nothing to see, although the yapping of several dogs could be heard.
Good morning, sweethearts!
The morning of Wednesday, December 24, came by far too quickly, but despite uneasy sleep, Ashford and Cannon decided to purchase a generous amount of Christmas supplies for the impoverished Apache. They then feigned departure from Lincoln as Sheriff Donahue observed them. Ashford and Cannon were simply going to camp out in the countryside while continuing to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of cousin Jimmy.
It was on the later side of the afternoon as the dynamic duo descended on the Antahueca Apache. The small reservation did indeed radiate destitution, and a few filthy children stared at the bus as it slowly rolled into the depressed little community. A few adults had assembled in the middle of the village, and they all seemed more than a little wary of the two strangers. A tall Apache had a shotgun at the ready, and it was quite clear from the onset that he wasn't of the social persuasion. This was Nascha Alonzo Ruiz, chief of the remnants of the once prosperous Antahueca Apache. His mood seemed to improve as Ashford and Cannon presented the Christmas gifts and the letter from Father Bose, but was interrupted by a much older Apache who interrupted the conversation with strange talk about omens, portents, dark fates and the dire and woeful situation of the Apache. Ashford and Cannon were getting increasingly uncomfortable as the old man, Medah Mitchell Old Horse, was turned away by Chief Nascha, who yet insisted that Ashford and Cannon leave, preferably before sundown. This seemed to be the end of the strange conversation, and Ashford and Cannon bade a curt farewell mounted their small bus. As they rolled out of the community and into the evening, they could not fail to notice a chilling sight: a stack of dirty and moldy coffins stacked up against the side of a rickety house.
Nascha Alonzo Ruiz Medah Mitchell Old Horse
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