What may lie in Shadows…

By Thomas Delfi (Tiberius Aklo)

“So, has he said anything?”

In Providence, Rhode Island, Detective Jeremy Price, a chubby black man with a bald head and scruffy black beard, stood outside an interrogation room with his partner, Clark Kuttner, a smaller white man with short blond hair. Price, the older of the two, had served on the force for 15 years while Kuttner, substantially younger, had only served for 7. Still, the two made a good team, albeit they were a bit eccentric in their style. For the past four days, the two had been investigating the murder of 5 Lutheran priests on November 14th, in a church that was only 2 blocks away from their precinct. According to the coroner, the priests throat’s had been crushed almost simultaneously, since their TOD was only minutes part and no prints were found on their necks. So, after asking around the neighborhood, they were pointed in the direction of Riley Derleth, an alternative book store owner who had been seen near the church around the time of the priest’s murders by eye witnesses.  When Price and Kuttner had gone to Derleth’s bookstore, the Vault, which was only 3 blocks away from the crime scene, they had discovered it had been abandoned, with only a few books remaining on the wall high shelves.

The Vault, a small and dark little café’/store had been home to occultists writs, the shelves filled with cult guides and diaries of mad writers. After scouring Providence for a week, a tip ultimately led them to a small, abandoned warehouse that people had been seeing a strange man enter and re-enter nightly. After receiving a warrant, the two and a small squad of fellow officers charged into the warehouse, only to find horrors beyond their imagination. Mutilated corpses had been hung by hooks from the ceiling of the building, their innards slashed out by a scythe, and blood was smeared among the floor, intermixed with runes written in chalk.

Riley Derleth, a pale young man with a shock of red hair, had stood in the center of the bloody mess wearing a blood stained black robe with an almost vacant expression on his face. As the officers surveyed the scene with horror filled eyes, Riley simply asked “Is there anything I could help you with, officers?”

So now Mr. Derleth sat inside the interrogation room of East Providence Precinct, waiting for questioning having waved his right to an attorney. Price shook his head and said “I don’t Clark…I just think this guy is a basket case. The whole damn case might be thrown out and this guy spends the rest of his life ‘getting better’. Maybe we should call in our Psychologist before he does.”

“I don’t think this guy will get a psychologist.” Kuttner said, crossing his arms and starring through the one way glass into the interrogation room. “Think about it, he’s waved his right to attorney, he’s got no family that’ll swing in to help, I think he’s handing himself to us. Why he’s doing it though…”

“Well…” Price said, opening the interrogation room door. “Let’s ask him.”

The two detectives entered the room, their eyes locked onto Derleth, who was now wearing an orange prison uniform and hand cuffs. Derleth stared vacantly at the detectives as they stared back and smiled when Kuttner sat down on the edge of the table.

“Good afternoon, inspectors.” Derleth said, a small smile playing on his pale lips. “As I understand it, you’ve got some questions for me.”

“Indeed we do, Mr. Derleth.” Price said, stepping forward. “You’re being charged with 5 counts of murder. Do you understand?”

“Of course.”

“Why did you wave your right to an attorney?” Kuttner asked. “Well very simple…I don’t need one. A lawyer is for someone who is fighting their actions. I am embracing it.” “Alright then, smart guy…” Price said warily. “So why don’t you tell us what went down on November 14th. Why’d you kill those priests?”

“Oh, to understand my reasoning would take a while.” Derleth said as he drank water from a paper cup. “May I tell my tale?”

“Indulge us then.” Kuttner said, folding his arms against his chest. “Dancing with the Stars isn’t on for the next 3 hours, so I’ve got time.”

“It started a year ago…” Derleth began in a vacant tone, his eyes retaining that glazed look. “A year ago, when I started my book shop. I’ve always been fascinated by the occult. So once I had paid off all of my college debts, I decided to open The Vault. Business had been great in the beginning, and even later on it was amicable. As every patron bought something, another patron would sell me something. Then, one day, I found it…”

“Found what?” Price asked as a grin as wide as a bow spread over Derleth’s face. “The map.” Derleth finally said. “It was folded inside a book, an old piece of parchment with a map written on it. It was inside Understanding the Occult: A Novices guide to modern day Cults. It’s an excellent book, you fellows should read it. Anyways, I found this map and I noted a small drawing of what appeared to be a city at the center of the map with a name written in an unknown language. Unfortunately, the map did not say where it led or where it was set, so I had no hopes of finding it. For months I often pondered upon it until I finally realized the map’s design corresponded with something I knew. Providence.”

“So, you found an old map of Providence and it made you kill people?” Price asked sarcastically. Derleth turned his gaze to Price, glared at him with an intensely annoyed look, and continued in a flat tone…

“It was a map of the Providence sewer system. My father had been a city workman, he often had to go down there to make repairs and I remembered he had a map of the sewers that looked like my mysterious little map back home in his office. So, after looking the sewer system up online, I found that my map had a beginning at a sewer junction 129 Angell Street. So one night, I went to Angell Street and began my journey to where ever the map would lead me. For hours and hours I waded through the sewers until I finally reached a major junction point where some sort of trap door was supposed to be. I pushed through the muck for a while until I found a small metal hoop connecting to the door I was looking for. I tugged and tugged, until the door finally flew open, but the force of the suction beneath it pulled me and a few tons of water down. I guess I was knocked out at that point…but when I awoke, I discovered I was within a massive stone tunnel with carvings all about…all but darkness was before me…”

“Wait a minute, you went into the sewers and could’ve gotten yourself killed because there might’ve been a city underground?” Kuttner asked skeptically. “What were you thinking?”

“I knew no archeological society would do anything.” Derleth said, glaring at Kuttner. “They’d think it was a fraud or just a mere myth…”

“And did you think of this before you went into the sewers, Mr. Derleth?” Price said, stepping toward the clearly frustrated Derleth. “That it might have been all just a myth or fake?”

“There was something down there!” Derleth cried, standing up. “There was a stone city, the Thing was inside and told me to kill the worshipers of the Elder One-“

“Mr. Derleth, we know a lot than you think.” Kuttner said. “We know those priests were upset about your shop. We even know they were petitioning the city to have your place moved farther away from their church and we know how much that would cost you…”

“No…” Derleth said slowly. “I killed them for him…”

“Cut the bullshit Derleth, we know your game!” Price barked, slamming a fist on the table. “Those priests would have run you out of business! So what did you do? You strangled them!”

“THEN WHY DID I KILL THE OTHERS?!” Derleth roared, standing to his full height. “WHY DID I KILL THE OTHER FILTH THAT TOOK THIS WORLD FROM MY MASTER?”

“I don’t know, Mr. Derleth.” Kuttner asked quietly. “Why don’t you sit down and-“

Derleth suddenly grabbed the metal chair that he had been sitting in and ripped it from the floor. Kuttner jumped back as Derleth swung the chair at him, yelling madly in some strange foreign language as Price lunged forward and tried to tackle Derleth to the ground. But the smaller Derleth somehow threw the much larger Price off into the wall. As 3 more police officers charged into the room and held the struggling man down, Derleth yelled out in a hoarse voice…

"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn! Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!” 

A Week later…

“So, killed him self before trial, huh?”  Price and Kuttner stood inside the coroner’s office, having just seen the dead body of Riley Derleth. A few days after their fateful interrogation, Derleth had hung himself inside the prison cell he had been held in using his bed sheets. After signing out for the day, the two detectives made their way out of the precinct, to their daily ritual of an after-work drink.

“The guy was a nut case.” Kuttner said. “It’s not surprising. Still, we might have a problem on our hands. There might be a cult out there Derleth might’ve been a part of.”

“I was thinking the same thing.” Price said as the two entered Kuttner’s black Honda Civic. “I went through Derleth’s laptop that was at the crime scene, but there was nothing but book orders. It turns out that he was running his business from that warehouse. Maybe he was selling to his cult buddies?”

“Oooh, I beat you Jeremy.” Kuttner says with a grin. He reached into the inside pocket of his suit and pulled out a small plastic bag with a folded up piece of ancient looking parchment in it. “I found it at the crime scene.”

“Is that the map?” Price said as a grin spread over Kuttner’s face. “Did you look at it?”

“Yeah, and I matched it up to the Providence Sewer System.” Kuttner replied as he pulled out of the parking lot and drove off. “Derleth’s story fits.”

“Wait a minute…” Price said. He had just realized Kuttner was driving away from the bar they usually went to after work. “Clark, where are we going?” “Look in the back.”

Price turned around and saw two sets of high rubber boots, gloves, overalls, and gas masks sitting in the back seat of the Honda. His eyes went wide and he looked back to Kuttner, who was grinning like a clown. “What’s the matter buddy?” Kuttner asked. “Afraid to get a little wet?”

Two hours later, Kuttner and Price, now wearing their gear, stood outside of the very sewer Derleth had entered maybe a month or so before. As Price attempted to lift the sewer lid with a crow bar, Kuttner set up flares and a security fence to block off drivers he had borrowed from the City Street Repair department. “So, what do you think we’re gonna find down there, Big Bear?” Kuttner asked Price with a grin. “Lost City?”

“Shit and Water.” Price grunted as he struggled with the sewer plate. “Oh, wait, we might actually find some piss-!”

Price fell back as the sewer lid popped open and flipped onto the road. The crow bar flew backwards into the air, twirling like an iron baton and landed impaled onto the ground two inches away from Price’s head. “Jesus Christ!” Kuttner yelled out as he hurried over to his friend and helped him up. “Jeremy, you alright?!” “No I’m not!” Price said, now clearly peaked in his annoyance. “I almost got speared by a…a…”

Price was not looking at Kuttner now; he wasn’t even looking at the crow bar that had almost taken his life. He was starring at the sewer lid which was now leaning up against one of the security rails, its bottom covered in god knows what. But through the muck and slime, Price could make out something carved into the bottom of the lid. Pulling on his rubber glove, Price stepped over to the lid and began to wipe away the muck, ignoring the awful scent. He had smelled mush worse that shit water muck before. As the muck slowly fell away, the carving came into clearer view. “That doesn’t look like shit, piss, or water Big Bear…”

Price and Kuttner were now starring at the carving of a tentacle covered creature’s face starring back at them. The creature appeared to be some sort of octopus with tentacles coming off its face like a twisted beard. It’s eyes were diamond shaped and slits, adding an almost demonic air to this beast. Price, who had been staring transfixed at the carving, was brought back to reality when he saw Kuttner was going down to the sewer without him. Regaining his senses, Price pulled on his gas mask and followed, hoping he wasn’t going into more that shit and water…

The two traveled in relative silence for about two hours, their gas masks secure on there faces to avoid methane poisoning. Every so often Kuttner would stop and pulled  map of the sewer system with Derleth’s map super imposed onto it and checked it while Price grumbled, annoyed they had stopped on this disgusting journey. The two journeyed on until they came to a massive junction point of several sewers which drained off into a grate system beneath the green waters.

“Alright, you got the grappling ropes?” Kuttner asked as they felt around the floor of the junction room with their boots, trying to find the supposed trap door. 

“Yeah, yeah…” Price said. He suddenly yelped in pain as his foot his something metal beneath the water, creating on odd gong like noise that echoed throughout the sewers.

“Jeez, you’re not having a good day, huh Big Bear?” Kuttner said with a grin as Price hopped on one foot.

“Shut the Hell up…” Price grunted as he tossed Kuttner the ropes. “You set up the damn ropes, considering I’m the one that keeps finding all of this crap…”

Kuttner quickly set up the two wall clamps onto the sewer walls for himself and Price, his being closer to the heavy metal shaft, tying the ropes into the hoops connected onto the clamps. The two then wrapped each rope around a hook on their sewer suit belts and secured it.

“Alright…” Kuttner said over the now rushing waters. “Jeremy, I’m going to lift the lid and once the suction starts, grab onto your rope, OK?”

“You gonna be alright little man?” Price said with a weak smile, though he was genuinely worried for his friend and partner.

“Think of it this way…” Kuttner said with a chuckle. “If I get sucked down and die when I hit the ground, you get a partner who listens to you! You ready?”

Price gave a curt nod and Kuttner threw his hand under the green water, groping about for the metal hoop on top of the hatch. Finally he found it and counted off to three. Kuttner gave a hardy tug and the hatch flipped up, pulling him with it and breaking his rope in the process. Price screamed out to his partner as tons of sewer water suddenly began flushing into the hatch, Kuttner going down with it all.

“CLARK!!!!” Price screamed as he held securely onto his rope, waiting for the water to drain. As the flow slowly came back to normal, he disconnected himself from the wall and quickly grabbed the rappelling equipment from the pack they had brought with them. “Come on buddy, be alright…” Price thought as he set up the rappelling equipment next to the open hatch. Praying a silent prayer, Price began to lower himself down the dark hatch, seeing naught but a tiny spec of light at the bottom. After lowering himself for what felt like an eternity, Price finally landed inside a stone cave with carvings of monstrous creatures on the wall. The cave was lit by a single torch and led into nothing but darkness ahead, thought Price could make out the shape of some sort of mesa in the shadowy distance…

“DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Suddenly, a ragged looking old man with streaked white hair wearing ragged clothes ran out from the shadows, wielding a sharpened rock like a dagger. As the man came closer and closer, Price moved to grab his gun, but the old man had tackled him before he could pull it out. The two men struggled on the ground, the smaller, older man making frantic war cries in a forgotten tongue. As the old man brought the rock dagger closer and closer to Price’s throat, a mad gleam in his eye, Price groped on the ground and found a rock. He swung it up hard and struck the old man in the side of the head, the sound of a sickening crack filling the air. Price panted as he pushed the old man’s body off of him and looked at the now dead body, his eyes going wide.

“Clark…”  The old man definitely looked like Kuttner. He had his pointed jaw, strong brow and small neck, but he was years older. He could’ve been Price’s father if he was black and fatter. “Dear God, Clark!” Price cried out, scrambling over to the dead body of his partner and friend. “Come on Clark, don’t be dead…”

Price looked forward into the darkness, seeing something large move ahead of him. Perhaps he should go in to see what’s there, to find what Riley Derleth and perhaps his partner saw. But he looked down at the dead body of Clark Kuttner and thought he’d prefer to stay within the light.