Mark Meltzer Writings: Days 110-120

Letter to Phil Isidore

 * Mark G. Meltzer
 * P.O. Box 4668 #32890
 * New York, N.Y. 10163

Phil Isidore c/o N.U.F.O.S. Baltimore, MD

Dear Phil:

I've been trying to get you on the phone. I know you've been trying to distance yourself from the whole world of "anomalous research" lately. And trust me - I know why. (You know what they say about "gazing into abyss"...but I've got this foolish idea that even a bottomless pit eventually has to bottom out.)

But I need to talk to someone...and you may be the only one I can REALLY trust. You never had any real agenda - except the flying saucers. In your own way, just like me, you were looking for something to believe in.

See, I just learned that Jeremiah Lynch is probably some kind of con artist. Apparently, he helped Lutwidge in their "fun and games" - using forged documents to distract Celeste Roget and others so they would never find "True Rapture." Lynch was one of my very first contacts...I got in touch with him early on, as soon as I noticed the dis- appearances in the U.K. & Ireland. And now this...this has me rethink- ing EVERYTHING.

HE sent me those photos of the mysterious footprints on the beach. HE pointed me to the Frozen Triangle. HE gave me the key clues about Lutwidge. I'm starting to wonder how much of his info I can trust. (Hell even the puzzles
 * (cont'd)
 * (second page)

might be plants) Lutwidge's papers - how many of them are "Real?" Are some - or ALL - examples of Lynch's forgeries? Has he got me chasing my own tail? Did he set me up, somehow? God forbid - Did he have anything to do with Cindy's kidnapping - or do I have no one to blame for that except myself???

I've spent weeks digging through Lutwidge's history. Trying to find the way into the next layer of the puzzle box. Trying to figure out the allu- sions to "the Knight's Journey." But I'm getting nowhere fast - another Red Queen's Race?

ANY of it - ALL OF IT! - could be lies - forgeries - false leads - dead ends!!!

I know you've just about given up, Phil. The hell of it is - I'm half ready to give up, too. The stress - the money problems - now this.

But Cindy's still out there, somehwere.

Give me something, Phil...tell me thse red lights that we spent months chsaing, tell me
 * tll me that it was something REAL in ll that. Tell me there's still

hope Ic an find my daughter.

Because I'm not sure I can convince myself anymore.


 * Yours,
 * Mark Meltzer
 * Mark G. Meltzer

Calendar Piece Note

 * OCTOBER
 * 21

The day she vanished...

Journal Log, Oct. 21

 * Mark G. Meltzer
 * P.O. Box 4668 #32890
 * New York, N.Y. 10163

Oct. 21

Unable to get much done today... distracted, for obvious reasons. A year ago today.... My brave little girl, at the neighbor's stables, riding the horsey. Me, like a fool, packing up my camera – staking out my spot in the sand, seeking my red-eyed "Traveler." My falut – I was basically taunting IT to come and get my girl. And I've failed her – a full year, running as fast as I can to stay in the same place.

I walked to the beach as I do every morning, my only exercise of late. Clearer than it's been – a good strong breeze shoved off the rain & fog, but a cold front's moving in. A lonely Monday, long after the season's ended. I was alone – sitting for hours. Listening to the sounding sea.

The dark caught up with me, chased me home. Not all that I thought was chasing me... kept glancing back. . nothing but my own shadow. Sitting here with the lights off. Keep hearing noises outside the windows... But then I run out on the porch. Alone here, nogthin but the wind and the tide. And the ghosts tht chase around my head.
 * Hope I can sleep.


 * 3:35 A.M
 * Damn – noise out in the distance by beach

snapped me out of a dead sleep SHRIEK GUNSHOTS?
 * couldve been Cindy ???
 * or just another nightmare.

all quiet now bother cops? alrdy think im crazy.


 * great.. AUDITORy Hallusinatoins nw
 * just great
 * nobody tell dr Lyman

Journal Log, Oct. 22

 * Mark G. Meltzer
 * P.O. Box 4668 #32890
 * New York, N.Y. 10163

Oct. 22

Got up this morning - late. (Something to do with not being able to fall asleep til 4 AM.) Took my normal walk and the beach - and stopped short. When I saw it: THE CASTLE. Or a city, more like - shaped from the sand. Eerily familiar - the same deco minarets I'd already seen on the Worley Wine label, the flyer ("Welcome to Rapture!") No mistaking what it was.

And the message. Left for me. But - by who? Can I trust it? dare I believe it? How far does the "RED PAWN'S" reach extend? WAS IT HIM?

NO - NO - it had to be Cindy. Maybe with a little help from that THING, my red-eyed Traveller. I have to keep holding onto that...

But I wish to God - there was some other PROOF. Some confirmation.

Second Letter to Phil Isidore

 * Mark G. Meltzer
 * P.O. Box 4668 #32890
 * New York, N.Y. 10163

Phil Isidore c/o N.U.F.O.S. Baltimore, MD

Dear Phil:

Like I told you on the phone last night – the whole rush of recent events has me hellbent to get this done. To find "the Knight's Journey", whatever the hell it is – to get inside the next layer of Lutwidge's puzzle box. It's the only promise of a clue I've got (unless I just go sailing blind into the Frozen Triangle, and I'm not quite there yet!)

I decided to make a return trip to Lutwidge's lab – in the Park Ave basement. But when I arrived – lo and behold – an army of black suits and sunglasses. The one guarding the door eyed me like an after-din- ner snack. I didn't even slow down. Maybe Inman was telling me the truth… they certainly looked like "Other Gov't Agency".

Looks like my last haul of Lutwidge's papers etc is the last I'll be getting – and I'm still digging for any hint of what the 'Knight's Journey' means. Getting desperate for a clue… not sure where to turn. Cut Inman off a while ago. Carmady doesn't have much patience for me (tho' he did warn me "Lynch is on the move".)

More soon.


 * Yours,
 * Mark Meltzer
 * Mark G. Meltzer.

Note About Puzzle Box Diagram

 * Mark G. Meltzer
 * P.O. Box 4668 #32890
 * New York, N.Y. 10163

INCREDIBLY FRUSTRATING - Inman's ham-fisted maneuvers have got me locked out of Lutwidge's Park Avenue lab at the crucial moment.

Digging through the stack of papers I found amidst all the debris on my trip, I discovered what appears to be part of a plan for Lutwidge's "Metal Box."

From 1958? Def. prior to Lutwidge's departure for Rapture... hand- writing looks much "saner"

Vital clues to the nature of the Metal Box, which has been slowly driving me insane for months now... but thanks to Inman, attention's been drawn to the lab and I CAN'T GO BACK.

God only knows -- the whole plan for this damn puzzlebox might be down there & I'll never know.

Going to have to figure it out the hard way. (AS USUAL.)