Read Online Goat Mother and Others: The Collected Mythos Fiction of Pierre Comtois by Pierre V. Comtois, Charlie Krank, Nick Nacario - Free Book Online

of?”
    “No, it can be done without your presence.”
    That was a relief!
    Humberton cleared his throat.
    “Yes?” she said.
    “You’ll excuse me for asking, Miss Cobb, but in all the time I’ve known your uncle, he has been a solitary and reclusive fellow. When, he offered to underwrite your college expenses years ago, many people in town were taken aback. And now, after many more years, comes his sudden invitation for you to visit. Doesn’t all that strike you as strange?”
    “How so?”
    “That he might have had some reason for what he did.”
    “He was a good man, anxious to help a niece he could see wanted desperately to make something of her life,” explained Darlene, herself suddenly not quite convinced.
    “Hmmm, maybe.”
    “What other reason could there be?”
    “Well, you must be aware of the talk around town about your uncle…”
    “Oh sure, heard it from my own family…but he’s just eccentric, that’s no crime is it?”
    “Of course not but, well, he’s from Dunwich you know, moved there deliberately before he was married. No one moves to Dunwich, only
out
of it.”
    “So now you’re going to remind me of the strange doings up there?”
    “I’m sure I don’t need to do that…but…well, he’s dead now, so I guess it doesn’t matter.”
    Despite her challenge to the attorney’s hints, Darlene left Humberton’s office with new doubts about her uncle’s reasons for inviting her to visit. Helping to entertaining his guest suddenly seemed like an inadequate excuse…and what about paying for her college tuition? Even that seemed a bit implausible in hindsight. Maybe some clue could be found among her uncle’s papers at the farmhouse.
    But whatever idea Darlene had of going through her uncle’s desk drawers was dismissed when she arrived back at the house and was informed by Whitney that her uncle’s guest had arrived.
    “He’s waiting in the living room,” said Whitney, inclining his chin.
    “Okay, I’ll go in and see him,” said Darlene. “Does he know about Uncle Silas?”
    “Yes, I’m afraid I had to tell him when he inquired about him.”
    “Good,” Darlene was glad she didn’t have to be the one to explain the bad news. “By the way, I’ve decided not to keep the house, but selling it might take some time and I can’t afford to remain in town as long as it might take. Are you available to stay until it can be sold?”
    “I can do that.”
    “Thanks.” That was another concern off her mind. Then she thought of something else.
    “Whitney, do you have any idea what my uncle had been spending his money on? Attorney Humberton told me his bank account was almost empty.”
    Whitney shrugged. “He liked to collect things,” he gestured around the room, indicating the various knickknacks that filled up corners and furniture surfaces. “I gathered some were expensive and he’d sometimes trade what he had for things he didn’t. At least it seemed to me that items around here were constantly disappearing and being replaced by others. Most of his transactions were conducted by mail.”
    “That’s why he needed such a big mailbox outside,” concluded Darlene…she’d always wondered about that.
    “Its size did come in handy for the bulkier items,” confirmed Whitney. “It was before my time of course, and it wasn’t as if he confided in me, you understand, but it was my impression that it was Dunwich’s reputation that first drew him here from Dean’s Corners. I’m told before he became infirm, he often went up into the hills to look over the stone circles and was seen sometimes over at what’s left of the old Whateley place. But all that was a long time ago, before his wife died…hmm, now that I think of it, I think I heard tell that she was distantly related to the Whateleys. Anyway, he hadn’t been out of the house much in recent years, that’s why he spent so much of his time doing business through the mail.”
    “Well, I was planning on going