Mark Meltzer Writings: Days 33-43

thumb|Mark will become well acquainted with this box throughout his quest. It holds Lutwidge's twisted riddles and clues to Rapture.
==Note about Investigating O.O.L.'s Warehouse==
I was right… I am being watched… 
but not by who (or what) I thought. 
I tracked down Lutwidge’s warehouse office (lab?) today. 
Still in legal limbo   the burnt-out back area in disguise. 
Signs of squatters… much of what was here must have 
been picked apart by scavengers. Nothing valuable left. 
Just a box of old reel-to-reel tapes in a fire-proof box 
shoved on a back shelf, hidden by burnt timbers. Most of 
the tapes looked damaged   warped by the heat.  I shoved 
one into the inner pocket of my trench-coat as I crawled 
back out. 
The second I reached the street   lights blasts in my face. 
Stango & 2 beat cops.  They shook me down.  (Somehow 
missed the tape reel or didn’t realize it was from 
warehse)  Hauled me back to the station, sat me on the 
chair and sweated me for 3 hours. Everything but the 
rubber hose. Stango finally gave up & and slapped me with a 
bogus crim. trespass charge.  (It would never stand up if 
fought it   no clear owner w title to file complaint! But 
I coughed up the bail & and will deal with the fine if it 
comes to that.   Not worth the fghit fight.) 
Not positive what Stango’s chasing…  But from what he 
was asking   he thinks I kidnapped my own daughter? Have her 
locked up somewhere? Poss. to draw interest  attn. to my 
 research. Clearly thinks I’m crazy  possibly danger “to 
my self & others.” Makes me wonder if he’s been in touch 
with Amanda or Dr. Lyman   we know what THEY think. 
I have to watch my step… 
all eyes upon me,  all hands against me.
==Notes about Lutwidge Recording, 7/10/69==
Listening to Lutwidge's words… cold chills, hackles
rising. It's as if he knew I was coming. Anticipating
my that, a decade later, there would finally be someone
perceptive enough to pick up the trail of clues. But do
the clues make sense? Do they point in the right direc-
tion - towards my Daughter?
3 AM. If Stango's men were watching, I managed to shake
them. Circled back to the warehouse. Lutwidge's message
meant exactly what I thought: a hatchway hidden beneath
the floorboards. And what I found there - WHAT IS IT?
A vault? A puzzle? The "key" to Rapture? (With a "sev-
enfold lock?")
:::::Lutwidge - insane genius?
:::::::Intentional blind?
:::::::Dead end?
:::::::Trap?
:Who is he?
:How did he build this thing?
==Summary of Notes on O.O.L.==
9-3-6?              O.O.L. 
:::(Orrin Oscar Lutwidge)
:::Known Information to Date
*Sept. 3, 1906 – Sept. ? 1958? (disappeared)
*Successful inventor – master forger – cryptography hobbyist
*Wealthy – owned multiple properties
*Various workshops/offices in various bldgs.
*Maze of shell companies
::LIDDELL & LEWIS Publishers
::LUTWIDGE PROPERTY MGMT
::SCARLET SOVEREIGN?
::-other partners incl:  A. Rianofski    Anagram? …odd…
:::::Warden Yarn Co. & Arden N. Wray
*Used pseudonyms – recurrent initials: O.O.L.
::O.O. LEWIS    O.O. LIDDELL
:::-Wrote book under Liddell pen name:
::::“A CHILD’S GARDEN OF CYPHERS ”
:::-Contains same code as Lunchbox puzzle!
:::-HOW? WHY?
:::-Book pub. In 1947 – did my daughter read it?
:::Or did she find it WHEREVER she went?
:::::(“Rapture?”)
*O.O.L. investigated the Vanishing
:At least 1956-58 (poss. earlier)
*Was in touch with J. Lynch ( Ireland ) and Celeste Roget ( Paris )
::(Roget hates him – says he was dangerous/liar)
::(Lynch calls him "trickster"/Rascal)
:::::::::::WHICH IS TRUE?
*O.O.L. disappeared –
:final msg. was about finding “true rapture”
*O.O.L. may know SOMETHING – left behind cryptic puzzle / tape
:(may be other msgs. in other locations – must find them!)
*YET O.O.L. left affairs in disorder – no heirs – some bldgs.
:disused/abandoned.  Was he expecting to come back???
*FIRE in lower B’way workshop – Dec. 1958-
:destroys most O.O.L. ’s effects & papers
::ATTEMPTED COVER-UP?? By who?
==Note==
Muh-he-kun-ne-tuk?
::Indian?
Old Iroquois name for river
::(Significant? or is Lutwidge just being OBSCURE?)
RED QUEEN?    SW = ??? River?    unlock   looking glass
:::::::ROADS to RAPTURE
== Letter to Celeste Roget ==
:::::Mark G. Meltzer
:::::P.O. Box 4668 #32890
:::::New York, N.Y. 10163
Dear Celeste:
You're right…I've been avoiding you. In part because I feel like I’m finally
closing in on the truth. And I can’t let you divert me. I can’t left anything
divert me. LUTWIDGE IS THE KEY TO ALL OF THIS, I can feel it. If I can
close in on his secrets - then I can find my daughter. I know you know that
feeling. I’m sure you flet it when you were searching for your father… when
you started climbing up those mountain trials behind the sherpas… I’m sure
you could almost see his face in the mist. 
And that’s what terrifies me. Because I know what you lost in the process. I
know what I’m gambling if I god own the wrong path.
But what if this is the RIGHT path? What if this will lead not only to Cindy
but to Jean Louis? What if there’s some truth to Lutwidge’s mad riddles?
My whole life I’ve been trying to make sense of this world - all the parts of it
that never added up. When I was 10, I discovered Chas. Fort - his catalogs of
strange facts. The incidents that science refused to acknowledge - "the
damned." Fish that fell from the sky. Lights that dart through the night.
People how vanish, never to be sseen again. I would lay awake under the
covers, with a flashlight - convinced I could see the pattern of it all. I was
chasing the Mystery - an even bigger, grander mystery than the pulp novels
that were my previous passion. The dots could all be connected - Order
would be brought from Chaos, and the innocent would be saved. And it would
be my doing… the mind triumphing over all this mayhem - all this random
meaningless mess that is this world. 
But that’s not how life works. We just see the shadows on the screen - and
muddle through. And some people master this day to day existence and
think they’ve won. I always made a mess of it - every book I ever tried to
write unfinished, every business deal half done. My marriage surviving by
sheer momentum. Both of us just staying together because that’s the way it’s
supposed to be. 
But Sometimes late at night - it all seems so clear. I glimpse those labyrinths
of half-hidden facts in teh back columsn of the newspapers. I know I can
make sense of it - it’s what I was put here for 
But that’s how I lsot Cindy, isn’t it? Chasing the shadows… When you stare
into the face of the abyss the abyss stares back 
The facts don't add up it all leads to notighn menas nothingh means
==See Also==
*Mark Meltzer
*There's Something in the Sea
Category:Mark Meltzer Writings
Category:Pages with written transcripts