Harlequin

## Synopsis

Both Matthew Heawood and Kennedy Fisher are stuck in their respective investigations and towns. With danger approaching, Matt tries to lay low, while Kennedy decides to tackle it head on.

## Plot

In response to her voicemail in the previous episode, Matthew Heawood calls Dr. Eleanor Peck, who sounds agitated on the phone. Matt tells her he's in Paris but he's not been locked down yet in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and asks her what's wrong. Eleanor tells him that an unknown man called her, and she recorded the conversation. Matt hangs up the phone and listens to Eleanor's recording. In the recording, the man, who claims to work for the Department of Works, asks Eleanor to tell him where Matt is, as he's with someone the Department are interested in. When Eleanor refuses, he says that his employers are threatening to erase her academic and financial records if she does not comply, but Eleanor continues to be uncooperative. The man, unsurprised by Eleanor's attitude, mentions 'the Harlequin', and tells her that someone has 'invoked the Wild Hunt' on them. He comments that while they likely disagree on the nature of supernatural forces, he knows that both of them agree that this is a serious matter. Matt calls Eleanor again and asks about the phone call and the Harlequin. Eleanor tells Matt that the Harlequin is a masked demon from Germanic folklore who leads the Wild Hunt, a demonic cohort who bring the damned to Hell. Various occult groups have supposedly summoned the Harlequin to hunt and kill their enemies and that while Eleanor does not believe in it, there have been various real deaths throughout history that have been blamed on it, including Abdul Alhazred's. Eleanor tells Matt to lie low, and warn Kennedy Fisher of the threat. Matt considers his options and while realising that he would happily stop his investigations to save his life, he doesn't know how to stop the group responsible for the threat from carrying it out. Ultimately, he asks Eleanor to look into recent reports and victims of the Harlequin while he and Melody Cartwright rent an apartment in Paris to hide in, and call Kennedy from. However, he tells the audience that his plan was a failure.

At The Gilman House Hotel in Innsmouth, Kennedy receives a call from Matt but it's too distorted for her to understand any of it. Casey greets her, and Kennedy complains to him that she overslept, missed out on dinner with Alice, and now her phone isn't working. Casey shows her that a thick fog has rolled over the town during the night, and explains that this is probably disrupting the phone tower. Furthermore, the landline has stopped working and Kennedy asks whether she has woken up in a horror film. Casey continues that there are no staff in the kitchen, but that there are pastries and coffee for her. With no one else around, Kennedy insists that Casey join her for food.

In Paris, Matt and Melody argue over their next move. Melody dislikes being 'held prisoner' again and doesn't want to wait around for the threat to come to them. Matt meanwhile, argues that hiding and isolating is the safest course of action, and that either way they need to rest. Matt allows Melody to sleep in the apartment's bed while he stays up. He tries reading some of the Lansdale journal, which he'd convinced Aramis Levesque to let him borrow, but finds it too hard a task. Eventually he falls asleep in his chair. While sleeping he has a nightmare, which he describes to the audience because he thinks it is relevant. He dreams he is on a rocky island, and hears an unearthly howling and the white noise from Dr. Jonathan Willett's recordings. As he listens to the noise he hears someone reciting numbers, and the clouds part and reveal a planet above him. Spontaneously he begins running and climbs up a slope overlooking a crater. He sees a colossal creature inside it, the source of the howling, which begins unfurling itself towards him. As the howling and noise grow louder he feels his mind beginning to break and tries to scream. At which point, he wakes sweating, and spends a long time trying to get the dream out of his head. He decides to check on Melody, but enters the bedroom to find the bed empty, and Melody missing.

Over their meagre breakfast, Kennedy interviews Casey about himself and Innsmouth. She deduces that he's not an Innsmouther, because he doesn't have 'The Innsmouth Look' and Casey admits he's from Baltimore, but that his mother had family in Innsmouth, and that he inherited the hotel from his uncle. Kennedy asks him about the town's quiet yet well-maintained state, and he tells her that while the Innsmouthers like to keep to themselves, the Marsh family, who own the town, keep it in good condition. The Marshes live in one of the big houses on the cliff, but strangely no one has seen them leave it. Kennedy, reluctantly, asks Casey about how bodies are disposed of in Innsmouth, seeing as no one uses the graveyard. Casey explains that they are buried at sea as an offering to the Deep Ones, a supposed race of benevolent merpeople who live in Devil's Reef in the harbour. The practice was started by Obed Marsh, founder of the Esoteric Order of Dagon, as a way of ensuring the Deep Ones' blessing for their maritime industries. Kennedy notes that she's been to a Devil's Reef Trailer Park, and Casey tells her that Al Treggore's family originated in Innsmouth. He expounds further that 'The Innsmouth Look' is believed to be the result of people interbreeding with the Deep Ones, but that he's not sure whether any of these beliefs are real. Casey notices that this discussion has made Kennedy uncomfortable, which Kennedy admits, and he leaves her to process what he's told her.

Realising that the front door to the apartment has been unlocked and that Melody must have let herself out, Matt heads out to try and find her. Believing that she'd return to the Levesque Institute of Paranormal and Parapsychological Research, he crosses the River Seine and arrives on the Île Saint-Louis. While there he is found by the Department agent who pretended to be Albert Wilmarth during *The Whisperer in Darkness*. 'Wilmarth' tells Matt that he was the one who called Eleanor, and that he's looking for Melody. Matt tries to deny that he knows Melody but 'Wilmarth' is not fooled. He comments that Matt's in danger and shouldn't be trying to protect Melody. Just then 'Jasper' appears with a pistol, pointing at 'Wilmarth'. 'Jasper' suggests that the move their conversation to somewhere private.

After spending most of the day in her room, Kennedy decides to go to the Innsmouth town hall, hoping they have a phone she could use. The fog is still thick and she can barely see where's going. As she walks, she hears squelching noises, and crazed voices, coming from the fog. To her horror and shock, she finds herself outside the Esoteric Order of Dagon hall, somehow arriving there without crossing the river, as she should have. As she panics, Zadok Allen's voice cuts through the fog. He reminds her that he told her to leave, and that the town is not safe for her as 'they've' come to land. The last words he says are instructions for her to retrace her steps exactly and not to believe what she sees. Kennedy does and finds herself back at The Gilman House. Casey brings her inside, and is about to apologise for not seeing her leave but Kennedy reassures him that she's fine. She asks him to tell her when the phone lines are back before heading up to her room to sleep.

Matt decides to record the conversation despite 'Jasper's' advice not to, as they are in the process of abducting and threatening 'Wilmarth'. 'Wilmarth' refuses to answer Matt's questions about his employers, but reveals he knows 'Jasper's' real name and rank. 'Wilmarth' asks where Melody and the Lansdale journal are, and Matt realises the journal is missing too. Matt tells him that Melody left three or four hours ago, and 'Wilmarth' tells him they won't see her again. He tells Matt that Melody had lied to him, and that Obed Marsh and the Soldiers of Ipqu-Aya did perform the ritual to transfer Ipqu-Aya's soul into her. However, Barbara Sayers, the Department's spy in the cult, was able to sabotage it so that both Melody and Ipqu-Aya occupy the same body and take turns possessing it, with neither personality being aware of the other. He also reveals that Daisy Marsh is Obed's daughter, and that the Marshes have been interbreeding with the Fisher family for generations. 'Wilmarth' doesn't know how it all fits together, but knows it's leading to Pleasant Green.

At 2:17am Kennedy wakes and gets some water. She hears a tapping on the window, and tries to convince herself it's a tree branch making the noise, despite knowing there is no tree there. Without phone or internet service, she builds herself up to opening the drapes and sees nothing there. As she calls out for whoever was there, a squelching noise is heard and Kennedy screams.

## Cast, Characters, Crew

* Barnaby Kay as Matthew Heawood
* Jana Carpenter as Kennedy Fisher
* Nicola Walker as Dr. Eleanor Peck
* Kyle Soller as Casey
* Steven Mackintosh as 'Jasper'
* Mark Bazeley as John Silence
* Karla Crome as Melody Cartwright
* Walles Hamonde as Zadok Allen

* Writer & Director: Julian Simpson
* Production Coordinator: Sarah Tombling
* Sound Designer: David Thomas
* Music: Tim Elsenburg
* Producer: Karen Rose