Dr. Francis Tumblety's Arc

Chapter 5 of 5

Francis folded the journal shut and tucked it inside his coat. The marks on his palm had spread to his fingertips overnight. He needed to see the old monument again, the place where he'd first documented the pattern four years ago. If the building was still abandoned, he could examine it without interference. If someone had returned there, he needed to know who and why. The stone repository stood at the edge of the district where the land turned wild. Francis had sketched it years ago when the Freemasons still used it for private examinations, before they moved to the newer facilities downtown. The building's tall windows and carved archways had been empty then, the shelves bare of books, the floors thick with dust. He remembered the stacked stones he'd used as a landmark in his drawing, their moss-covered surfaces marking the path to the entrance. But when he arrived, the doors stood open. Fresh boot prints marked the threshold. Inside, light streamed through the windows and fell across a chair that hadn't been there before — an ornate piece carved with strange symbols, its cushion still compressed from recent use. Francis moved closer and saw the patterns etched into the wood were identical to the marks on his palm. Someone had placed this here deliberately. Someone who knew what the symbols meant. He pulled out his journal and opened it to the old sketch. The room matched perfectly, down to the stacked stones visible through the window. But the chair was new. Francis traced the carved patterns with his infected hand and felt them pulse under his touch. The lodge had been here. They'd set this up knowing he would return, knowing he would see the connection. They weren't just monitoring the flower's spread — they were guiding it, documenting it the same way he had always documented his patients. He closed the journal and left the chair where it stood. The leverage he thought he'd held was never his alone. The lodge had been collecting the same evidence all along, and they'd just shown him they could place their pieces anywhere they wanted.