Lavinia -

My apologies for the long time between letters. It isn’t that little of interest has been happening - much the opposite. I’ve almost felt overworked, and you know how difficult it is for me to reach that point. It feels as if there’s been nothing but cryptic messages from all ends the past few days, and you know how much I hate those. I saw a man who closely resembled Dorian in the street and nearly had a stroke, which is the last thing my poor brain needs. At this rate it’ll simply disintegrate into dust one of these days. Sinclair keeps trying to involve me in a jewel thievery plot, despite me making my whole-hearted disapproval clear. And I’ve recently received contact from an old acquaintance of ours, as well...

Professor Challenger passed away a month or so ago. He was old, but it’s still sad to me. Am I just sappy, getting emotional over an animal dying? Not even the expressive sort of animal, a catfish. Luke was very subdued over it too. The boy doesn’t deal well with death, I’ve realized. I can’t imagine I was the same at his age, but perhaps it’s for the best. The last thing I would want for him is to be desensitized. His passion is one of his best features.

Recently, he’s managed to solve a few difficult cases with little input from me. I’ve never been prouder, despite how...unorthodox, to say the least, his methods are. It’s staggering, actually, how differently he approaches things from me, but I’ve learned to overcome my initial instincts and see them as skills...as long as he’s not getting himself in trouble with the law or doing anything dangerous, anyway. I’ve never been prouder of him than I have been recently.

Of course, over the past few years, he’s become the majority of my life. I’m far more invested in him than I ever was in my own work. It feels as if keeping him out of harm’s way is my job, at this point. It’s the most rewarding work I’ve ever done, so don’t misread this as me complaining! I understand how Dr. Burke functions a little more now, I think. Just a little.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Unfortunately, the old friend of whom I spoke earlier in this letter has contacted me with a rather impressive ultimatum. He’s been threatening Luke, which isn’t something I can allow to stand. In order to deal with this, I’ll have to be gone for some time. Perhaps indefinitely. I’ve been sworn to secrecy, and there’s a legitimate possibility of my mail being intercepted, so I’m being as vague as possible. But if you see Luke, I need you to pass on the following message to him:

ZWWK YLOOWX GN VLYGNIWU HWXRGRNKRH

MOLKH LIW ZWRKT ULXW. GSRKTH CROO ZW SLMMWKRKT HNNK. R YLKG HLA RV GSWA'IW TNNX NI ZLX VNI HFIW

GSWIW'H LK RHOLKX RK XINCKWX ULK'H ZLA, LG GSW DWIA WKX NV GSW FUZIL. ROO ZW GSWIW

RU DWIA MINFX NV ANF

RV GSW CNIOX WKXH, ROO VRKX ANF. R MINURHW

Apologies for how cryptic I’m being. Truly, if I had anything else to resort to, I would. As it stands, I’ve no idea what I’m going to do. I never wanted to live this life again. Now it seems I don’t have a choice.

I’ve enclosed an image of Luke and myself, for recognition’s sake. It’s just in case you encounter him, which I’m sure you will. It’s not like him to just let me vanish without a word. If it’s been a long time and he doesn’t find his way to you, I’d appreciate if you could find him yourself, but I don’t doubt he’ll be in Omen within a matter of months. I’ll do my part to try to hint to him that I’ll be going there, as well.

Apologies for simply dropping this on you. You’re the only person I can trust when it comes to this sort of thing. Thank you, Lavinia.

Your friend,

Arthur Jones