Session 7 (10) - The Cotton Club

The group heads to the cotton club, as per the plan. There are lots of tables set up around the stage with jungle-themes decorations around. The place is full of affluent white males. There are a few women here but they seem to be here with groups of men.
 
We order a drink, but unfortunately there is no alcohol allowed here. As we wait for the drinks some dancers come on stage in leopard print bikinis. They all look very 'exotic'.
Florence asks the waitress if anyone knows Roger Carlyle, who used to frequent here. She is unsure, but mentions that "Saada" might know. I recognise this as the swahili word for help.
I mention to the others quietly that I think the waitress was trying to cryptically ask for help.
There seems to be a few groups of patrons who are more boisterous and loud than others. Charlie has a walk around, and a look at them. He notices people adding to their drinks from hip flasks. There is also another section of the bar at the back with two guards ushering people through.
 
One woman leaves the stage and approaches the table, she appears a bit older than some of the other dancers. "Imara said that you wanted to see me?" she asks. ("Strong One" in swahili)
Charlie asks her if she has a light, and she mimics patting her pockets - while wearing a skimpy bikini, exclaiming that she doesn't seem to have one.
He pulls a lighter out of his pocket and invites her to sit with us. I offer her my chair, but she opts to sit on my lap instead. I broach the topic of Roger Carlyle, asking if anyone knew him as we wanted to gather information and 'memories' of him after his death. She provides fake-sympathy and mentions that she knew Roger, she remembers him coming here often. She then invites us to come into the reserved area to talk about it.
Charlie talks to the bartender Nyo ("Star" in swahili) and pays a good sized sum to receive a membership for us. Accompanied by Saada we head downstairs into a basement, through the guarded door. There are people drinking, gambling, and many private booths.
 
Charlie decides he wants to join the gambling table, and leaves us. Hans and Elizabeth decide to sit elsewhere. Therefore it's just me and Florence left with Saada in the booth. We have another drink and get to know her a little bit.
She has been here in New York for 10-15 years. She mentions she didn't know an Anastasia, but she did know a Naderu, who seems to be the same person. She wasn't here very long, maybe 6 months. Saada mentions that lots of girls come and go, so it was difficult to remember. Naderu had just come over on the boat, and rapidly became a star attraction. This wasn't common, but it seems that she was beautiful and had a way with men. Then all of a sudden her and Roger never came back to the club.
 
I feel it is the time to ask about the Bloody Tongue cult, I switch to Swahili. Florence strategically slips out of the booth.
Saada looks very impressed that I speak her language. She doesn't know anything about the cult, but she mentions that there have been dealings in Harlem. She leans in close, faking an intimate moment to whisper that she has heard people are disappearing around the Juju House. She hurredly walks away.
The rest of the group rejoins me at the table, and we compile what we have learned. The others got a tip from the bartender that Anastasia also worked at a club called "The Fat Mabels" and we should check it out. I mention the Juju House tip.
 
It's quite late, and we don't particularly want to be wandering about harlem in the dark. We head back to Florence's suite to rest up and look at the material that was recovered from our fallen acquaintance at the carlyle estate.
It is a collection of Jackson Elias' notes and research on the Carlyle expedition. Jackson went to egypt and kenya and interviewed various people hoping to find out more. His notes mention that the massacre site was 'cursed' but the Bloody tongue god, and contained torn up bodies of the kenyan guides, but the white members of the expedition were never found. There is also a note about talking to a "Johnstone Kenyatta" in Nairobi, who seems to know about the Bloody Tongue cult. Apparently the cult is not liked by the local tribes, and their god is "not of africa". There is a hand-scrawled note by Jackson with no date on it, that seems panicked and speaks about things coming for him. It mentions dreams that he compares to the kind that Roger Carlyle had, and his need to check the phychologists notes.
Clearly our next step is to visit the office of medical affairs in the morning.
 
22 January 1925
 
Everyone meets up after breakfast and heads for the medical records. Florence and Elizabeth go in together and the rest of us loiter outside.
They remain inside for several hours. We menfolk sit at a coffee shop nearby and chat. Eventually they emerge, and explain that they found the files we were looking for.
There was a file on Roger: he started having dreams where a dark man with an egyptian symbol burned on his head would call his name. There was also a figure with animal fangs and talons and 'no shape' - sounds like what Bradley saw! Roger apparently did not see the dream as a nightmare, but a 'calling'. This was after he met Anastasia. He apparently was obsessed with her and saw her as a rival.
The file on Erica did not contain much of interest, just that she was troubled over her brother's death. Erica seemed adamant that Anastasia was gold-digging and manipulating Roger.
Apparently Robert was having an affair with one of his patients, who then committed suicide. Roger helped cover up the affair and used his leverage to blackmail Robert into going on the expedition.