Eddie's observant eyes take in Robert Angell's apartment. The reporter steps into the dimly lit living room. Sunlight filters through drawn shades. Dust motes drift heavily. There is a not-pleasant smell of foreign-cooked food.
"I just got back last night. Haven't had time to clean the place up."
The reporter hits Angell with some direct questions.
"Yes I was surprised. I knew he'd been taking drugs, keeping strange hours, and reading some wild stuff. But that describes a lot of students around here," Angell says. Eddie surmises he's referring to Brown, RISD and Providence Colleges whose students swarm about College Hill.
"To go off the deep end and do what he did..." Angell shakes his head.
"Tim was a thoughtful guy, keen on his studies, bit of a loner. Into books and history. He was working at Charter's Book Shop before this all happened. Cataloging books and tending the store. He enjoyed that. He became interested in jazz music after visiting some local clubs. I prefer classical myself. Recently Tim started getting in these moods, talking gibberish. It would pass. He'd ramble on when he was high. I started avoiding him around that time."
The second-hand furniture is worn and dirty, the beds unkempt, the place dusty, the kitchen filled with unwashed dishes and scattering cockroaches. There are many books. Among the volumes are history, macabre and fantastical fiction from the likes of Poe,
Machen, Dunsany, and pulp magazines such as
Weird Tales and
Argosy.
A battered Victor Victrola phonograph player and collection of records sits in the corner. Angell’s art work is all about. Eddie knows he is a student at the Rhode Island School of Design. The artwork seems related to classes – there there are still-lifes, landscapes, abstracts.
"He never mentioned anything about the murders. I don't have any theories of my own, other than he had a bad reaction to whatever drugs he was on. But then, the murders happened over time? I don't know. I suppose Tim committed the murders. He confessed. He didn't mention specifics of who he did or didn't kill."
"On new acquaintances, maybe he did but he never brought them to the apartment. I remember he said he had a new client of his own, someone he was procuring books for. I don't know his name, but he was a professor in the archeology department at Brown."
"Oh yes, the freakshow, we all saw that. Timothy enjoyed it. He went two nights in a row."
During the interview it occurs to Eddie to take pictures, but he forgot his camera. Perhaps he could borrow one from Sevellon.
