Doctor Phillar and The Monster Of Bella Doras... Finale.

The rain had started up again beating softly against the cobblestoned streets of Northwich, Doctor Phillar ushered the young woman inside and called out to Sebastian Mills whom he instructed to saddle up a horse and ride to the police station on Pemberton Row to fetch Inspector Pendergrass and to bring him back to Blackpool Terrace. The girl from the Grimsby Tavern was still alive, but even more importantly, she quite possibly came face to face with the murderer and might give them a proper description. He followed the young woman back to her flat to a waiting Bessie Todd, and with proper introductions made, all three walked all of two blocks back to Blackpool Terrace to await the arrival of Inspector Pendergrass. Doctor Phillar had Annie Greenstreet prepare them a pot of tea while they waited, and there at the kitchen table she related her terrifying experience back to Doctor Phillar. It was almost dark when she had first noticed him following her, he was very tall, a large broad shouldered hulk of a man, bald with deep set eyes with bulging eyebrows, raggedy, his large feet were large as well and horribly disfigured he reminded her of a human monster. It was within the hour when Inspector Pendergrass  arrived with his own coach to take Bessie Todd to the police department to take her into protective custody until morning when he would escort her home. More convinced than ever, he confided in those present that he was convinced that their killer lived in Bela Doras.

The following morning there were low-hanging clouds in the sky, the air was cold, thick and everything was gray when Doctor Phillar was awakened in the early morning hours by yet another knock on the door it was 6:00 am the lack of sunlight made the hour feel much earlier. He opened the door to find a concerned Inspector Nathaniel Pendergrass. He ushered him inside, 

"Gideon we have a problem, Bessie Todd and her husband visited the church of the Reverend Ellery Carroll early this morning I fear that she told everything that we discussed the possibility of the murderer being from Bella Doras to the Reverend Carroll, I believe that with Bessie's description of the suspect it was enough to drive the Reverend to action, he and twelve men left town moments ago on horseback, and they were taking Old Mill Road, if so, that miscalculation would take them five miles out of the way and if we leave here soon we could possibly get there ahead of them." 

Maxwell knew they would be heading to Bella Doras that very morning, so before dawn, he had already harnessed all four horses to the carriage, and Pendergrass, Doctor Phillar and Sebastian Mills with Maxwell in the coachman's box would all left for Bella Doras ahead of the storm that was brewing. They instructed Maxwell to take the Suffolk River Road it was narrower but straighter with fewer ruts and was a shorter more direct path to Bela Doras, and they could quite possibly be there in as little as three and one half hours. A half a mile from the village the sky turned black as the rain began to pelt the carriage, once inside Bela Doras there was still no sign of the reverend Ellery Carroll so they began to go from shop to shop giving the description of their murderer to patrons and shopkeepers it didn't take them long to put a name to the face, the man they were looking for was a man named Yannick Krausser, and not only was he a butchers apprentice he was also the shop owners nephew, and he hadn't been seen in town in three days time. The more they learned about him the more they came to uncover a possible motive to his crimes, it seemed that Yannick was little more to the local villages than an oddity and his grotesque appearance would earn him scorn from the local women of Bela Doras.

They walked into the Prager butcher shop only to find the butcher lying on the floor badly beaten, but still conscious. They sat him up on a chair and Doctor Phillar told Sebastian to fetch the village MD, he told them that his name was Otto Prager and Yannick Krausser was his nephew, and when he'd heard the news of the women that were murdered in Northwich he knew that they were all from Bela Doras and that somehow his nephew was responsible, when he confronted him with the story Yannick became angry and beat him mercilessly, He had always been a large, brooding, angry young man who carried within him a terrible rage, and the scorn and ridicule for his deformities from the locals had only intensified his anger, and often made him violent. He hadn't been seen in three days time, and Otto Prager informed them that the place that Yannick would often go to was a deserted mill up near the Betholm falls in the hills of Iris Shallows. As they left the butcher shop and rejoined Maxwell at the carriage, he informed that The Reverend Ellery Carroll had arrived and was talking to some of the locals, who began to point up to the hills behind Bela Doras. The good reverend and the members of his flock were already on their way to Iris Shallows, and they were all armed.

They arrived at the base of Iris Shallows slightly behind The Reverend Ellery Carroll's angry mob, the deserted mill stood one hundred yards away as they pressed on through the raging storm, and as they drew closer to the mill they could hear the shouts, and above on a trail leading to the hilltops was what Doctor Phillar assumed to be the fleeing form of the murderer Yannick Krausser. He climbed higher and higher, with the Reverend Carroll's flock beating fast on his heels, yelling and screaming at the top of their lungs. Inspector Pendergrass grew more and more concerned as they slowly gained ground on the angry mob, Yannick would climb up until he reached the end of the trail at the very edge of the cliffs overlooking a large rock quarry at the bottom.  When he could run no farther, he turned to face the men coming up the trail toward him. In desperation, he began to pick up large rocks the size of small boulders and lobbed them down the hillside at the angry mob. The first one struct the man standing next to The Reverend Carroll on the head killing him instantly, several of the men carried with them Flintlock pistols, and took aim from behind the cover of trees and began firing several shots, three of which struck Yannick in the chest causing him to stagger but not fall.

The remainder charged up the hill with clubs in hand and attacked the wounded giant with ferocity, He fought back, and caught The Reverend Carroll off guard and grabbed him by the throat, the frightened giant hoisted him up over his head and another shot rang out striking him in the neck, he staggered once again backwards and finally fell from the top of the cliff taking the reverend with him. Doctor Phillar and Inspector Pendergrass made their way down to the rock quarry as a silent mob began to gather on the cliffs above the quarry, below them Doctor Phillar and Inspector Pendergrass arrived at the bodies that then lye still and lifeless in the quarry, both men looked up at the thinning mob which had begun to disperse and head back down the hillside. Sebastian Mills finally appeared at their side.

"And so it is done." he said, "The mob has murdered the monster."

Doctor Phillar knelt down beside the lifeless body of Yannick Krausser, and removed the hooded cloak from his head. He curiously looked over at the body of The deceased Reverend Ellery Carroll. He rose to his feet, turned slowly toward Inspector Pendergrass and Sebastian Mills.

"But are we with absolutely certainty, young Sebastian, sure of which monster they killed?"

"I don't understand."

"We came here under the banner of the law to arrest a murderer, they came here to root out and murder a man they perceived as a monster, but was in all reality a man nonetheless. A man regardless of guilt or innocence that deserved the same fate as any other protected by the law regardless of what his appearance bore, a fair trial. But what instead was hunted like a rabid animal by a mob who let the emotions of their fanatical leader, allow them to submit all logic and reason to hatred, anger and fear, and now what do we have Young Sebastian? not a dead monster, but two men, not one, who have died on the mantle of mob justice."  

They returned to the carriage, the storm subsided, and howls of angry men no longer carried on the wind, there were still bodies to collect, and understanding achieving, and questions still unanswered would have to wait for another day to be addressed, and so they turned back in the direction of Northwich, leaving all present to ponder the reality of monsters, those who hide and stalk their prey in the shadows of the world, and those who hide behind the malice and fear that dwells in the human heart, and what differences may lie between.      

    ~Scratch A.B.T. copyright© 2022.~  

Doctor Phillar and The Monster Of Bella Doras... (Part Three.)

 

They arrived in front of the gray stone building that housed The Grimsby Tavern just before eleven in the morning, and even at such an hour for a tavern it was bustling with activity, when they walked through the door, the older gentleman behind the bar immediately took notice of them. He was a short fellow with a round face and bald to thinning hair from the top of his head to the sides, his round spectacles made him look much older, his name was Julius Furlong the owner and proprietor of The Grimsby Tavern, he gave Dr. Gideon Phillar a nervous look, as he approached the bar they exchanged a warm greeting before Julius informed him that one of his barmaids was missing. Her husband came looking for her when she failed to go home last evening, and no one had seen her since the evening previous. He told them that there had been a photographer come through town a couple of months ago, and he paid them to take everyone's picture at the Grimsby tavern, He showed Dr. Phillar the photograph and pointed to a woman in the picture.

"Third one from the end Gideon, her name is Bessie Todd, Bessie's a good girl, everyone likes her, likes her husband, good people. lord help us. I pray she's okay."

He leaned forward up against the bar, looking Julius Furlong in the eye then.

"Julius, have you seen any strangers that may have looked out of place come through here recently?"

"Not as I can recall, anyone in particular?"

"No, but he would be tall, very tall, barefoot, disheveled clothing, perhaps. He would look different, stand out."

"No… No one like that, I would have remembered seeing such a man. do you think this man you are looking for murdered those four women?"

"Nothing as of yet is for certain, we are only in the early stages of making our enqueries."

Julius Furlong leaned forward.

"I heard Inspector Pendergrass himself say that the four women were all murdered in the early to mid-evening, if that tells you anything." He said.

Then it was Dr. Phillar's turn to lean forward.

"Indeed it does Julius, it tells me our fiend hides under the cover of darkness to hunt his prey, probably keeping to the alley's to conceal his identity, waiting for just the right time to strike."

He nodded toward the photograph.

"I will look into Bessie's disappearance as well, Julius, Thank you for your time, my friend."

They returned to the buggy and headed to Pemberton Row, he was going to need to be speaking with Inspector Pendergrass to see if there were any new developments on his end. They arrived at 1411 Pemberton Row just before the one o'clock hour, they both went inside to see if Pendergrass was on the premises, the front desk officer motioned them to Pendergrass's office the three exchanged brief greetings before Doctor Phillar and Sebastian sat down in front of him. The good inspector did not look pleased, he passed the morning newspaper to Gideon.

"Have you read it yet?" He asked.

"Yes Nathaniel, I have, are you aware of the missing girl?"

Nathaniel Pendergrass gave him a surprised look.

"No Gideon, I was not informed, Who is she?" 

Doctor Phillar passed him the photograph.

"The third girl from the left side of the photograph, she's a barmaid at the Grimsby, her name is Bessie Todd, her husband said she never made it home last night."

"I'll keep my ears to the ground, and have someone look about to see what they can dig up. in the meantime I have a new problem all my own, someone in this office is relaying information to the newspaper, I had only dictated this information about increasing patrols of the city watch in an internal memo, we are already terribly undermanned in this department now I have to commit to spreading our resources even thinner. Someone in this office is spying for the newspaper."

Two officers entered, and while they discussed several details with Pendergrass, Doctor Phillar busied himself with reading some more of the stories from the morning newspaper, there were two articles about the church of Ellery Carroll, there were two stories about the county commissions meeting on Thursday, another about the Old Crown road bridge being washed away and when the possible rebuilding could get underway, there were a few personal ads taken out about missing pets, about people needing gardeners, and the Prager Butcher shop had an employment position for a new Butcher's apprentice opening up in the nearby village of Bella Doras. It was then that something odd struck Doctor Gideon Phillar, he patiently listened and waited for the two officers to leave, He calmly placed the newspaper in front of Nathaniel Pendergrass, he gave Doctor Phillar a puzzled look.

"Nathaniel, I believe I may have just happened upon something that we may have overlooked. Were all four of the murder victims from Northwich?"

Inspector Pendergrass removed a stack of papers from his desk drawer, bound together in a paper folder, he opened them up to read, his stare slowly glided up and down each page studying the information carefully. His eyes slowly rose to meet Doctor Phillar's.

"None of the Victims were from Northwich, Three of them brought carriages from the village of Bella Doras, the fourth rode a carriage from Papridge a coach station between here and there. None of them were from here, Gideon." 

"And perhaps neither is our murderer, perhaps all four of our victims were followed here from Bela Doras, and it is becoming increasingly likely that they may have all four crossed paths with him somewhere in the village because he lives and works there. And they may have conducted daily business with him, he may have been studying each of their movements days before following them here and ultimately murdering them." 

It was the first solid lead in the case that Inspector Pendergrass would have, there was still the missing girl to consider, He would have to concentrate further on finding her while Doctor Phillar and Sebastian Mills would take the buggy the following morning and drive to Bella Doras. It was late afternoon when the returned to Blackpool Terrace, it was later in the evening, one hour past nightfall, when Doctor Phillar heard a rapid knock on the side entrance door of the building nearest the kitchen. He rose from his chair and went to investigate when he swung open the door, even in the failing light he could see it was a young woman panic-stricken, she asked him if he was Doctor Gideon Phillar, the one who was helping the police, when he nodded to the affirmative the young woman told him that her friend Bessie was in hiding in her flat and a man who had been following behind her after she left the Grimsby Tavern the previous night tried to grab her, she got loose and ran to her house where once inside they locked the doors and shuttered the windows, Bessie Todd was terrified but still very much alive. 

~Scratch A.B.T. copyright© 2022.~

Doctor Phillar and The Monster Of Bella Doras... ( Part Two.)

 

They returned to the black coach where Gideon Phillar instructed Maxwell to take them to his home and office, he climbed up into the coaches drivers box and released the brake and guided the four horse team into a wide turn away from Pemberton Row and onto Market Street they went two blocks, and then north on Hyde Street to 213 Blackpool Terrace. It was a long three-story blackened brick building at the end of town which even housed a private driveway with a separate coach house, with coachman's quarters. He had come from one of the wealthiest families in the entire region, but as a child he was simply a skinny sickly looking young boy, but as he grew, he became quite tall and muscular before he was sent to Becksford Academy where he would study to become a doctor. Dr. Gideon Phillar fresh out of school was already a wealthy man, and he purchased the building that would become his home and laboratory and office some twenty-four years ago. Now he was  now a bit older and wiser and now, having discovered a curiosity and talent for calculation, deduction and mystery, he had added Detective to his resume. 

They entered through the side entrance of the building, he lit an oil lamp just inside the door and he with Sebastian Mills in tow made their way down the darkened hallway to the study where he lit three more lanterns around the room, while Sebastian set about building a fire in the fireplace. Maxwell had followed behind with their luggage, Dr. Phillar instructed the driver to go to the kitchen to see the cook and have them set about making dinner, as it was still early on, and he was quite certain that Annie Greenstreet would still be awake. After the fire was lit, he sat down in his chair, putting tobacco in his smoking pipe. He stared into the fire for several minutes watching it dance across the logs, his eyes raised slowly to meet the curious stare of young Sebastian Mills, The cook Annie Greenstreet appeared at his side and announced that she had put a lamb roast in the wood oven in two and a half hours previous and dinner would be ready in an hour or so, he nodded and thanked her. She smiled and turned to leave, Sebastian had lit his own pipe and  had become lost in thought as well.

"What is troubling you, Sebastian?" Dr. Phillar asked.

"What madman kills a woman in an alley, and makes good his escape, barefoot, in the rain?"

"Mmmm, and across a muddy field no less. So tell me, Mr. Mills, when you looked at the decedents body, what did it tell you?" Dr. Phillar asked.

"The tissue on her body seemed to be torn or ripped, rather cut by a surgeon's blade." Sebastian said.

Dr. Phillar took a slow drag on the pipe, his eyes never leaving the flames.

"Mmmmm, and he stabbed her five times, three in the heart, once in the liver and when she spun around and away from him, he stabbed her once more in the kidneys as she fell up against the wall. He stabbed her in three of her major organs in the failing light in a rainy alley with slippery footing."

Sebastian Mills cast him a sideways glance. listening to his every word carefully. Now Dr. Phillar's gaze had raised to his.

"This man, has at the very least a rudimentary understanding of anatomy." He said coldly.

"A medical doctor or surgeon perhaps?"

"Mmmmmm, no my instincts tell me different, we must visit the Grimsby Tavern in the morning Sebastian. I have questions that must be asked, come now, let us get some tea before dinner."

They dined on roasted lamb and potatoes and carrots with red wine and fresh baked bread. they all sat around the table and dined together, and although Annie Greenstreet thought it improper for a house servant to dine with the master of the home, Dr. Phillar thought of the situation differently, as he always had, he insisted that she join them at the table for dinner, to which, as usual she reluctantly agreed, after all, he had known Annie for a long portion of his life and he considered her a dear friend as well. He would instruct Annie Greenstreet to not leave the residence unless in the company of he, Sebastian or Maxwell, and to especially guard against it at night. At least for as long as the murderous fiend was on the loose, it wasn't safe for a woman of any age to be walking the city streets alone at night, even with that being said Pendergrass had vowed the day previous to double the patrols of the city watch, and with an increased presence of the patrolmen, it would make it increasingly difficult to catch the culprit in the act of committing murder. They all retired for the evening, Maxwell went outside and secured the coach house and gates to the driveway closed the shutters on all windows of the house before going to bed for the night.

The next morning they rose to a breakfast of eggs and bacon and fried potatoes with glasses of mixed juice, while Sebastian collected the morning paper, he walked to the breakfast table shaking his head and handed the paper to Dr. Phillar. the sprawling headline read: "Murder most Foul! Chief Inspector vows larger police presence on city streets!" As he read the headline, a growing look of concern came over his face. Sebastian made the observation that they were making the task of finding whoever was responsible much harder, providing their murderer knew how to read. After breakfast, he had Maxwell hook up the two horse buggy and he and Sebastian would be off to the Grimsby Tavern while Maxwell would stay behind with Annie, helping her with whatever she needed as she saw fit. Dr. Phillar and Sebastian climbed up in the seat of the buggy as Sebastian leaned forward and grabbed the reins, he prompted the animals forward, and soon they were through the gates Hyde street heading south toward Grimsby Tavern, All the way there, Gideon Phillar thought of many questions and to whom he would ask them. For a man as large as the one they were looking for, hiding from public view of any sort would be a task worthy of a ghost. 

~Scratch A.B.T. copyright© 2022.~

Doctor Phillar and The Monster of Bela Doras... (Part One)

 

The old mill road would take them through several treacherous twist and turns, up into and through the woods for many miles before they would reach the township of Portshead on the other side of the Wintervale woodlands at the very edge of the sea. But on this cold, dark and rainy autumn afternoon fate would take a fateful turn. The long black coach slowly rolled to a stop on the muddy road, the coachman from beneath his covered perch and stepped out onto his floorboard to see a fallen tree in the middle of the road. He carefully got down from his seat and went to inspect it, but what he saw some thirty feet on the other side made his heart all but stop beating. The bridge that would take them safely across the Pines river had been completely washed away by the torrential rains. He returned to the coach, the six horse team were becoming impatient and began to fidget and snort, The coachman moved to the door and pulled himself up on the side step of the coach to see Doctor Gideon Phillar looking down at him.

“What is the problem, Maxwell?” He asked.

“There’s a fallen tree in the middle of the road Doctor Phillar sir, but beyond that the rain has washed Pine's river bridge completely away, we shall have to turn back to Northwich, we will not be arriving in Portshead in the evening as we had hoped sir!” He yelled.

“Very well then, get us back to Northwich as soon as possible.” He answered.

The coachman returned to the front of the four horse team and took the lead horse by the bridle and carefully guided them into a wide turn until the coach was facing in the opposite direction. He climbed back up into his seat as the rain continued to softly rap against the top of the coach, and then it was back to Northwich with them. Inside the coach Doctor Phillar and his young assistant each from their seat would stare out into the cold dark rainy afternoon, their business in Portshead would have to wait for another day, they would be returning home instead. Although the city of Northwich wasn’t a sprawling metropolis in any sense, it was home to over some twenty-two thousand citizens, and completely surrounded by the woodlands which covered most of the small valley beneath the Wintervale. As they arrived at the outskirts of Northwich nightfall was already long set in, and they could hear the sounds of a distant ringing bell, and as the long black coach once again slowly rolled to a stop, Maxwell the coachman, through the fog, could see a lantern approaching them. A tall, thin young man appeared in front of the team of horses, waving his lantern high into the air.

 “Who is in the carriage, sir?” He bellowed in a high-pitched voice.

Maxwell leaned forward in his seat.

“This is the coach of Doctor Gideon Phillar. What is your business here, young sir?” He shouted back.

“There was another body found tonight, a young woman, in the alley behind the Grimsby Tavern! Murder is in the air this night, sir! Murder most foul!” The young man cried.

Doctor Gideon Phillar climbed down from the coach, careful to step on the grass beside of the road rather than be sent sprawling into the mud. A younger man in his company followed suit, He was shorter than six foot, he too was thin, with long black wildly flowing locks, wearing a well tailored suit, rounded spectacles sat on the bridge of his nose. He, too, stepped down onto the wet grass.

“Murder you say young man?” Doctor Phillar asked him. 

“Yes Doctor Phillar. Behind the Grimsby tavern, another young woman with her very flesh torn open, as though she were ravaged by a wild beast, sir! Murder most foul, I say!” He yelled.

Sebastian Mills turned to face Doctor Phillar.

“Another young woman, Gideon. This would be the fourth in as many nights, it would appear as though there IS a murderer in our midst.” He said in a concerned tone.

“Do not say that too loud young Sebastian Inspector Pendergrass often consults with the Reverend Ellery Carroll on such matters, they will no doubt have the entire city in search of monsters and ghoulish abominations of every sort.” He turned to face Maxwell Jasons. “We must go to the Grimsby tavern quickly then, Maxwell, we must be allowed to survey the scene before the Reverend Carroll’s flock destroys valuable evidence.” He told the coachman.

They all returned to the coach, Doctor Phillar and Sebastian Mills both returned to the passenger compartment, while the young man with the lantern sat up front beside of Maxwell. He urged the horse team forward just as the rain began to slow, inside the coach, Doctor Gideon Phillar loaded tobacco into his pipe and lit it as he stared out into the falling night. By the small vibrations coming through the floor boards he could tell that they were now traveling the cobblestoned streets of Northwich, they stopped on Innsbrook avenue just east of Crullfeld street. As anticipated, the good Reverend Ellery Carroll was already addressing a quickly growing crowd. With torches held high, many were calling out for answers, answers that the Northwich police department had not yet discovered. Doctor Phillar stepped down from the coach followed by Sebastian Mills, Standing to the left of and behind the Reverend Carroll was a tall slenderly built, well-dressed man, he had brown hair that traveled to his collar and had dark green piercing eyes, that seemed to see everything around him all at once. As they drew closer, Doctor Phillar could see that it was Inspector Nathaniel Pendergrass. The two exchanged a casual greeting as the Inspector ushered them into the dark alley.

“I’ve been expecting you Gideon, The body has already been transported to the morgue, but I can show you where we found her, a dastardly deed to be certain, there are no footprints, the killer has left nothing behind to betray his identity, the villain once again has left no trace.” He said.

Behind them in the mouth of the alley, the Reverend Ellery Carroll’s voice was raised to a fevered pitch, calling for the head of the monster that had butchered the four women. The crowd was captivated by his tone and began to shout in agreement, Doctor Gideon Phillar however, was not convinced at all that this was the work of an inhuman monster- but that of a calculating, cold-blooded murderer. He and Sebastian Mills walked from the opposite end of the alley, Inspector Nathaniel Pendergrass then carrying a torch also followed along, Gideon motioned for him to bring the light closer and the Inspector handed him the torch, he knelt down at the edge of the street under the window awning of the building across from the now closed Grimsby tavern, slowly he lowered the torch closer to the cobblestone.

“There!” He pointed. “Human blood beneath this awning, not yet washed away by the rain, The murderer must have passed this way.” He raised his finger, pointing across the street. “He would not have passed by any of these buildings during business hours for fear of detection, my guess would be that he crossed over into that vacant lot over there and escaped undetected through those trees on the other side.” He said.

Together he and Sebastian Mills with Inspector Pendergrass in tow walked to the edge of the vacant lot. There was nothing there in the grass and weeds to speak of, but farther out in the lot where the ground became muddy he found what he was looking for. A series of large footprints moving away from the murder scene, very large footprints, fifteen or perhaps even sixteen inches in length. And very wide. He lowered the torch to the ground to afford himself a better look, his eyes rose to scan the darkened forest, it was almost as if he could feel the killer's eye studying their every move. He motioned for Sebastian to move closer and instructed him to make notations by torchlight as he relayed important information to him.

“These footprints are very large, much larger than those of a normal man, they are quite deep and there are severely rounded indentations on the heels and the sides of the foot, suggesting that whoever made these prints may suffer from a severe deformity on both feet.” He stood slowly. “If these were indeed made by our murderer, I can tell you two things positively, Inspector. Whoever committed these heinous acts is very, very large, and at the time that he made good his escape-he was barefoot. I would very much like to inspect that body now.” He told him.

They returned to the black coach where Maxwell was waiting for them, they all boarded after Inspector  Pendergrass had instructed Maxwell on where to take them. They travelled along the cobblestone street down Upchurch Avenue until they reached the six story red brick building at 1411 Pemberton Row that housed the police department. Maxwell stopped the coach and the three men got out and proceeded to the front entrance. The morgue was at the bottom of the side stairwell they entered the double wooden doors as Pendergrass led Phillar and Sebastian to the table where the body was being stored, Pendergrass nodded to the coroner and he pulled back the sheet covering the body. Almost immediately Phillar took notice of something, there were several stab wounds in the chest and lower abdomen, the cuts that were ripped open were actually the result of the murderer using a dull blade rather than a sharpened one, there were strangulation marks on her throat but her neck wasn’t broken, and then he would find the biggest clue of all, underneath her fingernails there were pieces of flesh. Doctor Gideon Phillar slowly looked up at Inspector Pendergrass and then at Sebastian Mills. He stood upright.

“The first women in each of their attacks suffered broken necks.” He returned the cover over the body. “She did not have a broken neck, but our murderer did attempt to strangle her. The flesh under her fingernails tells me that she tried to fight back, but it only served to anger him further and that is when he stabbed her multiple times. The dull blade ripped away her flesh every time he stabbed her, in a severe upward motion. which tells me that he was much taller than her,  well over six foot, maybe even closer to seven.. So Inspector- what we are left with is we have a very, large murdering fiend on our hands, he is a very very large man, with severe deformities on both feet, and perhaps on his body and head as well, and the most dangerous aspect of all involving our killer is he is filled with a terrible rage, and given the opportunity he will kill again, of that I am quite certain.”

~Scratch A.B.T. copyright© 2022.~