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.~