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.      

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