by Avell Kro
she kill me yesterday? She had a chance. She reanimated my dead partner and rather than sticking
around to have him finish me off she ran.”
The Guild Master paused as if thinking about Dolly’s question. “I lived with her for two years in the
jungle, she was happy studying the Arts, she had a true devotion to them. Now as an outsider you
may assume that her and even me, that we are bad or touched by evil because we study the
metaphysics of the afterlife. Making that gross assumption may make it easier to justify your
actions towards her, but assuming she is evil because she practices Voodoo is as naive as assuming
everything you do is good because you are an officer of the law. She has always been determined,
perhaps part of that devotion was to get the means of her revenge for her mistreatment as a slave.
That she has gone to this extent to exact her revenge does not mean she wants us all dead. I believe
that Angelica sparing you is a sign that she still can be redeemed.”
The waiter came by the table. Would you like to see a menu, sir?”
“No I ate earlier” The Guild Master replied.
The waiter looked to Dolly “Just the check when you get a chance” he said in his hoarse voice.
After the waiter left Dolly continued, “It sure seems like you want her dead.”
“That’s where your confused, Detective. Your way is the way of more death. I see three paths; you
capture her, she will be tried convicted and hanged, she fights and dies during her apprehension,
or she kills you and others in her escape, all paths have death at the end. You are the guide on her pathway to death. I on the other hand only want her to stop practicing her craft where she detracts
from our mastery of the metaphysical. I can be a guide to life. English justice may not be served
but others need not die and she could live in cloister with the Necronists,” answered Saint -Yves.
The Guild Master’s words sunk into Dolly. He wanted the Voodooist in the Old Bailey not for Moya
and Chilton but for Keane and himself, at the same time he didn’t want to be back in that situation
again of being powerless to the mystical. “You put me in a shitty spot Guild Master. Get your team
together and find Angelica Du Haiti, and make sure when you do that you tell me so I can be there”
“I will, Detective,” answered Gerard.
“I just can’t have some sorcerer turning us on each other,” replied Dolly.
Rest assured Detective the decision to involve us is a sound one. You’re a fine officer of the law,
but this woman works outside the bounds of earthly laws and physics. We are better equipped to
stop her before another person is killed.”
“Guild Master, just make sure you stay within the earthly bounds of commonwealth law and we
will be fine. If you find her wire-type me and I will act immediately,” said Dolly.
* * *
6:30 PM Across the street from Silkwood Company
The only way t
Lin was if the first time that Weng Lo heard about the heist was standing in front of his cut of the
gold. That meant he had to keep his knowledge of his plans to a minimum until he was ready to
act. Therefore, he was back to the boring low-level job of casing a joint. Jimmy needed the luster of
a pile of gold on Weng Lo’s desk to cloud his bosses memory of denying to help Sister Rose.
Jimmy would have eventually ended up at the Silkwood Company. Silkwood Company was a
nondescript building in the Hatton Garden area at the end of a T intersection and was not like the
other jewelers with a storefront and display windows; it had no windows and a solid iron door. was
a jeweler's jeweler, they dealt in wholesale and did setting and work for the shops in the area.
Owned by the Widow Silkwood an old crone, had nothing to do with the business after her
husband's death and left the shop to be managed by Simon Biel. A mild-mannered Hasidic
gentleman that Jimmy and his ilk called Simon the Jew. He didn’t move stolen property but would
rework stones and precious metals for a fee. That made Silkwood one of three places that Jimmy
would have gone to as they would take under the table work. Along with recutting stones, and
breaking down jewelry, they had a smelter for melting of precious metals, and for a jeweler it was a
good sized one. Jimmy didn’t need to run around looking because Trevor laid out how he was
hired to paper the job to look like the gold was minted in Antwerp years ago then sat in a Venetian
bank until sold to a trust, a trust managed by Chilton, Chilton, Owens, and Strathmore. The re-
struck gold would move back into the Chilton House vaults. Brilliant! Who would look for stolen
gold in the place it was stolen from? The cops would be up and down the wharf looking for the
bullion and it would be home and hosed with clean title right back where it was nicked from. That
told Jimmy there was a partner or someone high up involved in the burglary.
He liked this
Nothing better than robbing a robber since they couldn’t call the cops, and in this case, the
criminals were blue bloods. Amateurs in how they have been getting work done; not that they were
stupid on the contrary this caper showed ingenuity. The difference was he was a professional
outlaw and they were not, they were making simple procedural errors that left bread crumbs for
someone of his ilk to follow.
Jimmy pondered how events played out; someone at the Chilton bank knew about the gold and
likely kidnapped old man Chilton to open the safe they had to be a manager or some higher up
that understood what is required to deal with that amount of gold. This person also knew the likes
of Trevor Conroy and Simon the Jew, not the type of folks you meet shooting quail with your high
society friends. The part that puzzled Jimmy and made him a little worried was that the old man
was killed by some kind of witch and Rose the witch lady wanted to get her.
He had met Rose's negro sorcerer. Walked right up to her door and knocked. Him being able to do
this was another reason to think he was dealing with amateurs. They had hired Trevor to create
travel papers for a Swiss national named Bertha Helstrom, rather than splitting between Trevor
and another forger. Next upon completion, the travel papers were to be delivered to a certain
address. Jimmy took it upon himself to be the delivery boy and chase down this lead. He brought
the completed documents to the location expecting it to be a drop and he would have to follow that
person to the final destination. He almost shit himself when the door opened and an African
woman answered the door. He played his charade as the Chinese delivery man, he even waited for
a tip.
Jimmy was snapped out of his daydreaming when a man walked up to the door of Silkwood’s, he
had two loaves of bread, a pail of beer and some packages. He knocked on the door and was let in.
The same guy had left about a half hour before. Jimmy surmised he was sent out for dinner as the
crew was working round the clock to get the job done.
The job was a big one they had four hundred pounds of gold to melt down and recast as 100-gram
gold ingots. The equipment they had was some of the biggest in London but it was meant for
mainly doing fine jewelry work so they faced a capacity issue. Melting the gold guineas in the
crucibles, casting the ingots, and cooling time meant it had to be a twenty-four-hour operation
with multiple men to g
et the job done as quickly as possible. Simon would want to turn this job
around, so he didn’t get nabbed with the stolen property.
Now he needed to get a guy inside.
Friday the 24th of June
8:00 PM Rose Caldwell’s Rooms
Rose was at her desk with notes Preston had written to help with translation of the Chronicles of
Ulric and the Liber Loagaeth both borrowed from Preston's extensive collection. She mouthed the
words of the Enochian language while staring at a looking glass attempting to get the
pronunciation of the angelic language correct.
The was a knock at the door.
Rose walked over to the door still practicing a word pronunciation as she unlocked the door to let
in the visitor.
It was Jimmy Lin.
"Come in, Jimmy"
Jimmy was alone and that was rare. He was usually accompanied by at least one enforcer.
The thin Chinese native was smartly dressed, only the finest for Jimmy Lin. His attire was striking
high end business man not the dandy fashion.
“To what do I owe the pleasure to, Jimmy?”
Jimmy alighted his narrow frame down onto a threadbare overstuffed chair "To repay my debt.
You are not going to believe this shit witch lady. Well maybe you will you’re life is a circus
sideshow after all. I got a line on the gold and your Voodoo Princess. I wanted to provide you with
the address and let you know that she is traveling as Bertha Helstrom to Halifax Nova Scotia on
Sunday afternoon," He took out a slip of paper from inside his glove and held it out for Rose to
come get.
She snatched the slip of paper from his grasp and looked at it.
“You know where that is Witch Lady?"
“Yes, I do” she answered while thinking about the address.
"Bet you don't get over there much?" Jimmy said.
"You would be surprised Jimmy. Hey I have a lot going on… there anything else?"
"What's all this shit for?"
"Wel Jimmy this is what you would call an Eldritch laboratory and workshop. I do research and
figure out how to use Arcana to stop bad stuff from happening to good people. For example right
now I'm working on a spell to dispose of sarcastic gangsters." said Rose arms crossed with all of
her weight on her back foot.
Jimmy looked around "You’re funny, Witch Lady. You able to open locks, things like that?
"Why, did you lose your keys?"
“Not exactly, see I was just wondering. Let's say that I needed to unbolt a door, maybe you could
use some of this hocus pocus to open up a lock,” Jimmy stood up and started wandering around
looking at her menagerie of equipment and touching things.
"Jimmy, Thanks for the address is there anything else?"
"No, just looks like you could use more income and you did tip me off on the gold, so you are
already an accessory, you know… If you could make this easier you could, I don't know maybe
upgrade to a flat with windows and gaslight,” said Jimmy. "Thanks for the offer but I already have
enough enemies, I don't need to acquire more." She said looking to the door.
He picked up a relic, a silver object in the shape of a skull featuring a glass top so you could see
inside. Jimmy saw when he looked inside it that it was an actual skull that had been gilded in silver
and in the scul cavity was glyphs. “What the fuck is this some guy’s noggin?” Rose grabbed it
from him “that is an ancient relic, the skull of a saint. When I learn the summoning I can use this
to call upon the Angel Ariel the lion of God to assist me.” “Looks like it’s worth a bob or two?” said
the Gangster. “Its priceless,” Rose rose placed it back in it’s wooden case and closed the box.
“You’re not worried about people nicking your priceless items, are you? This is a dismal
neighborhood is full of criminals.” Jimmy asked.
“Most people are scared of me, think I’m devil sent. They don’t know what I have and worry that
I’l curse them if they cross me,” answered Rose.
Jimmy smiled “Yeah, that’s good. Real good. Nothing scarier that the fears people make up all on
their own.”
Jimmy walked to the door and turned before he left. “You aren't planning on seeing Weng Lo in the
next few days are you?”
"No,” implored Rose. “Good, I don't need him knowing what I am up to until it's done" answered
Jimmy.
“Your secret's safe with me"
“I know. Anyway you had best get moving your girlfriend Bertha is going to Nova Scotia on
Sunday. You better get on her social calendar real quick,” He laughed at his own joke as he left the
flat. "ta ta, Witch Lady.”
* * *
7:55 PM Meadhurst Manor
Detective Williamson had arrived in the late afternoon at Holbrook the closest train station to
Meadhurst, a four hour train ride from London. At the station, the Meadhurst Chauffeur was on
the platform to collect Dolly and his bags for the long drive to the Manor house. Upon his arrival,
his host was unavailable. He took some time to walk the gardens near the house and take in a
short nap.
Anytime he closed his eyes he risked reliving the ordeal with Keane. Initially, he replayed the scene
to see if he could have forced an alternative outcome where Keane survived. Other times he would
doze off and his nightmares would return mingling events from his past, rather than Keane it was
now Father Milton strangling him or a Keane being burned alive, looming and laughing at him with
the top of his head missing.
Now Dolly was awake and preparing for a dinner with one of the richest men in England. He
looked at himself in the mirror. His nose felt like it was finally healing now but both eyes had
turned a deep purple. The valet handed him his pocket watch. He examined the pen knife and
amulet he had attached to the fob. He tucked them it in his waistcoat pocket, out of habit he
popped open the worn case of his watch, gave the knob a twist to keep tension on the watch
spring and glanced at the time. When he read the time of seven fifty-five PM it hurt more than his
nose or his throat for around this time on a Friday he and Keane would be out on the town sharing
tales and drinks. This was the first Friday night without his friend.
What a difference from two days ago when Dolly was covered in soot and fighting for his life. Now
he was a guest of Sir Lester Chilton at the family Manor, Meadhurst. He stood in front of a full-
length mirror having another man help him dress. He was happy for the help from the valet. He
didn’t want to stuff anything up and peppered the valet with questions regarding social formality
and manners.
“Mr. Williamson, you will do fine. Sir Lester and his family are the salt of the earth and they take
no benefit in making you feel foolish.” Said the valet. “I appreciate it very much Mr. Walker,” said
Dolly.
“I will mention it to Helmsley the butler to keep an eye on you so you don’t pick up the wrong
spoon.” Both men chuckled at Walker’s joke.
“I need all the help I can get, I’m just a common Scot earning a wage, not used to all this
ceremony,” said Dolly.
“You can repay me by catching the villain that murdered Sir Francis. There, you are already.”
Walker said as he finished brushing lint off the jacket. “You can make your way down the stairs
where Helmsley w
ill get you a drink. Most of the family will congregate in the parlor with the
other guests just before dinner,” said the Valet.
Dol y thought he could use a drink and made his way downstairs to meet his host.
Helmsley was at the bottom of the stairs. “Mr. Williamson, Sir Lester would like you to join him in
the parlor,” said Helmsley. “Excellent show me the way,” The butler led Dolly down a long hall that
echoed with the two men’s footsteps at the end he knocked then opened the door, stepping in
ahead of Dolly to announce his arrival. “Sir Lester Chilton your guest has arrived Detective
Sergeant Williamson,”
“Thank you, Helmsley that will be all,” said the young baronet “Detective, can I fix you a whiskey?”
“I’d love one, Sir Lester,” replied the detective.
Sir Lester made his way over to the drink cart and filled two glasses from a crystal decanter. “I’d
love one also, but don't tell anyone this will be my second,” Lester’s levity lightened Dolly and made
him feel a little less like a fish out of water.
"Do you know the purpose of the Butler’s introduction when you enter the room?” Lester asked as
he handed Dolly the glass.
"Thank you, I guess so everyone knows the importance of each man in the room"
Lester let out a belly laugh “It's a courtesy to help everyone remember names in these social
occasions,”
“Here’s to better days"
Cheers said Dolly taking a drink. “mm. . This is very smooth.”
“It’s the peat they filter the whiskey through,” said Lester as he held up the tumbler to the light and
looked through the amber liquor.
“Your home is splendid,” Dolly was at a loss as to what else to say.
“Thank you. Meadhurst has been in the family for two hundred years. It was just two years ago
that I persuaded my father to update the place. We have our own steam engine and generate
electricity through a dynamo attached to it. That powers al the arc lights on the property. We have
a type-wire line and voice lines within the house.” Sir Lester sat down on a sofa perpendicular to
the massive hearth and signaled with his hand to the opposite sofa. “Please have a seat.” Dolly sat
across from Chilton and set his glass on the low table between them.
