Shadow of the Dolocher

by European P. Douglas

  "That's the Devil," the guard said, and James nodded.

  "Have you seen something like this before?" Cabinteely asked looking to James.

  "No, have you?" Both of the men of the prison shook their heads.

  James took the amulet into his possession, and as he rode back home in his coach, he looked it over again. Any reference or depiction of the Devil always brought the same thing to his mind. Mr. Edwards and his godforsaken Hellfire Club.

  James hadn't seen Mr. Edwards much since the Dolocher case and even less so of late. If there was anyone who would know what this thing was and where it might have come from it would be him. James didn't like the idea of approaching him at all because he knew that the prospects of murders and mayhem delighted Edwards and he would want to get involved with the investigation.

  It was true that he was a good source of information of the kind that the Alderman would never have been able to access alone, but his whole demeanour and the satanic side of his life, as well as the drunkenness and who knew what else struck James sourly.

  There was so much to Edwards that James knew he didn't see. There were the rumours about the Hellfire Club and what went on there, but James didn't put a whole lot of stock in those stories. To his mind, it was most more than likely that they all just sat around, drank and gambled the night away.

  He put the amulet away and sat back in the coach. The Dolocher was on his mind again; everything seemed to be reminiscent of it these last couple of days.

  James recalled his folly of displaying the wild boar to the town, thinking that it was the Dolocher that they all so feared. In his haste to be a hero and to gain forgiveness from these local people, he had rushed to believe against his better judgment. The boar hadn't been the Dolocher, and while James had wasted time with it, the real killer continued unabated until he was apprehended by that blacksmith Mullins.

  James had received none of the credit despite his hours and sleepless nights searching for the killer. Was this going to be a new chance to redeem himself? Was this the start of something? He shook his head as though to dispel the thought; the last thing he wanted was another murderer in the Liberties.

  Rain began falling on the canopy of the coach, and it brought his attention to the outside world. There were some children playing at the corner, some game that he didn't recognise and some women stood near them talking, each one carrying something. They were either on the way to or from some errand. The sky grew darker, and he saw some of the women cast apprehensive looks to the sky. He envied those children and those women whose daily worries never involved murders and scenes the like of which he had been party to this morning.

  Chapter 5

  Kate was shaken from her accosting by Edwards in the street, and she locked the door and looked out the window to see that she had not been further followed. There was no sign of anyone she didn't recognise, and children played in the square as ever. She went to the back room took out the vegetables and started to peel and cut them up for tonight's dinner. She stopped cold when she realised that something was different in the house than when she left this morning. She couldn't put her finger on it immediately, and she looked about for some things out of place. There was a small mess on the table; breadcrumbs and some pulp from a tomato- that was it; she had left the place spotless. Tim must have been home, yes, that was all; she sighed thankfully.

  The door had been locked when she came in, she was sure of that, and who would come in and just make a sandwich and tidy up if not her husband? But then she was worried afresh; hadn't she sent him to work with his lunch? She had, she was sure of it; she remembered making it this morning and handing it to him as he went out.

  Going to the door again Kate checked that it was locked and then looked out the window once more. Still nothing. She wondered about Edwards, and she reasoned that it would not be his style to come into a house and do something like this. This brought to mind the letter he had given her. She went to her bags and found it down beside the cabbage head. She took it out and opened it; inside there was a single handwritten page. Kate was not great at reading, but she could make out some of it. She would have to go to Mary Sommers if she wanted to know exactly what it said, but she was sure that he was proposing that she go back to her old profession and he would see that she was well looked after! She knew words like 'protection,' and she recognised Melanie's name, the Madam of the house where she had once worked.

  Edwards had asked her this before. There had been a couple of times that he had come to her in the most unexpected of places and said that she should go back to her old life and that he would ensure that she was happy. She grew angry at the thought that he could just 'buy' her. She felt like throwing the letter directly into the fire at that very moment, but something stopped her.

  There was more to the letter than she could understand and something in her made her curious as to its content. She reasoned that she needed to know what it said so that she could berate him about it if she should speak to him again. However, she also knew that some of her anger was at her embarrassment of not being able to read and the shame of letting him know this. He clearly didn't know, or he wouldn't have written her a letter. On more than one occasion she had made up her mind that she was going to learn, but she had never done anything about it, and each time her life went on as it had the day before.

  Kate would have to hide the letter and take it to Mary at the market tomorrow. She didn't think Tim could read either, but she couldn't take any chances. If he knew that Edwards had been in contact with her and trying to get her away from him, there was no telling what he might do.

  Edwards was rich and powerful and not someone who Tim could match. She had no doubt that in a fight her husband would come out easily the victor, but in the end, Edwards could make serious trouble for them if he really wanted to.

  She looked for a place to hide the letter but nowhere seemed safe enough. Finally, she decided that she would have to get it out of the house. She looked in her purse, found a small coin and went to the front door. She called one of the boys playing over and offered him the coin if he brought the letter to the vegetable stall and gave it to Mary Sommers. She made him repeat the name and said that he should get a time from her to come to the market tomorrow as a reply. The boy ran off happy with his money, and Kate felt the ease of the letter being out of Tim's way run through her body.

  She couldn't get Edwards out of her head and images of times she had slept with him came to mind. Sometimes he could be caring and considerate, and at others, he was cold and distant. She remembered the time she spent in his fabulous house and then how humiliated she was when he used her for sex once he'd gotten the information from her that he wanted.

  Kate had dreamed of living in a house like his, but she knew that it was never going to be. She was here on Dog and Duck yard, and the best she could hope for was another small house somewhere very close by. She wished she'd never seen the inside of Edwards' house or slept in that bed or used that bath. Those things had spoiled her for the life she had lived up to then and since.

  She hated Edwards for that too, for showing her what a life out of the gutter could be like. Perhaps that was why she hated him most of all; for moments like this when she felt that her life with Tim was not all that it could be. She loved Tim; loved him dearly, and she owed him for catching the Dolocher as he promised he would for her, but she knew that where they were now was probably as far in life as they ever would be.

  She brought an image of Tim purposefully to mind, seeing him make the sandwiches when he came home and tidying up after himself. She smiled at what she saw, and she felt tender towards him. She went to the table and wiped the last of his mess up. He was a good man, a very good man, and she was lucky to have him.

  Chapter 6

  Alderman James' carriage pulled up outside the large house on Francis Street that he knew to be one of the Hellfire Club hangouts. He'd been here a few years ago at Edward's insistence, and on that day he was present
ed with the body of a huge dead boar that he was so sure was the Dolocher. There were some lights on the higher floors of the building, but he saw no sign of shadows or people moving around. He went up to the door and knocked loudly three times and then took a step back to wait. He knew that it was unlikely that anyone would answer as there was an ever changing coded knock that was supposed to gain a person entry and he was sure that it was not three simple bangs. He waited for a moment and then pounded three more times again but harder. Still no one came. He walked back to the kerb and looked up at the lighted rooms, and he imagined that there were people up there who were perhaps passed out drunk and incapable of even hearing the door let alone coming down to answer it.

  He went back to his coach and asked to be brought to Cork Hill. The carriage moved slowly over the cobbles and turned on the road and headed in that direction. James had tried Edwards at home and at the French woman's brothel and now at one of the clubhouses with no luck. He knew that the Hellfire members often met and drank in the Eagles Tavern and that was where he was headed now.

  As soon as he got out of the carriage, he knew that they were in there. The noise of drunken revelry was something so raucous that he had never heard the like of it before. Cries of men and shrieks of women echoed out into the street and laughter came from all quarters. There were street walkers walking up and down outside and propositioning the men who came out, and children played at the side of the road while their fathers spent money that should have been for their dinner inside. James told his driver to turn the carriage around and be ready to head for home in a few minutes time, and then he went inside the tavern.

  The heat was immense and hit him like a wall when he went in, and he saw that there was not a person inside that could be called even half sober. Never before had he seen so many red faces and sleepy eyes on men and women; their bodies covered in sweat and the stains of spilled drinks. The floor was littered with rubbish and food, and there was even a dog under one of the tables chewing on a gnarled loaf of bread.

  Looking around the sea of faces James could see no sign of Edwards, but there were men in fine clothes who he was sure he'd seen before in the same company. Another roar of laughter went up from that quarter, and James was apprehensive of approaching them in this state to ask for Edwards or word of him. A woman appeared up in the middle of the men, and her shoulders were bared- for a moment of horror, the Alderman thought she was naked and that they were performing some kind of satanic ritual in this very public place! However, one of the men moved, and he saw that it was only the shoulders that were bare and otherwise the woman was well covered. Another man moved forward with a paintbrush and drew some symbol that James didn't recognise on the nape of her neck and all the men there cheered and ordered drinks for everyone in the house for which a mighty cheer went up. This explained why everyone here, rich and poor alike was so inebriated.

  "What will you have Alderman?" a voice said next to him and James turned to see a man of military bearing standing beside him looking at the same thing he'd been. "Colonel Spencer," the man said and offered his hand.

  "From the 68th Foot?" James asked; he'd heard of this man.

  "Yes."

  "You're a member of that lot aren't you?" James said nodding at the club members.

  "I am, but I'm too far behind them to even try to get involved this evening," he smiled.

  "Have you seen Mr. Edwards today?"

  "Not today, no," Spencer answered after a moment's thought.

  "Can you give him a message for me if he shows here tonight?"

  "Of course."

  "Can you just tell him that I need to speak with him urgently?"

  "Not a problem. Will you have that drink then?" James nodded so as not to be rude and Spencer ordered two whiskey's for them, and they stayed standing at the bar.

  "So is old Edwards in trouble at last?" Spencer asked with a grin.

  "No, nothing like that."

  "Pity!" Spencer laughed.

  "What's going on over there, anyway?" James asked referring to the drunken group of Hellfire members.

  "I'm not sure really, body painting is not something we usually get up to."

  "What do you usually get up to, apart from drinking?"

  "Not a lot Alderman, not a lot of all," Spencer was laughing when he said this.

  At that moment a call came out from one of the drunks.

  "Spencer! The real painter!" and some of the men came over and grabbed him, and he was dragged away towards the woman, holding a hand up in both apology and farewell to James. A paintbrush was then shoved into his hand, and the woman's now cleaned shoulders were presented to him. Alderman James took this as his opportunity to leave. He handed his drink to a man who'd just entered who though surprised thanked him effusively and drained it in one. As he left, James cast one last look back into the corner and saw Spencer begin to outline some design on the skin of the woman with black paint and a thin brush.

  Out on the street, the air was nice and cool, and James stood for a moment before getting into the carriage. The driver set the horses in motion, and James sat in the back and thought about the places he'd been this evening. Brothels and Taverns were not his normal places of leisure. He knocked on the wall of the carriage in front of him, and it stopped. The driver leaned over and looked in through the window.

  "Take me to Daly's," James said, "I don't think he'll be there but you never know." The driver disappeared from view and the carriage once again set off for College Green.

  Daly's was a formidable club for the true elite of the city. It was the haunt of politicians and the super-rich alike. Alderman James would be able to gain entry, but he would be out of his class if he were to try to become a member. There were big men at the door and on the street outside whose job it was to keep prostitutes and undesirables away from the entrance and also refuse admittance to those not deemed worthy of entry. From the outside, James could see the torches within burning brightly, and there were people standing and talking by the windows and doors inside, secret dealings going on everywhere. He knew that Edwards came to this place from time to time, but also that it was not one of his preferred haunts. He would only come here to show his face now and then as he knew all respectable people in Dublin society should do, and gain some news or gossip that might be of use to him at a later date. The doormen looked James over, but no one made a move to stop him coming inside. It was also one of the places Edwards's despicable club met.

  Inside James was amazed at the splendid and opulent furnishing of the rooms. White marble chimney pieces took pride of place in most rooms and gold and white chairs, and elegant sofa's dotted the floors. Expensive silks covered these, and the carpets and curtains were of the finest imported materials. The club had only moved to these new premises from Dame Street in February of this year, and the opulence was something to behold and took his breath away every time he had call to come there.

  James walked through the rooms looking for Edwards, but again there was no sign anywhere. He'd heard of secret rooms in these clubs, but he never knew if they existed or if it was just fancy talk. Either way, he knew that he would not be able to gain admittance to them even if they did exist. He asked a few people that he knew if they had seen Edwards, but none had, and none of the staff he spoke to had seen him for a week or more. They suggested James try the rival club on Kildare street where he could also sometimes be found. He did this, but they also had not seen him there for about a week either.

  James looked at the amulet as he jostled about in the back of his coach on his way home. It had been a wasted evening. Perhaps he should have asked Colonel Spencer if he knew what the amulet was, but then he hadn't really had the chance. He also didn't know the Colonel personally, and he didn't know what kind of man he might be behind his reputation as a soldier. He never fully knew what Edwards was about either, but he felt that there was something in Edwards that led him towards the truth, as much as he wanted to let be known of the truth, anyway. A wa
sted night.

  Chapter 7

  The young woman's skin was blue and hard, and the blood was dried out of her gashed abdomen making the wound look like a hole burst through something solid like wood or plaster. She had been dead for a few days, and the place she was found was not the place she was killed. Her face was intact, and it was clear she had been pretty in life and not much more than twenty. Her identity was unknown for now, but James was sure that someone would come forward to claim her; this at least would give him an avenue of investigation other than questioning people in the vicinity of the find as to if they had seen or heard anything.

  It was the location of the body that most upset and disturbed the Alderman. Once more he found himself on Back Lane at the walls of 'The Black Dog' looking over a dead body. This girl was in almost the exact spot that the second guard killed by the Dolocher had been slain. This time, however, there was no blood or viscera at the scene; the walls were not flecked with bodily matter, and the ground was not sticky underfoot. As far as James could see this woman had no marks on her body apart from the gaping hole in her middle. He wondered if there was another amulet or message in there. He was in no doubt that this was the same killer as the body found at the gate a few weeks ago. He didn't want to go rummaging inside the woman while there were people around to see but he would travel to the mortuary with her and check then.

  "Get her on the wagon and take her!" he said to the soldiers who stood at attention waiting for his orders. James looked at the small crowd gathered, and he scanned their faces. He didn't really know what he was looking for, but he knew he would know it if he saw it. A face not disturbed enough by what it was seeing; eyes that poured too deeply into the dead woman; a smile that showed malicious intention, it could be anything, but he would know it.

  The soldiers lifted the body up and covered it with a sheet.