Shadow of the Dolocher

by European P. Douglas

  "Why are you telling me this!" Scally shouted, tears streaming down his face now, and he grabbed Edwards by the lapels of his coat, but he was weak with sorrow.

  "You have a right to know," Edwards said, and he took Scally by the wrists and held his hands away from his coat, looking into his eyes until the boy looked back at him. "I'm going to make sure you and your mother are looked after. I liked your father; he was a friend to me, a good friend."

  "Do you think he killed those people?"

  "I think so, yes." The boy let his head fall into Edwards' chest as he sobbed uncontrollably. Edwards smiled and put his arms around him and patted his back. "Don't worry. No one else knows, and no one else needs to know. I will get you a new job, something that pays much better than the blacksmith and I will make sure that you and your mother have a good life from now on." Scally went on sobbing, and he nodded to what Edwards was saying until seeming to compose himself he asked,

  "What about Mr. Mullins?"

  "From what I hear it looks as though they have plenty of evidence that he is the killer, but even if that turns out not to be the case, I don't think it is a place you should be working. It is too unpredictable, and trouble seems to follow that blacksmith everywhere he goes. Try put that out of your mind, I am going to give you the kind of life you could only have ever dreamed of before now," Edwards answered.

  Edwards looked up at the tower and smiled. If only James knew of his past association with Olocher, he wouldn't be so quick to have let him tag along on the Dolocher murders. It started to rain, and without speaking, Edwards began to lead Scally for home.

  Chapter 42

  The carriage bobbed over the uneven stones on the way to Lord Muc's house. Edwards looked at Scally, sitting there sullen faced and serious.

  "What is it?" he asked. Scally didn't answer or even look at him for that matter. Edwards sighed. "This is for you; it will be good for you." Still, the boy said nothing. "I know you like the blacksmith, but you would never have been able to become anything if you stayed there."

  "I could have become a blacksmith," Scally said sharply.

  "You can be so much more than that," Edwards said and then in correction of himself, "You will be so much more than that."

  Edwards could see that Muc was waiting at the gates for them. He leaned against the post of the gate, and there was a wide smile on this face. He was clearly relishing being part of what was going on here.

  "I hate him," Scally said when he saw what Edwards was looking at.

  "Who, Muc?"

  "Yeah."

  "He didn't get on with the blacksmith, but that doesn't mean you can't like him. They often drink together in the taverns at night." Scally looked at him, doubtful of this.

  "Why do I have to come here?"

  "He is going to train you how to fight."

  "I already know how to fight."

  "Not like Muc, no one knows how to fight like him."

  "Why do I need to know how to fight like him?"

  "It is part of making you someone special. There will be other parts to this as well. You will be with Lord Muc for a while and learn from him, then you will come and learn some of the finer things in life from me."

  "Like what?"

  "You'll have to wait and see, but I promise you it will be worth the wait." Scally didn't say anything until they pulled up outside the gates of the house.

  "I'm only doing this because you're looking after my mother," Scally said getting out without looking again at Edwards. Edwards smiled and climbed down too; he was enjoying the petulant spirit of the boy, it would come in handy in the future.

  Lord Muc was bleary-eyed having probably been out most of the night. He was looking the boy over, something that clearly made Scally uncomfortable.

  "This is him, eh?" Muc asked.

  "It is," Edwards nodded.

  "Show me your arms," Muc said grabbing him by the biceps at which Scally recoiled and tried to free himself. Muc laughed and let him go, “Not bad, not bad, the blacksmith had you doing more than delivering messages and whittling on sticks I see."

  "What do you think?" Edwards asked, and Muc looked pensive for a moment and then looked Scally over from head to toe.

  "I can make him worthy of the Liberty Boys; I can't tell anything about his brain until I get to know him better."

  "He has a brain, don't worry about that."

  "Does he have a temper?" Muc asked.

  "He can be very sullen and grumpy, but I haven't seen a temper yet."

  "I'm standing here," Scally snapped.

  "Well if that's the extent of his temper he should be a good student," Muc said, “Good fighters don't tend to lose their tempers too easily," Muc said to Scally in a fatherly way.

  "Have you got a place ready yet for him to sleep and put his stuff?" Edwards asked. Muc nodded.

  "Go in by the first shed and take the door on the right. You'll see a bed set up in there in the corner near the stove." Scally looked at Edwards.

  "Go on and have a look, make yourself comfortable," Edwards said, and Scally sloped off past Lord Muc and into the yard.

  The two men watched him go, and when he was gone far enough to be out of earshot, Muc said,

  "Is he much like his father?" Edwards wasn't expecting this, he didn't think Muc would have known who Olocher was, or that this was his son. "I fought him once, down by the docks, drank with him a few times too," Muc said by way of explanation, "This was years before he started on those women."

  "I see; I trust I can trust you to keep this quiet?"

  "I can. Does he know?"

  "Yes, I told him only a few nights ago," and then a thought struck Edwards. "How long have you known?"

  "Only a while. He's grown up very fast that lad, only two years ago you wouldn't know it, but now it's nearly like looking at the man himself."

  "I wonder has anyone else ever noticed it?"

  "Maybe, but no one cares. Anyone who might say anything about it would have to admit that they knew Olocher better than from the gossip that did the rounds, and people don't want that type of association." Edwards nodded in agreement.

  "How long will you take to train him?"

  "A few months is all. He's strong but probably has no skills. He'll have to unlearn body movements that he's been using for years."

  "How will you treat him?"

  "Depends."

  "On what?"

  "What type of fighter are you looking for? His father was a frenzied attacker, hurting himself as much as his opponent but I prefer the mind game type of fight myself."

  "I want him to be a clever fighter and for him to be able to control his temper if he turns out to have one."

  "I'll treat him like an animal to begin with, and then it will get better for him as he learns."

  "How do you want to be paid for this?"

  "I don't, this will be a pleasure for me, not work."

  "I'll come by once a week or so to check in..."

  "You won't come near him again until he's leaving here," Muc interrupted. "I'll see you around, and I'll let you know how he's getting on."

  "I don't want a pure fighting dog when he comes out, can you try to get him to use his brain as much as possible?"

  "That's the way I fight, and he'll fight like me."

  "That should be good enough, I suppose," Edwards said, and he smiled at the look of disdain Muc gave him.

  "When are we going to the place on the hill?" Muc asked.

  "Soon."

  "How soon."

  "Very soon, I'll let you know when I see you next." Edwards climbed into the carriage, and Muc looked at the horses.

  "Don't push him too far on his father, he never knew him, and he only has vague ideas of what he actually did."

  "I'll do the training fancy man," Lord Muc sneered, and then he walked off into his holdings and didn't look back as the carriage pulled off and rolled noisily away.

  Chapter 43

  The next murder, when it came, was
heinous in the extreme. The body was badly mutilated and laid out on Limerick Alley. It was the body of a man, and his thighs and biceps had been removed from his body as if bitten off by some cavernous mouthed creature. The edges of the wounds were gnarled and shredded, and there was blood all over the scene and splashed on the walls of the alley.

  There was a frenzy in the area when the body was found by a woman going to the fetch a doctor for a woman who was giving birth and was in difficulty nearby. She had screamed hysterically when she saw the man and then had been most unfortunate in that she slipped on the blood soaked stones and fell to her knees to come face to face with the body. Her screams had brought others to the scene, and more had fallen and slipped as they tried to help her up. As a result the blood was on all sorts of people's clothes and the ground was muddied red and caked all over the area.

  Alderman James arrived and looked over the scene and tutted at the state it was in. If there had been anything of use here in the way of clues, it was probably trampled away underfoot or taken away on someone's sole by now.

  There was a doctor there, a man called Stevens who had come to assist in the birth and having missed it, had come to examine the body afterwards without being asked. Stevens stood to one side when the soldiers arrived and waited for the Alderman to give him his findings.

  "Was the place in this state when you got here?" James asked the doctor.

  "Yes, it is a mess," Stevens’ replied looking about the alley.

  "And what of the body?" James did not know this man, and as such he did not know if he was any good at his profession or not, he assumed not as he was helping poor women give birth in places such as this.

  "Looks like an animal did it only it is very specific."

  "In what way?"

  "It is only the muscled areas that have been removed really; an animal would not have been so precise."

  "Did you see anything unusual on the body?"

  "Apart from the wounds, no."

  "There was nothing inside the wounds?" The doctor looked at him as though he didn't understand and James took that for a no. "Don't mention this to anybody, not a word," James ordered.

  "Of course," Stevens said with a slight bow of his head.

  "You can go now; if we need you, someone will come to talk to you."

  "Yes, fine. Good day to you,” the doctor said and then left.

  There was a loud carriage rattling up the nearby Francis Street and without having to turn around James knew that it was going to be Edwards to add his level of mystique and jesting to the proceedings.

  While waiting to be proved right, James went over closer to the body and looked at the wounds, looking inside for the markings that he came to expect now. This time, however, he was not so sure that he could see them; this looked to be a different type of wound to the rest of them and was maybe not done in the same way at all.

  "Good morning Alderman!" came the cheerful voice of Edwards, always so inappropriate at scenes of murder. He was like a young man out for a stroll on a beautiful morning, and he wanted everyone to know how good he felt. James stood and turned to return the greeting and shake his hand. Edwards looked down at the body and scrunched his eyes up,

  "What is it?" James asked.

  "I know this man," Edwards said, and he tutted.

  "Who is he?"

  "I'm not sure," Edwards looked to be trying to place his face. "He works in a tavern or whiskey cabin," he said. "Or maybe a coffee house or casino?" he added after a half second pause.

  "Somewhere you frequent from time to time then?"

  "Yes, I'll remember where soon. I don't tend to take too much notice of the staff except at the brothels," Edwards smiled, and James did his best not to react to this.

  "There was a local doctor here, but I'm going to wait to get him to the morgue before I go on."

  "This is different this time," Edwards said, and he looked at the body and then around at the surrounding areas. "This is not a Dolocher site, and there is something different about this man’s wounds. Also look around you; before this was all walked into the ground, there was fresh blood here, and see on the walls there?" Edwards pointed with his cane. James had seen this already, but he nodded. "The murder still wasn't committed here, though," Edwards opined.

  "No?"

  "I don't think so Alderman, do you?"

  "No, there is not enough blood for those wounds."

  "That's what I was thinking,” Edwards looked at him then with a serious face, like he had some bad news to impart.

  "What is it?"

  "Those wounds do look like those of an animal this time."

  "They do, don't they," James nodded.

  "I don't have to tell you what people will make of that," Edwards said. James didn't say anything.

  The hysteria about these killings to date had not been as bad as he had feared and he felt he would be able to disassociate this one from the others by virtue of the fact that it had not happened in one of the same places as a Dolocher one.

  "I guess this gets Mr. Mullins out of Newgate," James said.

  "You don't think that may be a bit hasty?" Edwards asked quickly.

  "No, why do you?"

  "Well, you can see yourself that this is a different kind of thing and the wounds are different. This could be a completely different killer."

  "I don't think either of us believes that Mr. Edwards," James said, "If there is some other compelling reason that you know of to keep Mr. Mullins locked up, please let me know." Now James smiled to himself as he got his own back for all the taunts and immoral acts and blasphemies he had to put up with from Edwards.

  "Not at all," Edwards said in defence, "If you think he is innocent by all means let him go, but don't say I didn't warn you if he turns out to be our man."

  "This is the same man, I'm sure of it Mr. Edwards, I can feel it."

  "And if your 'feeling' is wrong?"

  "If I am wrong Mr. Mullins won’t be going anywhere soon."

  A soldier came over to the Alderman and let him know that the cart had arrived to bring the body to the morgue.

  "Look over this entire alley and bring me everything you find on the ground, I don't care how small or how trivial it may seem to you," James ordered and then as an afterthought, "Make sure to go through the sludge too, there could be something hidden in there."

  When the soldier was away a bit, Edwards asked,

  "What do you think is the significance of the wounds this time?"

  "I have no idea, but I hope it will become clear at some point."

  Chapter 44

  Footsteps tramped along the stone floor of the corridor, and Mullins stood up to await whoever it was. He heard the keys rattle, and the door creaked opened. A dim light came in to the dank cell, and Mullins peered in this new light to see who had come.

  "Time for you to get out of here," a cheery voice said. It was Cabinteely, the gaoler.

  "Where am I going?" Mullins asked perplexed.

  "Home for a wash would be my advice."

  "I'm free?"

  "Yes, just got a letter from the Alderman."

  "Oh thank God," Mullins said, clasping his hands together and shaking them to the air in thanks and then blessing himself. The relief sent a shiver through him and for a moment he felt light headed, his thighs wavering feeling like his legs were going to give out.

  "I thought you'd be happy with this news," Cabinteely said smiling.

  "I thought I was going to be hanged!" Mullins said, and a nervous laugh escaped from him.

  "Well, there's been another murder, so they know it wasn't you this time."

  "It was never me."

  "I know, I know," Cabinteely waved off his defensiveness.

  "So I can just walk out?"

  "Yes, the Alderman asked that you be at home today, though, he wants to call in on you."

  "But the shop will need looking after; I'll have no money after being in here."

  "I'd go home and stay there if I we
re you, Mr. Mullins, the shop can wait one more day, but you don't want to get on the wrong side of the people that can put you back in here."

  "I supposed you have a point." Mullins was worried about the business, if this new stay in prison would erode any more of his customers. At the very least he thought it might be like the time when people thought he'd known what Cleaves was up to and that he was guilty by association.

  He wondered how Kate had fared while in he was locked up; he knew she had come to see him but had never been allowed to come in. He longed to see her, and he smiled at Cabinteely. "Anyway, I have a wife I need to see."

  "Off you go then," Cabinteely said, standing aside and putting his hands out to indicate his freedom to pass.

  It was cold outside as the gates of the prison closed behind him. Mullins looked to see if Kate might be anywhere about, but he didn't see her. He hurried off then in the hope that a few people as possible would see him. He knew that this was a silly thing to do as no doubt word of his incarceration would have spread rapidly as soon as he was arrested. He glanced at the shop, and he hoped that Scally had put out all the fires and had locked up properly when he was taken away. He spared a thought for Scally and his mother going without the meagre pay he gave the boy for the last three weeks.

  When he got to his home, he could feel the eyes of all the playing children on him, their cries went quiet when he appeared. He jostled at the door but it was locked, his own keys had been in the shop and Scally would probably have them now. He cursed at his luck as he traipsed back the way he had come. As he walked, he again tried not to make eye contact with anyone. He changed his mind about going to Scally's and stiffly changed direction and headed for the market at Templebar where he hoped to find Kate or at least one of her friends who might know where she was.

  The market was heaving with people and boats lined the docks. Merchants watched as their men unloaded crates, and prostitutes and street hawkers of all kinds flitted about trying to sell their wares. Sarah was at the vegetable stall, and Mullins saw that is was very busy with customers. He went over, but he didn't want to ask her in front of all these people where his wife was. She saw him and nodded at him with a smile. He mouthed 'Have you seen Kate?' and used elaborate hand gestures to amplify what he was trying to say. For a moment, she looked at him oddly and then she seemed to catch on to what he was trying to convey. She shook her head vigorously and tried to mouth something back, but then she gave and called over to him,