Previously in Frankengeld. Gerda has completed her tale of her wedding night with Damion's Father, and has been persuaded to attend the Summer Fair. After some swinging Damion notices that there are extra guards on duty and Alicia induces a Sergeant to reveal that Victor's monster is close by. Then, tragedy! A farmer enters the market square carrying the dead body of his daughter. The monster has struck!
Now read on ...
The farmer, clutching at Helena, began to moan. Then he shouted just two words, filled with despair.
"Murder! Monster!"
A dark toned murmur went through the crowd, people looking to their neighbours in horror. The Chief moved into action, striding to stand over me.
"Doctor, what have you found?"
"Drowned I believe," I said keeping my voice low. There was no point in further feeding the crowd with tragic details. "I cannot tell if it was foul play here, in the street."
"Then let us move them both to the barracks."
Alicia folded her cloak over the little girl and then lifted her gently to rest against her shoulder. She looked like any mother carrying her sleepy child, and a gasp of emotion went through the crowd. They knew instinctively this was a child that would never wake again.
"Who is this woman, Herr Doctor?" queried the Chief.
Before I could answer the Sergeant, proudly saluting, said, "Sah! This is Countess Von Hinterleitner, sah!"
The Chief looked closely at Alicia. Could he tell something was not quite right here? He thought for only a few seconds, then said, "My Lady, I welcome your help. Follow me."
He strode through the crowd and people parted to let him pass, Alicia following close behind. Helena and a soldier helped the farmer to stand and follow his child, I brought up the rear. I glanced back to see Elodie and the two poets watching. They all looked shocked and saddened, and Von Arnstein was scribbling on scraps of paper, perhaps recording his feelings and the sights and sounds of this tragedy.
In the garrison we were taken to a suite of rooms and a table was cleared for the child. "Herr Doctor, make your examination," said the Chief. "I must talk with this man, though he is not making much sense at the moment."
Alicia lay the child down, with infinite care, and turned to the Chief.
"Perhaps I can help," she said. "I have some skill in ... diplomacy."
Again that look on the Chief's face.
"I believe you," he said. "Come then, we will leave the Doctor to examine the child and we will learn what we may from the father."
Alicia and the Chief left and Helena and I turned to the child. We removed her clothes, placing them to one side to dry, and cleaned the body - looking for signs of violence. I confirmed the cause of death, there was much water in her lungs, along with strands of water weeds. Debris and water in the lungs usually meant that the person had been alive when they went into the water, it was sucked in as the person tried to breath. There was some lividity, darkening of the skin, where her blood had drained to the lower parts of her body while her father had carried her, but no scratches, bite marks or broken bones, nothing to suggest an attack by a monster.
I was also able to establish she was still a virgin, no foul rape had happened here, she moves to heaven unblemished by that crime. Helena was struggling to cope, and at one point had to turn aside to dry her tears. Her sadness nearly set me off too. A soldier arrived and, averting his eyes from the little body on the table, left some white linen sheets. We used these to shroud her.
Helena took a crucifix from its place on the wall and put it on the sad little bundle.
Alicia and the Chief returned and we joined them in his office. Brandy was poured, and then the Chief sighed, looking deep into his drink as if an answer to this mystery lived there, before taking charge.
"It is sad when an innocent dies. What did you find Herr Doctor?"
"She was drowned. Probably only an hour before her father brought her here. She may have fallen into the water, or been put there, but if so she was taken by surprise and there was no violent struggle."
The Chief nodded, as if this was what he expected.
"With the Lady Hinterleitner's assistance we were able to establish that the man is Hans, a farmer. His daughter, Maria, was in the habit of playing by a pool that outflows into the river. He was doing his final duties before bringing his daughter to the fair, and had permitted her to play on her own. She plays a game where she floats flower heads like boats, and knows - knew - not to enter the water."
He took a swing of brandy and continued.
"He heard a scream and a splash and ran to the pool where he discovered his daughter floating face down. He pulled her out and looked for help, for she made no movement, then he saw someone."
"Someone?" said Helena quizzically. "So not a monster."
"Wait Helena ... you will understand," cautioned Alicia.
The Chief resumed the sad tale.
"The figure he saw moving away had a limping, shambling, gait, as if walking were hard, and was well over two metres tall. He was broad chested and had wide shoulders. He was wearing black clothes and large, heavy-looking, boots. The sleeves of his jacket only came halfway down his forearms. His hands were pale in colour and the fingers were spread wide. Our witness did not see the person's face, but swears the head was flat at the top with metal pieces inserted around the edge. The metal caught the light and flashed red in the rays of the setting sun. The figure's hair was black and lay lank and close to the head. It moved away around an outcrop of rock and was seen no more."
This was sounding more and more like Victor's work. He had always suggested that the construction of a new man, as he described it, would be easier if all the parts were over large. No fiddly cutting or sewing. And the description of the skull covered with a flat plate matched one of his drawings for the easy insertion of a replacement brain.
"The description is very similar to the suspect seen fleeing the Frankenstein tower earlier," said the Chief. "Though that sighting was at much greater distance."
I was anxious to get back to Elodie and away from this office where, at any moment, I could be asked about Victor. "Do you need our help any more this evening, sir?" I asked, hoping the answer would be no.
"I have sent runners to inform the search parties of the latest sighting of the creature, though there is little more they can do tonight in the darkness. In the morning we will concentrate on searching the hills on the far side of the river."
"And the poor man?" asked Helena.
"We will give him a bed here for the night. I do not want him wandering the town whipping up a mob to hunt this creature, though the rumours are rife and that may yet happen despite our best efforts. I want this ... person ... alive, to question with regards to these deaths, but that is my problem, not yours."
"Then we will be on our way," said Alicia, standing. I returned her blue cloak which she put on with a stylish swirl.
"My thanks to you all," said the Chief. "And particularly to you, my Lady." He bowed very deeply to Alicia saying, "I have never come across a more skilled interrogator. I would give you a job here if I thought the town council would accept a female employee."
As we turned to leave there was a knock on the door.
"Sir, there is a man here," said an officer stepping into the room. "He claims to be a witness to the girl's death."
"We will be out in a moment," replied the Chief. Then to us he said, "I would value your observations here, Herr Doctor. To see if what he says matches what you have seen in the girl's body."
We followed the Chief out and stood back while he interviewed the man.
"I am a charcoal burner," he started. "I had finished my work for the day and was coming to Carlsbruck for the Summer Fair. The woods I work are on the far side of the river. When I witnessed the tragedy I made haste to report it but I had to go down to the three arch bridge to cross, which delayed me."
So far this was all reasonable. He took a flask of water from his belt, drank, and continued.
"The little girl was sitting by the side of a river pool and she had a great pile of flowers. Then the monster came up to her. He made moans and waved his hands but the girl was not frightened. She invited him to sit and play. The monster knelt, it was a clumsy move as if he did not have subtle control of his limbs. Then they took it in turns to throw flowers into the water. The monster laughed and was as child-like as the girl, which seemed strange to me."
The man paused, he seemed to be trying to recall every detail, however distressing.
"My path took me closer to them, the river narrows a little at that point, and there came a moment when all the flowers were gone. The monster looked at the ground, where the flowers had laid, then the girl, and then he swept her up and threw her in the water. Unlike the flowers she did not float. I shouted and, at that moment, her father came running. The monster, who seemed confused by the turn of events with the girl, fled. He moved into the rocky field and I could not see him further. Then I made haste to come to you."
The Chief sent the man away to have his statement written down by the officer and we returned to his study.
"Your thoughts," he said, inviting us to speak first.
