Chapter 16: The Man of the Mist (1)
Episode 16. The Man of the Mist (1)
It seemed that Jefferson had come to discuss the case.
As soon as I stepped out of the room, the eyes of the gathered crowd fell on me. It was a bit overwhelming, but I refused to let it faze me. Thinking that I was just being prideful? Clearly, they didn’t know me well. Among the crowd was Hershel Hopkins from yesterday.
“Good morning,” I greeted them. Pulling my thick indoor robe tighter around myself, I sat next to Liam and naturally took the newspaper from him.
The table between the sofas was piled high with newspapers, ranging from reputable dailies to gossip rags, as if we had bought every paper in London. The front page featured an article about the ongoing construction on the Thames River bridge and a story about a young couple causing a commotion by attempting to jump off the Strand Bridge. The police had to intervene. That bridge had been a known suicide spot for over thirty years. The nerve! Especially with Scotland Yard not far away.
I noticed a consistent detail in all the newspapers.
“…the culprit of the case,” I started, but nowhere, not on the front page nor in the classifieds, was there any mention of the incident at Lambeth’s Old Paradise Gardens. It was as if it had never happened, as if the people who died there were just fools.
Jefferson continued, visibly agitated. Higher-ups had forbidden any further investigation. The Brothers of Turc, the religious fanatics they had captured, were released early in the morning due to lack of evidence. They couldn’t be held any longer. I understood their situation to some extent.
‘Personally,’ Jefferson had found a corpse at the place the fanatic claimed to be staying. The man had clearly poisoned himself overnight. Though Jefferson suspected foul play, he wasn’t given the chance to perform an autopsy or further examine the crime scene. The room was quickly cleared, and anything useless was burned. Soon, someone new would move in. In London’s shadowy corners, there were always people ready to live anywhere with four walls and a roof. Who knew how many more would be used like this?