We went to the Aunt's house, in a depressed area of Southwark. We explained our business to the PC at the door, and he said he would let us in, if we could get rid of a reporter that was bugging them. Bernhardt set about boring him until he went away while Miss Gioyne and I entered and went upstairs. The house felt very empty and underutilized. In the upstairs library a small Dwf woman lay in a pool of blood. A Police Inspector allowed us to examine things after we told him what we already knew of the case.
The amazing thing is that this body was not the same woman we had talked to at Fairaday that morning! She was a dwarf of the same size, and the same grey hair in a similar style, and she was dressed in a similar manner, but the facial features were quite different. The blood was from a bashed in head (we found nether a weapon, nor anything missing). The inspector tells us he believes her to have been killed between 9 and 11 this morning, but the body was not found by the cook until tea-time. The windows were open, and we found signs that somebody probably climbed the rose lattice.
I tried questioning the hearth spirit that resided there, but it was sluggish, incurious, knew nothing and cared less.
We questioned the cook and she believes madame did not send a telegram yesterday. She says madame was very concerned about "Sweet William" missing his birthday tea, and believes she posted him a letter or a quick note last night, but does not think she would have considered hiring investigators so soon (she hinted very strongly that she almost certainly could not afford to hire investigators). She said that Madame Bareir does not like to leave her house. She gets lightheaded and feels faint if she tries to go outside. She had a very active correspondence, and friends over for whist every Thursday. But none of her friends are dwarvish women, so whomever impersonated her this morning was not one of them.
So this is the timeline we have come up with: It is very confusing to us.- William was last seen alive and well Tuesday about noon. There were some children acting strangely there.
- His body was found before dawn the next day. A lump on the head suggests he was knocked out, and perhaps killed later when he was stabbed by a knife in the chest and then his ribs ripped open by hand. He was delivered to the Coroner Wednesday morning, but not identified it until we did so Friday afternoon.
- No other activity Wednesday.
- Thursday teatime, William failed to show up at his Aunts. She was reportedly concerned, and probably sent him a letter or postcard.
- Also Thursday evening, the imposter aunt (or a confederate) sent a telegram or letter to the Fariday agency requesting an appointment that was granted for 10am the next day. Cusa got a telegram from the Fairaday firm Thursday evening. Check when exactly Fariday got notified.
- We arrived at 10am at Fariday. The business part had already been arranged. Find out when exactly the imposter aunt arrived at fariday. The imposter aunt hired Fariday to investigate Williams disappearance. She seems to have paid a very substantial deposit. Find out how much she paid and how (cash? Cheque? Forged Cheque? She knew that William was due to visit aunt. Knew that did not visit aunt. She mentioned the Loup Garou killer, even though that should have been a long shot, but William apparently was killed by LGK. She had lots of money. She paid lots of money for us to look for William.
- The real Aunt was not at Fariday, and probably knew nothing of the meeting there. Probably between 9am and 11am, somebody climbed her rose lattice and bludgend her to death. This might have been done before the imposter arrived at Fariday, or after, but in any case, it was done before we started our investigation.
- Friday early afternoon we found Williams body.
- Friday mid afternoon, cook found Aunts body.
Questions:- Why hire us?
- Who hired us?
- Why kill Aunt?
- We have assumed the person who hired us killed the real Aunt. Is that true? If not, who killed real aunt?
- Was Aunt killed because somebody thought she had hired us? (probably not, since she was killed before our investigation started)
- Why not just give fake name and fake address? (ask fariday this) Did they correspond, or attempt to correspond with her at her real address. Nail down times and methods of contact. See if telegrams/post-marks can be traced back to real sender. With hind-sight, does anybody who corresponded or dealt with her have any clue as to real identity or location.
- Was William killed by LGK?
- What is LGK up to?
Statistics:Posted by ChrisDDickey — Mon Jan 27, 2020 12:57 am
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