Of Night and Dark Obscurity

Val pulled out his small notebook while Odean lit a cigarette. “How long have you been in London?”

“A little under a year.” Odean replied.

“And you are normally a resident of the state of Georgia?” He asked, taking the state’s name from his tonic speech to the audience.

Odean smiled. “I was born in Georgia though I was recently a resident of the state of New York.”

“Occupation?” Val asked.

“Doctor.”

“Hmmm,” Val countered. “Where did you obtain your degree?”

“Harvard.” He blew the smoke out of his mouth.

Val nodded. “You practice medicine here?”

“I do. I have a small practice off Harley Street.”

“What is your specialty?”

“Female problems.”

“Female problems?” Val repeated.

Odean nodded. “Yes. My tonic is only a short-term solution. Many of the women I see need extended visits.”

Val looked down at his notebook and then back up at the doctor.

“Has a Miss Irene Derry ever been a patient of yours?”

Val watched the doctor carefully.

He frowned and then shook his head. “I’m not certain. I would have to check my files. I’ve answered all of your questions, Inspector. I’d like to know what this is all about,” Odean asked.

“Give me the address of your practice,” he directed, and after Val wrote it down, he placed the notebook inside his jacket pocket.

“A woman was murdered,” he told the doctor. “I was informed by one of her friends that she had been seeing you. She mentioned you by name, yet you seem to have no recollection of her.”

“I have many patients, Inspector. I told you that.”

“Yes, well tomorrow, I shall visit your practice and we shall see if Irene Derry was among them.” Val picked up his hat. “If that suits you?” He asked Odean.

“Tomorrow then, Inspector,” Odean nodded.

???

Entering the light of the afternoon as Val walked out into the street, he blinked several times until his eyes adjusted to the grey light. Previous to visiting the doctor, he had tea with Irene’s friend Nell Lewis. She had led him to speak to the charismatic Doctor Barton. Nell did not know much about him, but Irene had told her friend that she was seeing him. Exactly what she had been seeing him for remained a mystery. Nell also said that Irene spoke of him often and held him in very high regard. Irene said he was a miracle maker and urged Nell to see him but she had not done so.

Nell had also mentioned another man that Irene had been quite taken with, but she was very secretive about his identity. Irene had said that the man was very wealthy, and unbeknownst to her family she had attended several music hall concerts and suppers with him and told no one except Nell. Her family thought she was with her friends while she was secretly alone with him.

Nell did not approve of the man because he seemed unwilling to be honest about his status with Irene. He took her to out of the way places and it seemed as if he was hiding her. Nell and Irene had quarreled over the man several times and it had become a bone of contention between the two women. Nell had felt that Irene was involved in something, but wasn’t sure what, and she had stopped speaking to her in the last month before her death.

Val hailed a hansom cab to return home. He rested his head against the back of the cushion and as the cab swayed with the movement of the horse he thought suddenly of Caroline Derry. Caroline as she had been that night when she had come to see him. He felt a rush of desire, which surprised him. He remembered her soft curves under his hands and the feel of her against him.

He pushed the thoughts of her away. He didn’t want to get caught up in anything and he knew these feelings were not returned. Caroline Derry was an intelligent beauty but not flighty like her sister. He had a job to do which was to find the killer of the four women, but he racked his brain to find out who might know more. Obviously, the family was oblivious and he didn’t want to harm Caroline with questions that would lead to more questions.

He smiled suddenly. Who knew next to everything that went on in any house at any given time? Of course. It was clear. He would speak to the servants.