Sherlock Holmes and The Body Snatchers by Dean P. Turnbloom

Author:Dean P. Turnbloom
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Sherlock Holmes, mystery, crime, british crime, sherlock holmes novels, jack the ripper, vampire fiction
ISBN: 9781780925394
Publisher: Andrews UK Limited
Published: 2013-11-26T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

Strumm comes clean...

Once out of the station house and after a period of strained silence, Holmes said with a touch of petulance, “If Detective Strumm was unaware these cases were connected, then I’d say Captain Cortright has an overly generous estimation of his investigative prowess.”

“Yes, even from where I stood it was obvious the wounds in all three victims had the all too-similar characteristics of those lateral tears cleanly through both the sterno mastoid and the sterno hyoid and into the internal jugulars. Too similar by half to wounds we’ve seen before.”

“Yes, quite so. Too similar, too precise to be coincidental,” he said, growing quiet and contemplative.

I said, in order to draw him out a bit, “It appears Strumm’s predilection to alcohol pre-dates his removal to the First Precinct, if that Rudalac fellow is any evidence.”

“Yes, it astounds me that he’s apparently got both Cortright and Dr. Rudalac making excuses for his addiction.”

I tried to ignore the irony of his statement as I mumbled some agreement and then fell silent as we continued into the park area.

It was a short carriage ride from the station house on East 59 th Street to the scene of the Parks murders in the southeastern corner of Central Park known as The Pond. It was a well travelled area during the day, which meant the snow was cleared from the path, but at night, it was obviously isolated. The coach in which the bodies were found had been near a locked gate that led into the main road leading to a large pond used chiefly by children ice skating or playing on their sleds. There was an excellent small hill that led down to the pond for sledders to get a good run. After the unfortunate accidental deaths of a number of children the Parks Department prohibited entry to this area after dark.

We’d barely arrived when Holmes bounded out of the carriage to survey the area. After less than fifteen minutes he returned to the carriage. “I’m afraid there’s little to discover here, Watson. The hordes of children tromping through here have obscured any useful footprints and what they haven’t, their horses have.” Somewhat dejected he climbed back into the coach.

“Perhaps we’ll have better luck tomorrow,” said I in hopes of consoling him. I looked down at his shoes and observed, “You might wish to clean your shoes before we return to the hotel. I see you’ve stepped in some slush.”

“What’s that?”

“Your shoes, they’ve collected some wet clay; it must have been slushy out there.”

“Oh, yes, I see. It must be a combination of the bright sun and the constant equestrian traffic.” He scraped the mud off his boots with his Sheffield pocket knife and instructed the driver to take us back to the Gilsey Hotel.

#

It wasn’t until doing research for this book that I discovered, through interviews with Detective Strumm and Dr. Rudalac, what transpired in the morgue once Holmes and I departed. I record it here as it bears directly on this tale.

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