The Classified Dossier: Sherlock Holmes and Count Dracula(73)
“I am not so sure that the lawman and the criminal are the same man,” Holmes said.
“But you just said…”
“I said that Thorne committed a series of crimes, but it’s possible someone else was also using his name. Then they both came here. They were looking for a way to escape the American authorities and I suspect the Mariner Priest assisted them for his own purposes.”
“But how did Mary connect with these two scoundrels?”
“My working theory,” Holmes said, “is that the Mariner Priest has somehow put them together for his own purposes. At least, it would not surprise me. I have felt his hand steering the helm of this troublesome ship that has come our way and the timing is suggestive. The man posing as Thorne needs an escape, and is provided one. He and Mary seem to be working some scheme together. Either they have thrown together such a plan overnight, or our American gunslinger had no sooner arrived than Mary chose to return here. It seems probable that these are related facts. It may be that Mary felt she needed protection and here is someone ready-made for the part, someone familiar with vampires and their ways, with a vampire companion himself, but not a vampire, so that he may move about and protect them during the day.”
“That does seem logical,” I said.
“There is also this to consider. Our Mariner Priest withdraws from England, taking with him the crew he has ready-made for the endeavour. But, it is my belief that he did not take Mary, suggesting that he has either discarded her, or he has left her here for some specific purpose which she can only fulfil here.”
“What goal could that possibly be?” I asked, not quite keeping up with his rapid-fire chain of suppositions.
“Us, of course,” he said. “She was transformed, and then you, as a uniquely venomous attack on our own persons, who stand opposed to his machinations. You have proved to be a tool unsuited for his hand, but perhaps Mary has not.”
“Then Thorne’s story of pursuing Mary in order to end her was pure fabrication? I suspected as much.”
“And not a very good fabrication, at that,” Holmes agreed.
“I nearly forgot,” I said. “Lestrade may well be by soon. He’ll want answers, if we have them.”
“I think,” Holmes said, “that while Lestrade certainly has his uses, I do not feel that giving him a full understanding of tonight’s proceedings, or vampires in general, would be the wisest of choices.”
“Perhaps not. What of Mary?”
“That is the very question I was about to put to you, dear fellow. You are the closest thing I have to a client in this case, and certainly the one most connected to our fugitive. The long chain of reasoning that we have laid out is not sound at every link. I am convinced that Thorne, whatever his real name, means us no good, and is linked to Mary. I do not believe his story. But it is also possible that Mary is no longer under the Mariner Priest’s control. But she is still here, in London, which she knows to be hostile to her. However, let us for a second entertain the notion that she wants nothing more than to escape England in favour of the United States. If so, perhaps she is no longer our problem.”
“You mean just let her go?” I said, stunned.
Holmes shrugged. “We have done so often enough before this. We know that she fed upon Victor, but we do not know for a certainty that she was directly responsible for Victor Apligian’s death.”
“Feeding is enough,” I said. “I still cannot burn the images from the opium den out of my mind. You were not there, Holmes! You cannot possibly imagine the horror of my own wife urging me to feed – and kill! – when I was first turned. She wasn’t my Mary anymore, but a bloodthirsty devil from my worst horrors. She saw the value of such men, of any men, of little importance. Also, what of the children that Dracula and Mina found?”
“The Count did seem to comport himself in a direct and truthful manner, for all that his motives are suspect,” Holmes said. “Also, I have found myself impressed by Mina’s character. However, it may be too far to call them impeccable sources of information. In addition, there is always the outside chance that they were mistaken.”
“I need to find her, Holmes,” I blurted out. Just speaking the words out loud brought a rush of understanding. I realized what it was that I yearned for out of this case. It wasn’t entirely rational, but I suddenly burned with need to accomplish it anyway. “I need to see for myself. If she’s still the monster that I remember, then we need – I need – to end her. So that no man, woman, or child has to suffer for what we allowed the Mariner Priest to create out of my sweet and dear wife.” The words had all tumbled out, practically unbidden. “If she’s changed, Holmes, if my Mary has somehow resurfaced from underneath the bloodthirsty vampire, then we need to help her.” I looked at Holmes’s austere face. “We need to help her… as you helped me.”
“The Albert Dock, then,” Holmes said, resolve coming back into his tone. “Tonight.”
“Tonight,” I agreed.
“There are,” Holmes said, “some small arrangements to make before we encounter our good Mr Thorne again.”
*
The portion of the Albert Dock where the Merry Widow sat was lined with shops, and we stationed ourselves on the roof of a run-down tailor’s shop that dealt mostly in dungarees. The newly tarred roof two buildings over was an assault on the senses, the pungent, acrid fumes so strong that I felt my tongue to be coated with it by the time we’d sat ten minutes. By the end of the hour, I thought to be never rid of it, and three hours later, I felt certain it would forever command my sense of smell to the occlusion of all others. By comparison, the rich scent of the Thames, usually crowded with a veritable stew of foul stenches, became almost pleasant. Those same assaults, however, would shield any incidental scents of ours from Mary, Boucher, or any other vampires, which was much to our benefit.