Page 18 (2/2)

"I believe," he said quietly, as he regarded his angels, "that hus need friends, and love, and the touch of huh, an older ht crawl into the back of a tinker&039;s wagon or steal onto the gangplank of a ship and find their destination is still the sa not found in randfather&039;s I think souished they died, for they simply could not bear to live anyers whispered "How they fit together, how they protect what they hold within The foundations of our houses are nificent, Matthew, even if our hearts become darkened or our minds clouded It was always the bones that drew eo purpose The bones are miracles of creation" He blinked, and seemed at that instant to return to the hard floor of reality "It&039;s the jelly I can&039;t bear The cracked clay, and what coain his hand pressed to his ht

"I assue the subject, "that your father is still in Bristoli"

"Yes" It was spoken in a strange, faraway voice "Still in Bristol He will always be in Bristol"

This subject, too, seeave a shudder and said, "Please I&039; well"

"I&039;i"

"Yes Uh" Matthew hesitated, for he didn&039;t wish to further sicken the coroner, yet he had to know "It has to do with ausley," he said "Do you mindi"

"It&039;s e

"I&039;ve heard that a blood ht On a root cellar door near Barrack Street"

"Yes, so Lillehorne&039;s toldto the three lawyers Pollard, Fitzgerald, and Kippering What of iti"

"I was just wondering if it was true" What Matthew had really wanted was to h constable "Do you know if there were any other blood ers turned toward Matthew and stared at hi, I think Why not ask Lillehorne yourselfi"

"Heuhwas in aWith Lord Cornbury"

"I&039;ve only heard of the one et into their root cellar If you&039;re really intrigued, Lillehorne&039;s already searched the cellar and found nothing"

"Why their root cellari" Matthew had to ask "I ht there at the end of the alley, isn&039;t iti Why would the Masker try to get into a root cellar when he could have easily turned either left or right onto Beaver Streeti"

"It , which I understand was profuse, and he feared the constables were converging on hiers picked up one of the swords from the rack and used a white cloth to wipe the blade "You know, there is a question Lillehorne posed to ht I couldn&039;t answer it Why is it, do you think, that the person who started the alarm hasn&039;t coers replaced the sword and picked up a second one to wipe down "Lillehorne&039;s very interested in finding this person He&039;s found any nu, but not the person who began it What do you make of thati"

Matthew took a deep breath and said, "With three h constable would save his interest for the Masker, not an innocent witness who ers nodded and returned the sword to the rack "Four murders," he said

Mattheasn&039;t sure he&039;d heard correctly "Siri"

"Four," McCaggers repeated "Murders In the past three weeks ausley was the fourth, not the third"

"I don&039;t think I&039;ers went to the series of cubbyholes and pulled out one of the paper scrolls He opened it and studied the drawing of a body and the notes written there in black and red crayon "as you&039;re so adept at both questions and answers, I&039;ll tell you that four days before Dr Godas killed, a body washed up from the Hudson River on the property of a farmer named John Ormond His far hteen or nineteen, twenty at the oldest Here, see for yourself" He gave Matthew the paper and then stepped back as if distancing himself from the scene

Mattheasn&039;t quite sure what he was looking at, for some of the coroner&039;s notations seemed to be in a scrivener&039;s code unknown to him He did note first and foremost the red crayon drawn in the eye sockets "The man&039;s eyes were injuredi" Matthew asked

"His eyes were gone You see the stab wounds to the bodyi"

Matthew counted the red lines "Eighti"

"Three to the chest One to the base of the neck Three to the back and one to the left shoulder From what I could tell, the blades were all different shapes and widths You&039;ll also see in my notations that his wrists were bound behind him with cords"

"He was murdered by a mobi" Matthew asked

"actually, the frontal and nasal bones of his skull were shattered and three of the vertebrae in his neck broken I think he fell fro the river Bear in mind, he was in the water at least five days before Ormond found hiht The river, a warht stab wounds ers&039; idea of a picnic in Hell "This was certainly a vile work," Matthew said an understatement, he decided Even the Masker didn&039;t tie a man&039;s hands behind the back before he struck The victim would have had to knoas about to happen to him, once the cords were knotted

"Four ers "That is a new and very disturbing fact for the colony&039;s book of records"

Matthew handed the document back "I can understand why Lillehorne wanted to keep this one quiet Who was hei"

"No idea" McCaggers rolled up the paper and returned it to its cubbyhole "The body wasnot suitable for travel Neither was anything-pardonleft of theuhleft of the-"

"The facei" Matthew finished for him

"That, exactly Fish and turtles Theyprobably took the eyes first" McCaggers looked a little fish-eyed himself, but he carried on "The clothes were inspected but the pockets were e the grave The case re"

"and he had no walleti Nothing at alli"

"Nothing Of course he ht have been robbed, by either his er, as if so to ask you I&039;ei"

"I did" Matthew suristrate Powers or Lillehorne

"Did you know ausley very welli"

"No, not well"

McCaggers crossed to the large black chest and pulled open a drawer In it, Mattheas a bundle wrapped in brown paper also in the draas a cheap brown cloth wallet, a pencil wrapped with string, a set of keys, a small pewter liquor flask, and what appeared to be a vial half-full of oily aers said, "if you&039;d ever heard ausley speak of his next-of-kin"

ah, Matthew thought Here they were, then The last possessions of Eben ausley as he was carved out of the earth to reap his reward His clothes wrapped in the paper The vial had to be the sickening cloves cologne The keys to the locks of the orphanage The pencil to record ausley&039;s gas, and whatever else lay in his mind&039;s brackish swamp

"I haven&039;t, no," Mattheered He felt a little itch at the back of his brain

"I presue at the almshouse, perhaps Or I&039;ll just put all this in a box and store it away" McCaggers closed the drawer "Did he never talk about a familyi"

Matthew shook his head and then he realized as aini"

McCaggers did, and stepped aside as Matthew approached

It only took a few seconds, actually Hardly an inspection to see as"ausley&039;s notebook," Matthew said "Where is iti"

"I&039;m sorryi Where is whati"

"ausley always carried a sold ornamentation on the cover I don&039;t see it here" He looked into the coroner&039;s face "Might it be wrapped up with the clothesi"

"Positively not Zed is "

Far be it from Matthew to question Zed&039;swatched and when he glanced up at the roof hatch he saw the slave standing there staring down at hiht afford a tadpole in a teacup

Matthew looked at the objects in the drawer again, but he didn&039;t really see them for his eyes were clouded "The notebook isn&039;t here," he said quietly, ers offered, "it wasn&039;t on the body" He pushed the drawer shut once more, and then walked to the weapons rack and chose another two pistols He took them to a small round table where Matthe a box of lead balls, a powderhorn, and a nued in readiness for the next assault on Elsie "Would you care to take a shoti" he asked

"No, thank you I do appreciate your ti toward the door He&039;d noted several holes in the wall beyond Elsie and two broken panes It aotten a sting in the wig by now

"Good day, then Please feel free to co froh praise indeed, Matthew thought But noas tiet out of this building without unpleasantries in the forh constable or a blowhard chief prosecutor He left the attic, closed the door behind him, and descended toward the cruel and common earth