The Frankenstein Murders by Kathlyn Bradshaw Page B

At that time, he was still considered to be the murderer.
    â€œThe very morning after Mr. Alphonse Frankenstein arrived in town, he met with Daniel Nugent and the other fishermen. From the witnesses’ testimony, it was found that a boat with one man in it pushed off from the shore where Henry Clerval’s body was found. The verdict was that there were two men sailing about and Victor Frankenstein was mistaken for the other — the murderer. It was Mr. Alphonse Frankenstein himself who discovered the alibi for his son from the depositions of the fishermen and Mrs. Magee.”
    To this, I added Shelaigh Connelly, the witness from the Orkney Islands.
    â€œThe witness from the Orkneys. Why yes, with the aid of his father, a witness was discovered who had seen the younger Frankenstein quite distant from where Henry had been murdered, on the Orkney Islands. Since it was too far for Victor to have made it here in time to murder Henry Clerval, he could not have committed the crime. To be sure, Victor Frankenstein was freed immediately. With my help, Mr. Alphonse Frankenstein collected witnesses and arranged his son’s defence. We were able to prove that Victor had been in the Orkneys at the time of the murder, and so the grand jury rejected the bill.”
    I pointed out that the distance from where we sat to the Orkneys was not inconsiderable. In the hours that Victor Frankenstein spent sailing aimlessly, the body would have cooled considerably, perhaps even progressed into the first stages of rigor mortis. It would seem unlikely that Henry Clerval’s body wasabandoned on the shores of Ireland while Victor Frankenstein was still in the Orkneys.
    â€œThe grand jury deliberated over the testimony and explanations given in Victor Frankenstein’s defence and rejected the bill,” Magistrate Kirwin repeated. “It was a very busy time of year, during the season of the assizes, and the hearing was held in a court nearly a hundred miles away. Alphonse Frankenstein was most grateful to me when the grand jury absolved his son.”
    Hoping a different area of questioning might prove more enlightening, I asked if, after the younger Frankenstein’s release, other suspects were considered.
    â€œWhy now, faith, no, and it has always been a disappointment of mine that we were not able to find the true criminal. Unofficially, I have always maintained a suspicion that it was a case of a robbery, where some villain was interrupted by Daniel Nugent and his friends before being able to finish the job,” he told me as he leaned forward across the desk, as though imparting the greatest of secrets.
    I was most interested in anyone else spotted in the area at the same time. I looked again at the magistrate’s notes. There were sentences that told of witnesses who deposed that they had spotted a mysterious figure, but the details were unspecific and even contradictory. One testified the figure was short and stocky, another that the figure was large and broad. The only item of true interest was a list of all the objects found on Henry Clerval’s body. The list included a pocket watch and a purse with the kind of money one would expect a traveller to carry. This led me to ask if such a list would not suggest that the motive for killing Henry Clerval was not in fact robbery.
    â€œThat has never been fully determined. As I said, it is most probable that the sudden and unexpected presence of Daniel Nugent and the rest of the fishermen scared off the murderer.”
    I disagreed with the magistrate’s conclusion. I explained that Iwas investigating the murder of Henry Clerval because there is reliable evidence that his death is closely linked to two other murders. The victims were all known to each other, and in each case the victims were strangled. This would require a fair amount of strength at least in the case of Henry Clerval, who was young and fit and not easily overtaken. In each case, there were