‘Oh they liked her, Constable, but they did not think her suitable for my wife. They had set up many of their wealthy friends’ daughters with me, and none of them I liked very much. For you see they all reminded me far too much of my mother; highbrow, well-educated and quite frankly a huge braggart. Victoria however was different, she was fun and had a great sense of humour, and she certainly stood out against all of my other friends. Yet I loved her, and for some strange reason she loved me back.’
Listening to Mr Summers reminisce like this was strangely enjoyable to me, and I could tell that talking about it all made him think less about what was happening just around the corner. Constable Taylor seemed to realise this too as he continued to keep him talking.
By now the street was plunged into full darkness, and I lit the small lamp perched to the front of the carriage. Mr Summers eventually fell silent and continued to stare up the dark street, pacing occasionally to keep himself warm against the freezing cold wind that seemed to be getting stronger. The only sound coming from the heavy breathing of the two horses, and the whistling of the heavy wind as it rushed through small alleys.
All we could do now was sit and wait for Mrs Summers to re-appear.
Chapter 37
Victoria
He took my hand but I snatched it away as fast as I could. He seemed shocked at my unwillingness at not going with him, hurt even, which was not at all what I had expected from him. I expected anger and rage, yet his face was saddened.
‘I am sorry, D, but I think I should leave.’
I stood from the bench but he quickly reached out and grasped my hand again, pulling me back down onto the bench hard. He pulled me close to him and held the back of my head with his free hand, pulling me into him, he whispered into my ear, ‘You would be making a big mistake returning to Albert, he will never love you as much as I do.’
He then inhaled deeply through his nose, his lips gently brushing against my neck as he did this. His lips found the delicate chain of my necklace and he stopped what he was doing immediately. He leaned himself back to get a better look at the jet pendant hanging from my neck. As he took in the sight of my necklace his expression did not change; his eyes lifted and found my own as he began to speak to me again.
‘A gift from Albert?’ He was not really asking this in the anticipation of a response, but simply confirming what he already knew.
‘Yes.’ I gulped as my body began to tremble with fear once more. He still held me close to him, his hands large and strong, I knew I could never escape his solid grip. I wished for Detective Matthews to get here and put a stop to this madness, now.
‘If you are ever going to get over him my dear, you first need to remove him from your life; starting with this!’
D grabbed the jet pendant and pulled at it with an almighty force. My head lunged forward under the force, until finally the chain snapped off into his hand; my neck stung instantly from the sheer force. D threw the necklace over the railing in front of us, and cackled a blood curdling laugh which rang loud into my ear, as we watched the necklace disappear over the edge.
‘Now my darling,’ he said, turning my face with force so we were looking directly into each other’s eyes, ‘your recovery begins, come let us disappear into the night where…’ He stopped abruptly and looked over my shoulder.
‘Does anybody know you are here?’ he asked me, his tone harsh and accusing, all the while his eyes continued glaring passed me towards what little amount of Henrietta Street was visible from his position.
‘No,’ I lied, but he did not take in what I had said. His eyes were fixated on the small street behind me as though he was straining to hear something.
‘We have company my love.’ He spoke with a strange satisfaction in his voice. I listened out for footsteps, but heard nothing. How he could know somebody was coming up the street was beyond me: the bench sat nestled beside the final cottage, from here the narrow street was hardly visible at all, and I was certain that I couldn’t hear any footsteps.
Suddenly he leapt to his feet, pulling me hard by the hand and directing me away from the bench, the opposite way from Henrietta Street and down the steep slope towards the East pier.
‘What are you doing?’ I demanded, trying with all my energy to release my hand from his grip, yet his expression showed my efforts to escape were not causing any strain on him. As he steered me onto the large pier we became ever more exposed to the high wind coming of the sea. My large black dress acting like a ship’s sail caught the wind and slowed me down, to the annoyance of D. My hair was blowing frantically in my face causing me difficulty to see and my heeled feet were occasionally tripping and stumbling as he dragged me along the uneven surface of the stone pier.
In a final bid to free myself I pulled hard on D’s hand and to my surprise his grasp weakened and my hand was free from his. I did not have time to turn and run. D instantly retrieved my hand again. I retaliated and began to lash out at him, slapping him as hard as I possibly could against his chest and head. He tried to restrain me but I continued to hit him in the face. The high wind suddenly caught hold of my dress with an almighty force and I was thrown back from D, landing only feet away from the pier edge. There were no railings on this pier, just an almighty drop down to the fierce water crashing against the stone wall below. At the same time D’s hat was also blown off by the wind, and took off over the side of the pier into the harbour below.
Anger filled his face, and D marched over to where I had landed and took me again by the hand. Dragging me to my feet he held me with both his hands firmly on my shoulders.
‘Now hold on!’ he shouted over the deafening wind, before again dragging me towards the end of the pier. What was he planning?
The pier was a dead end and the horrific weather was making it far too dangerous to be exposed between the rough sea and harsh harbour on either side of us.
‘Stop!’ I screamed at him. ‘Have you no mercy?’
I began to struggle again from his grip, only this time he had hold of me tighter than ever. He turned back to look at me, his unruly curly hair now blowing into his face without the protection of his hat, and as he looked into my visibly scared face, he did something I was not expecting. He laughed. Not a small chuckle, or even a nasally amused laugh. No. He held up my hand to his face and laughed a cruel outburst of a laugh that carried itself in the wind, echoing back towards the cliffs behind me.
Suddenly his face turned rigid as his eyes focused on something behind me. A rage swept over him that until now I had never seen. His eyes seemed to turn darker and his lips pursed together so tight I thought at first he was in pain. I wanted to look at what he had seen but was too afraid to turn my focus from him. Without warning he reached out and grabbed me by the throat, twisting me around and pulled me in close to his own body; and it was at that point I could see Detective Matthews running down the steep slope and onto the pier; battling against the wind to maintain his balance.
‘Let her go!’ Matthews shouted, although it was almost inaudible through the vast wind blasting directly towards him, my eardrums sore as the harsh cold gale slapped against my face.
‘Leave us be Detective, you cannot come between two people in love.’ D’s voice rang in my ear as he shouted back to Detective Matthews. His grip around my neck tightened and his other arm around me began crushing my chest under the strength of his broad torso and arm, his hold on me becoming tighter still. I let out a small scream that came out more like a gasp and I began to struggle and twist in a bid to free myself from within his grasp, but D just laughed at my pitiful efforts. Does this man have no compassion?
Matthews continued taking slow steps towards us, slow enough to hopefully not cause D any reason to do something thoughtless.
‘Do not come any further...or I will…’ D paused. He clearly did not have a plan, and I could feel that he too was trembling as he held me close.
‘Just let Mrs Summers go and we can talk about this somewhere safe,’ M
atthews shouted over the blustery wind. At that moment he too lost his hat to the fierce harbour water.
‘Leave us in peace!’ D shouted, his voice trembling slightly, but Matthews took another couple of wary steps closer. Suddenly D released his grip of my neck; he began dragging me towards the edge of the pier. Holding onto the back of my dress he proceeded to hold me dangling dangerously off the edge; the waves crashed below, beating the pier hard with an almighty force. I screamed with fear and closed my eyes tightly shut so as not to see the horrendous fall that seemed apparent. I heard a muffled shouting come from Matthews. D again burst into a roar of laughter as he threw me back onto the pier. I landed hard against the cold surface, slightly disorientated.
I saw Detective Matthews now standing only a handful of yards away, D shouting something at him, which I could not make out in the wind. Suddenly D turned and looked straight at me, dashing to my side and kneeling besides me.
‘Are you all right my love? I am sorry if you were hurt. Once we rid ourselves of this man we can be together and alone.’ Detective Matthews suddenly appeared behind D, grabbing him by the shoulders and pulling him backwards away from me. As he did this D’s coat flung open and out fell a book, landing besides my leg. At first I did not take notice of this book: I was too busy watching as the two men began to scuffle along the ground, fists flying in all directions and both trying to be heard over the howling wind, although I could not make out what either of them were saying.
It was then I looked down at the book, I don’t know why at that moment it suddenly intrigued me; it was bright yellow and hardbound. I picked it up and turned it over to look at the front. Staring up at me in blood red letters it read: Dracula by Bram Stoker. Why did D carry this with him? I had never heard of it and wondered why he would carry a book like this on him.
I saw peeking out between the pages what looked like a piece of paper, curious I pulled out the paper gently from the book and gasped upon recognising the pencil portrait of myself. Once hanging on the wall in D’s hide, he now seemed to carry it with him.
I looked up from the drawing to see that D had pinned the Detective onto the ground, his hands around his neck suffocating the life from him. I needed to do something, I needed to help the Detective somehow; but what was I going to do to stop D who was so much stronger than me? I quickly jumped to my feet and raced over to them both. Lifting the heavy book above my head I smashed it around the side of D’s head, causing him to fall sideways off Detective Matthews.
I hurriedly helped the Detective to his feet and looked back towards D who was crouched on the ground, his hand covering his left ear which had taken the brunt of my attack.
‘Run Mrs Summers, I will hold him off, your husband is waiting with a carriage to take you away, now go, quickly!’ Matthews screamed at me, but I was frozen to the spot with shock. Why wasn’t I moving?
All of a sudden D got to his feet, blood trickling from his left ear, and his gaze immediately fell upon the book still in my hand; his eyes widened drastically upon realising what I held.
‘Give it to me!’ he shouted both arms outstretched.
Matthews stepped between us both to shield me. I was now the closest to the pier entrance, yet I did not run. I could see the fear in D’s face, the panic of me now in possession of his book. A rage came over me, and I wanted to hit him with the book again. However seeing his face full of nerves, and his hands held out desperately wanting me to give it back to him, I did something that even I did not think I would have ever done.
‘This is for all the woman you have hurt!’ I screamed back along the pier at him, although exactly how much he heard over the wind I was unsure. I lifted the book above my head and threw it as hard as I could over the edge of the pier.
‘Nooooo!’ D cried, as he launched himself towards the edge of the pier, watching as his beloved book landed amongst the rolling waves below. Its yellow cover standing out against the grey murky water as it floated away.
I looked upon this man as he lay on the pier edge, and found myself pitying him. Clearly he had nothing in his life worth very much, and I had just tossed away the one possession that clearly meant something to him. This man clearly did not know his own mind. His actions he did not see as unreasonable and his desire for me came from the fact I was kind to him. He was clearly just very lonely, and very unwell.
At that moment his head turned and his eyes burned into my own as the anger seethed from every pore in his body, slowly he rose to his feet and began charging in my direction.
‘You will pay for this,’ he spat, ‘you have caused me nothing but trouble.’
‘Run. Now!’ Matthews shouted before launching himself back at D to slow him down. I did not hesitate this time and quickly turned on my heels. The end of the pier was in my sight and I dared not look back once.
With the wind now behind me I was able to quickly make it to the end of the pier and back up the steep incline towards the bench. I briefly stopped at the top to catch my breath where I momentarily looked back. Matthews and D were throwing punches at each other. I knew I needed to get back onto Church Street and out of D’s sight as quickly as possible.
Chapter 38
D.
I watched as my cherished book landed into the dark murky water below, my only treasured possession gone faster than I could have ever imagined. Signed by the author and held in his own bare hands, and now it was gone.
‘You will pay for this,’ I shouted at her. How could she betray me like this after everything we have been through? She had the opportunity to be free of the husband she clearly did not love, and be with me, her one true love.
I jumped to my feet in rage. This had to end now. I was beginning to tire of this craziness she was causing and despite my love for her I now realised that I would never be able to restrain a women of her mind and manner. If I cannot have her, then nobody can.
I made a dash to grab her, but the Detective jumped in the way. He started screaming for her to run, and to my astonishment she did. I grabbed Matthews by the throat and squeezed hard, his face turned red as his arms began to flail and swing at me; he then kicked me hard in the shin which caused me to release him as I crouched in pain for a split second. Suddenly Matthews charged at me again, punching me in the face and knocking me to the ground. He stood over me and before he could say anything I stopped him.
‘Enough!’ I shouted at him, and rose slowly to my feet once more. He paused and looked at me, and for a split second we both stood in silence. I could see in the corner of my eye Victoria had made it back up near the bench she had once sat, and continued out of sight as she headed back into town. I knew that time was running out.
‘Leave the girl alone!’ Matthews called to me over the now howling wind. ‘You need to stop this madness. I know who you are.’
‘You have no idea who I am.’ I raced towards him and grabbed Matthews by the collar of his coat, and in one final burst of energy I threw him as hard as I possibly could towards the edge of the pier. He landed with a heavy thud on the pier edge and looked up at me in pain as I towered over him. ‘Do not pretend to know me, Detective. You think you know what is best for the people of this town, but you are wrong.’
Matthews tried to get up but I was too fast for him, grabbing him by his collar I lifted him up with both my fists, dangling him between the pier edge and the vertical drop below.
‘Don’t do anything stupid,’ Matthews called out to me, his face filled with fear as he struggled against my grip. I did not say another word; I knew I needed to catch Victoria before I lost her forever. I let go of the Detective and watched as his toes landed on the pier edge, instantly losing his balance and falling backwards towards the crashing waves below.
I did not have time to even watch him hit the water; instead I started running as fast as I could back along the pier, and towards Church Street. I was sure that Victoria couldn’t have gotten too far.
Chapter 39
Victoria
A
s I raced along Church Street I was thrilled to see Albert standing outside the White Horse and Griffin with Constable Taylor. The two black horses were all ready to go, Tom was already sat in position, and the carriage was already loaded with our luggage. I ran straight into Albert’s arm as he pulled me into his chest, holding me tight as he kissed me hard on the lips. Being in his arms again finally made my trembling subside, and my increased heartbeat started to ease.
Taylor opened the carriage door ready for Albert and me to enter.
‘Where are the police back up officers?’ I asked him as he ushered me into the carriage, ‘Detective Matthews needs them.’
The Constable shrugged and his face turned to worry.
‘I will leave you to go now, Madam, and I will head along to see that the Detective has the assistance he requires.’ With that he closed the carriage door; I could hear his footsteps as he began marching back along the road.
I looked at Albert with concern spread across my face. I could not stop thinking about poor Detective Matthews facing that man alone.
‘Do you think we should go back to help Matthews?’ I questioned. ‘We can’t just leave him to face that monster alone, can we?’
‘V, you heard what the Detective told us, you are to come back to the carriage and we are to leave immediately. I trust the Detective will have everything under control and Constable Taylor will make sure everything is all right.’
Albert spoke so convincingly I did not question him further, and leaned in closer to him to keep warm, placing the small blanket across our knees ready for the long journey ahead. At that moment the carriage began to move, and I watched as the front door of the White Horse and Griffin left my window view for the last time. I unexpectedly felt rather sad about our departure, despite all that had happened I had in fact liked Whitby and the little inn.
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