The Devil's Hound

Chapter 14 - Tuesday 17th August 1860

Nigel made no attempt to conceal himself as he walked towards the reception room. Hearing footsteps one of the wardens appeared at the mouth of the corridor. "Who goes there?" he called out holding up a lantern.

"I need Doctor Grant," Nigel said stepping into the light.

"What are you doing out of bed?" the warden growled thinking Nigel had come from one of the wards above.

"I need to see Doctor Grant its urgent."

"Doesn't look like there is anything wrong with you. Get back to bed. It can wait until the morning."

Nigel held up his bloody hand.

"Trust me it can't. Tell Doctor Grant it is an emergency and that my name is Nigel Briggs."

The warden looked as if he was bracing himself for a fight until he spotted Nigel's blood-stained palm. "You wait here. For your sake it had better be an emergency or Doctor Grant will not be pleased that you have dragged him from his bed."

Doctor Grant must have had lodgings somewhere in the building as the warden took the first staircase to the floors above. Nigel waited under the watchful gaze of the warden manning the front desk. Five minutes later the first warden returned accompanied by the hastily dressed Doctor.

"What is it Nigel?"

"It's the man with the broken back...He's dead."

"Dead? How?"

"I think you had better take a look for yourself."

Before Nigel could stop him, Doctor Grant summoned over the warden and marched off towards the isolation ward. Nigel hurried after them. Doctor Grant paused beside the door and gestured for the warden to bring his light forward. Apart from the bare metal where his hand had been the rest of the handle was red with blood. Doctor Grant gave Nigel a questioning look.

"It's worse inside," Nigel said.

Doctor Grant pushed opened the door and accompanied by the warden walked to the room at the end of the corridor. Nigel waited beside the door. He wasn't in a hurry to see the mauled remains again. The two men looked through the glass. The warden swore and stumbled backwards away from the ghastly scene. Doctor Grant managed to hide his surprise behind a deep exhalation. He studied the dead man for a few seconds then turned to Nigel.

"You found him like this?"

"Yes."

He looked back at the dead man before addressing the warden. "This needs to be kept quiet. If word of this gets out it will cause a panic. I need you to send a message to Mr Rinder. Tell him to come here immediately."

"But sir, he will be in bed."

"Then wake him."

The warden hurried off, his face ashen either from to what he had witnessed or from the prospect of waking Rinder from his slumber.

"Nigel you had better get back to your bed before you are missed."

"Don't you think I should be here to help?" Nigel said.

"I will send word to Professor Ashcroft and then seal off the isolation ward until he arrives. I'm sure you will have questions to answer in the morning, but until then you had better try and get some sleep as hard as that maybe."

* * *

Nigel woke to the sound of the men moving around. Yawning he stretched stiff limbs and sat up. The left side of his face ached from where it had been pressed against the wooden board. He hadn't been able to bring himself to use the filthy pillow. After leaving Doctor Grant he had snuck back to bed without incident. He had pulled the tatty blanket up to his chin and had laid there thinking that after what he had just seen he would not sleep. But somehow he had slept, his exhaustion keeping the bad dreams away, until the disorientation from waking faded and the memory of the grisly scene returned to haunt him.