<hr/><div class="floatleft">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/f/f2/Beardycox.jpg)</div><br/><strong>Name:</strong>Avery Burnham<br/><strong>Faction:</strong>Law Dogs (1)<br/><strong>Date:</strong>May 16th, 1876<br/><strong>Time of Day:</strong>Late Morning<br/><strong>Location:</strong>Jail (leaving); Burnham Detective Agency (entering)<br/><strong>Tagged:</strong>Dolores, Townsend present; Charlie Flatbush? Doctor?;  CLOSED<br/><hr/><br/>Doggy lived at the asylum.  Doggy protected Dolores from mean people.  Doggy played rough.  Doggy was becoming a very interesting character indeed.  Avery still couldn't quite connect the enormity of the crime with a single figure and feel comfortable about it though.  Of course he'd heard stories about the incredible strength sometimes exhibited by the mad, but strong enough to tear a man asunder?  It was still a compelling lead though.  It was also more than apparently Bilton or any of his gunslinging deputies had managed to uncover.  Less than day on the job and he was already showing them up.<br/><br/>"No one is going to hurt anybody else if I can help it," Avery answered Dolores, meeting her worried expression with a reassuring smile.  Saying such words almost made him feel like a genuine lawman again, for a brief moment anyways.  Of course he wasn't really.  He was a hired man now.  He was not being paid to solve this crime but to keep the girl from swinging for it.  Still, an actual believable suspect was certainly the best way to do that.  If he could locate this Doggy character then he might have effectively killed two birds with one stone.  His picture could even make the papers again.  Admittedly the Gomorra Gazette was a far cry from the London Herald, but one takes what one can get.<br/><br/>"I'd dearly love to be your friend Dolores and when you get out I promise you we'll both have tea together whenever you like."  Placing a gentle hand against the small of her back, Avery helped her up so that he could stand as well.  As much as his mind was now whirling with the possibilities -- if they just kept some kind of records at the asylum, it was possible he could put an actual name to 'Doggy' before the day was done -- he'd made a promise to his client's wife and, nuisance as it was, he had to deliver that first.  He might still need her cooperation at the trial, after all.  "A story.  Yes.  Lets see…"<br/><br/>He watched her get settled under the covers and wondered how it was he found himself once again putting a beautiful young woman chastely to bed, twice now in as many weeks.  It was a decidedly strange hobby to have picked up.<br/><br/>"Comfortable?  Very good.  This story begins a long long time ago and involves a handsome knight, who was brave, strong, and never told a falsehood to anyone, and a beautiful young princess with flowing red locks, why, not at all unlike yours Ms. Dolores, beloved by all her people far and wide.  She lived in a lonely old castle with the royal family, the king and the queen and all her relatives, until one day a great fire-breathing monster flew down from the far off eastern mountains and…"<br/><br/>Rubbish.<br/><br/>****<br/><br/>Avery closed the cell door quietly when he'd finished, returning the keys to the desk.  A glance at his pocket watch found he'd spend far longer here than he intended but the information he'd gleaned was more than worth the time sacrificed.   With any luck the doctor treating Lady Boyle or Deputy Flatbush would be waiting for him at the office.  The sooner he got out to the asylum, the better, but the doctor might be able to provide him with some useful insight into the victims first.  There was even a chance his testimony alone could be enough to clear Dolores depending on the nature of the rape.<br/><br/><em>And that's your job.  That's what you're being paid to do.  Get her out safe and clear, even if she has been holding back important information from the sheriff's office by keeping this Doggy a secret from them.  You're not out to catch the killer.   </em><br/><br/>But what if he could do both?