The Lives and Deaths of Evangeline Borden and Millicent Janus

One of the rarer of the leaked documents released in the wake of Airtam Morenthall passing, this particular section of her journals was nonetheless fairly popular and gave rise to a trend in pulp literature at the time to include more endearing and emotionally driven characters. When the deaths of two women were brought to her attention as a matter of curiosity, she nearly passed over it as a prank or something that would yield very little information relevant to her various academic pursuits, until she read the post mortem report by the attending Benevolent. Her curiosity piqued, she gathered her things and made her way to the small town of Hearde intent on getting to the bottom of the strange mystery that was presented to her by the Benevolent who pronounced them dead, Doctor Heronius Fillmore, in the following letter.

Dame Morenthall, 
It is with great puzzlement that I reach out to you and your establishment in the capitol concerning my most recently performed duties as mortician for the settlement of Hearde. While death is no stranger to this place, I have seldom had cause to second guess my initial findings when someone does pass, as very little surprises me anymore. Called upon by the owner of one of the few tenement houses in our area, a Dame Corolin, who knocked upon the door of my clinic late in the evening on the 7th day of Frigus. The poor woman was in a state, and after giving her a tonic for her nerves I was able to discern that nature of her distress was the deaths of two of her established tenants. Still not fully understanding the full scope as to why this was cause for such a reaction, I asked for her to take me to the scene assuring her that I  would take care of the matter promptly.  
On the way there, Dame Corolin explained to me that the tenants, Miss Evangeline Borden and Miss Millicent Janus were both ideal renters, having always paid on time and never been the cause for any trouble, in fact, both of them primarily keeping to themselves which, as she said, suited her just fine. She is a chatty woman, but I see no reason to doubt her assessments. 
The scene of the deaths was not quite what I had imagined. The two women's remains were in the attic of the house, positioned upright with each holding a small thin blade like a stiletto or a misericorde embedded through the lower jaw of the other, their hands still wrapped tightly around the hilts and the blades sunk deep into the cranial cavity, leaving to at least not need to examine either for signs of life. Between the positioning of the bodies leading me to think that there may be some manner of foul play at hand here and the fact that not a single drop of blood could be seen at the site, I admit I was quite confused. My primary worry is the possibility of some new blight born predator or even a citizen suffering from some form of psychosis beginning what could be a devastating reign of murder upon our small town. We do not have the means nor the resources to combat such a thing, and the Empire has been very slow in the past to send aid when we need it, so it is to you that I extend my concerns. Your reputation is one of curiosity and impeccable moral fiber. I have no doubt that you r keen eyes will find whatever it is that I have missed and help to uncover the horrible culprit behind such a heinous crime. 
Thank you for your consideration in this matter, I will await your response and hopefully, your arrival.
Sincerely Yours, 
Doctor Heronius Fillmore, MD 

Purpose

Never one to pass up a mystery that could potentially be tied to something new or unique, Airtam travelled to the small town of Hearde to follow up on the strange report of a murder by the local Benevolent mortician to try and find the true reason, method, and motivation behind the odd circumstances surrounding their deaths.

Document Structure

Publication Status

As part of the leaked Morenthall publications following her death, these writings are generally easy to find.

Historical Details

Public Reaction

This particular entry into Airtam's leaked journals was remarkably popular.

Read the Document

The Lives and Deaths of Evangeline Borden and Millicent Janus

11th of Frigus 150 PR
My arrival to the small town of Hearde was one met with little fanfare or welcome, in fact had it not been for the good Doctor's arrival to greet me I cannot help but to wonder if I would have been left out to die of exposure. The local population is far from warm, a lovely reflection of the temperature here. Doctor Fillmore was at least personable. While he offered me every aspect of hospitality I declined, preferring to get to the matter at hand right away as it has already been three days since the deaths and the more time passes the less viable data I will able to extract from the bodies and the scene, if they both had not already been contaminated to the point of futility already. I was given a small room on the first floor of the same building the women had stayed in and took a moment to unpack and settle before setting off to see the attic for myself.

The house itself is not exactly run down, but one can certainly tell it has not been properly maintained in some time in the finer details of the place. The slight curl to portions of wallpaper where it is meant to tuck behind the baseboards, frayed portions of carpet in the rugs, and countless nicks and dings from people coming and going only added to the rundown appearance. These small factors inform me that Dame Corolin is either attempting to undertake the running of this place alone or that she had a partner that abandoned her at some point either in life or death.

There appears to be only one way in and out of the attic, and my initial observations and investigations of the room showed no evidence otherwise, removing another potential means by which a killer might have come and gone unseen. The locations where the bodies were discovered was still very apparent due to the large disturbance in the dust around the area, and in the drag marks and footprints leading to and away from the spot. Damn it all! The scene is worthless with all the traffic. I did my due diligence anyway, and just as the Doctor had mentioned, no sign of blood remains in the area. This would mean whoever did this possibly took the bodies elsewhere, exsanguinated them, and then brought them here to pose as a means of perhaps sending a message? Quenching some sick urge? It's too soon yet to tell what the motivations are, but until I can narrow this down, everyone is a suspect...even the good Doctor.

I next made my way to the rooms of the individual women, starting with Millicent Janus. The building is crafted in such a way that the individual rooms share a hallway between them and wrap around from there into a main parlor with a small bedroom in the back looking out over the entry with the room across the hall mirroring the layout. Both bedrooms look out over the walk that leads to the front door through a small window through which the adjacent room's bedroom window can be seen. Millicent's home I found to be immaculate and clean, leading me to suspect that the good Dame Corolin had already begun preparations to find a replacement for her lost income. Looking through the woman's belongings made me feel a bit criminal, but it was obvious that I would get little help in my search here, and with me unable to trust anyone, this is a much more scientifically sound means of gathering unspoiled data without any outside chatter to cloud my deductive process. What I did find surprised me. Fallen behind the bedside table, I spied a small, leatherbound journal. I would have missed it myself if I had not rather ungraciously clipped the bedframe with my shin and bent down to quietly whisper foul language to the wound until it stopped hurting. As I raised back up, the Doctor was opening the door and I quickly stashed the journal in my bag. He claimed he had become concerned when I did not return, but understood my eagerness to investigate the scene before it was too disrupted to find anything relevant. To this end, he insisted II join him at the clinic to examine the bodies to which I agreed. Already three days had passed and it would be best to look them over before too much decomposition settled in.

11th of Frigus 150 PR (Continued)

The clinic was what I had expected it to be, a small building with far fewer amenities than I had grown accustomed to back in the capitol, but sufficient enough for our needs.

The first thing I noticed was that the bodies were remarkably well preserved. No discoloration or swelling, and had it not been for the small, almost unnoticeable puncture wound just below their jawlines, one might even mistake them for being asleep. Further investigation yielded very few results, though I did find it odd that the smell was not in the least way offensive, in fact, both the women’s perfume could be smelled faintly still lingering in the air. Closer inspection of the bodies confirmed the Doctor’s observations concerning the obvious cause of death and the exsanguination of both of them, though aside from the wounds that killed them, no means of the blood being removed were apparent. There was also no signs of rigor mortis ever having set in, so what or whomever removed the sanguine fluids from them, did so quickly following their deaths.

A closer examination of their appendages did reveal what I believe to be ink stains on their fingers and hands. Small spatters on Millicent’s hands, like one might endure from regular use of a quill, and darker stains and discolorations on Evangeline’s fingers. I made note and finalized my confirmation of the findings and then informed the Doctor that I would be taking my leave to allow him to perform the autopsies. While he did offer to walk me back to the house, I refused. A brisk walk through the cold of Hearde at night should be just what I need to clear my head.

The walk was quiet and very cold…more so than I expected. I am exhausted, and will peruse the journal and examine Evangeline’s room, tomorrow.

12th of Frigus 150 PR

Morning found me rested but without answers. If anything I have only succeeded in creating even more questions concerning the fates of these two women.

I made my way down to the communal dining room and sat with the other occupants of the house, of which there were three. Two Bechtlarite laborers who offered me a curt nod and otherwise paid me little heed, and a rather cheerful young Ventryte woman. As I took my seat, Dame Corolin arrived from the kitchen with a small wheeled cart containing breakfast. This offering was made up of several bowls of some sort of mash, a platter of burnt rashers, and a tall decanter of coffee, which at the time I am pretty sure heralded the return of the gods as I was desperate for just that. As I sipped at it and did my best to politely push my charred rasher aout my plate enough to seem like I was eating it, the cheerful Ventryte woman proceeded to tell me of her time here in the Empire and all the wonders she had beheld thus far with a surprising amount of energy and all the while either ignoring or completely oblivious to the narrow eyed stares and glances of her housemates as they peered at her over the tops of their coffee cups. To my shame, I had adopted a similar attitude, a cultural thing with us really, and nearly missed it when she mentioned that she was quite sad at the loss of such kind women, and how it was a shame that they two had never met. Odd. I mentioned out loud how it was that two women living across a hall from one another for any length of time in a house with a communal dining tradition and in a small town go for so long without meeting? How long had the two lived there?

I was informed by our hostess that Millicent had stayed with them for nearly five years, and Evangeline closer to seven, but that they both opted to take their meals alone in their rooms and they seldom left the house which was fine with her because in this day and age, trust is a hard thing to earn. I thanked her for her insight and stood to leave, nodding to the other tenants and offering a smile and a thank you to the Ventryte woman before moving on to investigate the other room.

Evangeline’s room, while not as spotless, was still quite fastidious and tidy. Moving through it I found very little, but I did notice a small table and chair at the window in the bedroom looking out over the walk and onto Millicent’s bedroom window across the way. A closer look revealed several of what I initially thought were ink stains on the wood of the table, but looking closer I realized that they weren’t. There was no stark edge like ink would leave. This was more of a discoloration caused by something else, and as I leaned in closer I could smell the sharp scent of iodine, faint but still enough to wrinkle my nose. I found nothing else of note and returned to my room to finally go over the journal.

12th of Frigus 150 PR (Notes on the Journal)


Millicent’s journal was remarkably well written, and presented the world as she saw it, a thing of simple beauty and appreciation. It painted an image of Cairne in sharp contrast to my own embittered view, but also shows a remarkable character that must have resided in the poor soul.


She referred often and with a great deal of worry about what she called her “condition”, though no details as to what afflicted her were mentioned, only that it was the result of something that occurred while she was on the road years ago before coming to Hearde. By the way she speaks of it, it must have been a substantial injury, but one she appears to have recovered from with only this lingering condition to show for it.


As it carries on, she becomes aware of a woman in the next room watching her through their facing bedroom windows. What begins as a fearful series of entries, turns to curiosity, and apparently the two of them began to communicate by leaving letters under the door. This carried on for some time and she grew to where she began to enjoy seeing Evangeline there, and would just sit across from one another for hours while reading, writing, or drawing. It sounds like the knowledge of knowing she was there brought her peace. She struggles with this often, as Evangeline suggests from time to time that perhaps they should meet. Millicent’s concerns over how her “condition” will be received, causing her tremendous distress as fears of this person, this only person she has a connection with leaving. These moments repeat and persist for some time as well, until in a panic, she informs Evangeline in a passed letter that she has to leave because it isn’t safe for either of them to carry on this way. To make it worse, Evangeline seems to have taken the news very well, offering an understanding reply and only asking for one small token in return, an unnamed item by which to remember her by. Millicent accepts with some hesitation, but seeing as she is about to move on from Hearde, she feels as though she has nothing to lose by taking the chance. The journal ends there and I can only assume that she died not long after. This causes me to pause and wonder, could Evangeline have done this?



12th of Frigus 150 PR (Notes of the Autopsy)


Doctor Fillmore’s autopsy results were surprising. Apparently both bodies, while still not decomposing, contained organs that were leathery and desiccated, all of them would have been useless, and unless some new Void Born horror or extremely talented Benevolent Heretic has discovered a way to do this, there is simply no way their bodies could have entered this state in the time that has passed since they were both known to be alive. What’s more, he has discovered a small concentration of mercury on the hands of Evangeline, likely what had caused the discoloration I noticed, and possibly the discoloration on her table as well.


What could have led these two women to this state and to end up in the attic of their home thrusting misericordes into one another’s skulls? The details of this just don’t line up…
I will rest and confront these facts in the morning with a fresh mind.


13th of Frigus 150 PR
I awoke early to the sound of breaking glass and hurried footsteps in the hall. Hurrying out of bed I donned a robe and rushed into the hall in time to see a figure disappear down the stairs in the dark. I quietly moved to pursue them, but was content to err on the side of caution, as I had no idea who or what this could be and I am hardly trained for combat should the need arise. Following the figure I could tell that they were struggling with a bundled object that was causing them substantial trouble navigating the stairs, and upon reaching the bottom, they tripped and fell sprawling across the landing as their bundle tumbled down with a loud crash. As the figure hit the ground, a distinctly feminine yelp issued forth and I recognized the voice of Dame Corolin. I called out in the darkness, more confident now and she jumped up with surprising speed, grabbed the bundle from the floor and fled quickly from the building and out into the darkness of early morning. I was surprised by this, and suspicious as well. I lit a candle and as I did, the light illuminated a torn, thin sheet of something, slightly reflecting the light of the flame. I reached down to pick it up and realized it was an image of the two dead women, encased in a small frame but damaged by the fall to the floor. The image, damaged as it was, was remarkable, and as I stood admiring it, things began to come together in my mind. This was the token that Evangeline had requested. A photo to commemorate their time. This is why the mercury was on her hands and why I smelled iodine in her room! As I looked closer in the candlelight I noticed something else as well that caused me a sharp intake of breath and a pause.

The image was perfect, as though neither woman had so much as breathed while the process was imprinting their image, and knowing that it takes around ten or fifteen minutes for an image to imprint, this is nearly impossible. I carefully placed the image in my pocket and chased after Dame Corolin with renewed vigor and purpose, but I never did find her. I did stumble across the shattered remains of the camera obscura that Evangeline must have used, though why Dame Corolin sought to destroy it remains an odd mystery to me, unless she played a role in their deaths?

I gathered the shattered camera and returned to the house just as the sun’s dim light illuminated the clouds above.
I decided to have the bodies shipped back to the University for further study, and kept the journal and the image of the two women as well. Once there, with the help of our records and resources, we were able to determine that both women were afflicted with whatever causes some people to just not die, the An Rún Marbh as they have come to be called. Sadly, from what I can gather from their remains, the evidence, the photo and the journal, neither knew what the other was, and both were too terrified to openly admit it until that last moment where they finally met to take the picture. I suspect the stillness visible in both of them alerted the other to their similar “conditions.” This does little to explain why they killed one another or why Dame Corolin attempted to cover up the evidence and went on the run. We have still not found her, and there are no records of the woman anywhere that I can find. All the documentation concerning the house and her time in Hearde is a fabrication, and that, unfortunately, is where the trail ends. I can only hope that Millicent and Evangeline find each other in the spirit realm. Perhaps there, they can finally find the happiness they both deserve.

Close

Medium

Vellum / Skin

Authoring Date

11th of Frigus 150 PR to 13th of Frigus 150 PR

Location

Hearde

Authors

• Airtam Morenthall