Chris H Wondoloski

The Textile Mill Murders Chris H Wondoloski

The Textile Mill Murders begins on a sunny October day in 1866 when Ginger O'Leary is convinced by her new husband, CJ Mulcahy, Esq., to play hooky from her studies for the Massachusetts Bar. CJ's plan is to pick up a picnic lunch at the Old Black Tavern and head to the top of Witt's ledge for a bit of supping, dining, and canoodling. However, as the pair approach their destination, they are confronted by a near-sighted young constable who beckons them to stop. Once CJ identifies himself, the young constable reports to his former sergeant that the body of a young woman had been found earlier that morning at the cliff's base, dead of an apparent suicide. Shocked and curious, CJ and Ginger proceed to the scene and find Ginger's father, constable Captain Charles O'Leary, ranting at sergeant Elisha Smart over the whereabouts of Doc Briggs. "If I find out he's gone off on one o' his benders, or was in an all-night poker game at Dutchy's and can't get his arse outa' bed..." Nearby and standing alone, they also notice Fr. Charles Lynch, despondent and weeping over the tarp-covered lump of ground that was Shayleigh Grogan. Sensing the prying eyes of onlookers, Ginger and CJ invite the good father for a walk. When he chooses to go to the top of Witt's ledge in order to, "... bask a while in God's good sunshine." Ginger becomes concerned because she is one of the dark ones, a keeper of An Dara Sealladh. If Shayleigh Grogan's despairing spirit were to contact her, Ginger could end up a partner in death beside her. However, the afternoon atop the cliff passes without incident. And upon their return to the bottom, curiosity causes Ginger to examine the now empty spot where Shayleigh had landed. Hardly any blood. No wonder Shayleigh's spirit was silent. She didn't jump from Witt's ledge. Long before she was tossed from the cliff like a sack of garbage, Shayleigh Grogan was murdered!