Fjallkonan #7 | 21 February 1901
THE STORY NOW TURNS TO WILMA. SHE RECEIVED A message from Thomas Harker’s employer, Mr. Hawkins, saying that he wanted to talk to her. He had enquired about Harker in the surroundings of Castle Dracula, but the only information his agent, Tellet,309 had been able to obtain was a rumor that Harker had for some time now been wandering the region as a homeless drifter, and more specifically, that he had stayed at a guesthouse in Zolyva,310 a small town nearby, where he’d been seen with a troop of philanderers and gamblers. Allegedly he’d also had an affair with Margret, the daughter of the innkeeper there. She was later found murdered not far from Castle Dracula, and most people believed that Harker had killed her.
It was said that he’d been seen in the area in early July, but since then nothing had been heard of him. The Count had left his castle at the end of June and it now stood deserted. On 15 July, a large amount of cash had been withdrawn from a bank in Budapest under Harker’s name. The bankers had described the man who’d collected the money from the bank, and he seemed to have possessed quite a resemblance to Harker.
Wilma asked for all these reports and, with great insistence, finally obtained them. She had no doubt they were wrong and set off on her own journey, making no stopovers until she arrived in Budapest.
There she lodged with English people who were acquainted with Harker’s employer. Once she’d arrived and settled in, she accompanied them one day on a trip from the city to a small town near the Danube.
In the town they came across a tavern and recovered from their journey with some refreshment. As they took their break, they noticed a group of Tatars who’d set up camp nearby. Among them, Wilma saw a man who looked so similar to Thomas that it was nearly impossible to tell them apart; soon after, news spread that a man had been killed in town—the very same Tatar man who not only resembled Thomas Harker but was also believed to be the person responsible for the crimes of which Harker was accused.
The English investigator now realized that he’d been on the wrong track and embarked on a new search.311