—Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy October 30, 1900 Bram Stoker stood before Aldgate Station, examining the printed image in his hand. It was a three-headed crow, rendered in black ink upon a sheet of clean white paper. The crow’s beaks, in the image, were outstretched and open slightly, as if each were about to devour its own succulent prey. The eyes were hollow dots where the white paper showed through. The wings looked like single brushstrokes, or single slices of a knife. The image was menacing. Warlike. Murderous. Bram handed the paper back to Arthur, who had been waiting in silence while his friend finished his examinations. “A frightful beast, that one,” said Bram in regard to the image. “I’ve never seen anything like it.” “Nor I,” said Arthur with a sigh. “I haven’t a clue as to where it comes from or what it’s meant to represent.” “Nothing nice, I’d wager. So you discovered these papers in Sally Needling’s rooms? And the Yard had described the same image as having been tattooed onto Morgan Nemain’s leg?”
