Jimmy guided us to the classroom that he was assigned. He opened his mouth after taking a sip from the teacup given to him by a servant.
“You know I graduated from the Edinburgh Medical School, so let’s skip the obvious information.”
Jimmy explained why he was a hotel employee.
“I wanted a short break.”
“What do you mean by a short break?”
Jimmy shrugged when Sally asked. “I was a little skeptical I could do this for the rest of my life.”
“Why did you return to Edinburgh?”
Jimmy looked back at me when I asked him. “I’m saving money by working for my professor.”
“I’m not talking about that.”
“…”
“I heard you had doubts about whether or not you could be a doctor.”
“Well, everyone worries about the obstacles in life, right? I didn’t know if it was only a temporary feeling, but I’ve been concerned about whether or not being a doctor was right for me. But…” Jimmy looked down and continued. “At that time, at the hotel when I gave you first aid, I realized… This was all I knew how to do and what I wanted to do.”
His voice showed his sincerity.
“Actually, I’ve been wanting to come back to the medical field. The more I ran away, the more I felt it was my destiny.”
Jimmy remained silent for a while.
I opened my mouth. “But why save money? I understand the Earl of Buchan is your patron.”
Jimmy’s eyes widened, and then he grinned. As if he didn’t expect I’d know that.
“Of course, he was willing to support me, but I would have received so much to fill up an entire room.”
I roughly understood the situation.
“During college, I did a lot of menial work. Thanks to that, I was able to cover my living expenses by myself.”
He wasn’t just a hotel employee. He had done everything he could do to make use of his skills. Jimmy followed hunters, skinned dead animals, gutted them, worked in slaughterhouses…
Sally, who was listening, said, “But Jimmy, your image is different than what I thought.”
“Miss Melbourne, you haven’t seen my true self, right? Also.” Jimmy sipped his tea. “I’m older than you.”
“Oh? Really?” Sally’s jaw dropped.
Jimmy was happy about her reaction.
I immediately cut in, seeing them get along. “Jimmy, what do you think about Mr. Henry?”
“He’s… You mean Boss Langham?”
“Yes. He wants to thank you for last time.” Looking at Jimmy’s shabby lab coat, I added, “And maybe, you can get the financial support you need.”
I was going to use this as an excuse to have a relationship with Jimmy and then make him my helper when we get closer.
He seemed to entertain my proposal for a moment. “Well, you don’t need to do that…”
I felt he was quite different from the boy who gave me the hotel’s confidential documents for ten shillings.
“But it wouldn’t be right to refuse you!”
As expected. Jimmy smiled brightly and nodded. “Oh, and I’d like to ask for a personal favor.”
He seemed to be asking for something more.
“What is it?”
“You see…” Jimmy scratched his head and continued, “I look like this.”
“What do you mean?”
“Because I’m not a man, I get caught up in this and that.”
The rumor that he entered the school by lying about his age was well-known. There was also a groundless rumor that “Jimmy Barry” was actually a woman or a man who likes other men.
Jimmy sighed and grumbled. “I’d ignore it every now and then, so they continued on for years.”
It wouldn’t be easy to endure them since he was a woman, but it would be even harder to dispute those rumors alone. Even in this warm weather, Jimmy’s clothes covered his neck.
Unlike the other adults, it was to hide the fact that his Adam’s apple didn’t stick out.
Jimmy brought up the subject when his troubles were easily guessed. He nodded. “I’d like Mrs. Carter to volunteer for my patronage.”
“You already have one.”
“The Earl of Buchan is like my father. What I want from you is…”
Jimmy looked at me strangely and soon bowed his head.
“…I’m ashamed to say it.”
“Ah.”
Sally and I realized the meaning at the same time.
I mean… That was what he was saying, but he wanted me to be in a relationship that made others assume I was his lover.
Such a relationship wasn’t uncommon. A capable but poor college student and a rich lady with money and time would be sensational in London society alone.
For a moment I agonized over the slightly awkward request, Sally, who was sulking, spoke.
“Wait, Jimmy.”
“Yes?”
“What does she get out of this?”
Way to go, Sally. I cheered in my heart and opened my mouth to ask what I wanted to say. “Then, how about this?”
Jimmy looked at me.
“I’m always eager to find material for a novel.”
To be exact, it was finding a source to generate an order from the King in Yellow.
“You want me to be your research assistant for a novel, you mean?” He flashed a smile. “Well, everyone knows you’re a famous horror novelist. Then you’ve found the right person.”
“Is that so?”
“As someone who has encountered more bodies than anyone else in Edinburgh, I can provide you with a wealth of ghost stories.”
…This was a tempting proposition.
Maybe he read my expression, as Jimmy quickly added, “Should I tell you one right now?”
“As far as ghost stories are concerned, you know I have high expectations, right?”
“Of course. I’m confident I’m several times more courageous than most people. I’m one of the five bravest at our medical school.”
A professor at the medical school remarked that Jimmy didn’t care if the body woke up—he’d be the human to dissect it first.
As I nodded, Sally chimed in. “Jimmy, did you experience it yourself?”
“Yes, it was a month before I graduated.”
After answering her, Jimmy looked back at me. “Back then, it was really… I’ve realized what it was like to have my hairs stand on end and feel a chill down my spine.”
As if he couldn’t forget the shock of that time, he bit his lip.
“I couldn’t sleep well for a few days after that. I dreamed of them moving for a while.”
“Them…?”
Jimmy looked up and made eye contact with me. “The Legend of the Blind Statue. Have you heard of it?”
The Blind Statue.
It was a ghost story about statues built in places where the lingering wills of the dead remain, such as a cemetery or crematorium.
The statues were ordinary in that they don’t move when someone looks at them. The moment no one’s watching, the “creature” suddenly moves its limbs and approaches the living.
“Greyfriars Kirkyard, a large cemetery in Edinburgh’s Old Town. There, I was…”
Although the public dismisses it as nonsense of the insane or the ghost stories that children would tell, having experienced countless mysteries and the unknown, I was convinced they were true.
“I saw those damn statues moving like they were alive.”
Jimmy’s pale complexion as he faced me proved the statement wasn’t false.
***
Despite his weak appearance, Jimmy Barry was known for his courage. At the time of the notorious “first dissection” in anatomy class, where even the most reserved man vomits at least once.
“Professor, as you’ve instructed, I cut open its stomach. What should we do now?”
Not only his peers but professors admired him for dissecting the body with a steady hand. He wasn’t just fearless, his skills with a scalpel were unbelievable and very accurate.
Professor Remington, who was in charge of surgeries at the Edinburgh Medical School, had kept an eye on Jimmy.
“You’ll be one of the best surgeons in Edinburgh and London.”
Thanks to this, Jimmy became his teaching assistant, which may be the source of his troubles.
“Jimmy, just once. Can you help me one more time?”
In Edinburgh, it was customary for doctors to take turns doing autopsies whenever an unidentified body was found.
“I’m very busy with my academic work. I’ll pay you more than twice as much as last time.”
Just because Jimmy had been too prominent in anatomy dissections, his professor, who had no experience in autopsies, gave him this job.
“Of course, I’m grateful the pay is pretty high, but…”
The problem was when he went home after the autopsy.
There was only one way out of the morgue heading to the main gate.
It was crossing the endless cemetery between them.
Under the dark sky as if lightning were about to strike, various gravestones could be seen. The statues around the cemetery were either broken or had missing parts, so it was terrifying to see them.
“…Why couldn’t they make another entrance?”
Jimmy murmured quietly as he looked at the ominous scenery that would befit the end of an era. Suddenly, he remembered what his colleague Willy said.
“Jimmy, are you crazy? Walking around the Greyfriars Kirkyard in the middle of the night is suicide!”
