The Van Helsing Conjecture – Excerpt No. 154

11 February 2025

Jack laughed, as he slipped on his suspenders… Didn’t he just get off a shift?

“What’s so funny?” Clara asked.

“You’re lying,” Jack said. “I almost bought it too.”

“But?”

“The pastor doesn’t allow whores in his church.”

Was that why they stopped going to church shortly after their father died? Clara had been a child when her mother had to resort to prostitution and only became aware of it years after the fact… I have no memory or enough context to form a hypothesis…

Photograph of a man with a chiselled jaw, cleft chin, and piercing blue eyes laughing on as he's slipping on a suspender. There is grey in his dark hair, a crooked nose, and a five o'clock shadow. That face and the well-built body were signs of someone who worked hard for their living. Clothes appropriate for a 1900s European mining town.

Disclaimer: This novel is an work in progress and readers may encounter grammatical errors and inconsistencies. Please view this a draft and not a published work.