nods and smiles to amy , my perpetual sounding board , and to all who have supported my writing passion with their love and candid advice characters ( alphabetical order ) bartholomew , simon - police sergeant ; di tipples assistant and sounding board for the duration of the case bates - the warden at holloway prison bradtree , eustace - plainclothes detective sergeant ; speaks with a lisp ; assisted di tipple at the station burberry , ( mr. ) - half-blind witness to the kidnapping carew , violet - david powells childhood sweetheart ; appears only in a dream colmes - police sergeant and pc simmonss immediate supervisor ; mentioned only duke , conway - nicholas harkers uncle ; not part of the harker clan ediker , corbin - convict ; overheard a discussion in prison that set in motion the kidnapping fred - corbin edikers pal ; mentioned only frost - police constable ; assisted di tipple with conway dukes interview gervais , milo - the murder victim that resulted in nicholas harkers arrest ; rival to harker clan ; mentioned only griffiths - guard at holloway prison haggerty , broderick - plainclothes detective sergeant ; assisted with the maps in the tunnels hansworth , ( dr. ) - police coroner ; mentioned only harker , archibald - nicholas harkers uncle ; the factory owner harker , ernest - nicholas harkers great-grandfather ; former patriarch of the harker clan ; deceased ; mentioned only harker , nicholas - also goes by innocent ; the patsy harker , rafe - nicholas harkers father ; deceased ; mentioned only harker , winston - nicholas harkers grandfather ; current patriarch of the harker clan and once a suspected murderer/rapist ; mentioned only innocent - the name nicholas harker prefers to be called little - police constable ; doesnt know what an albatross looks like marquette , henri - one of david powells language student ; elise marquettes husband ; mentioned only marquette , elise - henri marquettes wife marsh , ( mrs. ) - lewis todds landlady marvelle , penelope - also goes by penny ; david powells friend and lewis todds quasi love interest mcnamara , angus - cats husband and agnes ( annie ) mcnamaras father ; mentioned only mcnamara , annie - first name is agnes ; cats daughter ; mentioned only mercers - a portsmouth gang nolan , john - police sergeant ; telephoned di tipple about a new murder early in the morning o'malley , frank - murder victim ; nicholas harkers friend powell , agatha - david powells eldest sister ; mentioned only powell , david - priest ; lewis todds best friend and fellow kidnapping victim powell , lucy - david powells second eldest sister ; mentioned only powell , margaret - also goes by maggie ; david powells twin sister ; mentioned only powell/mcnamara , catherine - also goes by cat ; david powells youngest sister ; angus mcnamaras wife and agnes ( annie ) mcnamaras mother ; mentioned only simmons - police constable ; alerted di tipple to nicholas harkers disappearance tipple , mathilda - also goes by hildy ; horace tipples wife tipple , horace - also goes by rory ; plainclothes detective inspector ; mathilda tipples husband ; leads the investigation against the harkers and the hunt for the missing men todd , lewis - also goes by lew ; police sergeant ; david powells best friend and fellow kidnapping victim ; di tipples protg venn - a thug with particular animosity for david powell prologue london , early april 1887 corbin ediker spat through the bars into the hallway , the brown stream of tobacco juices widening a damp patch on the bricks hed been working on for a while now .