Legacy of the Ripper (12 page)

"But there'd possibly be traces of the dusting powder on his hands or under his fingernails, right?" asked Carl Wright.

"Maybe," Holland chimed in. "But that in itself wouldn't prove that he'd killed anyone, only that he'd worn a pair of surgical gloves, right Chas?"

"Exactly," replied the doctor. "Many people use that type of glove for all sorts of reasons, maybe while filling their cars, or while gardening, or doing jobs that might cause some staining of the fingers, the list is almost endless."

"So he's a clever bastard as well as a vicious one."

"Correct, Sergeant. Clever, and very careful if you ask me," Murdoch added.

"Well, thanks Chas. You've given us something, not much, but something. I'll wait for your written report which you'll have for me& by?"

"By tomorrow Mike. I know it's urgent and I'll have it typed up this afternoon and on your desk first thing tomorrow. Will that do?"

"Yesterday would be better."

"Tomorrow morning, Inspector Holland. You wouldn't want me to rush and leave something vital out, now would you?"

"Tomorrow morning it is then," said Holland as he and Wright left the autopsy room with sighs of relief. The smell and oppressive atmosphere that always seemed to pervade the room never failed to make Holland and his sergeant a little queasy and to escape from the room into the outer corridor brought a sense of relief that was almost tangible.

They may have had to wait another few hours for the autopsy report, but for now there was much work that had to be done, and Holland and Wright weren't prepared to waste a moment as they returned to police headquarters to continue their investigation. They both knew that they had to move quickly on the case, as it was almost certain that the killer would strike again. When, they didn't know, but the longer it took for them to bring the perpetrator in, the more chance there was that another girl would die horribly at his hands.

Holland soon had a team of uniformed constables heading for the town's red-light district. They had instructions to speak to anyone and everyone in order to find out if anyone had noticed a suspicious character in the area in recent weeks, or if any of the girls had experienced trouble with a new client, perhaps one who wanted them to indulge in something out of the ordinary. Next, he went through the statements provided by Marla's parents. He'd been surprised when they'd told him they knew about their daughter's line of work. They were philosophical about it however, and showed a lot more understanding of their daughter's lifestyle than most parents would have done, in Holland's opinion. He'd asked them to try and recall anything from her life at home, during her first forays into the world of drugs and prostitution that might have led to something like this happening. They couldn't. Apart from trying their best to turn Marla away from the life of degradation she'd apparently fallen into, they knew little about the seedy world into which she'd disappeared. There was nothing in the information they'd provided that would help in locating or identifying her killer.

Carl Wright had meanwhile left Holland's office with the intention of going through the autopsy report on the first victim Laura Kane with a fine tooth comb. Murdoch had not noted any of the dusting powder from the surgical gloves as being present on the first victim's body. Maybe that was an added refinement he'd evolved after getting too bloody during the first murder. Maybe, Wright had thought aloud to his boss, they'd missed something else that might indicate a change in the modus operandi of the killer, something that might be significant.

A full ninety minutes had passed before Wright knocked and entered Holland's office once more, this time with a folder and a number of files under his arm. Mike Holland looked up from the papers he was reading as Wright entered. He couldn't help but notice the worried frown that his sergeant wore as he approached the desk.

"What is it Carl? You look as if you've seen a ghost man. What've you found?"

"Sir, I want you to humour me if you will. I've found something that I think might be highly significant to the case. It was a whim of mine to check the Laura Kane autopsy report against one from an earlier case. Just take a look and don't say anything until you've read both of these, please."

Mike Holland knew his sergeant well enough to know that the man wasn't given to flights of fantasy or 'whims' as Wright had put it, without having some reason for his actions. Holland held out his hand and Wright passed him the files and folder he'd brought into the office. The top folder contained the autopsy report and forensic reports on the scene of crime in relation to Laura Kane. The second folder that Holland looked at contained a recently photocopied document, obviously taken from a book or some other source, and bore no victim's name. Intrigued by his sergeant's request to examine the two reports and not to speak until he'd read them both, he motioned for Wright to sit in the visitors chair, and Mike Holland did as he'd been asked. He began to read!

"You know I've read this one in detail already, Carl," he said to Wright as he began to read the Laura Kane file.

"I know sir, but please, read it again and then go straight on to the other one."

"Ok, I'll say no more until I've finished, but I hope there's some point in this."

"There is, sir. Now please&"

"Okay, okay, I'm reading."

It took Holland no more than five minutes to read through the report on Laura Kane's autopsy. He'd read it so many times in recent days that he almost knew it by heart. He put the file containing the report on one side and opened the other file, the one that held the un-named photocopied document.

Another five minutes passed as he perused the information contained in the document. As he read his face at first took on a quizzical look, then changed to one of mystification as the implications of what he was reading began to dawn upon him. He began to tap the fingers of his left hand on the desk top, a sure sign that something was beginning to bother him. Carl Wright knew the signs. He'd seen it often enough in the past. He knew that his actions in bringing the document to his boss had been justified. Mike Holland was now seeing exactly what Carl Wright had seen, and though he might not like what he was reading and being asked to come to terms with, Wright knew that Holland couldn't just dismiss his findings out of hand.

A Few Words from Doctor Ruth

I feel it worth a few words at this point in my narrative to pause and place a few things into perspective. Of course, it would be very easy with hindsight for me to make judgements, to say perhaps "Why didn't so and so do this or that?" or, "Why didn't they know about this or that?"

The point is of course that the benefit of hindsight was not available to those involved in the case at the time the events I'm relating took place. This tale is in itself a composite, drawn together from the various interviews I've conducted with the police officers involved, the family and friends of Jack and those closest to him and the sad facts of the case.

At this stage of Jack's story, and it
is
Jack's story despite the fact that he appears absent from most of the proceedings so far, it has to be remembered that the events as they unfolded were known to only small sections of the participants at a time. The actions and movements of Tom Reid, his search for Jack for example, would have been unknown to Mike Holland or the police officers investigating the case in Brighton. Equally, the mere
existence
of Jack Reid was unknown to Holland. If it had been otherwise, would things have been different? Would the police investigation have shifted directly into a search for the missing teenager? I doubt it, for there would have been no evidence to implicate Jack in the crimes that were taking place in the seaside town, or even to place him anywhere within a hundred miles of Brighton, and even less to suppose that he was in any way implicated in the murders of the women in that town.

I suppose the reason for my injecting this short pause for reflection is because it was around this time in the proceedings that I became aware of the Brighton murders. Though not directly involved at that time, as I was still employed in my previous position I, like millions of my fellow citizens was witness to the news stories which began to invade the national television news bulletins. The press and TV media, ever eager and willing to sensationalise a juicy murder story in order to increase sales or viewing figures had jumped on the Brighton murders and, much to Mike Holland's chagrin, had dubbed the killer 'The Brighton Ripper' much as he'd mentioned the name in scorn in his conversation with Murdoch and Wright.

I was probably as horrified as any right-minded citizen when those bulletins first appeared, describing as they did, in some detail, the terrible mutilations that had been inflicted upon the two victims. I suppose that the police had to release certain details to the media in the hope that sufficient disclosure and adequate coverage in the press, on radio and television might lead to someone with knowledge of the crimes getting in touch with information that might lead them to an arrest.

It never happened of course. There were no witnesses to the crimes, and no friends or relatives waiting to come forward to give the perpetrator up to the police.

At that time in the case, I would never have guessed that the time would come when I would become personally involved with the man convicted of the murders in Brighton, or that my own knowledge of the case, and my relationship with a number of those involved in it would lead us all to a shattering conclusion that even today, some people find hard to believe.

That of course, is something for the future. When I eventually reveal that information, it will be up to you, the informed and perhaps sceptical reader, to decide on the facts as I will present them. For now though, the story will be best served by returning to the events that led Jack to his place in the history of crime, and into the care of me and my fellow medicos here at Ravenswood.

Good News, and Bad News

Sweeping rain hammered against the window of Holland's office. The sudden thunderstorm had taken everyone by surprise. The black clouds had appeared as if from nowhere, suddenly rolling in from the sea carrying the deluge straight towards the resort town. Thunder boomed from above and forks of orange lightning rent the clouds and zigzagged towards the earth, and in the offices of the town's police headquarters officers and clerks alike switched on lights to illuminate their workplaces as the day turned to darkness. Against the backdrop of the storm, Mike Holland looked across his desk at his sergeant. Having read the two reports Wright had placed in front of him the inspector knew that something out of the ordinary was taking place, though for the life of him, for the moment he had no idea what the significance of what he'd read boded for the future.

"Okay, sergeant, you have my full attention. I'm assuming that this other document is not part of the report on the death of Laura Kane." Holland placed the photocopied papers on his desk. He had an idea where his sergeant was coming from now, but he wanted Wright to confirm it himself.

"Correct, sir. Those pages are copied from a book, and constitute all that is known about the findings of the doctor who carried out the post-mortem examination of a woman named Martha Tabram, who died on exactly the same date as Laura Kane, in Whitechapel in 1888. Most contemporaries of the day dismissed her as a victim, but later theorists now seem to accept that the woman was in all probability the first true victim of Jack the Ripper. The original autopsy report was lost years ago it seems, but those are the salient points of the examination carried out by a Doctor Timothy Killeen. As you can see, there are some bloody disturbing similarities present between the two cases."

"Similarities? Bloody hell man, I think you're deliberately understating the facts aren't you, to get me to point out the obvious?"

"Go on sir, please. Tell me what you think," Wright urged his boss.

"What you've shown me here is a comparison between two murder cases over a hundred years apart where it appears that the second killer,
our
killer, has adopted not only the same method of despatching his victims, but has done so on exactly the same date, and using precisely the same number of wounds as the original killer. He's inflicted the wounds, as far as is possible, in exactly the same areas of the body as the original Ripper and left his victim in the street to be found by whoever may have come along and blundered upon the poor woman. You appear to be suggesting we have a copycat killer on the loose, one who appears to be recreating the murders of Jack the Ripper?"

"Exactly sir, and that's not all. The second murder sort of confirms my theory because Marla Hayes was also killed on the anniversary of the Ripper's second murder. Polly Nichols was murdered on the same date and in the same way as Marla."

"Bloody hell, sergeant. Thank God that you're an aficionado of old murder cases. I'm sure that someone would eventually have made the connection between the dates and the Ripper killings, but at least we've caught on to the copycat theory sooner rather than later, thanks to you. Not only that, but I hope you realise just what else your discovery has given us."

"You tell me if you're thinking the same as me, Boss."

"The killer has given himself away hasn't he? Well, almost."

"That's what I thought sir. He's almost telegraphing his intentions to us isn't he?"

"He damn well is sergeant. If he sticks to the Ripper scenario that means he'll strike again on the same date as the Ripper struck when he killed his third victim. We'll be bloody well ready for the bastard this time, sergeant, by God we will."

Wright hesitated for a second before replying to Holland's last comment. Then, taking a deep breathe threw the proverbial spanner into the works.

"Well sir, it's not going to be quite that simple. Just how much do you know about the Jack the Ripper murders, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Not as much as you Carl, that's obvious. I know that he killed a number of prostitutes in the Whitechapel area of London in 1888. He was a bloodthirsty, vicious bastard who was never identified and caught, despite the police flooding the streets with officers, and the biggest manhunt that Britain had ever seen up to that point in history. I also seem to remember reading that he removed parts of some of the women's bodies, a kidney in one case I believe, and that his last murder was of a woman called Mary Kelly, that name I do know, and it was the most horrendous killing of the lot. The poor girl was butchered, from what I've read about it in the past. Now, what's your point here? Why isn't it as simple as I think to predict his next move?"