A Study in Red - The Secret Journal of Jack the Ripper by kindels Read Free Book Online Page B

look, but they'd shifted the whore. No-one saw, I was invisible. Solved the blood problem. The apron will wash, and the sewers keep me safe. Door to door, hahaha.
    So, here it was, probably for the first time. A confession (of sorts), to the murders of both Martha Tabram and Polly Nichols, by one individual. If this journal was indeed the real thing, (and this was becoming more self-evident to me with each page I read), then all the past conjecture as to whether Martha Tabram was a victim of The Ripper was ended, (for me at least).
    Poor Polly Nichols! Left to bleed into the street in the depths of night, probably without even knowing what was happening to her. That, I suppose, was a blessing of sorts. She hadn't been dragged screaming to her horrific death. If the writer was to be believed, he'd come across his victim lying virtually helpless in a doorway, probably too stupefied through drink to realize her throat was being cut, until it was too late. Though the subsequent mutilations were horrific in their extent and ferocity, they were at least inflicted post-mortem, she wouldn't have felt the blade slicing into her flesh, cutting her open, despoiling and defiling her most intimate, private parts. The depths of the cuts to the woman's throat would have ensured that she'd died almost instantly. I sat and shivered again, and, even though the act had occurred so long ago, I said a silent prayer for the soul of Mary Ann (Polly) Nichols.
    That he could be so sparse in his words on the killing, and so matter of fact about the acts of depravity he'd committed was frightening, and I shuddered inwardly as the wind again howled at the window, and I felt the strange feeling once again, the feeling of being not alone, though I knew I was. I was getting jumpy, and little wonder. There was no entry for the 1 st day of September, but he was back the next day.
    2 nd September 1888
    The voices called to me today. They're celebrating, elated, telling me to rest now. The work won't go away, but it will wait, until the time comes again when I shall rise in answer to the call. The headache came again, far worse, but the laudanum helped.
    3 rd September 1888
    Saw 'T' today. Also Cavendish paid a courtesy call. I listened, but spoke little. Thanked him for previous advice. He asked how I was. Fine I replied. Fine. Fine. Fine. He was on his way to the asylum, so many unhappy souls in there, would that they could enjoy the sunshine, the freedom to walk, to talk, to be human again. I know such is not their destiny, my own self would treat them if I could, help them find the release they need. But I cannot, I must bide within my own confines, and take solace in the work, I'll wait for the voices, let them rest, they too are tired, soon enough I'll feel the blood of the whores on my skin again, I'll watch the next wretched strumpet bleed as I slice her good and well. Won't be long my lovely, won't be long, I promise.
    There was my great-grandfather once again, and mention of someone referred to only as 'T'. Why didn't the writer name him, as he had my ancestor? Would naming him have given too much away, made it too easy for the writer to be identified if his journal had fallen into the wrong hands? It was obvious to me that my great-grandfather had no inkling of the writer's connection to the murders at that time, or I was sure he'd have added something to his notes. There was nothing, and yes, the man 'T', if it was a man, must have been too close to home for the writer to identify. There was also the vague reference to his wanting to do something to help cure the inmates of the asylum. Was that just the rambling of an insane mind, or did this man, as many have suspected of the Ripper, have some medical connections? Could he indeed have been a doctor himself? That would certainly explain his presence at the same club as great-grandfather. Were they professional colleagues I wondered, or just passing acquaintances? I knew that I could probably solve