Whitechapel: The Final Stand of Sherlock Holmes by Bernard J. Schaffer Read Free Book Online Page A

protect herself, sobbing. He knew what needed to be done. Monty headed for the kitchen, eyeing the counters for the sharpest knife he could find.
    “Monty? Where are you?” his father called, running to the door. He gasped at Ann’s sprawled body.
    “I found her like this,” Monty said, turning from the kitchen. “I think she was violated! Oh God!” Monty said, throwing his face into his hands.
    William and Monty did not leave Dorset for many weeks after that. William cared for Ann, unwilling to leave her side. He lamented being so far away and leaving her vulnerable. Ann seemed calm in those days. She did not leave her bed, but also did not shriek or curse at them. When Monty passed her room, he saw William on a bench by her bed, reading softly to her. Monty grimaced at the affection his father displayed on her, but could not bring himself to tell William the truth about his whoring wife.
    He took long, undisturbed walks in the fields, searching for signs of the beast he and Clifton had seen. There were none. He checked the place where they’d seen the calf, but that too was gone. Monty continued through the woods, coming to the edge of the farm and saw a group of men working in the field. Clifton was not among them. They looked at him as he came out from between the trees, stepping into the amber stalks of wheat. He could see that they were talking to one another while looking at him.
    Monty walked up to the farmhand’s house and knocked on the door. A young woman answered. “May I help you?” she asked.
    “Is Clifton here?” Monty said.
    She stared at him for a moment. “Are you Montague Druitt?”
    Monty’s eyebrows raised, “Yes, I am. How did you—”
    The door slammed in Monty’s face. He could hear words spoken quickly within. Someone was coming to the door. Finally, Clifton opened it and smiled. His teeth were very white and very straight when he smiled, Monty thought, smiling back. “Hello Monty.” The men in the field were now all staring at him and laughing. Clifton shut the door behind him, “I am sorry for that.”
    “It is all right, I suppose. Did you hear about what happened to my mother?”
    “I heard a few things.”
    “It was your father. I know it was. I saw him running from the house.”
    “That is not true!” There was panic in his voice. Both of them knew any man of their class would be hanged immediately if accused of raping a physician’s wife. “He was with me that whole night. I swear it,” Clifton said.
    Monty looked at Clifton and shook his head, sighing. “As you say. It truly makes no difference to me one way or another.”
    Clifton took a deep breath. “There is something I need to tell you.”
    “Let us talk about it while we walk. Want to go looking for that wolf? Maybe down by the creek?” he said softly. He reached out to touch Clifton’s hand briefly, so that no one could see.
    Clifton looked back at the house for a moment. “I can’t go into the woods with you any more, Monty.”
    “What? Why?”
    Clifton looked down at the ground. “I do not do those things anymore.”
    The front door opened and the young woman came out onto the porch, staring at them both. Monty glared at her, “Who is she?”
    “My cousin. Her father owns a small stand at the new rail station in Gillingham,” Clifton said. “I am travelling with her in a few days. I’ll be going to live with them and work at the stand.”
    “For how long?”
    Clifton shrugged. “My father says that if I marry her, I can take over the stand and become a businessman, Monty.”
    “Marry? You cannot be serious.”
    “Yes,” Clifton said. He looked down at a patch of grass he’d been kicking with the point of his shoe, seeing that he’d uncovered the dirt completely. “We have to grow up sometime, Monty. Can’t go ripping around the woods together forever, you know.”
    Monty nodded, looking away. “When you are ready to stop joking, let me know.”
    “Truly, I wasn’t joking,