City of Darkness (City of Mystery) Read Online Free PDF

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present reluctantly,” Phillips answered, his face suddenly looking old and
tired.  “I find it hard to accept that such barbaric crimes could have been
committed by someone who has undertaken the Hippocratic Oath.”
    “This line of thinking utterly
circumvents the issue of motive,” said one of the detectives in the front row,
his voice sharp with protest.  “People kill for a reason.” 
    “Indeed,” said the man seated beside
him.  “Jealousy, greed, lust, revenge…something logical that one can
understand.  But who could possibly benefit from these deaths?  There has to be
some way, beyond the obvious similarity of their profession, that these women
were connected.”
    Not necessarily, Trevor thought.  The
strong have always preyed upon the weak, perhaps for no other reason than
because they are weak.  And there were few creatures in London more vulnerable
than an aging East End prostitute. 
    “In this particular case,” Phillips
said, “I’d say that method trumps motive.  Why these women died isn’t as
important as how.”
    An uneasy buzz ran through the
crowded room.  Trevor printed “method over motive” in large letters in his
notebook, then glanced back at Abrams, who was still leaning against the wall. 
For the briefest of moments, the eyes of the two men met.  
    “Motive is quite naturally the
beginning of all criminal inquiry,” Eatwell said, ignoring the doctor and
directing an adamant nod toward the detectives in the front row, like a
professor congratulating a promising pupil.  “It will narrow the list of
suspects faster than rounding up every man in London who happens to have skill
with a knife.”  
    “I only know this,” Phillips said,
beginning to cram his notes back into his over-stuffed satchel.  “Working at
top speed it would have taken me forty-five minutes to drain a body and remove
four organs.  True, this fiend may not be a gentleman, but he does have knowledge
of the surgery.  Now, if there are no further questions, I must be excused, for
I do have other cases to contend with.” 
    Eatwell watched him shuffle out with
obvious relief and waited until the door was safely shut before he again
addressed his detectives.
    “Gentlemen, on the table before me,
you will find the physical evidence gathered at the site of the Chapman
murder,” Eatwell said.  Trevor scribbled down the meager inventory as his
fellow detectives rose and milled around the table.
     
    -Three pennies
    -Two farthings
    -Two brass rings
    -Portion of bloodstained envelope
bearing the name SUSSEX REGIMENT and postmarked August 28
    -One leather apron
     
    “Not exactly the purse of a duchess,
was it?”  Rayley Abrams said softly.  “Poor wretch.  What do you make of this
Sussex Regiment post?”
    “A client, perhaps,” one of the men
said.  “Or a brother.”
    “More likely a son, given her age,”
said another. 
    “I can’t see what the letter would
have to do with the death,” said a third.  “Some bloke wrote her…lover, son,
brother, what does it matter?”
    “The significance is not that she
happened to have a letter,” Abrams said.  “But the fact that most of that
letter is missing.  I’ll see if any men with the last name Chapman are
stationed with Sussex.”
    “And what of this?” one of the men
asked, lifting the leather apron gingerly from the pile.  “It’s the kind they
use in slaughterhouses to keep the blood from their clothes.”
    “There are at least two
slaughterhouses in Whitechapel,” said Abrams. “A butcher would have access to
knives by the dozen.”
    “And the skill to dissect a human
body?” Trevor asked, arching an eyebrow.
    “At least a butcher would know how to
drain blood,” Abrams said.
    “And would he be able to remove
organs as skillfully as these were removed?  Phillips as much as said it was
too well done to point to an amateur.”
    “Phillips has a love for drama,” one
of the detectives said, leaning between