The Whitechapel Fiend Read Online Free PDF Page A

who . . .”
    “Prostitutes,” Tessa said.
    “Quite,” Gabriel said.
    “Tessa has such an extensive vocabulary,” Will said. “It is one of the most attractive things about her. Shame about yours, Gabriel.”
    “Will, listen to me.” Gabriel allowed himself a long sigh.
    “Spoon!” James said, running at his uncle Gabriel and jabbing him in the thigh. Gabriel mussed the boy’s hair affectionately.
    “You’re such a good boy,” he said. “I often wonder how you could possibly be Will’s.”
    “Spoon,” James said, leaning against his uncle’s leg lovingly.
    “No, Jamie,” Will urged. “Your honorable father has been impugned. Attack, attack!”
    “Bridget,” Tessa said. “Could you take James to have his supper?”
    James was ushered from the room, caught up in Bridget’s skirts.
    “The first murder,” Gabriel said, “was here. Buck’s Row. That occurred on August the thirty-first. Very vicious, with a number of long cuts to the abdomen. The second was on Hanbury Street on September eighth. Her name was Annie Chapman, and she was found in the courtyard behind a house. This murder had a very similar set of incisions, but was very much worse. The contents of the abdomen were simply removed. Some organs were placed on her shoulder. Some organs were simply gone. All of the work was done with a surgical precision, and would have taken a skilled surgeon some time to do. This was done in minutes, outdoors, without much light to work by. This was the work that got my attention. And now the last murders, which were only a few nights ago—these were fiendish works indeed. Now, observe closely. The first murder of that night took place here.”
    He pointed to a spot on the map marked Dutfield’s Yard.
    “This is right off of Berner Street, you see? This was Elizabeth Stride, and she was found at one in the morning. Similar injuries, but seemingly incomplete. Just forty-five minutes later, the body of Catherine Eddowes is found in Mitre Square.”
    Gabriel traced his finger along the route from Berner Street to Mitre Square.
    “It’s a distance of over half a mile,” he said. “I’ve just walked it several times. This second murder was much more terrible in nature. The body was utterly dismembered and organs were removed. The work was very delicate in nature, very skilled. And it was done in darkness, in no more than a few minutes. Work that would have taken a surgeon much more time and certainly some light. It’s simply not possible, and yet, it happened.”
    Tessa and Will considered the map in front of them for a moment while the fire crackled gently behind them.
    “He could have had a carriage,” Will said.
    “Even with a carriage, there would simply not be time to commit these acts. And they are most certainly acts committed by the same being.”
    “Not the work of werewolves?”
    “Definitely not,” Gabriel said. “Nor vampires. The bodies have not been drained. They haven’t been consumed or torn. They have been cut, with organs removed and arranged, as if by design. This”—Gabriel tapped the map for emphasis—“is demonic in nature. And it has set London into a panic.”
    “But why would a demon target only these poor women?” Will asked.
    “There must be something they require. The fiend does seem to take . . . childbearing organs. I propose we patrol the East End, beginning at once. This area.”
    Gabriel drew a circle around Spitalfields with his finger.
    “This is the center of the activity. This is where it must be. Are we agreed?”
    “Where’s Cecily?” Will asked.
    “She has already started the work. She is there now, speaking to some of the women on the street. They find it easier speaking to her. We must start at once.”
    Will nodded.
    “I have one further suggestion. As the beast seems to be attracted to a certain class of woman, we should use glamours . . .”
    “Or shape-shifters,” Tessa said.
    “. . . to attract the demon.”
    Will’s eyes