Read Online Castle Rouge by Carole Nelson Douglas - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Carole Nelson Douglas
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I could do to remove myself from the vicinity without being hailed as the Ripper myself.”
“Good God, Holmes! You were that close?”
“I was that far, and for that I shall never forgive myself. If I ever do somehow stand before St. Peter and he is inclined to admit me to the pearly gates, I shall take myself off directly in the opposite direction, merely for the evil I did that one night with one wrong decision. I did not understand the customs of the country, Watson. I am a stranger in a strange land.”
“You are indeed, when you quote Holy Writ.”
“How is it holy?”
“‘A stranger in a strange land.’ It is what Ruth became for her mother-in-law Naomi’s sake.”
“These are persons I should know?”
“Well, yes. If one were well-read.”
“I am perfectly well-read, Watson, merely not in those tiresome tomes that pass for essential in our day. In fact, I am so well-read that I now number Krafft-Ebing among my acquaintance.” It was as close as Holmes ever came to a jocularity. He eyed me, head tilted like a robin expecting some unwise worm to rise to the surface. “Do you think that this author would have useful insight on this place?”
“Vaguely. Promotes a bunch of lurid poppycock, if you ask me.”
“How well you put it, Watson. Then you do not think his lurid poppycock is even worth the denouncing.”
“We can discuss it, Holmes, once we are out of this dreadful place. I can certainly see how the Ripper was able to slink among these ill-lit byways and pounce upon his victims, then disappear, if that is what you brought me here to see.”
“I brought you here to see what I could not see.”
“There is nothing you cannot see.”
“Exactly. I would be obliged if you would wander ’mongst the lost and the damned for a while longer. We can have a warming toddy back in Baker Street and compare notes.”
“It will take more than a toddy to erase this stink from our nostrils.”
“At least we can leave the vicinity and its foulnesses far behind. That is more than its residents can achieve. Ah.” He stopped to stare at an unprepossessing brick building of four stories before us. “The International Working Men’s Educational Club. It was near here that I so deserted sense and chased the wrong quarry. Now we are getting somewhere.”
“Holmes, I am sure that any man would have made the same mistake.”
“Ah, but I am not any man. Stand with me here by the road and let us dissect that abominable evening. It was nearly one of the clock. The club’s front door, which you see there, was locked, but that gateway at the side was open, and led through a small yard to a rear entrance, so residents could come and go as they needed.”
“Is this a legitimate club, Holmes?”
I saw a sickle-moon of smile in the dim lamplight. “It is not secretly a house of ill repute, Watson, unless you count Socialism as a social ill and they would say they are only here to reform social ills. Yes, it is what is said, and I have the rabbi’s word on that, for what little credit he gives the young revolutionaries that assemble here, as you heard from his own lips.”
“A wise man.”
“That is what the title means, I believe, although arcane religious matters of any stripe are far beyond my ken. At any rate, I had taken a post opposite the club, in disguise of course.”
“Why?”
“Why? Because a number of the early suspects were Jews. This is a central point where men of that race come and go. And after two murders that had particularly captured the public imagination, not to mention the usual string of women murdered in the district months and years before, I noted that the murders of Mary Ann Nicholls and Annie Chapman had occurred in a certain progression of dates. It seemed some pattern underlay the attacks.”
“You were following a wild guess, admit it, Holmes!”
“I was following my own logic.” He drew deeply on his pipe before speaking again. “I will admit that there are
“Good God, Holmes! You were that close?”
“I was that far, and for that I shall never forgive myself. If I ever do somehow stand before St. Peter and he is inclined to admit me to the pearly gates, I shall take myself off directly in the opposite direction, merely for the evil I did that one night with one wrong decision. I did not understand the customs of the country, Watson. I am a stranger in a strange land.”
“You are indeed, when you quote Holy Writ.”
“How is it holy?”
“‘A stranger in a strange land.’ It is what Ruth became for her mother-in-law Naomi’s sake.”
“These are persons I should know?”
“Well, yes. If one were well-read.”
“I am perfectly well-read, Watson, merely not in those tiresome tomes that pass for essential in our day. In fact, I am so well-read that I now number Krafft-Ebing among my acquaintance.” It was as close as Holmes ever came to a jocularity. He eyed me, head tilted like a robin expecting some unwise worm to rise to the surface. “Do you think that this author would have useful insight on this place?”
“Vaguely. Promotes a bunch of lurid poppycock, if you ask me.”
“How well you put it, Watson. Then you do not think his lurid poppycock is even worth the denouncing.”
“We can discuss it, Holmes, once we are out of this dreadful place. I can certainly see how the Ripper was able to slink among these ill-lit byways and pounce upon his victims, then disappear, if that is what you brought me here to see.”
“I brought you here to see what I could not see.”
“There is nothing you cannot see.”
“Exactly. I would be obliged if you would wander ’mongst the lost and the damned for a while longer. We can have a warming toddy back in Baker Street and compare notes.”
“It will take more than a toddy to erase this stink from our nostrils.”
“At least we can leave the vicinity and its foulnesses far behind. That is more than its residents can achieve. Ah.” He stopped to stare at an unprepossessing brick building of four stories before us. “The International Working Men’s Educational Club. It was near here that I so deserted sense and chased the wrong quarry. Now we are getting somewhere.”
“Holmes, I am sure that any man would have made the same mistake.”
“Ah, but I am not any man. Stand with me here by the road and let us dissect that abominable evening. It was nearly one of the clock. The club’s front door, which you see there, was locked, but that gateway at the side was open, and led through a small yard to a rear entrance, so residents could come and go as they needed.”
“Is this a legitimate club, Holmes?”
I saw a sickle-moon of smile in the dim lamplight. “It is not secretly a house of ill repute, Watson, unless you count Socialism as a social ill and they would say they are only here to reform social ills. Yes, it is what is said, and I have the rabbi’s word on that, for what little credit he gives the young revolutionaries that assemble here, as you heard from his own lips.”
“A wise man.”
“That is what the title means, I believe, although arcane religious matters of any stripe are far beyond my ken. At any rate, I had taken a post opposite the club, in disguise of course.”
“Why?”
“Why? Because a number of the early suspects were Jews. This is a central point where men of that race come and go. And after two murders that had particularly captured the public imagination, not to mention the usual string of women murdered in the district months and years before, I noted that the murders of Mary Ann Nicholls and Annie Chapman had occurred in a certain progression of dates. It seemed some pattern underlay the attacks.”
“You were following a wild guess, admit it, Holmes!”
“I was following my own logic.” He drew deeply on his pipe before speaking again. “I will admit that there are
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