Read Online EDGE OF SUSPENSE: Thrilling Tales of Mystery & Murder by R. Barri Flowers - Free Book Online

to come by."
    Jack slammed a fist down so hard on the
table that it rattled, in the process flustering his attorney. "I'm
paying you good money, McLean, and I expect you to earn it!" He
peered at him. "I don't belong in a hell hole with these indigents,
rapists, and thieves."
    Geoffrey could feel his armpits dripping
with perspiration. He made eye contact. "I have to know this,
Jack—are you guilty of the charges?"
    Jack considered playing innocent, but had
second thoughts. He bared his teeth. "Is there any use denying it?
Yes, I killed them all. Whores and sluts deserve to die. They live
only to corrupt men with their indecency and harlotry."
    Geoffrey could scarcely believe what he was
hearing. This was not the same Jack Barlow he knew. The callousness
with which Jack confessed was both shocking and abominable. The man
actually looked and sounded like a maniac. But was he mad?
    "For heaven's sake, you're a doctor, Jack,"
he said incredulously. "You're supposed to save lives, not take
them."
    "Spare me the lecture in ethics and
morality." Jack narrowed his eyes at the attorney. "You know the
meaning of neither. I did what needed to be done."
    It was clear to Geoffrey that he was no
longer talking to a competent man. Yet he was still his attorney
and, therefore, bound to help him any way he could.
    "Listen to me, Jack... If you plead
insanity, then—"
    A vein bulged in Jack's temple. "Never! I'll
be damned if I spend the rest of my days in an asylum for
lunatics." He shot to his feet and stared contemptuously at the
attorney. "Do what you have to do to get me out of here. I'll make
it more than worth your while."
    "I'll see what I can do," Geoffrey said.
"But you must know that if you're found guilty you could be sent to
the gallows."
    Jack didn't flinch. "I'd rather die than
spend the rest of my life rotting away behind bars."
    He watched as Geoffrey signaled the guard.
Jack sensed the lawyer could not be counted on to free him of this
miserable incarceration. He was just another person who would
betray his trust.
    Much like the father he never knew.
    And the mother Jack would just as soon
forget.
    Just as he had those whores whose bodies
he'd dissected.
    To hell with them all.
    Jack had learned early in life that the only
person he could count on through thick and thin was himself.
    Would that be enough this time?
    The next day, Jack appeared for his
arraignment. Bail was denied.
    His trial was set to begin next week.
    If Jack had his way, that day would never
come.
    * * *
    Behind silver spectacles, the court
appointed psychiatrist, Zachary Tomlinson, observed and listened
with astonishment as the accused—Dr. Jackson Barlow—recounted the
horrors of his killing spree with utter calm, poise, and
detachment. It was up to Tomlinson to declare the doctor
certifiably insane. The psychiatrist saw no reason to doubt this,
while going through the motions of what he saw as a perfect case
study.
    Barlow was the classic psychopath with child
sexual abuse a strong underlying factor. Tomlinson had read case
studies of other doctors who had gone mad and turned into killers,
often with a pathological fixation on certain people.
    Or, in this instance, a certain type of
person. Prostitutes.
    But he also believed that Jackson Barlow
possessed superior intelligence and was capable of expressing
himself in spite of the monster he had become.
    Though the suspect remained handcuffed,
Tomlinson asked for the shackles to be removed, feeling no need to
fear a man who was obviously broken and perhaps relieved that his
identity as Jack the Ripper had been revealed. A guard was just
outside the door, if needed.
    "Let's talk a bit about your mother,"
Tomlinson said as he took a cursory glance at the prisoner's file.
"I see she raised you by herself..."
    "My mother was a whore," Jack said bluntly,
as much for impact as what he believed to be the hard truth. "She
spent most of her wretched life horizontally with men on top of
her."
    He stared icily