Read Online What Alice Knew by Paula Marantz Cohen - Free Book Online Page B

your police inspector come to any noteworthy conclusions about this Jack the Ripper?”
    William considered the question. He had returned to headquarters with Abberline after viewing the body on Latham Street and had met with Dr. Phillips, the divisional police surgeon in charge of the case. Phillips continued to forward the opinion that had been voiced by Sir Charles that the murderer had knowledge of anatomy. “The general belief is that he is a doctor, perhaps a coroner’s assistant, or at the least a butcher,” reported William. “Abberline and I disagree.”
    “You see no surgical acumen involved in the cutting?”
    “No. Just because the bodies have been cut and organs removed does not necessarily mean that the murderer knew what he was doing. Indeed, the amount of gratuitous cutting”—he glanced pointedly at Henry—“suggests the opposite. What struck me upon looking at the poor mutilated body of Catherine Eddowes was that the wounds reflected no sense at all of the body in its depth, but a powerful if demented sense of the body as a surface. As Abberline pointed out, the knife follows in certain broad, repetitive strokes. They are utterly uneconomical with regard to surgical procedure, but they still reflect a kind of pattern, though not one proper to a doctor or a practiced butcher.”
    “So you’re saying that the murderer may be viewing the body from a context which is not clinical but has its own logic.”
    “Precisely.”
    “A ritual murder, perhaps? Something with political or religious symbolism attached?”
    “Possibly. There was the incident, which you may have read about in the papers, of a message written on the wall near the site of the Eddowes murder. It was a strangely worded piece of writing.” William flipped open his notebook and thumbed through until he arrived at the desired page. “‘The Jews’—spelled here, J-u-w-e-s—‘are the people who will not be blamed for nothing.’ Those were the words written on the wall.”
    “Perhaps the work of a Jewish cabal,” Henry suggested.
    “Please!” said Alice irritably. “It’s obviously not the work of Jews, but of someone venting hatred against Jews.”
    “But the wording of the message is odd,” said William. “It sounds like a formal proclamation.”
    “On the contrary,” protested Alice vehemently, “its syntax is common to the lower orders of society.”
    “And how do you know that?”
    “I know because I read the newspapers and listen to people.” As she spoke, she picked up the little bell on her night table and rang it. “But I don’t need to argue this with you. I can demonstrate.”
    A few seconds after the ringing of the bell, a strapping girl of perhaps sixteen, whom Alice and Katherine had hired from one of the local orphanages, came bustling into the room.
    “Did you call, mum?” asked the girl, making an awkward curtsy.
    “Yes, Sally dear. Would you mind if I ask you a few questions?”
    “I’m not agin you asking me nothin’, mum.”
    “You’ve been here six months now, dear, and I must say you’ve done fine work. Do you think you would like to stay on?”
    “I woulden want to be goin’ nowhere, mum.”
    “So you would like to stay?”
    “I’m far from unhappy, mum.”
    “Let me be perfectly clear on the matter now. You’re satisfied with your employment?”
    “Oh yes, mum! That’s what I said. Everything at your house is so lovely and refinedlike, and you treat me so nice and polite. I’ll be grateful till my dying day, mum.”
    “Well, you’ve been a great help in the household, Sally, and a great comfort to me. Now there may be a boy coming by to help you with some of the housework. I know there’s not much for him to do, but he’s a poor soul who needs to be occupied. His mother did away with herself, you see. I trust you’ll be kind to him.”
    “I woulden be nothing else, mum, seein’ as I’m a poor soul myself.”
    “Thank you, Sally. And by the way, what are we having