Requiem (The Penny Dreadfuls Book 1) (14 page)

Chastity covered her mouth to keep from swearing. The woman appeared to have already undergone an autopsy and Chastity could only hope she’d been dead before the madman had started cutting.

“Yes, that’s what Father William said,” Malachi said. “He wants you to get on it and said if it isn’t something you can handle, he will get Crane to come in from Glasgow.”

“I can handle it,” Chastity snarled. “Where is the body now?”

Malachi pulled another slip of paper from the stack. “A physician named Ezra Perry was given the examination. Presumably the remains are still at his office.”

Chastity vanished behind the screen and began splashing in the basin. Unlike most, she preferred to bathe daily, but now she was in a hurry. A quick sponge-bath would do.

“Ask Asok to send one of the lads round to Inspector Price, he will be at his office this morning. Let him know we have another body and he needs to get the case,” she said above the splashing.

“He can do that?” Malachi asked.

“I’ve no idea, but I know he will be willing to try.”

Malachi put the address and clippings on Chastity’s side table. “And where will you be? Father William will want to know.”

“Doing whatever I can to see the victim and dig up a lead,” Chastity replied. “There has to be some clue that will help me find this madman. If there is nothing with the body I will be at Cross Bones cemetery following up another lead. I’ve got a name. Dippel.”

“Dippel? Did you say Dippel?” Malachi asked.

Chastity began brushing the knots out of her hair, wincing as they came free. “Yes, I met him yesterday. I encountered him yesterday and I don’t believe it was a coincidence. Why?”

She could hear Malachi fiddling with the door. “I, er, I may have heard that name. Before. Recently. I will look into it. Be safe, yes?”

He was gone before she could answer. She put it down to nervousness about her nudity and finished her hair.

She stepped outside a short time later, again dressed in breeches tucked into knee high boots, this time matched with a corset of blue silk and a white blouse beneath an Italian-style jacket that accentuated her waist, but let her arms swing more freely. She’d added her sword, as well. She didn’t care if it was unladylike, this was at least the third victim and her instincts told her there were more, many more. They just hadn’t been found yet. If she uncovered a lead, she was going to follow it and she doubted the madman was going to come just because she asked with a polite smile.

She’d walked three blocks before she was able to hire a coach to take her to Bethnal Green. The ride was comfortable and it wasn’t long before they stopped in front of a ramshackle brick building set in the middle of Turin Street. The first floor was an eatery that sold street food from a window that opened to the street. A hand painted sign at the mouth of the alley indicated that the doctor’s office was up the stairs. Chastity paid her fare and hurried up the rickety wooden steps to the second floor. A door opened into a small foyer with two doors, one for the doctor’s office, the other for the second floor apartments. She pushed open the office door and let it close behind her.

The office wasn’t what she’d expected. Where Bond’s office had been so clean you could have performed surgery on the floor, Perry’s office was, in a word, filthy. There were bloodstains on the floor and chairs, handprints on the wall and door and a vague odor that reminded her of stale urine. A cluttered desk sat in the corner beside a door marked “surgery”. On the desk was a bell and a small sign that read “ring for service.” Chastity tapped the bell and it rocked in its cradle, giving off a sound loud enough to wake the dead. A moment later the door opened and a young man in a threadbare suit and bloodstained apron leaned out.

“I’ll be with you…”

He trailed off and looked Chastity up and down. “You don’t live round here.”

“Doctor Perry, I presume? No, I do not. My name is Chastity MacLeod, with the London Dispatch. I was hoping for some information on the remains found last night.”

“I’m sorry, that is a police matter I am still working on. You will have to speak with Inspector Bradstreet.”

Perry turned away only to find Chastity’s foot blocking the door. “I’m sorry, doctor, that just won’t do.”

“Madame, if you do not move your foot I shall call and fetch the Bobbies myself,” Perry said.

Chastity shrugged. “Fine, do. I doubt you will find one on patrol anywhere near here. I will be long gone and it will be your word against mine. Please, doctor, I am trying to help the victim, I believe her death is related to another I have been covering. If it is, mayhap I can connect the two and help them both.”

Perry let go of the door and it opened with a creak. “You mean the head that was found in the Thames.”

“I do, doctor. I broke the story two days ago. She hasn’t been identified.”

It was true, in a way. A monk with the Order had written the article from her notes. It paid to keep her cover up to date.

Perry looked at her. “Why are you carrying a sword?”

Chastity gave him her best smile. “It is a dangerous neighborhood, Doctor. May I enter?”

With a sigh the doctor stepped aside. “If the inspector finds out about this, I’ll lose my contract.”

Chastity entered and moved toward a table where the victim’s remains lay on a clean cotton sheet. “He won’t. With any luck a friend of mine will soon be the lead inspector on the case.”

She pulled back the sheet. Beneath was the torso of a woman. She’d been small, but most definitely full grown. The incision down her torso had been reopened and Chastity could see most of her organs had been removed.

Perry moved up beside her. “Whoever did this also took her organs. She was like that when I opened her, with nothing inside but old coffee bags.”

Chastity pulled her notebook from a pouch on her belt and began taking notes. “Which means her murder is definitely connected to the other victim. Her head was found in a coffee bag.  It would appear that someone who knew what they were doing removed her arms and legs as well as her…femininity.”

Perry nodded and pointed at the incisions that had been sewn shut with silken thread. “I would guess a doctor of some description. A good one. I believe her limbs were removed while she was still alive. At least her arms, though it is difficult to tell. She’s been dead for some time, though. Her flesh has begun to deteriorate.”

Chastity looked away from the incisions and focused on the woman’s face. She was above average in looks, pretty enough to be called striking. She’d had long blonde hair, green eyes and lips that Chastity suspected had once been full and vibrant, but were now pale, thin slits. She bore such a resemblance to the first victim it was uncanny.

“She could be the other victim’s sister. Do you mind if I get a sketch?”

“Go ahead,” Perry said. “I’ve other work to attend to.”

Perry moved off through another door and Chastity set to work sketching the young victim. She was almost done when she heard the bell from outside. Out of curiosity she looked into the, for lack of a better term, waiting room. A young woman dressed in a cotton dress and cloak stood by the desk, the hand of boy no more than ten clutched tightly. The boy was pale and his eyes hooded.

“What’s wrong, Miss?” Chastity asked.

“It’s me son,” she said. “E’s been ill since Tuesday, can’t keep nothing down. Is the doctor in?”

Chastity stepped into the waiting room, but left the door open for Perry. “He will be out in a moment.”

She knelt next to the boy and smiled. “What’s your name?”

He was breathing through is mouth, a ragged, wet sound. “Lee, Miss. Is that a real sword?”

Chastity nodded. “It is. They’re out of fashion, but I am somewhat attached to it. Tell me, Lee, does your tummy hurt?”

He nodded and put his hand on the right side of his belly. “Here, Miss.”

“He says it’s getting worse and e’s been having chills. Where’s the doctor?”

Chastity scooped the boy into her arms and carried him into the surgery. He was burning up. “Three days you said, yes?”

“Yes, ma’am,” the mother said.

“Doctor Perry, get in here!” Chastity yelled.

Perry stepped out of the second surgery. “What happened? Mrs. Abernathy?”

“It’s Lee, e’s been sick—”

“He’s got pain on the right side of his abdomen, a fever, nausea and vomiting,” Chastity interrupted.

She placed Lee on the table and began unbuttoning his coat.

“His appendix?” Perry asked.

Chastity met his eyes. “You’re the doctor, but at a guess, yes.”

Perry began an exam of the boy’s stomach and the boy immediately cried out in pain.

“You’re right, it’s inflamed, but it hasn’t burst. He needs surgery. Can you assist me?”

“Do I have a choice? Mrs. Abernathy, please return to the waiting room.”

Mrs. Abernathy paled. “But, my son—”

“Will be fine,” Perry said.

He took Abernathy by the elbow and guided her into the waiting room. Chastity could hear him explaining what was going to happen and she turned her attention back to Lee.”

“Lee, you’re going to go to sleep for a little while. When you wake up the pain will be better and in a few days you will be up again, okay?”

The boy nodded. He was terrified, she could see it in his eyes.

Chastity drew her sword and held it in her hands. “I promise you, Lee, it will be okay. I swear it on the blade of my forefathers.”

Lee relaxed and Chastity rummaged in her pouch, gathering reagents and components. She mixed the powders in her palm and looked at the boy. “Are you ready to go to sleep?”

“Yes, mum.”

Chastity stirred the powder as she had so many times before then blew on it, sending it whisking away to vanish with a golden glow into Lee’s body. A moment later he was in a deep sleep from which he would not readily waken.

“What was that?” Perry asked.

She hadn’t heard him return. “The boy is asleep and will remain so through the procedure. What do you need me to do?”

“How is he asleep?”

Chastity turned and gave the doctor a look that could curdle milk. “You do not want to know. He is asleep and safe. Now, tell me what to do!”

Perry blanched and started pointing at shelves and barking orders. Chastity did as she was told and began making preparations, stacking tools and alcohol on the tray beside the boy. Two tense hours later, the boy was out of danger. His appendix, which was so swollen it had turned a sickly purple color, had been placed in a jar of alcohol.

Lee was still resting when his mother was allowed into the surgery. She rushed to her son’s side, eyes frightened at the bloody bandage over his abdomen.

Perry wiped his hands on his apron and joined her. “Lee will be in some pain when he wakes, and you will need to keep the wound clean, but he is fine. He should make a full recovery.”

“Why is he asleep?” Mrs. Abernathy asked.

“To keep him from the pain of the surgery,” Chastity said. “I thought it was best.”

She placed a hand on Lee’s forehead and whispered, “Wake, little one.”

Lee opened his eyes and blinked. His face screwed up in pain, but not as badly as before.

“Am I alright?” he asked. “Mum, am I alright?”

She hugged him, careful of his stitches. “You’re going to be just fine.”

Chastity packed some bottles of alcohol and yards of bandages into a burlap sack and handed it to Mrs. Abernathy. “Clean the wound with alcohol tomorrow, and every day for the next week and he should be fine. No running, jumping or roughhousing until Dr. Perry removes his stitches.”

“Thank you, nurse,” Mrs. Abernathy said. “Thank you both.”

Perry walked them to the door and Chastity gathered her things, wondering where Price was. She’d expected him before now. When Perry returned, she smiled.

“I understand now.”

“Understand what?” Perry asked.

“The grubby office on the edge of the slums, doing examinations for the police, I understand. You don’t charge the locals anything, do you?”

Perry smiled. “No. They bring me what they can, food and drink and the like, enough to keep me fed. The city contract helps with everything else. The city doctors won’t come out here and even if they could, no-one could pay what they ask. The doctors that are here, their skills are questionable. So here I am.”

Chastity kissed his cheek. “It is noble work. Thank you.”

She turned to leave and paused in the door. “Someone may come to see you. His name is Asok. Listen to what he says, it will interest you.”

Perry frowned at her. “I don’t understand.”

“I know. Trust me, anyway.”

Chastity closed the door and hurried down the steps to the street where she almost ran into Inspector Price and another man in a bowler hat she didn’t recognize. She stepped back and offered them an apologetic smile.

“Good afternoon, gentlemen. Inspector, I was looking for you.”

Price took off a new-looking hat. “Good afternoon, Miss MacLeod. John, this is the reporter I told you about. She’s been very helpful on this case. Chastity, this is Inspector Bradstreet of the Particulars. The victim found last night is his case.”