Page 53 of Secrets in the Dark
Soon, the table was set, the food was passed around, and while they’d been teasing and joking with one another—so necessary when their hours were filled with continual tension—it was time to assess the day.
“All right, we have the files from the vampire killings and we can begin to go through them again. We all watched and listened to Gary Hudson today—I believe that he did kill two of the victims in the so-called vampire killings. That leaves a third victim, and a second killer. And in listening to him today, I believe thathebelieves—or even knows—that our Ripper today is the second killer in the vampire murders. We believe that man to be Jesse Miller. But Miller has managed to live off-the-grid for years. I believe that he is English, but the best tech people on two continents haven’t been able to find an address or anything else on him. We know how Stephan Dante managed to hop from country to country—he ingratiated himself with all kinds of criminals. He got his funds by finding the stashes of robbers who were incarcerated—he found the right people to create false IDs. In Jesse Miller, I think he found a kindred spirit and not just an able follower. Jesse Miller has been existing with no known source of income, so, Jesse Miller might well have been playing the same game over here, somehow managing to befriend those who are locked away, enough, at any rate, to gain access to stolen funds. Or, he may be working—under an assumed name.”
“Something else that we can get on tomorrow,” Della said. “He’s changing his appearance like a true chameleon. I believe that he may have worked in the movies. Even as an extra. That would allow him to be this familiar with cosmetics and prosthetics, changing even the shape of his face.”
“I can get on that,” François said. “First thing in the morning; I’ll find out about everything that is being filmed and has been filmed recently.”
“There are also theaters, wonderful theaters in London,” Sean reminded them.
“Theaters, yes,” François said.
“I can work with you on that,” Sean said, explaining, “if I weren’t an inspector, I’d have loved spending my days inHamilton—even if he was an American, oh, wait, it was a whole British/American thing, orWickedor... Well, you know. Wait! Wow,Hamilton! Sorry, Della—any relationship to the man?”
“I have no idea,” she said, laughing. “My mom’s family is Norse. My dad’s family are a totally mixed-up bag of different nationalities. If I have famous ancestors, no one ever knew it. But, hey, I love the play myself!”
“I recently sawEvan Hansen. And before thatSix!” Sean said.
“I haven’t seenSix, but I have the cast album downloaded. Love it!” Della said.
“Um, I think we’d all like a night out at the theater,” Edmund said, “but...”
“Sorry. The point is that I still have friends working in the theater and the movies, and that could help,” Sean said, grinning at Della. “We will get to a play!” he whispered as an aside to her. “And if they’re nice, we’ll let the others come!”
“It’s a plan!” she whispered back.
The others were all staring at them.
But then Mason laughed softly and they all agreed—it would be really cool if they were going to a play instead of being involved in someone’s play at life and death.
“We definitely want to make use of any helpful connections. You and François are on searching for our fellow through the makeup angle,” Mason agreed.
“I don’t think that the medical examiner can help us anymore,” Jeanne said. “And, of course, we are working with contradictions. The killer was careful to create the wounds on his victim just as the Ripper did on Mary Ann Nichols. He was precise. But he made it clear that he’s choosing different victims. While to this day no one knows who Jack the Ripper was, it is believed by many that he may have suffered at the hands of a prostitute—perhaps having acquired syphilis from one of them—but he chose his victims because he could whisper to them for sex and lure them into alleys or away from sight. This killer thinks that all women are, in his words, whores.”
“The world has changed. Dating has changed. Both sexes like to have fun when they’re young—and not so young. You can find a date online. Men and women both pick each other up at pubs. Maybe our killer has decided that while his victims may appear to be different, they’re really all the same,” Edmund said.
Mason frowned and looked around the table. “Did anyone gain anything else from Gary Hudson’s rants? He said something that I keep feeling I should have gained something from—and I admit, I’m going a bit crazy trying to fathom what it might have been.”
They all stared back at him.
Then Della suddenly frowned and spoke. “Dig, dig, dig. Dig, dig, dig. He said that we’re going to have to dig. I don’t think that he meant that we needed to dig into information.”
“Dig. An architectural dig?” Edmund asked.
“There was a dig going on in Norway when we were there. We inquired there, but all digs need more than just archeologists and anthropologists. They need grunt workers, too, getting through tons of upper layers once something has been discovered. Maybe—”
“Maybe Jesse Miller—under an assumed name—went on to Norway, ready to do Stephan Dante’s bidding there,” Sean said.
“But we know that Dante did the killing in Norway,” Jeanne pointed out.
“That might have been the catalyst,” Mason said, “for the killing here. For this man’s need to be the king of the Ripper killers. He might even be pleased that Dante was apprehended—that allows him the opportunity to become even more famous. Jack the Ripper was never caught. To this day, scholars still argue over who it might or might not have been—they go by the five canonical victims, but there were eleven murders in the area at the time—one probably a robbery, but one possibly a practice for what was to come. The lack of definitive knowledge on many fronts regarding Jack the Ripper is allowing our copycat a lot of leeway, which means we need to be careful in making any assumptions about what he will and will not do.”
“How does he know so much about forensics?” Della wondered.
“You’re suggesting that an inspector or someone else in British law enforcement might be involved?” Edmund asked her.
She shook her head. “There are dozens of people in forensics, working for law enforcement, or even for universities or other establishments. I’m not suggesting—”
“But there is that possibility,” Sean said. “Except that we think it is Jesse Miller, a man who disappears just like a wisp of fog. Someone we might look straight at—without a clue that we’ve got our man.”
