Chapter 87
Caught off guard, Jamie wasn’t quite sure what to say. His mouth suddenly seemed very dry. He cleared his throat, hoping to gain a moment to formulate a response. It didn’t help that he could feel the gaze of the Guardian across from him seeming to penetrate into his brain. It was as if he knew Jamie was nervous and wanted to make him as uncomfortable as possible. After some consideration, Jamie began, “Well, there could be a number of reasons why the Ripper might take such actions, but, in my opinion, he’s doing it to prevent blood loss from the wounds he inflicts after death.”
Leaning toward him, Ward asked, “How’s that?”
Keeping his eyes locked on Ward’s friendly face, Jamie continued his explanation. “So… if you think of the heart as a pump, driving blood to the various parts of the body, if one were to make an incision, particularly the large slashing cuts the Ripper uses in the neck and torso areas, while the heart is still pumping blood, there will be a splattering effect, far beyond what we are seeing now, which is only due to the particular motion the slayer is using when he makes the cuts. Asphyxiating the victim before the incisions are made is one way to lessen the effects the pumping motion has on the blood splatter.” He looked around the room to see if everyone understood and saw contemplative faces.
With a grimace on her pretty face, Vicky asked, “Do you think he does this so that he can drain the victim?”
Speaking directly to the pretty blonde made Jamie feel a bit more confident. Nodding, he answered, “I believe that is part of the reason, though we know that Jack does not feed off of his victims to the extent one would expect from a typical Vampire. He seems to be more fascinated with both the hunt and the dissection, at least in most of these cases, so it might just be that stopping the heart before he makes his incisions gives him a cleaner work area if you will.”
It was difficult for Jamie to tell whether or not the team understood him or saw his perspective as valid, but most of them seemed to be nodding along, and he felt as if he might’ve actually been able to do his job, which in this case was to provide some sort of explanation for the unexplainable and reason for an unreasonable monster.
With a warm smile and a nod of confidence, Ward said, “Thank you, Jamie. I think it is fair to say, then, that the Ripper was in the process of dispatching this young lady when you discovered her, and there’s likely a possibility that Dr. Joplin’s explanation is the reason why.”
Another fellow Jamie didn’t know asked, “Did she live?” His accent was thick, and Jamie thought he sounded Spanish, but he couldn’t be sure.
“We alerted the police, and they took her to hospital. Since she hasn’t made the papers, I’m assuming so,” Frank answered with a shrug.
Harvey, the man next to him, asked, “Do we think Mylett could’ve been another victim interrupted then?” Jamie remembered the name of the victim from early December that both the police and the press refused to attribute to the Ripper. There’d been information about her in the files he’d been given, and he had jotted some of it down and had it in the papers in front of him if he needed to reference it. However, before he could dig it out, an answer came from across the table.
“Actually, we got some information on that last night.” Vicky stopped and looked at her partner, who just raised his eyebrows at her. Jamie had no idea what the silent exchange was about, but ultimately, she deferred to him, and he began to speak.
“We ran into our informant last night,” he explained, shrugging. “According to him, Mylett was not a Ripper victim. He says she killed herself.”
“That seems implausible,” the man Jamie had decided might be Edmund chimed in. “Who strangles herself in the dead of winter in a public park?”
Ward spoke up. “One of the reasons we haven’t accepted the police’s official report.”
The blue eyed man, the fellow Jamie had met, and yet couldn’t for the life of him remember his name, continued. “Our friend also says that the girl found with the stake through her stomach the day after Christmas was a Ripper victim. He says this is an indicator that the Ripper is ‘changing things up,’ that the police are on to him, and we can expect more diversification in the future.” When he’d finished, he looked around at each of their faces, and Jamie did as well. Everyone looked stone sober, as if they realized this would be a much longer road to hoe than they had anticipated.
Once again, Ward was speaking to him, this time using his first name, which hadn’t expected. “Jamie, you examined the late December victim yourself, didn’t you?” Jamie nodded, and Ward continued. “Did you find her wounds consistent with the Ripper’s tactics?”
“I didn’t,” Jamie admitted. He saw the man across from him raise his eyebrows, and suddenly he remembered his name. When Ward had introduced him, just the day before, he’d looked at Jamie just like that, as if the doctor was just a foolish kid who knew nothing. Jamie continued with his answer, trying to appease the Guardian across from him. “But that doesn’t necessarily mean he didn’t do it. If what Aaron and his informant are saying is true, the different tactics could be an effort to throw the police off of his trail.” When he finished speaking, he waited, thinking someone might correct him if he’d recalled the name incorrectly. No one did.
Frank was speaking again. “And this Vampire you meet with says that’s what he is trying to do? Get the police off of him?” He was clearly asking Aaron. Jamie felt relieved to have remembered his name. It wasn’t like him to forget things. Perhaps that was another part of the intimidation that radiated from this fellow.
Jamie caught the answer, despite his distracted state. “Yes,” Aaron confirmed. “He also admitted that he, himself, is on the police’s list of suspects.”
Berta’s voice boomed. “And we’re sure that this guy is not the killer?”
With a shrug, Aaron said, “I have never truly suspected him, but I think we’ve confirmed it if you saw the Ripper last night, blocks away from where we spoke to the Vampire informant, and the man you chased was dressed much differently than the one we spoke to.”
Berta nodded, and Jamie agreed. They could be certain that this informant, the one Aaron and Vicky had been speaking to, couldn’t be Jack the Ripper. Of course, that didn’t get them any closer to figuring out the Ripper’s identity.
“We do know, then, that one of the suspects on the police list has to be the Ripper, then, if we believe the informant.” Edmund’s conclusion was sound.
Vicky’s voice held a decidedly sarcastic tone. “Great. That narrows it down to a hundred men.”
“There are some suspects from the initial list we can remove,” Ward reminded them, “though the list would still be quite long and growing each day.”
Before he realized he was even speaking, Jamie found himself chiming in. “It still might be a good place to concentrate our efforts.” He glanced up to see Aaron McReynolds looking at him a bit differently, all of a sudden, as if Jamie had actually said something somewhat intelligent. He continued, “As I’ve stated before, I do believe the Ripper has medical experience. If we hone in on those suspects already on the list who have some sort of medical practice, we should be able to narrow it down considerably. Then, we can determine how best to proceed.”
Pounding him on the shoulder, Ward replied, “A fine idea! Let’s get to it!”
