Anatomy of Evil (42 page)
Authors: Will Thomas
Tags: #Detective and Mystery Fiction, #Historical, #Traditional
I wasn’t aware he knew my first name.
“I wasn’t sure whether I was in the right place at the right time, or the wrong time. He attacked me before I could decide.”
“It’s too bad,” Abberline said. “An inch in another direction and you could have drawn a police pension.”
“Wish I’d thought of that then.”
An ale led to an early lunch of sandwiches sliced from the joint and some chips. The Sun did good chips. Put the Guv next to a couple of inspectors and they could talk methods and cases for hours. It was close to noon before the inevitable shaking of hands, and promises to renew acquaintances soon. At last, we stepped out into Great Scotland Yard Street again and headed for the gate.
He’ll expect me to ask whether or not the decision to stay in the Yard or reopen the agency were truly mine to make, I told myself. I decided I wasn’t going to bring it up. If anyone should speak of it, it would have to be Cyrus Barker, currently unemployed. No, not unemployed. He was now a gentleman. I was the one who was unemployed. After all, if you’ve got no agency, you don’t need an assistant, do you? He hadn’t asked me to be his secretary or his chauffeur in the interim. I was currently without gainful employment, but I had some money saved. It seemed comical to realize that I had become his lodger. I wondered what he would charge for room and board.
We walked down Whitehall Street and as I looked toward Craig’s Court, my eyes saw it.
BARKER AGENCY. PRIVATE ENQUIRY AGENTS.
The hoarding was back up. When had he ordered it restored? It had to be before he’d asked me whether we would stay with Scotland Yard or not. The question had been moot. At least we were back in business and I was employed again.
“Hallo, Mr. B,” Jenkins said as we entered.
“’Lo, Jeremy, How have you been?”
“Well enough, sir. I believe congratulations are in order.”
“Thank you. Please don’t ask me to repeat what happened just yet. I’m tired of telling it.”
Barker entered without a word, passed through into his chambers, and filled a pipe from the smoking cabinet in the bookcase. Then he sat down in his chair and looked at the post and the newspapers that had arrived that morning.
Suddenly, Jenkins seized my hand, which was resting on his desk. He inclined his head to the front entrance. I frowned. What was he driving at? He moved his eyes toward the door, rather insistently. I took two steps toward the front door and looked back at him. Almost imperceptibly he nodded. I walked to the door, opened it, and stepped out.
I looked up. The hoarding was just the same as it always was. The alley that was Craig’s Court looked the same. Then I looked down. Barker’s name had been installed in its rightful place. Below it now, there was a second plaque, of bright new brass. It read:
Thomas Llewelyn
Private Enquiry Agent
I knew the Guv would not appreciate any sentiment. Even a thank-you just then would be too much. I would thank him later. As it was, I reentered, nodded to Jenkins, then went in and sat down in my chair. However, I coughed, for emphasis.
Barker’s pipe was going and he was slitting envelopes and considering which case to take. If being away a full street to the south had accomplished anything, it had given us a half-dozen or more cases from which to choose. No having to accept just anyone who came in because we weren’t busy. My employer put every letter and envelope in the second drawer on his right. He never left anything on top of his desk. Then he picked up the morning edition of the
Times
and flapped it in a way he has that irritates me and he knows it.
Meanwhile, I pulled out my notebook and began to compile my notes. After all, I was employed again and I was expected to work. Barker was reading and I was preparing a final report from the agency for Scotland Yard.
“Asher Cowen,” he said.
“Oh, please,” I told him. “Do not mention his name to me. I’m tired of hearing it. What has he done now? Is he to be knighted or become the Lord Mayor of London?”
“Neither,” Barker said from behind the newspaper. “He dropped dead last night while giving a speech in Stepney.”
Aaron Kosminski returned to the workhouse and eventually was admitted to Colney Hatch Lunatic Asylum in 1891. He was transferred to Leavesden Asylum and remained there until his death in 1919. He was never lucid enough to confirm or deny that he was Jack the Ripper.
Robert Anderson was a fixture at Scotland Yard until his retirement. He then wrote a series of books on Christian theology, as well as his memoirs,
The Light Side of My Official Life.
He was knighted in 1901. In his memoirs and in various interviews, he claimed that Jack the Ripper had been caught and that he was a mentally insane Polish Jew.
DCI Donald Swanson had a long and distinguished career at Scotland Yard. In a handwritten memorandum in his own copy of Anderson’s book, he confirmed that Kosminski was the killer.
Charles Warren stepped down as commissioner of Scotland Yard shortly after the final killing, taking the public blame for not catching the Ripper. He was knighted for service to the Crown in 1888.
James Munro succeeded Warren as head of Scotland Yard. He was commissioner of Scotland Yard for three years.
DCI Frederick Abberline remained at Scotland Yard for several years. Eventually, he moved to Zurich and took over the European branch of the Pinkerton Detective Agency.
Prince Albert Victor (Eddy) became engaged to Princess Mary of Teck after two unsuccessful courtships, but died of what the royal palace claimed was pneumonia.
James K. Stephen, like his famous cousin, Virginia Woolf, eventually committed suicide. He had been admitted to a mental asylum in Northampton. When Prince Albert Victor died, he went on a hunger strike, dying twenty days later on February 3, 1892.
Inslip opened an establishment in Portland Place called the Hundred Guineas Club. He survived the Cleveland Street Scandal of 1890, which revealed the existence of a homosexual underworld and forced many aristocrats to flee the country.
Thomas Bulling was a reporter for the Central News Syndicate. Robert Anderson and others suspected he was responsible for the “Dear Boss” letter and the invention of the name “Jack the Ripper,” in order to sell newspapers.
Israel Zangwill went on to become a famous author and apologist for his people. He invented the phrase “melting pot,” and wrote a famous mystery novel,
The Big Bow Mystery.
I am fortunate that there are so many individuals and organizations researching Jack the Ripper and publishing their findings in books, articles, and private forums. This book is the result of many years of study, and I am indebted to those who made this search possible.
As always, I wish to thank my agent, Maria Carvainis, and my editor, Keith Kahla. He and his wonderful team convince me that the Barker and Llewelyn books could not be in better hands.
Thanks must also go to my daughters, Caitlin and Heather, who cast a gimlet eye upon my work and provide encouragement. And finally, to my wife, Julie, who types, edits, advises, and occasionally stands firm as the conscience of Cyrus Barker. No one could do it better.
WILL THOMAS
is the author of the Cyrus Barker and Thomas Llewelyn series, most recently
Fatal Enquiry
. He works as a librarian in Oklahoma, where he lives with his family. You can sign up for email updates
here
.
Also by
Will Thomas
Some Danger Involved
To Kingdom Come
The Limehouse Text
The Hellfire Conspiracy
The Black Hand
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Contents
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
ANATOMY OF EVIL
. Copyright © 2015 by Will Thomas. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
Cover design by Sara Wood and David Baldeosingh Rotstein
Cover photographs: man in walkway © Roy Bishop / Arcangel Images; knife in hand © Jitka Saniova / Trevillion Images
eBooks may be purchased for business or promotional use. For information on bulk purchases, please contact Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department by writing to [email protected].
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request
ISBN 978-1-250-04105-0 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4668-3720-1 (e-book)
e-ISBN 9781466837201
First Edition: May 2015