Sherlock Holmes and the Hunt for Jack the Ripper by Gerard Kelly

Author:Gerard Kelly
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Sherlock Holmes, mystery, crime, british crime, sherlock holmes novels, sherlock holmes fiction, sherlock holmes short stories, Jack the Ripper
ISBN: 9781780925639
Publisher: Andrews UK Limited 2014
Published: 2014-02-06T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

‘So what’s the verdict old chap?’ I asked.

He sighed and said, ‘It’s bad news for Mrs Maybrick I’m afraid. Not once did I find a correlation with the dates. All I’ve managed to achieve is to drive another nail in the fellow’s coffin after all.’

‘I have to say that I’m not surprised. I would have been more surprised if it had been the other way round.’

Holmes opened his notebook and said, ‘This confirms that the man really is an addict. He has been buying arsenic there for close to ten years!’

‘Good lord!’

‘ The records show that he has bought his drugs as many as five times a day, and the doses have increased from four drops initially until he’s now on seven drops per charge!’

‘I’m surprised the fellow is still standing. He must have the constitution of a mule.’

Holmes looked at his notes again and said, ‘Records show that Edwin Heaton dispensed the drug as a pick-me-up to excite passion and that he would make several bottles containing eight or sixteen doses for when Maybrick was away on business.’

I sighed, ‘That poor woman. What a blow all this is going to be for her.’

‘As you say, Watson, I’m not looking forward to breaking both the bad news and her heart.’

The following morning we made our way back to Battlecrease House and once again Holmes knocked on the door. The maid admitted us saying, ‘This way please gentlemen’ and showed us into the same reception room as before, where Mrs Maybrick was waiting. She was trying valiantly not to show the agitation that she obviously felt, in front of the maid. When the door closed behind the servant-girl, she looked searchingly at Holmes and said, ‘Well Sir, from your sombre countenance, I gather that you were unsuccessful?’

‘I’m afraid so, Madam. I checked the poison register at your husband’s chemists and not once did he purchase any medicine on any of the dates when those women were killed. In fact the records show that he had extra medicines supplied to last him through his business trips to London.’

She put her head in her hands and let out a huge sigh. ‘I still can’t believe all this. The journal is back in its hiding place and his bedroom is locked. He always keeps it locked and doesn’t know that I have a spare key.’

Holmes responded, ‘Madam, I’ve a confession to make. I am, first and foremost, an investigator and as such I examined your husband’s watch. To dismiss any lingering doubts you may still have as to your husband’s guilt, let me say that he stands convicted by his own words. Scratched into the back of his watchcase are the words; I AM JACK. Also inscribed are the initials of all the women he has already murdered.’

At this revelation the poor woman broke down completely and dissolved into a flood of tears. We stood helplessly by and when I went to approach her, Holmes indicated to me that I should leave her alone.

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