Ripper (48 page)

"Samson Coy," DeClercq said. "You're under arrest for murder. You have the right to retain and—" "I'm
not
Samson Coy."

DeClercq paused. Coy was possessed. Had he
become
his Doppelganger? "Crossbones, you're under arrest for murder," he said. "You have—"

"I'm
not
Crossbones," Coy sneered. Then, gloating, he snarled, "I am
Skulll"

DeClercq was baffled, then comprehension dawned. He recalled his insight about Coy's fantasy while reading
The Guillotine: It's the slave who makes his owner king, for he's the strongman who maintains the kingdom for his master. Coy desires subjugation to another, and at the same time yearns for supremacy. The king's his alter ego. A role tailor-made for Angus Craig III.

By coring Coy of all that bad maleness inside, the Dr. Frankensteins of the Dianics commune made their New Man. The mental cancer they induced ate at Coy until one day he couldn't stand on his own two feet. That's what Brigid Marsh meant at the King of Siam:
You're not crippled.
". . . stand on your own two feet . . ."
This wheelchair business is a psychosomatic sham.
"You embarrassed me then and you embarrass me now." While the Monster—like in the book—was hunting his creator.

Craig half filled the Hollow Man with subservient Cross-bones, while Skull—the master demon—possessed him. Craig must have crossed Coy without fully understanding his partner's fantasy:
Coy desires subjugation to another, and at the same time yearns for supremacy.
Skull lost his human host the moment Craig died, so he possessed Coy by shoving Crossbones aside. Powered by Skull, Coy shed his psychosomatic restraints, including the wheelchair he didn't need. Just as Skull & Crossbones were fused in their crimes, so, psychologically, they were now
one.

The Hollow Man was hollow no more.

The Guillotine
had claimed his head.

Author's Note

This is a work of fiction. The plot and characters are a product of the author's imagination. Where real persons, places, or institutions are incorporated to create the illusion of authenticity, they are used fictitiously. Inspiration was drawn from the following nonfiction sources:

Adey, Robert.
Locked Room Murders and Other Impossible Crimes: A Comprehensive Bibliography.
Minneapolis: Crossover, 1991. Anderson, Gail. "Forensic Entomology: The Use of Insects in Death Investigations." Unpublished. Baring-Gould, William S.
The Annotated Sherlock Holmes.

New York: Potter, 1967. Begg, Paul, Martin Fido and Keith Skinner.
The Jack the

Ripper A To
Z. London: Headline, 1991. Bilson, Frank.
Crossbows.
New York: Hippocrene, 1983. Borror, D., C. Triplehorn and N. Johnson.
An Introduction to the Study of Insects.
Philadelphia: Saunders College, 1989.

Burgess, Ann W. et al. "Sexual Homicide: A Motivational Model."
Journal of Interpersonal Violence,
Vol. 1 No. 3, 1986.

Campbell, Joseph and Richard Roberts.
Tarot Revelations.

San Anselmo: Vernal Equinox, 1987. Case, Paul Foster.
The Tarot: A Key to the Wisdom of the

Ages.
Richmond: Macoy, 1947. Cavendish, Richard.
Visions of Heaven and Hell.
New York:

Harmony, 1977. Crowley, Aleister.
The Book of Thoth.
York Beach: Weiser, 1969.

Crowley, Aleister.
The Confessions of Aleister Crowley.
London: Penguin, 1989.

Douglas, John E. et al. "Criminal Profiling from Crime Scene Analysis."
Behavioral Sciences & the Law,
Vol. 4 No. 4, 1986.

Fishman, Steve.
A Bomb in the Brain.
New York: Avon, 1990.

Gray, Eden.
The Tarot Revealed.
New York: Bell, 1960.

Harris, Melvin.
Jack the Ripper: The Bloody Truth.
London: Columbus, 1987.

Higdon, Hal.
The Crime of the Century.
New York: Putnam, 1975.

Hughes, Robert.
Heaven and Hell in Western Art.
New York: Stein and Day, 1968.

Huson, Paul.
The Devil's Picturebook.
New York: Putnam, 1971.

Johnsgard, Paul A.
North American Owls: Biology and Natural History.
Washington: Smithsonian, 1988.

Joshi, S.T.
John Dickson Carr: A Critical Study.
Bowling Green State University, 1990.

Kaplan, Stuart R.
Tarot Classic.
New York: U.S. Games Systems, 1972.

King, Francis X.
Witchcraft and Demonology.
London: Hamlyn, 1987.

Marron, Kevin.
Witches, Pagans, and Magic in the New Age.
Toronto: Seal, 1989.

Mathers, S.L. MacGregor.
Astral Projection, Ritual Magic, and Alchemy.
Wellingborough: Aquarian, 1987.

Payne-Gallwey, Sir Ralph.
The Crossbow.
London: Holland Press, 1903.

Porter, Bruce. "Mind Hunters: Tracking Down Killers With the FBI's Psychological Profiling Team."
Psychology Today,
April 1983.

Ressler, Robert K. et al. "Murderers Who Rape and Mutilate."
Journal of Interpersonal Violence,
Vol. 1 No. 3, 1986.

Ressler, Robert K. et al. "Sexual Killers and Their Victims: Identifying Patterns Through Crime Scene Analysis."
Journal of Interpersonal Violence,
Vol. 1 No. 3, 1986.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police Fact Sheets.
Ottawa: RCMP, 1992.

Rumbelow, Donald.
The Complete Jack the Ripper.
London: Penguin, 1988.

Sullivan, Jack (ed).
The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural.
New York: Viking, 1986. Toops, Connie.
Discovering Owls.
Vancouver: Whitecap, 1990.

Vale, V. and Andrea Juno (eds.).
Modern Primitives: An Investigation of Contemporary Adornment and Ritual.
San Francisco: Re/Search #12, 1989. 

The Vancouver Sun,
for the world behind the illusion. Waite, Arthur Edward.
The Book of Black Magic.
York

Beach: Weiser, 1972. Wilson, Colin and Donald Seaman.
Encyclopedia of Modern

Murder 1962-1982.
London: Pan, 1983. Wilson, Colin and Patricia Pitman.
Encyclopedia of Murder.

London: Pan, 1984. Wilson, Colin and Robin Odell.
Jack the Ripper: Summing

Up and Verdict.
London: Bantam, 1987. Wilson, Colin.
The Occult.
New York: Random House, 1971.

Thanks to those members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, scientists in the RCMP Forensic Lab, pathologists at Vancouver General Hospital, professors at the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University, and librarians at the Vancouver Public Library, North Vancouver City Library, and West Vancouver Memorial Library, who graciously answered a thousand questions.

A tip of the hat to the Anvil Chorus, who hammered out the bumps.

And to Chris and Barney, who conjure Slade. Note to the Sladists: for those of you scratching your heads, this is
Skull & Crossbones.
On hearing the original title, one of the Anvil Chorus said, "Avast ye hearties! A pirate book!" The title went downhill from there. The story survivors will return.

SLADE Vancouver, B.C.

THERE IS NO SAFETY FOR A READER IN A MICHAEL SLADE BOOK."

—
Vancouver
magazine

from SIGNET

Table of Contents

Prologue Demoniacs

Witches' Sabbath

Part I Lice

Skinner

Tattoo

Scarecrow

Grand Guignol

Mindhunter

Seance with a Killer

Foreign Legion

Jolly Roger

Bugs

Magick

Brady & Hindley

The Frankenstein Conundrum

Beast 666

Hookers

Soldier of Fortune

Black Candles

Jack the Ripper

Sex Babe

Tarot

The Erotic Witch

House of Horrors, Room of Death

Ghostwriter

The Hanged Man

The Witching Hour

Part II Owls

Tautriadelta

Piercings

Crowley's Trunk

Hammerhead

Zoophilia

DIANICS

Deadman's Island

Owl Prowl

Castle Crag

THE DEVIL'S PlCTUREBOOK

Skull & Crossbones

Ripper's Cross

Phantom Finger

Hatchet Job

William Tell

Hell-Hags

Hangman's Noose

Booby Trapped

Mother Mask

Part III Witches and Demons

HUMPTY-DUMPTY . . .

. . . Had a Great Fall

Leopold . . .

God's Toilet

Pointed Sticks

MlSANDRY/MlSOGYNY

A Terribly Strange Bed

Locked Room

Possessed

. . . & Loeb

Dying Message

Lucifer's Library

Madhouse

Guillotine

Flushed

HOGGER

Prowling Dead

Miller's Court

Epilogue

Doppelganger

Skull Without Crossbones

Author's Note