Temptations of Anna Jacobs (18 page)

Anna had become a better person despite her circumstances whereas he’d allowed one thing to drag him down and nearly destroy him. And it was something he couldn’t even be blamed for. It wasn’t his damned fault that his father had had an affair. He was the worst sort of sot and she deserved a hell of a lot better than him.

As soon as Richter was in custody, Drew would marry Anna.

Drew stepped into the office area he shared with the other inspectors. Bernard stood at his desk and met Drew’s gaze as he entered the room. “Foster, glad you finally made it in. I was just on my way out, we’ve got another one. Let’s go,” Jeffries said as he grabbed his coat off the hook by the door. The man did a double-take, then frowned. “What the devil happened to you?”

“I’ll tell you on the way.”

Once they were in the carriage and rolling down the street, Drew relayed the story of going to see Richter and all that had happened.

“You suspected him all this time and you didn’t tell me?”

“I tried to express concern that the Ripper wasn’t the killer of that first woman we found, but you said my theory was due to my inexperience.” Drew shook his head. “I didn’t think you’d believe me, so I sought proof on my own.”

“Well, you did a damned fine job,” Jeffries said. “By the time you woke up, Richter had taken all of the journals?”

“Yes. I found the other book. I’ve secured it with a friend for the time being. I didn’t want it at the offices in case he returned there.”

“That should provide us with enough evidence to arrest him,” Jeffries said. “I’ll speak with his direct supervisor when we get back to the Yard.”

Nothing could have prepared Drew for the crime scene. None of the notes he’d read, nor the photographs he’d seen, could match the massacre of the woman on Barker Street.

Two constables ran outside and vomited on the street.

Jeffries swore.

“Sarah Wells,” someone said as Drew entered her small flat. The stink of death hung heavy in the air, and Drew did his best to keep his wits about him.

Blood covered or spattered nearly every surface in the room. What was left of Sarah Wells was misshapen and horrific. Her abdominal cavity was spread open and her intestines—at least he assumed that’s what they were—hung from a hook on her wardrobe.

There was no question about it. This was the work of Jack the Ripper.

“He’s back,” Drew said.

N
ow that he’d returned to London, it was time. Past time, if he really considered it.

The Ripper was ready to meet his student.

He carefully penned the message that would be printed in
The Times
the following morning. Soon he and his apprentice would be face to face, and then Jack could begin the real education.

He didn’t have time to entertain this foolishness any longer. If his student proved to be unteachable, the Ripper would simply kill him. He leaned back in his chair and took a healthy sip of his port, then took a long drag on his cigar.

They would find her soon, if they hadn’t already, his latest masterpiece. She was, by far, the best work he’d done. He’d spent hours with her. Perhaps it was time to pen another letter to the blokes at Scotland Yard, as it had been so long since he’d toyed with them.

He leaned over his desk, dipped his quill in the ink and wrote,

Dear Boss
.

An
na hadn’t seen or heard from Drew since he’d left her the previous day. She wanted to apply another bit of poultice to his wounds, but she knew he was working.

When the butler brought in
The Times
that morning to the breakfast table, Anna had flipped it open. She’d been the only one downstairs, despite the return of her brother and his wife the previous evening. Soon Simon would return and their entire clan would be here, save her sister, who rarely left her country estate and doting husband.

As she chewed her breakfast, something in the newspaper caught her attention. She leaned forward and read closer. This had to be a notice from the Ripper, though it was unclear to her what he said. She came to her feet knowing that she had to bring this to Drew’s attention at once.

The carriage ride seemed to take forever, and on more than one occasion Anna thought to jump down from the rig and simply run the rest of the way. Thankfully, though, the carriage stopped and she was able to rush up the stairs and knock on Drew’s door. The butler gave her entrance and showed her into Drew’s study. He sat behind his desk reading the newspaper.

“So you’ve seen it?” she asked.

He looked up, and his eyes warmed at the sight of her. He nodded. “I was working on breaking the code so I could decipher where the meeting will take place.”

“I did the same,” she said. “The meeting is definitely scheduled for tonight.” She walked around the desk to where he sat. “May I see what you’ve done?”

He nodded.

Leaning down, she reworked his decoding with the newspaper and the copy of the book.

“You smell good,” he said in almost a curse. “Like oranges and cloves.”

She looked at him from over her shoulder. “This is a bad thing?”

“When I’m trying to concentrate? Yes.”

She turned back to the work, but smiled.
This isn’t over
.

“Anna, I think there is something we should discuss—”

Her finger followed the words in Dante’s
Inferno
and she looked back at the code. “I’ve got it! ‘Meet me where it all began.’”

He stood next to her looking at the newspaper and the book. “I think you’re right. He wants them to meet at the site of the Ripper’s first victim.”

She turned and put her hand on his chest. “What did you want to discuss?”

He met her gaze. “It will have to wait a little longer. Right now I need to get to the Yard and get everything set up for tonight. This kind of task is going to take much organization.” He kissed her. “Stay here and wait for me?”

“Of course.” He turned to go and she grabbed his hand. “Be safe.”

He nodded and then he was gone.

She knew what he wanted to discuss with her. She wasn’t a fool. Drew was honorable enough that he would propose now that he’d taken her virtue. Her instinct was to say yes. She loved him. She wanted to be his wife more than anything.

But did she want it knowing that he’d likely never love her in return? Oh, he quite obviously desired her, and she suspected he even enjoyed her company, but Drew was not the romantic sort. Most men weren’t, she’d realized.

She didn’t know what she’d say when he finally got the chance to ask. First she had her own question to answer: what was worse, being married to the man you loved who didn’t love you in return, or being alone?

***

Se
veral hours later Drew sat in the carriage looking out the tiny window at the street around him. If the two killers were to meet, this would be the place. He knew what one of them looked like, so once Sergeant Richter arrived, Drew would wait for him to find the Ripper. Then he’d arrest both of them.

The takedown was carefully orchestrated. There were constables in plainclothes and four other inspectors sitting in carriages at the four corners to block the killers in. Tonight they would catch two killers. Tonight Jack the Ripper’s reign of terror would finally end.

Another carriage approached and Drew concentrated his efforts on determining the figure that withdrew. A woman. Damnation. A specific woman.

Anna.

Without another thought Drew leapt from his hiding place and made his way over to her. He grabbed her and pressed her against the brick wall of the alleyway.

“What the devil are you doing here, Anna?” he asked while he pretended to nuzzle her neck.

“We were wrong about the location.” She swatted at him. “Please stop that, I cannot think while you’re buzzing around me like that. In any case, this is the wrong location, and I came to tell you about it.”

He leaned up, looked at her face. “What are you talking about?”

“I kept looking at the code while you were gone. Went through the previous messages. And I do believe I made a crucial error in the message I gave you earlier. It isn’t where
it
all began, it is where
this
all began. The Ripper wants to meet—”

“At Richter’s first murder scene.” Drew finished her thought. He released a string of curses.

“Drew, there isn’t much time left.”

“And I can’t alert the others, I don’t know who they all are. We’ll have to go on our own.” They climbed up in the carriage she’d arrived in and he told the driver the new location. It wasn’t far, but certainly not somewhere Anna should walk. And he wasn’t leaving her now. He’d see her home himself. Thankfully he’d brought shackles with him—not for her, though the thought was tempting, but for the two killers he sought.

“I cannot believe you are here with me,” he said. “I am thankful you came to give me the correct code, but damn, Anna, I am literally waiting to arrest two horrific killers. If your brother knew you were with me, he’d strangle me for certain.”

“I brought a pistol,” she said. “I can protect myself.”

“Where did you find a pistol?”

“Simon’s. He has quite the collection. I thought it might come in handy should you need some assistance.”

Drew scrubbed his hand down his face. There was no use in arguing with her. He would simply lock her in the carriage if he had to. But he’d be damned if she got hurt, or worse, on his watch. He’d never forgive himself.

The carriage rolled to a stop and Drew again peeked out the small window.

“Do you see anyone?” she whispered.

“You don’t have to whisper, Anna. No one outside can hear you,” he said, not taking his eyes off of the city street.

“Right. Well, is anyone out there?”

“There are a handful of passersby, but no sign of Richter yet, and until he shows, I won’t find the Ripper. But damnation, I’m not going to be able to see anything from here. The alleyway goes too far. I need to get closer.” He put his hand on the door handle, but she grabbed his arm.

Her eyes were wide with panic. “Please do not leave me in here alone.”

“Anna, you cannot think to come out there with me. I should send the carriage home with you.”

“But then you will have nothing to transport the prisoners. You cannot hold the two of them on your own with no transportation.”

“Still, you’ll be safer in here than on the street,” he argued.

“I’m safest on the street with you to protect me.” Her eyes were wide with fear. “What if he tries to escape and he climbs in the carriage with me?”

He swore. “Come, but you stay hidden behind me. And no talking.”

She nodded. Once they were on the street, she grabbed hold of the back of his coat and walked so closely he might as well have been carrying her on his back.

Carefully they crept into the alleyway, but stayed close to the building that bordered the alley. Drew kept his hat pulled low over his brow to hide his face. Thankfully Anna wore a cloak that she could keep hidden in. There was no one around them save some stray cats that growled at one another.

Drew would keep her hidden and then as soon as he was able to get the men in custody, he’d put her in a carriage back home where she would be truly safe. It was his fault she was out here. Had he not been in such a hurry and instead thought things through clearly he would have been the one to decipher the code correctly. It would have saved them all a lot of trouble. As it was he’d left Jeffries and a good deal of other members of Scotland Yard’s finest waiting for nothing a few blocks away.

There was a shuffle at the end of the alleyway and Drew kept alert. But as the person drew near he could clearly see that it was a woman. He wanted to warn her, to tell her that two predators would be here in this alley in mere moments, but he couldn’t do so without revealing himself. So he stayed hidden in the doorway.

Drew saw Richter approaching from across the street. The man looked around him, obviously nervous. He kept his hand on his right hip, no doubt holding tightly to a pistol he had hidden within his coat.

They all stood waiting for what seemed like a quarter of an hour, but no one else showed. Richter paced some, appearing as if he might walk away at any moment. “I’ve got to arrest him before he flees again,” Drew whispered. “Stay hidden.” With his head down, Drew walked further into the alleyway where Richter was pacing. When he got close enough he pulled his pistol. When he looked up, though, Richter saw his face and ran in the opposite direction.

Drew pursued him, running after him down the other side of the alley. Finally he got close enough to grab on to his greatcoat. He yanked hard and the man went down. Drew put his boot on the man’s chest. “Don’t move, Richter. I’ll be taking you in now.”

“What the hell for?” the man demanded.

“Murder. At least three women, by my count.” Drew looked around. “Where’s your friend?”

“Who?”

“The Ripper. I know you were meeting him here tonight.”

“Go to the devil.”

“I think that will be you, not me.” Drew pulled him to his feet, put the shackles on Richter’s wrists and tightened them. He jerked him forward, pushing him down the alleyway toward Anna.

Now he needed to get her home safely and then bring Richter to the cages for questioning. Damn, they’d missed the Ripper, but they had new suspects to question. They would find him.

***

Dr
ew helped her down from the carriage when they reached her house. He gave her a quick kiss on her forehead. “Go.”

She nodded. “Be safe.” Then she climbed the steps to her door.

He stood outside the carriage until she’d closed her front door. Then she heard the clip-clop of his horses pulling the carriage away.

She should be exhausted; should crumble directly into bed. But the evening had been so thrilling and terrifying that her body practically vibrated with energy. She went into her mother’s study to find something to read. The house was quiet—all of the servants had already retired for the evening and her mother would have been long abed. Her brother and sister-in-law had left for a wedding in Derbyshire and weren’t expected to return to London for another two days.

Anna was blissfully alone.

Had the house not been as quiet she might have missed the light rapping on the front door. She wondered what Drew would have forgot. Anna opened the door with a question on her lips, but was met with a pistol to the face.

“Step forward and don’t scream or I shall shoot you between your pretty eyes,” the man said.

She could not see his face, as he wore a mask. But she knew immediately that he was a gentleman. She could tell from his manner of speech, though his words were anything but gentlemanly.

Terror seized her and froze her feet in place.

“Walk,” he said. “Now.” His tone was so genteel, but there was no gentleness there, no warmth.

All she could think about as she walked to the carriage was the thought of not seeing Drew again.

“Listen to everything I say and I won’t have to hurt you. You are nothing more to me than a bargaining chip. Once I have what I want, I’ll set you free.”

The other thing she realized with terrifying clarity as he shoved her into a darkened carriage was that that this could be none other than Jack the Ripper.

“I know who you are,” she spat.

“Do you know? And who is that, my dear?” The carriage jolted forward.

“Jack the Ripper.”

“Indeed. Clever girl.”

“What do you want with me?” Anna asked. She tried to ignore the pounding of her heart that roared in her ears.

“I need you to tell me who that man was, the one you were with in the alleyway. He has something I want, and I obviously have something he wants.” He laughed, a chilling laugh that echoed in the small chamber of the carriage.