The Murder of Polly Cairns
A few days after the murder of Ellie Gray, most of the suspicions that the public held about the new murderer had eased of as there had been no sign of any more victims. Unfortunately, it soon turned out that the both the police and public had let their guard down immensely and another victim was found.
It was the early hours of Saturday morning a young man was walking up the stairs of the George Yard Buildings in Whitechapel. Had he not been as drunk as he was, he would have noticed the covered bundle pushed up against the wall of the alleyway on his left. It wasn’t until daybreak that the true identity of the bundle was revealed. Joe Andrews, the local milkman, was doing his rounds and discovered the unusual bundle in the alleyway, which was surrounded by a thick pool of dark, red blood. Cautiously, he removed the long black coat to reveal another human body. With no access to a phone and in shock, Joe dropped all of his milk bottles and ran out into the street screaming, “MURDER,” as loud as his lungs would allow him. His screaming quickly alerted the local police man who had been walking his beat. Wondering what all this commotion was about, the policeman hurriedly followed Joe to the crime scene. Short of breath, he glanced briefly at the still form and immediately alerted sergeant McAllister.
Once again the Sergeant and his team were called out to a grisly crime scene. They arrived surprisingly quicker this time, even though they hadn’t finished their coffee and doughnuts. Typical policemen. McAllister turned the body over and realised that his worst fears had been confirmed. He was dealing with a serial killer. The woman, who appeared to be in her late twenties, had one deep slash across her left cheek. A bundle of money was left in her mouth. Could this be something to do with religion or was there an even darker purpose?
On further inspection of the body, they discover her wedding finger was sliced cleanly off. This sent alarm bells ringing because of the similarity to the previous murder. They also discovered that her left ear has been removed with the cleanest of cuts known to man. The last visible injury was a swift cut across the throat stretching from ear to ear, in a grisly smile. Further examination showed this would have been done by a left handed person. Yet again her dress was open from the midriff to the ankles. This time however, he appeared to have taken his time and carefully cut the dress instead of hastily tearing at it. Her personal possessions had all been neatly placed above her shoulder. Just under her right hand the killer had hastily written her name and beneath that a message to the police, informing that Polly Cairns was nothing but a whore who walked the streets looking for men.
The police looked into the prostitutes that worked around the Whitechapel area sure enough, Polly was a “lady of the night”, or so they say. They contacted Polly’s friend, Louise McPherson, to ask for any clarification on her friend’s whereabouts the night before. Louise explained that they had both been on a night out, drinking, since Polly had a night off. On their way home at around midnight they bumped into a man dressed all in black from head to toe and he was by all means the perfect gentleman. Although his voice was dark and cold, he spoke with recognisable charm, which made both women feel at ease in his presence. The stranger accompanied the girls to the cut off before the street which housed the George Yard Buildings. Louise explained that this was the last time she had ever seen her friend alive as she had parted company and headed home due to tiredness. When asked if she could identify the man, Louise stated, “I would recognise that voice anywhere. How many people do you know that walk the streets at midnight dressed all in black, Officer?” The police knew that people would have spotted the girls out and about that night so they enquired for anyone who may have seen anything to come forward.
The police department searched high and low for anyone fitting the description given to them by Louise. Six feet tall with long unkempt, dark hair and he sounded slightly foreign with a deep, throaty voice. The police interrogated every man fitting that description in the Whitechapel district. McAllister already had his suspicions that the perpetrator may be Doctor Peterson as the large injuries on the victims were carried out with excellent surgical precision. His suspicion was also down to the fact that Doctor Peterson was the only qualified surgeon in the Whitechapel district. Imagine the feeling of relief McAllister felt when the Doctor was identified by the only known witness who had spoken to the man. Louise was approached by the police to identify the man in a line up. With a feeling of anxiousness, as she didn’t want to see the man who possibly killed her best friend face to face, she went into a cupboard type of room and looked through the one way mirror. With one glance at the line up and without hesitation Louise identified the man as being the fourth in line. The man identified was Doctor Peterson.
However, as the police were interrogating Doctor Peterson a brown parcel arrived at police headquarters. Inside the parcel was a grisly sight. The left ear of Polly Cairns and a handwritten letter in red signed by none other than “Jack The Ripper. “
“Dear police HQ,
The press are saying you have caught me…what planet are you men on, Mars? Did you honestly think you had caught me? Me the ripper? Where do you think I am sergeant? In your pretty little office? Sorry to disappoint you sir.
I WILL be back and this time the girl will actually scream. Since I have been kind enough not to let the other two scream as they have been shut up with force.
Enjoy our little game sergeant.
Yours,
Jack The Ripper
PS I saved a bottle of the real red stuff but it went thick, red inks good enough don’t you think? Ha Ha!”
This made McAllister realise that he had detained the wrong man and that his witness was mistaken. Doctor Peterson was released without charge.
Is Jack ever going to be stopped or will his killing of innocent people continue?
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