Sir William
Yes, these days I limit myself to teaching. So you see, I’m accustomed to answering questions, Inspector.
Abberline
Well, sir. Could you tell me what sort of a knife this would be?
Sir William
I think you mean to draw a Liston knife. It’s named for Liston who was a surgeon in the Crimean War. Because there was no anaesthetic on the battlefield he had to carry out his amputations very quickly. Er, do you, by any chance, have the police surgeon’s report available?
Abberline
Yes, I do, sir.
Sir William
May I?
Abberline
You must keep this confidential.
Sir William
Of course.
Abberline
There you go, sir.
Sir William
Thank you. Hmm. Yes. Wouldn’t someone have heard their screams?
Abberline
Not if he cut their throats first.
Sir William
Yes. Then how can you be sure they wouldn’t react to seeing the Liston knife?
Abberline
Grapes. He offers them grapes first.
Sir William
Ah.
Abberline
Grapes are very tempting.
Sir William
Yes, of course. They’d gobble them up, wouldn’t they?
Abberline
And he might offer them a drink to ease them down. A drink laced with laudanum.
Sir William
How do you know that?
Abberline
I found a sprig of grapes on both victims bodies. And I smelled the laudanum on their lips.
Sir William
Laudanum is a derivative of opium. Apart from doctors and addicts not many would recognise it. How long have you chased the dragon, Inspector? Well, these should help with the headaches. And, erm, opium leeches minerals out of the body, so I’ve also given you a tonic. That’ll help to restore your appetite.
Abberline
Thank you very much, sir. I’m a fool.
Sir William
Oh, I don’t think you’re a fool. Far from it.
Abberline
I ought to have known, sir, that you’re physician ordinary to the Royal Family.
Sir William
Well, yes, it’s certainly an honour, but then it’s an honour bestowed on many doctors. Now, about our friend here. I can tell you this much, he cut their throats from left to right. Therefore, he’s right-handed. Excuse me. He had to slice through four layers of tissue, and up to an inch of subcutaneous fat. After that, he entered the abdominal cavity, so he would’ve had to use more than just merely the Liston knife. Perhaps he was carrying a portable amputation kit similar to this. What do you think?
Abberline
Is it possible, sir, that the killer is an educated man? Perhaps someone who studied medicine, but who is not, in fact, a surgeon himself?
Sir William
The intestines are simple enough, but, er, the uterus? The liver especially, very hard to locate, unless you know what you’re doing. And he was working quickly in the dark. I had held out hope that this, this, monster was a veterinarian, or a furrier, ar an especially well-educated butcher. No, I must admit, if I were you, I’d look for someone with a thorough knowledge of human anatomy. Damn him.
Woman
Want me to suck it? I can suck the Thames dry. Don’t be frightened, dearie.
Queen Victoria
How far advanced is our grandson’s malady?
Sir William
Er, no lesions have appeared, ma’am. There is some neural damage, a slight trembling of the right hand, but I’m hopeful, more than hopeful, that treatment will arrest the disease.
Queen Victoria
He seems, to us, to be suffering greatly in his mind. Is the disease affecting his emotions?
Sir William
Yes, well of course, his mood is depressed because of, the news of the diagnosis. But that should improve as he regains his strength.
Queen Victoria
You are a true physician, Sir William. In all ways, you attend to the health of our empire. We are grateful.
Sir William
Thank you, ma’am.
Abberline
If this is the beginning of a five-pointed star.
Withers
Like the bloody Jewish star.
Godley
Withers! The Inspector is talking, which means you are what?
Withers
I’m listening, sir.
Godley
Yes.
Abberline
This area, would form a likely point. I want double shifts, within these streets until further notice. And don’t only worry about Jews and butchers. You stop anyone suspicious, including well-dressed gentlemen. And by the way, Withers, the Star of David has six points.
Godley
Right, once more into the breach dear friends. Dismissed.
Ripper
Why have you called me here?
Netley
It’s just. It’s just, you say three more have to be killed. I can’t take it, sir. It’s everywhere. It’s in all the papers. I’m just a simple chap, sir. I’m not a great man like you. I just don’t know where I am at, anymore.
Ripper
There, there, Netley. I shall tell you where we are. We are in the most extreme and utter region of the human mind. A radiant abyss, where men meet themselves.
Netley
I don’t understand that. I don’t understand, sir.
Ripper
Hell, Netley. We’re in Hell.
Mary
Let me go! Get your hands off me!
Godley
Sorry about that, Inspector. She’s madly in love with me, although she hides it well.
Abberline
You said McQueen killed your two friends. So what you doing here?
Mary
Oh, I see. Women are butchered right and left in your district and you can’t do piss about it, and I’m the fool?
Abberline
We’re watching them. Can’t arrest them without evidence, so we watch them. What else can we do?
Mary
I’ll testiry. If you keep meself and me friends alive. I’ll testify.
Abberline
To what, precisely?
Mary
That McQueen said he’d cut me unless I pay him a pound a week.
Abberline
No.
Mary
What do you mean, no? You asked me to testify. Are you worried I’ll let you down? I won’t. I promise I won’t.
Abberline
You testify against McQueen, maybe he goes in for a year or two. But his boys, they’ll take their revenge on you and your friends. I can’t let you do it.
Woman
It’s your round this time!
Mary
I confess, I have an appetite. One day, I’ll be a great big, round woman with a skinny little man for a husband.
Abberline
And a dozen plump children, I imagine.
Mary
Do you think that’s funny? An unfortunate like me being a decent mother?
Abberline
No. No, I didn’t mean that. I didn’t mean that at all. You’ll be a wonderful mother someday, Mary. Honest, I can see it. I see you in a little cottage, by the sea, surrounded by children. I can see it, Mary, clear as day. I really do have visions, you know.
Mary
Are you serious?
Abberline
Sergeant Godley calls ’em my intuitions. As a matter of fact, I have one about you in this case.
Mary
You have visions about me? What might those be?
Abberline
I want you to think carefully. Besides McQueen, besides these awful murders, has anything else happened to you, or perhaps one of your friends that’s a bit out of the ordinary?
Godley
Ben Kidney? That’s Special Branch she’s describing, you know. What would Ben Kidney and Special Branch be doing in Whitechapel? Wait a minute. She’s Irish-born isn’t she? There’s your answer. A secret Irish rebel. That’s why they would be after her, right?
Abberline
They were after Ann Crook. Who was having an affair with a wealthy gentleman. A man she bore a child. . . a child that’s now missing, along with it’s grandparents.
Godley
Great. Drive on please, driver. You do not fuck with Special Branch. They fuck with you. I don’t know what you’re thinking, and I don’t care to know.
Abberline
Inspector Adderley, Mr Kidney wants to see me.
Desk Officer
Mr Kidney’s gone, sir. Didn’t say where. Could be for the night.
Abberline
No, he said he’d be back before eleven and I should wait. Thanks.
Desk Officer
Where are you going, sir?
Abberline
He said I should wait in his office.
Desk Officer
And what floor is Mr Kidney’s office on?
Abberline
I don’t know what floor, you bloody idiot, because I haven’t been to his fucking office yet, have I? He told me to have the desk man let me up, but I’m more than happy to stand here like a knob, because you disobeyed Ben Kidney’s order.
Desk Officer
It’s the second floor on the right.
Abberline
Thanks.
Godley
Free Ireland! Free Ireland!
Officer 1
Get inside, sir.
Belt
Just some gunpowder, sir, that’s all. Little more than a firework.
Kidney
Anyone go in or out?
Desk Officer
Yes, sir. I’m sorry, sir. There’s an Inspector Adderley in your office.
Officer 2
No, there’s nothing missing here.
Officer 3
The Webster dossier seems to be complete.
Belt
The bastards have been in here, sir, I can smell ’em.
Abberline
No.
Mary
Yes.
Abberline
No. Not together. Too suspicious. You wait for me, and if she’s in there, you can go and visit her on your own.
Mary
I’m going with you right now, or I’m going to the newspapers. I mean it.
Doctor
There’s a number of mental disorders for which it is necessary to remove the front part of the brain. Her records indicate that she was violent, threatening to do harm to herself and others.
Abberline
Does she have any relations?
Doctor
No, she’s a ward of the state.
Mary
That’s a lie.
Abberline
Listen to me. You’re under arrest, you’re here to assist my investigation. Kep your mouth shut! Is that clear?
Mary
Sorry, sir.
Abberline
Good. What else do you know about her?
Doctor
All we know is, that she was an unfortunate, who lived in the Whitechapel district.
Abberline
I’d like to ask her a few questions.
Doctor
You won’t get any sense out of her.
Abberline
I’m used to that. Hello, Ann. I brought Mary Kelly. Do you remember Mary Kelly?
Mary
Ann, you know me, I’m your best friend in all the world.
Ann
Go away. Go away. Go away.
Mary
Ann, I’m gonna find baby Alice. I’m gonna take care of her.
Ann
Alice is laughing to me. Laughing to me. Laughing to me all day long.
Mary
All right, it’s all right, darling.
Abberline
What about her father? Have you seen Alice’s father, Ann?
Ann
He’s a prince. A prince. A prince. A prince. And I’m a queen. I’m a queen. I’m a queen.
Abberline
How do you know he was a painter?
Mary
He hired us to pose as artist’s models.
Abberline
And what exactly does that entail, artist’s models?
Mary
We stood very still, so he could paint us. What’s the matter? You think I was born a whore? Oh, I’m sorry, I’m an unfortunate, not a whore. England doesn’t have whores, just a great mass of very unlucky women.
Abberline
So, Ann Crook, and the painter became lovers. Is that it?
Mary
He married her, in a lovely Catholic church. Saint Saviour’s. I was a witness, as a matter of fact.
Abberline
He married her in a Catholic church?
Mary
What do you think they’ve done to baby Alice? Special Branch dumped her in Bishopsgate?
Abberline
Yeah, as an unknown.
Mary
Why?
Abberline
When I find out, I’ll tell you.
Mary
Take me to her. You have to.
Abberline
No, not yet. I need to know more first. Look, I promise that I’ll help you with baby Alice, but not yet. You’ve gotta trust me, Mary, at least a little bit.
Mary
I do. I do trust you.
Abberline
Good.
Mary
Do you have little ones, Insepctor?
Abberline
No. No. A year ago. . . no, two years. I’m sorry, more than two years, my wife, erm, passed away, giving birth to what I’m told was a son.
Mary
I’m sorry.
Abberline
Thanks. I want to show you some paintings on the way out, yeah?
Mary
You’re gonn take me into the gallery?
Abberline
Why not? Come on.
Mary
Did you see the look on her face?
Abberline
I think she stopped breathing.
Mary
She’s a fright. Look at those cold eyes. I feel like someone’s walking over my grave.
Abberline
There’s one more painting I want you to see. You know him, don’t you?
Priest
Those whom God has joined together, let no man put asunder. I pronounce that they be man and wife. (Speaks in Latin). Amen.
Abberline
Sir William Gull, please.
Maid
Sir William isn’t receiving visitors.
Abberline
Sir William? It’s Inspector Abberline. I need to speak with you, sir.
Dr. Ferral
Sir William is ill. He can’t receive any visitors. I said! You can’t go in.
Sir William
It’s all right, Dr. Ferral, I don’t mind company. Have Anna bring us some tea, would you please? Ah well, I wish I could tell you, Inspector, that your story was fantastical. Unhappily, I cannot. I know for a fact that the Prince has a taste in unfortunate women. And I suppose it’s more than possible that, he concocted this elaborate deception, to have some privacy while he indulged in his secret life. But I know one reason I have for stating, that, Prince Edward being Jack the Ripper is just incomprehensible.
Abberline
What’s that, sir?
Sir William
If you repeat what I am about to tell you, both our lives are in jeopardy. Indeed, I hope for your sake that what I am about to say will steer you clear of the very real danger you’re in.
Abberline
I think I’m well past the point of safe return, sir.
Sir William
Prince Edward has syphilis. Not a pleasant state secret, but a, a vital one.
Abberline
Well, that proves it. I couldn’t understand why the Price was killing Ann Crook’s friends, especially so savagely, but, he’s not merely killing them, he’s punishing them. He wants revenge. Don’t you see, sir?
Sir William
Er, no, Inspector, I don’t see. I’m afraid your wild speculations about the Prince’s mental state, clever though they may be, cannot overcome the physical impossibility of his committing these crimes. The disease is far enough along that, the Prince’s hands tremble uncontrollably. He’s very weak, and the killings of Jack the Ripper require sure hands, and considerable vigour. And have you forgotten the most telling fact? Whatever else the Prince may be, he knows little or nothing of human anatomy.
Mason
. . .to the centre of the lodge and force him to kneel for the benefit of prayer. Vouchsafe Thy name, almighty Father of the universe to this, our present convention. Who is this?
Dr. Ferral
A poor candidate in a state of darkness. He comes of his own free will, perfectly prepared, humbly soliciting to be admitted into the mysteries and privileges.
Mason
IN all cases of danger and distress, in whom do you put your trust?
Dr. Ferral
In God.
Mason 2
How did he find out about the unfortunate and her child?
Sir Charles
Well, he has that kind of cleverness you’ll sometimes find in the middle classes. A cheap sort of intelligence, but effective nevertheless.
Mason 2
Thank God that’s not something you’re burdened by.
Sir Charles
Yes thank God.
Mason
Recite the solemn oath.
Dr. Ferral
Never to reveal our secrets, under no less a penalty than, my throat be cut across, my tongue be torn out by it’s root, and that I be buried in sand a cable’s length from shore.
Mason 2
You don’t think Gull has confided in him, do you? The old fellow isn’t as far gone as all that, is he?
Kidney
No. He’s not that foolish.
Mason
Let the brother receive the light.
Man 1
I keep on hearing. . .
Woman
No time to scream. . .
Man 2
Another beautiful murder.
Man 3
Fear me. Jack the Ripper.
Abberline
They’re rubbish. You know that?
Godley
Yes, I agree. They’re rubbish. But why you persist in believing that red-head jezebel, I’ll never know. Has it never occurred to you that she’s the sort of woman who likes to make up stories. Particularly about men. She is, after all, a whore. She’s a woman who pre. . . A rose by any other name? Is that it? Frederick, my dear chum, no one is more delighted than I am that you’ve decided to resume your interest in the fairer sex, but please remember, a woman like that can make a man feel whatever the hell she wants him to feel.
Abberline
Sergeant Godley.
Godley
Yes, sir?
Abberline
Arrest the Nichol Street gang.
Godley
Right away, Inspector.
Police Officer
I tried to stop them, Inspector.
Man
This arrived in this afternoon’s post. ‘I send you half the kidney I took from one woman preserved for you, the other piece I fried and ate. It was very nice.’ We demand that something be done, and done tonight.
Godley
From Hell. Well, at least they got the address right.
Kate
It can’t be. Are you sure he was the same?
Mary
I know him, Kate. I posed for him twice meself. I stood there naked as a babe, watching him paint me for hours.
Kate
And he was with Ann for what, over a year?
Mary
Nearly two.
Liz
Oh, here you are. Hello girls.
Mary
Where you been? I told you to wait for me.
Liz
I can’t stay in a pub and not have a drink. It’s cruel. But look who I bumped into. Remember Ada? She’s from France.
Ada
Bruxelles.
Liz
Bruxelles.
Ada
Yes.
Liz
Oh, she is pretty, isn’t she?
Kate
Not in public, love, not in public.
Mary
Would you be a dear, Ada, and give us a minute alone? We need to speak with Liz.
Liz
No, Ada, you stay where you are. Come on, Mary, get the drinks in.
Kate
Mary.
Abberline
You don’t have to worry about Nichols Street for at least a week. I can keep ’em that long.
Mary
Well, that’s something anyway. Thank you. What about baby Alice? Are you sure she’s all right?
Abberline
Yeah. She’s all right. We’ll get her out after this is all over.
Mary
We’ll get her?
