Free Temptations of Anna Jacobs by Robyn DeHart Page B

brother’s notes of the previous Ripper murders. She knew the wounds needed to be measured and counted. It was peculiar none of the organs had been removed. They’d been disturbed, sliced into a little, but not removed.
    The wounds seemed different, but that could simply be the difference between examining them firsthand and reading about them in a report.
    She wished Simon were here for her to consult with, but then if he were here, chances were she would never have got a look at the body. Drew had done her a favor, though she certainly wouldn’t admit as much to him. But she was honored he’d chosen her to look into matters instead of going to the men’s medical school or even asking her professor.
    She wouldn’t let him down.

Chapter Seven
    Drew watched Anna as she worked. She was so methodical and precise it was almost beautiful to see her in action, despite the fact she stood over a dead woman’s body. Whenever Anna would look closely at something that quite obviously confounded her, she’d wrinkle her nose and the dimples in her cheeks would appear. How was it even possible for a woman to look that attractive under the circumstances? Obviously his vow of celibacy since he gave up drinking was beginning to eat at him. It had been too long since he’d bedded a woman.
    His old companions still came calling every now and again, but he’d avoided their presence for two reasons. One, he knew if he was with them he’d drink again. And two, if he drank he’d likely tell them he was working with Scotland Yard. Of course, at some point he’d have to go back to his old haunts. Those very pubs had to be how the Ripper had crossed paths with Drew in the first place. Where the killer had decided Drew would be the perfect scapegoat for his murderous spree.
    Anna also chattered while she worked, and at first, he’d wondered if she expected him to take notes, but she hadn’t ever indicated as much. And when necessary, she jotted down things in her own notebook. It appeared as if she simply talked while she worked. She measured the injuries, inspected the cuts, the bruises, every inch of the woman. And she did so with such grace and fortitude that damned if he wasn’t impressed with her skill.
    He didn’t see any reason why a woman couldn’t be a doctor just as well as a man, though he knew that wasn’t a popular opinion. People typically believed women to be too emotionally unstable or not intelligent enough. He suspected also that men wouldn’t want to go to women doctors to discuss their private ailments. But Anna seemed quite proficient and skilled.
    “Everything is here,” she told him, a frown furrowing her brow. Then she looked up at him. “All of her organs, that is,” she clarified.
    “That’s what the police surgeon concluded as well,” Drew said.
    “Unusual for the Ripper to not remove some organ, or at least a part of one.”
    “Perhaps he was interrupted,” Drew offered.
    “Oh yes, that happened once before, the night he killed two women.” She looked back at the body. “It does seem, though, that he had time to slice her up pretty good.”
    Drew nodded. “The men who found her did not come upon anyone else in the alleyway.”
    “Indeed.” She inspected once more the injuries inside the woman’s abdomen. “There are cuts across some of her organs, but nothing has been excised.” Anna turned away from the body, slowly shaking her head as she wiped her hands on the towel she’d laid out earlier and then began gathering up her tools. “Without investigating the wounds from previous victims I can’t make any solid conclusions other than some of the injuries appear consistent with those of his previous victims.”
    That’s what he’d been afraid of. That ultimately the results would be inconclusive. So why did he feel that something was out of the ordinary?
    Was there something he sensed that he had yet to put his finger on, or was he merely desperately grasping for some contribution he