Free Holmes and Watson End Peace: A Novel of Sherlock Holmes by David Ruffle

police and coroner’s reports?”
    â€œI did have one or two ideas regarding the murderer and did have a meeting with Inspector Abberline just prior to the discovery of the butchered body of Mary Kelly. He listened politely and I heard no more from him. And of course as luck would have it, we heard no more from ‘saucy Jack’.”
    â€œI suppose there is no way of telling whether your suppositions were correct?”
    â€œNo, neither now nor then. My own belief is that our man left the country, possibly for America, where some similar killings took place in Chicago in 1889. But, as you say, Watson, just suppositions and these particular murders will I suspect remain unsolved.”
    â€œWho was this man of yours?”
    â€œA fellow by the name of William Rudolph and a thoroughly unpleasant fellow as you can well imagine.”
    â€œWas the evidence you collected strong enough to make a case against him?”
    â€œI believe it could have been acted on had the powers that be decided to do so.”
    â€œCould you not have brought him to book yourself without utilising the combined might of the City and Metropolitan police forces?”
    â€œThe lack of evidence would have told against such an action. I may have been wrong, Watson, after all he was just one suspect out of so many.”
    â€œDo you know what became of the man?”
    â€œI have only that supposition I mentioned that he fled to America. The murders in Chicago certainly displayed marked similarities to the Whitechapel murders. All the information I had on the man I passed on to Captain Adamson of the Central Division of the Chicago police force, but after that series of killings in his city, there was nothing more.”
    â€œWas this Rudolph a doctor or a surgeon? I recall that the common belief at the time was that the murderer must have been involved in one of those professions.”
    â€œNeither, he was a tailor by trade with small premises in Flower and Dean Street. The evisceration of those poor wretches was not as skilful as the authorities would have had us believe. I could have done a similar job myself with my own rudimentary anatomical skills.”
    â€œThere was certainly no shortage of suspects in the case.”
    â€œToo many suspects. Which only served to confuse matters. The truth is of course that we will never be sure of the identity of this particular killer. My supposition was well-founded, but for all that, just supposition.”
    â€œOne of the drawings of the Ripper based on an eye-witness description looked exactly like me. Thurston ribbed me over it for some time.”
    â€œI am sure that an enterprising writer of the future will decide that indeed you were the Ripper, Watson!”
    â€œWhat a ridiculous notion, Holmes.”
    â€œI do not believe so and if it’s any consolation to you, I will be tarred with the same brush myself.”
    â€œDo you really think so?”
    â€œYes, I do.”
    â€œHolmes?”
    â€œYes, Watson?”
    â€œI cannot feel my hands at all now; could you apply some pressure to my left hand?”
    â€œCertainly... there.”
    â€œThank you... I can feel your touch, it’s immensely reassuring.”

Interlude
    â€œHow is he, Lucy?”
    â€œIt’s odd, his breathing is very shallow, just what I would expect, but still he keeps chattering away.”
    â€œPoor old boy.”
    â€œHe’s never been any trouble since he has been here, not like some I could name. When he first came in he seemed quite strong and alert. He ordered a newspaper every day, but now he hasn’t looked at one in weeks and he doesn’t ask about the world outside at all.”
    â€œI think they call it now ‘locked-in’. He is living in the past completely. ”
    â€œIt might not be that bad for him then, he had an exciting life from all accounts. He lived with that detective, the famous one, you know?”
    â€œWhat,