Free Jack The Ripper: Newly Discovered Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Holy Ghost Writer Page A

was strange she started singing in her room, but alcohol makes us all do funny things. I went out about 1:00 A.M. and she was still singing. I came back about 3:00 A.M. and the singing had stopped, and the lights of her room were out.”
    “Can you describe the man she was with?” Holmes asked.
    “He looked to be about thirty-six years old and stood about five feet five inches tall. He had a red moustache and small side-whiskers. His face looked a little red to me. He had on dark clothing with a dark overcoat and a black hat.”
    “Did he appear drunk? And had you seen him before?”
    “I could not tell if he was drunk, sir. But I did not sleep that night with all of the murder talk going around, and I thought I heard him leave around 6 A.M. As for recognizing him, Mary Jane had frequent visitors—I didn’t pay much attention to anyone’s faces.”
    Mary Ann’s niece happened to be home that night as well. “I saw Mary Jane and her caller from my door,” the niece said. “He was a nice-looking fellow—like he was rich, you know—and he had on a cape and a top hat. He was carrying a bag, too—a Gladstone bag.”
    “Do you remember anything else?”
    The niece shuddered. “Aunt Mary Ann said she heard someone scream ‘murder!’ late in the night—I didn’t hear it myself, and I’m glad of it!”
    “I heard no such thing,” interrupted Mary Ann. “My niece is an excitable young woman—this situation has unsettled her nerves, I dare say.”
    Holmes thanked them for their somewhat contradicting reports and returned to the room where the murder had occurred. He was glad to see that the coroner’s office had carried the body away and he was doubly happy to see the face of his old friend walking toward him.
    “Watson, I am so glad you are here. This young man has been so kind as to help me jot down my interviews, but I am sure you will take over his job now,” Holmes said.
    “Of course, I will be pleased to do it,” Dr. Watson answered as he took the notebook from the young officer, who seemed happy to depart.
    “Have you found anything promising in today’s work?”
    “Not much. I’m just deciphering the conflicting information from the witnesses. Do people ever really open their eyes?” Holmes laughed. “I suppose if they did, then Scotland Yard and detectives like myself wouldn’t be necessary.”
    “One would assume people would be more observant at a time like this, at least,” Dr. Watson replied. “Their lives may depend on it.”
    The men walked down the hall to the next room, where they encountered a woman.
    “Excuse me, but did you know the victim?” Dr. Watson asked.
    “Yes sir.”
    “How?”
    “Well, I do laundry here for the tenants and happened to spend the night last night. I went to Mary Jane’s room to pick up some clothes. We were friends, so we had a little drink together,” the woman told them. “The last time I saw Mary Jane alive was when she left about half past seven on her way to the corner bar.”
    “Was she intoxicated when you parted ways?”
    “No,” the woman answered simply. “I must say, I’m so shocked to hear about this—Mary Jane was a good, kind girl. I can’t imagine anyone wanting to hurt her!”
    Julia Venturney was another neighbor who had known Mary about four months.
    “Tell us anything you know about her,” Holmes urged. “Not just about the last time you saw her, but about how she lived.”
    Well,” started Julia, “She lived with Joe Barnett—at least for a while. He was angry, quite angry, at how Mary earned her living—when she started taking to the streets regularly, Joe moved out. He said he’d come back when she stopped living that kind of life.”
    “Were they still together?” asked Holmes. “As a couple, I mean.”
    “As far as I know,” answered Julia. “He came to visit her almost every night, and he brought her money when he could—but he just refused to live with her. She told me more than once how it hurt