Free Jack the Ripper Victims Series: The Double Event by Alan M. Clark Page A

subsiding.” Elizabeth lied to both the assistant physician and to herself. “I ate some bad fish. I’m sure that’s all it is.”
    “I’ll return in a moment,” Fru Finberg said, and she left the room in a hurry.
    Pain kept Elizabeth on the table, and the moment stretched to the unseen horizon of her life. What would she do with another mouth to feed? How could she do all that she must to protect and love a child when she could hardly take care of herself? As difficult as that seemed, she wondered if the child might be her way out of her situation with Klaudio. He would not want her to keep the child, but she didn’t think he’d want the trouble that would come from trying to separate her from it. She could always seek alms from the Church.
    Fru Finberg returned ten minutes later with a pale, dark-haired woman.
    “This is Fru Dahlgren,” she said. “She’s a midwife.”
    “Good evening, Fru Gustavsdotter,” the woman said as she went to work.
    Elizabeth didn’t respond because the idea of a greeting under such circumstances seemed foolish.
    Fru Dahlgren positioned herself between Elizabeth’s legs at the end of the table and began an uncomfortable examination. The midwife moved to the side, placed a pinard horn on Elizabeth’s abdomen and listened, then changed the position of the device and listened again. Fru Dahlgren shook her head. “Labor has come early. You’re four months pregnant?”
    “I’ve missed my monthly flow for five at least,” Elizabeth said.
    “Labor has begun. I can’t find a heartbeat.”
    Elizabeth had a sinking feeling in her gut.
    “You must prepare yourself for a stillbirth,” the midwife said. “I’ll be here to help you deliver.”
    She had lost her child before either of them had been given a chance. Was that nature’s way of protecting the innocent from a life of suffering or had the infant, in fact, rejected its own mother as unfit? No, Elizabeth would have cleaned herself up, got honest work and been a loving mother.
    Fru Finberg held out a hand and Elizabeth took it and hung on until her labor was over.
    When she saw the dead child, she felt a depth of loss she hadn’t expected. The assistant physician asked if she wanted the child’s name to be recorded in the Kurhuset records.
    Elizabeth said without hesitation, “Beata Gustavsson.”



Chapter 10: Drastic Measures
    Elizabeth did not believe the expressions of sympathy Klaudio gave her upon hearing of her visit to Kurhuset and the loss of her infant. He’d brought to her room blood sausage and bread.
    “You must become well before I can send more clients to you,” he said. He looked around her miserable chamber. “I’ll send Ada to help you clean. Within a few days you’ll be better.”
    In the next week, she had two appointments for examinations. Elizabeth wanted the disease gone as quickly as possible, yet relished every day she didn’t have to satisfy clients. She’d never expected a desire to be ill or such striking ambivalence.
    When Klaudio had gone, Ada appeared at her door. She’d cleaned herself up. “He will let me take two days off if you’ll allow me to help you. Please?”
    “Of course,” Elizabeth said, gesturing for her to enter.
    Ada helped Elizabeth haul water and wash her clothes and bedding. Unexpectedly, they got along well. Ada also came from a farming community in Torslanda. Her family had fallen on hard times and she’d come to the city for work. Learning that the woman was merely seven years her senior, Elizabeth thought she saw her own frightening future in Ada. Though not quite thirty years old, with her thinning hair, jaundiced skin, hooded eyes, and a decidedly bleak outlook on life, Ada looked to be middle-aged.
    She had brought with her a poison cereal to kill the mice. “Poor little creatures,” she said as she sprinkled the lethal grains around the cabinet. “They’re just hungry.”
    “Like us,” Elizabeth said sadly.
    “Well, no,” Ada said, looking up