The shelter appeared deserted. A crude shack constructed out of untrimmed logs, its most prominent feature was a large wooden cage a few feet from the door. There was no sign of anyone about.
Something moved inside the cage. “Never heard of no animals on the River,” said Crockett, his eyes narrowing. He peered between the bars. “Damn it,” he said, shock and horror mixing equally in his voice, “there’s a man inside. Blinded, with his fingers and toes hacked off!”
“That’s so the bugger can’t escape.” The speaker was a well-built woman, with curly long brunette hair that fell past her shoulders. She stood in the doorway of the cabin, holding a loaded crossbow in her hands. She appeared quite capable of using it.
“I don’t mean you gents no harm,” she continued, speaking Esperanto with a thick Cockney accent, “but too many men come round planning to set our friend here go free. Can’t allow that either. So I stay ready for trouble.”
“If we want to free that poor soul,” said Bowie, anger welling up within him, “one crossbow will not stop us.”
“That’s why my friend in the woods got you covered with another, guv’nor,” said the woman, with a smile. “Say hello to the nice gentlemen, Cathy,” she called to her unseen ally behind them.
“No tricks, kind sirs,” replied a second woman out of
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their line of sight. “I could take all four of you in less time than you could reach dear Mary.”
“None of your heroics, please,” said the woman named Mary. “I recognize our visitor from this morning. These, I take it, must be the friends of yours you wanted us to meet? Well, then, gentlemen, have a seat. Listen to my story, and afterward tell me if you want to set this bastard free.”
“Please, do as she asks,” said Bill Mason. “It’s important that you hear their tale.”
“All right,” said Davy Crockett, settling down on the grass. “But I don’t holds with keepin’ a man caged like a wild animal. No matter what he’s done.”
“Depends on your point of view,” said Mary. “Me, I was never much for violence either. Me and Cathy there, we made our living on our backs.” She chuckled. “Plenty of times we did it standin’ up, as well.”
“As long as the gents paid us,” added Cathy, “that’s all that mattered.”
“Wasn’t a good life, but weren’t as bad as some in those days,” said Mary. “At least we never went ‘ungry.”
“England, 1888,” added Mason softly.
“Anyhows, Cathy’s life was cut short on September thirtieth. One of her gentlemen friends cut her throat. Same as happened to me in my flat on November sixth.”
“Leather Apron they called him in the papers after the first murder,” said Cathy, her voice shrill. “I ‘card all about it from one of the girls who could read. Never gave the story much attention. Not my concern, I thought.”
“He cooked and ate one of Cathy’s kidneys,” said Mary, her tone matter-of-fact mentioning the atrocity. “Bugger wrote letters to the news agency all about it. Called himself Jack the Ripper.”
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Bowie shivered in spite of himself. What madman ate parts of his victims and chose a title like “the Ripper”?
“The crimes became famous in England,” said Mason, ever the historian. “Jack the Ripper killed five women, Mary being the last of them, terribly mutilating the bodies, in the space of a few months. Then he vanished, leaving no clues to his identity. Many people speculated on who he was, but no one ever learned the truth.”
“I never saws him,” said Mary. “Bugger cut my throat from behind. Don’t remember a thing. Like the rest of you, I died then woke up naked on the beach, here.
“First day was strange. Wasn’t many of us Brits around. Mostly these Egyptian gents and ladies. Weird, with everybody naked and all that. I wandered about a bit, trying to find somebody who understood English. That’s when I stumbled upon Cathy. Even without hair, we recognized each other right away. Rememberin’ how she died made me realize that Red Jack probably did me in as well. Seemed awfully strange, the two of us brought back to life in the same spot. Imagine our surprise when, with a little searching, we discovered that all five of the Ripper’s victims had been resurrected in this location.”