The “City of London” was a tiny district of government buildings in the very heart of London. Fiercely independent, The City maintained its own Lord Mayor and its own police force, its own laws and jurisdictions, separate from the rest of London proper, and was exceedingly jealous about maintaining its autonomy. It was confusing from the get-go, particularly to up-time visitors. In the case of Jack the Ripper’s murder spree on the night of September 30th, it would confuse the devil out of London’s two rival constabularies, as well. And it would lead to destruction of vital evidence by bickering police officials trying to keep the East End from exploding into anti-Semitic riots.
“That,” Shahdi mused, “or he simply didn’t meet Catharine Eddowes until he’d reached The City’s jurisdiction. She had just been released from jail and was heading east, while Jack was presumably heading west.”
“Well, even if he did just happen to meet her in The City, he doubled back into Whitechapel again, so it’d be the Metropolitan Police who found the apron he left for them under his chalked message, not constables from The City police. Somehow, Maybrick doesn’t strike me as quite that clever.”
“Perhaps, perhaps not,” Shahdi said thoughtfully. “But one thing is quite clear. Our doctor is very clever. How has he managed, I wonder, to work so closely with Mr. Maybrick, yet keep all mention of himself out of Maybrick’s incriminating diary?”
“Yeah. And why did Maybrick write a diary like that at all? I mean, that’s tempting fate just a little too much, isn’t it? His wife knew he was married to another woman, that he was a bigamist and having other affairs, probably with his own maidservants. At Florie’s trial, everybody commented on how gorgeous all the Maybrick maids were. Florie might have gone looking for clues to who the other women were and found the diary. Or one of those nosy maids might have. They certainly helped themselves to Mrs. Maybrick’s clothes and jewelry.”