She faded into unconsciousness, still trying to discover some way to stop him.
* * *
Jenna tried to ignore the ugly roar of voices in the street just outside their little house, but there was no escaping the angry sound of brawling out there. The bells of Christ Church, Spitalfields, sounded bleak and hopeless this morning, calling worshippers to a rainy Sunday service, while the grim news flashed like wildfire from house to house: two women butchered within half an hour of one another, confounding the police of two separate jurisdictions and shocking the entire city of London, this time, not just the East End. And that at a time when most residents here had believed themselves beyond further shock.
Noah had gone out to buy fresh-caught herrings for their breakfast, refusing to let Jenna set foot into the angry mob outside. Jenna was determined to cook breakfast today, however, so she bent over the monstrous, coal-fired stove in the kitchen, trying to take in Marcus’ instructions on how to operate it, when Noah Armstrong rocketed into the house.
“I’ve got a lead,” the detective said without preamble, dumping a wrapped packet of fish onto the kitchen table with a thump.
Jenna and Marcus jerked around. “What lead?” Jenna demanded breathlessly.
“There’s to be a lecture tomorrow night at the Egyptian Hall, on Theosophy and the occult sciences. The speaker’s a doctor, claims to be a mesmeric physician. I ran across a man talking about him when I was coming back from the costermonger’s. It seems the doctor who’s giving the lecture came up from Whitechapel, was born in Middlesex Street, turned to mediumism and the occult. I don’t know if this is our man, but the doctor who attacked you, Jenna, reacted violently to whatever Ianira said in trance. So maybe he had occult connections. We’re certainly running out of leads, trying to trace ordinary doctors. And with the Ripper terror coming to a boil out there, I’m not sure it’s entirely safe just now, asking about physicians and surgeons. The police are looking for a doctor connected to the Ripper, after all, and poor Dr. Mindel has barricaded himself into the house, terrified of the mobs. Frankly, I think it’s worth a shot, going to see this Lachley fellow.”