Stalking Jack the Ripper (Stalking Jack the Ripper, #1)

by Kerri Maniscalco

At times the darkness in his eyes terrified me more than the dead we butchered.

Did he do it? Lol

Death was not prejudiced by mortal things such as station or gender. It came for kings and queens and prostitutes alike, often leaving the living with regrets.

Once I was standing over the body, I no longer saw the person she was in life. I only saw the shell left behind, and curiosity took hold in the worst of ways.

“Roses have both petals and thorns, my dark flower. You needn’t believe something weak because it appears delicate. Show the world your bravery.”

I wrenched around, glaring, but Thomas’s attention was fixed on the arm Nathaniel was latched onto, the muscle in his jaw clenching.

Awww

We’re calling ourselves the ‘Knights of Whitechapel.’”

Helpful

He didn’t grip me as if I were an unruly child in need of scolding, choosing instead to hold me back from Nathaniel, as if he were the one in need of rescuing. It was high time someone noticed I was capable of looking after myself.

Lol cute

And, yes”—he grinned wickedly, eyes fixed on his paper—“you’ll still fancy me tomorrow no matter how much you wish otherwise. I’m unpredictable, and you adore it. Just as I cannot wrap my massive brain around the equation of you and yet adore it.”

Knew it!

The detective inspectors were wrong. Miss Nichols wasn’t our murderer’s first victim. Miss Emma Elizabeth Smith was.

Finally, I bent and retrieved a small brass key. How odd.

large portrait—presumably of one of our ancestors—was

His chest was puffed up with self-importance and his foot rested atop the carcass of an enormous bear he’d slain. Strange it hadn’t been there the last time I was here, though it had been quite a while.

Shame he stopped creating clockwork pieces; judging from the images I saw, he hadn’t lost his talent.

Not a single glimpse into her life prior to working for us. I couldn’t believe Uncle had recognized her so easily. According to Father’s records, she’d been in our employ for only a fortnight.

Shady ?

Father must clean out the majority of their information once they were no longer employed.

Why did Father have an article on Miss Emma Elizabeth Smith’s murder?

I was determined to be both pretty and fierce, as Mother had said I could be. Just because I was interested in a man’s job didn’t mean I had to give up being girly. Who defined those roles anyhow?

“Miss Emma Elizabeth Smith was a dear friend of your mother’s, Miss Audrey Rose.

Thomas pulled me back, rocking me gently in his arms, and I didn’t even care that it was vastly inappropriate.

Awww

Thomas had held me the entire carriage ride home just so I wouldn’t break apart.

“Any other words of wisdom I should take into consideration, my dove?”

My dove...awww

“Perhaps I am content with speaking the way I do and care only what your opinion of me is.

I’m Superintendent William Blackburn.

he’s more interested in formulas and solving crimes than he is in me or poetry.

Lies

“Wield your assets like a blade, Cousin. No man has invented a corset for our brains. Let them think they rule the world. It’s a queen who sits on that throne. Never forget that. There’s no reason you can’t wear a simple frock to work, then don the finest gown and dance the night away. But only if it pleases you.”

Aunt Amelia and Liza look like precious stones, while you’re making your best coal impersonation. It simply isn’t right.”

Lol

He was in love. How exceptionally wonderful for him. I wished them both a lifetime of misery with ill-mannered children.

I went to several shops trying to find the exact scent…” He looked at his hands. “I wanted to purchase it for you.”

Awww

I didn’t see any men running about, birthing the world’s population then going on to make supper and tend to the house. Most of them buckled to their knees when the slightest sniffle attacked them.

No. I wouldn’t accuse him of sadistic murders simply because he was different from other people in our closed-minded society.

“Those who deserve respect are given it freely. If one must demand such a thing, he’ll never truly command it. I am your daughter, not your horse, sir.”

There would be no skirts or bustles to wrangle with anymore. I was through with things confining me.

The night she was murdered she’d been drunk, lying in the street before being detained by police until shortly after one in the morning. Ripper found her not long after that, silencing her songs forever.

Police is how they find victims ?

except for one bearded man who tossed stares over his shoulder at us. Something about him set caution humming through my veins.

People were always providing in death what they would not do in life, it seemed.

Seeing the truth was never easy, especially when it revealed those closest to us could be monsters hidden in plain sight.

“You must know what you mean to me? Surely you must know how I feel about you, Audrey Rose. The thought of losing you…”

“Do give your father my regards, though. Perhaps even a kiss on the forehead. I’d like to remain on his good side, especially when I inform him I’m madly in love with his daughter.”

Father wasn’t trying to complete a successful organ transplant. He was trying to bring Mother back from the dead—five years after.