then.” Pimm folded the knife and passed it to Ben.
The outraged man opened his mouth to protest, but Ben just patted him on the shoulder. “Don’t take offense, Solly. He’s just doing what Mr. Value asked, suspecting everybody and everything.” Ben began grilling the man about the appearance of the killer, while Pimm knelt to examine the body. He turned her over. Pretty girl, surely no more than seventeen, Irish coloration, eyes staring wide. Pimm leaned almost close enough to kiss her, then turned his face away. The smell of ether still clung to her face. He put his head to her chest, and felt for a pulse in her wrist, but there was no heartbeat.
“I didn’t think nothing of it,” the man was saying. “He walked up to her like anybody, and they chatted real pleasant, almost like old friends, but Margaret there was a friendly soul. I suppose they made an arrangement, and they headed into the alley. I wouldn’t have thought anything of it, but…” He trailed off.
“You crept up to the alley to have a look,” Ben said. He turned to Pimm. “Solly here’s a peeper, sir, everyone knows it.”
“Just doing my duty.” Solly looked down. “Keeping watch. I saw him pressing her up against the wall, and that looked all right, but he was holding something to her face, and she was going all limp, so I shouted, and ran in. He stepped right up to me, slashing out with this big old knife like, and I got cut. Thought he was going to cut my head off, but he sort of wavered, then turned and ran off. I whistled as hard as I could.”
“The ether killed her, I think,” Pimm said, putting his hand against the girl’s cheek. It was still warm. “It seems likely some of the other women died the same way.”
“Think he’ll try again tonight?” Ben said.
“It’s possible, but I suspect he’ll be more cautious than that.”
“What happens next?” Ben said.
Pimm sighed. “We’d better get her body to Mr. Adams. And quickly. Within the hour is best.”
Ben and Jim exchanged a glance. Ben shrugged. “As you like. We can manage that if we hurry.”
“Sometimes I think science has replaced necromancy as the darkest art,” Pimm said, looking down at the dead woman, wondering if Adams could possibly accomplish what he’d promised. Wondering if he should be allowed even to try.
“I disagree, sir,” Ben said. “Why, the city’s never been brighter. You can see everything so much more clearly now, and that’s all thanks to science.”
“I threw out the alchemical light my missus brought home,” Solly said. “I’d never had any idea my house was so filthy until she brought that light in there. I could scarcely bring myself to sit in my own chair, t’was so disgusting.” This from a man so dirty crops could grow in the creases around his nose.
“No one ever said progress was pretty,” Pimm said, and helped them carry the poor woman away.
An Eyewitness,
Sans Eyes
A dam looked up when someone began banging on the door to one of the tunnels. The block beneath the warehouses where he lived and worked were riddled with passageways, some natural, most built by men long ago for purposes forgotten, and a few breaking into even older burial chambers where there were artifacts that did not seem wrought by human hands. Adam had, in his many years here, expanded a number of those tunnels, or caused them to be expanded. Most of the passages were known only to Adam himself, but the steel door currently ringing with knocks was at the end of the tunnel Abel Value’s men used to deliver dead women to him.
After slipping his white mask on, Adam pulled on a rope, perfectly balancing counterweights swaying to pull the door open. There were two men beyond the door, in the dark space that had once been a coal cellar of a neighboring house: the one called Big Ben, and the detective who’d visited the day before. They carried a dead woman between them, one of her arms slung over each of their shoulders, her small feet
The outraged man opened his mouth to protest, but Ben just patted him on the shoulder. “Don’t take offense, Solly. He’s just doing what Mr. Value asked, suspecting everybody and everything.” Ben began grilling the man about the appearance of the killer, while Pimm knelt to examine the body. He turned her over. Pretty girl, surely no more than seventeen, Irish coloration, eyes staring wide. Pimm leaned almost close enough to kiss her, then turned his face away. The smell of ether still clung to her face. He put his head to her chest, and felt for a pulse in her wrist, but there was no heartbeat.
“I didn’t think nothing of it,” the man was saying. “He walked up to her like anybody, and they chatted real pleasant, almost like old friends, but Margaret there was a friendly soul. I suppose they made an arrangement, and they headed into the alley. I wouldn’t have thought anything of it, but…” He trailed off.
“You crept up to the alley to have a look,” Ben said. He turned to Pimm. “Solly here’s a peeper, sir, everyone knows it.”
“Just doing my duty.” Solly looked down. “Keeping watch. I saw him pressing her up against the wall, and that looked all right, but he was holding something to her face, and she was going all limp, so I shouted, and ran in. He stepped right up to me, slashing out with this big old knife like, and I got cut. Thought he was going to cut my head off, but he sort of wavered, then turned and ran off. I whistled as hard as I could.”
“The ether killed her, I think,” Pimm said, putting his hand against the girl’s cheek. It was still warm. “It seems likely some of the other women died the same way.”
“Think he’ll try again tonight?” Ben said.
“It’s possible, but I suspect he’ll be more cautious than that.”
“What happens next?” Ben said.
Pimm sighed. “We’d better get her body to Mr. Adams. And quickly. Within the hour is best.”
Ben and Jim exchanged a glance. Ben shrugged. “As you like. We can manage that if we hurry.”
“Sometimes I think science has replaced necromancy as the darkest art,” Pimm said, looking down at the dead woman, wondering if Adams could possibly accomplish what he’d promised. Wondering if he should be allowed even to try.
“I disagree, sir,” Ben said. “Why, the city’s never been brighter. You can see everything so much more clearly now, and that’s all thanks to science.”
“I threw out the alchemical light my missus brought home,” Solly said. “I’d never had any idea my house was so filthy until she brought that light in there. I could scarcely bring myself to sit in my own chair, t’was so disgusting.” This from a man so dirty crops could grow in the creases around his nose.
“No one ever said progress was pretty,” Pimm said, and helped them carry the poor woman away.
An Eyewitness,
Sans Eyes
A dam looked up when someone began banging on the door to one of the tunnels. The block beneath the warehouses where he lived and worked were riddled with passageways, some natural, most built by men long ago for purposes forgotten, and a few breaking into even older burial chambers where there were artifacts that did not seem wrought by human hands. Adam had, in his many years here, expanded a number of those tunnels, or caused them to be expanded. Most of the passages were known only to Adam himself, but the steel door currently ringing with knocks was at the end of the tunnel Abel Value’s men used to deliver dead women to him.
After slipping his white mask on, Adam pulled on a rope, perfectly balancing counterweights swaying to pull the door open. There were two men beyond the door, in the dark space that had once been a coal cellar of a neighboring house: the one called Big Ben, and the detective who’d visited the day before. They carried a dead woman between them, one of her arms slung over each of their shoulders, her small feet
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