Read A Study in Red - The Secret Journal of Jack the Ripper for Free Online Page B

quick answers by turning to the back of the journal and reading my great-grandfathers final notes, I felt compelled to take one page at a time, in the order in which they were written. It was as if the journal had a life of its own, as if it was intent on not revealing its darkest secrets until it was ready to do so.
    There I went again, being foolish. How could a collection of papers over one hundred years old have such power? They had no hold over me whatsoever; I knew that, I was a rational man, so why didn't I just turn to the end? I don't know. I just knew that I had to go on with my strange quest for the truth, and felt the journal would lead me to the answers if I was patient and thorough. I needed to understand more, and the only way was to read each and every page, to study every word.
    My meal finished, I put my solitary plate, knife and fork in the dishwasher. As I wandered from the kitchen, down the hall, and back to the study, I heard the sound of the wind outside. It had gathered in strength and sound whilst I'd been eating, and had become almost a gale. I was glad to be indoors. As I opened the door to the study, I could have sworn I saw a fleeting shadow dart across the room, from left to right, disappearing behind the bookcase to my left. Once again, I chided myself for my own childish stupidity. It must have been the shadow caused by the door opening into the room, and cutting across the light, nothing more. Nevertheless, I couldn't resist a quick peek behind the bookcase before sitting down in the chair once more. There was nothing there, of course.
    I decided one more whisky wouldn't impair my thought processes unduly. On returning to the journal, I noticed that two days had been omitted by the writer, his next entry being three days after the previous one.
    28 th August 1888
    Feeling fine, just waiting. Soon, the time to begin will arrive, and the world will hear my voice, see my work, and the whores will tremble. Earned some money, have to keep body and soul intact. Evening at the club. A gentleman is a gentleman after all. Shared a meal and a bottle of fine port with Cavendish. He's a head doctor, haha!
    At last! Cavendish! My great-grandfather. So he did meet him before the murders, well, before the majority of them took place anyway. Many contemporary scholars dismissed Martha Tabram's murder as not being the work of the Ripper. The journal, however, places that death alongside the others, so as far as my story is concerned, Tabram was the first. He mentions the club, obviously some all-male preserve, many of which existed in those days. He must have been a member of my great-grandfather's club, or at least been a guest there, I understand they were very snobbish, quite exclusive places, where non-members would have been decidedly unwelcome, and he must also have been a gentleman, or at least purported to be one; and there's yet another clue. He mentions earning money, doing what? What kind of job did he do, this strange and deadly 'gentleman'? Was he a doctor himself, or a lawyer, a solicitor perhaps? In one short paragraph, the journal had taken me so much deeper into the strange happenings of so long ago. I was beginning to feel even more drawn into the web surrounding my great-grandfather and the mysterious writer of the aged, crumpled pages of yellowed foolscap.
    The journal continued….
    He was most sympathetic when I told him about my headaches. Just the headaches of course, nothing more. He wouldn't understand the voices, not yet. They wouldn't speak to him anyway. He suggested a small daily dose of laudanum. Thought it might help the headaches and calm my nerves. He thinks I've been overworking! Poor Cavendish, poor fools, all of them, they just can't see, they just don't know, only the voices know, they're with me all the time, even when they're quiet, they're still there, sleeping, resting. I've got the laudanum, from the grocers shop on the corner, enough to last a while, just in case it