Catching Mr Ripper

September 30th Early Morning

Elizabeth awoke to thundering at the door. Alexander groaned next to her, throwing the covers off him.
"I'll get it. It's probably for me anyway" she told him, throwing the covers over him and off her. Elizabeth put her slippers on and grabbed her dressing gown off the back of her door.
Elizabeth pulled open the door, revealing William stood behind it.
"Do you know what time it is?" She groaned.
"There's been another murder" he said immediately waking her up.
"Let me get dressed" she went to move but his words stopped her.
"Edmund doesn't want you to go. The murdered girl, her name's Elizabeth" he told her gently.
"I'm coming, let me get dressed" she repeated, running off into her house.
Elizabeth had grabbed a pair of her husband's trousers, a shirt, waistcoat and jacket, before she joined William in his carriage.

Elizabeth knelt down next to the body and began examining it.
"Excuse me who-" Edmund cut himself off as he realised the person he was talking to was Elizabeth.
"She has a six inch incision in her neck" she told him, rising to her feet.
"What are you doing here? I told William that you were not to called out"
"We share the same name but I'm not her, I'm fine" she reassured him.
"If anything happens to you I'll- I'll hurt someone" he said through gritted teeth.
"I'm fine" she reassured him with a small smile, before she went back to the body.
"What have we got?" He asked.
"The body and face are warm along with the legs but the hands are cold" she told him.
"She wasn't killed long ago?" He asked.
"No, I'd wager that he's close" she added, looking up at him.
"Sir, another body's been found" Constable Neil told him.
"Told you" Elizabeth stood up and followed the constable leaving Edmund trailing behind her.

"Her throats cut. Her intestines over her shoulder. Her face has been mutilated from what I can see and by the looks of it something was removed from her abdomen" Elizabeth listed off as she looked at the second body of the night.
"Still warm?" Edmund asked, looking down at her.
"Yes. If I get her back to the morgue by tonight, I can have the autopsy's finished by early morning" Elizabeth suggested, rising from the floor.
"That's too much, go home rest. We can start again in a few hours" Edmund suggested.
"Nonsense. I'm awake now, let me get to work" Elizabeth met his eye, reassuring him.
"Alright, William can go with you" Edmund told her, squeezing her lower arm lightly before they both went their separate ways.

"What's wrong with the two of you?" William asked.
"Who?" Elizabeth asked as she tied her apron on.
"You and Edmund of course. A few days ago you were fighting like cats and dogs and now your worried about each other" he pulled back the sheet covering Miss Stride.
"It's complicated" she sighed begining the Y incision.
"How?"
"We have a past it makes it complicated" she tried to focus on her work but she was growing more annoyed with each word he said.
"Oh come on. You nearly slapped him and you cut him off mid sentence, your argument was serious, what's the problem-"
"I couldn't do it!" She yelled.
"Do what?"
"I couldn't-" she sighed "I couldn't consummate my marriage" Elizabeth avoided his eye for a moment before meeting it again.
"Okay" he said calmly.
"I may have told Edmund that fact in anger" she admitted "It's just- he had a chance. Multiple chances actually, but he didn't take them. The thought of a woman- any woman having him sets my skin on fire. Just seeing him with that woman a few days ago made me want to scream, or pull her hair out. But I can't do those things. I can't love him or be with him and that is killing me-" Tears began rolling down Elizabeth's cheeks as her pent up anger and sadness began to show.
"Oh, Beth" William pulled her into a hug, not caring about the blood already on her hands.
"I want him. And only him. I want to wake up next to him. I want to carry his children. Because for him I am myself. I never felt like I needed to change for him. He is my world and I revolve around him" Elizabeth said through tears before she succumbed to her pain and anger, letting it finally be known.

Commissioner Warren followed Edmund into his office, shutting the door behind them.
"What was all that about?"
"It's her! That woman is so- so- ahh!" Edmund shouted in anger throwing something off his desk across the room, not caring what it was.
"You love her. And now you've both chosen the easy option"
"Easy option? There was nothing easy about not choosing her. But when you love someone you let them have a better life even if it's not with you" he said loudly "Everything about Elizabeth is intoxicating. Her laugh, her smile. I'm so in love with her it's killing me, but I can't drag her down for the sake of love" he fell down into his desk chair "I love her and that is the beginning and end of everything" he sighed.
"She loves you too, but she wants you to pick her. She won't because she knows that the stakes are bigger for you, but she does love you. Don't forget that. By the look of things it's down to you to go to her and stop acting a fool" Commissioner Warren said making Edmund smile.
"I don't know if I can" Edmund admitted with a deep sigh.