The Whitechapel Case [abandoned]

Part 1: The Hypothesis (Chapter 3)

The Whitechapel Case
Fox-Trot-9

PG-13

Horror/Suspense/Mystery (How-Catch-'Em)
Disclaimer: I don't own Ghost Hunt or Death Note.

Part 1: The Hypothesis
Chapter 3

Day 1—The Lord's prayer. Jacob Meiler leaned back on his chair deep in thought. Memories swam through his head. He had not spoken a word of that prayer in over thirty years, not since the death of his wife and his partner, not since the infamous 1979 case of the William Street Murders, known locally as the Devil's Bloody Revenge.

Jacob at the time was forty-four, and his new partner, Tony Levine, was a young gun at twenty-six, just a scant five years off the Scotland Yard Academy. He and Tony had been partners for only two years; Jacob's former partner of the first twenty years of his police career, the legendary Thomas Matheson, was retired at sixty-two with over forty years of service under his belt. Thomas was forced into retirement after a bullet wound to the hip that refused to heal properly rendered him unable to walk without the use of a cane; soon after, the wound became infected, and Thomas was hospitalized and bedridden. In the first months when Tony became Jacob's new partner, Thomas' health gradually weakened, until he died. His last words to him were "Look after that kid the way I looked after you, Jake." And Jacob swore it by his own blood. That's how it was way back when: The old dog teaches the new dog the tricks of the policing trade.

In the two years they had been partners, Tony had always bragged to him that he'd solve a case like no other, one that would put his name in the record books. Of course, that's what all youngsters wanted, Jacob told him. The question was never when will such a case come your way? It's what will you do when it comes knocking at your door?

Both men found out in the William Street Murders. Both were assigned to that case, specifically to the twelfth and most recent case, the murder of Jennifer Cooley. She, along with the other eleven victims, was found dead without the slightest amount of incriminating evidence on her person or in her crime scene. After one of their overnight stays at the newly built MIT building investigating Cooley's murder, the two called it a day and decided to walk their nightly beat in Whitechapel, London. Jacob made it a habit to always have his partner with him for backup, the way the deceased Thomas had him for backup. Two pairs of eyes and ears were always better than one.

So they went on walking the beat like they always did, at night before they had to split for the pad. That night, fog was everywhere, the ground moist with early April dew. Lit by the street lights, the fog seemed to want to play tricks on you, as shadows flew around beneath it. All was quiet, except for Jacob and Tony's footsteps along the sidewalk. For a long hour, they didn't find any commotion; so they figured, what the hell, why not go back to the place where it all started? Why not check out William Street, and if nothing happens there tonight, then they'll call it a day?

So they entered the slums and turned this way and that way past many parallel-parked cars, first through Ellen Street, turning left into Christian Street, then right into Fairclough Street, then another right into Rover Street, then left into James Street, then right into Langdale Street. Not too far now. Just one block away, and they'll be in William Street. Now just half of the block to go. Nothing happening yet. Maybe they're just wasting their breath, maybe it's better to just head back now and continue tomorrow night, when there wasn't so much fog. Maybe it was just paranoia; paranoia is good, but not in unhealthy amounts.

Just as they thought, as they reached William Street: nothing going on here.

Then a high-pitched scream echoed from their left.