Chapter 4: Awkward Encounters

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     Nothing scary or gruesome in this chapter :)

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     "Do you have to go, Mary?" Harry asks, whining. I think for a few moments about whether or not it's necessary for me to go. I can either stay here and drink tea with Harry or go to a brothel in search of a murderer...I suppose Niall can go investigate on his own.

     "Maybe I should stay," I respond.

     Niall's eyes widen. "No way. You're not sending me there all by myself, I won't do it."

     "What's the big deal?" I ask. "All you have to do is ask the women there if any of them know of a man named Thomas Cutbush."

     "I'm not going there alone," Niall states.

     Harry sighs. "I guess you should go, then," he tells me.

     "Are you sure you'll be alright by yourself?" I ask him.

     He waits for a moment before responding. "Maybe I should go with you. I don't like being alone, but I certainly don't like brothels, so I could probably just stay in the carriage. I'll come with you, but I won't go inside."

     He stands up from his chair, and Niall and I do the same. Harry grabs my coat and holds it up for me, and I put it on. I now feel obligated to make fun of Niall and Harry when we get there, since Niall will use all of his power to not look a single woman in the eye and Harry won't even leave the carriage.

     We step outside and catch an empty carriage. "Do you know where the brothel nearest to Dutfield's Yard is?" I ask the driver, who looks at me like I've gone mad.

     "Uh, y-yes, ma'am," he stutters. I smile and climb into the carriage with the boys, who have already gone inside, and the carriage takes off. Harry's looking out the window, and Niall is picking at his fingernails.

     "You should have seen the look on the driver's face when I told him to take us there," I chuckle.

     "I'm a bit surprised he knows where it is, honestly," Harry laughs. "Then, again, I suppose it's a driver's job to know where everything is."

     After a few laughs, nobody speaks during the rest of the ride. Eventually, the carriage stops, and Niall and I step out.

     "Are you sure you'd rather stay in here, Harry?" I ask, turning around to look at him. He nods his head rapidly.

     "There's no way I'm going in there," Harry replies. "If any of them offer you anything, make sure you tell them you're married!"

     I laugh loudly. "Of course, I'll make sure to fit in the fact that I'm married when I ask them if they know anything about a possible murderer. I'll make it my top priority."

     I hear him laugh as I walk away from the carriage. I look at the building in front of me and take a deep breath. I walk up to the door, and Niall nervously opens it. The inside of the building was pretty, it had at least two flights of stairs and the floor was covered in a light red colored carpet. The furniture was nicer than I expected. I look around, and there are groups of women wearing dresses just standing around and talking to one another. Niall walks up to the nearest woman, a young blonde in a deep blue dress. She can't be much older than myself.

     "Excuse me," Niall catches her attention, and she turns to him.

     She sighs. "What'll it be?"

     Niall's eyes widen. "N-No, that's not why w-we're h-here."

     "We need to speak to the woman in charge, please," I say politely. She examines me for a moment before speaking again.

     "Right this way, miss," she says, gesturing for us to follow her. "We don't get many women in here, you know. Are you sure neither of you don't want anything?"

     "We're sure," Niall quickly states, and I can't help but chuckle. "And she's married," he points to me.

     She shrugs. "Most of the people who come here are married, we're not allowed to judge," she leads us up the stairs.

     "She's pretty," Niall whispers to me. Once we reach the second floor, she knocks on the first door in the hallway.

     "Come in!" A high-pitched voice exclaims. The woman opens the door, and we all walk inside the room. We see a dark haired woman in her mid-forties tidying up the room. She turns to us and smiles.

     "Hello, I'm Agnes. What can I do for you two?" She asks.

     I walk up to her. "Did two women named Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes work here?"

     She nods and sighs. "Yes, they did. We got word of their deaths only a few hours ago. Those poor women, they didn't deserve to die."

     "Elizabeth was older than most of us," the blonde softly chimes in. "She was like a mother to me and the other girls. I didn't know Catherine very well, but she was a sweet woman. They shouldn't have been on the streets, we all know how dangerous it is, especially with that Jack the Ripper."

     "That's why we're here," I say. "We're actually tracking him down, and we need your help."

     Both of the women's eyes widen. "You're trying to catch him?!" Agnes incredulously says. "My dear, don't you know how dangerous that is? That monster is out there murdering women, and you're purposely seeking him out?"

     "Someone has to stop him, and the men who are looking for him are useless," I say. "I can't bear the thought that there is someone who is killing poor women. I know I can stop him."

     "Well," the blonde starts. "All I know is that every time a man walks into this building, we're all scared out of our minds that one of us might get murdered. We can't do anything about it, either. It's our job, and we all need the money. Agnes has ordered us to stay here at nights, none of us can walk the streets anymore."

     "That's horrible," I say. "Um, does the name Thomas Cutbush sound familiar at all?" I ask them.

     Agnes waits a moment before responding. "Why, yes! Now that I think about it, he's a regular customer. He's in here at least once a week," then, she gasps. "Do you think he might be-"

     She stops herself, and I nod. "Ms. Stride wrote a list of all of her customers from that night, and she'd cross off the name afterwards. His name is the last one on the list, and it hasn't been crossed out," I say.

     "Thomas?! He's been my customer before! I could have been killed and I didn't even know it!" The blonde exclaims with a terrified expression on her face, and she starts to cry uncontrollably. Niall goes to her and comforts her.

     "It's alright, miss," he says, putting his hand on her shoulder. "You're alright. He's not going to get you, we'll find him before anything else happens," she sniffles and nods, calming down a bit from his words.

     "Thank you," she sobs. "What's your name, by the way?"

     He gently smiles, "I'm Niall. And you?"

     "Caroline," she quietly answers.

     I turn to Agnes. "Do you know anything about Mr. Cutbush?"

     Agnes nods. "I know he frequents a pub not far from here, he usually comes here after he's had a few pints. I usually have some girls there, so they've spotted him many times. You can ask around over there, someone's bound to know him. It's called The Ten Bells."

     "Thank you," I smile. "Niall, we'd better get going," I turn to Niall, who's still speaking to the blonde woman. Except now, they both have a smile on their face. "Niall?"

     Niall looks at me, "Sorry, Mary. What were you saying?"

     "We should go now," I say. "We have a track to follow."

     Niall nods and turns back to the blonde. "Maybe I'll see you soon, Caroline. There's a great place to eat a few streets down from here, I could take you there."

     Caroline smiles shyly. "I'd like that, Niall."

     "Are you certain you have to leave so soon?" Agnes asks. "I could make some food, if either of you are hungry."

     I shake my head but smile. "No, thank you. My assistant is in the carriage outside, I don't want to keep him waiting for too long. Niall?"

     I look back at him and he's still talking to Caroline. I roll my eyes and grab Niall by the arm. "Come on, let's go," I turn to the two ladies. "Thank you so much for your help. I promise, I will find him. You can trust us, we'll keep you all safe."

     "Bless your soul, Miss," Agnes says. "Should you ever need our assistance, you need only ask."

     I nod, "Thank you."

     Niall and I walk down the stairs and out the door. Niall opens the carriage door and I climb in, sitting next to Harry. I hear Niall tell the driver to take us to The Ten Bells pub, and then gets into the carriage.

     "So," Harry says. "Did you find out anything?"

     "He frequents a pub near here," I respond. "We're headed there right now," I turn to Niall. "I thought you said you weren't comfortable in places like that, what were you doing talking to Miss Caroline like it was no big deal?"

     Niall shrugs. "She's nice. She said she's only doing this to provide for her younger brothers because they don't have much money to live off of. I think I fancy her a bit, actually."

     Harry turns to him. "Really?" After Niall nods, Harry shrugs and turns to me. "So, you think he'll be at the pub?"

     I shake my head. "No, he won't be there. If he really did murder those two women, he'd lay low for a while before going back out in public."

     The carriage arrives in front of the pub, which is at the corner of a busy street. We step out of the carriage and I fix my coat. Harry leads us into the crowded pub. It's getting dark outside, so it's bright inside the pub. I look around in disgust, most of the people here are old men who have nothing better to do than drink and harass young women. I walk right up to the bar and I'm greeted by the man behind it, who's wiping an empty glass with a small towel.

     "What can I do for you, Miss?" He asks.

     "Do you know anything about a man named Thomas Cutbush?" I ask right away.

     "Thomas Cutbush?" The young, clearly drunk man next to us repeats. "I know him. The bastard owes me two shillings after I beat him at that underground fight club," he looks me up and down. "Well, aren't you a pretty little thing?"

     "Fight club?" I inquire.

     The man hiccups, gulps down the rest of his beer, and nods. "Yep, he's always at that damn fight club, looking for a fight. Why are you looking for him?"

     "That's none of your business," I tell him. "But do you think you can tell me where this underground fight club is?"

     "It's literally underground, love," he replies. "I'll tell you where it is if you do something for me, pretty lady."

     Harry steps in front of me. "Alright, that's enough. Tell us where it is and I'll buy you a pint, just leave her alone."

     The man laughs. "Alright. Calm down, mate, it's by the railway station. Go down the steps and under the bridge where the train tracks run, so if any train would come by, it would be above you. It's an outside area, but it's well hidden by the construction around it. It's lower than the street level, so find an area that's an open ground, and there should be tons of men there. If Cutbush ain't there, ask the man in charge about him, Mr., uh... dammit, what was his name? Anyways, he knows everything about everyone, but he won't just give out information to anyone."

     "Alright, let's go," Harry quickly says, grabbing my hand and heading out the door.

     "Aye! What about my pint?" The man yells after us.

     Harry shouts back. "Haven't got any money on me!" As soon as we leave the pub, Harry catches a nearby carriage and opens the door. "Take us to the railway station, please," he tells the driver.

     "Isn't it getting a bit late?" Niall says when we're all sitting in the carriage. "It's dark outside, shouldn't we just check this place out tomorrow?"

     "We can go back to the house after we get the information we need," I say. "I know you're tired, Niall, but we need to figure this out before any other women get murdered," then, I turn to Harry. "Why didn't you buy the man a pint? I know you have money with you."

     "I didn't like the way he was talking to you," Harry looks out the window.

     "Oh," I respond. I didn't even realize how the man was talking to me, I was too busy thinking.

     Ifeel like this whole case is just too easy. We only did a little bit ofinvestigative work, and we're already so close to finding him. Something mustbe wrong here, there's no way it could possibly be this easy to catch him. 

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What did you guys think about this chapter? I think this story is gonna be really short, definitely not more than 20 chapters.

I'm gonna write post one more chapter soon before I take a break to work on "The Destitute Queen" and I even have another story in the works. I'm not going to post the new story until I'm finished with this one, so it should be up early next year, maybe around February or March.

Vote and comment if you liked this chapter :)

Love, Tori

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