Simple
Disclaimer: I do not own Godley or Abberline (sigh).
Rating: PG-13
Summary: A slightly AU take on what happens after the movie
****
The Ripper case is solved. Life is simpler now.
Godley is an Inspector now. Sometimes he can't even believe it himself. He knows though, that the promotion and significant raise are to keep him quiet. They can't be sure how much he saw, or what Abberline told him, so they gave him a raise and they watch him closely. Mostly he doesn't mind this, except sometimes when he's out with his family, and then he glares at the watching eyes that look at his wife and daughters without feeling.
He moved out of the cramped flat they were living in, and now he owns a spacious one. He owns more Shakespeare, more Pope, more Dickens. He has a partner he doesn't like but whom he tolerates; the young sergeant admires him greatly, and this makes it easier to tolerate him.
More unfortunates are murdered in Whitechapel, and Godley is assigned to their cases. He knows this is his punishment. Punishment for living, for having seen what he did, for having the temerity to be Frederick Abberline's friend, for believing in Abberline.
Mostly he doesn't mind. This is not the Ripper, after all. These murders are solvable, and solve them he does.
Except for three.
Three women stabbed to death, crosses carved into their breast. They have already interrogated all likely suspects in the area, but religion is in short supply in Whitechapel, and the list of suspects is achingly short.
This one, Godley thinks, just might get away with it.
And then one afternoon a telegram arrives. It consists of one word:
Convent.
Godley stares at the paper for a long time.
Convent.
And he knows. The nuns, the religious group closest to Whitechapel, ladies who toil tirelessly to save the souls of the women who "work" there.
The killer is their gardener. Godley himself has been out to the convent. He had wanted to interview the man, but the Mother Superior stopped him. The gardener is touched in the head, she said, and cannot speak. "Leave the poor man in peace."
But Godley remembers now the way the man stared after the carriage as it rolled away. Lifted his head and stared. Not quite the way a man touched in the head would stare.
He shoves the telegram in his pocket, grabs his hat and coat, hollers for the sergeant to come with him, and is out the door.
An hour later it is done. The gardener is arrested, protesting all along that he was doing it for God, it was for Christ! The nuns stand back, hands pressed to their mouths, eyes wide with shock. Godley feels sorry for them, but he does not know what to say to them – even one of his many quotes seems inadequate on an occasion like this.
The sergeant stays behind, to make sure all the proper procedure is carefully followed. Godley climbs into the carriage that waits to take him back. He pounds the roof, signaling to the driver, and away they go.
He pulls out the telegram. Just that single word. So simple, yet so elusive. He wonders how he did not see it before.
See it.
His lips curve into a smile. He turns over the telegram. It has come from an office in Mountshannon, County Clare, Ireland.
Grinning widely, Godley shakes his head. "Thank you, Inspector."
*****
END