A/N: Sorry it's been longer than usual, guys! Chapter fifteen is giving me trouble. I should be able to put a dent in the story tomorrow, though, so no worries! In the meantime, we have a nice meaty (haha) chapter to tide you over.

Enjoy! Much love to all my new reviewers!

September 8th, 1888
29 Hanbury Street

A runner from Whitechapel had summoned the surgeon at four thirty in the morning, for a child who had tumbled down the stairs in the family's home on Hanbury Street. The child had suffered a bump on the head and a sore rump. Tobias gave his diagnosis and recommended treatment, and had gone on his business.

He had left out of the back door and gone out onto the street when he saw, strolling down an intersecting road, a woman. She appeared idle, unlike other women who would be up at such an hour: mothers and wives with errands to run. Tobias's breath caught and he dashed back into the yard of the house he had just left. It was risky, he knew, but he didn't know when he'd get another opportunity.

He nodded to a man leaving his home, a leather apron thrown over his shoulder. The man was presumably on his way to work. Tobias would have to be quick, if he wanted to avoid any other early risers.

As he stashed his bag and cane behind an outhouse in the yard, he removed a Liston knife from his amputation kit. He slipped it into his right sleeve and walked out onto Hanbury street, towards the Brick Lane intersection where she stood.

" 'Scuse me, mum," Tobias said, the rough accent of his childhood, refined over years of fashionable company, returning to his voice. He looked down briefly before looking back up at her, smiling sheepishly.

"What you need, darlin'?" asked the woman, stepping closer to him.

"Well, I was just wonderin' if you'd, em..." He trailed off and jerked his head towards the entrance to the backyard he'd just left.

The woman giggled and nodded. Grinning like a teenager, Tobias offered her his arm. She slipped hers through it and they made their way back to the yard. Tobias stifled his limp considerably, though it pained him, and covered his occasional slips by staring at the woman the whole way, and acting like he was tripping over his feet.

"Just through there," he said, nudging her through the entrance ahead of him. The yard was still empty.

"Oh, now this is cozy, innit, dearie?" the woman said, laughing.

"Aye, mum, near as pretty as you," Tobias said. "Turn around an' lemme look at ya, eh?"

The woman began to turn, giggling. The Liston knife dropped into Tobias's hand and he flicked it out. It flashed once in the growing light as it sliced her throat across. Her mouth gaped as she bled to death, but no sound left her lips. She crumpled to the ground.

Working swiftly, Tobias dragged his kit out and pulled the body into a corner, positioning himself over her so that at a glance it would look like exactly what it was supposed to be. He dragged a pair of gloves on, pushed her dress up and sliced her abdomen open. Why, he couldn't have said; but he took a larger jar out of his bag and put her uterus in it.

"One of the singular traits of madness," Dr. Phillips said, "is the compulsion to do something that seemingly has no purpose. The lunatic will meticulously and deliberately perform an action, but when questioned, will be unable to give a reason for doing so."

"Time to go."

Tobias looked up, startled, and saw Sweeney Todd standing over him. The demon's expression was alert as he stared into the distance, listening, before looking back down at the surgeon. Tobias stared, bewildered, at the apparition. Something was different. Was he somehow...more substantial than before? He had been able to grasp Tobias's chin before, but had still appeared gaunt like a skeleton. It seemed—it almost appeared as though Todd had a little more...meat on his bones.

"Finish!" hissed Todd. "The yard will not be clear much longer!"

Immediately, Tobias was on his feet, taking off his gloves and shoving everything into his bag. Sweeney Todd handed him his oak cane and both of them made their rapid way out onto the street. They did not slow their pace until they reached Commercial Street, one of the main roads in Whitechapel. Tobias felt a cold hand squeeze his shoulder and knew without looking around that Todd was gone.

He went to visit Mrs. Young, since he had been meaning to check on her that day initially. He had been there for half an hour, however, when he heard shouts in the street.

"What's going on out there?" Mrs. Young asked from her chair. Tobias, sitting in front of her, looked up.

"There's people runnin' towards Hanbury," Michael said from the window. "The Inspector just walked past!"

Tobias stood up. He patted blind old Mrs. Young's folded hands.

"I must go now. The inspector will need my help," he said.

"There hasn't...been another one?" asked Eliza, Mrs. Young's only daughter, who had stayed with the old woman rather than get married. Tobias looked at her grimly, knowing exactly what she referred to.

"I'm afraid it's likely," the surgeon said. "Good day."

He gathered his things and limped out the door. Abberline was several paces ahead, moving quickly. Wincing, Tobias knew he wouldn't be able to catch up with him. His leg was throbbing, and had been since his exertions that morning. And yet, he could not just appear at the scene and claim to have followed the man; the streets were becoming too busy for such singling out of one person.

"Abberline!" he yelled. As he'd hoped, the inspector stopped and looked around. Tobias hoisted his satchel as high as he could and Abberline spotted him.

"Tobias!" the older man said, coming back to him. "I had hoped to find you in Whitechapel. I went by Bridge Street, but Abigail said you'd been called out quite early."

"I had," Tobias said.

"Nothing serious? It's kept you here long," Abberline asked.

"No, no," Tobias replied. "It was a small matter. I went to Mrs. Young's after leaving the emergency, since I check on her Saturdays. I knew she would be up, and there was no point troubling my leg with two trips to Whitechapel."

Abberline nodded, then clasped Tobias's shoulder.

"Another murder, Tobias," he said in a low voice. "Hanbury Street."

"Hanbury Street?" Tobias repeated, quietly. "I was there just this morning; that's where the emergency was. 29 Hanbury Street."

"Ah, the exact address!" Abberline breathed as they began to walk, swiftly as Tobias could manage. "Did you see anyone there? You arrived at what time?"

"Five o'clock," Tobias said. "I passed no one on entering, and upon leaving I saw only a man, who exited on his way to work, I presumed."

"How did you exit?"

"Out the back yard."

Abberline's eyes flashed and his jaw clenched.

"What time did you leave?" asked the inspector.

"I was there perhaps twenty minutes," Tobias replied. Abberline nodded. "Frederick...where has it been said she was found?"

"In the back yard," Abberline said. "In a corner hidden from the street."

They were silent until they came upon the yard, where officers and constables were trying to keep people away from the body. They broke their line to allow Abberline and Tobias through. Both men approached the body with grim looks on their faces, both of their jaws set, though different thoughts produced their expressions.

"Annie Chapman," said the sergeant, seeing them. "Dark Annie's what they call her around here. She was staying at a nearby lodging house. Said she couldn't pay for the night, so she went out to earn it."

"A prostitute, then?" said Abberline.

"Every now and then," the sergeant replied. "From what people've said, she could earn a good living without selling herself if she wanted."

"This is different," said Tobias from where he knelt, next to the body.

"What?"

"She wasn't strangled," the surgeon said. "She died from blood loss, after her throat was cut."

Abberline knelt next to Tobias and peered at the cut. The surgeon reached out, pointing at the edges of the cut.

"There's some roughness to the edges. The blade was sharp, that's clear, but the cut was very quick," he said. "Too quick to avoid some snagging of the skin."

"He knew he wouldn't have much time," Abberline said.

Tobias gently laid his hands on Annie's limbs, feeling for the stiffness and the body temperature that would help him determine how long ago she had died; or would have, if he hadn't already known.

"Lord," he said softly, pulling back his hands and standing.

"What?" asked Abberline, standing with him. Tobias looked at him with incredulity.

"She's been dead but half an hour," he said. "I...I must have just missed him."

Abberline reached up and squeezed Tobias's shoulder.