CHAPTER 15
"you know, I love you mate, I really do," Jack drawled.
"no, no, I love you," Roux said, petting Jack's arm.
They layed out on the boat deck, with empty rum bottler. Their shoes were off, their shirts were half off and they had their eyes closed. Jack and Roux were drunk.
"you know, my uncle Clarence worked selling fish when I was little. And I would always come and see him and he would get mad at me when I told him he smelled terrible," Jack said laughing.
"AAAAAHAHAHAHAHA!" Roux burst out with laughter.
They were making no sense at all.
"people don't listen, they don't care, they don't care about what I have to say, but you man, you're my best friend, you listen-" Roux said.
"no you're my best friend-" Jack interrupted.
"no, you," Roux said.
They went back and forth and finally stopped after a while. Jack leaned up, grabbing the empty rum bottle. He uncorked it and put it over his mouth, trying to shake rum out of it. He frowned, disappointed saying, "it's bloody empty."
Roux started laughing again and he shakily rose to his feet, stumbling over to the side of the boat. Jack dropped the bottle and it rolled across the deck, making a small clinking sound as it hit the rail.
The sun had set and it had taken Roux and Jack two hours to regain their senses. Roux was standing at the side of the boat, staring at something in the water.
"Jack, come here," Roux said.
Jack came over to him and Roux pointed at the object in the water.
"Jack, what is that?" Roux asked.
Jack squinted at the object in the water. His eyes became really wide as he realized what it was. It was a woman, floating face down, wearing a dark purple dress.
"uh Roux, mate, that would be a dead woman." Jack said calmly.
They looked at each other for a brief second before screaming with shock and stumbling backwards to the center of the boat, holding onto each other.
"what should we do?" Jack asked.
"uh, we have to tell someone!" Roux shouted.
"hurry up, come on, follow me," Jack said.
They jumped off the boat and onto the dock, running into town. Jack ran down a busy street, turning into an alley with Roux on his heels. It was deserted and very dark except for a yellow light, shining from a building situated at the end of the alley.
Jack and Roux stopped in front of the building, panting. Jack rang the bell and they waited.
The door opened and a tall, heavyset man with brown hair opened the door.
"can I help you gentlemen?" he asked them.
"may we speak with the inspector?" Jack asked.
The man opened the door to let them pass, eyeing them suspiciously. Roux and Jack followed him to a room in the back, and he knocked on the door. He opened it saying, "Inspector, you've got some visitors."
Roux and Jack filed into the room. It was fairly dark, with a few candles lit in each corner. The walls were covered with bookshelves, filled top to bottom with books and random sheets of paper.
"thank you sergeant," a voice said from a chair. The back was facing the door so they couldn't see who the voice belonged to.
The door closed as the sergeant left and the chair spun to face them. A man with dark hair and dark eyes faced them. He wore an older suit with a vest and no tie. He had a mustache/ beard combination and his eyes had dark circles around them from lack of sleep.
"what can I help you wif gentlemen?" the man said.
"inspector…..," Jack paused, glancing at the title on the desk, "Abberline, we found something that might be of some interest to you."
"what have you got?" Abberline asked, lighting a short black cigarette.
"we found a body," Roux said.
"a woman, floating in the Thames," Jack added.
"did you move the body?" Abberline asked.
"well, no," Jack said. "we thought you should see it first."
Inspector Abberline got up from his chair, putting his cigarette in his mouth and grabbing his coat. "show me," he said.