Ripper's London

30 – 09 – 1888

With the inquests into Annie Chapman and Mary Nichols completed and not discovering anything remotely close to the killer, the trail was going cold once again. The murderer was good and didn't leave any clues whatsoever to his identity. The press was beginning to turn on the authorities much to the dismay of the police. Everyday a new suspect was named and every other day a suspect was released.

DUTFIELD'S YARD
1 30 AM approximate

Ducky had finished the preliminary examination of the body before Gibbs and McGee showed up. "Whatcha got for us, Duck?" Gibbs asked as soon as they came into earshot. They were breathing heavy because of the run they had to make.

"One dead female. Cause of Death appears to be a cut throat," Ducky told Gibbs as another member of H-Division shone the lamp over the bloodied throat.

"Time of Death?" Gibbs asked as McGee went to question the man who came across the body.

"I'd say about half an hour. It can't be much more than that," Ducky answered. "Louis Diemshutz stated that he found her just after one," he shone the light on the body. "Unfortunately, I done all I can here."

McGee rubbed his hands together as he spoke. It was cold that's for sure. "Louis Diemshutz said that he was riding into Dutfield's Yard when the horses refused to go in. He thought that maybe there was something blocking the way. He shone a lamp into the area and came across the body of Elizabeth Stride," McGee explained.

"The blood is still wet," Gibbs responded. "He must've just missed the killer by minutes," he said.

"Inspector Gibbs! Inspector Gibbs!" A voice echoed through the darkness.

It was clear who the voice belonged to. Mister Lusk approached Dutfield's Yard with a large group of men. "Lusk," Gibbs spat out. He was the last person they needed to see. The vigilante committee as Gibbs dubbed them.

"Another murder. Not even Scotland Yard can keep Whitechapel safe," Lusk said as he rallied the mob of men near him. This other murder was proof of how the police have had control. It was now up to the people to do what the police couldn't. Bring back order and peace to the streets.

"And where were you Mister Lusk?" Gibbs asked as he looked the man in the eye.

"You're accusing me?" Lusk asked. "You are desperate. I've got twenty witnesses who were with me all night," he almost laughed.

"No Mister Lusk. Not at all. You're out patrolling the streets. You complain about us not keeping the streets safe. Here you lot are walking around the streets saying you want to keep the streets safe but you've done nothing," Gibbs challenged the Vigilance Committee Leader.

"We have brought in more suspects than you…," Lusk responded.

"Which have led us nowhere," Gibbs told him. They could give them all the suspects they wanted but it would all mean nothing if they were innocent.

2 am… Mitre Square

The body of one Catherine Eddowes was in the corner of the square. As soon as Gordon and Tony entered the square, they could clearly see that the female body was fresh, bloodied and gruesome. Something that echoed the previous killings. They were ordered to get somewhere by a messanger. They were told that Gibbs was looking over another body. There was no sign of McGee or Gibbs in Mitre Square. That was when they were told by one of the people in the crowd that someone had run off from the scene.

"Maybe Gibbs and McGee's on the trail of the killer. You go that way," Tony pointed to the other way. "Any one of you get to Commercial Street Station and tell them what's happened. Tell them to get to the streets now," Tony ordered. News in Whitechapel was like wild fire. It spread and spread and soon everyone would know about it.

It was obvious that word hadn't quite gotten around as Tony sprinted through the streets and scanned the area as he looked for anyone who might have had just committed the gruesome act. "Hey watch it!" Tony heard someone call out as he found him self literally bounced into the street. That was when he noticed how cold it was, once he was in the middle of the street and exposed to the wind traveling between the buildings. He could see his misty breath as he got chills.

"Of course," he reasoned with his body. Of course it'd feel cold. He cursed him self. There was always chillness in the air after a murder. Imagination sometimes created it. He turned around to see the possible directions the killer might have taken. Tony managed to just dive out of the way out of an oncoming carriage. He hardly saw it in the darkness. "Stop!" Tony banged on the next carriage. "Follow that carriage!" He told the driver.

The driver whipped the horse hard once Tony sat next to him. He was thankful that the driver didn't spend time asking questions. His grip tightened on the small rail beside him to keep himself from sliding off. "Get in front of him," Tony ordered. It was becoming rough as they were now matching speed but not getting past it. "Stop!" Tony tried to yell to the other driver. "I can't believe I'm going to do this," Tony muttered to him self as he stood up unsteadily.

"What are you doing?" The driver asked.

"Keep it going," Tony told him. "Father always said you were an idiot, Tony," he muttered to him self once again. Before Tony could talk him self out of the stupid idea he leaped from the carriage to the other one. He automatically anchored his hands down.

"What the hell are you doing?!" The second driver asked.

"Stop now!" Tony was breathing heavily. He could feel his body trembling and his heart racing. "Stop!" Tony showed the second driver his revolver. "I'm Tony DiNozzo, Metropolitan Police H-223," Tony identified himself.

The horse eventually came to a stop. Tony's feet hurt as he jumped to the road and opened the carriage door and pointed his revolver into the empty carriage. He smacked the door once he realized it was empty. "What are you doing? Where's your passenger?" Tony snapped.

"I don't have a passenger," The driver answered his question without moving from the carriage.

"You driving around Whitechapel like a madman and you've not got a passenger?" Tony asked in a bewildered tone.

"Well my friend and I were timing me to see how quickly I can get around some parts," The driver answered.

"Idiots… There's been two murders and you're driving around like a maniac? Take me to Mitre Square," Tony ordered. He might as well make use of the driver now. He doubted that the driver was going to refuse an officer with a revolver dangling by his side.

Goulston Street
Message??

Gibbs strolled into Goulston Street with McGee. He was surprised to see the Metropolitan Police Commissioner standing in front of a wall examining a piece of bloodied cloth.

"What are you doing?" Gibbs asked a PC who was washing away some chalk marks on the wall. He was about to slap the young PC into next week for wiping away evidence. Maybe H-Division was ill-equipped to handle

"I was ordered to. By Tom Morrow," The PC answered defensively.

"Sir… That's evidence," Gibbs said. Gibbs' attention turned to Commissioner Morrow. He was furious that this course of action was being taken.

"I've written it down," The PC said as he handed Gibbs the notebook.

"That's anti-semantic words. Soon this place is going to be over run by a lot of people. As soon as these words reach the light of day, there'd be rioting amongst everybody," Morrow gave the explanation for his reasoning. The Bloody Sunday riots were not forgotten. Anything could renew the hatred. "He's written it down and there was this found beneath it," Morrow handed the bloodied cloth over to McGee before taking Gibbs aside.

"What, Sir?" Gibbs asked. Inspector Gibbs was never known as a patient man. He had a killer to catch and now evidence was being wiped away because someone was afraid of the possibility of public outrage over a few words. But what was worse than that was that two of his team members had gone off in the night and hadn't been seen since.

Morrow knew that the public was quickly losing their faith in the police's ability to handle the East End of London. "It is imperative that you catch this killer as soon as possible Inspector Gibbs. Someone must be brought in and pay for this," Morrow said with annoyance. They seemed to be getting nowhere with the investigation while the bodies continued to mount.

"We're doing that," Gibbs answered back.

"Don't bother 'doing' that... Just get that done," Morrow snapped.

Gibbs thought about holding his tongue. Over the past few weeks they'd done a hell of a lot of leg work and did their best and now they were having their ability questioned. "Do you want the killer or will anybody do?" Gibbs responded before turning his back. Of course talking back to a commissioner could be dangerous to one's career. "Sir?" Gibbs got the attention of the man. "Can I ask you something? Does this have anything to do with the Freemasons?" Gibbs asked directly.

"No," Tom Morrow answered flatly.

"Has anyone seen DiNozzo or Cale?" Gibbs asked. He was only answered by shakes of the head. He had sent people to go and fetch the other two members of his team but they hadn't shown up yet.

MORTUARY

"Boss," Tony made his way to Ducky and Gibbs. He'd managed to get his breath back and caught up with Gordon.

"Where have you two been?" Gibbs asked. His voice sounded gruff and harsh.

"We found the scene and we was hot on the trail of the killer... But we couldn't find the man. Where were you?" Tony answered. He saw two bodies on the slabs. "My God... There's two?" Tony managed to say.

"You come find us when you've completed the examinations, Duck," Gibbs ordered. "It looks as if you three are dead on your feet. I suggest you lot get some sleep until Duck here completes the examinations and look through fresh eyes," Gibbs said as they left the area. They all seemed too tired to argue.

COMMERCIAL STREET POLICE STATION

Gibbs had written the Goulston Street message written on the blackboard. "The Juwes are not the men that will be blamed for nothing," Gibbs said to him self. He couldn't figure out what it was meant to say. Either it was written by someone who didn't have a grasp of the English language or there was a message within the message.

"Still trying to work it out, Boss?" Tony said as he came in with the coffee. He had just poured a couple of cups after boiling it on the wood stove. It was just after nine and Ducky still hadn't finished yet. But then again the man had to perform two autopsies and stitch up the belly so the guts wouldn't fall out every time she was moved. He couldn't help but imagine the body hanging up on the meat hook while Ducky took the pictures. It was just another addition to destroying a body.

Gibbs didn't answer. Before he could think about things further, the door to their office was almost knocked off its hinges. "What's going on?" Gibbs demanded to know. But his demand was met mostly with angered silence.

Tony found him self in the clutches of three people from H-Division. His arms were held back. "Of all the time you've been hunting the so called Leather Apron... He's been right under your nose," Larry threw the newspaper to Gibbs. It had already been opened. The paper had been putting two issues out a day with all the news flying around.

Dear Boss

I keep on hearing the police have caught me but they won't fix me just yet. I have laughed when they looked so clever and talk about being on the right track. That joke about Leather Apron gave me real fits. I am down on whores and shant quit ripping them till I get buckled. Grand work the last job was, I gave the lady no time to squeal. How can they catch me now. I love my work and want to start again. You will soon hear of me and my funny little games. I saved some of the proper red stuff in a ginger bottle over the last job to write with but it went thick like glue and I can't use it. Red ink is fit enough I hope. Ha. Ha. The next job I shall clip the ladys ears off and send to the police officers just for jolly wouldn't you. Keep this letter back till I do a bit more work then give it out straight. My knife's so nice and sharp, I want to get to work right away if I get the chance. Good luck.

Yours Truly
Jack The Ripper

Don't mind me giving the trade name

PS wasnt good enough to post this before I got all the red ink off my hands. Curse it No luck yet. They say I'm a Doctor now. ha. ha.

"See... See. Mister DiNozzo here is the only one that I know of that refers to some people as Boss," Larry said as he subdued the struggling Tony. "Guess you been looking for Jack The Ripper all this time and there he was. Right under your nose." Larry punched Tony in the stomach and winded him. That put a stop to Tony trying to break free of the grasp.

Gibbs nodded. There was no way he could talk the crowd down. There was one way he could diffuse the situation. "Put him in and I'll interrogate him," Gibbs rolled up his sleeves as a threatening gesture.

"Just remember...," Larry said.

"If it turns out that DiNozzo here is 'Leather -, Jack The Ripper, you can have the reward," Gibbs followed them out. The group was quickly intercepted by McGee.

"What's going on?" McGee asked. He was shocked to see Tony being dragged down to the cells.

"They believe that DiNozzo's Jack The Ripper," Gibbs said flatly. He was going to prove that that wasn't the case. He hadn't known his team for too long but he knew that none of his team was a killer. But peoples' suspicion had to be laid to rest and he knew the way to do it. Hopefully, the young man would be understanding and play along.