Chapter 5: J-T-R
"Will someone tell me what's going on" Scarlett asked a little annoyed as Sherlock led her through the corridors of Scotland Yard. He stopped at a door the name "DI Lestarde" was written onto the frosted glass in the door.
He didn't knock before he entered, Scarlett and John follow quietly. An older man was already inside he had boring greying hair and wore a grey suit, he looked to be in his early to mid 40's and held an air of confusion and frustration about him.
"You must be Scarlett Monroe" he said holding out his hand.
"You must be Detective Inspector Lestarde" Scarlett said shaking his hand; he looked at her astonished.
"Your names on the door" Scarlett said slowly, that was obvious wasn't it.
"Right well yes" he stuttered slightly "Let's get on with this then Sherlock" he said striding over to his desk and leaning against looking at the younger man expectantly.
"He doesn't know Scarlett is anything to do with us, she is just the next in line, just a coincidence" Scarlett heard Sherlock say but she was far away as she stared at the letter on the desk.
An A4 piece of paper was lying on the desk, the words "I found a new girlfriend, prettiest one so far! J-T-R" was scrawled messily along the top of the page in dark red ink, and then there underneath writing was the thing that had caught Scarlett's eye.
A photo of Scarlett posing, naked her top half completely exposed the bottom half barely covered, the photo had been cut neatly from the Playboy Magazine it was taken from, but that wasn't what had shocked her, in the same red as the writing was a line across her neck, the ink had seeped into the paper and so the liquid had smudged somewhat.
Scarlett could still hear Sherlock, Lestarde and John taking but none of it was sinking in, as fear licked at her throat, was this a death threat.
"Will someone tell me what the hell is going on!" Scarlett screamed picking up the paper and holding it out. The fear in Scarlett, must have shown in her voice. As all three men stopped talking and looked at her, Sherlock looked rather shocked.
"It's a case Sherlock has been working on" John was the first to speak
"I thought it was nothing special" Scarlett said still worried, she lowered herself into a chair,
"Not till now he sent us two letters" said Sherlock his eyes sparking with excitement.
"Two?" Scarlett asked quietly, though her voice was demanding.
"Yes the one you so cleverly found and this one" he said pulling out a piece of paper from his pocket and handing it to her, Scarlett unfolded it before throwing it down and jumping up from her seat.
The note was simple it read "Look at my handy work" and then were three photos, the first two were both stuck on the left hand side of the page, they too were models both naked, taken from a magazine.
Above the photos the word BEFORE was written than then there was the last photo, both the girls severed heads sat on a dirty wooden table their eyes still open, wide with terror above the photo was the word AFTER!.
Scarlett stared down at the piece of paper that had landed at her feet, she picked it up and handed it back to Sherlock who folded it in half and returned it to his pocket.
"I'm next" Scarlett stuttered looking back at the other letter that hung loosely in her hand.
"Yes looks like it" said Sherlock bluntly
"So some nut job is running around killing models and calling himself Jack The Ripper and I'm next" Scarlett said loudly as tears began to build up in her eyes.
"Yes, wait what did you say" said Sherlock rushing over to Scarlett and holding her by the shoulders
"What?" She said confused looking up into his cold blue eyes
"What did you say he was calling himself?" he said pressing
"Jack The Ripper?" She said questioned, what was so interesting about the name.
"How did you know that?" he demand
"On the note he signs as J-T-R" She said shaking her head, surely this wasn't important.
"That's what people use when they talk about Jack the Ripper online" for a second Sherlock just starred at Scarlett. His face strangely close to hers, that for a second she thought he was going to kiss her.
"You're a genius" he said finally and Scarlett blushed slightly.
"Why didn't I think of that, it's so simple" he said taking the letter from her grasp. "Oh it's all fitting into place" he said striding over to the desk and pulling out a file from the pile on the desk.
"What is?" said John looking over at his flatmate, he looked completely lost.
"Subject throat has been cut, prior to abdominal mutilation where internal organs have been removed, head and breasts are removed at least 3 hours after death" Sherlock read out,
"Just like the Ripper" Scarlett said, she had studied him in her A-Levels and had got and A on her report about him.
"Subject has also suffered rape at some point after death" he continued
"That's not like the Ripper" Scarlett said, taking a seat as once again her knees went weak.
"No he is copying but some of it is different, updated" Sherlock said thinking out loud "but he doesn't think of them as scum, The Ripper did if you can believe the Dear Boss letter was really from him, our Ripper thinks they are his girlfriend, lovers even. He loves them" he pondered for a few minutes.
"Scarlett you are going to stay with us for a few day to make sure you are safe, we don't know how he lures them in yet, but he knows where you live now" he said after a while of silence
"I'll be placing an officer on your door, Sherlock" said Lestarde as Sherlock strode out the door, his coat flapping behind him.
"Come on Scarlett, we haven't got long for you to pack if you are going to" Sherlock shouted back to her
"Thank you inspector" Scarlett said before running after him John beside her.
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