Of Night and Dark Obscurity

“Calm yourself,” he said in her ear.

“I don’t think I can bear it,” she pulled back to stare into his eyes. “I never imagined a world without Irene. She was so full of life. Silly and child-like and—“ she stopped.

She could feel the tears on her cheeks as she remained so close to him.

“You don’t have to be brave. You don’t have to be strong,” he told her.

“Good. Because I don’t feel either. I feel helpless, lost and alone.”

He shook his head. “You’re not alone.” He removed a light blue handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to her.

She dried her eyes with it and looked around the room. It was sparsely furnished with just the bare necessities.

“You don’t like decoration?” She wondered aloud.

“I’m rarely here. The police service takes up much of my time. When I’m not there I also have my club. This is only a place where I sleep.”

Caroline looked at the bed and then at his shelf which held many books. “You’ve never been married?” She asked.

Val raised an eyebrow at the question but answered it. “I was engaged. Once.”

“What happened?”

“She died.”

“I’m being presumptuous,” she admitted.

“Your curious. You’d make a fine detective.”

She smiled lightly. “I don’t know what I was thinking coming here. It’s highly inappropriate I know. I’m sorry.”

“No one else need know. I’ll take you home now.”

He picked up his hat and led her outside. They hailed a cab and he gave directions to her townhouse.

“You can rest easy Miss Derry. I will find the killer. You have my word,” he said.

She nodded. “Thank you, Inspector. Again, I’m sorry for the intrusion.”

“Don’t give it a moment’s thought,” he told her in return.

When the carriage deposited her, he waited until the door closed behind her and then knocked on the roof of the cab to start the driver moving again.

Caroline made her way up to her room, climbing the staircase slowly as if she was a woman of seventy. She felt the emptiness of it all closing in around her and when she lay upon her bed, she could feel the tears trickling from her eyes. Irene was gone.

???

She slept later than usual. When she awoke, she felt exhausted and not rested at all. Her dreams had been filled with Irene. Irene had either been lost or running from her in each dream, she could never do the one thing she longed to do; which was hold her sister one last time. She pushed the dreams from her mind and dressed quickly in a dark blouse and skirt. She made her way downstairs and saw that her father had already left. She sat down across from his empty chair and stared at his linen napkin thrown across his plate and his coffee cup half filled.

The Times newspaper was beside the napkin folded in half as he always read it with his breakfast. She helped herself to a cup of coffee from the side board and pulled the newspaper towards her.

She tried to stay abreast of newsworthy events, especially when it came to the East End of London and the issues that affected the people she knew needed it the most. She scanned down the front of the headlines and one caught her attention. She felt her heart thud inside her chest and then an anger filled her. She almost crumpled the newspaper before she grabbed her small purse and headed out the door.

???

Val pointed to the map he had spread out between himself and his sergeant on his desk. He pointed out the four different places he had marked on the map where the four bodies had been discovered. He added the latest victim to the map, which had been found at Hyde Park.

“There’s no pattern,” Val shrugged. “They were all discovered in different areas.”