There be Monsters

Based on the novel 'There be Monsters' by Rob Lofthouse. Our tale begins in London, September 1888. Detective Inspector Frederick Abberline is stood over the grisly corpse of Catherine Eddowes. Detective Sergeant George Godley and Police Doctor Herbert Cobb arrive on the scene to assist, armed with more bad news…there is another female body in Dutfields Yard. A month earlier… Abberline is at Great Scotland Yard, awaiting an audience with the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Charles Warren. The papers speak of an American Surgeon, Captain Jefferson ‘Rebel’ Adler, stationed with the American Legation in London, has been taken hostage by Irish revolutionaries. His boss, Ambassador Edward J Phelps, anti-Confederate yet a pro-Irish supporter has not been lobbying hard enough for their liking. Warren informs him that Adler is not the reason for his summons. Abberline accepts the challenge of catching the Whitechapel killer, not before Warren has him sign a ‘Non-Disclosure Agreement’. Warren frets about the killer remaining a step ahead of the Police, so he ensures Abberline is gagged legally. He comes to learn of several American gentlemen who appear interested in the events of late. Called to Jacks latest victim, Mary Jane Kelly. Shackled to the foot of her bed, bloodied and bruised is Doctor Herbert Cobb. Under interrogation, Herbert cracks. Blackmailed by a third party into dong their bidding. The victims are already dead. Cobb is pressed to stage the bodies in their respective locations. Abberline keeps him incarcerated to investigate further only to return to Cobb having taken his own life, by a razor smuggled in by said Americans. Abberline absconds to Twickenham, where he interviews a young PC who found the bodies, also pressed to sign an NDA. The Americans apprehend Abberline at Twickenham station upon his return and take him before Warren. Taken to Limehouse Basin. Abberline finds a sorry looking cretin, tied to a chair, covered in their own filth is none other than Captain Jefferson Adler. Opioid dependant from wounds sustained at Fort Wagner, Adler is a person of interest regarding the murder of numerous Confederate veterans for their prescribed opium. The Americans get word to Warren, seconded as a Royal Engineer advisor to their former regiment, who grants them authority to operate in London. In front of Abberline, Warren has the Americans execute Adler. With their mission concluded, Ambassador Phelps political ambitions are now in ruins for not protecting his own staff from Irish militants. Abberline is vexed because the people of Whitechapel will never know what came of their tormentor. Warrens rationale is that the Metropolitan Police, under paid, undermanned, and seldom respected, would now get the resources required to police such a rough city as London in the late 19th Century. Abberline is returned home unscathed but silenced.