century?' said the superintendent with disbelief.

"Apparently so, sir. You must admit, there are certain rather sensational

similarities—the geographical location; the victims being prostitutes, both

murdered on the same night, as happened with two of the original Ripper's

victims; the... uh... murderer's methodology. You can see where an

enterprising

journalist could draw some rather lurid parallels and indulge in some

creative

speculation. It does sell newspapers."

"Yes, but really!" the superintendent exclaimed. "I've never heard such a

load

of nonsense!"

"Perhaps not entirely nonsense, sir," said Blood. "Admittedly, it seems

unlikely

that some sort of psychopath might have fixated upon a killer from the

nineteenth century, but it's not impossible. I've been doing some research,

as

I'm sure the press has, and it seems that Jack the Ripper was never brought

to

justice. The Whitechapel Murders became infamous, taking their place in

folklore, and apparently there was such a public outcry over the failure to

arrest the murderer that the police superintendent at the time was forced to

resign."

There was a long silence on the line. Blood cleared his throat awkwardly and

continued.

"In any case, sir, it may indeed have started out to be a load of nonsense,

as

we've had more than our share of murders in that sort of neighborhood before,

but with the press picking up this angle, as it were, and playing it up the

way

they've done, our murderer might very well decide to pick up on it as well,

even

to the point of adopting the identity of Jack the Ripper. These sort of

serial

killers are compulsive, and they seem to enjoy all the attention."

"Good God," the superintendent said. "Then by the very fact of making this

comparison, the press is contributing to the problem!"

"Possibly, sir," said Blood with slight emphasis on the word possibly. He

added,

"However, with all due respect, might I suggest that it would not be in our

best

interests to point this out to them?"

"Yes, quite," said the superintendent. He sighed. "Hell. . This could become

a

monstrous migraine for us all. Look, Michael, I'm going to make some sort of

statement to the effect that we're giving this our top priority and that you

are

taking charge of the case personally, highest confidence in your abilities,

so

on and so forth. Let's dispose of this one with alacrity, shall we?"

"Yes, sir, I'll do my very best," said Blood.