No Absolution

by N. M. Bell

  After what seemed an interminable amount of time the polished door of the one on the left creaked open. A stooped woman emerged with timid steps pulling a shawl over her hair. She looked up, her face a pale blur in the dim light.

  “Himself said to tells ye he’s takin’ a wee schmall break, but to go on in. Himself’ll be back directly,” the woman mumbled as she passed him and hurried from the church.

  Jake started toward the dark closet of the confessional. He halted abruptly at the door. Is it a sign? The priest not being there waiting for me as he should be? Does it mean I’m making a mistake by confessing? Is this a sign from the Lord that I should continue my work and not ask to be shriven of my sins? Maybe they aren’t sins after all?

  “Are ye goin’ in or not, mister?”

  Jake turned to the man still sitting on the bench. “What?”

  “Are ye goin’ in or not? The confessional, ye know? Havin second thought?”

  “No. Ye go ahead, I don’ have time to wait.” Jake avoided the shadows of the booth and brushed past the man as he rose.

  The cold hit him with a blast as he exited the church and stumbled down the steps. A nearby clock struck the eleventh hour. Christ, it was cold as witch’s tit out here. Jake hunched deeper into his jacket and trudged to the corner turning north up Mansell toward where it became Commercial. He ducked into the lee of a doorway to escape the wind when he reached Aldgate High Street. After waiting for the sting in his cheeks and ears to fade, Jake continued on his way. Instead of continuing north on Middlesex he detoured east to Goulston and a more direct route home. A couple approached walking toward him arm in arm. For no reason he could name, Jake slipped into one of the double doorways that lined the street. A flash of memory brought to mind Kate Eddowes and the merry chase the bloody bit of apron sent the coppers on. Still grinning, he peeked out of the shadows to check on the progress of the spooning couple.

  The woman laughed at something the bloke said. He caught his breath while a cold sweat broke over his body. Bloody feckin’ hell! Aggie and the bleedin’ copper. What are the odds I’d run inta them right now? I asked the Almighty for a sign and here it is. What the feck am I going ta do about it? He crowded further into to gloom of the alcove as the couple passed by. They were totally engrossed in each other and as far as Jake could tell didn’t even realise they were being observed. Very lax of the copper, in Jake’s opinion. Father chuckled somewhere in the darkness nearby. Jake wheeled around his heart hammering in his throat.

  “You asked the good Lord for a sign you were doing His holy work. It appears He has answered you in spades. The question is, what are you waiting for?”

  Jake nodded and on silent feet left the doorway. Keeping to the shadows and ducking into alleys he followed Aggie and her fellow, backtracking the way he had just come. They sauntered down to Whitechapel Road and turned west, crossing Mansell where the road turned into Aldgate High Street. When they reached the Minories the detective pulled her to a halt and drew Aggie into the shadows away from the faint illumination of the gas lamp at the corner. Jake crept nearer intent on spying on the courting couple. How dare she? God’s unsullied flower shouldn’t be skulking about street corners unchaperoned with a man. He conveniently forgot about her dalliance with Horst. His hand shook as he stroked Father’s knife through the canvas of the knife safe. How dare she? The man raised his head just as Jake nipped into the mouth of an alley. He turned his head as if surveying the street. Jake felt the detective’s gaze slide over him and breathed a sigh of relief. His next breath hissed with anger on the intake.

  Keegan pulled Aggie into his embrace tipping her head up and placing a kiss on her lips. Instead of shoving him away and cursing him, as a proper woman should, the slut leaned closer and pressed against him. Jake couldn’t get air into his lungs and his vision swam as he fought for breath. Anger and righteous rage warred with the stirring of his penis. He cursed the weakness of his flesh and pinched the tip of his wayward flesh hard enough to bring tears springing to his eyes. The pain served its purpose and the excitement fled to be replaced by a cold calculating fury. Even as he watched, the wanton woman wound her fingers through the man’s hair. Hair pins pinged on the pavement as Keegan loosed Aggie’s hair to fall in a shimmering wave onto her shoulders. She laughed in her throat and made a half-hearted attempt to fix it.

  “Leave it, Aggie. You’re so beautiful.” Jake was near enough to hear their conversation.

  “I will haf to put it back up before I go in. What would Vater think?” She smiled up at the man, her fingers stroking his cheek.

  “I suppose you are correct, my dear.” The detective sighed. He bent to retrieve the pins from the cobbles. One by one he handed them to her while she twisted the hair back into a semblance of decency. “One day soon, I hope to see it spilling across the pillows on my bed.”

  “Bob!” Aggie slapped his arm playfully. “I’m not that kind of girl, you silly mutton.”

  Jake ground his teeth to keep from leaping out of his hiding place. Are you not? What else are you but a slut, snogging on a street corner with your hair unbound?

  “Vater says a man will not buy the cow if he can get the milk for free.” She winked at the tall detective.

  “It’s more than your milk I’m interested in, Aggie,” he said before claiming her lips again.

  Aggie sagged against him, her eyes closed as he rained kisses over her face and neck where her shawl had slid aside. Only when his hand strayed to the soft skin exposed by the low neckline of her dress did she move away. Jake growled low in his throat. The whore allowed the man to keep caressing the swell of her breasts with his fingertips. Her eyes fluttered closed and her mouth dropped open when he slipped his finger into the valley between the mounds. Jake took a step forward. This has ta stop. What the hell is she thinking making a spectacle of herself on the street in the middle of the night? How can I spare her now? Father is right. She must be cleansed. I have seen the proof with my own eyes. Oh, Aggie, look what you make me do.

  Before he could step out of the alley, a donkey and cart rattled around the corner startling the couple apart. Jake subsided back into the shadows. Patting her hair with one hand, and pulling the shawl closer around her with the other, she moved away. Keegan took her arm and whispered something in her ear Jake couldn’t make out. He escorted her the short way down the Minories to the door of Fleischer’s shop. The detective dropped a chaste kiss on her nose and waited until she was safely inside the shop and had extinguished the lamp Heinz left burning for her.

  Jake fought to control the trembling in his limbs that threatened to drop him to his knees. He couldn’t dispute the wantonness of her behaviour when he witnessed it first-hand. Father was right. Women were instruments of Satan, witches who blinded men to their true natures until it was too late and the hapless male was ensnared in their trap. Thank the Lord, he had realised it in time and could still escape the woman. His path was clear now, and there was no doubt left about what he must do.

  But how to do it? He needed a plan. Once it was set in motion there would be no turning back. If he didn’t finish the job, Aggie would squeal like a stuck pig and tell the Peelers who he was and what he wanted with her. He pushed away from the wall that supported him and entered the now empty street. There was no point going on to Miller’s Court, he couldn’t sleep now, and in a few short hours it would be time to ply his trade.

  Aimless wandering took him past the vast expanse of Tower Hill, the embankments and turrets rising dark against the sky. It would be a fitting place to release the woman’s soul. After all think of all the traitorous women who lost their lives in that place. Getting in would be a problem though, especially with an unwilling woman in tow. He continued down to the Katharine Docks and leaned against a piling watching the seagulls dip and dive under the arches of Tower Bridge.

  Jake removed Father’s knife from its concealment testing the edge on his thumb nail. If he timed it right and cleansed her when the tide was running he
could dump the body into the river. Wouldn’t the tidal bore take it away down the Thames and far away from anyone who would know Aggie? He couldn’t risk being connected with her or her demise.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Jake paused in the entrance to the shop front at the sound of Aggie’s raised voice.

  “Ye don’t need to fetch me, Vater. Bob has offered to see me safely home.”

  “Bob, is it now? When did you become so familiar with the detective?” Heinz roared.

  “We’re friends, that’s all,” the woman protested. “We want to spend some time together and he’s on duty till eight, so he offered to meet me and walk me home. What harm is there in that, I ask you?”

  “According to Miz Robinson, it was more than friendship between you the other night. Did you think someone wouldn’t be seein’ you actin’ like a cat in heat, right on the street?” Heinz lowered his voice and hissed through his teeth.

  A dark flush rose up Aggie’s face. Jake was pleased she at least had the decency to look ashamed.

  “It’s me who will meet you. See you mind me, girl.” The old man turned his back to her and went back to butchering the carcass on the block with more force than was strictly necessary.

  Excitement curled in Jake’s gut and settled in his groin. To-night was the night. All he had to do was arrive at the ladies’ meeting and tell Aggie her father sent him. Make up some story about the old man getting held up at the shop, or maybe he was hurt … yes, that would work well, she’d be upset and so worried about her father she wouldn’t think to question why Jake was fetching her. All that was needed was to get her away from the meeting before either Heinz or the detective showed up. Clearing his throat to announce his presence Jake sauntered into the shop front.

  “I’ll be off, then,” he said. “Unless yer needin’ me fer anything?”

  “Go on wi’ ye, man.” Heinz waved a meaty hand at his slaughter man but didn’t raise his eyes from the side of beef under his knife.

  Jake glanced at Aggie, but she was bent over the ledger book entering figures, a slight frown marring her angelic face. Such a pity.

  “She’s no angel, Jacob. Remember that,” Father warned from the shadows.

  “Evenin’, then. See you t’morrer.” Jake slapped the peaked hat on his head and stepped out into the street. The gas lamps were just being lit and the sky darkened swiftly, promising more rain. He stepped across the overflowing gutter and wandered down to the Still and Star. Pushing through the foul air that hung over the occupants of the pub in a fugue, he elbowed himself a place at the bar. “A half and a meat pie, Will,” Jake addressed the owner. Will grunted in reply and moved to fill a glass with ale.

  “Early night, is it? Ye don’t usually show yer mug in here till after seven.” The bar keep plunked a slightly over baked pie on the counter along with the ale.

  “Aye,” Jake mumbled before taking a long drink. “D’ye never warsh these things?” He peered at the grunge caked to the bottom of the mug.

  “When the girls have time, we do. ‘Sides, the alcohol’ll kill anything.” Will turned away laughing and gave the bar a cursory swipe with a filthy rag.

  Jake sidled away from the man beside him who was industriously scratching at something in his crotch. Fleas and lice were the last thing Jake wanted crawling on him. Cleanliness was next to godliness, Father always said. The rain outside must have become heavier if the custom filing into the Star was any indication. A trickle of sweat ran down the crease of his spine and into the crack of his arse. The packed room stank of rancid body sweat and wet wool, overlaid with the sharper scent of the flooded gutters running past the door. Jake pushed the last of the pie away, leaving the blackened crust in the congealing greasy gravy. It wasn’t much of a meat pie, he’d only encountered one bit of salt beef and a bit of gristle in the whole thing. Still, it filled the void and he hadn’t had to cook it.

  The heat of the room was cloying, sticking in his nose when he breathed. Jake moved from his place at the bar and ran smack into Dick.

  “Hey, mate.” Dick slapped him on the shoulder. “Leavin’ already?”

  “Got orf early, I did,” Jake replied.

  “Stay and ‘ave one on me, keep me company like.”

  Jake glanced at the clock over the bar, it was just past seven. Aggie’s meeting wasn’t over till nine. One more pint wouldn’t delay him much and there would still be plenty of time to get to the Woman’s Meeting ahead of both her father and her suitor.

  “Sure, an’ why not? Nothin’ better ta do. Elsie not expectin’ ye home for a bit?”

  “She’s gone to some meetin’ with the Fleischer bint, some nonsense or another, but it keeps her off me arse.” Dick stepped up to the bar, drawing Jake with him. He signalled Will to bring two pints. “Did ye eat, then? I’m so hungry I could eat the arse end out a skunk.”

  “Had mine already. Ye go ahead, though.” Jake leaned on the sticky bar and picked up his ale. Before he knew it, a quick glance at the clock revealed it was almost eight. Time to be off on his mission of mercy. He set the empty glass on the bar and slapped Dick on the back.

  “Time I was off, mate. See ye t’morrer.” Jake clamped his hat on his head.

  “Ah, yer not goin’ yet, are ye? I still got some time afore the ball and chain’ll be back.”

  “Gotta drop me rent off for that skin flint McCarthy afore he sets his muscle on me.” Jake shrugged and headed for the door. He needed to leave now if he wanted to beat both Heinz and the detective to Aggie. The cold damp of the night air sent a shiver down his spine when he stepped out of the overheated public house. The rain has lessened to a mizzle, not just a heavy mist that hung in the alleys and swirled in the streets. Turning his collar up and shrugging deeper into his thin jacket, Jake hurried toward the Women’s Meeting place. It would be just his luck that one or the other of Aggie’s protectors would decide to show up early, then the jig was up. He rounded the corner and surveyed the street. No unwanted figures stood on the steps or in nearby doorways. Good then, he was here in ahead of them. There was no need to feign his rapid panicked breathing, now the time was at hand, excitement and an underlying thread of fear set his heart to galloping like a fire horse.

  Jake took the slick stone steps two at a time and hesitated before he hammered on the door. Bloody hell, he couldn’t show his face and be identified as the one who called Aggie away with a lie. Damn it all, why didn’t he see this hole in his plan earlier? Movement on the far side of the street caught his eye.

  “Boy! You there.” He descended the steps and crossed the street, grabbing the stick thin boy before he could bolt. “I ain’t gonna harm ye. I need ye ta deliver a message fer me.”

  The urchin regarded him suspiciously from under the dripping brim of his ragged cap. “What d’ye want me ta do? I ain’t goin’ far in this weather.”

  “Eejit! I just need ye ta go to yonder door ‘crost the street and tell Miss Aggie Fleischer there’s been an accident an’ her da’ needs her ta come straight away.”

  “Whyn’t ye just go telt her yerself.” The boy stuck out a grimy chin.

  Jake suppressed the urge to cuff the belligerence out of the little bastard and thrust a copper at him. “I have other matters to attend to. Tell her she needs to come quickly, there isn’t much time. Aggie Fleischer. Mark my words, I’ll be watchin’ ye and iffen ye don’t do as I ask ye won’t see the dawn. Got it?” His fingers bit hard into the scrawny shoulder and he pressed the copper into the filthy hand.

  “That’s it, guv? Just telt the lady her da’ needs her?”

  “It’s what I said, ye eejit,” Jake snarled. “Now get on wi’ it.” He shoved the boy into the street with a force that sent him spinning. With a wary look over his shoulder he climbed the steps and pounded on the door. Jake stepped into the shadows of a doorway and waited.

  Light spilled onto the street as the door opened and within seconds Aggie appeared silhouetted against the glare. Her hand flew to her mouth and she whirled b
ack into the house. Almost immediately she reappeared with her cloak draped over her shoulders, the hood thrown back in her haste.

  “No, Elsie, I can’t wait. I must be off. I’ll be fine.” Aggie threw the words over her shoulder as she bolted down the slick steps.

  The urchin slipped off into the mist with a quick backward glance toward Jake’s hiding place. Jake’s gaze followed the slight figure until he faded from sight. He tracked Aggie’s progress as she darted through the pools of murky light cast by the gas lamps. He left the sheltering alcove and hurried down a narrow alley, shortcutting through the open front and back doors of a boarding house and into another close. His path would bring him around Aggie so he could approach her as if he were coming from the shop. Deciding he should be far enough ahead of her now, Jake made his way to the head of the alley that opened onto Commercial Street. He glanced both ways and just caught the flash of Aggie’s cloak as she passed from the pool of light half way up the block from his position. Arranging his features into a mask of concern and fear he left the alley and strode purposefully toward her. The woman’s step hesitated for a brief moment when she caught sight of him approaching, but then she forged boldly on.

  “Aggie,” he called when he was close enough for her to identify him. “Thank God, I found ye. Ye need t’come wi’ me, quickly. I’ll explain as we go.” He grasped her arm and pulled her along, not giving her time to protest or question him.