Patricia awoke slowly and at ease. But as her vision cleared, and she realized the macabre nature of her surroundings, sharp reality shredded her peace of mind. As her mind began to panic she realized the two men with her.

“Easy Fraulein White, you have been through a terrible ordeal. My name is Dr. Schneider and this is Inspector Grierson of the Scotland Yard.”

“Sco..Scotland Yard?” she stammered. “Where am I? What am I doing here?”

The doctor considered for a moment. “You were poisoned a few days ago. The good Inspector brought you to me for treatment, and you have made a complete recovery.”

Patricia tried to process what she was hearing but the shock made her head spin. It made no sense she didn’t remember any of it. What poison, what treatment? “I don’t understand. Where…”

“Worry not Fraulein, you are safe here. Rest a moment and we will talk. You have questions and the Inspector has questions, we will have answers later.”

She seated herself on the couch and watched as the man called Grierson talked gruffly to the Doctor as he sat down at a table, and began organizing the papers there. She tried to remember what had happened but she couldn’t remember anything beyond what happened after heading home from work. No answers came to settle her worries. Why was she here? This was a warehouse, not a hospital, there were no nurses or attendees, no other patients. Why?

So she determined the best way to get some answers was to talk to the only other people there. “Excuse me, but I would like some answers now.” Grierson and the doctor turned to her with considering faces.

The doctor rose from his seat. “Of course. Inspector, I think it would be more polite to answer the young lady’s questions before you ask yours.”

The Inspector assented with a sigh, “Agreed, but remember that time is of the essence.”

“Now young lady, what do you want to know? The Inspector and I will answer to the best of our ability.”

Patricia considered for a moment. “Where am I exactly and why am I here?”

“As I said before, you were poisoned, and the Inspector brought you here to my facility for…emergency treatment.” answered the Doctor. “You have probably noticed that you are not in a traditional hospital. I am a specialist of sorts, and we are in a warehouse where I keep my more unique apparatus.”

“But Inspector, why did You bring me to this man?” Her tone indicating her full understanding that the man who claimed to be an inspector had done something far outside of what could be thought of as normal procedure.

“Miss White, you were poisoned, we believe by a serial murderer, with a unique substance that unfortunately only Dr. Schneider could treat. Believe me, you were only brought here out of the utmost necessity.” Grierson paused as she took in this information. “If you are up to it, I’d like to ask you some questions about what you remember. It may help us with the case.”

After she considered for a moment, she nodded her assent.

The inspector placed a chair in front of her and took a notebook from his pocket preparing to record her account. “Miss White, what is the last thing you remember on the night of the twenty-third of October?”

Closing her eyes Patricia tried to focus. “I remember walking down an alley. I was trying to find a cab.”

“Was anyone in that alley with you?”

“No, it was deserted.”

“Did you come in contact with anyone before that?”

“I saw Mrs. Haycot and her granddaughter… and a couple on the other side of the street.”

“Anyone else?”

“N-Yes… I-I ran into a gentleman I had not met before.”

“Can you describe him?”

“He was very tall. He stood head and shoulders above me, with black hair and dark grey-blue eyes.”

“Anything else?”

“He was a gentleman, his clothes appeared very expensive…Do you think he is the culprit?”

The inspector considered for a moment before answering. “I can’t say for sure, but you have given us a good lead in this case. You have the gratitude of all Scotland Yard Miss White.” As Patricia smiled ever so slightly at his gratitude, the Inspector lowered his gaze to the floor. “Well, I better follow this up, time is of the essence.”

“I will show you out mien friend.” interjected the doctor. As they walked to the door, Inspector stepped with his back ridged, his shoulders stiff, and his head decidedly down. “Do not worry Inspector; I will make sure the Fraulein is settled.”

Inspector Grierson turned to see Patricia stand and walk to a table occupied by the Doctor’s empty glassware. He turned and said to the doctor in a low voice “You’d better.” And as quick as he could he left the warehouse.

Patricia reached for a large beaker and looked at her reflection in the glass. The face that gazed back at her was pale, smooth, and had dark red hair. It was not her own. Then the beaker shattered in her grasp, the glass littering the floor. She regarded her hand for a moment, and how the shards had lacerated her hand without drawing blood. She sank to her knees in soft anguished sobs. Dr. Schneider came up behind and patted her shoulder sympathetically. He handed her a handkerchief to dry her eyes, then he stooped to clean the floor of the sparkling glass.

 

Grierson hailed a cab as soon as he was out of sight of the warehouse.

“To the Yard, quickly.”

As soon as the cab arrived, he rushed to his desk and began to look through the names and descriptions that the Doctor had given him. As the doctor had said it was a long list, but it would be definitively shortened when applied to Ms. White’s description.

As the hours passed, he noticed that most of the names were of students and professors. Most of the students on the list attended their schools on scholarships. Patricia had said that the suspect was a gentleman, poor students would not be able to afford the clothes necessary for that. Then he looked at the Professors. Most of them were too old to match the description.

Grierson suddenly paused. There was one professor on the list that could match the description. One Gabriel Redford, a very well thought of teacher at the college. As the Inspector read over the description of Professor Redford, he became a stronger and stronger suspect. And then he read where the professor held his position.

“That conniving German Bastard!”

Running out of the building, he hired the first cart he could find. “To the College, fast as you can!” While trying to suppress his rage, he prayed pitifully to God that he wasn’t too late.

As he approached the rooms of Professor Gabriel Redford, his heart turned to lead in his chest, and his spirits fell with every forward step. Grierson steeled himself for the grisly scene. The inside of the room was littered with smashed terrariums, their reptilian occupants crushed to bloody pulp and ripped apart like frayed ropes. Their master was in a similar condition. A closer examination of the room revealed the notes and journals of the late suspect. These writings, though rambling and incoherent in places were as good as a manifesto of the madman. Almost as good as a signed confession. But none of this was as disturbing as the last piece of evidence. The one item in the room that did not belong and poisoned the inspector with rage, sorrow, and guilt. A white lace handkerchief.

“He knew. All along, he knew. The bastard played me for a fool. And God help me, I let him.”

 

Dr. Schneider sipped at his evening sherry contentedly as he looked over his evening paper in the warm comfort of his parlor; smiling to himself as he came across the stories that held his interest.

One story said that Inspector Grierson had closed in on a suspect in the “Four Murders Case” ironically after the body of the fourth victim went missing, but found him brutally murdered in his apartments. The suspect was confirmed to be Gabriel Redford a doctor of biology. However, there had been enough evidence in the apartments to link Dr. Redford to all four of the murders. Surprisingly amid this success the Inspector had announced his intention to retire early from the force.

It is the kind of thing that Grierson would do to atone for a perceived failure. But really, if they hadn’t been so flustered when one of their own was killed it would have been a simple matter of waiting for Redford to give himself away. Some do get so squeamish and impatient when death is involved. They simply can’t realize that all they need to do is wait and then what they want will come to them. Like an indebted inspector and a fresh cadaver for instance. Of course, if they had been capable enough to realize that in the first place, then they would have been capable enough to catch Redford before his little spree.

Another story, in the back of the paper, regarded the rise of a popular new urban story that had begun to circulate. It involved a pale red-haired woman being spotted around the known criminals and lowlifes of London. Soon after the appearance of this red-haired woman, they were found in dark alleys and other disreputable places, brutally killed. A macabre story that depicted bloody justice being carried out against London’s criminals. No wonder it was gaining popularity.

With his eyes glimmering like a mischievous youth, the doctor set down his paper and waited for the Inspector to arrive.