24 November 1888
Night
🔔 Kim calls again. The line takes a bit longer but connects after a few seconds.
Ballroom
💭 Kim must be at the ballroom. Good. Nobility thrives on silence, reputation, and discretion. If Kim hears whispers about protection and status, they will be here. I need to hear how certainty sounds when spoken by those who have everything to lose.
📞 Call Connected
📞 Kim to you
Hi. I’m outside a townhouse in Mayfair. Gas lamps are clean here. I see carriages in the street. They have polished wheels. It smells like perfume and cigar smoke. Not gin. Of course not. This reminds me of… Anyways. It’s so pleasant here. So different from Whitechapel
📞 Man 1
Scotland Yard still fumbling?
📞 Lady 1
It’s a dreadful business. So uncivilized.
📞 Man 1
They should keep it contained in the East.
📞 Kim to you
They talk about it like the weather. Not like murder. I’m going in. I look absurdly appropriate. I’m wearing silk gloves. I hate how well I blend. But I love it.
(Door opens. Music swells.)
📞 Kim to you
Here we go… There’s a small circle of men speaking quietly. One of them just said Abberline’s name. He is important.
📞 You
Can you get closer?
📞 Man 1
Abberline implied it, you know.
📞 Man 2
He implied nothing.
📞 Man 1
He said he knew more than the public.
📞 Man 3
That’s not the same as saying it’s one of ours.
📞 Man 1
Look. He said it couldn’t be a common dock worker.
📞 Man 2
You’re twisting. You know nothing.
📞 Kim to you
Okay, so this Abberline guy. It’s Frederick Abberline. He is a chief inspector. Apparantly he knows more. They’re debating what he meant. Some claim he hinted at protection. That certain names were never officially questioned. Oeh I love a lil conspiracy about corruption!
📞 You
Do they mention Prince Albert?
📞 Kim to you
Look at you!! Doing a little research yourself! But no, not directly. Although I heard “royal embarrassment” whispered just now. And “medical discretion.”
📞 Woman
You’re being ridiculous. The Prince was elsewhere. There are records.
📞 Man 1
Records can be arranged.
📞 Man 2
Are you accusing him? Do you think that is smart?
📞 Kim to you
There it is. Evidence for and against. Wait. I have been making notes. I will mail them to Secrets Hall.
📲 Text from Mr. Sterces
Kim has just caused a sealed archival envelope dated November 1888 to reappear in the lower stacks, hasn’t she?
1:05 a.m.
It was catalogued but never opened. Label: Private – Mayfair Conversations
1:05 a.m.
This is what it contains:
Evidence for nobility involvement:
– Access to medical knowledge.
– Ability to move without suspicion.
– Protection from prosecution.
– Witness descriptions of “well-dressed” men.
– Abberline allegedly implying withheld truths.
But evidence against:
– No verified proof of any royal presence in Whitechapel.
– Many sightings describe shabby clothing.
– Risk to the Crown would be catastrophic.
– No direct document tying nobility to the murders.
1:05 a.m.
📞 Kim to you
The evidence is divided. Of course it is. If it’s truly related to the nobility we will never find out the truth.
📞 You
Find someone who speaks with certainty.
📞 Kim to you
There’s an older gentleman near the balcony. Military posture. He’s not laughing. I’m going in.
📞 Gentleman
Good evening, miss.
📞 Kim
Hello, sir. I’m researching the recent murders. I was told you’ve spoken with Inspector Abberline.
📞 Gentleman
Gossiping is not appropriate for this venue. Who are you, miss?
📞 Kim to you
Ok maybe I went in too bold. It’s my Dutch roots. I can’t help it. How do I fix it?
Tell him that it is not mere gossip and that silence protects the guilty.
Tell him you are not here to gossip. Tell him you are confused and scared with everything that is happening and that you were hoping a wise man like him would be able to help you find some peace.
Tell him that it is not mere gossip and that silence protects the guilty.
Tell him you are not here to gossip. Tell him you are confused and scared with everything that is happening and that you were hoping a wise man like him would be able to help you find some peace.
📞 Kim
Sir, it’s not mere gossip. It’s essential that we know what is going on. Silence only protects the guilty. If the nobility is innocent, then transparency does not weaken the Crown, it strengthens it. Rumors thrive in darkness. If there is nothing to hide, why not allow light to fall where it may?
💭 Your pulse spikes. Kim is becoming dangerously bold. You must inform Mr. Sterces and ask for his advice.
📲 Text to Mr. Sterces
What do we do when she becomes too… intense?
1:10 a.m.
📲 Text from Mr. Sterces
Ah.. I was afraid that this would happen.
1:09 a.m.
Kim can become a danger to herself when she gets too into it. She starts to prioritize the secrets more than her safety. You must help her.
1:10 a.m.
Ground her. Tell her to stop when possible
1:11 a.m.
📞 Gentleman
You speak with remarkable certainty for a woman. Inspector Abberline suspected influence, yes, but influence is not the same as royal guilt. He believed pressure was applied from above, that certain avenues were discouraged. That is very different from believing a prince walked in Whitechapel with a knife in his hand.
📞 Kim
Discouraged by whom? And to protect whom? You cannot expect me to believe such pressure floats down from the sky without direction.
📞 Gentleman
To protect reputations. To prevent hysteria.
The Duke is a convenient villain for those who despise the monarchy. He is young, occasionally indiscreet in his associations, and therefore easy to embroider into myth. Engagement records place him elsewhere during several of the murders. He was under observation more often than the public imagines. A prince does not wander unnoticed.
📞 Kim
And yet his name persists in every alley and tavern. Some claim he married in secret. Others speak of a child, of witnesses silenced to preserve the succession. Such stories do not arise without fuel.
📞 Gentleman
Stories materialize wherever fear and politics intersect. The alleged secret marriage to a shop girl, the child who threatened the line of inheritance, the desperate cover-up… These are the inventions of pamphleteers and men who profit from destabilization. Abberline himself dismissed the notion of a royal murderer. His frustration lay elsewhere. He believed certain leads were discouraged because they pointed toward circles that could not withstand scandal, not because they implicated the Duke directly.
📞 Kim
So the knife may not have belonged to nobility but the hand that redirected suspicion might have.
📞 Gentleman
Influence protects institutions. That does not make the institution murderous. It makes it cautious, sometimes excessively so.
📞 Kim
Caution can resemble guilt when viewed from the outside.
📞 Gentleman
And panic can resemble conspiracy. You must understand, Miss, the British Empire stands as a symbol of stability. To entangle the heir presumptive in grotesque murders would not merely damage a family; it would shake public faith in the Crown itself. That fear alone explains much of what you interpret as suppression.
📞 Kim
Fear explains behavior. It does not erase questions.
📞 Gentleman
You are either extraordinarily curious or extremely brave. Tell me, have we met before?
📞 Kim
It is possible, Sir. I have not ventured out in some time, but one cannot remain hidden forever. Unfortunately, I must retire for the evening. Good night.
📞 Gentleman
Miss. If you value your safety… pursue monsters, not institutions.
📞 Kim to you
All right. That was closer than I’d like. I think that was both a warning and advice. Poor man. Thinking that will stop me.
Here’s what we have:
No solid evidence placing the Duke in Whitechapel at the critical hours. Documented engagements contradicting parts of the rumor. Persistent conspiracy theories centering on a secret marriage and a child used as leverage. Abberline allegedly frustrated not by royal guilt, but by interference protecting reputations within influential medical and social circles.
The nobles fear scandal more than accusation. And fear, in politics, is often the loudest clue. Nothing for sure. But the pattern is interesting.
📞 Kim
Gossips? Never. I wouldn’t dare indulge in such things. I’m only… overwhelmed. The streets feel unsafe, the newspapers more so, and I thought perhaps a gentleman of experience might help me understand what is rumor and what is truth. I was hoping a wise man like you could offer some reassurance or at least clarity.
📞 Gentleman
Then you have chosen the wrong evening and the wrong company, Miss. This is not a matter suited for drawing-room comfort. Nor is it a topic improved by repetition. I believe it would be best if you left us. Immediately. Don’t look for institutions. Look for monsters.
🔔The line breaks off, but after a few minutes your Phone rings again
📞 Kim to you
I think that was both a warning and advice. But they’re shutting down completely. But before I reached the door they forgot I was still close enough to hear. One of them said, in a tone halfway between outrage and disbelief, “It would be madness for a royal to wander Whitechapel. Absolute madness. The idea insults common sense.” Another answered, quieter but sharper, “Madness or immunity?”
The air changed after that. A third voice, older perhaps, muttered, “They tried to attach Prince Albert to it from the beginning. As if a prince would risk the stability of the throne for filthy alleys and butchered women.”
They are not merely offended by the accusation. They are frightened by it. One insisted the Duke had been ill during part of the autumn of terror. Another countered that he was out of London for several key dates. Scotland was mentioned, and formal engagements carefully documented. They argued about alibis the way bankers argue over ledgers. One even suggested that certain witness statements had been “misread” before reaching the press and that some testimonies had been quietly redirected away from dangerous speculation. Not destroyed but redirected.
📞 You
So what do you think?
📞 Kim to you
We have nobles visibly petrified of scandal, not necessarily of guilt, but of collapse in public confidence. We have hints that investigators may have been guided, perhaps pressured, to avoid threats that brushed too closely against high society.
And we have men who react more violently to the rumor of royal involvement than to the murders themselves.
If Clarence, if Prince Albert, was entirely innocent, then the mere existence of the rumor could wound the monarchy deeply enough to justify intervention. An heir’s reputation is not a trivial matter; it is symbolic infrastructure.
💭 You want to react but Kim keeps on rambling. You wonder if she is talking to you or to herself at this point.
📞 Kim to you
And if someone powerful feared that scandal more than the truth, then suppression becomes understandable even without a drop of royal blood spilled in Whitechapel.
The true question may not be whether a prince held the knife.
It may be who benefited most from convincing the public that he did. Because sometimes a rumor is not meant to accuse. Sometimes it is meant to destabilize.
📞 You
And how do you feel?
📞 Kim to you
Uneasy. Whitechapel felt chaotic. This feels controlled but repressing. If the truth exists here, it’s curated. I don’t know which environment hides a killer better. Chaos or refinement.
📞 You
Kim. You were just profiled by a man accustomed to command. He suspects you. I strongly suggest you do not return to this address.
📞 Kim to you
Don’t overreact. But, I will keep it in mind.
📞 You
Thank you. So where next?
📞 Kim to you
Give me some time. I must first dig into the fourth murder. See if my research of 2026 contains the same insights as what I can find here in 1888. It takes time, my dear assistant. I am blending in as much as I can. I listen. I converse. I try to understand where I am.. Why I am here. What I am supposed to do here.
I will be back. Wait for me.
📞 Call Disconnects
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