1 December 1888
Night
🔔 Half an hour passes. Then the line connects again.
The Princess Alice Pub
💭 Alcohol loosens memory. Fear turns into certainty after the third drink. If there are unofficial truths about Mitre Square, they will be soaked in beer and suspicion. I need Kim to listen. Not to the loudest voice, but to the cracks between them.
📞 Kim to you
I am inside The Princess Alice pub.
Good heavens. It is thick with smoke. These people don’t want to get old. The floor clings to my boots as though it wishes to keep me. Gas lamps flicker like dying stars. I am thoroughly fatigued of gaslight. I would trade a crown for an LED panel. Forgive me. Men are pressed shoulder to shoulder. This will be interesting. They speak of Mitre Square as if they stood over the body themselves.
📞 Man 1
I’m tellin’ you. That weren’t rage. That weren’t wild slashin’. That were work. Proper strokes. Clean. Measured. Like a man who knew what he were reachin’ for.
📞 Man 2
Horse shit! Work? You call that work? You ever seen a slaughterhouse, Tom? I have. That weren’t no carcass split. That were deliberate. You don’t pluck a kidney neat from a woman in the dark unless you know where it sits
📞 Man 1
Exactly! That’s what I’m sayin’! He knew! Didn’t fumble. Didn’t rummage about like some drunk hackin’ meat. He reached in and took what he came for.
📞 Bartender
Five minutes, they said. Five bloody minutes. In a square patrolled every quarter hour. That’s not luck. That’s knowledge.
📞 You
Move closer. True to listen to what they say.
📞 Kim to you
But they stink! Urgh fine. Ok yes. They smell of sweat and ale. One has cabbage in his beard. A time-travel-portal would be so pleasurable right now.
Well. They are referencing Dr. Frederick Gordon Brown’s testimony. He stated the killer had knowledge of organ position and could have removed the kidney swiftly.
But he did not definitively declare the murderer a surgeon.
📞 Man 1
You don’t get that steady in the dark unless you’ve cut before! Years of it! Steady hand! No panic! And that face… No butcher does that. That’s not about meat. That’s about… I dunno… anger. Or art. Sick art.
📞 Man 2
Maybe he practices. Maybe he studies. Maybe he cuts bodies in daylight and women at night.
📞 Man 1
Hospital man. Has to be. Someone from them medical schools. They’re always fiddlin’ with corpses.
📞 Man 3
Or foreign. I’m tellin’ you. Continental types. Always knives. Always secrets.
📞 Man 1
You certain about that?
📞 Kim to you
This again. When one says “foreign,” it settles into the room like smoke. Fear seeks direction. They do not require proof. They require comfort. But does it matter? Foreign or Local? We want to find the culprit, not a nationality.
📞 You
Ask who they actually suspect. Not just the profession.
📞 Kim to you
Excuse me. You hear everything from behind that counter. When the noise settles and the bravado fades, what names come up? Who do they think walks those streets at night?
📞 Bartender
Depends who’s drinking. Some blame the hospitals. Say there’s a medical man who slips out after dark. Comes down here to practice where no one’s watching. Easier than dissecting rooms. No oversight. But other says it’s a vampire. Or a police officer. Many say foreign but with what proof?
📞 Man 1
They handle blades for a living, don’t they?
📞 Man 2
So do barbers. You accusing every man with a razor?
📞 Kim to you
I hope it won’t break out into a fight. The tension is rising.
📞 Bartender
That’s enough probing. This isn’t an inquest. Customers don’t come here to be questioned.
📞 Kim
I’m not interrogating anyone. I’m listening.
📞 Bartender
Police have already listened. That’s where it ends.
📞 Kim to you
He’s worried about a fight. If I push too hard, I’m outside. What direction shall I take?
💭 She is in a pub. People are used to drinking heavily. It would certainly make it easier if she blends in. Drunk men don’t like milkdrinkers. But with her state it might be better to refrain from drinking gin. What should she prioritize? The info or her safety?
You need to start drinking with them to be able to fit in.
They are drunk. Keep on pushing. Men like to talk. But don’t drink with them.
You need to start drinking with them to be able to fit in.
They are drunk. Keep on pushing. Men like to talk. But don’t drink with them.
📞 You
You need to start drinking with them to be able to fit in.
📞 Kim to you
Very well. If one is to hear truth in such a den, one must not stand apart from it.
📞 Kim
Sir. Gin, if you please.
📞 Bartender
Coming right up.
📞 Man 1
That’s it! Proper spirit! None o’ that lady nonsense!
📞 Man 2
If you’re askin’ questions, you better drink like the rest of us!
📞 Kim
That is… Good Lord.
Very well, gentlemen. Let us speak plainly. You spoke of 5 minutes?
📞 Bartender
Five minutes in a square that’s patrolled every quarter hour.
📞 Man 1
City Police walk it regular. Well… they are supposed to.
📞 Man 2
Then whoever did it knew exactly when they’d pass.
📞 Man 1
Or he was one of them.
📞 Man 2
Police don’t carve faces.
📞 Man 1
How do you know what men are capable of?
📞 Kim to you
I want to know more but I don’t know which direction I should look into.
📞 You
We shouldn’t push too much. We don’t want them to assume we are onto something. Let me think.
Ask more about the Doctor theory.
Ask more about the Police theory.
Ask more about the Foreigner theory.
Ask more about the Butcher theory.
Ask more about the Doctor theory.
Ask more about the Police theory.
Ask more about the Foreigner theory.
Ask more about the Butcher theory.
📞 Kim
If it were a medical man, as you insist, what manner of man would he be?
📞 Man 1
He would be educated. Clean boots. Knows Latin words for things we can’t pronounce. Might work in a hospital, maybe. He cuts bodies for students. Learns where everything sits. Then comes down here at night where no one important walks.
📞 Man 2
Aye! He’s bored of corpses that don’t scream. And it was dark in Mitre Square. You don’t go fishing around blind unless you’ve done it before.
📞 Man 1
You ever see a surgeon’s hands? Steady. Calm. Even when there’s blood.
📞 Man 2
And what if he takes the organs back? Studies them. Keeps ’em. Like trophies.
📞 Kim
Thophies?! But why would he risk his reputation and position for it? Can’t it be that the Doctor Theory brings comfort because it focuses on the skill rather than the horror?
📞 Man 1
How must we know? Missy you are nosy.
📞 Kim
You must excuse me! You handsome men are the only ones even daring to speak of it. Women only whisper of such topics.
📞 Man 1
Women are fragile. For real talk you come to real men!
📞 Kim
Let’s drink to that!
📞 Call Disconnects
📲 Text to Mr. Sterces
Kim is in the Princess Alice Pub. She is trying to gather evidence for the Medical Theory.
3.05 a.m.
Can you give me some facts about the Medical Theory, Sir?
3.05 a.m.
📲 Text from Mr. Sterces
I have been waiting.
3.05 a.m.
What do you wish to know?
3.05 a.m.
📲 Text to Mr. Sterces
What are common surgical tools in 1888 suitable for organ removal?
3.05 a.m.
📲 Text from Mr. Sterces
Scalpels, bone saws and surgical knives were standard. However, no specific instrument was conclusively linked to the crimes.
3.05 a.m.
📲 Text to Mr. Sterces
Alright. Dead lead, it is.
3.06 a.m.
Were any organs ever recovered or traced to medical institutions?
3.06 a.m.
📲 Text from Mr. Sterces
No confirmed organ from Eddowes was recovered. A kidney was later sent to the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee in what became known as the “From Hell” letter, though its authenticity remains debated.
3.08 a.m.
📲 Text to Mr. Sterces
What do you think of the Medical Theory?
3.08 a.m.
📲 Text from Mr. Sterces
Brown said the act required knowledge of the organ’s position and could have been done quickly. But other doctors disagreed on whether it required professional training. No surgical tools were definitively identified.
3.08 a.m.
📞 Kim
Why do you think it’s a foreigner?
📞 Man 2
You’re ignorin’ the obvious! Look at the Goulston Street writin’!
📞 Man 1
Yeah! Why’d Warren wipe it if it meant nothin’?!
📞 Bartender
Because it pointed somewhere they didn’t want lookin’!
📞 Man 2
You mark me, miss, no Englishman does that to women of his own soil.
📞 Kim
And yet Englishmen hang for murder daily. Your soil is not sanctified.
📞 Man 1
She’s got bite!
📞 Man 2
You think it ain’t foreign then?
📞 Kim
I think fear seeks an accent. It is simpler to accuse the outsider than the neighbour.
📞 Man 1
Not one of ours. Mark me.
📞 Kim
Why?
📞 Man 1
Because no Englishman would…
📞 Man 2
There was that writing in Goulston Street. After the murder. On the wall.
📞 Kim
The chalk message near the apron piece?
📞 Bartender
That’s the one. Police wiped it off before morning. Makes you wonder why.
📞 Kim to you
Right! After the murder, a bloodstained piece of Eddowes’ apron was found in Goulston Street with chalk writing nearby. Commissioner Charles Warren ordered it erased before daylight, fearing anti-Jewish riots.
💭 Interesting. It could be. But maybe it’s just that “Foreigner” is easier than “neighbor.”
📞 Kim
So the theory is born not of proof… but prejudice.
📞 Man 1
Missy you are nosy.
📞 Kim
You must excuse me! You handsome men are the only ones even daring to speak of it. Women only whisper of such topics.
📞 Man 1
Women are fragile. For real talk you come to real men!
📞 Kim
Let’s drink to that!
📞 Call Disconnects
📲 Text to Mr. Sterces
Kim is in the Princess Alice Pub. She is trying to gather evidence for the Foreigner Theory.
3.05 a.m.
Can you give me some facts about that theory, Sir?
3.05 a.m.
📲 Text from Mr. Sterces
I have been waiting.
3.05 a.m.
What do you wish to know?
3.05 a.m.
📲 Text to Mr. Sterces
Were Jewish immigrants fo really linked to the murders?
3.05 a.m.
📲 Text from Mr. Sterces
No conclusive evidence ever tied Jewish immigrants to the murders. Anti-Semitic tensions were high in Whitechapel during 1888.
3.05 a.m.
📲 Text to Mr. Sterces
Alright. Even more contradicting information. How marvelous.
3.07 a.m.
📲 Text from Mr. Sterces
I am confident you will discover the most reliable theory
3.06 a.m.
📞 Kim
You think he knew the patrol schedule?
📞 Bartender
Miss. They’re all fools. It’s one o’ them.
📞 Man 2
Careful.
📞 Bartender
Who else knows patrol times? Who else walks the square every quarter hour? Who else don’t get stopped at night?
📞 Man 1
Police don’t carve faces.
📞 Bartender
You think you know men?
📞 Man 2
Mitre Square was walked roughly every fifteen minutes. Everyone knows that. PC Watkins found the body at 1:44 a.m. after passing through earlier.
📞 Man 1
Exactly. He knew the gap.
📞 Bartender
Or he was one of them.
📞 Man 2
Police don’t do that.
📞 Bartender
You so sure?
📞 Kim to you
There’s no evidence a policeman was involved. But… But the jurisdiction split, City Police in Mitre Square, Metropolitan Police in Whitechapel, created confusion. And confusion breeds suspicion.
💭 If the killer calculated the patrol gap, that suggests observation. Not necessarily a policeman, but someone patient.
📞 Kim
If he were police… he would command trust. Women would not flee. He could approach without alarm.
📞 Bartender
Exactly!
📞 Man 2
That’s madness talk.
📞 Bartender
Is it? Jurisdictions split! City Police here. Metropolitan there! Confusion everywhere!
📞 Man 1
Missy you are nosy.
📞 Kim
You must excuse me! You handsome men are the only ones even daring to speak of it. Women only whisper of such topics.
📞 Man 1
Women are fragile. For real talk you come to real men!
📞 Kim
Let’s drink to that!
📞 Call Disconnects
📲 Text to Mr. Sterces
Kim is in the Princess Alice Pub. She is trying to gather evidence for the Police Theory.
3.05 a.m.
Can you give me some facts about that theory, Sir?
3.05 a.m.
📲 Text from Mr. Sterces
I have been waiting.
3.05 a.m.
What do you wish to know?
3.05 a.m.
📲 Text to Mr. Sterces
Do you have any evidence of police involvement?
3.05 a.m.
📲 Text from Mr. Sterces
No credible evidence implicates any serving police officer. Jurisdictional confusion between City and Metropolitan Police did complicate investigation.
3.05 a.m.
📲 Text to Mr. Sterces
Alright. Even more contradicting information. How marvelous.
3.07 a.m.
📲 Text from Mr. Sterces
I am confident you will discover the most reliable theory
3.06 a.m.
📞 Kim
You think he knew the patrol schedule?
📞 Man 1
Aye! You’re all thinkin’ too fancy. Slaughterman. Simple. Knows blood. Knows speed. Knows how not to faint.
📞 Bartender
Animals ain’t women!
📞 Man 1
Flesh is flesh!
📞 Man 2
Then why the faces? Why the taking of organs like prizes?
📞 Man 1
Maybe he hates ’em! Maybe he hates women!
📞 Bartender
Men used to blood don’t faint at it. Slaughterhouses round Aldgate. Men there work quick.
📞 Kim
Hatred. Yes. There is hatred in it. But also… performance. He alters the face, no? He removes identity. He leaves us spectacles.
📞 Man 1
What unrespectable talk for such a charming young lady.
📞 Kim
One of my few flaws.
Another, sir.
📞 Man 1
A butcher. Aye! A butcher!
📞 Man 2
You are starting to see things, Arthur.
📞 Man 1
Bollocks. He would be the perfect fit for Whitechapel. How would he be noticed?
📞 Kim
But no motive. Why would a butcher cut open women? Makes no sense. You men cling to certainty like it is driftwood.
📞 Man 1
Missy you are nosy.
📞 Kim
You must excuse me! You handsome men are the only ones even daring to speak of it. Women only whisper of such topics.
📞 Man 1
Women are fragile. For real talk you come to real men!
📞 Kim
Let’s drink to that!
📞 Call Disconnects
📲 Text to Mr. Sterces
Kim is in the Princess Alice Pub. She is trying to gather evidence for the Slaughterhouse Theory
3.05 a.m.
Can you give me some facts about that theory, Sir?
3.05 a.m.
📲 Text from Mr. Sterces
I have been waiting.
3.05 a.m.
What do you wish to know?
3.05 a.m.
📲 Text to Mr. Sterces
Did surgeons describe the cuts as professional or rough?
3.05 a.m.
📲 Text from Mr. Sterces
Medical opinions differed. Some described the cuts as rough and hurried; others believed they indicated anatomical familiarity.
3.05 a.m.
📲 Text to Mr. Sterces
Alright. Even more contradicting information. How marvelous.
3.07 a.m.
📲 Text from Mr. Sterces
I am confident you will discover the most reliable theory
3.06 a.m.
🔔 Two hours pass.
🔔 Then the phone rings. You answer instantly.
📞 Call Connected
📞 Kim
H–hello?! Oh! There you are! My dearest… my… my excellent assistant of the future!
💭 Oh no.
📞 You
Kim. Where are you?
📞 Kim to you
Princessss… Princess Alice still. Or… maybe outside? The ground is colder now. Did you know cobblestones tilt? They tilt.
📞 Man 1
She’s had enough! Out with her!
📞 Kim
Sir! I am conducting serious inquiry into homicidal architecture!
📞 Kim to you
They… they ejected me. Unceremoniously. I may have accused a gentleman of being a fraud. Or perhaps I’ve quoted Dr. Brown too passionately. It’s… It’s hard to say, honestly.
📞 You
Kim. Focus. What did you learn?
📞 Kim
They do not agree on who he is. But they agree on something else. Time. They all circle back to time. Five minutes in Mitre Square. Quarter-hour patrol. He is patient and he watches. He learns routine. What a remarkable man.
And something else. They are ready to riot. One more spark, foreign blame or police suspicion, and the streets ignite. If he desired chaos… He need only continue.
💭 Did she forget that the last victim has been killed? Does she still know it’s actually 2026?
📞 Kim
I sent notes. Before… before the third gin became imperial. Check Secrets Hall.
📲 Text to Mr. Sterces
Did you find new documents? Of December 1st, 1888?
5.35 a.m.
📲 Text from Mr. Sterces
No?
5.36 a.m.
Oh! I have! There are indeed newly indexed documents dated December 1st, 1888.
5.36 a.m.
This is… deeply troubling. And terribly unreadable. It’s a handwritten note. But I can’t process it. I believe it’s about the patrol time of the Mitre Square. And she tried to sketch Mitre Square but that looks like a toddler made a drawing of a playground. And she has written down her observations. But… It starts serious and ends up her describing a very goodlooking dockworker. This doesn’t have any value, traveler.
5.36 a.m.
📞 You
Kim. You did good. But you need shelter.
📞 You
Shelter… yes. That would be prudent. The present… feels further away tonight. Gaslight makes one forget electricity. I almost forgot. Almost.
It is very cold.
📲 Text to Mr. Sterces
She is drunk and outside.
5.37 a.m.
Can we help her?
5.38 a.m.
📲 Text from Mr. Sterces
I strongly object to this reckless conduct.
5.40 a.m.
This is no longer merely academic interference.
5.40 a.m.
She is physically endangered.
5.40 a.m.
You must stabilize her immediately.
5.40 a.m.
📲 Text to Mr. Sterces
Do it.
5.40 a.m.
Transfer enough for respectable lodging.
5.41 a.m.
📲 Text from Mr. Sterces
Already paid? That’s strange. Ledger says prepaid under estate credit.
5.41 a.m.
£5 registered to the 1888 estate ledger.
5.37 a.m.
If this succeeds, it confirms bidirectional temporal permeability.
5.41 a.m.
I cannot believe I just typed that sentence.
5.41 a.m.
📞 Kim to you
Shelter… yes. That would be prudent. The present… feels further away tonight. Gaslight makes one forget electricity. I almost forgot. Almost.
📞 You
Go in!
📞 Innkeeper
Room’s five pounds.
📞 Innkeeper
Already paid? That’s strange. Ledger says prepaid under estate credit.
📞 Kim to you
You see? We are not merely observers. We are… interveners.
He studies time. So must we. He calculates windows. So must we. Mitre Square was not luck. It was measurement.
Do not let me become of this century. If I begin to belong here… Pull me back. Promise me that.
📞 You
I promise
📲 Text to Mr. Sterces
It worked!
6.03 a.m.
📲 Text from Mr. Sterces
She is safe for the evening.
6:03 a.m.
I dislike this profoundly.
6:03 a.m.
The longer she remains, the more the century will claim her.
6:03 a.m.
And I fear she may not resist it.
6:03 a.m.
📞 Call Disconnects
📞Bartender
Would you like to order?
📞 Kim to you
Milk please.
📞Bartender
Coming right up.
📞 Man 2
What brings a fine lady like you to Alice?
📞 Kim
My husband has business in town. We have a lodge close by. I wanted to get out for a bit.
📞 Man 2
Husband? Right.
📞 Kim
You mentioned something about the girls?
📞 You
We don’t talk about that here. Why don’t we talk about much more pleasant topics?
📞 Kim to you
If you’re discouraging questions because you’re protecting someone, that makes you part of the problem.
📞 You
That’s enough. Get out!
📞 Kim to you
Shit. That was not fun. I’m at the door now. I can’t hear anything. But I’m sure we have heard enough.
📞 You
I think we do.
📞 Kim to you
People are suspisious of everything; doctors, foreigners and even the police. We need to dive deeper.
📞 You
What stands out to you?
📞 Kim to you
Three recurring elements: First: the organ removals. They see it as skilled, deliberate, educated. Second: The five-minute window. They believe it required calculation. Third: The lack of interruption. Either luck… or inside knowledge of patrol routes. But they contradict themselves constantly. Doctor. Foreigner. Slaughterman. Policeman. Each theory reflects who they fear most.
📞Bartender
He looked ordinary.
📞Man 2
You saw him?
📞Bartender
No. But monsters don’t look like monsters.
📞 Kim to you
That… That is such a good statement.
📞 You
So what now?
📞 Kim to you
We have unofficial belief: medically skilled. Possibly foreign. Possibly familiar with patrol timing. All speculation. I have to think. We need to go to the second murder location of that night. Maybe it will bring more clues. I will call you soon. I need to lay down. My migraines increase.
📞 You
Kim?
📞 Kim to you
Yes, darling?
📞 You
Don’t get yourself into danger like this anymore.
📞 Kim to you
I must find the truth…
📞 Call Disconnects