8 December 1888
Night
Corrupt Police Theory
🔔 You chose The Corrupt Police Theory
💭 Kim cannot walk into a police station. If they take her name… If they write anything down… If they arrest her even briefly… She never leaves 1888. So the police are not an option. But the police have families. And families have doors.
📞 Kim to you
I’m outside the house. Gas lamps. Curtains drawn. Quiet street. The sort of quiet that respectable neighborhoods like to pretend protects them from the rest of London.
📞 You
Whose house?
📞 Kim to you
Chief Inspector Donald Swanson. One of the men leading the investigation.
Too late for careful.
📞 Kim
Good evening. Mrs. Swanson, I presume.
📞 Mrs. Swanson
Yes…?
📞 Kim
We need to speak. Now.
📞 Mrs. Swanson
My husband handles official matters at Scotland Yard.
📞 Kim
Yes. Which is exactly why I am here.
📞 Mrs. Swanson
Then you should speak with him tomorrow.
📞 Kim
No. I should speak with you tonight. Because if I speak with him tomorrow… it will not be a conversation.
📞 You
Kim… what are you doing?
📞 Kim to you
Bluffing. Watch this.
📞 Kim
Mrs. Swanson, I am here on behalf of people who are very interested in how the Whitechapel investigation is being handled. People who are… extremely close to the Crown.
📞 Mrs. Swanson
I don’t know what you think you’re doing.
📞 Kim
If the Crown becomes concerned that Scotland Yard is mishandling the investigation… careers end. Quietly. Suddenly. And sometimes families follow.
📞 You
Kim…
📞 Kim to you
She doesn’t know I’m lying.
📞 Mrs. Swanson
You cannot simply arrive at my door and make accusations…
📞 Kim
Five women have been butchered in your city. Your husband is responsible for catching the man who did it. And yet every newspaper in London describes confusion, lost witnesses, and officers chasing shadows.
📞 Mrs. Swanson
You have no authority here.
📞 Kim
Are you certain?
📞 You
Kim… you’re pushing too far.
📞 Kim
So here is what will happen. You will tell me what your husband has said about the investigation. And I will leave. Quietly.
📞 You
And if I refuse?
📞 Kim
Then tomorrow morning I will send a letter to the Palace describing the remarkable lack of progress Scotland Yard has made while women are being slaughtered in the streets. And I will include your husband’s name. Prominently.
📞 You
Kim… stop.
📞 Mrs. Swanson
Come inside. Quickly.
📞 Kim to you
God that was reckless.
📞 Mrs. Swanson
You have five minutes. My husband will return soon.
📞 Kim
Then let’s not waste them.
Is Scotland Yard hiding anything about these murders?
📞 Mrs. Swanson
The police cannot release every detail to the public. There would be panic.
📞 Kim
That’s not what I asked.
📞 Mrs. Swanson
There are things… the newspapers do not know.
📞 Kim
Such as?
📞 Mrs. Swanson
Witnesses contradict each other constantly. Some describe a gentleman. Others a laborer. Others say the man looked foreign. My husband says they cannot even agree on the killer’s height.
📞 Kim to you
That part is real. Conflicting witness descriptions. The investigation is drowning in them.
📞 Kim
Is it true the police forces are arguing?
📞 Mrs. Swanson
Yes. Metropolitan Police and City Police. Different jurisdictions. Different officers. They argue about responsibility.
📞 Kim
While the killer continues.
📞 Mrs. Swanson
My husband hates it. But he cannot control the entire system.
📞 Kim
Has anyone inside the police been suspected?
Answer the question.
📞 Mrs. Swanson
There was a witness. Once.
📞 Kim
Go on.
📞 Mrs. Swanson
A man was seen near one of the crime scenes shortly before the body was discovered. The witness said he wore a coat like a constable. And a hat similar to a police helmet.
📞 Kim to you
That never reached the newspapers.
📞 Kim
Was he identified?
📞 Mrs. Swanson
No. It could have been anyone. An officer passing through. Or someone wearing similar clothes.
📞 Kim
But the police kept it quiet.
📞 Mrs. Swanson
If the public believed a policeman might be involved…
📞 Kim
There would be riots.
📞 Mrs. Swanson
Exactly.
📞 Inspector Swanson
Darling?
📞 Mrs. Swanson
Oh God. He’s home.
📞 Kim to you
Running.
📞 Inspector Swanson
Was someone here?
📞 Mrs. Swanson
Just a neighbor asking about the time!
📞 Kim to you
I’m outside. Walking fast. Trying not to look like someone who just threatened a police inspector’s wife.
📞 You
You scared me back there.
📞 Kim to you
You should be. I scared myself.
📞 You
Did it work?
📞 Kim to you
Yes. And now we know three things.
The investigation is divided between police forces that barely cooperate. Witness descriptions contradict each other constantly. And at least once… someone near a murder scene looked like a police officer.
That doesn’t prove corruption. But it proves something else.
📞 You
What?
📞 Kim
The police are deciding what the public is allowed to know. And what they are not. Which means the truth might already exist. Somewhere inside Scotland Yard. And we’re not supposed to see it.
📞 You
What now?
📞 Kim
Now I’m going to finish it
💭 What a weird ending. It’s certain that Kim has lost all thinking capacity and is on full survival mode at this point. You wonder when she will call again. If she calls again. She might not. That thought haunts you. What did she mean with ‘Now I’m going to finish it’? What is she going to do? You must go to Secrets Hall to communicate with Mr. Sterces.
📞 Call Disconnects
