The Murders that Bind Us [S. Sakamaki]

Detective Sakamaki

"Sorry, Detective, we already put them bodies in the ground." Shrugged the Undertaker who removed his tall, top hat, placing it on top of a very realistic-looking skull. "Unless yer willin' to dig 'em up - which ye'd get arrested fer." He shrugged, leaning back in his wooden chair, prepping his feet upon his desk. His shoes were awfully clean.

"Do you not have any photos of obscenities?" Jessamine asked, tightening her grip on her cane which the man eyed with gleaming eyes.

"Nah, not me job, too much money anyway." The Undertaker grinned an eerie grin. He was missing three front teeth. "Why? What're ye lookin' fer?"

"Needle-like pricks in the skin," replied the detective, fishing a poor photograph from her pocket. "Like this."

Glistening green eyes focussed on the dark image as his pale gloved hands snatched it from Jessamine's hands. He stared at it for a while, pursing his thin lips in thought. "A penny fer me thoughts, Detective." Jessamine scowled but flicked a coin his way which he caught elegantly. "Not on any of the bodies I've seen, though all of 'em had weird marks."

"How do you mean?" His eyebrow raised and another coin was tossed his way.

"Well the first one had claw marks down 'er back."

"Yes, I knew that." They'd been obvious through the cuts in her dress.

"Second one had a nasty bite on 'er hip, infected 'n all, smelt nasty."

"What did this bite look like?" They'd found the second body half-drowned in a water barrel. Another gleaming look, another coin tossed.

"Bigger than a human jaw, but other than that it looked pretty human - dunno how it'd get so infected though. Was a pain to clean."

"Have you any idea what might have caused the infection?" His eyes met hers and she tossed yet another coin, clenching her jaw tight.

"Found a tooth in it," he said, "ye can have it fer a small price of-" Another coin was tossed. "Brillant, follow me, good Sir!"

Jessamine's jaw tightened as the short man stood, his hair long and tied back into a silver ponytail. She kept her eyes trained on his hands as he pushed open the purple curtain leading to the back of the shop. "'pologies bout the mess," The Undertaker gestured to the naked body laying atop the steel table. The woman said nothing as he grabbed a small, crooked ladder, climbing it to reach the top of a dusty shelf and pulling a glass jar off.

"Here we go," he held the jar out for Jessamine to take, dusting his hands off as the woman held the jar close to her face. "Have fun with that I s'pose, will ye be needin' anythin' else, Sir?"

"No. Thank you." Jessamine slid the jar into the briefcase she'd beene carrying, bowing her head respectfully to the man.

The streets of London were uncanny to walk around whilst unaccompanied, but Jessamine had never been frightened. She kept one hand in her pocket, the other clutching her golden crow's head as she limped past the Church and through the towering, iron gates to the graveyard.

Arthur Clarke had only been a boy when he had died. He'd been with Magdelaine who'd been pulling a 'not dangerous' stunt near the Mayor's office. The explosion had killed him.

Jessamine had grown a strong hatred towards the older woman whom she looked like so much; her father hadn't.

Arthur's gravestone was clean and smooth with his name carved perfectly inside it. Jessamine dipped her head, walking straight past it as she headed towards Alyssia Rodd's grave. All graves belonging to Women of the Night and 'Nuisances' (those a part of the suffragette movement) had been stored, nearly hidden, in the back of the graveyard.