Murder on the Short List

Razor Bill

Constable Thackeray gripped his skirt and managed a few more steps towards the next lamp. Then he tried glancing over his shoulder, as women of that profession do. Difficult. He was wearing a leather collar that was meant to protect his throat. This was the most worrying assignment of his long career.

“It’s simple,” Sergeant Cribb had told him. “You’re a decoy. We dress you up as a streetwalker, fit you with a padded leather choker and invite Razor Bill to slash your throat.” Regardless that Thackeray looked nothing like a streetwalker and anything but inviting. “In a bonnet and skirt on a foggy night, you’ll do famously. Our man isn’t too particular.”

In that harsh winter of 1882, Razor Bill was the Yard’s top priority. Four prostitutes had perished on the streets of Pimlico, throats severed from ear to ear. Not much detective work was needed to tell that the murder weapon was a razor; not much editorial work from the press to give the perpetrator his nickname. Newspaper sales shot up.

Thackeray sniffed meat-pie as he passed an eating-house. No use thinking of supper. He was under constant surveillance by Cribb and a handful of B Division detectives disguised as revellers across the street. The minute the attack came, they would pounce, so they said. All he had to do was grab some part of Bill’s anatomy and hang on.

Hang on with what? He could barely feel his fingers. He was hungry, cold and miserable. Cribb had insisted his beard came off — five years’ magnificent growth. “What are you griping for? It’ll grow again.”

Worse, they’d got to work on his pale face with paint and powder. In the end he’d submitted to the whole boiling: petticoats, skirt, blouse, boots, feather boa, wig and a large plush hat. His first concern wasn’t Razor Bill. It was being recognised by someone he knew.

Around two p.m. Chelsea Bridge Road started to empty. All the activity of the last hour dwindled to an occasional cab. This was when Bill was most likely to strike. One unfortunate creature in Lupus Street. One in Turpentine Lane, behind the railway depot. Another where Denbigh Street crossed Belgrave Road. The fourth in Buckingham Palace Road. No witnesses. Someone said they’d heard a scream in Lupus Street. Nothing exceptional in that.

“One moment, young lady.”

As yet, Thackeray hadn’t fully identified with his role, so this enquiry from behind passed him by.

“Young lady.” The voice was closer this time, and insistent.

He turned. Too quickly. His shaven chin rasped against the collar.

The speaker was male, average in height, wearing a top hat and long grey overcoat. His black beard was almost as handsome as the one Thackeray had sacrificed. “Are you looking for company?”

Oh, glory, Thackeray thought. A genuine client.

“Don’t be shy of me, my dear.” The accent was educated, the tone kindly.

Thackeray shook his head and pointed into his mouth as if to show his throat was sore.

“Have I made a mistake?” the man asked. “I assumed — seeing you out on the street so late — that you are here for a purpose. That — not to put too fine a point upon it — you are a lady of the town.”

Thackeray shook his head and tried to move away, but the man stepped closer.

“There’s no need to be afraid, my dear.” With a ceremonious air he slid his hand under the beard and revealed that he, too, was wearing a high collar, except that his was clerical. “You see? I am a minister of the gospel, the Reverend Eli Mountjoy, on a mission of salvation to rescue poor, deluded creatures like yourself from the toils of sin. I urge you now to forsake the path of wickedness and accompany me to the Terminus Wash-house in Lupus Street, where my devoted wife Lettice is waiting to plunge you into clean, warm water and wrap you in a blanket.”

“No thank you,” Thackeray said, appalled at the thought. “And after that we shall share a bowl of reviving eel-broth and speak of how you may be saved.”

“I’m not what you take me for.”

“How often have I heard the same denial from unfortunate women like you,” the Reverend Mountjoy said. “The key to the Kingdom has to be earned, you know. You must first admit what you are.”

“I’m a policeman in disguise.”

The minister felt in his pocket and put on a pair of spectacles. “Did I hear correctly? A policeman?”

“Keep your voice down, for pity’s sake,” Thackeray said.

The tone altered abruptly. “I thought there was something peculiar about you. What’s the matter with you, dressing up as a tart?”

“I’m on the trail of Razor Bill.”

“Oh, yes?”

“The killer. You must have heard of him. It’s supposed to be a trap.”

After a pause, the minister said, “The best of luck to you, then. I’ll be about my business.” He was soon out of sight.

Thackeray glanced across the street to where Cribb was supposed to be. If Eli Mountjoy had been the killer — and he could have been for all Cribb knew — the speed of the response had not been encouraging. Some people were over there for sure, but they hailed a cab and got in. It all seemed worryingly quiet now. A mist was coming off the river. The dampness increased Thackeray’s discomfort. He decided to walk on a bit, swinging his hips in the spirit of the Police Code. ‘It is highly undesirable for detectives to proclaim their official character to strangers by walking in a drilled style, or by wearing regulation boots, or by openly recognising constables in uniform, or saluting superior officers.’ No one would accuse him of walking in a drilled style. He’d already fooled the Reverend Mountjoy.

The hip-swinging became a touch less energetic when Chelsea Barracks came up on his right. It wouldn’t be wise to over-excite the army. In fact, he didn’t care to pass the barracks at all, so he turned up Commercial Road. Almost immediately he heard footsteps behind him.

They were steady and heavy. Male, for sure. His skin prickled. He resisted the urge to look round. With the collar strapped so tight, it would have required a complete about turn. He walked faster, trying to make the next lamp-post so as to be more visible to the rescue squad. How he wished he’d stuffed a truncheon up his bodice. “You’ll have surprise on your side,” Cribb had said. Thanks a lot, Sarge, Thackeray thought. And which would you rather have on your side — surprise, or an open razor?

The steps quickened.

They were closer.

He felt a tug on his waist, but it wasn’t from his pursuer. He’d stepped on the hem of the skirt and the whole thing tightened. Thrown off balance, he lurched forward. Trying to recover, he planted the other boot on the skirt. He sank to his knees like a shot stag.

The sensation of helplessness was horrible. Hampered already by the steel collar, he was dragged further down by the clothes. He struggled against them, hoping the material would give a little, but the weave was too strong and he pitched over and rolled on his back.

Before he had time to sit up, the attacker was on him, a hand thrust against his shoulder, pinning him to the pavement, strong, vicious, bent on the kill. He couldn’t see who it was. There was just the gleam of the blade as it slashed downwards.

He had the sense to grab the arm with both hands just as the razor sliced open his collar. Thank heaven for the wad of stuffing inside. He held onto that arm, tugged it across his body and crashed the hand against the pavement. There was a yell. The razor slid away and out of reach.

Now Thackeray used surprise to more effect, rolling sideways onto the arm that had held the razor. The move caught Razor Bill off guard and toppled him sideways. Thackeray raised a knee and heard a grunt of pain as it made contact with the man’s most vulnerable area. Legs flailed and the body arched, but Thackeray wasn’t distracted. He’d done some wrestling in his time. That was what this was about now: all-in wrestling. He hung onto that arm, pressing down on it with his body weight.

Razor Bill struggled like an alligator, but Thackeray gritted his teeth and held on.

Thoughts tumbled into his brain. Where was Cribb?

He shouted, “Sarge!”

The only response was from Razor Bill: a vicious kick in the kidneys, followed by another. Thackeray groaned. He shifted his hip, backing hard against Bill’s chest and stomach.

Bill’s free hand groped at Thackeray’s face and clawed his cheek, missing his eye by a fraction. This couldn’t go on.

Thackeray yelled, “Police!”

They’re never around when you need them. Bill cracked his fist into Thackeray’s ribs. This was a strong man.

“Sarge!”

“The minute he strikes, we’ll pounce.”

That vicious left hand came exploring his face again. This time he bit into the fleshy part and heard a screech.

Encouraged, Thackeray said, “Better give up, mate. You’re nicked.”

For that, he took a knee in the small of his back.

Then he was grabbed and rolled aside. There was shouting. Hands grasped his arms and lifted him. Finally the reinforcements had arrived.

Razor Bill was formally arrested and cuffed. He said nothing.

“You all right?” Cribb asked Thackeray.

“A bit sore.”

“Could be so much worse, though. Smart of me to think of the collar, wasn’t it?”

When they tried to interview the prisoner at Chelsea police station, there was a snag. He refused to speak. Wouldn’t even give his name.

Big and swarthy, with the coldest eyes Cribb had seen, he sat staring back like a caged bear.

“It won’t help you, saying nothing,” Cribb told the man. “You were caught red-handed. We picked up the open razor. You attacked one of my men, mistakenly taking him for a streetwalker. You might as well sing now, and save us all a long night.”

They’d searched him thoroughly. He carried no papers, no pocketbook, nothing. His clothes were those of a working man. His hands had done manual work.

“You’ll be hungry by now,” Cribb said. “Speak up and we’ll feed you a hot meal.”

Not a glimmer of interest.

“I’m beginning to think he’s stone deaf.”

“Or a foreigner,” Thackeray said.

“You could be right. He was yelling a bit when you were on the ground with him. What was he saying?”

“Nothing I remember, Sarge.”

“Weren’t you paying attention? What were you doing?”

“Fighting for my bloody life.”

“There’s no need for coarseness. Fetch Inspector Jowett. He speaks some French. He’ll enjoy showing off to us.”

But Jowett, when he tried, made no impression, despite employing all the animated gestures of a Frenchman. “Are you certain this is Razor Bill?” he said to Cribb.

“I’d put my last shilling on it, sir. He attacked Thackeray with a razor — Thackeray being artfully disguised as a woman of the street. He does a very good impersonation of a woman, does Thackeray.”

“Indeed.” Jowett glanced at Thackeray, seeing him in a whole new light, and took a step away. “Well, your prisoner is no Frenchman. Of that I’m sure. You’d better bring in an interpreter.”

“No gratitude,” Cribb said after Jowett had left the room. “All of London was living in fear of this monster and what thanks do I get for nabbing him? Not a squeak.”

“I know exactly how you feel, Sarge,” Thackeray said.

The papers were full of the arrest next morning. “An unidentified detective posed as a woman of the unfortunate class,” the Morning Chronicle stated, “and was set upon by the murderer with an open razor. Thanks to the foresight of Inspector Jowett of the Criminal Investigation Department, the officer concerned was wearing a protective leather collar and succeeded in detaining his assailant and calling for assistance from his colleagues nearby. The arrest was effected immediately.”

“‘... the foresight of Inspector Jowett?’” Cribb said, flinging the paper aside. “He didn’t even know about this plan of mine.”

“Ah, but he knows how to tell a good story to the newspapers,” Thackeray said.

“Most of it untrue.”

“Well, yes. It didn’t seem to me like an immediate arrest.”

Cribb ignored this dig. He had too much else to deal with. “The interpreter is coming in at noon. Claims to speak nine languages.”

“That ought to be enough,” Thackeray said. “How many languages are there?”

“More than that.”

“London’s full of Poles and Russians. He looks like a Russian to me.”

Towards the end of the morning a gentleman in a top hat arrived and asked to speak to the officer who had arrested Razor Bill.

“Right, sir. You’ll be the interpreter, I dare say,” the desk sergeant said.

“No, sir, I am not. I am the Reverend Eli Mountjoy.”

“Might I inquire what you’re here for?”

“That officer.” The Reverend Mountjoy pointed a finger at Thackeray, who was on his way to an early lunch. “He’s the one I came to see.”

“Right, your reverence.” The desk sergeant beckoned to Thackeray with a curled finger.

There was no escape. Thackeray ushered Eli Mountjoy into a room where they wouldn’t be overheard.

“You look almost normal without your face painted,” the minister said. “I saw in The Times that you arrested a man last night.”

“That’s right, sir.”

“Are you sure he’s the murderer?”

“Well, he did his best to cut my throat,” Thackeray said.

“Who is he?”

“That’s something I can’t reveal, sir.”

“Can’t, or won’t?”

“Both, sir. He’s not speaking to us.”

“Perhaps I can be of assistance. Through my missionary work on the streets I come across many of the local ne’er-do-wells. Would you like me to take a look at him?”

Thackeray pondered for a moment, scratching his chin. “I suppose it would do no harm.”

The interpreter hadn’t yet arrived, so he took Eli Mountjoy downstairs and slid open the Judas hole of Razor Bill’s cell door.

“That’s Vladimir,” Mountjoy said at once. “He’s a Russian.”

Thackeray smiled to himself. “I thought so. You know him, then?”

“By sight. He doesn’t talk. Can’t understand us, I suppose. Well, there’s a thing. I’d never have thought of Vladimir as a murderer.”

“We’ve got an interpreter coming in. We’ll find out what he’s got to say for himself if he isn’t completely mad.”

“Let’s hope he isn’t,” Mountjoy said. “It would be so encouraging if he asks his Maker for forgiveness before you hang him. How many women did he kill?”

“We know of four.” Thackeray slid the cover over the slot in the door. “Would you happen to know his second name?” Mountjoy shook his head. “People call him Vladimir, or Vlad. That’s all I can tell you. Four, you say. Is that certain?”

“Four corpses, all with their throats cut.”

“That’s beyond dispute.” He stroked his beard thought-fully. “I expect you’ll make sure.”

Thackeray frowned. “Make sure of what, sir?”

“That he killed all four.”

“Is there any doubt?”

“I suppose not. I was reflecting that if — for the sake of argument — he was responsible for only three of the murders, and he refused to speak, or is mad, you might never find out who carried out the fourth.”

Thackeray thought about that for some time. “It’s pretty far-fetched, isn’t it? There isn’t much chance of two evil people cutting women’s throats in Pimlico at the same time of year.”

“I have to concede that it is. Pretty far-fetched.” On the way upstairs, Mountjoy said, “They’ll all flood back onto the streets now, all those women who were too frightened to parade themselves while Razor Bill was about. He did more to clean up the streets of Pimlico than you or I.”

“That’s another way of looking at it,” Thackeray said. He was pleased when the Reverend Eli Mountjoy raised his hat and left. The man made him feel uncomfortable.

Cribb was decent enough to congratulate Thackeray on finding out that Razor Bill was a Russian called Vladimir. He said the interpreter had made no headway at all. “He tried all of his nine languages. The only response he got was when Bill spat on his shoes.”

“But we have got the right man, sarge?”

“I’m sure we’ve got the right man.”

“Is he mad?”

“No, I’ve come to the conclusion that he’s clever. He was caught in the act, so he’s got no way of talking himself out of it. By saying nothing, he opens a chink of doubt. But we know something he doesn’t.”

“What’s that?”

“He doesn’t know we know he’s a Russian called Vladimir.”

“Speaking of a chink of doubt, sarge, there was something the reverend said that made me uneasy.” Thackeray explained about Eli Mountjoy’s suggestion that someone else might have carried out one of the murders.

Cribb was intrigued. “Did he have a reason for this theory?”

“No.”

“It’s a strange thing to suggest.”

“He did say something about the women being too scared to walk the streets while Bill was at large. He said they’d all come back to Pimlico now.”

“He’s right about that. I think I’d better meet your clergyman. What’s his address?”

Thackeray had to admit he hadn’t enquired.

“No matter,” Cribb said. “He’s a local. We’ll find him.”

The same evening they called at the Terminus Wash-house in Lupus Street and met Mrs Lettice Mountjoy. She was sitting inside the entrance with a pile of folded towels on a table beside her. There was also a large urn of soup simmering over a paraffin burner. She was about forty-five, slim, with a lined face. She was wearing a white pinafore over a black dress.

“Is this where the sins are washed clean?” Cribb asked.

“Ladies only, I’m afraid,” Mrs Mountjoy said.

“Gentlemen sinners need not apply?”

“It’s the rules,” she said without a smile. “The mission hires the bath from ten o’clock until two. We aren’t permitted mixed use.”

“I understand,” Cribb said. “You are Mrs Lettice Mountjoy? We’re police, wanting a word with your husband.”

“Oh, dear.”

He held up his hand. “It’s all right. He’s been helping us over these murders. He’s a public-spirited man, your husband.”

“He’s more than that,” she said with animation. “He’s a saviour.”

“And are they saved for good, or do they go back on the streets after the bath and the soup?”

She looked upset by the suggestion. “It’s permanent in almost every case. He’s very persuasive.”

“And let’s not underestimate your part in the process. Has he brought any in tonight?”

“Not yet, but he will.”

“We’ll wait, then. He’s on the streets every night, is he?”

“Except Sundays.”

“So in the past three weeks, when these horrible murders were happening, he’s carried on as usual, out every night saving souls?”

“There were three days last week, Monday to Wednesday, when he was unable to do it. He was suffering from a bad cough.”

“So he spent those nights at home inhaling friar’s balsam?”

“He was at home, yes.”

Tuesday was the night the fourth victim, Mary Smith, had been killed in Buckingham Palace Road.

There was not long to wait. Out of the mist came a hansom cab, and from it stepped the Reverend Mountjoy looking so worthy of his calling that a halo wouldn’t have been out of place. He helped down a young woman heavily rouged and in a fur jacket. His wife greeted her charitably and handed her a bar of carbolic soap and a clean towel and took her into the bath-house.

Cribb introduced himself. “I want to clarify something you said to Constable Thackeray here.”

“By all means.”

“You suggested someone other than Razor Bill might have carried out the fourth murder.”

“I floated the possibility, no more,” Mountjoy said. “It seemed to me that if some person were disposed to kill one of these unfortunate women, they might adopt the same modus operandi as the murderer in the expectation that Razor Bill would be blamed for the crime.”

“It’s an ingenious idea,” Cribb said. “Do you have any reason for believing it happened?”

He hesitated. “Nothing tangible.”

“As a religious man, you’d owe it to the One Above to tell me everything, wouldn’t you?”

Now the Reverend Mountjoy coloured deeply. “It’s no more than a theory, sergeant. I’m a pastor, not a policeman.”

“Did you know any of these unfortunate women who were killed?”

“Only one. The latest.”

Thackeray said, “Strike a light!”

“Don’t misunderstand me. I didn’t know her as, em—”

“In the Old Testament sense?” Cribb said.

“Gracious, no. I knew her at arm’s length, as a sinner I tried to save. Some, unhappily, will not be persuaded whatever I say. Some, a few, give promise of redemption and then back-slide.”

“They take the bath and the clean towel without meaning to reform?”

“Who can say what they truly intend?”

“Was the fourth victim, Mary Smith, a back-slider?”

“Regrettably, yes.”

“That must be a savage blow.”

“A kick in the teeth,” Thackeray added.

“But I wouldn’t have wished her to suffer, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“Far from it, sir. To change the subject, I was wondering if my constable and I might be permitted a look inside the bath-house.”

“Absolutely not,” Mountjoy said in a shocked tone. “That young woman will be in a state of nature by now.”

“I wouldn’t trouble yourself about that,” Cribb said. “In her profession she’s used to being seen by all and sundry.”

“It would be improper.”

Cribb smiled. “It’s our immortal souls you’re concerned about, isn’t it?”

He spread his hands. “You are God’s creatures, too. If you must see inside — and I can’t understand why it’s necessary — you can come back at two after midnight, when we leave the premises.”

“As you wish.”

They watched Eli Mountjoy climb into the waiting cab for another rescue mission.

“We can just walk in,” Thackeray said.

“No, we’ll play his game,” Cribb said. “Let’s find somewhere to eat. I don’t like the smell of this soup.”

They returned at two, when the streets were more quiet. The Reverend Mountjoy was waiting while his wife washed the soup bowls.

“How many did you save tonight?” Cribb asked.

“Three, if the Lord pleases.”

“Good going. Can we look inside now?”

“Certainly. There’s no one in there.”

Cribb insisted that the couple came in with them, so Mountjoy led the way and turned up the gas for a proper view of the interior. The air was still steamy, and wasn’t the sweetest to inhale. To the left was a row of wash basins, each with a simple mirror over it. Opposite were the bathrooms. Cribb glanced inside the one that had been used for the mission and immediately turned away. The wash basins interested him more.

“It brings it all back,” he said. “When I started out in the police, I lived in a section-house without running water. Used a wash-house like this as a daily practice. Penny a wash and shave, twopence for a second-class bath, which was a once-a-week treat.”

“Have you seen enough?” Mountjoy asked, impatient with the reminiscing.

“Not quite. I’m picturing this place in the morning, full of working men standing at the basins shaving. Do you own a razor, sir? No, you wouldn’t, with such a fine beaver as yours. For a clean-shaven man like me, a razor is an everyday object. I keep mine beside the kitchen sink at home. But in those days I’d leave it in the wash-house after my shave, tucking it out of sight above the basin. There were ventilation windows over the mirrors just like these.” He reached up and ran his hand along the ledge under the window. “Dusty.”

“It would be.”

“What do you know?” Cribb said. “Someone else has the same idea.” He took down a razor from the ledge.”

“There’s nothing remarkable in that,” Mountjoy said. “You’d find others up there, I’m sure.”

“Yes, I’m not saying this is the murder weapon. I’m just satisfying myself that a razor could be acquired by anyone using this wash-house on a regular basis.”

“Razor Bill, you mean?”

“No, I was thinking of the killer of Mary Smith. That murder has been troubling your conscience, hasn’t it?”

“I didn’t do it.”

“No, sir, I’m not suggesting you did, but you have a suspicion who did, which is why you came to see us. You’ve noticed things at home, heard things said, perhaps. You don’t know for sure, but you have a horrible suspicion Mary Smith was killed by your own wife Lettice. Hold her, Thackeray.”

Lettice Mountjoy had already made a move for the door. Thackeray grabbed her by the wrist and hauled her back.

Cribb switched his words to her. “You’re the one who works inside the wash-house. You’re the one with access to the razors.”

Thackeray, a strong man, had to struggle to hold her. This devoted woman, the gentle soul who welcomed fallen women to the mission, was abruptly transformed into a virago. “Yes,” she said with chilling ferocity, “I killed Mary. The night he was at home I collected a razor from here and went looking for her. He told me he feared she’d gone back on the streets, and she had. She didn’t deserve to live after the chance of redemption he gave her, after the solemn promise she gave him. He’s a saintly man. These feckless sluts hold his happiness in their hands, and this one betrayed him. I’m not sorry.”

Mountjoy had covered his face and was sobbing.

“You did the right thing, reverend, passing on your suspicions,” Cribb said, as Thackeray handcuffed Lettice Mountjoy and led her outside. “It could have happened a second time.”

“But I blame myself. She acted out of loyalty to me.”

Towards dawn, when statements had been made, and a long spell of duty was coming to an end, Thackeray said to Cribb, “Was the Reverend right, Sarge, about the motive? Was it loyalty that drove her to kill that woman?”

“Loyalty, my foot. She was jealous. Didn’t you hear what she called them — ‘feckless sluts’? There her own husband was, saving all these woman’s souls and taking her for granted. All right if they reformed, but heaven help them if they didn’t. Makes you grateful for the job we’re in.”

“Why is that, Sarge?”

“Our wives never know what we get up to.”

Thackeray observed a philosophic silence. Cribb didn’t need to know what Mrs Thackeray had said about the clean-shaven chin and the rouge on the pillow.