The Night of the Ripper - читать бесплатно онлайн полную версию книги автора Robert Bloch (~ FIVE ~) #5

~ FIVE ~

Assyria, 850 B.C. King Ashurnasirpal declared, “All the chiefs who revolted against me I flayed alive. With their skins I covered the pillars. These warriors who had sinned against me — from their hostile mouths I tore their tongues and I have compassed their destruction. As for the others, who remain alive, their lacerated members I have given to the dogs, the swine, the wolves.”

Mark was still staring at the door through which Eva had made her exit when it reopened abruptly and Dr. Trebor came into the room.

“There you are,” he said. “I was hoping to find you here. Is the lecture over?”

“No. I stepped out for a moment to speak with Miss Sloane.”

“Ah yes — I saw her passing by in the hall just now. Bright girl, Eva. She should make an excellent nurse.” Trebor smiled. “But I take it your interest isn’t necessarily professional.”

“Not entirely.” Mark avoided the doctor’s inquisitive eyes.

“Well, no matter,” Trebor said. “There’s something I’d like to discuss with you. I’ve just come from seeing a friend of yours — Martha Tabram, or Turner, as she calls herself.”

“Who?”

“The woman who offered you the privilege of her person the other evening at the Angel and Crown.”

Mark paled. “You spoke to her?”

“Hardly that. Despite the claims of spiritualists, there is no way to communicate with the dead.”

“Dead?”

Trebor nodded. “Murdered. I’ve just come from the inquest. She was stabbed — thirty-three times.”