Spring Heeled Jack - Chapter Excerpt Prologue All was quite on the empty London street save for the incessant fluttering of moths around incandescing street lamps. It was the middle of autumn and the summer flourish of leaves had now fallen to the ground leaving nothing but empty forked branches casting shadows over the road. Only a few streets away from the very one in question sat two people in the backseat of a speeding taxi, the elements of this young couples evening up until this point had been very much run-of-mill. Activities began with a trip to cinema followed by dinner at an Italian restaurant, it was then that they had decided to take a taxi and continue the evening at the young gentleman’s home. “I’m so glad you invited me out tonight,” remarked the girl, staring into the expectant eyes of her love. “And I am so glad you came,” he replied, his hand gingerly holding hers, “I had such a wonderful evening.” The two stared at each other for what could have been minutes, savoring what would be a pinnacle moment in their blossoming #life. The couple were oblivious to the jolting movement as the taxi briskly turned corner after corner, content in their own private world consisting of nothing but long gazes and smiles. Suddenly, the serene beauty of the moment came to a halt as the taxi itself attempted to do the same. The young couple turned in unison to look out the front window of the vehicle and establish what could have caused such a cataclysmic intermission. For a split second both caught site of someone standing in the middle of the road in front of the car, someone who appeared like nothing they had seen before. In the days to come they would remember little of that split second except for one specific detail; the eyes of the whatever had stood in there way were as bright and as yellow as the sun. The next thing they knew the taxi had taken a sharp left turn in order to avoid a collision, a measure which proved misjudged as it went head-first into a concrete bus shelter at the side of the road. As the car hit the object mentioned it careened onto its side, ricocheted back into the road and continued to skid across the tarmac until it eventually came to a screeching halt. As the almost conscious driver looked up from his position in the wreckage he attempted to rotate himself in order to view the location where he believed the figure had emerged. Turning his head he suddenly felt a crippling shock run through him as if he’s been struck by lightning. The last thing he would remember was the silhouetted shape of a man seemingly flying across the moonlit skyline and the sound of a cackling laughter moving off into the distance. Chapter 1 – An unanswered question “With all due respect Mr. Greenhall,” Said the policeman as he stood in the large East London dining room “We are doing everything we can to find out what happened to your Daughter.” Mr. Greenhall, although being at least a foot smaller than the policeman, gave the impression of being much larger. He sat in a large velvet chair in the corner of the room staring with a look a look of intense disgust. “With all due respect officer? With all due respect?” he stood up from the chair and pointed haphazardly towards the window, “With all due respect my daughter and her boyfriend are now lying in hospital because some mental case jumped in front of a taxi and tried to kill them, and you and your fellow officers don’t seem to be doing a damn thing about it! Don’t you dare talk to me about respect!” “Sir, we are doing everything we can –” Mr. Greenhall cut the policeman off in mid-sentence “I don’t want to hear it, unless you’ve got something positive to tell me by 5 o’clock I’m going to be contacting chief constable Berkby so he can look into this personally. Am I understood?” The policeman looked at him knowing full well the threat was in no way idle, Mr. Greenhall was a prominent finger in London and held a great deal of power in a variety of circles. If he did contact the chief constable it could mean the end of a number of his fellow officer’s careers, most importantly his own. “Yes sir…understood” he replied reluctantly. “That will be all,” Mr. Greenhall gestured towards the door with his hand. The policeman acknowledged the request, bowing a nod of sincerity as he left in silence. Left alone in the room Mr. Greenhall returned to his position in the velvet armchair. There he remained for the next hour or so thinking about the evening’s events and what he’d do when the perpetrator had been found. Something seemed strange about the whole affair though, when he visited his daughter earlier all she could speak about was a strange creature with shining eyes. Never before had he known her to misconstrue a situation, he had taught her better than that. Logic was paramount to him; ever since she had spoken her first word he’d strictly forbidden anything that could be construed as fantasy. He wanted a daughter to be proud of, someone who didn’t spend their time interested in things that would be useless in the real world. He heaved a sigh of rage as he thought about his baby girl lying there in the upturned taxi, arm broken and half unconscious, the thought became too much for him and he threw his hand at the small table to his right, knocking over the glass of brandy that rested there. It hit the floor with a loud crash as the glass shattered leaving shards across the pristine carpet. *** After leaving the house, Officer Dulwitch, as he was known to everyone other than Mr. Greenhall, began the long walk back to Leytonstone Police station. His previous conversation had left him feeling slightly disturbed and he welcomed the chance to clear his head. People like Mr. Greenhall always had a way of getting under his skin, always wanting more than was humanly possible, without an interest in the toll it took on those below them. With a sigh he decided to ignore his past encounter in order to dwell on the case at hand. As far as he and his fellow officers could understand, and from the information they could pull from a number of witnesses who claimed to present at the scene, the assailant was wearing black clothing and appeared to be holding a torch. There was nothing odd about this in the slightest, and if this was the only information they had, the person involved would just be classed as a passer-by in the wrong place at the wrong time, with no criminal intent whatsoever. This was not however the general stance taken by those that saw the incident, as a handful claimed to have seen the individual under suspicion jump over a six foot fence, unaided. Due to the number of people supporting this fact Officer Dulwitch couldn’t merely view it as a trick of the light, there had to be more to it. But what? The only explanation he could think of was that the individual in question had somehow managed to scale a high fence; he just needed to understand how it was done, and fast. It was 8am by the time he reached the police station and the small building was surrounded by journalist. As they saw the police officer walking in their direction he realized that any attempt to evade them was pointless, residing himself to the fact that some form of conversation was inevitable. The first of the dozen or so reporters to approach him was a young lady of about twenty; although Officer Dulwitch was unfamiliar with her name he had seen her badgering many of the other officers on a number of occasions. “Hi, Suzy Margent, Evening Post, would you be able to answer a few questions for me?” She said holding a paper and pen in front of her, the latter poised as if ready to pounce on the fist thing he said. “I can try,” replied Dulwitch as the pen hit the paper in a fury of erratic movements. “Great. Firstly, have you any comment to make on claims that last night’s crash was due to malicious intent?” She stared at him intently, momentarily staring down at her notepad as her pen looped around the page. Dulwitch had no idea what she could be writing. “We are investigating any lead which arises, at present we have no concrete evidence that any harm was intended.” He stared back at her blankly, knowing that she was expecting more. After hesitating for a few seconds she resorted to asking another question. “Okay, a number of witnesses have even claimed that the perpetrator of the incident-“ Dulwitch cut her off mid sentence. “There is as yet no evidence to suggest a perpetrator, as you say, was even involved.” “But haven’t there been a number of witnesses claiming to have seen someone at the scene of the crime.” “As I have already said, we are investigating any leads,” “And what about eye-witnesses maintaining that the individual in question leapt a 9 foot fence?” Dulwitch refused to entertain the young journalist any further. He knew that anything he said would be taken out of context and the last thing he wanted to do was look like a fool in the local paper. “I’m sorry but I’m very busy,” He moved past Margent avoiding any physical contact as he did “If you’ll excuse me.” Suzy Margent knew that further probing would be pointless and decided to return to her position at the steps of the station, awaiting her next victim.