The Haunting of Josephine (8 page)

Katherine
’s room was next door to Jo’s room
so he kept a close ear out for any sounds that might indicate that he could be caught. He had been working on
Katherine
for
a while
when
he thought that he could hear Jo getting up. Not wanting to risk being caught he decided that he wo
uld get a
one last
bit of satisfaction in the
ending of Katherine
’s life and was sure to do it
in a way that would get everyone’s attention. She was
lying
on her bed alrea
dy near death and he removed the
scarf from her mouth.

Katherine
looked at him confused.
She desperately wanted to scream but f
or a moment all she could do was
lay there and whimper in pain.
Why was
he untying her mouth?
Just as Katherine
was beginning to think that
there was hope
that he
might let her go and give her a fighting chance at living like so many of the other women that she had heard about having endured torture like this she saw the candlelight glint off of the blade of his k
nife as he thrust the blade toward
her heart.

She
screamed
out
in f
ear
. Her cry ending as the last of her breath left her body and her heart faltered.

Taking the knife with him
he
ran to the window and quickly climbed down and left the property. He went straight to his home, washed himself up, got into his nightclothes, and did his best to
fall asleep with the adrenaline of what he had just done still pumping through him. The sweet release of the murder was far better than any release he had gotten from rape before. He was sure that it wouldn’t be long before the police came knocking to inform him of the death of his dear partner’s wife. He had to be sure to fain shock at the news.

Chapter 8

Jo was the first to Katherine
’s room and the first to see her body.
Her scream rang through the house
just as her u
ncle came running just in time to see Jo faint in the doorway. When he saw his wife’s body he himself wanted to run to her but from the amount of blood and the color of her body with her
open
lifeless eyes he knew that she was dead. He did his best to pick Jo up and carried her into her room and then went down to get the butler to fetch the police and Mr. Kinsley.

It was hours la
ter before
Jo awoke
again
. There had been much discussion on if they should try to wake her right away but the doctor that had arrived with the police had determined that they should leave her be until they had managed to take in all th
e evidence and then remove her a
unt’s body from the house.

When she awoke she immediately remembered what she had seen and got up and tried to go to her
aunt
’s room. But she was met at her door by Mr. Kinsley who had
n
o
t left her side since he had first arrived to the house.

“Jo she is
n
o
t there anymore.” Mr. Kinsley held onto a sobbing Jo as his words sunk in
. Jo
continued to try to get past him though her attempts soon slowed and
weakened
in their strength
as she gave up her fight
.

“What happened? How could this happen? Why would someone do that to her?” Jo was
n
o
t asking anything that
her uncle
, Mr. Kinsley, and the police themselves had
n
o
t already been asking. The one thing that all of the men knew was that they were going to shield Jo fro
m anything that they
f
ou
nd if possible.

“We do
n
o
t know sweetheart.” Jo struggled against Mr. Kinsley still trying to break free to go to
Katherine’s
room
though her attempts were now
feeble
at best
.

“I want to see her. I need to see her.” Mr. Kinsley tightened his grip on her.
He hated that he had to be the one to try and talk some sense into her but at the same time was glad that he was able to be there for her instead of some uncaring cop that they
would have assigned to such a task
.

“You canno
t
,
she is
n
o
t there anymore. She is
n
o
t in the house. Besides Jo you really should
n
o
t see her the way that she
was
. She would
n
o
t want you to remember her like that.” Jo broke down sobbing at that sinking to the floor. The doctor came in after hearing Jo’s raised voice.

“Josephine can I get you to go back to your bed? I want to check you and make sure that you are alright.” Mr. Kinsley picked up a still sobbing Jo and placed her on the bed and watched over her as the doctor took her pulse and examined her complexion and eyes. “I think that this girl needs a great deal of rest and we need to figure o
ut how best to help get her through
this
safely
.”

“I agree doctor but I do
n
o
t think that she is going to go to sleep willingly. I do
n
o
t believe she is going to let us shield her from anything.” The doctor looked from Mr. Kinsley to Jo and back
contemplating on what would be the proper and necessary in order to comfort Jo
.

“Here, put a teaspoon of this in some tea. She will rest more willingly with it. Until she starts to show signs of calming down you can give her a teaspoon up to every six hours.” The doctor
discreetly
slipped a bottle into Mr. Kinsley’s hand.

“Alright, thank you doctor.” As the doctor left Mr. Kinsley went to the bell pull to ring for the maid. When the maid arrived he slipped her the bottle and instructed her to get some tea for Jo.

“Oh Bradley
,
what am I going to do without my
a
unt?” Mr. Kinsley was rather confused on her question.
What had been so important about her
a
unt’s presence that had Jo worried that she would not be able to live without her?
He had not realized that J
o had grown as close to Katherine
as she had
in the
past weeks
.

“What has you so worried my dear? Where you still in
lessons
with her or something? Did she fail to teach you something that now has you worried?” Jo shook her head.
She needed to tell someone about her worries.

“No, I was only here because she had convinced
my u
ncle to let me be here and without her he might send me away.” Mr. Kinsley found her worry to be unfounded but Jo was
not aware of just how much her u
ncle and
a
unt had both loved her so much
that either of them would have done anything for Jo
.

“Sweetest, you have nothing to worry about. I am sure that
Mr. Cline
is going to keep you here. Besides, even if he did
n
o
t want to keep you here for some odd reason it would
n
o
t really matter because you will soon be living in my home with me anyway.” Jo shot Mr. Kinsley an odd look.

“You could
n
o
t possibly think that we should continue on with our engagement party and t
hen the wedding right away? My a
unt just died! You are heartless.” Jo threw herself on her bed so that she was no longer facing Mr. Kinsley.

“I was not trying to be heartless my d
ear. I just know how much your a
unt had been looking forward to our union and I would like for us to at least consider not postponing our nuptials too long.” Mr. Kinsley was
n
o
t helping matters much by bringing up how much
Katherine
had been looking forward to Jo’s wedding. A wedding that she was no longer going to be able to be a part in planning nor able to attend.
He looked to Mr. Cline standing in the doorway for help but found that there would be no help there for Mr. Cline looked equally worried and lost.

It was not very long before
Mr. Genus
ca
me
r
ushing into Jo’s room. “Oh Mr.
Cline
, Josephine, I came as soon as I heard. Was anyone else harmed?” Jo shot Mr. Genus a look wishing that he would just shrivel up and die.

“Mr. Genus, it was only my Katherine
and I would like it if you would refrain from talking about it too much in front of Josephine until she is more ready to talk. At the moment she is still rather shaken by what happened.” Mr. Kinsley explained hoping that it might get Mr. Genus to leave. He was
n
o
t quite sure but there was something about Mr. Genus he had
n
o
t liked all that much. He also remembered that Mr. Genus had
n
o
t been cared for much by the family just tolerated becau
se he was in business with Mr. Cline
.

At Mr. Cline
’s urging the men left Jo in the care of a nurse the doctor had sent up and they all went down into the sitting room to meet with the police. “
Captain
,”
Mr. Cline
greeted the police officer. “Is there anything you can tell me about how and why this happened?”
The officer looked at
the gentlemen accompanying Mr. cline
and upon recognizing who they we
re and their importance to Mr. Cline
the officer decided to speak freely
in front
of them.

“I am certain that it was done by the same man that has been abusing various women that we have already been seeking.” This offered Mr. Kinsley and
Mr. Cline
little
to no
reassurance seems how the police had already been trying to find the man and had no success
thus far
. “
The
one thing that is interesting that I think is a good lead is that this time the man who did it entered straight into her room.” Mr. Kinsley was
n
o
t sure but that sounded like a big lead.

“What can a lead like that tell us about the man who did this? Is it different from the way the others were attacked? Other than the obvious that this is the first one that he has ki
lled?” Mr. Kinsley comforted Mr. Cline
when he made a noise of pain
from hearing it put so bluntly
.

“It is very different. Always before he would enter through a hall window and we would have a trail to follow through the house of how he searched for who he was looking for. Because he was able to access her so easily means that he thought it out beforehand a lot more. I believe that this means that he
may know
your family very well.
At least well enough to know where exactly he needed to go without much search.
”

“Should we worry about Josephine?” Though Mr. Kinsley had asked the Captain Mr. Genus took the liberty of answering the question.

“I do
n
o
t think that you will have to worry about Josephine. What kind of a man would return to where he had already done such a horrible thing before?” This caused the
Captain, Mr. Kinsley, and Mr. Cline
to consider Mr. Genus
, and not in a good way
. He had not thought before he had spoken and therefore had made his confidence that the killer would not return seem suspect.

“On the contrary I think that you have very much to worry about when it comes to Josephine. While it would seem crazy to return to the scene of the crime he obviously knows how to get into the house without being caught not to mention everything he did and still managed to leave. If t
he man who did it is after Mr. Cline
and trying to hurt him he may
come back for Josephine.” Mr. Cline
thought about this very carefully.