September 16th, 1899

"Extra! Extra!" A boy no older than 7 called out, cupping his hand around his mouth while the other held the newspaper, "Killer strikes again!"

My blood ran cold. Again. Again.

I rushed across the street, nearly tripping over my skirts in a rush to get to the boy. I dug around for a nickel in my bag and traded him for the paper.

"Thank you Miss!" The kid said before running off.

I could barely force a small smile to him before looking at the headline.

New York Killer Strikes Again!

Around 2:45 this morning the body of Molly Blythe was found just outside of Central Park. Her body rests at Jacobs' Mortuary where David Jacobs is said to perform an autopsy on her. The rest of the information is private and will not be shared until further notice.

A chill made its way up my spine as I let the newspaper drop to my side. Another woman. Dead. Gone.

I shoved the paper in my bag, knowing exactly where to go.

• • •

"What the hell!" I shouted as I slammed open the doors to the mortuary.

Jack jumped but Davey continued his work, clearly used to my frustration.

"Are the police doing nothing?! Are they just relaxing as a killer goes around slicing the throats of every woman in New York City?!"

I paced around the room.  I didn't even want to see the state the body was in.  My eyes wandered anyways and I nearly wished they hadn't.

The girl's red hair stood out even more in contrast to her pale skin, veins prominent around her face that I'm sure had been cleaned of blood splatter.

Davey peeled off the blood stained rubber gloves and chucked them in the trash can next to the body before pulling the white sheet over Molly. . . Well, what was her.

"The officers have informed me that they are doing everything they can."

"Really?" I asked, crossing my arms in annoyance, "Because another woman was just killed!"

"We know." Jack said, looking at the medical file he'd been writing in, "She was a 26 year old prostitute.  We don't know anything else about her.  No family members have claimed her body yet."

"And that's all of the information we have?" I asked.

"Death was ruled as a homicide-"

"Well no shit." I muttered.

"-with her throat slit and liver removed." Jack continued before closing the file.

"What the hell would the killer want with that?" I asked.

Jack shrugged.

I sat on one of the stools and leaned against the counter, running my hands through my hair in frustration.

What are we going to do?

I felt someone looking down at me and looked up to meet Jack's eyes from where he now stood in front of me.

Our eyes locked for far longer than was proper and I quickly turned my gaze to Davey, "Do they have any suspects yet?" I asked.

"None." He sighed, "The killer is sneaky.  He or she hasn't left a trace."

I groaned in frustration as Jack rest a hand on my shoulder.

"Don't go loosing sleep over this Kath." He said, "Just- have a little trust in the police."

I wanted to snap at him that I wasn't loosing sleep over trying to solve a case I wasn't supposed to even be involved in.  Why I was "loosing sleep" was because I was having nightmares of my mother in the place of Anne every night; and soon to be Molly as well.

I hopped off of the stool and slung my bag over my shoulder.

"I'm going to work boys.  Don't get yourselves into trouble while I'm gone."

"Says you." Jack threw a wink in my direction that I ignored before walking out the doors and down the hall towards the New York City streets.

• • •

I sat at my desk, trying to continue the article I'd been writing the other night. Writing about a local store being robbed by teens wasn't exactly what I wished to be writing right now. They were caught. Our killer wasn't.

Do we even know it's the same person that killed Anne Harbor?

With the state the office is in right now, I would assume.

Race leaned over his desk next to me, "Snyder is in a real mood today." He muttered.

"Because of the killings?" I asked.

Another boy named Albert leaned over from my other side, "I was outside his door and heard something about money being involved."

"What about it? Isn't business doing well?"

"For The World? Yes." Specs said, "But for The Sun? No."

"Business there has doubled." Race explained, "I heard Snyder might start laying people off. In a few months time we could even be shut down."

I drummed my fingers against the desk.

"Is there any way we can increase the sales?" I asked.

"Just keep working." Race shrugged, "It's all we can do. As wrong as it is- at least the killings are making us big headlines."

"How would you like it if your liver was removed to get you in the papers?" I muttered before clamping my hands over my mouth.

"That was private information!" I could almost hear Davey's voice in the back of my mind.

"Her liver was removed?!" Race almost shouted before I yanked him down by the collar.

"If you let one word slip Higgins I swear to-"

"Okay, alright, I get it." Race said, raising his hands in defense.

I sighed in relief.

"Just don't go blabbing without thinking." Race teased before getting serious, "And don't do anything stupid."

I shrugged, "I make no promises."