Play@YSDC

"That's something I don't understand yet," says Alexander. "There must be a pattern to them, but it is difficult to understand the mind of a madwoman."

"Perhaps she wants revenge on men," says Alexander, "the sort of men who visit ladies of the evening. If we can get a look at the asylum's records, we might be able to find out more details."

Nash looks doubtful.

“If it’s revenge, jest killin’s good enough. Symbols ‘ave meanin’.”

“Between us we’ve researched the symbols and they don’t seem to have any established significance. They are peculiar to this case alone it seems.” Says Isolde.
“Which helps us narrow the field; we did wonder if they were cult killings but that seems unlikely now; an escapee from the asylum is more plausible and we still have leads to follow in that direction.”

'In my experience' says Harry, 'There's only two types of motive, reward or revenge, and revenge is the more powerful of the two. Perhaps he or she is sending a message, perhaps not, but we need to find the motive and it seems like the Asylum is the most likely place to identify that, whether it makes sense or not it's another matter.'

Vic wondered about the symbols and their significance. Perhaps they would find the answers if they could gain access to the asylum but she worried that it might be harder to get out than it could be to get in.

“Well, you can’t jest walk inta ‘n asylum now , can yer?” says Nash. “It's a prison, basically. ’N’ obviously, this person ain’t there no more, if they ever were. Mebbe tha’ doctor can clue you in.”

He turns to the newspaper laying on the table next to him.

“Wot d’yu think abaht this latest murder?”

He picks up the paper and begins reading.

"It confirms some of our speculations from the previous murders," says Alexander. "There was long hair found at one of the others, and another had a spool of thread. Of course, all of this could have simply been planted at the scene by the killer rather than accidentally discarded. We could be seeing these clues because the killer wants us to see them."

“Why a spool of thread, I wonder?” Nash says, a quizzical look on his face.

“Perhaps she belonged to the Seamstresses’ guild.” Murmured Isolde.

”Could be” Nash nods thoughtfully. “There’s a lotta sweatshops in the area. That could be ‘ow she’s gettin’ an income.”

Isolde,It suddenly occurs to Isolde that thread spools are often stamped with the name of the shop that sold them.

"That's a thought," says Alexander, "but there are too many to check them all, even if we knew what to look for. We'll need more information to narrow it down."

“In the absence of any other leads, that avenue may be one we have to try,” said Vic, although she wondered how you would even begin to track them down. Obviously, there were bigger workplaces; she seen groups of young women making their way to and from work, but there were sure to be plenty of smaller, back alley places as well.

Crozier:

Crozier has been listening while quietly puffing on a cigar. His face and demeanour suggest he does not really approve of Nash but is struggling to be polite, or at least quiet.

"Perhaps Dr Campbell and I could approach the asylum doctor together? He might take a request from us more seriously. He may, if nothing else, believe the authorities would listen to us if we complained about him."

Harry bristles at the suggestion, 'Sure, knock yourselves out Gentlemen.'

Isolde hides a smile at Harry’s discomfort. “I think the doctor may be more inclined to speak to another man of science. And the Captain, of course, has the aura of respectability that might sway the doctor into revealing his thoughts. About the spool. The sewing shops often put their names on their spools of thread; it would be worth finding out what is stamped on this one - If we can get a close look at it somehow.”

”We can but ask if we can see it,” said Vic.

”Who are you going to ask?” queries Nash.

”The coroner or the Police, I should imagine,” said Vic. “One of those will have it and once we find out if the spool has a name on it, then we can track it down to where it was sold, and that should lead us to the buyer.”