She threw her arms around me and hugged me tight. Tears came to my eyes as I held my little sister, praying for a miracle.
Austen went to the window and glanced outside. His steady presence gave me the courage to keep going.
“I need to know what is in the Book, Mary.”
She pulled away, her green eyes full of apprehension. “Why do you need to know?”
I couldn’t tell her that I was trying to learn the identity of Jack the Ripper. So, I said something else that was true, if only a half-truth. “I want closure. I want to know why Austen’s parents died and why all the women on the trip, except Mother, were killed. I want to know what is so important to the Freemasons that they’d go to such lengths to protect this Book.”
Mary swallowed and shook her head. “If I only saw one-fifth of the Book, I can’t imagine what is in the other four parts.”
“You can tell us,” Austen said. “I lost my parents because of it, and I’ve spent my entire life trying to understand what could have been so important that they’d give up their lives—give up me—to save it.”
Something seemed to break inside Mary as tears came to her eyes. “Anyone connected to that book suffers.” She took a deep breath and lifted her chin, wiping away her tears. “But you deserve to know, Austen.”
He stood quietly and waited.
“It was a very old book,” she said, “perhaps centuries old. At least, the part I saw. It was a record, of sorts, kind of like a ledger. There were names listed, and beside each one was a record of their deeds or misdeeds, like a positive and negative system of what each of those people either owed the Freemasons or had paid—sometimes in money and sometimes in favors. I saw names that shocked me. Rulers and noblemen from all over the world, dating back hundreds of years. And the deeds and misdeeds were not all small or inconsequential, there were assassinations and wars and massacres, things that turned the tide of history. And they were recorded in detail. Vivid, sometimes horrible detail.” She shook her head. “If that was just the first part of the Book, I can only imagine what the other four parts contain.”
“To be clear, it was the Freemasons who did these deeds?” Austen asked.
“Yes. Powerful Freemasons who committed egregious acts for others. Sometimes they were given money to commit these acts. Other times, they were paid back with lands or titles or with favors.”
I stared at her, shocked that a book like that existed, but more shocked that the Freemasons had been behind some of history’s most horrific events.
“If the Book is ever made public,” Austen said, “it would unravel the entire Brotherhood and take down the Freemasons in one fell swoop.”
“Which is why anyone with knowledge of the book is destroyed.”Mary’s face was pale as she pleaded with her eyes. “Neither one of you can tell anyone you know about this book. My life was spared because I agreed to disappear. Father took an oath to destroy anyone who might see the Book, but he couldn’t kill me. I promised I would never speak of it to anyone or tell anyone who I really am.” She turned to me. “The letter I sent you was the one and only time I broke my promise. I knew you couldn’t go the rest of your life without knowing that I would be okay. I still don’t know how your private detective found me.”
I couldn’t tell her the truth.
“I’m not truly safe here, am I?” Mary asked, searching my face for answers. “If the four others were found, then I will be found, too. The Freemasons will find me.”
“Do you think Jack the Ripper is working with Sir Charles Warren?” I asked Austen. “Is he a henchman for the Freemasons, taking out the women who knew about the Book? Is he doing it for land or money or a favor like the others listed in the ledger?”
“If he is, then why did he wait fourteen years to kill them?” Austen shook his head. “And they didn’t all come to Whitechapel immediately upon returning to England after their trip to Jerusalem. It took time for them to get here.”
“So you don’t think Jack is a Freemason, destroying these women because they have knowledge of the Book?” I asked him.
“I don’t know.” Austen shrugged. “It’s all connected, but it doesn’t make sense.”
Mary stood as she looked between us. “Am I in danger?”
I took a deep breath, wondering how much to tell her. “Not right now. We have some time. But you need to be ready to leave soon.”
“You mean, to go to New York?”
“I think it’s your only option, Mary.”
She walked to the window, where she looked out at the dirty courtyard, and I knew she was thinking about Joseph. Rain dripped from the eaves of the building and ran down the glass.
After a moment she said, “I’ll be ready whenever you tell me.”
Relief overwhelmed me, and I joined her by the window to embrace her.
“It’ll take a few days to make arrangements,” Austen said. “We’ll come back for you on the evening of November 8th.”
“But you must not breathe a word of this to anyone,” I said as I pulled back. “Do you understand? None of your friends, not even Joseph. No one must know that you’ll be leaving here.”
