It doesn’t take me long to find the photos of her. I’m glad that the ones I come across at least have her face and the obvious wound at her throat blurred out in some disingenuous show of respect, but my meager breakfast threatens to make a reappearance as I scroll through the social media thread. It’s full of screen grabs from various websites, and I ignore the comments after reading one that’s ghoulish enough to turn my stomach. I delete the browser tab and erase the search history for good measure, partly so Izzy doesn’t stumble on it, but also so I don’t come across it again. Not that it matters, because just like Helen’s body, the image of Jen’s final moment is something that will remain with me for a long time.
I pick up the cards again and take a deep breath as I look at the second portrait. The flowers here are small and fluffy, tiny red cotton balls on dainty branches speared into the woman’s hair. Looking at the photos of Jen, I did think there was something off about the flowers in her hair, the color too bright. Artificial, maybe? They didn’t look wilted or dried.
Could they be made frompaper?
It was also clear from the photos that Jen’s body was posed, tied to the park bench she was found on. Her body remained upright, but the angle of her neck and the large, dark stain on the wooden seat beneath her made it clear she was dead. Jen’s hair was plaited, but again, there was something off about it, and I know she was wearing it down at the party. I wonder if someone else did it. A crown of flowers rested on her head, and more were dotted through her long hair, which snaked down across her body, the end tied to a rope. This was also covered in flowers and wrapped round her waist, binding her arms to her sides.
I scour the tarot deck again, focusing on anything depicting flowers or plants, pushing aside the image of Jen’s blood-soaked figure. I add a couple to the maybe pile, but they don’t seem quite right—the Empress wears a dress decorated with flowers and the Queen of Wands holds a sunflower, but they don’t look like Jen’s body did—so I keep going.
Until I reach a card emblazoned with the word “Strength.”
It’s not quite right, because the female figure has short blond hair and is tending to a lion, but there are enough similarities for me to stop and really study it. The flowers on this are red too, on her head and wrapping around her waist. The figure on the card isn’t bound, but that could be a practical element—Jen could have been bound to subdue her or to keep her upright. Helen wasn’t actually bound, but the addition of the belt as an afterthought, the way the ends were arranged to drape around her shoulders, gave the suggestion of it, and I realize that this links them even further.
It’s one of the killer’s signatures.
I study the first two portraits and the tarot cards below them, thinking of one of Dad’s many gallery speeches.It’s the artist’s interpretation, Fliss. There are only so many ideas in the world, but there are a million different ways for people to interpret them.
I look back at Professor Williams’s notes and realize that’s what he’s saying too. The artist who painted The Four created his own interpretation of a tarot deck, posing women to fit his warped aesthetic. Now someone else is doing the same thing, creating their own twisted modern versions ofhisart, using the same source material.
I grab my notebook and flip back to the table of information I’ve gathered. I pause to look at the progress I’ve made with Lorenna, hoping I get the chance to do the same with the other women, then add a new row at the bottom and quickly fill in the first two columns.
Portrait one
Name: Lorenna Randolph
Date: 3rd July 1911
Circumstances: Found in abandoned building. Homicide by exsanguination.
Tarot card: Eight of Swords
Portrait two
Name: Frances Hartley
Date: 10th July 1911
Circumstances:
Tarot card: Strength
Portrait three
Name: Nicole French
Date: 14th July 1911
Circumstances:
Tarot card:
Portrait four
Name: Grace Kaufman
Date: 17th July 1911
Circumstances:
