1980

A door to an upstairs room -

A door banging in the wind, in the rain -

I climb the dark stone stairs one at a time and stop before the door -

The door banging in the wind, in the rain -

I pull open the door -

The backdoor to the Strafford -

The backdoor to a passage -

The passage is dark and I can smell the stink of a shotgun -

The stink of bad things, the stink of death -

The stink of the Strafford.

I step inside -

A rotting, eaten mattress against a window -

I walk down the passage to the front -

To the bar -

I pull open another door -

The door to the bar -

The walls of the bar tattooed with shadows, tattooed with pain -

Maps, charts, photographs of pain -

The pain of the photographs -

Joyce Jobson, Anita Bird, Theresa Campbell, Clare Strachan, Joan Richards, Ka Su Peng, Marie Watts, Linda Clark, Rachel Johnson, Janice Ryan, Elizabeth McQueen, Kathy Kelly, Tracey Livingston, Candy Simon, Doreen Pickles, Joanne Thornton, Dawn Williams, and Laureen Bell -

Across the maps, the charts, and the photographs -

Across them all -

Swastikas and sixes -

Shadows, swastikas and sixes -

Across every surface -

Six six sixes -

(Out of the shadows).

I put down the can of petrol and try the light switch -

Nothing, only darkness -

Darkness, shadow, pain.

I step further inside -

Underfoot smashed furniture and splintered wood, stained carpets and shattered glass -

Behind the bar, the broken mirrors and the optics -

The jukebox in the corner, the silent bloodstained pieces -

Beneath the boarded windows, the long sofa full of holes -

A low table pulled out into the centre of the room -

On the table, pornography -

Spunk -

Pornography and a portable tape recorder -

A cassette case:

All this and Heaven too.

I walk towards the table -

Walk towards the table and see him -

See his boots -

On the floor, between the table and the bar -

His boots, him -

Him -

Lying on his face between the table and the bar -

Bob Craven -

His head blown off, a shotgun across one leg -

I look away -

Look up -

Two holes in the ceiling, above the bar -

Look down -

The head blown off -

Kneeling, I reach down between the table and the bar, reach down and turn him over -

Head off, face gone, beard gone -

Blood across the wall -

Across the shadows -

Across the swastikas and across the sixes -

Six six sixes -

(If the shadows could talk).

I pick up the shotgun from off his legs and I step back -

Step back beside the table and the portable tape recorder -

Machines the only survivors -

I press play:

Pause, hiss -

‘I’m Jack. I see you are still having no luck catching me. I have the greatest respect for you George, but Lord! You are no nearer catching me now than four years ago when I started. I reckon your boys are letting you down George. They can’t be much good can they?

‘The only time they came near catching me was a few months back in Chapeltown when I was disturbed. Even then it was a uniformed copper not a detective.

‘I warned you in March that I’d strike again. Sorry it wasn’t Bradford. I did promise you that but I couldn’t get there. I’m not quite sure where I’ll strike again but it will be definitely some time this year, maybe September, October, even sooner if I get the chance. I am not sure where, maybe Manchester, I like it there, there’s plenty of them knocking about. They never learn do they George? I bet you’ve warned them, but they never listen.’

Thirteen seconds of hiss, count them:

One two three four five six seven eight nine ten eleven twelve thirteen seconds of hiss, then -

‘Take her in Preston, and I did, didn’t I George? Dirty cow. Come my load up that.

‘At the rate I’m going I should be in the book of records. I think it’s eleven up to now isn’t it? Well, I’ll keep on going for quite a while yet. I can’t see myself being nicked just yet. Even if you do get near I’ll probably top myself first. Well it’s been nice chatting to you George. Yours, Jack the Ripper.

‘No use looking for fingerprints. You should know by now it’s as clean as a whistle. See you soon. Bye.

‘Hope you like the catchy tune at the end. Ha. Ha.’

Then -

‘I’ll say your name -

‘Then once again -

‘Thank you for being a friend.’

Silence -

The tape still turning -

Still turning in the portable tape recorder -

The portable tape recorder on the table -