Stained Glass and Cabin Bells

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. The candle was settled inside a large glass cylinder propped on a table next to a large stain-glass window. The windowsill was an inch above the table and the window frame extended almost to the ceiling of the cabin. The glow of the light illuminated the green cloak of Saint Agnes. The thin gold ring of a halo sparkled brilliantly in the dim light and the creamy face appeared more serene and radiant.

Scattered around the candle, on the table were several framed photos and drawn portraits of women. The ages of the women differed almost as much as the pictures that carried their images. A glossy wallet size school photo of a 12-year-old girl was tucked neatly in the corner of a framed black and white photo of a Recy Taylor. A laminated medieval sketch of a woman in fancy dress was leaning against a larger painted portrait of Sarah Woodcock. One photo was of an elegant Asian woman from the 1940’s. Another was a 1980s polaroid of a Hispanic teen in blue jeans. Some were just clippings from newspapers, missing girls and boys. There were a few more added over the years, by the numerous people that stayed at the cabin. Ella had even added one herself. The printed-out picture of Liz Stride that she had found on the internet. “Long Liz” was made famous by being the unfortunate victim of Jack the Ripper.

Ella Hicks knew most of the stories around the pictures, but the names were a little fuzzy. The 12-year-old girl with brown hair was named Kimberly Leach, and she had died at the hands of Ted Bundy. The laminated sketch was of Marguerite de Carrouges, who was more recognizable because of a movie released last year. She would be hesitant to say the names of the others, as confidently as she once did. If hard pressed, she would have to text Sergeant Montgomery for the details, after all it was Montgomery’s cabin. Ella was just taking some time off to recuperate, after being injured on duty.

The sergeant was kind enough to let Ella stay there, since Montgomery was rarely able to make the trip from town. It would have been impossible for Ella to climb the stairs to her walkup brownstone apartment. This was also the clever and polite way of keeping Ella out of the office. If it was one thing cops hated, it was a reminder of what could happen on the job. Not that the injury was Ella’s fault. The suspect she was chasing had just gotten lucky. He turned and fired his gun randomly, and the bullet hit her in the hip. Age and an athletic upbringing did the rest. Her shattered hip would need considerable time to heal. Instead of racking up expensive hospital bills or having to be chauffeured by someone, Ella opted for desk detective work and checking in by phone.

The cabin was also more spacious and bigger than Ella’s apartment. It was easier to get around in her wheelchair. The accident gave her a reason to finally see the famous cabin Sarge went on and on about. Montgomery was quite proud of the place and would brag about how she acquired it. “I got for a steal.” She would boast.

The colorful history of the cabin began with a mountain preacher, who laid the logs and stone himself, and his wife did the windows. The windows were stain glass and depicted several saints depending on the room they were in. St Monica, patron saint of wives and mothers, was in one of the bedrooms. St Lawrence and St Martha, patron saints for cooks, were both depicted on large windows in the kitchen. Jesus and Mary were set in large windows of the chapel. It wasn’t very large, but the room was offset from the house and was larger than a hospital chapel. St Vincent Ferrer, patron saint of plumbing, was in the bathroom. Ella tried hard not to laugh when Montgomery showed her around, but she thought “Wow, even a saint for toilets.”

The preacher built the large cabin as a home but also a means of servicing the community. People in the mountains were a different kind of religious, with different ways of worshipping. The cabin was a known place amongst the locals, as a place to go if you could not get to one of the larger commercial churches.

“For something this beautiful, I should have paid way more.” Montgomery added after the tour. “The preacher sold it to me cheap after his wife died. He said he couldn’t look at the windows anymore. I didn’t ask how she died but I saw a bunch of medical equipment, so I assume it was a terminal illness. Possibly cancer, I think. I used to come up here a lot more, but now with the hours, it’s damn near impossible to get away.”

Ella was thankful to have a place. She thanked Montgomery profusely, especially when she said not to worry about money or rent. This was a god sent. Ella spent most of the night in the hospital wondering what was going to happen when she got out of the hospital. The only thing Sarge asked of her was tidiness, and a call if anything broke while she was staying there. Fair trade for saving her financially.

Ella stayed mainly in the room that was converted to an office. It was everything she needed outside of the kitchen. The room had several plush sofas and small end tables. The “L” shaped desk was large enough to spread out all the case files Ella was assigned. The wide screen brilliantly lit apple computer was an extreme contrast to her pc laptop in the bull pen of the station. The best thing in the room, however, was the black comfy reclining desk chair. It was soft enough to sit in without aggravating Ella’s hip. I could recline back but not feel as though she was going to flip over. The armrests had the perfect amount of padding for her forearms. There was even a head rest that made it, not only the best chair for sitting, but a makeshift bed. This was godsent, because it meant Ella didn’t have to fuss about with crutches or getting in and out of a wheelchair.

The window in the room was a bit suspect. Ella pondered during breaks from her case files, on why St Agnes was chosen for the room. If the room served as an office for the preacher, then surely a more appropriate saint would have been chosen. Perhaps St. Frances or St. Jude would be more impactful. The window was one of the only ones to look out on to the main road. Anyone approaching the house would see the Agnes window first. If there was a reason, it wasn’t obvious to Ella, who was not a devote catholic.

Another curious artifact was a directly right of the window. A board with three brass hanging bells fixed firmly to it, was nailed to the wall. The metal bells were completely intact and worked fine but didn’t seem to have a purpose for hanging next to the window. It especially didn’t make sense for it to be on the inside. They had leather twine handing from each of the inside clappers. The bells never rang where they were. If it was meant as some sort of a wind chime than it should’ve been hung on the outside.

Ella sat in her chair glancing from the bells to the window, and then to her computer screen. She had spent days staring at the same map of where four bodies had been dumped. This was apparent serial murderer, but that was kept closely under wraps. Each of the bodies had been mutilated and found at specific locations in the community. All the victims had been prostitutes. Unfortunate woman, that no one missed or valued outside of one carnal hour.

Ella cared intensely for every victim of abuse. She strained tirelessly of photos and autopsy reports. She combed through every detail, but she kept coming back to the map. There was something so familiar about it, but she just couldn’t place where she saw it last. “Where have I seen this before?” she asked out loud. It was getting late, and she was desperate for the answer. “I’m not going to bed until I figure this out.” She said as she shook her head.

DING. It was at that moment, that a sudden sound came from the bells. It surprised Ella and she jolted up from her reclining position. She had been sitting in the office for weeks and had never heard those bells ring. She stared at them, wondering if she imaged it. A then suddenly another ring. She had heard it and saw the leather strap sway to the side. She sat up more and fixed her eyes on the bell farthest from her seat. DING. A third ring resonated from the same bell as before. The other two remained silent. DING. DING. DING. Three more times rapid fire. She leaned forward to get a closer look. She saw the leather strap sway pulling the inside clapper to the rim of the bell. DING. DING. DING. Ella couldn’t believe her eyes. This was not the wind. Otherwise, the other two would move as well. It appeared as if something was ringing the third bell. The sounds sent shivers down Ella’s spine. The kind of feeling she got when people told ghost stories. She sat poised for anything as the bell rang a tenth time and fell silent. It was a few moments, but it felt like an eternity, as she waited for it to chime again. No sound came. The bells were silent again.

It had struck fear in her heart. It was so surprising and then to see the bell move and hear the rings continue for so long. Ella rested back into her chair and began to relax. “I’m losing my mind.” She said with a light chuckle.

An immediate response seemed to answer back as the bell rang out again. The same bell, the furthest from where she sat, rand out ten consecutive times. She watched transfixed as the clapper was pulled to the side with each ring.

When the bell fell silent, Ella turned in disbelief to her computer screen. She stared at the map intently, and her eyes caught a marker for a pub next to where a body was found. In a flash, she was aware of why the map was so familiar.

Her hand moved to her mouse, and she clicked on the internet icon. She keyed in the search window the term “Ripper Victims Map” and hit “enter”. She moved to images and scrolled until she saw the most basic map outlining the victim locations in the ripper case. She copied and pasted the map, over the map of the current body dumps. Like cogs falling into place, she watched as everything matched up as she rotated the map on top 180 degrees. Each victim’s body was found in identical place on the map, except for the fifth victim. Mary Kelly’s death was pinned on the ripper map, but when Ella closed the map to reveal the more current one, there was no maker. There were currently only four victims. Ella heart sank as she looked up from her computer to a calendar handing on the wall. It was November 8th.

Ella grabbed her phone and dialed Montgomery’s number. She waited for an answer before yelling excitedly into the phone. “Sarge, you can catch him. You can catch that serial tonight. He’s copycatting The Ripper Murders. He’ll try to kill again tonight. He’s going to do the Mary Kelly Murder.”

She heard Montgomery breathing heavy and say, “Ok. Ok. Calm down and tell me where to go.”

“There is an apartment complex next to a bar. The bar is called The Red Onion.” Ella screamed into the phone as she zoomed in on the current map of the four victims. “The complex is called ‘Nights Inn.’ There are only a few apartments that are close to the bar. Try them first. I’m going to email you two maps. They have the same markers where the victims were found. Mary Kelly was murder on the early hours of November 9th.”

“Ok, I’m going to send some cars.” Breathed into the phone. “I gotta hang up to call it in to dispatch. I’ll call you back when I know anything.”

The time seem to stop, as Ella watched the clock. The second hand took forever to click to the next second. It was midnight when she had made the discovery and phoned it in. Two hours later she sat perched and biting her nails. She would gather some of the photos she had of recent victims and group them up with new printouts of old ripper photo evidence. She thought about texting, but then put her phone down.

Finally, her phone went off. The vibrations alerted her. She snatched up the phone and swipe the phone accept on the touch screen. “Hello. Sarge, please tell me you got him.” She pleaded desperately into the phone.

“Ella, can you hear me?” she asked frantically. “Ella?”

“Yes, I can hear you.” Ella answered back.

She pressed the phone to her ear. She heard Montgomery come in loud and clear. “Ella, we got him. We got there just in time. We heard screams as we were coming down the hallway. We caught him as he was going into cut her. He didn’t even have time to try to run. Complete surprise. Ella, they let me put the handcuffs on him, myself.” Montgomery let out a long happy sigh and with complete amazement asked, “Ella, how in the world did you know? How did you figure it out?”

Ella paused for a moment and looked at her computer screen. “I knew I had seen this placement of victims before; I just could not remember where.” She turned her head slowly toward the bells mounted on the wall. Then, her eyes went to the photos of victims. After a moment, she answered, “I suddenly thought of The Ten Bells pub. Then, I saw the church on the map. It made me think of White Chapel. I played around with the map and laid one over the other. All the landmarks and the victims matched up, and that’s when I called you.”

“I’m going into baby sit the recording, so I’ve got to get off the phone.” She sang into the phone with pride. “Everett and Gantz are going to interview him. Good work. Try to gather up everything that led up to your realization. Dot every “I” and cross every “t”. Make sure everything is understandable and clear. So, you just thought of the Ten Bells, after looking at the bar on the map. That’s it?”

“Yeah,” Ella said back. “The Ten Bells, the best place for gin and johns.” She waited for Montgomery to hang up, before she laid her phone down. She turned again to the bells. She thought to herself that maybe there are ghosts. Maybe, it was Liz or Mary Kelly. Maybe they were trying to save someone else for their gruesome fate. Maybe, it was something else. One thing was for sure, she wouldn’t have thought of the ripper case, if she hadn’t heard those ten bells.