In the summer of 1902, Jeremy and Sara are an American couple who moved from their home country after they got accepted into an University in London. Restless from their long journey they finally arrive at their destination.
Jeremy emerges from his vehicle and is standing outside of the he just rented bungalow. He takes a big deep breath, exhaling, and smiling. Jeremy looks back at his girlfriend, Sara, as the look of concern comes across her face. “This place looks a little high-priced. Are you sure we can afford this?” she asks. Jeremy responds, “The landlord wrote us the letter explained that it is the same as us paying to live at a student hall.” On the outer appearance he seemed excited, but deep-down Jeremy’s worry that this was not a good idea. Jeremy has not met the landlord nor know this person’s name, just by the address that’s given to him.
He takes the key from his pocket and opens the door. As they walk in, they are in awe. “This place is amazing.” They both say. Any and everything that they could dream they could have are in the bungalow. The bungalow is completely furnished with furniture and food. “This is so wonderful! We don’t have to worry about purchasing things we thought we needed! We only have to worry about is rent!” Jeremy laughs. Sara replies, “Don’t you think this is a bit suspicious?” “Don’t worry, Sara,” he answers, “everything is fine.” They start to unpack, when they hear a knock on the door.
They look at one another and Sara questions Jeremy, “Who knows we are here?” Jeremy smile and replies, “That can only be one person who can find us even if we were lost deep inside the Amazon jungles.” He jumps up and opens the door. “Surprise, it’s me!” yells the woman. “M.A.!” Sara screams and jumps up to hug her. Sara rapidly asks, “How did you get here? I’m so pleased that you are here! Come have a seat. How is everyone back home in America? Is everybody well? How is your family? Have you heard anything from my papa? Is he well? Does he miss me?”
Jeremy replies, “Sara breath.” He laughs, “I know you really miss being in America, but let Mary Ann answer at least one of your questions you asked before she runs out of here screaming.” Embarrass, Sara responds, “Sorry, I’m just so thrilled to see you!’ M.A. answers, “I really miss you. And you too, Jeremy!” She laughs, “Actually I am here because I have decided to attend the same university as you and Jeremy!” “Astounding!” Sara gleeful cheers, “Now we can spend every moment together! Excuse me while I go make us some celebratory tea to commemorate this moment.”
While Sara was the kitchen, a suspicious Jeremy confronts M.A., “How can your family afford this, if you don’t mind me asking, Mary Ann?” Nervous, M.A. reacts, “I am getting help from an acquaintance of the family.” Jeremy nods his head as an acceptance of approval even though he knows it’s not true. CRASH! Jeremy and M.A. looks at one another and run into the kitchen to see what happened. Sara is on the floor clutching her ankle. “I tripped on this loose floorboard. I didn’t even notice it until now,” she cries. While M.A. tends to Sara’s ankle, Jeremy looks at the board. He is surprised that it was easy to prop open.
He looks underneath and sees a book. "Is there anything under there?" M.A. ask. Jeremy picks the book up and is shocked. As M.A. helps Sara onto her feet, Jeremy turns to M.A. and Sara, lifts up the book and says, “I think we have found Jack the Ripper’s Diary!”
Sara scream, “What!” “That book must be a fake. They have many of those all-around New York City,” reply M.A. Jeremy explain, “It has his name in the diary!” Jeremy and Sara discuss for hours on if that they should speak to the police about the diary. Meanwhile, M.A. opens the diary and reads some of the pages in it. Her face turns white as snow. She stands quickly up and state, “I think the two of you should not take this book to the police service. I know someone who can make some sense of this. Besides, I don’t really think that it is real, and you don’t want everyone thinking you two are a bunch of nut jobs.”
Everyone is silent. M.A. continues, “Only a sick person with a morbid sense of humor would document something so heinous. Just let me take and dispose of it properly.” Sara and Jeremy are both confused by what and why M.A. is saying these things.
Jeremy as he tries to make sense of things said, “I think that Sara is right. We should go to the police service.” As M.A. reluctantly agrees , Jeremy and Sara start their way to the service. "I will stay here to watch over things here," states M.A. She closes the door after they left. Knock, knock! She opens the door and smile, “Oh it’s you. Come in. It was nice of you to rent your place to my friends. They were so thankful to be able to stay here. They are not here now. They found the diary under the kitchen floorboard” –
Meanwhile, Sara and Jeremy arrive at the London Metropolitan Police Service. They walk to the constable who is sitting at the front desk and tell him about the diary they found. The constable informs them that there’s two detectives who are researching the cold case, instructs them to have a seat and hopefully one of the detectives will talk to them shortly. As they sit down, Jeremy sighed, “I hope we didn’t walk this far only to be told this diary is a fake.” “Just as long as we find out what it is, is enough satisfaction for me.” Sara answered.
One of the detectives walked in, and some of the constables began to whisper and laugh. He looked back with a devilish glare and silenced them. The constables scattered as he returned his focus to the couple. “I am Detective Bouvier, can you two please come with me. Sara looked at Jeremy as he stood up as reassurance. They followed the detective to his desk, and he asked them to have a seat. Bouvier examined the couple and said, “I’m told that you have something that might be of value to us. Is this true?” Jeremy countered, “Yes, indeed! Well, we think so. You see we found this diary that we believe it use to belonged to Jack the Ripper.”
He lays the book on the desk and before Detective Bouvier can pick the book up, another detective swipes it. “Ah, Detective Horton, I’m glad to see you made it just in time to assist,” stated Bouvier. Cheerfully, Horton laughs, “Bouvier, I see you are in a swell mood. And everybody says he’s not a morning man!” Holding up the book, he questions, “So what do we have here?” Bouvier replied, “It is made to believe that’s Jack the Ripper’s Diary.” Horton observes the diary without opening and declares, “This book is an absolute artificial duplicate. It’s a fake! See, I have an exact same copy on my desk.”
He opens his desk drawer, pulls out another diary, and shows it to them. “Some Americans must have thought it would be a joy to scatter some fakes over here as well,” he proclaimed. Jeremy sadly accepted the response, “I see. My apologies for interrupting your dutiful time. Thank you.” Horton gives them the diary and the couple walk out of the police service.
The couple return home and find their door slightly open. Cautiously, Jeremy tells Sara to stay close to him. As they walk into the bungalow, it pitch black. Just then the lights came on. Shock by what she sees, Sara screams and Jeremy whisper, “Mary Ann.” Sara turned to Jeremy and cried on his shoulder. Moments later, the detectives, the medical and a few constables come to the bungalow to investigate the crime scene. Horton and Bouvier try to question Sara, but she is too distraught to answer. Jeremy states, “We just came home from the police service and found her.
Why would someone mutilate her like this?” Horton replies, “I hate to inform you with bad news, but she was a prostitute.” Sara shock, she reacts, “That’s not true! She was a university student! She wouldn’t have ever done that! Right, Jeremy!” Jeremy calmly said to Sara, “it makes a great deal of sense. Particularly when it came to how she was getting her tuition paid.” Sara then realized that her friend had a dark side she was keeping from her. Bouvier says, “We don’t have any suspects at this moment, but we will notify you when we find something.” Jeremy and Sara watch as they escorted M.A.’s body out of the bungalow.
Bouvier asks, “If there’s anything you need, let us know.” As everyone leave, Sara looks over at the bloody floor where M.A.’s body once laid. Jeremy asks, “Isn’t quite strange that they arrived here without us calling?” Sara realizes, “I didn’t realize that until now. What if the diary is cursed? And whomever reads it dies?” “No”, Jeremy responded, “What I think is that we need to start our own investigating because I believe that they know something that we don’t, and they are not telling us. We must do this for M.A. Sara nods her head in agreement.
Meanwhile, Detective Horton and Bouvier return to the police service to reopen their investigation into Jack the Ripper. “When will this end?” Bouvier asked, “This monster needs to be hanged!” Horton replies, “I couldn’t agree any further. Especially when we have been looking for this man for years and he is still out there killing prostitutes. I think tonight we might be closer to closing this case.” Bouvier responds, “I still don’t think it’s a good idea keeping it from the citizens that Jack the Ripper is still on a rampage.” “The less the town citizens know, the better we find more evidence against the Ripper,” says Horton.
They walk to a building behind the police service and unlock the door. Once they walk through, there are wall to wall stacks of evidence built against and to find Jack the Ripper. “Do you think that this might be a little obsessive?” asked Bouvier, “I want to apprehend this man too, but this?” “I am sick of this man murdering women for cheap and sick thrills,” replies Horton, “now are you going to continue this investigation with me or nay?” Bouvier nods and says, “We need to close this case fast, before any other lady is murdered again.”
The next morning, Jeremy and Sara begin their investigation. They ask a few of the town’s citizens about Jack the Ripper. Some of them are about to help and some of them refuse to answer. Sara reacts to Jeremy, “I am not getting that much information, are you?” “No,” he responds, “But I have a thought on where we can find additional information.” They decide to go back to the police service and ask to speak with Detective Horton or Detective Bouvier. The constable informs them that they are out on a case.
The constable looks around and says, “We’re not allowed to inform anyone of this, but there have been murders of prostitutes still going on. They made up the disappearance of Jack the Ripper due to many of the constables being too afraid to be out late at night. So, every time we have a murder prostitute, we swept it under the rug.” “That’s terrible,” answers Sara, “How could you not inform the town’s citizen of what’s going on?” The constable replies, “The citizens went into seclusion! We had to get them back to normal somehow.” Jeremy, feeling defeated, responds, “Thank you my good man for the information.”
Meanwhile, Detective Horton and Bouvier are speaking to citizens who are informing them that a couple was asking questions and Jack the Ripper. “They are trying to ruin our investigation,” states Bouvier, “how do we know if they haven’t previously cracked the case?” “Not to worry, Bouvier. They undoubtedly don’t know what they are doing. What we need to do is keep the citizens calm,” replies Horton. After speaking with some of the citizens, they begin to journey back to the police service. Once they walk in, they see Jeremy and Sara sitting at their desk. They walk towards them and Horton greets them with, “Hello.”
Angry, Jeremy says, “We know how you are keeping the townspeople in the dark when it comes to the Ripper! We want to know everything you know!” Bouvier stands up and shouts, “why you little” – Horton put his hand on Bouvier’s shoulder and replies, “We have no clue what you are talking about? We were told to investigate these murders. We had no idea about any other murders. Did you, Bouvier?” Bouvier looks straight ahead and says, “No.” Jeremy questions, “What kind of police service this is that they are keeping their detectives in the dark?”
“I fully understand your frustrations and we are trying our best to help you find the person who murdered your friend,” Horton states, “We will contact you swiftly as we get a lead.” Jeremy and Sara, exhausted, get up and leave. Outside the police service, the couple agrees that maybe it’s best to let the detectives do the investigation. Meanwhile, furious, Bouvier says, “You should have let me at them. I would have thrown them out of here in a snap.” Horton tells Bouvier that he is heading to the laboratory to wash his face. While walking there, Horton gleeful face turns into fury that the couple had returned and started asking question.
In the hallway, other constables see him talking out loud to himself and begin to whisper about him doing so. This is very uncommon for and some thought that maybe his partner, Bouvier, is rubbing off on him. When he finally made it to the laboratory, he opens the door to find Jack the Ripper standing right in front of him.
In the laboratory, Horton begin to speak with Jack, “Now that I found you, what do you have to say for yourself, Jack?” Jack starts clapping, “Congratulation, detective! You found me! But you haven’t won the game yet!” Jack laughs, “You haven’t told me what my reasons were. Or who am I? How did I become the Great Jack the Ripper! I know I WILL LIVE IN INFAMY! But the question should be: Whatever happened to Horton?” Horton confuse, replies, “I beg your pardon? I’m not going causing mayhem and murdering innocent women!” Jack angrily screams, “They were just simple prostitutes! Nasty, filthy street mongrels! I helped you guys clean up Whitechapel district’s streets! You’re very welcome, copper!”
Horton, shaken up by what he sees, says, “You do not have to say anything if” – Jack laughs harder, “Do you actually think you can arrest me?” “Stop it!” Horton screams, “Now you listened to me! I am in control now! You do what I say, do I make myself clear?” Jack responds, “If that was the case, you could have saved those street mongrels.” He laughs, “You are weak and always have been. You need me to complete you.” Horton responds, “I don’t need you. I never thought you would end up like this. You are not the person I once knew.”
Frustrated, Jack says, “I am the person that you knew. You always knew me and who I was. Deep down, all the things I did, you always wanted to do yourself, but didn’t have the guts to. Face it, you are jealous! You must hide behind a façade while I get to be me!” Horton rushes over to the sink to throw water on himself. He looks up and there’s Jack again in the mirror. Taunting Horton, Jack says, “It bums me out that the only time I can come out and play is when you feel like it. You never really accepted me, did you? Come on! Say it with me! I, Jack Horton, am Jack the Ripper! Come on, it’s fun. Say it! SAY IT!”
Horton looks at the mirror above the laboratory full length mirror on the wall and back at the mirror above the sink and realizes that his reflection is talking to him. Jack continues, “Your guilt is eating you alive, which is how I can talk to you face to face. You should’ve stuck with me; I could have got rid of any guilt you thought you may.” Jack laughs. Horton yells, “Shut up!” jack continues to laugh. Horton screams, “SHUT UP!” and as he breaks the mirror on the wall, pieces of it fall to the floor. Horton looks up to find he has company, Jeremy. Jeremy with determination says, “I heard the entire thing. I will be reporting you, Horton…Or should I say Jack the Ripper?” Horton explains to Jeremy, “Okay, but please don’t be afraid. How about I give you more information about myself. Yes, my name is Jack. Yes, Jack the Ripper. But what you don’t know, is that now you know too much…and now you must die.”
