It was eerily quiet outside. No cars. No sirens. No people. Just the Ripper and me, stepping out into the dark. He turned sharply when we stepped out of the building and headed toward the river. The building was very close to the Thames, and King William Street continued straight on to London Bridge—one continuous sidewalk. Newman walked to the middle of the bridge, and I stayed with him, fighting every impulse to start running and never, ever stop.

The Thames was well illuminated, lined with buildings and landmarks. This was the main alley of London, and all the lights were on tonight.

“Hypnos,” he said, holding up one of the diamonds. “It has a faint gray hint to the flaw.”

He held up the other for comparison.

“And this is Thanatos. A similar color, but slightly more greenish if you look at it. Persephone’s flaw is distinctly more blue.”

I could barely see the diamonds at all. The wind was blowing in my face, and I was much too frightened to process anything that detailed.

“They’re all slightly different in their effect,” he explained. “Hypnos is the fastest to take effect. Thanatos is a bit slower to take action, not by much. And Persephone, the one we will go and get now . . .”

He palmed the two diamonds and closed his fist around them.

“. . . was the one I carried. Quite powerful. That’s why I preferred her. Plus, it’s a lovely name—Persephone. The goddess of the Underworld. Dragged down to hell, then dragged right up again.”

Newman shook the two diamonds in his fist like they were dice, and then he drew his arm back and threw them. They vanished in midair before dropping into the river below.

“Two gone,” he said. “One to go. Come along, Aurora.”

He turned back and walked exactly the way we had just come, back down King William Street. East London is old and confusing, full of tiny streets and bends and turns, but his stride was purposeful and sure and quick. We walked right through the center of the London financial district, past the disappointed remains of Ripper parties, all waiting for that one last body. We wove through crowds of people, one living person and one dead person. In the dark, no one noticed the knife making its way along the city streets, held by no one. Or if they did, they would put it down to a trick of the eye, or a reflection, or too much beer.