No sooner had I said this than there was a crisp knock on the door. Without waiting for a reply, a man walked into the room. He had a youngish face and a head of what seemed to be prematurely gray hair, and he was dressed in plain but well-tailored clothes—black overcoat, blue shirt, black pants. He could have been a banker or a model of some idealized traveler like I’d seen in the airplane magazine. Somebody expensive and polite and almost deliberately forgettable, except for the gray hair. Another man followed him—older, in a brown suit.

The gray-suited man gently shut the door and came around to the side of the bed closest to the window, where he could address both Stephen and me.

“My name is Mr. Thorpe, and I am a member of Her Majesty’s security service. My colleague represents the government of the United States. Forgive the intrusion. I understand you’ve both had a difficult evening.”

The unnamed American man folded his arms over his chest.

“What’s happening?” I asked Stephen.

“It’s all right,” Stephen said.

“We have some business to finish to clear this matter up,” Thorpe continued. “We require assurance that this matter is at an end.”

“It is,” Stephen said.

“You’re quite sure, Mr. Dene? Were you present?”

“Rory was.”

“Miss Deveaux, can you say without question that the . . . person . . . known as the Ripper is no longer with us?”

“He’s gone,” I said.

“You’re sure?”

“I’m sure,” I said. “I saw it happen. Jo took the terminus and . . .”

“And what?”

I looked at Stephen.

“They’re both gone,” I said.

“Both?” Mr. Thorpe said.

“Another . . . someone we work with.”

“One of them?” Mr. Thorpe said.

Just the way he said it made me hate him.

“The threat has been neutralized,” Stephen said evenly.

Mr. Thorpe sized us both up for a minute. Before, someone like him would have scared me to death. Now, he was nothing. A man in a suit, living and breathing.

“You must understand . . .” Mr. Thorpe bent down to speak to me. He’d overdone it on the breath mints. “ . . . that it’s not in your best interests to discuss what happened to you tonight. In fact, we must insist that you do not. Not with your friends, your family, any religious counselors or mental health professionals. The latter would be most detrimental to you personally, as your account would be interpreted as delusional. Furthermore, you have become involved with an agency covered by the Official Secrets Act. You are bound by law to remain silent. We think it’s best that you remain in the United Kingdom for the time being, while this affair is being sorted out. Should you choose to return to the United States, you will still remain bound by this law, due to the special relationship between our two countries.”

Mr. Thorpe looked to the man in the doorway, who nodded back.