Capturing the Devil

2019·1.89 MB·english

by  Kerri Maniscalco

Copyright
The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or
dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Copyright © 2019 by Kerri Maniscalco
Cover design by Derek Thornton
Cover copyright © 2019 Hachette Book Group, Inc.
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JIMMY Patterson Books / Little, Brown and Company
Hachette Book Group
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First ebook edition: September 2019
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Photographs courtesy of Welcome Collection: Bellevue Hospital, circa 1885/1898; post-
mortem set, London, England, 1860-1870; Saint Michael the Archangel: the fall of the
dragon and the rebel angels defeated by St Michael; Roses, Robert “Variae”; birds of the
crow family: four figures, including a crow, a raven and a rook; Typical Victorian Pharmacy,
Plough Court Pharmacy 1897.
Photographs courtesy of Shutterstock: Part One and Part Two images; New York City, circa
1889; gowns with beading and lace details; skull and rose tattoo image; map of Chicago,
circa 1900; Vintage Post Mortem Tools; goat skull with smoky background; wedding
invitation background.
Photographs courtesy of public domain: newspaper article circa 1893; H. H. Holmes circa
1880s/early 1890s; Court of Honor, World’s Fair, Chicago; murder castle.
Photographs courtesy of Alamy: St. Paul’s Chapel.
ISBN 978-0-316-48552-4
E3-20190810-JV-NF-ORI
Contents
COVER
TITLE PAGE
COPYRIGHT
DEDICATION
EPIGRAPH
PART ONE: NEW YORK CITY: 1889
ONE: DEATH COMES SWIFTLY
TWO: FIT FOR A PRINCESS
THREE: ROOM 31
FOUR: OLD SHAKESPEARE
FIVE: A HAUNTED PAST
SIX: A VICIOUS DISCOVERY
SEVEN: MISERY LANE
EIGHT: BARON OF SOMERSET
NINE: A DESPERATE REQUEST
TEN: CORPSE DELIVERY
ELEVEN: SKULL AND ROSE
TWELVE: BIRTHDAY SURPRISE
THIRTEEN: CHAOS UNLEASHED
FOURTEEN: COURTING A CRESSWELL
FIFTEEN: YOURS TO GIVE
SIXTEEN: A TANGLE OF LIMBS
SEVENTEEN: STILL AT LARGE
EIGHTEEN: MY VOW TO YOU
NINETEEN: DASHED TO BITS
TWENTY: INCONVENIENT ARRANGEMENT
TWENTY-ONE: AN IMPOSSIBLE POSITION
TWENTY-TWO: A QUEEN ARRIVES
TWENTY-THREE: WHAT’S IN A NAME?
TWENTY-FOUR: A STUDY OF CONTRASTS
TWENTY-FIVE: VIVISECTIONS AND OTHER HORRORS
TWENTY-SIX: THE DUKE OF PORTLAND
TWENTY-SEVEN: A SWIFT DEPARTURE
TWENTY-EIGHT: SATAN’S COMPANIONS
PART TWO: CHICAGO: 1889
TWENTY-NINE: THE SECOND CITY
THIRTY: ILLUMINATION
THIRTY-ONE: DEVIL’S DOMINION
THIRTY-TWO: THORNE IN MY SIDE
THIRTY-THREE: THIS DEVILISH PURSUIT
THIRTY-FOUR: WICKED SOULS
THIRTY-FIVE: DARK CREATURES
THIRTY-SIX: MURDER OF CROWS
THIRTY-SEVEN: A GRID SYSTEM
THIRTY-EIGHT: BE MINE
THIRTY-NINE: STRANGE DISAPPEARANCE
FORTY: INFERNO
FORTY-ONE: AGAINST ONE’S NATURE
FORTY-TWO: WHITE CITY STAINED RED
FORTY-THREE: COLD AS ICE
FORTY-FOUR: AN AVENGING ANGEL
FORTY-FIVE: MORE WICKED THAN HE
FORTY-SIX: CAPTIVITY: NIGHT ONE
FORTY-SEVEN: CAPTIVITY: NIGHT TWO
FORTY-EIGHT: CAPTIVITY: NIGHT THREE
FORTY-NINE: CAPTIVITY: NIGHT FOUR
FIFTY: OF BLOOD AND BONE
FIFTY-ONE: SATAN EMERGES
FIFTY-TWO: HEAVEN OR HELL
FIFTY-THREE: CAPTURING THE DEVIL
EPILOGUE: CRIME OF THE CENTURY
BEYOND LIFE, BEYOND DEATH; MY LOVE FOR THEE IS ETERNAL
AUTHOR’S NOTE
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
JIMMY PATTERSON BOOKS FOR YOUNG ADULT READERS
NEWSLETTERS
Dear reader,
Beyond life, beyond death;
my love for thee is eternal.
For ever and for ever farewell, Brutus!
If we do meet again, we’ll smile indeed;
If not, ’tis true this parting was well made.
—JULIUS CAESAR, ACT 5, SCENE 1
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Good night, good night!
Parting is such sweet sorrow,
That I shall say good night till it
be morrow.
—ROMEO AND JULIET, ACT 2, SCENE 2
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp’d towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.
—THE TEMPEST, ACT 4, SCENE 1
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE