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Chapter 4. Murder in the Street

A year later, a terrible murder takes place in a central part of London.

It happens near the River Thames at 11 o 'clock at night.

A small, crooked man beats an old gentleman to death.

A woman reports this murder to the police at 3 in the morning.

This woman works as a cleaning lady in a rich man's house.

At 11 at night, she is standing at her bedroom's window.

She sees an old gentleman looking around in the street.

Then, a crooked, short man appears near him.

The old man stops him politely and says something to him.

The woman can see both men clearly in the moonlight.

Perhaps the old man is asking for directions to the nearest cap stand, she thinks to herself.

Then, she recognizes the crooked man.

It is Mr. Hyde.

He sometimes visits her master, and she dislikes him.

Suddenly, the woman sees Hyde waving his cane at the old man angrily.

Then, he hits the old man with it.

The poor old man falls down.

Hyde continues to beat him until his wooden cane breaks in two.

He tramples over his body and quickly walks away.

The woman faints in horror at this sight.

She comes to herself at 3 in the morning.

The old man is lying dead on the street.

One of part of Hyde's cane is near the man.

The woman immediately calls for the police.

When the police arrive, they want to know who the dead man is.

They find an envelope in one of his pockets.

The envelope has Utterson's name and address on it.

It has a stamp and a seal too.

So, the police call Utterson to the scene.

Utterson recognizes the dead man.

This is Sir Danverskaru, he says.

I knew him very well.

I am his lawyer.

Danverskaru is a very important man.

So, now the police are more interested in the murder.

The police start to look for the murderer immediately.

And the police inspector asks for Utterson's help because he is a lawyer.

He knows many people in London.

The inspector shows him the broken cane and Utterson gets shocked.

I remember this cane.

It is my gift to Dr. Jekyll.

He thinks to himself.

Then he turns to the inspector and says,

The killer is a small crooked man, isn't he?

Yes, the cleaning lady says so, the inspector answers.

So Utterson quickly goes to Dr. Jekyll's house.

Dr. Jekyll also knows about the murder.

It is in all the newspapers.

I am afraid of Hyde now.

He can kill me too.

Jekyll says to him, there is panic in his voice.

And Utterson can feel it too.

You must give me Hyde's address, he says.

The police must catch him quickly.

And Jekyll gives the address of Hyde's house in a poor and bad neighborhood.

An hour later, Utterson and the inspector arrive at Hyde's building.

The land lady opens the door and says, Mr. Hyde is not there at the moment.

Then she says, he has a room upstairs, but I rarely see him.

He comes late in the evenings and leaves early in the mornings.

Then they all go to his room.

It is a big mess.

There are clothes on the floor.

The other half of the broken cane is there too.

Utterson notices an expensive painting on the wall and valuable objects on the shelves.

They all belong to Dr. Jekyll.

The inspector finds pieces of burnt paper covered with ashes.

One of them is the burnt end of a checkbook.

He examines the book and is very excited.

Mr. Utterson, we can catch this man very soon.

We will go to his bank and wait there.

He will need money and come to the bank very soon.