Power Struggles Chapter 2
Julia stared at the closed door. In the seven years they had lived in this house, she swore she'd never seen that door closed. By the time William came out of the bathroom, nearly dressed, Julia had riled herself up and was feeling angry at him all over again. Motivated by her anger, she had decided to wear William's favorite dress. He had told her it took nearly all of his self-control to keep from unbuttoning the pearly buttons running down the front. "Let him feel the pain of being denied what he wants," she thought. She asked William to help her with her corset. He did so in silence, showing no signs of being aroused by the usually intimate activity. Julia was sure he noticed her choice of outfit as his eyes seemed to stall on her as she put it on.
When they opened their bedroom door they could tell that Eloise was downstairs by the smell of bacon wafting up the stairs. Eloise had agreed to watch the children until their Aunt Ruby and Uncle Jasper arrived (the children's nanny, Claire-Marie had taken a few days off for the holiday).
William and Julia shared a cab to work. William told Julia that Jasper agreed to bring the children by later so that he could put a waterproof cover on William Jr.'s cast, allowing the boy to play lightly out in the snow without the cast getting wet. Annoyed, Julia stressed, "As a medical doctor, I must tell you William that he should not use his wrist much. He needs to rest it. It needs to remain still in order to heal properly."
William acquiesced, agreeing to send them to the book store to buy comics instead. He argued that there was still value in making the cover – it would help if it rained or snowed, and William Jr. could wear it when he took a bath.
As they were exiting the cab, Julia seemed unable to resist the chance to remind William that if he had been more responsible, they wouldn't need to worry about such things. The Inspector was just arriving at the stationhouse and overheard their fighting. He teased Murdoch, "Want a scotch yet me ole' mucker?" Seeing the degree of stress the younger man was in he added, "There will always be good days and bad days, Murdoch …. Remember, I've seen the good doctor naked too, I know there are definitely some reasons to make up, hey?" He gave the younger man a smack on the back and walked with him into the station.
William responded to a call claiming the exercise rider for Seagram Stable's "Inferno," the favorite to win the final race of the season at Woodbine Racetrack, did not show up for morning training and the man's landlord said it looked like foul play. At first, everyone at the track assumed the rider, Billy Tanger, missed training because of the snow, but the horse's groom insisted he would have come anyway. The evidence at Tanger's home consisted of blood stains in the bathroom and indications that his body had been dragged out of his bungalow across the yard and over a fence. William also found bottle of a frozen liquid outside in the snow near the fence. In the man's home, he found a journal that looked to be very old and well used. The entries were all in the same handwriting and didn't have dates. They seemed to record animal abuses. The first one involved a dog that had followed a boy home. The boy had been forced to kill the dog by his father so the family would not be tempted to feed the dog any of the few resources they had. He made the boy tie the dog down on his back and stab it through the heart Most of the other incidents involved horses. The most recent involved abuse of a mare by a blacksmith that was beaten with a red hot rasp (file).
Back at the morgue, Julia was nearly finished performing the second postmortem for Detective Dermott from stationhouse #5. The body had been brought in yesterday while she was out celebrating Thanksgiving. The victim had similar wounds to the blacksmith (Dermott's first victim), but this man's identification indicated that he was an exercise rider. He had died earlier than the body brought in the day before Thanksgiving.
Higgins came into the morgue with the bottle of liquid Detective Murdoch had found at the missing man's home, now unfrozen. He said that Detective Murdoch wanted her to analyze it. "He expects me to drop everything for him," she thought. Julia replied, curtly, "Tell Detective Murdoch that I do not work only for him and I won't be able to test it until later this afternoon."
When Higgins brought the bottle back, William found it hard not to take Julia's rejection personally. He tried to tell himself that she probably really was too busy and her refusal to run the tests had nothing to do with her anger at him. He decided to go over to the morgue and do the analysis himself.
William entered the morgue to find another body in the theater and Julia at her desk writing up the report. He thought, "She really is busy." "Doctor," he asked, making an effort to sound as professional as he could, "I see you are very busy, is it alright if I test the liquid myself?" Julia agreed and helped him gather the correct supplies, including a reference book, he needed. He settled down at the seat by the shelves in the theater and started testing the pH of the liquid. He found it to be only slightly acidic…
Detective Dermott arrived for the results of his second victim's post mortem. The two detectives acknowledged each other. Julia brought the nearly finished report down into the theater and stood with Dermott next to the body. Dermott complimented Julia's beautiful dress, staring down at her breasts. He let out a little whistle and then winked at her.
William cleared his throat and caught Dermott's eye with a threatening look.
Julia informed Dermott of the findings, time of death, etc. She stressed that the weapon and method of stabbing seemed similar for both of his victim's. Pointing at the corpse's chest she said, "The angle of the wound suggests the murderer was short but quite strong." Julia turned to stand directly in front of Dermott. She then lifted her right arm above her head, pretending to hold the weapon. Her eyes focused squarely on Dermott's chest, she pretended to drive the weapon into his left pectoral muscle, making contact with his chest and leaving her hand to rest there. Julia then used her left hand to trace across his chest the path made under the skin by the weapon, diagonally down through the heart. She left both of her hands on his chest and lifted her eyes to meet his. She said, "Of course, detective, you are so tall that the difference between our heights and the difference between the heights of the victim and murderer are relatively the same." Still keeping her hands on him, she continued, "I'd say the murderer was about 5'1" at most."
Dermott reached out and placed his hand on Julia's hair, lightly stroking her ear with his thumb, and said, "So he would be about this much shorter than the victim?"
"Yes," Julia responded, rubbing her hands over his chest before taking them away.
William watched the scene. His ears were ringing and his mind felt nearly blank, but hot. His jaw clenched and his fingers curled up into fists. He imagined storming over to them, shoving them apart and punching Dermott in the nose. Almost at the exact same time he pictured grabbing Julia by her shoulders and shaking her – aggressively. William saw the morgue door in his mind's eye. He wanted out and he wanted out now! Planning on avoiding directly passing them, he took the longer way towards the door.
Julia noticed William heading for the door and immediately went to block him by going the other way. "Don't you dare leave that mess!" she warned. Julia ended up in between William and the morgue door. She could see the degree of upset William was in. Fear and regret pulsed through her. She quickly apologized, "William, I'm sorry. It was a mistake."
William refused to look at her. "Move out of the way," he said, jaw gritted tight. Julia let her fuming husband pass. He pushed so hard on door that for first time she could remember, she heard it hit the outside wall. She felt herself pulled outward behind him as if the wind tunnel of William's wake were dragging her along after him.
Detective Dermott stood very close behind Julia, wrapping his arms around her waist he said, "Let him go," as he leaned down to attempt to kiss her. Julia spun around to face him, pushing back against him, trying to break free of his grasp. He tightened his grip and said, "So the rumors of your paradise love are not true after all. You're looking for something better than your odd husband." He leaned down to her once again, attempting to kiss her mouth. "I'd be glad to fill in," he leered.
Julia forcefully pushed him away. She yelled, "Back off Dermott … I was only trying to make William jealous." She realized that she had led the man on and apologized to him, working to sound as professional as possible she said, "I'm sorry. That was very unprofessional of me … and inconsiderate of you. You have every right be angry at me, but William really is the only man for me." Dermott was clearly angry. He shoved her to the floor.
Julia felt the sting of her elbow hitting the ground so hard. She lifted herself back up to stand once again and reasoned, "Detective Dermott, please calm down … There are still more findings you need." Having already released some of his anger with the shove, he took a deep breath and walked back to the body to await the rest of her report.
Uncle Jasper and Aunt Ruby showed up with the children at Murdoch's office. Higgins excitedly greeted them all. William put the water-proof cover on William Jr.'s cast. Then he sent them to a book store instead of to the park to play. He made sure to give Julia credit for being a good doctor and a good mother by reminding him of the importance of William Jr. resting his wrist so it can heal.
Back in the morgue, Julia speculated that there may never have been a time in her life that she regretted something as much as she regretted flirting with Detective Dermott in front of William – Perhaps leaving him to go to Buffalo. She knew she had to figure out what drove her to do such a terrible thing. She felt mad at William, and helpless to protect their children from what she felt was his extreme risk-taking. Anger did seem to drive her choices to wear this particular dress today and to come-on to Detective Dermott in order to make William jealous. "But, what is causing such anger?" she thought. She knew it had to do with the helplessness. It felt to her like there were similarities with this situation and when she left for Buffalo. In that instance she also felt helpless – in that case of being able to keep William's love. Julia knew she hadn't gotten to the core of this new problem yet, but she decided to complete the analysis of the liquid evidence William had been working on. It would allow her an excuse to see him.
William must have spilled some of the liquid when he stormed out – when Julia lifted the bottle some of the fluid got on her fingers. The moment she touched it she could taste garlic in her mouth. She used this clue and the reference book she had left for William to determine that the chemical was dimethyl-sulfoxide (DMSO). The drug was made as a by-product of cutting wood in saw mills. The book said that it is sometimes used on horses. Julia called Mrs. Lily Adeline Livingston, a wealthy American who recently moved to Ontario and was stirring up the horse-racing circuit. She was referred to a veterinarian, Dr. Robert Carter, who informed Julia that DMSO is used for inflammation in horses. He added that some trainers also use it to get around the anti-drugging rules because of its transdermal drug delivery capabilities – it can carry illegal substances into the blood stream through the skin.
Julia brought the results of the drug analysis to William. She knocked on his office door, waiting to be invited in. He looked up, avoiding looking at her eyes, and then quickly looked back down at the papers on his desk. A few moments passed. It seemed his plan was going to be to ignore her. She was not going to let that happen.
"I tested your liquid, detective. I must say, what I found is quite intriguing," she offered. He continued to ignore her, so she entered on her own accord, hanging her coat on the rack as she passed it. She placed the bottle down in front of him on his desk. "William … touch the liquid around the top of the bottle," she said, knowing that the unusual request would spark his curiosity.
William sighed. He pressed his finger to the lid. A look of surprise came over his face. He said, "You can taste it instantly!" For the briefest moment, he looked at her.
She felt her heart warm and flip as he did so – his expression so much like that of an excited little boy, full of discovery and wonder. She loved when he had that look. But it died away so quickly, her heart sinking as her regret flowed in to replace the joy. William returned his gaze to his papers.
Julia proceeded to tell William everything about the DMSO. She knew he was listening, although he never gave away a sign that he was doing so. When she was done William said, "I'll go question people at Woodbine (the track where the missing exercise rider worked) he said, holding his gaze away from her.
He rose and began to put on his coat. Julia hurriedly grabbed her coat and once again blocked his exit and apologized. Eyes still fixed beyond her, William said, "I'm furious with you, Julia. I don't want to talk to you – I don't even want to look at you. You need to get out of my way." Tears welled up in her eyes and she stepped aside. William abruptly stepped out.
Murdoch learned that the trainer of another horse that the missing man exercised had a reputation for lacing DMSO with cocaine and other illegal drugs and then administering it epidermally (through the skin) to his horses before their races. He considered whether the Billy Tanger's journal of animal abuses would include such an entry. He would have to check when he got back to the station. He also discovered that this trainer was the missing man's father, Peter Tanger. Peter Tanger was currently in the hospital as the result of an explosion in his home last night.
Also, there was a rivalry between Billy Tanger and another exercise rider, Stephen Billings (Murdoch believed this may be the name of Detective Dermott's second victim), fueled by the alleged affair between Billings' wife and Billy Tanger. Actually, the deeper he dug, the more apparent it became that the racing world was very cut-throat, with fierce competition between riders as well as between trainers. Questions about animal abuse were met with defensiveness, but it seemed obvious that such abuses were common. All in all, Murdoch left the racetrack with a bad taste in his mouth.
Back in his office later, William sat at the work table reading the Tanger's journal and filling out a chart. Higgins had found some newspaper articles and Humane Society reports that described cases of animal abuses that matched some of the journal entries.
Julia let herself in and closed his office doors. Higgins, out in the bull pen, noticed. William had glanced her way, but returned his attention to his work. She hung up her coat and walked over to pull a stool up close to him and took a seat. She leaned her face over in front of him, trying to draw him to listen to her. "William, please let me apologize to you," she said, quietly.
William still refused to look at her, but he did decide to speak. He said, "In the past, Julia, I have become jealous because one man or another made a pass at you. But I have never known you to come-on to another man… It's even worse because you were trying to hurt me – admiring things about him with your flirtations that you know I lack, like being tall. I don't understand why you would do that." William paused and after a sigh continued, "I know you're mad – you think I took too big of a risk with the children – but this is too much." He turned on his stool as if he were preparing to get up and said, "One of the best things in my life has always been being able to see myself in your eyes … but now all I see when I look there is a stupid, short, untrustworthy man. I really don't care to look there anymore." William got up and walked over to get his coat.
"William, don't go … I'll leave. It's your office," she said, rushing to the coat rack to try to grab her coat first. With her coat over her arm she moved to stand in front of him, blocking the door. "I'll leave, William," she repeated, dropping her eyes to the ground and turning to leave. Julia turned back to face him once more, "William, please just give me chance to explain … I really think it will help … us."
Inspector Brackenreid answered a phone call in his office. Then he called Higgins in. He asked, "Higgins, what do you think is going on with the detective and the doctor?"
Higgins leaned in closer to the Inspector, both of them keeping their eyes pinned on the couple in the detective's office, "They seem to be arguing sir. It's been going on all day. I think Dr. Ogden is trying to apologize to Detective Murdoch, sir."
"That's very interesting, bug-a-lugs," the Inspector replied, "First thing this morning I saw that it was the doctor who was mad at the detective. I wonder what he did to get her to be apologizing to him. Maybe there really is something to this "modern marriage" they seem to have," he speculated. They watched a bit longer as the couple went back to sit down and continue their discussion. The Inspector said, "That was a call about a body. Both of them will be needed to go to the scene. Let's give them a few minutes to work out their problems. They'll work better if they aren't in the middle of a fight."
Julia thought she saw the slightest glimmer of hope in William's eyes before he turned to go back and sit on his stool. She re-hung her coat on the rack. Julia coached herself, "Trust in the deepest truths you can find." She returned to the stool next to William.
His eyes were once again down on the victim's journal and the chart he was making. After what he had said about seeing himself in her eyes, she knew she wanted him to see her sincerity – she was about to take a risk and reveal more of herself than her instincts felt was wise. Julia took a chance and decided to touch him. She reached out, gently placing her fingers under his chin and turning him to face her. "Oh my God he is so handsome," she noticed, surprising herself with the thought. She heard herself take a deep breath, like one does before they plunge into a cold lake. She began, "Upon reflection, William, I found that my bad decisions, and I acknowledge that they were very harmful, were driven by my feelings of helplessness. Now, what is the opposite of helplessness? – control, power and control, William – that's what I think this is all about."
She was glad to see she still held his eyes. Julia continued, "You know, all relationships involve a distribution of power – you have more power than Higgins, but you have less than the Inspector. We are always negotiating the relative distribution of our power with others. Traditional marriage gives the man much more power than the woman – but if you think of Margaret and the Inspector for instance, you'll see there are ways for the woman to gain an advantage. Fortunately, we have agreed that our marriage will be based on equality … something I truly appreciate about you William. She paused, organizing her thoughts. You and I have power struggles about certain issues, like how to spend our money and … I'm sorry, William, I'm rambling… Um …" Julia shifted on her stool.
She looked down at her hands, catching her wedding rings in her focus. ""The deepest truth, Julia," she reminded herself, "He deserves to know." When she picked her gaze back up to meet him, she found that he was leaning in much closer to her. "When I saw William Jr. in a cast, I expected you to feel guilty about it. Subconsciously I thought I could use this to my advantage to gain power over you – to have more control over how safely you behave with our children. Ever since the tree-climbing incident I have wanted to stop you from taking such risks with them."
William nodded.
Julia went on, "I must admit I was totally surprised that you did not seem to feel guilty, that you even argued that your decision to let them sled down a hill with a road at the bottom of it was reasonable. I felt completely helpless in protecting our children from such decisions in the future. It was that helplessness that made me angry. Then I turned to shaming you, hoping it would disarm you. Only when I saw you the next morning, and you said that you were angry with me, did I realize it didn't work."
She turned away from him, feeling the shame of what she was about to reveal rising up. Tears were forming, and she felt the accompanying lump in her throat as well. William leaned even more towards her.
From the Inspector's office, the Inspector and Higgins were still watching Murdoch and Dr. Ogden. The Inspector said, "It looks like Murdoch might fall off his chair. I wonder what she's saying that so has his interest?" he queried.
Higgins worried, "Don't you think I should interrupt them about the body, sir?"
"It can wait, Higgins. The body isn't going anywhere. Is the carriage outside?" he replied.
"I'm sure it is by now, sir," he answered, "Do you want me to go tell the driver to wait a bit longer?"
The Inspector agreed.
Julia dug down deep to find the courage – and trust, to face him. She pushed herself to say, "I wanted to gain the upper hand over you, William … And I turned to something I believed was my strong suit – sex." She paused, looking for his reaction.
William said, "I've always thought we were pretty equal when it came to sex. I mean, it seems to me that each one of us seems to desire the other with the same degree of passion. And that each one of us … um … satisfies the other equally well."
Julia sniffed and wiped away a tear. She was no longer crying. "Really William," she said with confidence, "Don't you see that men are so easy when it comes to sex? I mean they're aroused or they're not … They've had an orgasm or they haven't. Honestly William, you wake up in the morning with an erection. Sex is the first thing on your mind."
William blushed a little.
Julia sighed, signaling a shift in the conversation, "Whether I was right or not, I thought I could gain power over you by making you desire me sexually and then withholding myself from you. I thought you would give me what I wanted because you wanted me. That's why I chose to wear this dress (Julia leaned back and signaled with her hands towards her bosom – William's eyes drifted down briefly to take in the sight of her well-lifted breasts pressing for their freedom against the delicate pearly-buttoned restraints) and that's why I flirted with Detective Dermott – to gain power over you." Julia started to cry once more, her forehead wrinkled up and her eyes became pink and pooled with liquid. She swallowed and said, "It was so greedy of me to want more control over the raising of our children than you. It was selfish … and wrong. And hurting you didn't make me feel powerful, it just made me feel awful…" Julia's crying escalated, bordering on sobbing. "William, please forgive me," she pleaded. She wiped her nose with the back of her wrist. Her eyes held his, boldly revealing to him her shame and desperation.
William reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his handkerchief from above his heart, which he felt had opened. She took it gratefully and turned away to blow her nose and wipe her tears. William stood up and wrapped his arm around her waist to pull Julia off of her stool and close to him. She tucked her arms under his and wrapped them around his waist, hugging him tight, and she cried on his shoulder. William cradled her head with his other hand, lightly caressing her ear through her curls. His touch communicated the care and forgiveness she longed for and caused her weeping to surge stronger as the feelings of relief washed over her. He gave her the softest of kisses in her ear.
The Inspector left his office to meet Higgins as he came back into the station after informing the driver to wait. "You can go interrupt Murdoch and the doctor now. They seem through," he said, tilting his head towards Murdoch's office.
Higgins knocked and then opened the door. "Sir … Doctor, You're both needed," he said. Julia went to pull away but William held her a little tighter so she stayed. Without turning, William responded, "We'll just be a minute constable." Higgins left, pulling the door closed behind him.
William's voice reassured her as he said in her ear, the tone of his voice pervading deep into her soul, "That did help." And then he rocked her just a bit. A few moments later she pulled back, wiped her eyes, and they put on their coats and headed together to share the carriage ride to the crime scene.
Higgins and William waited in the carriage while Julia got her medical bag in the morgue. The carriage that would bring the body back had already left for the racetrack where the body – said to be Billy Tanger had been found. When Julia joined them she looked well-recovered from her crying. She sat next to William and across from Higgins. William knew he was feeling better because his mind kept being distracted by the desire to touch her, hold her, kiss her… "Maybe she was right that women hold most of the power in sexual matters," he thought.
The ride was long. The track was not technically even within the district of stationhouse #4, rather it was under Stationhouse #5, Detective Dermott's jurisdiction, but Tanger was now considered Murdoch's case. Higgins broke the long silence, "So, how was your Thanksgiving?"
William and Julia shared a look. William answered, the discomfort detectable in his voice, "It was memorable."
"Oh yes, that's right. I saw William Jr. had a cast," the constable said.
William wrinkled up the corners of his mouth and said, "Yes, a very unfortunate accident."
Julia changed the subject, "You know, I've been thinking about the case … Do you think it is connected with … (Julia suddenly found it hard to say Dermott's name, knowing it would likely stir up unpleasant feelings in William. She pushed herself to move forward) … Detective Dermott's cases. I mean all three men are connected with horses and work at Woodbine."
William reacted to the bringing up of Dermott's name, but it was just a quick twitch.
Julia continued, "If Tanger was stabbed in the same manner …"
William interrupted, "Julia, I did hear you describe how Dermott's victims were killed … There was not enough blood in his bungalow to account for that… I guess he could have been killed elsewhere, if it ends up being a similar stabbing." He held the glance with her longer than would be expected, finding himself once again distracted by thoughts of kissing her. She noticed and responded by reaching up and stroking his cheek. He leaned closer to her and whispered in her ear, "I must admit you were right – My desire for you overpowers me." They pulled back and shared a look – sparks of love twinkling in their eyes. Higgins made no effort to avert his stare.
When they arrived at the scene, they were accompanied to the manure pile, which was largely still under the snow. This was fortunate because they had to walk out to the body – a good twenty feet into the pile and the snow largely kept their shoes clean. Inferno's groom found the body, well technically his dog did. A horse blanket had been placed over the body, catching the snow. The groom had pulled back an edge of the blanket to expose Tanger's face.
William removed the blanket, commenting that, "The snow on the blanket indicates the body was placed here before the snowstorm finished yesterday – I think that was around 2 PM."
Tanger's body was laid out much like it would be if in a casket – on the back, legs together and hands together over the stomach. The only clothing seemed to be his pants. There was some dried blood coming from the nose.
Julia said, "Placing the body here certainly seems to be making a statement about what the murderer thought of Tanger."
Julia squatted down next to the body, noticing a red rash on the chest and neck. William joined her on the opposite side of the body. On closer inspection, under the Adam's apple on the neck there was a layer of what looked like a solidified liquid that had pooled in the indentation.
William took off his glove and reached out to touch the substance, "I wonder if that's DMSO," he thought, "If so, a touch will produce a taste."
Julia quickly reached across the body to stop him, "William don't! It may have something else dissolved in it … Remember DMSO can be used to carry substances through the skin. It may even be how he was killed. I see no other obvious means – no bullet or stab wounds and no clear injury to the head either. Just this nosebleed..." she said. Julia opened her medical bag, withdrew an empty vial and a swab, and collected a sample of the substance.
William noticed that the body, particularly the mouth, exuded a strange smell. It reminded him of the smell of the saw mills he worked in when he worked at the logging camps. Julia pointed out that such a smell likely indicated the presence of DMSO because it is a byproduct of processing wood. In his pants' pocket, William found a necklace. "Perhaps this is related to Billings' wife somehow," he thought to himself, "but would other riders, like Billings know how to use DMSO – if that even is how Tanger was killed."
"Julia," William asked, "What was the name of the exercise rider who was the victim in Dermott's case?"
"Stephen Billings," she replied, "Why?"
He rubbed his forehead (Julia knew this to indicate he was stressed) and said, "Billy Tanger was said to be having an affair with Stephen Billings' wife … I found this necklace in Tanger's pocket…" William wrinkled up the left side of his face as if to say, "maybe?" "I'll need to interview her," he decided.
"Can I take the body?" Julia asked as she stood from her squatted position.
William also stood up and indicated that he wanted her to wait a moment. He addressed Higgins, "Higgins, head back over to the stables and get the names of anyone who was working here on Thanksgiving. We'll need to question them. Based on the snow on the blanket, the body was placed here sometime between Wednesday night after dark and Thanksgiving morning, probably before 9 AM.
After Higgins left, William looked around to see if Julia's assistants were close enough to overhear. He stepped around the body to join Julia and said he didn't want her to go. He gave her a gentle kiss. Although it was soft, it held so much promise. Julia felt her body respond.
"I don't want to go either, but the sooner I finish this postmortem, the sooner I can go home – hopefully you won't be too late…" she said.
"Hopefully," he replied, sounding a bit pessimistic. "Well, I'll stop by to get your preliminary findings after I question the possible witnesses Higgins gathers up here. I'll have him bring Billings' wife to the station for questioning," he said. Then William gave her another, more passionate kiss and turned to head up to the stables.
Julia motioned to her assistants to come take the body, instructing them, "Make sure to keep your gloves on and avoid touching or removing the frozen liquid on his neck."
Back at the station, William placed a dozen snow-white roses into a brown expanding file folder, taking care to keep them from being crushed or broken. He had plans for leaving them for Julia later this evening, but needed a way to hide them from view when he first entered the house. He found his mind wandering back to the time that he placed a bottle of absinthe from a case in a similar folder. Of course, the flashes of memory went back even further to when he was, for the first time in his life, lying on top of Julia, kissing her passionately. He had already known he was in love with her. He was so elated to know she had similar feelings for him. He remembered her telling him that without protection, they would have to abstain – but that there would be other chances for them. William laughed to himself upon recognizing that she was right, but oh, how much longer it would be until those chances arose, and my, how many more times in their lifetimes they would act upon those chances.
He moved to the blackboard and began to record and organize the evidence from the case. No one at the track had seen anything out of the ordinary, so William wrote that the likely time the body was left in the manure pile at Woodbine was after 10 PM Wednesday night – the last time anyone would have been there to see it. During his interview of Billings' wife he discovered she was battered by her husband. She had explained that Billy Tanger was furious when she returned his necklace and broke off their relationship, fearing retribution to herself and Billy if she did not. So, he wrote that Hannah Billings had provided a motive for Tanger to have killed Billings – but it could also have been Billings who killed Tanger – it all hinged on the time of death.
William headed over to the morgue. He greeted Julia in the typical professional way he used when he was there to discuss a case, "Good afternoon doctor. Have you any initial results of Tanger's postmortem?" However, he was clearly looking around to see if they were alone. It appeared that there was nobody else but the two of them in the morgue.
Julia responded with a similar greeting, "Yes detective, I have." She had reason to believe the cause of death was an overdose of cocaine due to the contraction of the vessels in the heart and the nosebleed. The substance on the body's neck did test positive for both DMSO and cocaine, suggesting the murderer laced the DMSO with a deadly amount of cocaine and poured it on Tanger's skin. She was currently running tests on Tanger's urine to look for the presence of dimethyl sulfide and dimethyl sulfone, both of which result from the body's metabolism of DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide). Also, the presence of halitosis (severe bad breath) indicated the presence of DMSO in the body because both of these metabolic by-products are also removed through pulmonary excretion – through the lungs.
William asked about the crucial time of death. Julia informed him that the body being exposed to the freezing temperatures made it difficult to be certain, but based on both rigor and temperature he likely died between 6 PM and 10 PM on Wednesday night.
William asked, "Julia, what was the time of death for Stephen Billings?"
"He died earlier, most likely early Wednesday morning," she answered. William could see the wheels in her mind turning. She asked, "William, do you think Tanger killed Billings? … And if so, then he probably also killed the victim in Dermott's first case as well! Tanger was the right height and he certainly was strong enough too."
William nodded.
"Oh my, William! You've just solved both of his cases for him!" Julia exclaimed.
William sighed, "Yes it seems so. I guess I'll have to call him … To be honest Julia, I'm not looking forward to talking with him … after …"
Julia interrupted him, "Yes, of course. I'm so sorry to have put you in that position."
William wrinkled up the left side of his face and added, "I've never really liked him very much. This certainly didn't help."
"I think you should know that I apologized to him for using him to make you jealous," Julia said, forcing herself to look William in the eye. "He seemed alright when he left here, but he clearly was angry with me right after you left … and I rejected his advances."
"He shouldn't have made advances, Julia – even if you did first. And I remember him eying you up and whistling and winking before you … placed your hands on him. He behaved inappropriately. I will need to deal with him – and I guess informing him about solving his cases will force me to do so sooner rather than later," he reasoned. William seemed agitated again.
Julia knew she should probably tell William about Dermott shoving her to the ground, but she didn't want to rile him up even more. Further, William's re-aroused anger worried her – perhaps he was mad at her again. Perhaps the issue was not resolved as she had hoped. "William, are you …" she started to ask but hesitated as fear crept up in her belly. She walked towards him, encouraging herself to trust that the forgiveness and understanding she felt with him earlier were true. She stopped in front of him and made sure she had his attention. She sighed and continued, "I'm worried that you are angry with me again …" she finally blurted out.
William responded by fondling one of her wayward curls. "I'm mad at Dermott Julia, not you. Your actions with him this morning are behind us. You've explained why you behaved the way you did and you've repaired the damage," he said. He tilted his head in preparation to kiss her.
Julia brought her lips to his. At that moment the morgue door opened and Richard, one of Julia's assistants, came in. The couple reluctantly pulled apart. Richard dropped his eyes to the floor and said, "We should have the results of the urinalysis now doctor."
Keeping her eyes glued to William's, Julia thanked Richard for minding the time and asked him to gather the results. She whispered, "Until later, Mr. Murdoch," in William's ear and he left.