As it turned out he had several minor matters to attend to throughout the work day (or so he told Julia) so he was unable to pay Miss Rosevear that visit until much later. Murdoch did not want to cause a scene at Minnie's Tea House so he instead went to Ruby's residence and waited for her return. When the landlord discovered he was a police officer, he graciously let Murdoch straight into her apartment, probably thinking she was in trouble...and rightly so.
The tiny space reminded him of his own bachelor accommodations, sparsely furnished and small, but meticulously tidy...except for the desk area. Piled all around it were what appeared to be newspaper clippings of his cases! Leafing through them briefly, he discovered they went back at least as far as the 1897 case involving the art heist. That had been a fairly high profile case, so he wasn't surprised it had attracted Ruby's attention. What did surprise him were the comprehensive notes she had taken about cases he had been unable to solve (at least at first) and how close her conclusions were to his own given how little she had to go on (newspapers didn't exactly go in depth about every clue). Still, she had been unsuccessful in ever solving a case for him and he wondered if that was in large part the reason she (he had no doubt about it) concocted last week's mystery so that she finally could.
Up to this point he had not been particularly perturbed. Ruby was hardly the first person to attempt to aid the constabulary, though she was by far the most zealous. However, when he picked up the folder that had been lying beside the notebook and found various different photographs of himself - not from newspapers mind you – he immediately had deja vu back to Leslie Garland and felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. Nevertheless, Murdoch forced himself to look through all of them, and when he came across his wedding day, he rubbed his forehead in consternation. Thankfully there did not appear to be any from his honeymoon. Even Ruby had her stalking limits.
Having had just about enough of this place, he was about to leave when the door burst open and there stood his most ardent admirer. Ruby looked like Dr. Grace when she had a brain to dissect, that is to say, maniacal. Unnerved, Murdoch gulped and backed away a few paces.
"Detective Murdoch!" she said disbelieving at her good fortune.
"Miss Rosevear," he replied, struggling to regain his composure.
As it was, he felt like a rat about to undergo experimentation.
"It's Ruby," she said, closing the door behind her. "Always Ruby to you, sir."
Murdoch cleared his throat and ignored her sultry look by staring off to the side. "Miss Rosevear, you have been accused of entering room 311 at the Windsor House Hotel yesterday evening without consent." He chanced a glance over to see that she once again looked fanatical. "What do you have to say for yourself?"
"Yes, that was me," she answered placidly.
Taken aback at the simply attained confession, Murdoch stumbled over his next words. "Oh, well, um...why did you do such a thing?"
"To see you of course," Ruby said, taken a step closer to him. "But you weren't home yet...so I just let myself in."
Right then he clued into something he should have realized much earlier. "You took my skeleton key."
A couple of days after the appreciation society had been in his office, he noticed it had gone missing. And since their lock had shown no signs of tampering, this was the only logical explanation.
"I must say, I'm ever so glad you decided to return the favour," she said as she advanced on him, eyes shining in a reminiscent way to his wife's during their more intimate moments. Murdoch moved out of her path and began eyeing the only exit, wondering when he would have to make a break for it.
"Miss Rosevear, you must come with me to the station house."
"Oh goody!" she exclaimed, clasping her hands together. "Is there another case you require my assistance with?!"
"What?" he snapped, dumbfounded. "No, no, there is no case. You are under arrest!"
That registered for all of two seconds and then she giddily held out her wrists and said, "Cuff me, Detective."
If he didn't know any better, he would have said she was looking forward to being restrained, not unlike his own wife.
"That won't be necessary, I'm sure." What he meant to say was, he didn't have handcuffs on his person. Normally he had a constable with him. "Please just follow me."
"All right!" she said, grabbing hold of his arm. "Let's go!"
"Miss Rosevear, please!" he yelped, extricating himself from her iron grip with difficulty.
A human trafficker had been the last stranger to blatantly touch him...and before that it was a murderous school girl! Why did he attract such affections from criminal elements?
Julia watched from behind the glass as her husband interviewed Miss Rosevear. William was attempting to get her to understand the gravity of her situation, but the silly girl was too busy making moon eyes at him to hear a word he was saying.
When he mentioned the missing tie, the girl stood up and in a sensual display (in Julia's mind anyway) started unbuttoning her blouse!
"What are you doing?!" William said, with a nervous glance in her direction. "Stop that at once!"
Wits scrambled, Julia charged into the room and probably would have attacked Ruby if not for the deluded girl's next response.
"Well, now, Detective," the exasperated girl said, "do you want your tie back or not?"
It was then that they both realized she was wearing the object in question. The idea that someone other than herself would do such a thing almost sent her to throttling.
"Yes, yes!" Julia barked. "Hand it over!"
Only when her husband asked her in a more polite manner did she comply.
Ruby slipped off the dark blue tie, William's favourite, and held it out to him. Julia snatched it out of her hand and stuffed it into her purse. She made a mental note to burn it later.
The girl had yet to button up her high neckline once more - preferring to stare dreamily at her awkwardly shifting husband instead - and Julia was almost beside herself with vexation.
"Cover yourself!" she ordered shrilly. Ruby paid her no mind and Julia cocked her head in William's direction. "Well?"
Clearing his throat, William repeated the order. Without taking her eyes off of William, Ruby made herself decent.
Julia caught her husband's eye and said, "Leave us."
Rather than foolishly arguing with her, he simply nodded once and left the room to stand watch. Because of this, Julia had no hope of getting her attention, not even when she snapped her fingers in Miss Rosevear's face. She exited the interview room and told William they needed complete privacy.
This time William was less eager to agree, but she gave him such a stormy look that he eventually retreated to his office.
Once he was gone, it was like a spell had been broken and Ruby blinked in confusion at her surroundings...and her.
"Who are you?" she asked, as if she really didn't know.
"Mrs. Murdoch," Julia replied, putting a harsh emphasis on her newfound designation. "Detective Murdoch's wife." Savagely she was pleased when the girl flinched as if she had been slapped. Julia sat down across from Ruby and gestured for her to do the same. "Do you have any notion that what you did was wrong, Miss Rosevear?"
"Yes," she said, eyes downcast.
"Why did you do it then?"
"I couldn't help myself." Ruby grimaced. "Detective Murdoch is just so..." The girl's eyes glazed over and Julia was about to bring her back to reality when she finished her thought. "Accomplished."
Julia did not need to ask what she truly meant by that. She sighed. "Indeed he is, Miss Rosevear. But there are many fine men in this city, many fine eligible men for you to choose from." She held up her rings. "Detective Murdoch is taken. You must now set your [deluded] sights on someone else."
Ruby sighed deeply as if the world no longer held any meaning for her. Julia felt ever so slightly bad for her. There had been several times throughout her own existence that she had felt the same.
"How can I when no one else will ever hold a candle to your...husband? There is no one else quite like him. He's the most brilliant man I've ever met. And so...accomplished," she finished again in a dreamy manner.
"Give it time, Miss Rosevear. In time I am sure you will find someone to...stimulate you to your satisfaction."
Gloomily, "I suppose."
"Perhaps a trip is in order [after your jail time]?"
Ruby gave her a funny look at this out of the blue suggestion. "A trip, Mrs. Murdoch?"
"Yes, I find travel to be quite invigorating and an excellent opportunity to meet new people [and possibly leave the country and never come back]."
"It has been awhile since I've left the city," she said slowly. "I've been so focused on-" The girl abruptly stopped speaking and gave Julia a guilty look. "I'm sorry. I've acted deplorably. It's no wonder that you despise me."
"I don't despise you, Miss Rosevear," Julia said, softening to the wretched creature. "Rather, I'm concerned about your state of mind. Such infatuations are not healthy." Putting duty ahead of her personal feelings she added, "In fact, I believe you would benefit from a hypnotic session. If we can get at the root of your obsession, we may be able to pull it out completely."
Miss Rosevear seemed frightened at the very idea. "I'm not so sure..."
Julia reached across the table and patted her hand. "I'm sorry, Miss Rosevear, but you have little choice in the matter. You either agree to the therapy or I will press charges and you will acquire a criminal record." Selling her point, "And Detective Murdoch abhors criminals."
Sure this was a bit hypocritical coming from her considering her own criminal record, but as she saw things, she was being incredibly gracious to offer her services, to a psychopath no less, and William could rest easy knowing his precious fan was not behind bars once again.
"All right," she agreed reluctantly.