Chapter 7
"Constable Crabtree! Hurry up, Dr Grace is waiting." William received the summons from the desk sergeant when he arrived at work, and tagged George to accompany him. The coroner had already been asked to the scene by the fire chief, and she in turn requested Murdoch's presence. Crabtree and Murdoch took their bicycles from the wrought iron rack outside the Station House and sped off to the scene. The rain had let up so the trip was not as bad as it could have been. Dr Grace was aware that the detective was interested in any case involving a fire, and in this instance the fire victims appeared to be crime victims also, as well as within his jurisdiction.
Dr Grace was standing next to the morgue wagon, brushing soot (unsuccessfully) off her coat, when they arrived. Her hat was soggy. It was obvious she had not be able to avoid the worst of the rain. The corpses had been pulled from the building by firemen who were called to put the blaze out, and William observed that in the process, the crime scene, such as it was, had been disturbed beyond useful examination.
William greeted her by pulling on his hat brim. "What have you, Dr Grace?"
"Two men. The building was ostensibly abandoned and shuttered, so they may have just been seeking shelter out of the rain last night, or even living there on a more extended basis." Dr Grace knew Toronto had as many as 210,000 souls by some counts, with more pouring in daily, and there was not enough housing for them all. New immigrants were particularly vulnerable to exploitation, recruitment by gangs, and poverty, if there was no other social or ethnic group to which they could appeal for mutual aide. She often encountered the most unfortunate of them in the course of her work.
She continued. "As far as I can tell the cause of death for each was a single blow to the head that I judge may pre-date the building collapsing on the bodies. I will have to examine the remains more carefully in the morgue to discern if that killed them instantly, or the fire did. As you can see, they are badly burned and I think an accelerant was used." She leaned in and inhaled. "Kerosene, perhaps?"
William also sniffed and concurred. "Will you run tests for the accelerant and labs to determine if there was alcohol involved?" He waited while she nodded. "Do you have any other information about the deaths, doctor?"
"Yes, detective, I do. Constable, will you hold this please?" Dr Grace asked George to hold open the blanket and she proceeded to show them what she discovered.
"Fascinating," the detective agreed. William produced his measuring tape, tweezers and notebook from his jacket, to examine and record the information. Dr Grace then took the bodies with her to the morgue.
He and George completed their sketches, witness lists and preliminary interviews as the sky cleared. "What do you think, George?" asked the detective.
"I think it is entirely possible we have a new the connection," answered George, tapping his finger on his own notebook. "What will we do now?"
"Let's see what Dr Grace has on autopsy. But we will not do anything, George. The inspector does not know about the angle I am pursuing and I don't want you to get on his bad side in this." William did not want anything to jeopardize a potential promotion for the constable.