He was running to the morgue. He was running as fast as he could. He had not seen it coming and had decided to walk there. Now he regretted it. If only there was some way to predict the weather, he would not be runing like a madman in the street to escape the storm. When he finally reached the morgue, he almost sliped on the tiled floor, catching himself on the door handle.
"William, what's going on?" Julia asked, walking from her office to come and meet him at the door.
"It's raining." he simply said.
"I can see that." Julia laughed, taking his hat off and emptying the water that had accumulated on it in a buckett. "You should take your clothes off, you're going to get sick, you're drenched to the bones!"
"I know. I feel like I took a bath with my clothes on. And I was out there for only a couple of minutes. Do you have some towels or dry sheets that I could use?"
"Sure, leave your clothes here, I'll find something for you." she said, walking to a nearby closet.
First she brought some towels. She took his jacket and shirt and hung them in her office. When she walked back to him, she saw that his undershirt was wet too, it was completely see-through and she simply could not take her eyes off him.
"You're staring Julia."
"I know. You should take it off too." she suggested.
"I think I'll keep it on, just in case someone walks in."
"It's late William, everybody is gone. And given the weather, I doubt anyone will take the risk of drowning in the street." she laughed, playing with the hem of his undershirt. "And you would warm up much faster if your skin was completely dry."
"Well, if a doctor says so."
"Always listen to the doctor William." Julia said, pulling it off him.
She kissed him passionately as soon as he was free of his undershirt. She stopped when she felt him shiver.
"You really need to get warmer William." She said.
"Are you going to help me?" he asked, a knowing smile on his face.
"Yes. But I doubt we are thinking about the same sort of help." she laughed, walking away to take a blanket she kept in the closet by the door.
"Right. That is definitely not what I was thinking about." William laughed, wrapping himself in it and following Julia who had moved to a window from which she could see the rain pouring down in the street.
When William hugged her form behind, wrapping the blanket around the two of them, she sighed, letting herself go against his chest.
"I love storms." Julia said as lightning and thunder joined the rain.
"I know." William said, kissing the side of her face. "I remember." he laughed.
"Are you going to talk about it every time William?" Julia asked, annoyance in her voice.
"Probably." he laughed, hugging her closer.
"When I say I love storms, I don't mean I love storms."
"That could be confusing." William said.
"It is not the storms I love. It's the feeling of being safe inside that I love. And since you know that they scare me … a little, you try to distract me and it usually gets … interesting." Julia said, turning around in his arms to face him.
"Interesting, uh?" William smiled.
"Yes, you get all protective of me. I like that." she said, kissing him lightly.
"I like that too." William replied, kissing her more passionately.
As was the case with every thunderstorm, things heated rather quickly between the Murdochs. Only this time, George Crabtree appeared behind them.
Julia woke up and it was still dark outside. That was not normal. Something had waken her up. She rolled on her side to William only to find the bed empty.
"Right, Beaton Manor." she said in the empty bedroom.
William had called her in the evening to tell her that he would not be home that night, that he, the Inspector, George and Higgins would spend the night at Beaton Manor in search of the "ghost". Julia rolled on her stomach, her head burried in William's pillow, ready to go back to sleep. A few minutes later, she heard a noise downstairs. She turned her bedside lamp on and looked at the clock. It was three in the morning. As she was turning off the lamp, she heard something again. She got up, took her robe from the bed post and slowly went out of the bedroom. She could see some light downstairs, certainly coming from the kitchen. She walked down the stairs and towards the light.
"William?" she called.
The noise stopped and her husband appeared in the kitchen doorway.
"Julia? What are you doing out of bed? It's … I don't even know what time it is but you should be sleeping." he said softly.
"It's three Sir." Julia heard from behind the door.
She opened it completely and saw George, his uniform open, with a cup of tea in his hand.
"I'm sorry Doctor, we didn't mean to wake you up." he said.
"What's going on?" Julia asked, turning back to William, closing her robe over her very thin nightgown.
"We … saw something at the manor. Well, George and Higgins did. And one of the sons died. He's been sent to the morgue for you to examine in the morning." William explained. "The Inspector told us to go home and be back in the morning. George's boarding house is closed so I told him he could sleep here for a few hours."
"Of course. But you would be more comfortable having your tea in the living room." Julia said.
"We were trying not to wake you." William smiled, pushing a lock of hair behing her ear.
"Well, I'm awake now. And I would like some tea if there is any left." Julia said.
The three of them settled in the living room with their tea, William and Julia on the sofa, George in an armchair.
"So, did you catch your ghost?" Julia asked, cuddling into William's side who automatically put his arm around her shoulders.
George started to explain what had happened, William correcting some aspects of the story. When they had finished explaining what had happened, they were expecting some comments from Julia but none came.
"She's asleep Sir." George said, putting his empty cup on the table.
William looked down and saw that his wife was sleeping on his chest. He slowly put his cups on the table and looked at George.
"I think it's time for bed then." he said. "The guest room is the first door left of the staircase, you should find everything you need in there George."
"I can just sleep in here Sir, no need for ..."
"Don't be silly George. There is an empty room upstairs, you are not going to sleep on the sofa. Come on, I'll show you." William said, trying to move without waking Julia.
She did not seem to want to let go though and she clung to his vest as he tried to move.
"Alright, follow me George." William said, gathering Julia in his arms and carrying her up the stairs. "Wait here." he said, entering his bedroom to place Julia back in bed.
When he got back out, he found George looking at the pictures hanging on the wall. William showed him the bedroom, the bathroom and left him to settle for the rest of the night.
They were late. The late hour at wich they went to bed had made them oversleep. All three of them. They just had the time to get ready for work before rushing out the door. George went directly to the station house, William went to the morgue with Julia to show her the corpse that had been brought during the night. He explained everything that had happened in the family and asked her when he could have the results.
"William, I haven't even had my morning tea yet!" Julia complained.