ACT 3
William Murdoch knew the end was near, as soon the Inspector and the others looked at him and his wife. He felt her tense beside him and held her hand lovingly. ''Its time?'' he asked.
''Yes, Sir,'' George replied after a breath.
''And the suspects?'' the detective asked.
''We already took care of it Murdoch,'' the Inspector said and took a deep breath. '' I'll be here to support your weight, Crabtree, you help Watts to pull away the car.''
''Yes, Sir!'' George nodded and Nina squeezed his hand.
''I will help you constable,'' Mr. Dilbert offered before turning to the detective. ''Detective, I really apologize for having put you into this, it was all my fault.''
''No, it wasn't, Mr. Dilbert, you did the right thing exposing the criminals and I was just accomplishing my duty,'' he said with a sad smile. ''And Sir, I would like to say a few words.''
''Go ahead Murdoch.'' The Inspector nodded.
''I would like to say Sir, that It was an honor serve under your command,'' Murdoch said. ''And George, it was an equal honor serve alongside you and Det Watts.'' He turned to Julia, who was trying to hold back her tears.
''William…''
''Julia, whatever happens, I want you to know that I love you more than words can say… and the time we spent together, was the most wonderful I ever experienced.'' He smiled and in response Julia give him a tender kiss.
''I love you too William, very, very much and I will be right here with you.'' she said, and the detective nodded.
''Alright, I'm ready,'' he said and once the Inspector stood there to support him, Watts and George start to push the car.
Everything went like a slow motion; even with the Inspector´s support, William fell on the ground with a yelp. Immediately, Nina and George, as well as the ambulance attendant, hurried to stop the bleeding, with no avail. Julia cradled her husband´s head on her lap
In the meantime, William kept his eyes focus on Julia, as both lovers stared at each other, till eventually, his eyes shut and he fell limp on Julia´s lap. With trembling hand, the woman placed a finger on her husband's neck and realizing he had gone, started to weep.
The group stood there in shocked silence for a few minutes, not wanting to disturb the woman who cried for her husband, while in other hand they here just watching, as if the dead detective would get up in any minute, till the morgue attendants arrived and a woman who had come looking for Mr. Dilbert an hour ago, manage to lead Julia away from the body.
Not only a minute later, when everyone left in silence, the traffic started to flow normally again.
_/_
Half an hour later, at the morgue, Miss Hart was not busy. Det Watts came with the attendants, who wheeled a body.
''Detective!'' she smiled. Deferent from Murdoch, Watts was kind to her and he was her favorite detective. ''What can I do for you? I heard that was a traffic accident. Is everything alright?''
''Actually, Miss Hart, it isn't. Sadly, detective Murdoch was one of the victims…'' Watts said as the attendant moved the body to the slab.
''Oh…'' Mss. Hart raised an eyebrow. ''My… my deepest condolences to you and of course, Dr. Ogden.''
''I will pass the condolences and… Dr. Ogden asked me to tell you to not perform the autopsy on her husband´s body, she will formalize the request I suppose, but she wanted you to know.''
''That is quite all right. Thank you, detective.'' Miss Hart smiled and went back to her reading.
_/_
At George´s house, the young constable was sitting on his favorite chair, staring into nothing, when he heard knocks on his door. It was Nina, who excused herself from the Star Room for the day, to keep company with her sweetheart.
''George!'' Nina exclaimed as soon as George opened the door. ''I´m so sorry George, how are you feeling?''
''I´m in shock actually,'' he replied. ''I know its our duty to save people and I know many of us perish doing our jobs… I just… its just hard to believe the detective became one of them,'' he said, returning the hug.
''He was a good man, a good detective for what I knew him,'' Nina said.
''He was a good man indeed Nina, he taught me a lot of what I know today, both as a constable and as a man,'' George said quietly, and Nina smiled after taking a deep breath.
''I suppose what you have to do now is just carry on, putting in practice everything the detective taught you,'' she told him, and they kept embracing each other, while trying to forget the tragedy of the last events.
_/_
Three days later, just after the services, Mr. Dilbert came to the station with a folder in hands and went into the Inspector´s office to talk.
''Inspector,'' he started. ''I confess that I'm still shocked by what happened… I mean, I knew Detective Murdoch was doing his duty, but I can´t help but feel guilty; after all, it was supposed to be me…''
''What you want to say Mr. Dilbert?'' the Inspector asked, confused. ''No one blamed you for what happened, not even Dr. Ogden.''
''Still, Inspector, I would like to make sure Mrs. Murdoch will been taken care of, you know what I mean… Her husband´s things should be left to her.''
''I already spoke with the Chief Constable about it. All of Murdoch´s affairs will be sent to his widow, no exception. Don´t worry about it, Mr. Dilbert.''
''And… how… how is she?'' he asked, and the Inspector huffed and looked to the office, where now Watts was taking care of a few things.
''We all lost something that day, Mr. Dilbert, but Dr. Ogden had lost the most. Det Murdoch was her soul mate, the love of her life and she lost him. It destroyed her, as much as she tried to be brave, its clear that part of he, died with him that day, as well as part of all whole town. Nothing will be the same without Murdoch,'' the Inspector replied and Mr. Dilbert Just nodded.
_/_
Two years had passed and nothing much changed in Toronto since then. One afternoon, a woman in black passed by the street where once occurred the biggest accident Toronto had ever seen, and took a deep sad breath. It had been two years since her husband´s passing and even still Dr. Ogden remained in mourning.
As she passed by that fateful street on her way to her favorite café, Julia closed her eyes for an instant. The street of course was clean and busy now after two years, but Julia could still clearly see the accident in her mind.
Suddenly, she felt a light breeze touch her skin and smiled, with her eyes still closed, imagining her loved-one being there with her.
''I love you William,'' she whispered to the breeze, and opening her eyes, she continued on her way, happy somehow to imagine her William was still with her and never left.
END.