Murdoch Solves a Murder in the 21st Century

by DoctorH

A complete teleplay, just like an actual Murdoch episode. Murdoch's detective skills help break open a case that occurs over a hundred years later. No time travel is involved, there are no departures from the canon; it's a mystery with a touch of humour. Solution(s) included. I'd love it if they actually made an episode like this!

3. ACT 3

ACT III

(FADE IN. Exterior of the PRESENT-DAY POLICE STATION. It is early evening. CUT TO: Interior of the POLICE STATION. SIMS is at her desk, reading the book and simultaneously eating a sandwich. FINNEY approaches. SIMS looks up.)

FINNEY
Well, what do you think?

SIMS
I'm not very far into the story, but I haven't seen many similarities so far. The victim in this story (shaking the book to indicate it) was stabbed. Not like the Porter case, where Donovan got shot. And the detective here (shaking the book) identified the prime suspect almost immediately. Cripes, virtually every friend of the victim accused the same guy.

FINNEY
Yeah, yeah, yeah, the details of the crimes are different. But this business with the alibis?

SIMS
I'm just getting to that. This suspect's alibi (shaking the book to indicate it) is supposedly a cop.

FINNEY (smiles knowingly)
Just like Porter's alibi, eh?

SIMS
I don't know, yet.

(SIMS returns to reading. CUT TO: STATION HOUSE NO. 4, late afternoon or early evening. CUT TO: BRACKENREID'S OFFICE. MURDOCH, BRACKENREID and CRABTREE are there. BRACKENREID is the only one that is seated. BRACKENREID is in a good mood.)

BRACKENREID
So everybody points the finger at this Wallace fellow, do they?

MURDOCH
Yes, sir. The witnesses who know Mr. O'Casey well were unanimous in directing us to Ted Wallace. And so we went to talk to Mr. Wallace.

BRACKENREID
You talked to him. Did you arrest him?

MURDOCH (uncomfortably)
No, sir. The accusations made by Mr. O'Casey's friends are only hearsay, and— well, he did speak with us voluntarily, sir. He denied killing Mr. O'Casey—

BRACKENREID (sarcastic)
Now, THERE'S a big surprise.

MURDOCH
And he gave us what seemed to be a formidable alibi. Before we questioned him at length, we wanted to check his alibi with you first, sir.

BRACKENREID
Eh?

MURDOCH
YOU are his alibi, sir.

BRACKENREID (suddenly dead serious)
Me?

MURDOCH
Mr. Wallace says that, at nine o'clock this morning, he was with you. If I remember correctly, you were planning to speak to a group of young men. Perhaps one of them was Mr. Wallace?

(BRACKENREID tries to remember what happened that morning.)

BRACKENREID
Jonny Gray was worried about his boy, Jonny Junior, getting into trouble with the law. He asked me to have a word with Jonny Junior and three of his friends, to try to put the fear of God into them, to straighten them out. That's what I was doing from about eight-thirty to about nine-fifteen.

MURDOCH
Was Mr. Wallace present?

BRACKENREID (thinking)
I don't remember.

MURDOCH
Could you perhaps give a physical description of the people with whom you met?

BRACKENREID
The only one I could describe for sure is Jonny Junior; he looks like his father. As for the others, I can't really recall. They were all young men, all clean-shaven, all average height and build. They listened politely to what I had to say; they didn't say much. Didn't ask any questions. I know that's not much of a description.

CRABTREE
When we talked with Mr. Wallace, he was able to describe you, sir.

BRACKENREID
Really? What did he say?

CRABTREE
He said you were a pomp—

(MURDOCH interrupts before CRABTREE can say anything embarrassing.)

MURDOCH
He said enough that we were satisfied that he knew who you were.

(An idea hits BRACKENREID. He begins rummaging through his pockets.)

BRACKENREID
Wait a minute! I've got the names of the lads right here!

(He finds a slip of paper, and unfolds it, and gets ready to read the names)

BRACKENREID
There we are! These are the lads Jonny wanted me to talk to. (puts on glasses) All right. Jonathan Gray, Junior. Stewart Middleton. Patrick Burton. And— (stops reading, stunned)

MURDOCH
Ted Wallace?

(BRACKENREID nods.)

BRACKENREID (indicating the slip)
It says "Edward" here.

MURDOCH
"Ted" is a common shortened version of "Edward."

BRACKENREID
That it is.

(BRACKENREID takes off his glasses. The alibi suddenly seems pretty good to him.)

BRACKENREID
So I guess I was talking to Ted Wallace this morning at nine o'clock.

(Silence for a moment.)

CRABTREE
Sir, I do not want to suggest that I am as knowledgeable as Dr. Ogden, but my understanding is that time of death is not a precise thing. Mr. Wallace could have killed Mr. O'Casey before or after meeting with Inspector Brackenreid.

MURDOCH
Your meeting, sir: did anyone arrive late or leave early?

BRACKENREID
No.

MURDOCH
Where was your meeting, sir?

BRACKENREID
Jonny's house. It's at least half an hour away by horse or carriage.

(CUT TO: THE MORGUE, next morning. OGDEN reviews her records. MURDOCH and CRABTREE stand close by.)

OGDEN
Time of death was about nine o'clock, probably a little bit before. Give or take half an hour each way.

MURDOCH
That narrow time interval would seem to give further support to Mr. Wallace's alibi. There is no way he could have been with Inspector Brackenreid AND been at the scene of the crime, either before or after his meeting with Inspector Brackenreid.

OGDEN
Do you know whether Mr. Wallace owned a hunting knife? It appears that a hunting knife was the weapon used. The victim was both slashed and stabbed. There are defensive wounds, indicating the victim tried to fight back, at least at first. He may have been disabled by the slashes; he almost certainly was killed by one of the stabs. From the pattern of the wounds, and from bruises on the body, it appears that the attack was fairly rapid, you might even say frantic or vicious. The victim was stabbed, knocked down, slashed repeatedly, and stabbed repeatedly.

MURDOCH
The assailant would have been bloodied, no doubt.

OGDEN
Yes, almost certainly.

CRABTREE (recalling something)
Sir, do you recall what we were told about Mr. O'Casey's dog?

(MURDOCH nods; he remembers. CUT TO: WALLACE'S HOUSE, later that morning. WALLACE sits in a broken-down chair, questioned by MURDOCH, who stands. CRABTREE, also standing, takes notes.)

WALLACE
You checked, didn't you? That Officer Brackenbush supported my alibi, didn't he?

MURDOCH (correcting)
It's Inspector Brackenreid, and yes, he seemed to support what you said.

WALLACE (leans back, relieved)
Thank God. I was worried for a while; thought he might tell you officers a different story.

MURDOCH (does not like the insinuation)
Inspector Brackenreid does not falsify evidence.

WALLACE
Yeah. Well, I'm not going to be arrested, then?

MURDOCH
I still have a few questions for you: is it true that, some weeks ago, you stabbed Mr. O'Casey's dog?

WALLACE (lightly)
Is that a crime?

MURDOCH
Did you stab his dog?

WALLACE
Yes, I did. The dog tried to bite me, and I stabbed it. It was self-defence. Nobody can say otherwise.

(MURDOCH's expression suggests he doesn't believe a word of what he's just been told.)

MURDOCH
I take it then, you were carrying a knife when you encountered the dog.

WALLACE (reluctantly has to admit it)
Yeah. I was.

MURDOCH
What kind of knife?

WALLACE (hesitantly)
I don't know. It was an old hunting knife, I think. I don't have it anymore. You can search my house, search it right NOW if you want, you won't find that knife or any knife like it.

MURDOCH
I'm sure you're right about that.

(CUT TO: EXT. OF JONNY GRAY'S HOUSE, a much nicer place of residence. A horse-drawn carriage pulls up. MURDOCH is driving. CRABTREE has a stopwatch or watch. The carriage comes to a stop in front of the house.)

MURDOCH
How long, George?

CRABTREE (checks the watch)
Thirty-six minutes, from where Mr. O'Casey's body was found, sir.

MURDOCH
It's beginning to look to me as though Mr. Wallace had a motive to commit the murder, and perhaps the means for committing the murder, but—

CRABTREE
No window of opportunity to commit the murder.

(The front door to JONNY GRAY'S HOUSE opens, and GRAY senior appears, flanked by three young men, who are Gray JUNIOR, MIDDLETON and BURTON. CUT TO: A PARLOUR, INSIDE JONNY GRAY'S HOUSE. MURDOCH, CRABTREE, JUNIOR, MIDDLETON and BURTON are all seated. GRAY stands by the door to the parlour with his arms folded.)

MURDOCH
So, you all agree that Ted Wallace was here. He was right here in this room the entire time that Inspector Brackenreid was here.

(Heads nod.)

MIDDLETON
Oh, yes, if you mean Teddy, Teddy was here, the whole time, with us.

JUNIOR
He was. Teddy was here.

MURDOCH
You are all of his friends, of course, vouching for the whereabouts of another friend.

GRAY (chiming in)
Well, I'M not his friend. (confidently) Teddy was here, all right.

(MURDOCH accepts the comment from the elder GRAY with a modest nod.)

MIDDLETON
Is Teddy in some kind of trouble?

(MURDOCH is hesitant to answer. JUNIOR, MIDDLETON and BURTON all look at CRABTREE, and he feels he has to say something.)

CRABTREE
He is, that is, he WAS a suspect in a murder investigation.

(JUNIOR, MIDDLETON and BURTON are surprised; they look at one another, then at MURDOCH and CRABTREE.)

MIDDLETON
Who was Teddy supposed to have murdered?

MURDOCH
A man named William O'Casey.

(JUNIOR, MIDDLETON and BURTON are puzzled. They look at one another and shrug.)

JUNIOR
Who?

MURDOCH
William O'Casey. That was his real name. He was known to many people simply as "Oak."

(JUNIOR, MIDDLETON and BURTON remain puzzled; they shake their heads. GRAY shrugs, indicating he doesn't know the name, either. MURDOCH and CRABTREE look at one another.)

MURDOCH
Are any of you aware of the— the feud between this "Oak" and Mr. Wallace?

(JUNIOR, MIDDLETON and BURTON shake their heads.)

BURTON
He could've had a "feud," I guess. He never talked about it with us.

(MURDOCH and CRABTREE don't know what to make of this. FADE OUT.)