"His name is Pollack. Percival Pollack." William tells Julia and I as the constables put him on the gurney. I just happened to be hanging out with Julia when we got the call.
"The lawyer?" I ask
"Yes" William confirms. "When can I expect your report, Doctor Ogden?"
"I'll perform the post-mortem right away." Julia tells him.
"Thank you." He tells her while we push the body out of the station.
I turn on the song three little maids to listen to while Julia works. I come join her and see starts cleaning under his fingernails and so on so forth. I hold a container under it to catch when is under them,
"Perfect timing. Just finishing with our patient." Julia says.
"And?" William asks her.
"The cause of death was massive blood loss due to a single puncture wound to the heart." Julia explains.
"And the weapon?" My husband asks.
"A narrow-bladed knife." Julia says "I think the killer knew what he was doing."
"Why do you say that?" William asks.
"there's no bruising around the wound. He realized there was know reason to drive the weapon to the hilt" she tells him.
"As if he had done it before. Where there ay defensive wounds?"
"None" Julia says, "Perhaps the killer surprised Mr. Pollack."
"That, of the victim and killer knew each other." I mention.
"Did you find any fibers of hairs?" William asks
"No hair, but I did find this in the scalp." Julia tells him as she holds up test tube and hands it over to my husband.
"Sawdust?" He asks
"Precisely" Julia agrees.
"Where did he pick that up?" William asks
"Perhaps a construction site or sawmill?" I say.
"Anywhere there was carpentry. And the time of death?" He asks her.
"Based on decay, discoloration, rigor, I'd say 36 to 48 hours ago." Julia tells him.
"Interesting. He was last seen a week ago." William explains.
"That leaves five days unaccounted for." I tell them.
"There's one thin. I found these in the wound." Julia tells him. Handing him another tube.
"Pupae any idea what species?" William asks
"Entomology is not my field." Julia replies.
William looks at me. "Sorry, I wouldn't know. They are children, just not human children." I laugh at my joke.
"Thank you for these." William says.
"It was my pleasure." Julia says.
William leaves the morgue. Julia and I continue to gossip.
I walk into the station and see him talking with George. I walk right up to his desk.
"How was the meeting with the chief?" I ask him. I drop of something to eat for him like I do many times when I visit.
"I think it went very well." He tells me.
"Well, I had a good word from my brother put in as well. I know you want this position." I let him know.
"You didn't have to Juliet."
"Of course, I had to. You are my husband. Your dreams are my dreams."
"Thank you. You are always so thoughtful." He tells me.
"I spoke with the stationmaster." George informs us.
"And?" William asks
"Mr. Pollack did have a ticket to Montreal, but it was never used." George explains
"So, he was dropped at the station, but never boarded the train. What became of him?"
"Murdoch. Get your hat." Inspector says coming and going quickly.
"I will see you later, Juliet." He tells me giving me a kiss then leaving.
"And I you." I tell him. I leave the station. I head back to the morgue to hang out with Julia. Then it's off to the hospital to check on my patients.
"First, Percy Pollack, Lawyer. And now Judge Henry Scott. It would seem as though someone has it in for officers of the court and that the next target is you, sir" William tells the Inspector.
"Gentlemen, I have the preliminary results." Julia says. "Judge Scott died from-"
"A wound almost identical to the one that killed Percy Pollack." Inspector finishes
"That's right." Julia says "The weapon was a narrow-bladed knife, possibly a-"
"Stiletto" Inspector finishes again.
"That would be consistent, yes." Julia says. "Uh, the blow was delivered between-"
"The third and fourth vertebrosternal ribs." Inspector interrupts again.
"Is there something you haven't shared with us, sir?" William asks. The Inspector sighs and walks off. I shrug it off knowing that he sometimes does that.
"Well, I need to head to the hospital." I tell Julia after William follows the Inspector.
"I will see you later." Julia replies as I walk out.
I head off to the hospital to check on all my little kids there. I head back to join Julia after.
Her and I go to the station.
"Detective." She calls as we both walk into the office.
"Ug," I say covering my nose. I try not to have any sickness. "What on earth is that odor?"
"Perhaps something has died in the walls. A mouse or a rat or something.
"I don't think there is any perhaps about it. How can you stand it?" Julia asks him covering her nose as well.
"I suppose I've become accustomed to it." William says still writing on his blackboard.
"Yeah, or lost your sense of smell." I tell him.
"Shall we step outside?" He offers
"Yes" I say practically running everyone over to get out. "Oh, much better"
"I finished with the exhumed remains." Julia says pulling out the file.
"Ah, and?" William asks
"The bone structure is too small to be Ayotte. But it is consistent with one of the other escapees Vitacelli." Julia explains to him.
"So Vitacelli is killed, his body burned." William tells us.
"The doctor performing the post-mortem misidentifies the corpse as Ayotte, allowing him to escape." I say.
"I find it hard to believe a doctor worth his letters would make that kind of mistake." William says.
"So do I." Julia says "Let me look into it."
"I'd appreciate that." William says.
"So, is it true?" Julia asks him.
"Is what true?" William asks confused,
"That you have applied for a new position."
"Yes."
"Well, I would be sorry to see you leave." Julia tells him.
Julia and I leave as George calls for William's attention.
"You know you will still see my husband and I lots right?" I tell her.
"Of course, I would." Julia replies.
"Then why are you so upset?"
"Because, William is a breath of fresh air with all the rest of the detectives."
"Who knows maybe they will find one that you can fall in love with." I tell her. Bugging her.
"That is unlikely, Juliet. You know that."
"True you are very picky of your men."
"Juliet." She gasps
"What am I untrue?" I ask her.
"No, I guess not." She finally agrees.
We continue our way to the morgue.
"William, you wanted to see us?" I say as Julia, and I walk into his office. "Oh my!" Julia and I both cover our noses. "I really must insist that you do something about whatever has died in your walls."
"Nothing has died. It's liver rotting. I've been conducting an experiment, and your just in time. The pupae recovered from Pollack's wound have hatched" William says. We both walk over to the drawer he has hidden them in.
"June bugs" Julia says.
We quickly head back to the morgue and pull-out books.
"According to this. The pupal form an 18-day incubation period before hatching into adult June bugs." I tell them reading from a book. "The June bug pupae virtually all hatch on the same day."
"Yes, I spoke to an entomologist at the University of Toronto, and he told me that they all hatched five days ago." William told us.
"But your June bugs hatched today." Julia said.
"Yes." William agrees "What could cause that?"
"Well, there could be a number of factors that could cause a delay in their development, I suppose. A cold snap, for example. But the weather has been singularly hot." Julia says. I notice William get that far away look in his eyes.
"Percy Pollack was stabbed. His body was left on the ground for some time. That's how the June bug pupae got into the wound. But something delayed their hatching. Sawdust." William goes over in his head.
"Excuse me?" Julia asks
"You told me you found sawdust on Pollack's body. Sawdust is used as insulation in icehouses. Which means Pollack's body-"
"Was kept cold in an icehouse, causing the delay in the hatching of the June bugs." I finish.
"But, more importantly if we factor in the five days' delay in the hatching, that would mean Percy was actually murdered-" William continues.
"The very night he was to have left Toronto." I finish once again.
"And that changes everything." William says. William leaves the Morgue.
"I guess it does change everything." I say to Julia. "I looked into Dr. Sherman. He is dead now, but he did share a practice Dr. Gilbert Birkins" I tell her.
"I should get that information to William as soon as I can." She quickly leaves the morgue. I follow her slowly, heading home. I know constables don't believe in coincidences, but I really hope this is one hell of one.
