CHAPTER THIRTY

Saturday Night, July 1st

Toronto Harbour

Julia loved the movement. Their fifteen-foot oared skiff rocked ever so gently whilst the two of them leaned back on makeshift loungers to enjoy the sky. A light blanket covered her shoulders. The lake surface was calm as glass, fireworks shooting high overhead. They sparkled and boomed with an echo coming back from onshore buildings. It had been going on, gloriously, she thought, for almost thirty minutes. "William Murdoch, I genuinely cannot remember the last time I had so much fun. Aren't you glad I coaxed you to rent this boat and come out here?"

He stirred next to her. "Mmmm. I have never seen fireworks from this angle before; the water makes twice the display."

Julia snuggled against him. He was gently radiating heat and an intoxicating combination of soap and a woodsy cologne which she'd only had teasing samples of before, and now she could revel in it at her leisure. He'd made no romantic overtures towards her per se, yet he had not distanced himself from her physically as they lay there is the dark. In fact, he was steady and relaxed if his rhythmic heart rate beneath her ear was any indication. When the fireworks display began the grand finale with a series of multiple, sustained explosions, she heard his heart begin to race.

Don't flatter yourself, Julia, this man served in the war.

They both sat up to watch the finish and get ready for a short row to shore, where an outdoor circus was still going strong, full of bright lights and carnival music. She could make out the trapeze act playing out above the crowd on shore, competing with the fireworks for the audience's oohs and ahhs. She smiled to herself, recalling how he tried to explain the arc of motion as it applied to the act's apparatus. He was so animated and boyish she couldn't bear to tell him he lost her somewhere between oscillation and force vectors.

She leaned in to whisper close to his ear, speaking in between the launches of gunpowder and chemicals colouring the night sky. "When I was a child," she told him, "my parents took me and my sister to our lake house or to the rowing club for Dominion Day. It always ended with fireworks - the louder the better! After the war...well, it took me a while to not react to the sound of explosions, even a motorcar backfiring. I'm glad I can enjoy this now," she admitted to him. "This is my first fireworks since I left for England." The finale erupted with splashes of the brightest fireworks of the night in a cascade of colour and booms. They could hear applause and cheers from spectators on shore.

He got on the seat and took both oars after making sure their boat lanterns, fore and aft, were turned up. "I had a similar reaction. I got over it by using the police firing range. Took a while…"

"Good for you, for taking the bull by the horns, taking charge of your own fate so to speak. I approve."

She settled herself opposite him while he got the oars in the water and pulled the bow around.

"I also quite believe the war changed, well, just about everything. I know I'm not the woman I was before. For good or ill…Can you imagine me as a typical debutante?" she laughed. He laughed with her, and it sounded so genuine it warmed her through and through.

"I imagine it is all to the good for you, Julia. Toronto herself is not the same as when you left. For instance…" he paused and she saw a wrinkled grin, "we have a female city coroner now."

Julia brightened. "Yes, we do," she said, then turned immediately thoughtful. "William...I have to know, to understand. Why did you engineer my predecessor's departure?"

He shifted slightly as if weighing what to answer. "As I said, it is not my story to tell."

She pushed at him. "No, really, I need to know, if for no other reason that I do not wish to run afoul of whatever the snag was."

He sighed. "Dr. Lloyd was a victim of the Spanish influenza epidemic. He recovered, yet was afflicted with vision problems as many other people were - whether because of the infection or as a result of the ammoniated quinine used to treat it, I do not know. As an unfortunate consequence, he was not able to see well enough to perform his duties…"

She immediately grasped the problem. "He failed the Ishihara test? Why, he'd be at a loss, particularly with reagent testing, chromatography, or litmus testing, or...oh, my..." She felt alarmed and sad. "How awful for him."

He nodded. "He was ill-pleased when I was forced to point out the problem he was having, or when I had to redo his work. He finally admitted that all colours seemed dull and washed out to him, nearly grey. Instead of telling the truth about his disability and quietly resigning, he covered it up and then blamed me for harassing him."

It certainly explained a few things. "You let everyone continue to think you badgered him out of his job, didn't you?"

He shrugged. "I saw no reason to defame him. Dr. Lloyd can still successfully practice in some capacity as a physician…."

"But not a pathologist." Another new idea came to her. "It was you, wasn't it who gave me that box of chemical reagents. From your own supply!" He said nothing but she could tell she guessed correctly. It all made her feel better about her position as coroner, and even better about William. She snuggled closer. "Well, the new city coroner is feeling a little peckish. I wonder if we can grab some sandwiches and then I will let you take my motor and put her through her paces again, somewhere out in the country. It is only a first quarter moon and the stars are lovely and bright away from the city." Part of her plan was to get him alone with her in a romantic spot tonight to complete her seduction in the privacy of her car - or a blanket on the grass somewhere if it came to that. The night was warm enough. She was looking forward to getting him to make love to her... more than getting her basic animal needs attended to. I might even miss him when I'm gone…

Julia was jolted from daydreaming by the sound of a motor bearing down on them. "Look out!" He swung an oar to avoid collision when a bow-wave swelled their skiff upwards a split second before a narrow green prow sliced through the back of their boat, spinning her and him into the cool water.

"Basta! Sei Avverito!"

A wave caught her directly in the nose and mouth when she came up, pushing her down again. Lake Ontario roiled dangerously. A mouthful of strong-tasting lake threatened her lungs and the undertow swirled her dress around her legs, leaving her in blackness, trapped in the fabric, unable to kick to the surface. She pulled at the water with her arms to get oxygen, but in the dark, buffeted by the motorboat's wake, she had no idea which way was up. Her lungs burned, yet adrenaline surged through her muscles with a shot of strength. One hand clawed air because she felt her wrist squeezed and her body jerked by her arm with enough force to nearly tear her rotator cuff.

When her head broke the surface, she choked and heaved. He got her hand on the keel of the overturned skiff then grabbed more of her torso to pull her half out of the water. "What damned stupefied idiot did that!" she yelled, still gasping and spitting out half the lake from her heaving lungs.

"Are you all right?" he croaked at her.

She pushed her hair from her eyes. "Yes. Yes. Hell and damnation! How far are we from shore?"

"Can you swim?"

"Not in this dress, but I can make it if you help me."

An indeterminable amount of time later - and him pulling her towards shore - they straggled onto the beach, wet, disheveled, and out of breath. He looked ridiculous - this usually immaculately groomed man, with his suit bagging and sagging and his hair plastered over his face. How absurd the whole thing was, and how fickle her luck was at trying to seduce this too-serious detective. She could not help herself. She burst out laughing. She saw him try to hold back, but one little crack in his façade joined another until he let go with a belly laugh of his own. It completely transformed him.

After a moment, Julia exhaled. "Won't we have quite the story for the skiff owner when we explain where the current location of the boat is," she laughed at him again, his profile bright in the slim moonlight. He was so handsome, even soaking wet. The anticipation of kissing him once again flitted through her mind - the anticipation which was becoming its own delight.

"It's too bad about our starry night ride...I was looking forward to it," she sighed again, gesturing at their disheveled state. "I could still do with a bite to eat, and I imagine you could as well. I can have something sent up from the kitchen."

She smiled up at him, and she knew it was going to be impossible for him to say 'no.'

There was not much of a resistance from him. "All right, Julia. Besides, I believe you insisted I leave my hat there."