Chapter 18:

"Well...I'm going to step down too." said William.

"This young lady was really very impressive and kind… wasn't she, William?" Margaret insisted, approaching him.

"I… Yes." he cleared his throat. "Finally, she has examined your son well."

"You seemed pensive." Brackenreid scoffed with his arms crossed. "By the way, I hope you found her watch."

"What watch?" Margaret asked eagerly.

"Oh…" William hesitated, very uncomfortable. "Yes… I found her watch."

"Well! She must have been overjoyed." his boss laughed again before heading to the cupboard to pour himself a Whiskey and pretending to deflect when he remembered his wife was in the room.

"Yes, yes… She was…" lied the young detective.

"Well, I find her very elegant and refined. You would go perfectly well together." Margaret declaimed, walking over to John with Bobby, to help him up. "She's so much better than that Colleen Forbes you're infatuated with."

"Infatuated?" repeated William surprised. "This woman does not interest me. We had dinner together and that was it. She has no charm, and we don't get along very well after all."

"Oh?" Margaret looked so surprised that she paused for a moment to observe her husband who, now sitting on the sofa, was staring at William with wide eyes.

"I thought it fit well between you two. And given your condition this morning…" observed Brackenreid.

"No… Besides, I didn't have time to thank you for that." William gave his superior a fake smile. "The shot of "there is no more room at my table" …"

"I told you it was a bad idea." Margaret gasped as Thomas flushed red with embarrassment. "No, William needs a woman like Doctor Ogden."

The detective stopped himself from turning red at Madam Brackenreid's statement.

"Yes… Finally, she is very close to this man… What is his name again?" the red-haired man mused.

"Magnus Duval." declared William without thinking, under the questioned looks of his friends. "Well, I think."

Thomas chuckled and Margaret seemed to understand that the young detective had not needed them to realize that he might just get along with Julia Ogden.

"Well… If I were you, I would hurry. This Mr. Duval seems to please her a lot…" concluded Margaret.

William stayed there for a few moments, deep in thought before slipping away. His friends were right. Julia Ogden seemed like a really great woman, and he needed to stop looking so stupid. He had to understand why he could not help but push her away and above all, she did not belong to him. She could do whatever she wanted so he should not have reacted that way when Mr. Duval came out of her room. They did not know each other, so she was not going to feel ashamed of inviting a man into her compartment when he had entered Colleen's last night.

The evening had passed quietly – for once. No arguing, no shouting, or no thefts… Nothing. And it was really good. William had taken a bath while admiring the landscape and then went to bed early. There had been no particular evening for this third night, since the train would arrive early the next morning in Sitka. All movement in the train had stopped and everyone had gone to sleep quietly in their compartment. A calm and serene night had announced itself.

Note: That's it. William is finally starting to realize what is happening to him and his friends too haha!