Chapter 37:

The next morning, William woke up with difficulty. He was literally exhausted. Last night had been so hectic and his brain could not stop thinking about what had happened. He had no idea where to start his investigation. He could only wait for Julia's conclusions now if he wanted to do anything...

He quickly took a shower, clearly remembering that, at this very moment, in Julia's bathroom was a corpse. He dried off, got dressed and got out as quickly as possible. He walked through all the hallways until he came to the main dining car. But no-one. There was no one there and he had not met anyone. He thought that what had happened the day before had shaken them all and that was the reason why no one dared to get out of their wagon right now. Especially since the train was still at a standstill and the killer was among them. At least he could already exclude Julia, the Brackenreids and himself, that was already six suspects less…

He sat down at a table and thought. What should he do now? Just then, the door to the hallway opened and he looked up to see his superior enter.

"Ha! Murdoch…" Thomas quickly walked over to him and sat down on a chair across from him. "I thought I would find you there. What is your opinion?"

William shook his head. "I have no opinion, sir. We know that Mr. Lamoureux was alive when the train started. But without dating the death, the investigation will not be able to move forward."

"Yes, and with this breakdown…"

"Let's just talk about it. I don't think it's a coincidence that this breakdown..."

"I don't think so either. That would be one hell of a coincidence." nodded the chief inspector suspiciously. "Do we know what caused this failure?"

"Not at the moment… I think Pierre Barton and Zachary Lauzon worked on it the rest of the night."

"Hmm." muttered Thomas Brackenreid. "It is above all to be hoped that Doctor Ogden will be able to determine the time of death."

"I don't worry about it. Julia knows very well what she is doing." William smiled kindly.

He then frowned when he saw his superior's raised his eyebrows subjectively.

"You seem very close 'Julia' and you…" he started smiling. "Is…something going on between you then?"

"Sir…" William almost chided with an embarrassed smile.

"Oh, come on! Between us… You spent quite a bit of time with her. And Margaret and I were wondering… Did you like each other and all?" tried to dig out his superior.

William just smiled but said nothing. He got up from his chair and turned his back on his superior as he walked towards one of the train's windows.

"Oh, come on! Murdoch, you can tell me!" Brackenreid insisted humorously.

As William opened his mouth to retort, the hallway door suddenly opened.

"William!"

He turned around and saw the young woman entered the room vigorously, a large black notebook in her hand. He looked at her carefully and noticed that she looked really exhausted, her hair a little messy though braided.

"Have you found anything?" William asked softly.

She approached him, her nose still in her notebook, then looked up, a smile on her lips.

"I suspected you would be here. I went to your compartment, but you were not there." began the young woman.

William saw his superior give him a thumbs up behind Julia's back and he rolled his eyes… He could be a pain when he got down to it.

"I was able to find the time of death."

Brackenreid suddenly lost his smile and rose to join the two young people.

"So?"

"He died between 9:00 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. last night." she declared excitedly.

"It's very precise…" the chief inspector wondered.

"It's because he died less than 24 hours ago. It is easier to find the answer in this case. Indeed, the time of death is determined based on body temperature, ambient temperature, and body weight. And using a corrective factor, on the outer arc, it reads +/- 4.5h. Thus, the 95% reliability range is, in this specific case, + or 4.5 hours, which places the date of death between 104.5 = 5.5 hours and 10 + 4.5 = 14.5 hours earlier. But since he passed away not too long ago, that estimate is more accurate…" she explained excitedly.

William and Brackenreid stood speechless, their mouths hanging open. They did not understand anything.

"Okay…" laughed Thomas, impressed before looking at his best detective to see his expression.

The young detective also cast an admiring glance at his superior. Impressive…

"Well… So, you were saying that… that the estimated time of death is between 9:00 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. yesterday. »

Julia shook her head, her notebook clutched to her chest.

"It's interesting… It's good news. We can already exonerate several people." William moved back to the chair he had been sitting on previously and plopped down on it.

"Let's see the passenger list…"

Julia and the chief inspector came and sat opposite him and watched him consult the list of passengers that Walid Champagne, the owner of this train, had given them.

"Well then. Let's summarize." began William. "We are on The Winter Mist train, which is part of the Night Train Station company owned by Walid Champagne. So far so good… There are twenty-four passengers on this train, not counting the employees, but also counting Messrs. Barton and Lauzon."

"Let's start with the employees. Are they suspicious?" Thomas asked, finally crossing his arms as he leaned back quietly in his chair.

"Nope. They were all in the dining car between 9:00 p.m. and 9:30 p.m." William asserted.

"How do you remember that?" Julia asked suddenly, her mouth hanging open.

"He has the most impressive memory and intelligence you will ever see, Doctor Ogden." replied Inspector Brackenreid, glancing at William, who laughed nervously.

"Alright… Let's continue." he cleared his throat. "We can already clear Pierre Barton, who was driving the train. Zachary Lauzon having dinner with the entire Champagne family. We can therefore exonerate Alecia Champagne, Walid Champagne, and Nora Champagne. Then Hiram Lagacé, Amandine Wang and Gildas Godin were dining together at a table at that time too. I also saw Elizabeth Hébert and Colleen Forbes having dinner together."

"Very well. So, so far, none of these people have been able to kill Lazare. That does not mean, however, that they did not participate in the crime…" said Thomas Brackenreid wisely.

"Indeed, but we will see that later."

"So, the suspects are?" asked Julia.

"I haven't seen Mathias Rojas, nor the Novak brothers. I haven't seen Marie Gosselin either – quite strange as she usually never separates from her mistress. I didn't see... Magnus Duval?" he hesitated, glancing at Julia, who shook her head negatively. "And there was no Savard couple either: Mildred or Nathaniel..."

"That's still a lot of suspects…" sighed Brackenreid.

"Seven, to be precise."

"It's going to be complicated, isn't it?" Julia said.

"You can tell… The risk is that all these people were just in their rooms and that was their alibis. They won't be able to prove anything if no one has seen them."

There was a slight silence during which the three people reflected. Then Brackenreid spoke:

"Where do you think we should start?"

"I'm going to go and question Marie Gosselin. I find it strange that she was not with Madam Hébert at the time of the murder." William said as he got up from his chair.

"I will continue the autopsy of Mr. Lamoureux. I might find something more. We know he was strangled but right now I can't guess with what."

She got up and headed straight for the car door.

"Julia!" William stopped her, joining her near the door, under the curious and inquisitive gaze of his superior, whom he tried to ignore. "You need to rest…"

"After…"

William sighed. "Take care of yourself, don't wear yourself out, please."

Julia nodded, her gaze shining with admiration for him. He returned her gaze. He would have liked to kiss her, take her in his arms… But no. There was Inspector Brackenreid with his prying eyes right next to them.

Julia was about to leave when she turned, her gaze blank. "Wait… I just remembered something… I don't know if it's important but the last time, while eating in one of the restaurant cars, I saw Marie Gosselin at the table with her mistress. I saw her pour a white powder into a glass. At first, I thought it was medicine for her. Anti-stress or anxiolytic. But, with what's going on right now... I didn't see who drank the glass, but maybe it was for her mistress, and she wanted to hurt her? Maybe it's unrelated..."

"No, you were right to tell me about it. Thank you, Julia."

Note: So, know that I know absolutely nothing about medicine. I had lessons on dating death and all that stuff when I was in high school, but I didn't understand anything haha! I did some research on the internet to find out how they managed to date the time of death at the beginning of the 20th century, and I didn't really understand all that... Anyway, I found something, and I put it in my story! I know at the time they couldn't date the time of death with such precision, but hey, pretend like haha!

I hope you're still enjoying the story and that you're curious to know what happens next and how the investigation unfolds. While staying in the Jilliam thoroughly!