Chapter 49:

As the evening wore on and the train was already winding down the first day back in Toronto, William made his way to Julia's compartment. He knocked on the door and waited a few seconds.

"Enter William!"

The young man smiled as he entered and walked into the room. She knew perfectly well that at this hour it could only be him. But he should tell her that she should not do that kind of thing. It could have been someone with bad intentions or even the killer...

He turned his gaze to the bathroom where he thought he would find Julia continuing her autopsy. But instead, he saw her staring at herself in the mirror, dressed simply in a light blue skirt and corset. Her hair was tied in a bun with strands escaping and flying lightly around her face which was reflected in the mirror.

All his previous thoughts were lost, and he automatically advanced towards the young woman.

"What are you doing?" he whispered to her, stopping right behind her.

"I change my shirt. Blood squirted on me…" explained the young woman quietly.

She reached for the white shirt on the back of the chair and William took it for her. She smiled at him, and he smiled lovingly. He went back behind her and looked at her in the mirror before handing her the shirt for her to put on.

"Thanks."

The young woman put her arms inside, one by one, then looked up at the reflection of her lover. William gently kissed the back of Julia's neck then stroked her right cheek. He reached out and then buttoned Julia's shirt, continuing to kiss every bit of her skin he could. Her face, her neck...

He saw the young woman close her eyes and she passed her hands over his to caress them. Once finished, he moved away with difficulty from the young woman who looked at him at the same time as she put her collar back in place.

"Did you sleep well?" he asked gently.

"Perfectly well." she smiled at him. "But such was not my surprise when I got dressed in your compartment this morning and noticed this."

Julia pointed to a purple mark on her neck, at the base of her jaw, and William grimaced. He had already noticed it the day before and had hoped that she might not realize it.

"You knew, didn't you?" she laughed heartily.

"Excuse me…" the young man grimaced again.

Julia shook her head with a smile.

"Did you…" he cleared his throat. "Did you find anything?"

"Yes, this is it." Julia walked towards the bathroom which she opened again, and William followed her.

He was surprised at how well Julia had managed to keep the body despite the unsuitable situation. She constantly left the window open, which created a constant draft.

"I finally succeeded in extracting the object from the stomach of the victim." Julia raised her voice slightly to drown out the sounds of the wind before closing the window so that the room fell back into silence.

It was really cold in the room.

"Ha! So what?" William asked eagerly.

"It is here. I'll let you examine it. Its half dissolved... But you can still read a name on it."

William put on a glove Julia held out to him and took the handkerchief from a basin of cold water. Julia had just told him that you could read a name. It was great news. That would be the ultimate proof.

The young man turned the half-dissolved handkerchief over and squinted.

"Nathan…" he whispered.

"Nathan?" repeated Julia confused. "No one's name is Nathan."

William squinted at the letters woven in pink on the white handkerchief. Then he raised his eyebrows, feeling stupid for not having understood right away.

"Nathaniel Savard!" he exclaimed suddenly as Julia looked at him with questions in her eyes.

"But…"

"His wife calls him Nathan…"

There was silence in the room.

"It's strange. Why would he do that? Maybe we tricked him? It's his handkerchief but maybe someone stole it from him..."

"I will see what he tells me. I'm going to go ask him." began William. "Maybe his wife got mugged by Lamoureux and… and he decided to eliminate him."

Julia shrugged.

"I do not know. In any case, the autopsy is over William. There is nothing more to find. The tissue was shoved into his mouth, he died between 9:00 and 9:30 p.m. the night before last and he has marks on his neck - a sign that he was strangled violently with a tissue, which caused blood to spurt out - and he has marks on his body, a sign that he struggled, even fought with his captor." the young woman summed up, washing her hands again and drying them with a fluffy white towel.

William nodded. This investigation was complicated… But now they had proof anyway. It was already more than what they had previously.

"Thanks to that, it clears the Novak and Nora Champagne at least. Or at least, for now." said William.

"And Magnus Duval." Julia added.

"And Magnus Duval…" the young man whispered annoyed.

Julia grimaced and turned back to her sink to wash her hands again. He sighed, mentally beating himself for reacting that way.

"Excuse me, Julia…I…"

"It's okay, William." She turned to him and gave him a slight smile.

He smiled at her guiltily. She approached him and brought her hands to his face to kiss him lightly, but lovingly. They smiled at each other.

Note: A very big step forward in the investigation... The Savards are in a bad business, it seems... So, I want to say that I have once again no idea whether or not a tissue can dissolve in the stomach… I know that cotton can dissolve in acid, but I don't really know how long it takes... Anyway... I hope I'm not being too stupid!