Chapter 7: Possible involvement

"So how's George doing?" Archibald asked as he and Murdoch are left alone with George.

"He's got out of surgery at around two in the morning and according to Doctor Grace, it appears his condition has improved a bit but there's no telling when will he get out of his coma." William replied.

"I see." Archibald nodded.

"However, about an hour after he got out of surgery, a man sneaked into George's room and tried to inject poison into him."

"Good Lord! He didn't succeed, didn't he?"

"No, he didn't. Constable Higgins, one of the two constables that are currently stationed outside of George's room, managed to step in and stop him before he could succeed in killing George. The man is currently locked in the cells of Station House Four."

"That's good. Sure hate to imagine how things would have turned out if he had actually succeed."

"I agree. In the meantime, I actually was going to ask you if you know a 'Joey Masters'? He's the man that got caught this morning after failing to poison George."

Murdoch recalled that the man was wearing an old soldiers tunic as a jacket when they arrested him and figured that since Brooks is in the Militia, he may be able to pick up some information on the suspect.

"Joey Masters?" Archibald thought for a while before replying "Why yes, I do know the man, Detective!"

"You know him?"

"Yes. He was a lance corporal that served in the same platoon as me during my regiments first tour of duty in South Africa."

"I see." Murdoch nodded. "Do you remember when did he left the Militia?"

"Let me think...It was a couple of years ago before I got sent over to my third tour of duty, the one that eventually saw my promotion to sergeant. However, I should tell you that he was actually court-martialed, technically."

"Oh? What happened?" Murdoch asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Apparently, during our time in South Africa, he and a few lads went off-base to hang out in a bar. They got drunk and then got involved in an embarrassing bar fight with soldiers from a rival company of the same regiment. Before I go on, it should be noted that our regiment had a great reputation of having well-disciplined soldiers and being an elite fighting regiment."

"Okay. Please go on."

"That fight got out of control, and a lieutenant tried to stop it, but one of the lads killed him accidentally. That fight and killing was very embarrassing for our regiment. What they did was disgraceful. Our commanding officer was furious and ordered us back to Canada where the lads involved in the fight and killing were placed on trial. All but one of them were sentenced to a year of hard labour, five years in prison and a demotion, with those at the rank of private at the time being dishonourably discharged from the Militia upon serving their sentences."

"What happened to the one soldier involved in the incident?"

"That troublemaker was good friends with a darn good lawyer. That lawyer managed to manipulate the jury and the judge, convincing them that the punishment for his involvement in the incident is too harsh and questioned the evidence of his involvement in the incident. As a result, he got all charges against him dropped. That soldier was Lance Corporal Joey Masters."

"So if Masters managed to be cleared of those charges, then why did he left the Militia, Sergeant Brooks?"

"Simple. Joey may have been cleared of those charges, but he was not off the hook. The platoon sergeant, with approval from our platoon commander and the captain in charge, suspended him from further participation in the war. He was assigned a desk job instead, but as you may be aware, all of the soldiers of my regiment didn't like him one bit for getting away for what he had done, including me. He quitted about a month after he got acquitted by the military judge."

"I see." Murdoch nodded. "By the way, do you remember the name of Joey's lawyer back then?"

"Let me see...It was a Mr. Garland, if I remembered correctly. I was at the trial and was in fact one of the prosecutor's key witnesses to the incident. You see, I was with the lads at the bar, and when it started, I was one of the soldiers that wasn't drunk and tried to calm things down, but when things got out of control, I asked one of the soldiers to fetch the officers and then tried to stop the fight after the lieutenant was killed."

"I see...Wait, you said 'a Mr. Garland'. Garland...As in Leslie Garland?" Murdoch asked.

"I'm not sure. All I know was his last name was Garland."

"Alright. Well, thank you Sergeant Brooks for your story. It gave me a clear background of one of our two would-be killers."

"You're welcome, detective. I only hope that George makes a speedy recovery from this."

Soon, back in Station House Four, Murdoch met with Higgins and Lawson after two other constables took over guarding George's room.

"Greg, Henry, I need you two to pull the court records from Joey Masters and Mack Bush's trials." He said to them in his office.

"Not a problem, sir." Henry nodded. "I have a feeling there may be something connecting the two men, and it may be the lawyer that represented them during their respective trials."

After the two constables left his office, Murdoch sat in his office to think about the possibility of Leslie Garland's involvement in this mess.

He first met the younger brother of his wife's first husband during an investigation of the murder of a cyclist. He had later learned that Leslie was expelled from law school for fistcuffs.

His relationship with Leslie can be described as intense and sour. Leslie Garland, posing as his late-enemy James Gillies, was the culprit behind the threatening notes Julia had received, warning her to stop her marriage to William.

He will never forget the time when he, Julia and the inspector ran into Leslie, who was taking Emily out for a date, and confronted him on the threatening notes Julia received. He will never forget Leslie's response, the subsequent slap he received from Emily and the inspector's response to his "joke".

He will eventually be placed on another collision course with Leslie when Leslie was the assistant crown prosecutor assigned in the case against Julia, Emily and the arrested women's suffragists. He did release the other suffragists but kept Emily in custody for assault, although he and Julia eventually put a stop to that by showing the crown prosecutor evidence of Leslie's involvement in threatening him and Julia, prompting the crown prosecutor to withdraw charges against Emily over Leslie's objections.

He will never forget catching Leslie in Julia's office after the O'Shea case, and his stern warning to Leslie on stepping into Julia's office again.

"If I see you in Doctor Ogden's office again, then I'll take off this badge and deal with you personally-"

"I was just-"

"Did you not heard what I had just said? Goodbye, Mr. Garland!"

That was the last time he saw Leslie. And now that there's a possibility that he is involved in the two attempts on his close friend George's life, Murdoch can't help but wonder how will things turned out if he and Julia actually agreed that Leslie shouldn't step foot in Toronto again.

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