Chapter 9: Explanations and the surprise
As it turned out, before Leslie got the evening newspaper, Murdoch and company each had tasks to do to put Henry's plan into motion.
Inspector Brackenreid called the Toronto Gazette's publishing office and told the reporter that the case on the investigation on the attempts on George's life has been closed with the arrest of the two suspects.
Meanwhile, Detective Murdoch met with the Crown Prosecutor assigned to the case to hand in the paperwork he had filed, along with the evidence and witness accounts on the events that had transpired.
During this time, Constables Higgins and Lawson met with the doctors at Toronto General and explained the need to move George into the empty room next door. It took some explanation, but eventually, George was moved to the empty room a few rooms down the hallway while his name remained on the door of his original room where the two constables, with assistance from Emily and Julia, set up a dummy on George's bed.
Murdoch later arrived at George's old room and placed a latex mask bearing resemblance to George's face on the "head" of the dummy while Julia and Henry helped with placing the wig on the "head" after the mask was placed.
Eventually, when the evening newspaper is published, Murdoch and company moved to put on their disguises. Murdoch was disguised as a doctor with his back facing the main hallway and wearing a latex mask and a blond wig to conceal his identity (Given that Leslie had seen his face plenty of times before), while the inspector was disguised as a patient being "treated" by Murdoch, wearing a newsboy cap in an angle that covered much of his face and wearing some street clothes.
Meanwhile, Henry had disguised himself as a janitor while Lawson was lying on a hospital bed, disguised as a patient about to be sent to the operating room, being pushed by a nurse that is Edna in disguise.
Outside the hospital, Sergeant Brooks was disguised as a homeless man, sleeping on the bench near the hospital entrance and keeping watch for Leslie.
Once Leslie entered the hospital, Brooks got up and took a shortcut that led him to Henry way ahead of Leslie and told him to be ready.
Henry then nodded, which was a signal for Edna and Lawson to come.
Leslie then walks past a "doctor" treating a "patient", who both then turned and watched Leslie once he walked past the room they were in. Murdoch then took off his mask as he and Brackenreid stealthily shadows Leslie.
Leslie then walked by a janitor mopping the floor two rooms down from George's old room. As soon as he past the janitor, Henry turned to watch Leslie entering George's old room and raised his hand, signalling Edna that she can stop the bed for Lawson to get off.
As Lawson walks past George's new room, he signals Emily to be ready before proceeding to meet up with Henry.
The two constables then peeked into George's old room and watched Leslie Garland stabbing the needle into the dummy. They then flicked the light on as they entered George's old room after Leslie finished injecting the poison into the dummy, which had a small pot hidden inside to collect the poison.
"So to seek your revenge against me and Doctor Ogden, you decided to send your friends to kill George and then finish the job yourself when they got arrested." Murdoch concluded as a few more constables arrived to take Leslie Garland into custody.
"Yeah. It was a brilliant plan, Detective. I wanted to hurt you the same way you hurted my brother, so I decided to go after your next best friend: The constable that is loyal to you." Leslie spat.
"Well, too bad you didn't cover up your tracks that well when you represented those useless takeup of spaces in the court cases against them before." Inspector Brackenreid commented.
"Yes, especially when you used the same alias during the court cases, Mr. Garland." Lawson added.
"And even if you used another alias for one of the two cases, it still didn't take much for us to figure out that you were conspiring with your two friends to kill George." Henry said.
"You know, Mr. Garland, it sure was a pleasure taking part in this scam to catch you doing this." Emily said with a grin that showed no warmth to Leslie.
"Why you..." Leslie was interrupted in mid-sentence by a familiar voice that said, "Take him away, lads!"
Everyone in the room turned. To their surprise, the voice had came from George, who was seated in a wheelchair and accompanied by Julia.
"George!" Emily said excitingly as she turned to hug him, followed by Edna, Henry, Murdoch and the inspector, while the constables took Leslie Garland away.
"Crabtree! Glad to see that you weren't going to sleep forever!" Brackenreid commented as he patted George's back.
"Of course not, sir." George smiled. His voice was weak but has been better since he got out of surgery.
"When did you wake up, George?" Henry asked.
As it turned out, George was accompanied by Julia and Archibald in his new room and he woke up around the time Leslie Garland entered his old room. They managed to keep him quiet and told him about Henry's plan, before getting him onto a wheelchair and wheeled him over to his old room to see the arrest with everyone else in the room.
"That sure was a brilliant plan of yours, Henry." George praised after finishing his recount on how he woke up.
"Oh, it was nothing, George. Everything just sort of came together in my mind when I first saw you in the hospital in a really bad state." Henry smiled. "Besides, I've got help from Constable Lawson from Station House Three."
"Oh, yes, I haven't introduced myself to you, Crabtree." Lawson says as he shook hands with George.
"Well, it's nice to meet you, Lawson." George smiled after the handshake. "Sure glad you helped Henry with this."
"Actually Crabtree, he was the constable that initially responded to the shooting in the park." Brackenreid interjected.
"Oh? In that case, I should thank you and Emily for saving my life." George replied.
Later that evening, most of the visitors had returned home.
As George rests on his bed, Edna enters his room.
"George." She began.
"Ah, Edna! I guess you're leaving?"
"Yes. Now before I go, there's something I should tell you."
"Oh? What is it?"
"Doctor Grace. There's no one that cuts out one's heart like her. She's the perfect woman for you, George."
"Edna, are you saying..."
"Yes. While she may have hurt your feelings, I think you really should give her another chance."
George nodded.
"But no matter what happens, I'll always care for you, George." Edna continued. "Like you said to me that night when Archie returned, I just wanted you to be happy."
"I understand, Edna." George says before he shared a kiss with Edna. She then got up and bided farewell.
George laid on his bed after the kiss for a while. Then, he saw Emily entering his room.
"George, I sure am happy that you woke up." She said happily as she went to his side.
"And I'm glad to see you again, Emily." He nodded with a smile. "Hope you don't mind staying a bit longer."
"Of course." Emily replied before kissing him.
One more chapter to go!
The final chapter will have something for George & Emily (Gemily) fans.
Any guess as to what the something is can go to the reviews! The more reviews the merrier!