Chapter 20
Almost 2 months had passed since William had finally learned just how deep the scars from Julia's past were, mentally, and physically. But she was still so nervous around him, he could see she would try and hide it, and act as though it didn't bother her, but he could see, at every touch, gentle glance whilst in bed together, she would shy away ever so slightly. The unnecessary shame she clearly felt was holding Williams heart in and iron grip, and it pained him that no matter what he said, she never quite seemed convinced by the beauty he saw every day.
Work at Station House 4 wasn't helping all that much either. Apparently the ever approaching winter months were putting a toll on the crimes of the city. Burglaries, Assaults, Murders, and various other arrest were becoming a regular occurrence by a weekly amount. The dark shadows under Williams eyes were a clear sign that the workload was taking its toll. But he didn't let it affect his mood, well, as best as he could anyway. He looked out into the main square and let his mind wander as his gaze glazed over and the darkness danced under the glowing street lamps.
This would be a long winter, he thought to himself.
By the time December reached the doors of Station House 4, the constabulary was looking hopefully for a snowed in winter, and the time off that was promised over Christmas couldn't possibly come quicker. William was making his way home and wondered of Julia would be there already. After having had a meeting with her father and he finally, if somewhat reluctantly giving permission to them to publicly court, they had regularly spent a few nights a week at each others homes, Mrs. Kitchen was delighted to have another woman in the house who would regularly help with cooking, and both women each took a delight in keeping William happy in their own ways. In fact William let his mind tentatively remember the moment he walked in on Julia lovingly ironing his work shirts and trousers. William smiled at the memory. When William had asked about it afterwards, Julia had simply replied with a saying that had plagued his mind ever since she had said it.
'I know I could simply let a maid do it, but love is when your own happiness is directly affected by the happiness of your significant other...and I know having a crisp shirt makes you happy, so that's why I do it.' she said with an beaming smile on her face.
William was pulled from his tender memories as the carriage gently came to a stop. He stepped from the carriage and pulled his coat collar round him tighter to shield from the wind. He was welcomed into his boarding house by the familiar smell of Mrs. Kitchen cooking dinner. She met him in the hallway to take his coat. 'No Julia this evening William..?' she asked questioningly. William looked to her. 'I thought she might already be here as I finished later tonight..?' Mrs. Kitchen shook her head, 'No, she hasn't been here yet William, I haven't seen her since she was here last week.' and with that she returned to the kitchen. William frowned a little, but decided that she would probably be arriving a little later, the morgue had been a little backed up this month, so he imagined she was swamped with paperwork. He decided to retire to the living room, and catch up on his latest read that he had slightly neglected this past week or so.
The clock struck half past eight on the mantle piece and Mrs. Kitchen called William to dinner not even a few minutes after. He subconsciously looked towards the front door as he headed to the dining room, it was not like Julia to miss, or neglect to tell him that she wasn't coming round. All through dinner the thought off her was filling his mind, and he began to loose his appetite. Julia had become so involved in his daily life, that when she wasn't in it, it threw Williams equilibrium off balance completely.
He thanked Mrs. Kitchen for dinner, and then retired to his room for the evening. He decided a hot bath might calm his mind for the night. It was clear Julia was no longer coming and he couldn't help but feel put out by her lack of communication. He began to fill his bath and when he finally sunk himself into the hot steamy depths his eyes closed in calm. He washed himself and let the later gently sting his face with the heat. The hot steam settled comfortably in his chest, and he finished bathing and wrapped himself in a towel and went into his bedroom to change into his night clothes.
By the time he had climbed into bed and flicked the lamp on his bedside to read, it was nearly 10.30pm.
He had read almost eight chapters in his book, and decided it was time to call it a night,he wanted to be up a little earlier to drop into the morgue to see Julia in the morning, and to see what had kept her last night. He turned out the light on his bedside tabled and soon sleep crept over him.
The morning had risen with a crisp winter sun that shone into Williams bedroom and the frost on the windows let everyone know that winter was definitely here, William wouldn't have been surprised if there was snow by the end of the week. He decided to skip breakfast, and bid Mrs. Kitchen farewell and stepped out into the cold to fetch his bike.
The ride to work was pleasant if not a little too cold for Williams liking, and when he reached the morgue he carefully placed his bike just in side the doorway and tugged on the main handles to the door. It was clear that the morgue was locked. William quickly flipped open his pocket watch. It was 7.35. Julia was nearly always there by at the very least 7.25. So William decided he would wait a little longer for her to arrive, he sat down on the frosty bench just down from the morgue and took his book from his bag. He continued reading until it was almost 7.45, and by that point he knew he had to leave for work. He put away his book, and collected his bike, and made his way over to the station house, deciding he would have to catch Julia on his lunch break.
The day started off fairly sluggishly, and William was leaning against a desk in the main constable area, casually flicking through some current case files. The inspector had made the Detective aware that he would be late in that day as he had to take Bobby to he doctor, after being ill for a week, and around 11am he arrived, striding through the main area where William was stood, straight into his office. William decided to let him settle before he bombarded him with case notes that he needed a second opinion on. Not that he needed one per-say, as William was always 100% sure of his findings, but felt obliged to let the inspector have his cents worth. William finished reading the pages he was on and then slowly walked over to the inspectors office. 'What is is Murdoch?' the inspector replied impatiently. 'I have the recent case notes from the Burgess Stabbing sir.' 'I thought you might want to look over them before we make any arrest, although I'm quite sure we have the right man.' Murdoch replied pleased. His gaze was quickly averted to the window behind the Inspector as the first flakes of snow began to fall. He looked back to the inspector to see him casually flicking through the pages of his report, he could see he wasn't interested, and always went with Murdoch's deductions regardless, but felt the need to show some half-hearted interest none the less. As long as they caught the bad guys, the Inspector was happy. He handed back the file, 'Don't forget to put the Medical report in there from Dr. Ogden Murdoch, you know what the chief Inspector is like with his bloody paperwork.' He said as he was carefully uncorking bottle of scotch from his desk. 'Pathology, Sir,' Murdoch corrected. 'Do what..?' The inspector replied not paying attention. 'It's a Pathology report Sir, Not Medical.' Murdoch repeated. The inspector sighed, 'Pathology, Medical, all the bloody same cods wallop Murdoch.' He said dryly. And with that Murdoch gave a nod of approval and left his office. Looking back to the window in his own office, he saw the snow was falling thick and fast now, he donned his hat and coat, and thinking about it for a second, picked up his burgundy woollen scarf and black leather gloves as well, after all, it was winter now.