Mrs. Prenfrew was understandably in shock when she learned that a mans body had been found in the theatre. However, she refused to believe that it was him and demanded to see the grisly sight for herself. Begrudgingly he agreed and they went to the morgue. The body was badly burned and disfigured and she was less than convinced that it was him even after she positively identified and condemned his cat, Frank.
"Mrs. Prenfrew is quite the character," Julia said after she had been escorted out.
"Yes, that she is," he replied. Slight silence. "What have you determined so far?"
"Nothing that we didn't already know. This mans lungs were seared and full of ash indicating that he did indeed die as a result of smoke inhalation." He contemplated that for a bit. "I'm sorry, William," she said sombrely. He opened his mouth to say something but then saw her mischievous expression. "Sorry that this case isn't shaping up to be as interesting as the time Sally Pendrick blew up a dead mans body."
He smiled and she returned the gesture.
"I'll get Henry to check criminal records." Smirking slightly, "Hopefully Mr. Prenfrew had one."
A criminal record would be instrumental in determining his identity as it would be a resource with which to compare fingermarks and if those were too destroyed, Bertillon measurements. The latter is simply a persons proportions measured in a precise way, but even so, fingermarks would be infinitely more preferable.
Somewhat amused, "Never one to do the leg work, are you?"
"No, my dear, I'm afraid I'm just too full of myself for that. By now you should know that I don't actually do any real police work. I simply show up so that I can do this."
At his last words he pulled her in for a kiss and she giggled like a little school girl in her pleasure and surprise (he rarely did such things with a body nearby, especially such a disgusting one). They parted, still smiling and he left the morgue.
A half an hour later, Higgins informed him that Mr. Prenfrew had not had a criminal record.
Confound it! Now what?
Murdoch went back to the morgue to tell Julia this. She seemed unperturbed by this revelation, meaning she knew something he didn't.
"After further examination of the body, I've determined that this mans foot had been broken sometime in the past. Even through the charred skin, one can clearly feel that it never healed properly."
Not wanting to touch it he said, "I'll take your word for it. Thank you, Julia. I believe this will be very helpful."
Murdoch paid Mrs. Prenfrew a visit and determined that her husband had indeed had a limp as a result of a war injury. According to her, he had been part of the first Boer War (one is to understand that he was ten years her junior, only about thirty-five). Even so, she still refused to believe that the dead man was her husband.
With this knowledge in hand, Murdoch had an idea on how to positively identify the body; X-rays. Since their discovery, they had been used to treat broken bones during the wars (albeit in this case, they hadn't been of much use). With any luck, Mr. Prenfrew's military medical records would still exist and they'd be able to get access to them. Currently he had George working on that task.
As usual, his protege came through and plopped the thin folder on his desk. Murdoch peeked inside and was satisfied with what he saw. For a third time that day, he headed down to the morgue. The photographic plate was set up by the corpses right foot and Murdoch held it in place while keeping to the side, as he was still dubious about the effects of X-rays on the human body. Him and Julia both.
Julia took the plates and held them up to the light.
Within seconds she said, "Yes, these are definitely the same."
"You're quite sure?"
"Positive."
Hello Mr. Prenfrew.
Higgins brought Mrs. Prenfrew down to the station house again. This time she was inconsolable when she heard the news. For all her qualms with her late husband, she appeared to have genuinely loved him.
Once she had calmed down a bit Murdoch asked, "Can you think of anyone, anyone at all that would have wanted to harm him?"
"No," she replied, "everyone loved him. Especially anyone who performed for him. As I told you before, he wasn't stingy with their salaries."
"You also mentioned that he was going to cancel the acts. Was this common knowledge?"
"Yes, I believe so. Garry was always very upfront about things like that." Getting indignant again, "If one of those tramps killed my Garry over a few measly dollars, there will be hell to pay!"
"Mrs. Prenfrew, I understand your feelings, but please don't try to take the law into your own hands. There's been enough death and destruction as it is."
She made a non-committal grunt. Murdoch had Higgins escort her back home.
The problem with the Vaudeville circuit was that the acts weren't usually confined to one particular location or theatre. There was even an American troupe in town that had recently performed at Le Théâtre Mystique. So theoretically, any one of them could have killed Prenfrew, making it almost impossible to ascertain the killer without significant amounts of time devoted to interviews. And even if they did attempt this, who was to say that the killer hadn't already skipped town?
Fortunately, it was this same dilemma that allowed him to form a solution. Even if Prenfrew cut all performers from his shows, there were still hordes of other places here and across the country that they could find work. So since there was no particular reason for any of these nomadic people to want Prenfrew dead, it was obvious that he needed to focus his investigation on those that had a vested interested in destroying Le Théâtre Mystique, either due to some perceived wrong or financial gain. And it was this notion that led him to another interesting idea. Who was to say that Prenfrew had been one of the intended targets? It seemed far more likely that he was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. After all, who would have even known that he had been living there? Perhaps his death had been an unintentional side effect?