If it was a French woman who committed this crime, it stood to reason that she was a Parisian or at least had been in Paris recently. This was because the film had been playing in Paris for about a month before the Americans started playing it in their own country, something Ruby had found out with her various contacts over there. So this would tend to imply that the arsonist had seen the movie over there first and then realized the same one was being played here without giving credit (or payment) to the creator. But Julia's query was still puzzling him. Why do both of those things? Why not simply expose the American's outright? Why burn down a Canadian theatre? What had they hoped to accomplish? Or was that the point? They hadn't been thinking and instead acted on emotion alone? But then why had they contacted Ruby first and then burned it down?

Before Murdoch could ruminate on this topic further, there was a kerfuffle surrounding the constables in the main body of the precinct. They were scrambling to get outside. Brackenreid was not present as he had been dragged to the dentist by his wife and George. Interest peaked, Murdoch went out to investigate.

"Henry, what on earth is going on?"

"Sir!" he said, grabbing his hat, "there's been an attempt on Edison's life!"

"What?!" exclaimed Murdoch, also grabbing his hat. "What do you mean?" he asked as they rushed out of the precinct. "What was he even doing here?"

"I don't know, sir, I don't have all of the details!"

They hopped on their bikes and within a few minutes spotted a large crowd circling something or someone. Murdoch jumped off and ordered everyone to step aside. Parting like the red sea, he made his way to the eye of the storm, Henry following in his wake. Except instead of a great calm, there was the complete opposite. Edison was off to the side with someone Murdoch didn't recognize, both looking quite shaken but unharmed. But in the centre there lay a clearly dead man in the arms of a bitterly sobbing woman. He had been stabbed in the chest and blood had pooled all over the ground and the woman as well.

For a few seconds he was stunned. Out of all possible ways of finally meeting his idol, he never dreamed this to be one of them. Coming to his senses, he got down to business.

"Henry, get these people out of here!"

"Right away, sir!" he said shooing them with his hands as if they were pesky flies.

"Ma'am, I'm afraid I have to ask you to step away from the body."

In response she simply wailed all the more and clutched at him tighter, causing her hands to run red with dead blood.

"Ma'am-"

"Leave her be, detective," said Edison, coming over to him. "She saved my life!"

"Mr. Edison, could you please elaborate on what happened here?"

"Well, I-" Another large cry from the desperate woman on the ground. "I'm sorry, detective but I can't focus here. Do you mind if we remove ourselves to another location?"

"But of course, sir."

By now the other constables who had been on foot arrived and Murdoch had one of them escort Edison and his friend back to the precinct. Which meant Murdoch must once again deal with the piteous creature in front of him. With the other constables help, they removed the woman from the corpse with great difficulty and then took her to the station house as well. Her cries could be heard for a long time down the way.

"Henry, transport this body to the morgue as soon as possible."

With that accomplished, Murdoch himself made his way back, all the while wondering how this had occurred.

Since the woman was still inconsolable and Julia had been forced to give her a sedative, it would be awhile before she could be questioned. Therefore, Murdoch continued his interview with Edison and his friend, Mr. Horseley, in his office.

"Please start from the beginning, sir."

"Well, detective, I had been up in Sudbury tending to my mining interests when I received a call from some reporter, forgot her name."

"It was Ruby, sir," said Mr. Horseley.

"Ah, yes, that's right. Anyway, she wanted to discuss something with me before she printed a certain damning story. Normally I don't pay attention to such things but as it was, my land appeared to be utterly useless and as such, I had been planning on returning home for quite some time. I figured on my way back, I might as well see what she was going on about."

"You were on your way to the Gazette?"

He nodded. "That's where I was headed when that lunatic attacked me!"

"Do have any idea why he did so?"

"He yelled something or other in French. So no, I don't know why."

Murdoch had a pretty good idea himself.

"And then what happened? How did he end up dead?"

"That woman screamed at him, also in French, and while he was momentarily distracted, Harris and I managed to wrestle the knife out of his hand. Unfortunately, in doing so, we inadvertantly stabbed him ourselves." Suddenly he seemed to become very weary and rubbed his temples. "What a dreadful affair."

"Indeed, sir."

"If that's all, detective," said Horseley, "I think we'd very much like to be on our way."

"Not quite, sirs. I just have a few more questions. They are likely going to be very similar to what Ruby was going to ask you."

"I don't know,-"

"I believe there is a connection between the man who attacked you and the reason for her contacting you."

The two men shared a bewildered look.

"Anything to understand this situation better," said Edison.

"Are you familiar with the movie A Trip to the Moon?"

"So that's what this is all about?" he muttered.

"I take that as a yes."

"Yes, detective."

"And did you commission some of your men to steal this film from Monseiur Méliès?"

"I would advise against answering that, sir," said Horseley.

"No, detective, I most certainly did not."

Murdoch could not tell if he was lying or not. He was a fairly inscrutable man.

"Then how do you explain how it ended up over here?"

"I'm afraid I have a rather overzealous team of employees. I never asked them to steal anything...just have a look at what the competition was up to."

Corporate Espionage?

He had thought better of him than that.

Murdoch got a confused expression across his face. "But then why have you tried to cover up its origins?"

"Sir, please-"

Sighing, Edison said wearily, "By the time I discovered what they had done, it was already too late. They had begun to show it in theatres across the country without my permission. The hazards of being out of country. I couldn't very well edit the material back to its original format without raising even more suspicion...so I'm ashamed to say, let the matter be."

Murdoch was very disappointed in his idol but tried not to let it show.

"And once this story gets out, then what, sir? Will you rectify the situation?"

A brief hesitation in which he glanced away and then, "I'll do my best, detective." *

"Now are we finished here?" enquired Horseley.

Murdoch was silent for a bit.

"Detective?"

"Not quite. I'll need you to fill out a form before you can be released."

"Is that really necessary?" asked Edison. "I was hoping to avoid that."

Somewhat sternly, "A man is dead, sir. You must give an official statement of what happened for our records. While you are still on Canadian soil, you must abide by our laws."

"All right, all right, detective. There's no need for any of that."

Murdoch had always dreamed of meeting this man and of saying how much he admired him but right now, he could barely look at him. So instead of shaking his hand, he simply gestured towards Henry and told them that he would process them properly.

Not long after, George and Brackenreid returned, the latter holding his jaw in his hands and in apparent misery. As soon as he saw Edison he said, "Bloody hell, is that-"

"Yes, sir, it is," said Murdoch who had come out to meet them.

"My office, Murdoch, now!"

A few hours later, the distraught woman was able to function more normally and Murdoch had a short chat with her as well.

"I'm terribly sorry for your loss."

"Thank you, detective," she said with a thick French accent. "His name was Léon Rousseau and we were lovers."

"And your name mademoiselle?"

"Aimée Marest."

"Miss Marest, can you explain to me the events that led up to Léon's death?"

He had a pretty good idea by this point but wanted her account first.

Nodding vaguely. "Oui. We had recently come to Canada for a vacation from Paris. Naturally we behaved like most tourists do, and ended up at various entertainment places." She sighed, "If only we had not gone to that particular theatre."

"It had a French name so you felt an attraction to it?"

"Yes, something like that, detective. Anyway, the half time began and with it, La Voyage dans la Lune." Sighing again, this time more deeply. "We immediately recognized it as we had seen it on its opening night back in my home country."

"I take it you enjoyed Méliès work then?"

"Not so much me, but Léon, yes. He was his biggest fan. He aspired to make films just like him."

"And did he not get very angry upon seeing this duplication under anothers name?"

"Well, yes, we had to leave out the side door before it had ended because I feared that this time he would explode. Normally you see, he is very good at controlling his anger. Besides, I was quite angry myself."

Which explained why the ushers did not remember any agitated individuals.

"I managed to calm him down by calling the press and informing them of the situation. I had thought, no, hoped that the end of it. But Léon could not stand the idea of his mentor's work being taken advantage of...and he acted rashly, without my knowledge. When I found out what he had done, I promised to keep quiet."

"Even though a mans body was discovered?"

"That was most unfortunate but Léon had not intended to kill that man and I was not going to turn him in for his mistake."

"But if it was just an accident, why not clear your consciences?"

"Léon was very distrustful of the police, ever since he was wrongly imprisoned a few years back."

There were still a few things unclear to him.

"Tell me, Miss Marest, how did he come to know of Edison's being in town?"

She chuckled somberly. "He didn't."

Raising an eyebrow. "Then how-"

"We had been stopping by the Gazette every morning and evening to get the very first printings of the paper. We wanted to see what progress had been made with the case and also eagerly awaiting the scandal to be made public. Our bad luck continued and we met Edison on our way back to the hotel."

"And Léon just happened to be carrying a knife with him?"

"It was his father's from the war, it's all he had left of him. He always had it on his person. So for him to be killed by it..."

There was silence for a time.

"I think that is everything. Thank you for your time, Miss Marest. A constable will escort you back to your hotel."

"No, thank you, detective. I would prefer to be alone."

"As you wish."

"To think that all of this was the result of a movie!" said Julia as they walked home that evening, arm in arm.

"Yes, it's hard to fathom."

"I wonder if we'll be seeing more of these types of cases in the future?"

"Oh, I hope not, Julia. If a murder was committed every time someone disliked a film, there would be no end to them!"

She smiled, "Well then, William, you better discourage your brother-in-law from his grand ideas."

His eyes widened. "I had forgotten about that! I'll talk to him tomorrow over our family dinner."

"Good idea, detective. Though it will be a shame." He glanced at her waiting for her to continue, "I rather liked the idea of Crabtree's Cinematics."

Murdoch smirked and said, "I thought Cineplex was more fitting."

"Indeed," said Julia and laughed. "It appears you've put more thought into this matter than you let on, detective."

"Well..."

"Not that there's anything wrong with that, dear. But sometimes I feel you live in your head a little too much of the time."

"I'll try my best to be more communicative, Julia."

"That's all I could ever ask of you."

"Good," he said and pulled her in for a kiss.

* Edison never did make the situation right, he continued to show the film for quite awhile, making a ton of money off of it and never giving a cent of it to Méliès. Soon after, Méliès went bankrupt as he had been counting on making a profit overseas as well as in France. A more important lesson in copyright infringement could not be taught.