“Come on, William, or we’ll miss the ferry!”

“Coming, Julia!” Detective William Murdoch had no real intention of going on this trip, but for Julia’s sake, he did it.

Murdoch still didn’t understand why he had to attend this bachelor's party. They’d been married for over a week now, but Julia insisted.

You need a vacation, William. Take a few days off from normal life. Not to worry about anything.

She’d gathered all of his friends and invited them to come along for this. It was a little relieving that there would be a little order with Inspector Brackenreid coming along.

    That is, if he didn’t break out the Scotch.

    Pushing those thoughts aside, Murdoch picked up his luggage and hurried towards his wife. Julia and her friends and sister would be departing now, leaving for a quiet, serene island off the coast of Canada, while Murdoch and the boys from Station House No. 4 would go to Newfoundland. They would only be five miles away from each other, nothing to worry about.

    Murdoch still really couldn’t believe that it was all over. He’d been so overjoyed when Dr. Grace and Julia had pronounced James Gillies dead. He should have realized that Gillies had died long ago.

    Three months prior, Murdoch, Inspector Brackenreid, Slugger Jackson, Henry Higgins, and George Crabtree were all escorting Gillies Kingstone to be tried for murder, and this time, he would hang.

    Gillies had, that they knew of, killed six innocent people in cold blood, one of which was his University professor. He had no ample reason for the murder, just to test out his scientific theory.

    Twice, he’d escaped the noose, but this time, William was sure he was going to watch him swing.

    Gillies’ last murder was of Mr. Darcy Garland, Julia’s ex-husband. Gillies had impersonated Julia to make it seem like she was the one who had pulled the trigger.

    Murdoch had managed to gather the evidence against him, and save Julia from the noose just before she was to be hanged.

    On the way to Montreal, Gillies escaped, but Murdoch was determined to not let him take leave of justice.

    The only reason Gillies had murdered Darcey is because he was connected to Julia, and Julia was connected to Murdoch. It was simple, really. Hurt Julia, hurt Murdoch.

    He still remembered running after Gillies in the dark, determined to drag him all the way to Montreal, if need be.

    Gillies was a fast runner, but he was handcuffed; Murdoch was not.

    He’d tackled Gillies and forced him to the ground. Gillies had smiled insanely and said, ‘So this is where our grand adventure ends, Murdoch. Tell me, detective, are you going to miss it? This rivalry between us?’

    ‘No,’ Murdoch had said. ‘I most certainly am not.’

    ‘Not even a little bit?’

    ‘No.’

    ‘Let me tell you something, Murdoch. We share something, something that runs deeper than anything you can imagine.’

    Then, he’d kissed him.

    Murdoch knew it was a tactic to confuse him, but he was so disoriented and preoccupied with trying to pry his lips from Gillies, the man had managed to kick Murdoch off of him.

    Gillies had run, with Murdoch in hot pursuit, to a railroad bridge, suspended above a shallow, rapidly moving river.

    Gillies knew he wouldn’t be able to outrun Murdoch, especially since he was handcuffed. He looked down.

    ‘Gillies, I know what you’re thinking, but it’s too shallow.’

    ‘I know,’ Gillies spoke with assurance. ‘I guess this really is the end, Detective William Murdoch. Goodbye.’

    And with that, he jumped of the bridge and into the river. He didn’t surface.

    ‘Gillies!’

    Murdoch crouched, ready to go in in after him.

    ‘Sir!’ George Crabtree’s voice rang out loud and clear. He shook his head, knowing what Murdoch was about to attempt.

    Murdoch jumped.

    The moment he hit the water’s surface, Murdoch lost consciousness.

    When he had woken up, Julia and her friend Dr. Emily Grace were caring for him, tending to his wounds and pestering him about how foolish and dangerous his actions had been.

Months later, Julia had begun receiving threats from Gillies. He threatened that if she married Murdoch, he would die. If she attempted to tell him, they would both die.

It turned out to be a cruel joke pulled by Darcy’s younger brother, Leslie Garland.

The Toronto Constabulary finally found a body in the river, dressed in prison clothes and wearing handcuffs. Crabtree and Higgins brought in the body, where Julia and Dr. Grace performed a postmortem.

At first, Murdoch was skeptical that it was indeed James Gillies.

For one thing, George had shot Gillies in the shoulder after he tried

to kill Murdoch, and they’d never retrieved the bullet.

Dr. Grace recovered a bullet, placed in exactly the same spot as where George had shot Gillies, but Murdoch calculated that since George had used a rifle, and was standing only ten feet away, the bullet would have passed through his shoulder completely. Murdoch tested the experiment to show his work.

Then the doctors suggested that they could try reconstructing the face using the skull.

Gillies’ body was in the third stage of decomposition, which normally takes three months on a human body, but there had been no sign of Gillies for only two-and-a-half.

Emily and Julia were able to completely restore the deceased facial features. They matched those of James Gillies.

Now, after so long, they were free.

        *                *                *

“William?”

“Huh? What? Oh.” Murdoch pulled himself back to the present.

“Time to go.”

“Oh. Have fun. I love you.” Murdoch kissed his wife on the cheek.

“I love you too.” Julia kissed him back and hurried onto her ferry.

“Ready, sir?”

“Yes, George, I am ready.”

Murdoch gathered his bags and stepped aboard with George, Higgins, the Inspector, and Jackson.

The girls waved goodbye and blew kisses, while the men waved back and pretended to catch the kisses.

Soon, their ferry disappeared from sight, and Murdoch felt a slight twinge of fear, not having Julia with him. He’d protected her for so long, he didn’t really know what to do.

“Sir,” George must’ve been picking up on his agitation. “don’t worry. Doctor Ogden ― Misses Murdoch ― has been through a lot, sir, things much worse than this. I mean, you saved her from an appointment with the gallows, didn’t you? And Killian O’Shire is the best lady copper in all of Canada, well, actually, I think she is the only lady copper in Canada, but the point is, the Misses’s in good hands.”

Somehow, George’s Newfoundland accent and strange sense of humor always seemed to lighten up Murdoch.

“Thank you, George, it’s only an irrational fear.”

George nodded and walked away. Murdock felt somewhat reassured by his constable, but something was still bothering him.

James Gillies was a cunning, resourceful, smart young man. Murdoch didn’t think Gillies would have died so easily, not the way he had.

Stop it, he chided himself. It’s just an irrational fear.

But still…

~
All credit goes to Flynn Writer.
Crazybird out~