The Experiment

The Theory

After Henry arrived at the house William headed back to the station house. George stayed behind to assist in transporting Molly, he would be in charge of guarding her for the night.

At the station house William began making phone calls to get any information that he could on, Dahlia's late husband, Daniel's death. After a few conversations he had managed to get his hands on the death reports being telegraphed over. He used that time to review the statements of the grounds keeper and the physician who had examined Molly. The physician had found a strange powdered compound underneath her fingernails that was too smooth and fine to be dirt. The samples had been sent to Dr. Grace to be tested already. He wracked his brain for a about 45 minutes, unable to come up with any sort of conclusion.

As William was going over every piece of paper from Daniel's death he had stumbled onto an interesting piece of information that sent his mind into a frenzy. Hours later as he was focusing on an article when he heard the loud crash of the station house door opening. His head jerked up as Thomas peeked his head out of his office. They're eyes shot open while Dahlia and Henry stumbled into the station house. Henry was clutching the back of his head which was bleeding with one hand while the other was wrapped around Dahlia's shoulders. Dahlia had one arm holding onto Henry's outstretched arm while the other was wrapped around his hip to help hold him up.

Thomas and William charged out of their offices. Thomas took a hold of Henry causing a weak and scared Dahlia to fall into William's arms.

"MURDOCH! Take her to my office and talk to her I'm taking Higgins to get looked at!"

"William she's gone! He took her!" She cried out hysterically as he lead her to the Inspector's office.

"Who's gone Dahlia? What's happened?" He asked in a soothing voice as he sat her down.

"Lilia! I had been working with one of my pythons in my lab until around one. It was late so I thought the constable might want some refreshments but when I found him he was..." she started to gasp slightly. "He was laying on my conservatory floor I checked to see if he was breathing and he was but his head was bleeding. I thought maybe he slipped and hit his head. I shook him for a moment or so but then I heard the glass break from upstairs. I ran to check on Lilia but when I opened the door..." she gripped his arms tighter as she screamed. "The bay window was shattered! I ran to the bed but she was gone! That's when I found the note." She released her grip and reached into her purse. Then with shaking hands handed the note to William.

"There is nothing to tether you to him any longer my love! We are free to embrace each other the way it was meant to be." William read out loud as Dahlia collapsed onto the floor.

William knelt down next to her to see if she was breathing. He had just put his hand against her forehead when he was pushed to the side.

"MOVE!" Emily shouted pushing William away from Dahlia.

"She has a really bad fever!" William said sitting up.

After about 15 minutes of Emily looking over her she sat back with a sigh and looked over at William. "It's exhaustion. From her state I'd say she hasn't been sleeping properly for years. The added stress of the past day was most likely too much for her. She'll be fine she just needs to rest for a while."

William lifted Dahlia onto the sofa in the Inspector's office and draped his coat over her.

"Oh by the by Detective I was on my way to give you the results from the substance under Molly's fingernails." Emily said picking a stack of papers off of the floor. "It's a combination of gold and diamond dust. High quality too." She handed William the papers. Suddenly his face became blank and he rushed to his office passing Thomas on the way there.

He started flipping through the papers completely oblivious to Thomas standing in the door hollering his name. Finally he found the statement Dahlia gave the night her husband died.

"MURDOCH!" Thomas shouted slamming his hands on William's desk with a loud crash. "What is wrong with you?!" he hollered.

"This sir. Mrs. Blaque's statement from the night her husband died. They were walking home from the theater which was near their home after the celebration of their one year wedding anniversary when they were attacked by a man. He demanded her necklace which she had gotten that night as a gift from her husband. After she handed it to him he shot Daniel in the stomach. Then she found the necklace in a box on her bedside table along with the first note. She said the man looked familiar but she couldn't figure out where she had seen him previously." William said fast as he started to scribble on his chalk board. "Well...Daniel's father is the owner of a large diamond importing firm and a large line of jewelry stores. The business is now run by Daniel's sister Eleena, they fund a lot of Mrs. Blaque's research." He paused still scribbling.

"MURDOCH! WHAT IS THE DAMNED POINT!?" Thomas hollered looking at the board confused.

"Mrs. Blaque said the man who shot Daniel looked familiar, but she had no idea as to where she would have seen him. The Blaque family jewelry stores have only 10 men who craft all of their jewelry. These men would in theory interact with the entire family including Mrs. Blaque at some point in the year they were courting and in the year her and Daniel were married. He would also in theory know where to find funding receipts to find Mrs. Blaque's location." William said with gusto as he finished scribbling his chart.

"Murdoch!" Thomas gritted between his teeth. "The point. Get to it!"

"Dr. Grace found traces of gold and diamond dust, which an artisan who crafts jewelry would be covered in, underneath Molly's fingernails and the only way that could haves gotten there is if she struggled when she was attacked." William said setting his chalk down and Thomas' eyes widened.