ACT V

(FADE IN. TORONTO STREET, same day. CLOSE-UP on the sign reading "Reed and Paulin", and below that, "Antiques, Curiosities, Heirlooms". MURDOCH, CRABTREE, HIGGINS and JACKSON approach the door. MURDOCH wordlessly signals to HIGGINS and CRABTREE to stay outside and secure the area; MURDOCH gestures one of them to see whether there is a backdoor. HIGGINS and CRABTREE nod and move away, one moving left and the other moving right. MURDOCH tries the door gently, it opens; and MURDOCH pushes it open gently so that there is no abrupt motion to ring the bell on the door. MURDOCH and JACKSON enter. CUT TO: INT. OF THE BUSINESS. MURDOCH gently and quietly closes the door behind him. JACKSON looks around. MURDOCH indicates JACKSON should block the door, and JACKSON nods. There is no one else there. The door to another part of the establishment, which MURDOCH saw earlier, is slightly open. MURDOCH pushes the door further open and peers through that door. There is an office with a desk and a telephone and files and such, but no people. There is a half-open window on one wall. MURDOCH returns this office door to its original position, slightly open.

MURDOCH
(in a low voice) He must be here. The front door was unlocked.

JACKSON
(in a low voice) Perhaps he stepped out for a few moments.

MURDOCH
(loudly) Hello? Mr. Reed? It's Detective Murdoch! Mr. Reed?

(There are abrupt creaking noises and footsteps [SFX]. Moments later, REED opens the office door and peers out.

REED
Gentlemen! (a bit puzzled) Excuse, me, I didn't hear the bell on my door, I didn't know you were here.

MURDOCH
I just have a few questions for you. I hope you don't mind.

REED
(nervous) No, I don't mind.

MURDOCH
I just wanted to clarify the time-line of events with you.

REED
(nervous) All right. I may not know exact dates—

MURDOCH
I'm more interested in the order in which things happened. First: you met with Mr. Woodward, to try to sell him General Brock's hat.

(REED nods, and continues nodding as MURDOCH recites the time-line of events.)

MURDOCH
Mr. Woodward was not interested in the hat, but he mentioned that he would be greatly interested in Queen Elizabeth's ring. You tell Mr. Woodward that you have heard of a seller who claims to have such a ring. You also tell Mr. Woodward that you would need to know everything about the ring— what it looks like, what it is made from and so forth— so that you can determine whether it is genuine. And Mr. Woodward gives you access to those documents in his possession.

REED
Correct, so far.

MURDOCH
And then you contact Mr. Jones, to see whether the ring he is trying to sell is the same ring that Mr. Woodward wants.

REED
I did not tell Jones that I would be buying on behalf of Woodward, but yes.

MURDOCH
How?

REED
How what?

MURDOCH
How did you contact Mr. Jones? He was anonymous, and you said you knew next to nothing about him. So how did you get in contact with him?

REED
(evasive) Well, I don't remember exactly. I think I just put the word out that I was trying to find him, and some days later, he contacted me.

(JACKSON makes a face, as if someone has just shamelessly lied to him. MURDOCH notices the expression on JACKSON's face, then turns back to REED.)

MURDOCH
I see. In any event, you subsequently met with Mr. Jones personally—

REED
Yes.

MURDOCH
— And expressed an interest in the ring—

REED
Yes. And I confirmed with him that he would be delighted to take General Brock's hat in trade. But I also said I wanted to see the ring. And a few days later, Jones contacted me again and gave me photographs of the ring, sitting next to a current Toronto newspaper.

MURDOCH
And you showed those photographs to Mr. Woodward.

REED
Yes.

MURDOCH
And he was satisfied this was indeed the ring he wanted.

REED
Yes. He was excited about the prospect of acquiring it.

MURDOCH
And so you and Mr. Jones made an arrangement for a swap of the articles, the hat for the ring, to be conducted in a public place in the early morning hours.

REED
Yes.

MURDOCH
And then something unfortunate occurred. Mr. Woodward telephoned your office and spoke to Mr. Paulin, and it was through this telephone call that Mr. Paulin learned you were trying to make a big-money trade and not share it with him.

REED
Yes. I've already admitted that was a mistake. I came clean with Monty. He said he didn't trust me, but he and I agreed that he would hold the ring until we got paid, and we would share equally in the sale proceeds, and that satisfied him. Once we got paid, we'd both be rich.

MURDOCH
And Mr. Paulin subsequently contacted Dr. Colvin at the historical museum, to verify the value of this ring.

REED
I believe he did, yes. He had an acquaintance with Dr. Colvin and trusted her judgment.

MURDOCH
And by a curious coincidence, someone identifying himself as Mr. Jones contacted Dr. Colvin shortly afterwards, asking about the value of General Brock's hat. Thus, an independent witness learned of a pending trade of the hat for the ring.

REED
I— I know nothing about that.

MURDOCH
But then Mr. Woodward contacted you and said that he had hired some independent experts to examine the ring and render opinions about its authenticity.

REED
(nervous and unhappy) Yes.

MURDOCH
And if these independent experts were to opine that the ring was a fraud— you would not get paid. And Mr. Woodward (menacingly) would be very, very unhappy.

REED
(nervous and unhappy) Uh. Yes.

MURDOCH
If Mr. Woodward felt you tried to cheat him—?

REED
(meekly) He'd hurt me. Maybe kill me. But I will never swear to that in court.

MURDOCH
(brightly) Well, then! I think I have the sequence of events correctly!

REED
(relieved a little) Oh, good.

MURDOCH
But there is one more detail that I'd like to clear up.

REED
(nervous again) All right.

MURDOCH
I understand that you and Mr. Paulin dealt in a number of historical relics, some of which are military items.

REED
Yes, that's true.

MURDOCH
Would any of those military items be stilettos?

(REED is visibly unnerved by that question.)

REED
I— no— I don't—

MURDOCH
When Constable Jackson and I came into your establishment a few minutes ago, you were not here.

REED
(pointing) I was in my office, I didn't hear the bell when you came in.

MURDOCH
No, you were not in your office, I checked. I suspect you were in a hidden room accessible from the office, possibly a workshop where you manufacture fraudulent historical artifacts—?

(REED sees JACKSON formidably blocking the establishment's front door. REED is becoming agitated and is trying to hide it.)

MURDOCH
And if we were to visit that workshop, might we find a stiletto?

(REED bolts through the office door into the office, and quickly closes the door. MURDOCH opens the door and sees REED making a hasty exit through the window. MURDOCH rushes to the window and sees HIGGINS, in an alley, holding REED securely. Moments later, CRABTREE runs in to assist HIGGINS.)

MURDOCH
(to HIGGINS) Constables!

HIGGINS
We've got him, sir!

(MURDOCH smiles. CUT TO: EXT. STATION HOUSE NUMBER FOUR, same day. CUT TO: INT. STATION HOUSE NUMBER FOUR, BRACKENREID'S OFFICE. Everyone is standing. BRACKENREID has a paper on his desk.)

BRACKENREID
So the ring was a fake?

MURDOCH
Yes. Mr. Reed used Mr. Woodward's own documents to create a replica. The reason the fake was so convincing to Mr. Woodward was because it was based upon Mr. Woodward's own pictures.

CRABTREE
Mr. Reed was fairly accomplished at metalwork. We saw some of his work at the museum, in the form of a modified sword supposedly worn by a famous general.

BRACKENREID
And speaking of things worn by famous generals— the Brock hat was a fake as well—?

MURDOCH
Yes, we think so. We found the hat and the ring, among a number of other forged items, hidden in Mr. Reed's secret workshop. And we also found dark attire, and a mask, and a stiletto.

BRACKENREID
(pointing to the paper on his desk) Which Dr. Ogden says appears to match the fatal wounds perfectly. But Murdoch, I'm still not clear on the motive here. Why would Reed kill his partner?

MURDOCH
Mr. Reed's original plan was this: once he learned of Mr. Woodward's interest in the ring, he planned to forge the ring and sell it to Mr. Woodward. He would claim to obtain the ring from a mysterious Mr. Jones, who never existed. Once Mr. Woodward made payment, Mr. Reed would take the money— which he expected to be quite a large amount— and quietly disappear from society, living the rest of his days comfortably on his new fortune.

BRACKENREID
And not share any of that "fortune" with his partner.

MURDOCH
Right. But two things happened that ruined the plan. One was that Mr. Woodward learned of the existence of Mr. Paulin, and the other was that Mr. Paulin learned of the existence of Mr. Woodward. When Mr. Paulin learned of the existence of Mr. Woodward, Mr. Paulin was infuriated, and the friendship and mutual trust and friendship between Messrs. Reed and Paulin was essentially destroyed. Mr. Paulin wanted to do one last deal for the ring, take his share of the fortune, then end his partnership with Mr. Reed.

BRACKENREID
Uh, huh.

MURDOCH
Now, Mr. Woodward had been totally satisfied that photographs of the forged ring showed the genuine article; but when Mr. Woodward learned of the existence of Mr. Paulin, he realized Mr. Reed was trying to cheat his own partner, and Mr. Woodward himself did not want to be cheated. So Mr. Woodward retained experts to examine the ring, and if they ruled it to be a fraud, which they likely would—

BRACKENREID
Woodward would have Reed killed.

MURDOCH
(nodding) In Mr. Reed's mind, the bringing in of experts made the original plan far too risky. Mr. Reed may have been resentful of Mr. Paulin, who accidentally fouled up the original plan.

BRACKENREID
(following) Under no circumstances, was Reed going to let Woodward have the forged artifact and risk exposure. And loss of his life.

MURDOCH
Meanwhile, his angry partner wanted his share of a fortune. The only way out for Mr. Reed was to make the ring disappear, in a manner in which he would not be blamed, and so that he would not be at risk of the rage of Mr. Paulin.

BRACKENREID
Or worse, the rage of Woodward.

MURDOCH
So Mr. Reed decided to stage this false exchange with this mysterious Mr. Jones, in which he would portray Mr. Jones; and in the process, he would kill Mr. Paulin.

BRACKENREID
And then when Woodward says, "Where's my bloody ring?", Reed says, "I don't know, the man who killed my partner took it, and I don't know who the killer is! And by the way, I'm a victim as well; not only did he kill my partner, he also stole my very valuable hat!"

MURDOCH
And I believe that Mr. Reed wanted to retain both the hat and the ring for sale in a few years. After all, they were very good forgeries and he may have seen no point in destroying them.

BRACKENREID
If there's any bright spot to this whole business, it's that James Woodward DOESN'T get his way, for once in his life.

CRABTREE
The provenance that Mr. Woodward has— those documents still might be authentic, might they not? And if the real ring ever does turn up, and he manages to buy it, and he shows the British government that he has this genuine national treasure—

BRACKENREID
(disgusted) Then Queen Elizabeth would turn over in her grave! (smirking) No, she wouldn't, she would be too classy for that. Queen Elizabeth. She was quite a lady. We'll never see another Queen Elizabeth again, will we?

(FADE OUT.)

THE END

(AUTHOR'S NOTE: Queen Elizabeth the First, King James the First, King James the Second, Sir John Macdonald, General Isaac Brock, General James Wolfe, and William Shakespeare are all real historical figures. The particular artifacts connected with them in this story, however, are figments of the author's imagination (except for James the Second throwing a royal seal into the Thames). It is worth noting that there is an actual unsolved historical mystery surrounding a different hat owned by General Brock, which was stolen from Balls Falls, Ontario; and that certain artifacts associated with General Wolfe are known and revered. The author viewed General Wolfe's jacket, in which he died, on display at the Citadel in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 2009. -DH)