Investigation Begins

The statement of their guest enveloped the room into silence. Neither Eugene nor Vera knew what to think of this situation. Without a shadow of the doubt, she casually proclaimed a great brother and loving husband a murderer! And afterwards she put more salt into the wound.

"Though I surely did not expect to see you, Monsieur buffoon, here."

"What do you mean by assassination, you witch!?" finally hissed out Eugene, ignoring her last complaint. The same did Vera, but instead of anger her words contained disbelieve, "Chris could not possibly be a murderer! This was an accident!"

The woman's eyes widened from their rebuttal, but soon enough her lips formed a wry smile and she stood up.

"Seems like you lot misunderstood me. Someone like Christopher indeed could not have done the work. There is no motive for such vulgar act, aside from dislike towards the Popular Front, of course." She peeked at Eugene, sending shivers down his spine, "I was assigned to investigate this matter and his disappearance timed quite poorly for me. He was not the only one as well, I first sent out my servant, Vincent. But as you can see, I am alone now."

The woman waved her hands, her expression was rather dull. Then, she walked away from the sofa, still limping a little. Even though the wound was nowhere near from healing, she seems to be in a much better condition, which is impressive. She strolled towards the door and then unexpectedly pointed at Eugene with an arrogant smile.

"Since I met you here, brother of the death, I am asking you to accompany me in search of Christopher. What do you think? Would you join my side, or do you hate me more than you love your dear brother?"

Eugene narrowed his brows at this overdramatic enthusiasm. He also stood up and walked towards the woman, "I do not necessarily hate you; I just dislike the likes of you. But since our goal is the same, there is no reason to deny this offer."

Eugene did not necessarily lie to her, but there still was a feeling quite stronger than a simple dislike towards this woman. He did not know who was the person who died from his brother's mistake, who could wish harm upon that man, nor how his brother was framed for his death. But one fact is certain and quite bitter for Eugene, the la Avise's insight of this situation is far greater than Eugene's and would surely be proven handy.

Lastly, the one who remained on the sofa spoke out with uncertainty, "Should I go with you as well? I know this city quite well and can drive."

"There is no need for that," shook her head la Avise and continued, "I contain far greater knowledge of the city, moreover, this man over here can drive too."

"Can I?" Eugene raised his brow. He had the basic understanding of how cars work, but did not actually own a licence.

"I will be deeply disappointed if you can't." Sighed the woman and afterwards looked at Vera, "We need you here, you can ask your neighbours whether they saw Monsieur surgeon talking with someone suspicious. Moreover, you should check every nook and crane of your house. If something catches your attention, show it to us after we return. Oh, and tell me the places your husband visits regularly."

Vera nodded in agreement, she took this game of detectives way too seriously, judging by her hilariously stoic expression. They heard out Vera about the places Christopher likes to visit. Some of them sounded familiar to Eugene, but the majority was a dark forest, just like most of Paris itself. And at last, they exited the apartment building and headed towards the car.

Eugene did not understand how his life choices brought him to the driver seat of the car, considering he was terrified of them when he was little. The only knowledge he had about them is Douglas's endless blabbering about their models, construction, and function. The reason for this woman's confidence in his abilities was unclear to him.

"I wish Douglas was with us…" he said whilst turning on the engine of the car. For a while it vibrated in place, but then slowly moved forward. The start was great and Eugene was happy from being able to make it move, so happy, in fact, that he even risked by increasing their speed. Only slightly, though, but still it felt like a full speed for him. Eugene was not sure if he could hold the wheel in place with such pace, but it did not matter, his face shined with excitement anyway. He glanced over the woman, who in contrast bore the expression of disbelief. She must be in shock from my natural talent! – thought Eugene, but then her words sent him down from the skies.

"You are the worst Sunday driver I have seen in my life…"

"I thought I was doing pretty good?"

"Look at the road!"

Eugene felt a push to the front, and he tapped the brake as hard as he could. Then, the man looked at the road with his fingers crossed. Luckily, he only drove over the curb, not the car nor someone else suffered from the impact.

"I thought I was doing pretty good…" sulked down Eugene.

The woman groaned and complained, "I should have taken Vera with me… whatever, just drive towards hospital. This will be our first stop."

"Alright," murmured Eugene, turned the wheel to the left and got back on track. Usually, it would take around 10 minutes to reach the hospital from his brother's home, but with Eugene's unwillingness to increase their pace, they finally parked after a whole 20 minutes. The woman looked at him in contempt this whole time.

The hospital entrance was not as busy as Eugene remembers it to be. His thoughts immediately jumped to his brother being the reason of people distrust, but in actuality, it was midday of Wednesday and hardly any people visit hospital at this time.

He helped out la Avise get out of the car, and together they marched inside the old building. It used to be not just a hospital, but also an insane asylum. Each institution had its own wing. In the middle of the 19th century, Paris experienced huge population growth due to the immigration of those who were seeking for opportunities. As such, the crazy asylum was deemed irrelevant.

Plenty of equipment from that time is still stored in the left wing, where the asylum used to be. And the lack of buyers even amongst history museums spread ill superstitions regarding those gadgets. As a result, not many doctors were willing to work in the left wing, it was mostly inhabited by those young and sceptical. Needless to say, that one of such people was Christopher.

As if an ill joke of fate, the politician, the successor of the ones who overlooked the negligence towards those off their head, was cut by the one who is now deemed as "The death surgeon".

"Quite a gloomy place," whispered Eugene out loud. There were not any people around, and the only person besides him ignored his observation. But Eugene did not stay silent for too long, after they went up to the second floor, he asked, "Where are we going anyway? I do not think Christopher would return here at such time."

The woman shook her head, "I am not after your brother, at least for now. There is one more person who might bear information regarding this operation."

At once, the woman stopped, and so did Eugene. He looked up at the small name sign that was glistering slightly. He recognized this name, but the woman got ahead of him and stated.

"Marco Garcia, he is a colleague of Christopher and a close friend. If there is anyone, he might share information with-"

"It would be him!" finished Eugene her sentence, though she was unpleased by this sudden interruption. But upon examining her companion's expression, the goal of this act became clear, and she sighed in acceptance.

Afterwards, the woman knocked on the door and then pushed it lightly, but before it fully opened, someone pushed it from the other side, and it closed with a slam.

"Please, give me a second, there is a mess right now!" a voice could be heard from behind the door. It was fast and a little panicky. The woman narrowed her brows and knocked more intensely, while ignoring Eugene's efforts to calm her down.

Surprisingly, this worked and soon enough the person behind it departed from his office, but was still unwilling to show the inside of his room, he kept it close. The man was visually irritated, however, upon examining the intruders, he smiled and exclaimed, "Oh, its you, Eugene! Long time no see!"

Marco outstretched his arm and forced Eugene into a handshake. But before Eugene was able to say his words of nostalgia, la Avise returned the favour and spoke first.

"May I ask you, what are you hiding inside your room?"

"As I said, there is a mess inside. And who even are you?" wary asked Marco. He let go off of Eugene's hand and faced the woman with an unusual deprecation. His frame was blocking the door, as if he was desperately trying to hide something. Which made even Eugene on alert.

The woman, though, did not back off, she insisted with a smile, "My name is irrelevant, and as for the mess, no need to worry. The mess in this man's head is far more brutal than whatever is inside your office. All we want is to have a seat and discuss your colleague. Or, perhaps, there is something inside no commoner should see?"

Eugene narrowed his brows and crossed his arms, "The only messy thing here is your attitude…"

The woman lightly sideswept Eugene with her elbow, but the man was not taken aback, he stood his ground and showed tongue in protest.

"I see…" finally eased his guard Marco, making them quit their infighting. He moved aside and finally opened the door, revealing quite a spectacular sight.