Path of Crime

Bar "Samuel" was quite an exquisite location to have a pint of beer or two with your pals. There was no place for those who could not afford sliced truffles on the side of their cheeseboard. There, a huge number of rich individuals love to isolate oneself from the rustic French of migrants and discuss recent happenings in the governance or novelties of real estate markets. And as a cherry on top of this luxury cake, the bar was directly facing the palace of senate, making it easier for politicians to travel to their resting ground after long hours of doing absolutely nothing.

Christopher sure did not live in poverty due to his profession, but it was still a bit expensive even for someone like him, thus he was not visiting it this frequently. And the only reason why he could have ended up at that place in this dire situation is Douglas. Despite his friend not earning nearly as much to go there out of the blue, he was great with words and was probably able to persuade Christopher into going there.

And while the two were slowly but surely driving past Notre-Dame and onto the other side of the Seine river, Eugene was mumbling different names.

"Martha? Clarissa? Fiona?"

And the one to answer was the lady sitting beside him, "No, no and no. Not even close."

"Could you at least give me a hint?"

The woman gave off a cheeky smile, "Seems like there are but thickets in your head."

"Oh, piss off!" groaned Eugene and made a sharp turn to the right on the road of Saint German and after a few stops at cross walks with flocks of people passing by, he made a turn to the road of Saint Michel, as she commanded earlier. Despite it being his second ever drive not just in Paris but overall, Eugene was feeling quite confident now, but his skills still were not worthy of praise for madam la Avise.

Even in the situation of his brother's, who was beforehand accused of murder, disappearance, the mystery behind this woman's name was eating him from the inside. It feels like a basic task to find out someone's name, but due to her stubborn nature, Eugene struggled to do so, which further annoyed the man. Though, at the same time, it helped him to hide his thoughts elsewhere and not focus entirely on his Christopher's desperate situation.

Soon, they arrived to the Luxembourg gardens, upon exiting the car, plenty of passerbyers' eyes were directed at Eugene's companion. The woman was still limping a little, but to onlookers it did not even seem like something was off, partly due to golden ornaments on her black dress that were shining from rare rays of light. Her hair resembled the same colour and glistering, making her look like a doll that just went off the display window of the antique store.

Because of her haughty attitude, Eugene forgot how actually bizarre it must be to see someone dressed like a noble of the 19th century out in the streets of Paris. And such dress only emphasized the naturally glorious looks of madam la Avise. And as soon as he accepted the attractiveness she bore, the nasty comment erased the essence of beauty from his eyes, "Hopefully your petty mind would not forget the road back home."

Eugene did not think of the way to retaliate and just turned away while snorting in discontent. After a second or two of hush, the woman continued talking, but now regarding the case and not Eugene.

"Anyway, the bar should be out in that direction," she outstretched her hand towards the busy building, "But seems like we will not be able to enter the premise through the main door."

"So many people. Was this place always that busy?"

The woman shook her head and gave a thoughtful answer, "It should not be, at least not at this time of the day and the week. Perhaps they are journalists? Something might have indeed happened there, meaning that we are on the right path."

The two approached bar "Samuel" with no rush, as if they were just the wandering tourists. Madam la Avise's assumptions were proven right when they heard provocative questions coming from the flock of people. "How would you comment this incident?", "How many people have suffered an injury?", "Will the owner comment upon the occurrence?" and many other exclamations were annoying the police and workers, who were blocking the entrance.

Eugene was astounded by the sight that he had only read about in the novels such as Sherlock Holmes and various newspapers. Who would have thought that journalists are this annoying in reality as well. Suddenly, he noticed madam la Avise approaching one of the journalists.

"Excuse me, what has happened here?"

The journalist, who was a young man with ginger hair and notebook in his hands, turned to the woman and annoyingly said, "I am not a storyteller, read about this in the newspapers!"

Afterwards, he turned away and tried to dive deeper into the crowd. The woman was about to say something while squinting, but she was stopped by Eugene. Although not directly, the man approached yet another journalist, now an older gentleman with some hints of grizzle in his black hair.

"Sir? Any progress of getting the information out of them?"

"Oh," jumped from surprise the man, adjusted his glasses and spoke, "Not at all, I really do not get the point of hiding the information when everyone knows about the gun play inside…"

"Well, they probably have something more significant to hide. Maybe someone was kidnapped there?"

The old man rubbed his goatee and nodded, "I heard about this version, and I do not think it is farfetched from truth. By the way, what agency are you from?"

Eugene and madam la Avise looked at each other, then Eugene shrugged and smiled, "I guess we are unemployed."

"Young couple followed by curiosity, I see." the old man giggled and winked at them, "Then I should not worry about telling you this. One of the fellows who visited this place on the day of the incident said that it was visited by the messenger of some royal family."

"Then what about the Death Surgeon?" all of a sudden joined the conversation, madam la Avise. The old man froze in thoughts and caustically said, "I bet someone would recognize the mug of this murderer if he had come here. But who knows, Paris is not as big as some might think."

Eugene abruptly ended the dialogue, thanked the old man and moved away from the crowd together with madam la Avise. Even though this encounter was a success, he still felt a slight bitterness in his throat. This sure was unusual to hear such words said about his brother, as if he was a member of a criminal gang and not a doctor. The woman was also not looking in her best spirit, but upon hearing her words, Eugene smiled from the ridiculousness of her reason for sorrow.

"You were just lucky enough to stumble upon a polite man and not some parvenu. With an attitude like this, his only path of career is a fish market!"

"I am sorry for being more charming than you."

The woman squinted at him, and Eugene retaliated by showing his tongue. She turned away in displeasure and continued talking with no resolve to face her companion.

"Now we know about the gunfight and a kidnap that happened inside. The messenger of the royal family… could it be Vincent?"

"Your servant?"

"Indeed."

"Do you think he came here alone?"

The woman was silent for a second and then sighed, "Possibly, at least there was not any intent from other agents, though they were busy protecting me from ghosts."

"Wait, you have agents here in Paris!? Why did not you ask for their help?" exclaimed Eugene in incomprehension.

"Because these buffoons are useless cowards who tried to bring me back home after the disappearance of Vincent. Who do you think were those people you encountered in the back alley?"

The understanding of the situation finally dawned on Eugene. The people back there were her allies who tried to bring her back home, but instead she ran away with Eugene to investigate this case on her own. Quite a wilful approach to the problem, but one question still stands.

"Why did not you tell me about this beforehand?... Why did you choose me?"

The woman glared at him in silence. She examined his expression, that resembled distrust, resentment and fascination, he was eager to hear her answer, but the woman was not rushing.

Instead, she came closer to the man and explained in half whisper, "First of all, I could not know whether you were my ally or an enemy, I was cautious and as foolish as you are, I decided you are worth trusting."

Further, the woman placed her slender hand on Eugene's shoulder and pushed him down a little. He followed her lead and bend his knees to make it easier for her to whisper in his ear, "Secondly, you must be desperate due to the disappearance of your brother. And desperate people are more willing to battle the law in order to achieve their goals."

The man raised his brow, slightly pushed the woman away and asked, "What are you talking about?"

"Come with me," she outstretched her left hand to Eugene and with her right hand, or rather right index finger, pointed at the bar with a cheeky smile, "We will make a hostage out of the "Samuel" owner and find out all the details about the incident, including the disappearance of your brother."