Hidden Ingredient

The pair reached the house by the address Ledru 1 and exited the Renault. Despite the dusk, Eugene noticed that there was a car weirdly parked by the entrance door, practically blocking it. It was unfamiliar to Eugene, though so were nearly all the cars that surrounded them, but at least no one had the audacity to inconvenient their neighbours that much.

Eugene peeked at Sylvia, who was tagging behind him. The blunder that resulted in her name being revealed was sure quite anticlimactic, but the man was happy to learn it regardless. The woman, on the other hand, was still in disbelieve as if her mistake lead to the bankruptcy. It was quite an overdramatic reaction from her side, but at least Eugene could find an amusement from it.

"Do not worry, Sylvia, I will not tell anyone the secret of yours."

She tilted her head, questioning Eugene's announcement. Alas, her gaze was met with a wry smile and even before the man could proceed talking, she already frowned.

"I will not tell anyone how you lost our bet, of course. It must feel humiliating, is not it?"

"Not as much as preparing a worse coffee than so-called doll." she retaliated with a confident smile. One could only admire her coping speed, but these were precisely the words that Eugene was awaiting at all time.

"That was a mere fluke, I did not feel well that day. If we had a competition right now, you would not stand a chance!"

"Quite a bold claim." she hummed, and then declared, "Then how about a revenge after we are done with this game of detectives?"

Eugene nodded eagerly, then he took out keys from his pocket and tried to open the door, but it was already unlocked and a sense of dread overflown his body. He pushed the door so hard that it hit the cupboard inside, and rushed inside. Sylvia entered right after him with a disturbingly calm expression.

Eugene called for Vera inside and to his surprise she indeed ran into the hallway. They looked at each other for a split second, but then Eugene made a huge sign of relief. Vera, on the contrary, narrowed her brows and spoke in an unpleased manner.

"Today, you scared the life out of me twice, Eugene! Why were you screaming and banging the door, god, I hope it is not broken."

Sylvia quickly glanced over the door and shook her head before closing it completely. Eugene, though, explained his attitude, "I am sorry, it was open and outside there is a car strangely parked. Some asshole tried to block the entrance, so I thought someone came after you, Vera."

"This asshole is me, young man, I am sorry," spread the voice of an unfamiliar man. Eugene jumped in surprise upon hearing his words, he pricked up, but as soon as this man's face peeked out of the living room, Eugene loosened the grip on his fists. However, he remained surprised regardless. The man that stood beside Vera, holding a cup of steaming coffee, was Monsieur Garland, an owner of café "Bean of the Nation".

"Arnold called me and explained the situation about Christopher's disappearance, thus I rushed here as fast as I could. The only empty parking slot belonged to you, and that's why I left my car there."

"Wait, but how did Arnold learn about the situation to begin with?" wondered Eugene, but Vera resolved this question in an instant, "I called him first. I thought maybe he has connections here that could be helpful for us. Together, we were talking with neighbours and looking over letters, as I was told."

Eugene nodded to her explanation, helping hands would not hurt indeed, but there should not be much help from an old coffee enthusiast. Was Garland the best option available, or Arnold knows something more about him?

While Eugene was overthinking the matter, Sylvia walked towards the current householder and an unknown barista. Garland scratched the back of his head and exclaimed while giggling, "And you must be the one whose name should be said? Madam la Avise?"

But before the woman had a chance to react to round man's question, Eugene answered for her, "Indeed she is, Sylvia la Avise. Also known as Sherlock of France."

"Quit with your embarrassing nicknames, buffoon!"

"It was the first one, though."

Vera blinked a few times in awe and energetically congratulated Eugene, "My, you were able to figure out her name!"

"Why, of course! It was a piece of cake." Eugene's stomach rumbled sonorously, and he swiftly changed the subject, "And talking of cakes, are there any leftovers of yesterday's meal? We have not eaten this whole day, I am starving!"

"You came just in time, actually. There is a freshly made ratatouille and roasted duck in the oven. Come to the table, I will set it all up for you."

And so they all did, the three of them, in fact. Garland joined the two with no intention to eat, since he had his share before their arrival, and is now finishing it off with a cup of coffee. Its fragrant aroma is filling the room, but after a few seconds, to Eugene's surprise, its odour was overshadowed by the steam of vegetables and duck, prepared with familiar spices and herbs like vadouvan and rosemary, oregano and coriander in a bouquet, still visible inside the pot.

Sylvia, who previously had been lacking enthusiasm, was eager to try Vera's dish. This childish demeanour of an unsuccessful attempt to hide the interest behind a mask of dignity was amusing to the man. He smiled at the woman, who noticed this and immediately gave him a cold treatment by turning away. Meanwhile, Vera already put their share on the table and they began eating.

This time Eugene was not particularly polite by the table, he gnawed onto the duck as if it was still alive and well capable of escaping from his plate. Sylvia, on the other hand, was articulating with her fork and knife like a watchmaker. Little by little, her plate appeared to be more empty, but before she could finish her dish, she suddenly spoke.

"That was delicious, Madam householder. Cooks with such skill like yours could easily find their way to the finest diners."

"Why, thank you, Sylvia!" Vera brought more light to the table with her smile. Unfortunately, it was soon after extinguished due to the topic at hand.

"I guess it is now time to talk about the case. Were there any outliers among the letters that you read? Have your neighbours seen suspicious individuals patrolling the house?"

Vera sighed in incertitude, her eyes overfilled with a sense of dread, and she spoke quietly, "I asked our neighbours regarding the people that could possibly come here with an evil intent. They did not really want to talk about my husband to begin with, but those who gave any sort of information only shrugged it off, saying that they did not see anything suspicious. As for the letters…"

She glanced over at Garland, who was sipping his coffee with a smart look. At first, the man still in his working attire did not notice her eyes, but as soon as Sylvia with Eugene followed her, he choked on his drink and spoke, periodically coughing, "Yes, yes, sorry. I zoned out a little. So, I read the letters that were sent to Christopher per Vera's request. The majority of them were insults and death threat with no actual intent of action. But there was… how should I say it? A peculiar set of letters that were sent regularly by a certain group of people. They demanded a pay-off for his mistake, and were sent nearly daily. Give me a second, I will bring those that were left over here."

Garland jumped from the sofa and rushed into the bedroom, and soon after returned with a sizable pile of letters stacked on one another. They all were signed as AWC and written with precision and officially. Vera could not bear to look at them, Eugene as well did not feel great from cruel words addressed to his brother, Sylvia, though, was scanning through them with deep interest like an industrial machine. At one point, she stopped and looked up at Garland.

"What about the newer letter? Were they still writing to Christopher?"

"Oh about them!" Garland giggled while holding his stomach, "Fresh letters were in the rubbish bin, taking them out was quite a challenge, they were covered in the leftovers. Nasty!"

"Sorry…" modestly murmured Vera to which Garland replied, "No worries, if I was at your place, I would burn them all up. There was not a letter with yesterday's date, as well as the day before that. However! There was this peculiar letter and it was sent ereyesterday."

He gave a piece of paper to Sylvia, Eugene peeked at it over her shoulder, and together they read it out in half whisper. It was a warning letter, that advised Christopher and Vera to escape from Paris. There were not many details for it, but it was uncanny how well it predicted the date of the kidnapping. It was most likely sent to them by one of the least extreme criminal who has done the deed.

Vera shook her head silently and sweep off her tears that began forming in her eyes, making them glister like diamonds. She further murmured, "It was my fault, it only I continued their examination this would never happen…"

"Vera…" Eugene's heart sank in sorrow, he did not know what to say nor how to act. He had a look at Sylvia, who appeared to be in a deep thought process, digesting the information.

"Oh, do not worry, sweetheart," suddenly spread the reassuring words, Garland came to her side first and patted on her back, "No one could ever expect someone close to us to disappear this suddenly. This is not your fault. How about this, let me prepare a cup of coffee for you. The anise flavour in it will for sure brighten your mood!"

Vera nodded, but before Garland was able to depart from the room, she corrected him, "This is not anise flavour, though, but licorice."

At once, Garland stopped and raised his brow, "The one that you prepared for me? No, no. I am quite certain it contains anise, my nose maybe old, but capable of distinguishing these two flavours."

As soon as Garland stated his confidence in the flavour of gifted coffee, Sylvia snapped out from her mind and exclaimed, "Are you absolutely sure there is anise in this coffee!?"

Garland glared at her dumbfounded, and so did Eugene and Vera. Garland made a doubtful nod, provoking a cheeky smile on Sylvia's face. She did not tire them down with waiting and soon made a bold statement, "Anise in this coffee might be an answer to all our problems."