Where In The World Are The Killers?

Off With Their Heads

"Agent Adalet, you'll recall the ancient manuscript Dupont told us went up to auction in France..." Chief Ripley says as the agent stood before her desk.

Adalet nods, "the same manuscript we believe was used to write a threat to Enid Grimshaw in London..."

"The very same. We heard that the editor-in-chief of the magazine Pretty Fair, Annette Sommeur, placed the highest bid," she placed a picture of the woman down on her desk, "she's booked the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles for a photoshoot and has the manuscript with her. Word is, she won't let it out of her sight!"

"Want me to steal it when she's not looking?" she offered, smiling innocently, "it's been a while since I've done a grab and go, but it shouldn't be too hard..."

"That will be a last resort," she replied, "we need Archer here at headquarters, so you'll be going with Carmen Martinez. Martinez is an investigative journalist who won the Pulitzer Prize for bringing down a major terrorist network in Yemen. You've probably heard of her."

"I think I remember one of my old teammates talking about her articles," Adalet mused.

"She's one tough cookie, and she's not known for her patience, but her smarts make up for her brusque personality. Most of the time..." Ripley says the last part under her breath, "you and Martinez are expected at the castle in Versailles so there will be no need for introductions once you arrive. Please have a glass of Burgundy for me!"

At the Hall of Mirrors in Versailles...

"So you're the famous Agent Adalet!" the woman who Adalet assumes to be Carmen calls to her as she and Hunter enter the hall of mirrors, "I'm used to working alone, but let's giddy-up and you can show me what you've got!"

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's find Annette!" Adalet says, heading further into the hall of mirrors.

"This Annette Sommeur better not waste our time. I don't care if she is some big-time magazine editor doing some fancy-pants photoshoot..." she rolls her eyes, "people say she's a real handful, the "Queen of Mean"! Well, she better tell us what we need to know about the manuscript she bought so we can move forward with this investigation!"

They entered the main room of the hall of mirrors where Annette's photoshoot was to be held. The room was a long hall with props and displays set up throughout, there was even a guillotine! But they couldn't see anyone around to talk to.

"Where the heck is she?" Carmen wondered, clearly annoyed, "maybe we can poke around the Hall of Mirrors and find the dang manuscript ourselves!"

Walking through the sun-warmed room, Adalet and Carmen began looking for signs of either Annette or the manuscript. Sadly, they found no traces of the ancient book, but they did find Annette Sommeur... Her decapitated body to be precise. The blade of the guillotine they had noticed earlier had been dropped, slicing Annette's head clean off and it had rolled a few feet away from her body.

Looking around the room, Adalet spotted an antique chest set up near the guillotine that was overflowing with props for the photoshoot. There was also a business card on the ground with a camera shutter design, but the information in the circle was faded too badly to be read.

"Are you kidding me? We come here to grill our main lead about this manuscript and she got her head chopped off?" Carmen stared gobsmacked at the severed head, "this is insane!"

"Frankly I'm beginning to think this is normal," Adalet quipped, "every time we need to talk to someone we find them dead... The guillotine must have been part of the photoshoot..."

"We'll have to figure out who got to Annette Sommeur... We'll get her back in two pieces to Angela," she says, taking out her phone to text the coroner, "you didn't find the manuscript anywhere?"