UNDERGROUND LIBRARY

                        Chapter 2
     "And where are you going so early this morning?"

     "Nowhere, I'm just going out for a stroll."

     "But it's chilly outside, you might catch a cold."

     "Women", he thought as he stepped outside, "Why couldn't they mind their own business?"

She was right, the cold air struck him in the face and he shivered.

Early mornings in their town were usually cold because of the sea breeze, but today, it felt like winter was approaching.

Pierre Frances and Susan Belmont got married when there were both in their early twenties. They had met at a New Year's party, where she was one of the waitresses and he was just a bachelor coming to enter the new year with his townsfolk. That night, he happened to bump into her in the midst of crowd, where he spilled the glass of champagne she was carrying. As good mannered as she was, she just apologized and went her way. Two weeks later, they met again. This time, at a bus stop. He was the first to recognize her when he said,"I'm sorry about that night."

     "Oh never mind. Accidents are always bound to happen", she said with a bright smile. She had also recognized him a s the man from that night. That encounter at the bus stop, marked the start of an intimate friendship. Eight months later, after they decided they had seen enough of each other, they wanted to get married, so they informed their parents. Unfortunately, both parties did not hold with the union. Susan's parents would not allow her to marry a man from a family as poor as the Frances family, and Pierre's parents resented rich people, because they thought they were arrogant and corrupt. In the midst of all these arguments, they eloped.

Yes, Pierre and Susan, without their parents knowing, got married in secret.

When he returned from his "morning walk", Mrs. Frances noticed a change in her husband's mood and appearance. Though the morning was cold, something she had become inured to, he was very sweaty and his face looked like one who had cried for long.

     "Pierre, what's the matter." She enquired.

     "Nothing, I just want to be alone for a while."

Susan was very well aware that her husband was the very confidential type and become a world war anytime she wanted to get words out of him, but this time she was not going to stay put. She had to know what was bothering him. She went outside and surveyed the houses lined up on the street, but saw nothing that could give her a clue. An empty street, no one lingering about and a few Dodo birds singing in the distance was all she saw.She frowned with disappointment and disappeared into the house.
She found him in the living room. He had his head buried in his palms and he was sitting on the floor. His memory drifted back to what he had done. Jean-Paul had wanted to let Mr. Andres know that they had found the location of the Crescentia, and he had wanted to stop him from doing that, but he ended up killing him. He,Pierre Frances, had killed his best friend. Who in the world would believe such a story? He imagined the look on their faces when the find out. Mrs. Marco would be broken. Come to think of those poor kids, loosing a father at such a young age. Anyway, who was the culprit? No one. No one had seen Pierre enter the house that morning. It would be a case of suicide,not murder.
Suddenly the phone rang. It was Jean-Paul's wife, Janette.

     "Oh, Jean-Paul? He's not here. Yes, he's here. Would you like to speak to him? Janette is on the line. She says her husband has suddenly disappeared and she wants to ask if you know anything about it."
He hesitated, but accepted it. He probably couldn't tell her her husband was lying in their backyard, dead.

     "Oh hello, Janette. It's been a while. How's the family?"

Janette's voice sounded grave. Before she could finish stating the reason for her call, she was distracted by screams of her from the backyard of the house. Leaving the call on hold, she rushed to the place.

     "Hello? Janette? Janette? Hello?"

     "What's wrong? Why is she not answering?"

     "Never mind. I think we have to rush to her place this instant."

     "But Pierre, why? Tell me, what's going on?"

     "I'll tell you while we're leaving. Now hurry!"

After a few minutes, the car screeched to a halt; they were at the Marco's residence. They saw Jean-Paul's body, lifeless, with his family around him in tears. The sight was too much of a shock for Susan, felt dizzy and staggered backwards. Pierre helped her settle in one of the sofas and turned his attention back to the small group on his left.

     "Now, Janette, tell me, what happened? She opened her mouth, but was not able to utter a word; the more she cried. It was Sebastian, the youngest of Jean-Paul's two sons, who spoke.

     "We left home to go and run a few errands and came back to find Daddy......." The last word of his statement trailed off as he could no longer hold on back the tears that stung his eyes.
Suddenly, a thought struck Pierre.

       "So.......so why haven't you called an ambulance?" He asked Janette.

     "It's too late to do that now", she said as she wiped her tears and looked sternly at the body which lay before her.

     "I'll live to make sure whoever did this suffers the same fate. This is a promise I am making to you, Jean-Paul."

Janette Marco was a strong-willed woman who, just like her husband, did not play around when it came to words. She stayed true to her words and whatever she promised to do, she did. Pierre recalled the time she vowed to avenge Joseph Finchley, the most affluent man in Slashers, after he had, through dubious means, stolen her land and claimed it as his. Later, not only did Joseph loose the land, he also lost an important part of his properties. What she did accorded her a great deal if respect from the people of the town, especially those who had lost their wealth to Joseph Finchley.

Anyway, it was not that Pierre was scared of the woman and what she could do, it was just the tone of her voice and the look in her eyes that gave him a pang of fear.

     "Whatever!", he said aloud in his head. "I was able to kill your husband, and I can kill you too if you try to stand in my way."

An ambulance arrived -Pierre had called anyway - to take the body away since Pierre had reported him "already dead". He half expected her to refuse for the body to be taken, but Janette finally gave in after holding onto it for a while.