Ada & The French (The Woodhouse Series #2)

Chapter 31

CHAPTER 31

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*Paris*

Paonne sat opposite two officers - dressed very much down then in her usual extravagant attire.

The officers asked her questions and she answered, honestly and openly.

She told him everything she knew about Les Gens and they took notes, interrogating her but she kept calm. 

"Madame Paonne..." One of the officers asked. "Why did you not report this earlier?"

"Because..." She continued. "Look what happened to Les Perles. Les Gens did that because they went to the police. Innocents died and the police did nothing."

"Because the mistress did not file a report..." An officer emphasised.

"And face more repercussions?" Paonne explained. "Les Gens are dangerous. Do you know how many times they threatened me these past month, simply because I will not bow to them and their demands?" The officers looked at each other sheepishly. "Bastien Lavigne is an aggressive, violent and horrible man. He will kill anything and anyone standing in his way and I will not risk the lives of my girls like that."

An uneasy feeling filled her stomach - she could not read the officers' expressions but all she could wonder was if all that she had said was enough. 

***

"So...what do we know?" Theodore put his hands on his hips and looked at the crime board on the wall that he and Dupont put together with all the evidence, witness statements and reports they had. Since Adelaide's crime board in her room with the Nottingham case, Theodore had used the method to help him when analyse cases and evidence, using, as she did, different colour strings that represent different connections between everything.

He was impressed with her strategy and while now, many people in the Met Police and now, here in Paris looked at him with confusion, it was an effective method that even they couldn't deny.

An errand boy left another pot of coffee in the room, Theodore thanking him as he poured himself a cup, Dupont, leaning on the wooden desk. Both had lost their jackets and shirts loosened - neither had looked like they had slept but in their sheer determination to protect their loved ones, they were willing to go as long as they did.

"Les Gens has been around since the fall of Napoleon III in 1870 from what we know..."

Theodore checked the board as he gestured for Dupont to continue. "They have been underground, sort of in the shadows for years, but we believe they are connected to some murders in the past twenty years, including those of Alexander Simon, Charles Badeau, René Foulon - all of whom had political office during the presidencies of Thiers, Macmahon, and Grévy."

"So...politically motivated?" Theodore asked, gesturing to the words on the board but Dupont shook his head.

"We cannot be certain. In recent months, other victims have fallen to Les Gens who have emerged from the shadows in the past few years..." Dupont continued as Theodore gestured to the latest victims. "We originally believed it to be a target of the bourgeoisie as the first two victims were middle-class, Jacques Lambert and Charles Toussaint...but the attack of a working-class man changed that."

"Albert Boucher?" Theodore said and Dupont nodded. "And Bastien Lavigne? How is he related to this?"

An artist's impression of Bastien sat on the board with many different colour strings attached to it.