The strange events of Rue Ruine

Chapter V: Reflections

They both got out as quick as they could, Raphael rushed to the figure but Zayra kept an eye on the window from which it fell, the purple light seemed to move, window to window, until he couldn't see it anymore.

"MAKE HASTE DOC" Screamed Raph.
As Zayra got to the figure his room mate uncovered it from the cloak he was tangled into, revealing the face of a young girl, drenched in blood and shards of glass.

"Dear god..." said Zayra "Go fetch the police"

"NOW"
Raphael hesitated a minute but then runned towards the police station, Zayra instead took a closer look at the corpse of the girl.
From the lineaments she wasn't older then 20, maybe younger, the face was covered in blood, probably by the shards of glass that were stuck in her skin, her eyes were open.
He then began to uncover her from the cloak revealing a skirt with a white shirt and a brown corset.
He took her pulse just to be sure but there wasn't any.
He then resumed his examination: the skirt was bloody and some shard fell off as he examined it closely, the muscles were still soft so he was easy for Zayra to move her limbs, there were bruises on the wrists and on the forearm of both the left and right arm, on the right arm there was also a big bruise forming, probably it was the arm she fell on, he lifted the skirt and saw that the right leg was visibly broken and it was twisted in an unnatural way confirming his theory, she fell on her right side.
Observing the chest, Zayra realized that a big red stain was on her shirt where there was also a cut.
He opened it up and saw a wound, probably made with a knife, between the 3rd and the 4th rib on the left.
He searched with his eyes around and saw it, too small, the blade didn't fit the wound, he needed something bigger.
He saw a couple of lights in front of him, and upon lifting his eyes from the body there were four men coming his way, one of them was Raphael followed by 3 police officers, he made a sigh of relief.

"There it is Sir" said Raph to one of them, he fixed his hat on his head and looked at the body and then at Zayra "Good evening Sir"
"Officer" the man looked up and saw the window from which the girl fell, his eyes twitched slightly before turning to the other two officers and whispering something to their ears.
"We'd like to ask you a couple of question in the central, my colleagues will wait here with the body until the coroner arrives"
"Sure" said Zayra even though Raphael was shaking his head behind the policeman.

They followed the man inside the precinct, a huge white building with arches and columns that made Ralph feel like he was in a Greek temple.
The halls and corridors where mostly empty, probably they kept minimum staff during the night, the officer brought them inside a room "Wait here please, he's coming"
"Who's coming?"
"The commissioner" and left them there before they could ask another question.
The office was big with a high ceiling, the light pointed at them was extremely bright while really soft in the rest of the room leaving the corner in the dark.
"You're worried?" Asked gently Zayra
"A tad bit yeah"
"How come? we didn't do anything"
"My people aren't exactly friends with cops, they just want to put us behind the bars for whatever they can use as an excuse"
"Artists?"
"Poors"
"Why would they want to arrest you, they work for the justice"
"You don't know them very well Doc, people like them... they reserve justice for people with money"
"That's terrible, england should do something about it"
"It's not just england, to them we're better off in jail or hanging on the noose than outside bothering the rich"
"Well... you don't have to worry, you've got me, I will grant for you"
"Thanks... but I'm still nervous"
The door opened and a huge man wearing a suit entered the room.
He had a big smile, a well kept beard and a nice fresh haircut, but his eyes were dissonant with this clean image, like they were… empty.
"Bonsoir, Pleasure to meet you both, I'm commissioner Degas" said sitting down on the chair in front of them, the low light formed grottesque shadows on his face making what seemed like a friendly smile look uncanny.
"So you two... the officer reported me that the gentleman here..." said taking a piece of paper from an index
"Raphael Fauxar"
"An Englishman, correct?" Asked looking at the file
"Yes I-"
"How come an Englishman has a French name? That's kinda strange..." he chuckled a bit.
"My... my mother was french, I took her name" answered Raphael nervously
"Oh you did? Peculiar, very peculiar" smiled the man
"And you Doctor Laroulié, your name precedes you, I've heard a lot about your work in Paris, you were debarred weren't you?"
"Not officially"
"But they told you not to practice, didn't they?"
"They asked me if I could abstain myself from doing so, yes"
"Some officers reported me that a curiously high number of people visits your apartment time to time"
Zayra remained silent
"Could you appoint that for me?"
"They're just... friends"
"Do you usually let your friends use the fire ladder?"
"Pardon moi sir, are you accusing us of something?" Asked Zayra
"Should I accuse you of something?"
"No I was just-"
"Listen, I'm just trying to clear some... weird things about you two"
"Shouldn't you ask us about the girl? The one we saw fall on the street?" Asked angrily Raphael
"Thrown" corrected him Zayra
"Doctor, I think you'll find us officers quite capable of solving this by ourselves without you" said still smiling Degas.
"I'm just saying that-"
"You're not saying anything unless I ask you to!"
His tone shifted and his smile vanished.
"You only found the body, there isn't a thing I can ask you that is relevant, I just need you to sign this"
He took two sets of paper from the index and put them on the table.
"What is this?"
"Confidentiel"
"Meaning?"
"He want us to say nothing about this to anyone"
"What? Why?"
"Because I don't want to say nothing about your activities to anyone, you are not debarred doctor but I trust that you don't want Paris to discover anything weird about you"
Zayra looked down at the piece of paper
"And you Mr. Fauxar, how long do you think you'll last here without him?"
"I-"
"Don't answer, sign" and handed them a pen.
They looked at eachother.
"I'd like to read it before"
"Go on" said the commissioner, putting his smile back, he got up from behind the desk and went to a corner to take three glasses and a bottle of liquor.
"On the house" said pouring the liquor to them.
"Thanks" said Zayra lowly
They all drank and when Zayra finished reading the 6 pages of the Pact of Confidentiality he signed it.
Raphael looked at him and also signed it.
"Very well, officer Jules is gonna bring you back home, goodnight".

Back in Rue Ruine there was no sign of anything ever happening, they saw a truck getting silently away.
The spot where the girl fell was empty, no broken glasses, no dead body, no blood stains.
All was clean.
As if nothing ever happened.
Even the window was blocked with wood planks.
The officer escorted them to their apartment and watched them get inside.
"Goodnight Sirs"
"Goodnight officer" said Zayra, almost whispering.
They silently got to the couch.
Not one of them uttered a word for several minutes.
Raphael spoke.
"What happened?"
Zayra stayed in silence.
"Doc?"
He got up and moved towards his room, leaving his question unanswered, as he was about to enter he stopped, just for a moment, then he entered closing the door softly behind himself.
He sat on the chair by his desk.
He looked at all his books and papers, the work of his past months, a study that he had to keep secret because if the Ecole de Médecine de Paris found out that he was still researching they would cut off his last hope of publish something, maybe if he waited long enough times would change and his discoveries wouldn't be taken as the work of a madman.
"I'm not a doctor anymore" he said alone.
In fit of rage he throw everything on the ground, the books fell loudly on the floor braking some of the half empty bottle of ink still on the desk, the papers, disbanded from each other, flew chaotically all over the room, once almost everything on the desk was on the floor he begun to kick the drawers.
One of them popped open.
It was the one he always kept locked, it was the one with his last published work, his "How Ectomasses Are Influencing The Mind of Nevrotics and Alternative Treatments" the piece that cost him his job at the Saltpêtrière, his career as a researcher and the family mansion in Provence.
He got to his knees, took the book from the drawer and just as he was about to rip all of the pages off he noticed a strange reflection on one of the golden letters of the title, like a purple light was being cast on it though nothing as such was in Zayra's room.
He touched the letter with his index finger and felt a wet sensation, he looked at it and saw that on his finger there was the liquid, the same liquid of the candle incident.
There was no more purple this time, only a bland, gray, almost transparent, liquid.
"My god... I get it!"