Paint the town blue

Chapter XXII

Liam's POV

How much shit does it have to happen for anyone in this station to take me and my words seriously? At first, Charles didn't want me to believe in any way that Max was a murderer, and now Fred flatly refused to tell Charles about his lover's escape. And what is the result? As a result, Leclerc was kidnapped, and I'm more than sure that this is the work of Max. Why does no one ever listen to me?!

- FLASHBACK-

Frederic asked us to meet urgently in his office. I was a little surprised when I saw Esteban, Logan, Alex in the office of the boss, but not Charles. Is he late, or is it just none of his business? Although it's strange, because Frederic always calls Leclerc when it comes to detective work, or if our couple of experts are involved.

We were sitting on a small sofa and chairs at the boss's desk, and he himself was nervously pacing from side to side. I bet if you calculate the average length of his step, you can easily find out the quadrature of his office.

When Leclerc didn't enter the office a couple of minutes later, Frederic went to the door and locked it. Either the case is really serious, and the information shouldn't leave these walls, or... or Vasseur is getting paranoid, and this isn't good at all.

Frederic sat down at his desk, then took out a folder from one of the drawers.

"As you understand, we have an emergency."

We looked at each other, because none of us understood what happened and when. Frederic said that none of us should blab about the following information to Charles, and I chuckled softly, because, firstly, I already knew who exactly it was going to be about, and secondly, I told them before that Charles shouldn't have been allowed to see Max. The boss looked at me with a displeased look, then began the story.

"So, this morning, during the transportation of prisoner Max Emilian Verstappen, an accident occurred."

"What do you mean? Is everyone alive? No casualties?"

"Yes, Logan, everyone's alive. But we have a much worse problem. Verstappen escaped."

"Wait, how's that? There was also a guard there. Escort, all business. How did he--"

"Alex, I don't know how he did it, but the fact remains that Max escaped. And we need to take care of two things. First, we must find him as soon as possible, and second, Charles must not find out about this in any way."

He saw our surprised looks, to which he explained that Charles couldn't know about this because of his mental state after the trial, and recently his behavior has been causing concern. I supplemented the chief's words with the fact that we all know Charles - he definitely won't sit still and will look for Max himself, even if he is forbidden to do so. Everyone still remembers his parallel investigation, especially my nose, which he broke during the confrontation.

Frederic asked us to work together, and anything we find out, report to him immediately. He told Alex to report Charles's behavior and actions, where, when and with whom he goes and communicates - what if Max gets in touch with his ex-boyfriend? He asked Logan to monitor all Charles's activities at his workplace - all reports, all requests, all records must go through Logan. Esteban must report all Charles's strange questions about his mental state or wound treatment - what if Max was injured during the accident and came to Charles, and because of his feelings, he decided not to surrender his lover and is now treating him as he can. Ocon was surprised by Frederic's suggestion, but he still agreed with the request, or rather, with the order of the chief. As for me, Frederic asked me to communicate with Leclerc occasionally, unobtrusively, but to try to find out what he might know about Max. Probably, the whole station is aware that we don't communicate with him very often - we hardly cross paths at work, and both of us don't have much free time to spend it at gatherings in cafes.