The Inventor's Son

Chapter 13: In Which There is a Matter of Fumigation

SOON ENOUGH, THE LANDAU turned onto rue des Martyrs, and Ethan's mind shifted back to the quest his father had set before him. He was looking forward to seeing his father once again. He'd get to tell him about all the things that have happened since his father had disappeared. He'd also get to ask him about Liam.

He'd even tell his father that he'd fallen in love.

But as the landau pulled up before the actual flat, Ethan was seized with panic. Windows were broken, and a bit of smoke wafted out into the street, and it did not smell at all like something any living man should breathe. "Grandmother! Inspector Huntington! Oh, God!" Ethan cried as he leaped from the landau, intent on busting the doors down to get inside.

A hard hand gripped his shoulder. "Do not enter that building!" Liam pointed to the landau and told him, "You, get back in there right now!"

Ethan was frozen in place. He did not want to listen to Liam. He wanted to get inside and see if his father was alive or dead! How was it possible that Pollman and Kearney had gotten to his father and Jean-Baptiste already? Ethan slipped down to his knees in silence.

Firefighters had broken down the front door. Cora tiptoed out of the landau and stood beside Ethan, though it seemed as though she was watching Liam way more than she was watching him.

"What did I tell you two? This area is not safe!" Liam growled when he set his dark eyed glare on the two of them. Ethan frowned, as Liam's glare was not exactly friendly. He said nothing, but he was not going back in the carriage either.

Ethan watched the firemen at work. After several of the men donned what looked like gas masks, they burst into the building. One firefighter who had remained outside approached the landau and started giving Liam a lecture in French.

Ethan gave the fireman a sharp look. "Donnez-moi un masque, s'il vous plaît! My father, he might be in there!" Ethan cried.

"What in hell do you think you're doing?" Liam yelled at him.

"I asked him to give me a mask," Ethan told him.

"Lad! I—"

"Please, Inspector, let me see if he's not dead in there!"

One man came running back out. After he spoke, the fireman to whom Ethan was speaking gave Ethan a look and told him, "We find....un homme mort." Then, the fireman handed Ethan a gas mask.

"Oh dear God! Un seul homme?" Ethan gasped.

"Oui," the fireman responded. "We not move him until..." he looked at them.

"Until the investigation is completed?" Liam guessed.

"Oui! So, come. With masque, no trouble. There is no fire."

Ethan grabbed the mask, but Liam was still trying to hold him back. "He said that they found only one dead man in there! What if it's my father?" Ethan screamed in panic.

Liam drew Ethan very close to his face. "Listen to me, very carefully! If it is not your father in there, then we need to be cautious about what we say to the police here. The last thing we need is to get too bogged down here if your dear papa is somewhere else waiting for us. Understood?"

Ethan gulped and nodded. "Understood."

Liam drew a bit back. "Put on that mask." Ethan silently slid the mask over his face, then tried to take a deep breath while still outside. He nodded once again, and Liam, now masked himself, escorted him inside.

Jean-Baptiste Arsenault's flat was definitely more of a laboratory setting than a home, at least from the appearance of this entrance. If the situation had been less dire, Ethan would have laughed at the similarity of this place to The Old House, with all the bookshelves housing glass vials and beakers, and tables in the middle of the room. This surreal moment seemed like he was coming home.