Disclaimer- This work is for fan purposes only. The characters and overarching plot belong to their respective owners (not me!) and are used here without permission. Enjoy!
Inspector Robbie Lewis looked at his watch, took a deep breath, and then pushed open the door to the bridal boutique. So many gowns! Lewis floated adrift in a sea of lace and tulle until Dr. Hobson called out to him.
"I expected you about half an hour ago," she admonished. Lewis looked down, and there she was, eyes sparkling as they did whenever she teased him. Hobson's white scene suit had camouflaged her perfectly into the myriad shades of white, ivory, and champagne. Lewis thought wistfully for a moment that he would rather see Laura Hobson on a pedestal trying on dresses than see her on the floor hovering over a dead body. But such was his lot.
"You know, Dr Hobson," Lewis began, "if you wanted to drag me out to a bridal boutique, you didn't have to stage a murder…"
"Don't be daft, Lewis. No one is forcing you down the aisle any time soon."
"I think he'd go willingly, doctor." Sergeant Maddox interjected and was met by a bemused look from Hobson.
"Shouldn't you be working with Inspector Hathaway?" Hobson asked Maddox.
"He's working on a drugs case and is still rubbish at delegating. So I find myself as Lewis' bagman, or bagwoman, as it were."
"Anyway, what have we got, Sergeant?" Lewis asked.
"Twenty-five year old Anne-Sophie Lambert. Belgian graduate student living in Oxford," Sergeant Maddox said.
"She's been stabbed multiple times, sometime late last night," Hobson chimed in.
"Sir, over there is the boutique owner, Laetitia Descombes. Also a French speaking Belgian- apparently she and Anne-Sophie were friends. We should have a chat when she has calmed down. Lewis looked to the corner where PC Lockhart was listening to Ms Descombes cry.
"…the poodle of blood!"
"Poodle? Do we suspect the Hound of the Baskervilles?" Lewis asked Maddox.
"No sir, she means puddle. She had a bit of shock, to open the boutique this morning only to find her friend lying in… a poodle of blood," said Maddox, trying on a French accent.
"Who do you think you are, Maddox? Hercule bloody Poirot?"
"Who?
"Never mind."
When Lewis and Maddox were done consulting with Hobson and the SOCOs, they were able to interview Laetitia Descombes. Lewis let Maddox take the lead with the questions.
"Did Anne-Sophie work here?"
"No, she was a client."
"So how is it that Anne-Sophie came to be in the bridal shop so late at night?"
"She… was coming in for alterations."
"You offer midnight alterations? Is your seamstress moonlighting?"
"No, I do most of the alterations myself. Anne-So is my friend, so I was doing it to help her out. She and I had made arrangements to meet last night but I received a text message from her cancelling our appointment. So I didn't come back to the shop until morning."
Lewis nodded to Maddox who understood that to mean 'trace the mobile.'
"Would you happen to have contact information for Anne-Sophie's fiancé?"
Laetitia Descombes hesitated before speaking. "Yes, he's actually my brother." She went on to explain that Sébastien Descombes was a successful restauranteur and that la Brasserie Belge had recently merited three Michelin stars.
"Why the hesitation before answering, ma'am?"
"Well, I don't want to cause him any undue stress with a police investigation. I rang him right after the police, and he's gutted of course. But he's so busy trying to open a second restaurant… I don't want him to lose focus."
"And grieving his fiancée would constitute losing focus," Lewis interrupted.
Laetitia Descombes just stared back at him, so Lewis just stared back.
Maddox picked up her line of questions again. "There is no sign of a forced entry, so we will need a list of everyone who had access to the boutique last night."
"Of course," Laetitia said. "I wouldn't want to speculate or make trouble for anyone, but…"
"Go ahead."
"Sébastien's his ex-wife Dorothy used to work here. She's from Oxford, and that's why he settled here- and I followed- twenty years ago. But the marriage fell apart. It was an ugly divorce and she couldn't stand to be replaced by someone nearly half her age. In truth, Anne-So is closer in age to my nephews than my brother, but she and Sébastien are in love. Dorothy's quite bitter about the whole affair, but I can't imagine that she would kill anyone. All the same, maybe you should start there, Inspector."
"Dorothy still had access to the boutique?"
"I think that Sébastien's affair took her by surprise, and when she found out she cut all ties to our family. She just stopped coming to work, and I never got the keys back. There were other things to think of, you see."
"Thanks. If you happen to think of anything else…" and Maddox handed her a card.