Authors
Note: Since I enjoyed writing about Les Miserables so much, I could not help
but writing another fic about it. I don't own any of the characters from
"Les Miserables".
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"Inspector Javert, can I talk
to ya?" asked a young man in an old uniform. The police are always hiring
young amateurs.
I had just
sat down in a small, respectful bar after a long day of arresting street
thieves. It's satisfying to see their scared faces as they notice it's me
pulling out the handcuffs and nightstick. But the excitement is soon over, and
most of them are common, almost boring outlaws. Besides, I had my eye on a
bigger catch…a better catch…by the name of Jean Valjean.
"Sir…you are Inspector Javert aren't ya?"
said the man, nervous that I didn't reply.
"Yes, I am he. What is it that you want?"
I asked sharply, wishing he would just leave me alone.
"Well first off sir, Inspector sir, I would
like to tell you how much I admire you." He said sitting himself next to
me on a stool.
"Is that so? Why?" I asked not looking at
the boy. I had better things to do on my mind, like trying to find Jean
Valjean.
"Well, er-I guess…I kinda-uh-" He
stammered. I realized that he really didn't have a good reason.
"Listen." He said changing the subject, "My uncle got me into
the police force, an' he told me all about you."
"What did he say about me?" I said getting
irritated. He was bothering me and could not give a good reason to do so. He
looked really uncomfortable at my last question and didn't seem to know
anything about me. I saved him the embarrassment of muttering dumb answers.
"I don't give out promotions. I don't have the
authority. Now if you will excuse me, I really must be going."
The man
raised out of his seat the same time I got up.
"Nice meeting you, Inspector." He said
walking out the door.
"And vice versa." I mumbled. I sat back in
my seat again now that he was gone.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The
man, however, was not an officer. I found this out the next morning. I
literally ran into him at a street corner on the way to the office.
"Oh, hello. Inspector, am I
right? Say, I have to thank you." He said grabbing my arm to keep me from
walking away.
"I am sorry for running into
you." I said pulling his hand off of me.
"Nah, think nothing of that, I
mean thank you for earning me five franc's." He smiled arrogantly.
"What do you mean?" I
snapped back. I was close to pulling the nightstick on this nuisance if he was
to continue annoying me.
"A gentleman asked me to check
into the bar, sir, and see if anyone responded to the name of Inspector Javert.
He said he looked just like you, heh, of course 'cause you're him aint
ya?"
I was in complete shock. He rambled
on something unintelligent while I was gathering my thoughts.
"What did he look like!? Did he
have a little girl with him!? What was his name, did he tell you his
name!?"
The
man, as though taken back at my alarming behavior, gave me a dull look of
stupidity and amazement. I lost patience with the man and took out my
handcuffs.
"If you do not answer my
questions I will arrest you; it is against the law to keep information from the
police." I said.
"He-he was a tall chap- I saw a
little girl hidden behind a street light, dunno if it was his- he didn't tell
me his name Inspector sir- I really didn't get a good look-" He stammered,
the spineless simpleton.
"Did he have a lot of money
with him!?" I asked.
"I-I don't wanna go to
jail-"
"Shut up and answer the
question!"
"Yeah, he got more money then I
ever seen in me life-ya aren't gonna send me to jail are ya? 'Cause I didn't
know!"
"Valjean…" I breathed. I
should have known, I was following him since he hit me on the head with his
staff. I rubbed the spot and winced.
"Leave, before I decide to do
something about you." I said letting go of his arm. I was hot on Valjean's
trail.
But there was another problem,
Valjean knew I was here. He probably traveled fast, which meant that if I was
to catch him I had to be quick. I wanted to think about this in the office.
Walking fast I entered the police post.
"Good Morning Inspector
Javert." Said a man from the back of the room. It was the Prefect of
Police. "How may I help you?"
I jogged to the office table.
"Sir, I have news of Valjean.
He has been in the area. I request a couple of officers-"
"Javert, before you go on,
where exactly did you get your sources?" He said to me.
"A man I saw last night came up
to me and asked if I was Inspector- I saw him this morning and he told me
Valjean was looking for me-"
"Javert, did you see
Valjean?"
"No but-"
"You are a good man, Javert, a
darn good man. But we can't run everywhere looking for Valjean when he might
not be there-"
"But he-"
"I'm sorry. I know you've been
looking for Valjean, but we need our officers. You know the crime in France.
Besides, there are only a few of us here at the station and we don't have
enough people to go on your little search. For all you know that man you met
might have been teasing you." Said the Prefect rising from his seat.
"Then how did he know my
name?" I asked.
" I advise you to get your
duties here done before you go flying off looking for Valjean. But until you
can bring me some proof I'd like you to fulfill your duties here." The
Prefect was looking at some important papers.
"May I use my days off to look
for Valjean? You know I haven't taken a day off since I got this job." I
asked before leaving.
"Sure Javert. Take as many as
you wish. If there's anyone who needs a day off it's you." The Prefect
said. I did not ask just what he meant by that. Hastily I walked out the door.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My first action was to find out just
where he was going. Looking through my maps I saw two towns nearby. One of them
was heavily populated, the other not. I had to choose which one I would look
for first. There was one problem, time. If I chose the wrong town the chances
of loosing Valjean was a great. He was traveling quickly, and that I was sure
of.
At long length I choose the
populated area. Valjean might want to be lost in a crowd. I also choose it
because there was a lot of wood around the town. I packed my things and got
ready to leave in the morning.
Early the next morning I had my
horse ready for me. I put my map in my bag and rode off out of the city.
By midday I was tired, as was my
horse. I found a little inn around 5:00 at night. What happened there goes as
follows…
I walked up to the inn with my
horse. I could tell it was not very crowded because the stables looked almost
empty. A young man, about 14 or 15, came out to greet me and asked if I would
be staying the night.
"Yes, I would like to be
spending a night. I've been traveling all day. How much are your rooms?" I
asked.
"That all depends on if you
want dinner." He said, and stated a reasonable price.
I walked into the inn, which was
quite cozy and from the looks of things getting good enough business. The
owner, I assumed, was sitting on a table near the fire counting his money.
"Get a lot of travelers this
way?" I asked. He looked up and hesitated.
"A reasonable amount…" he
said slowly. His eyes traveled up and down my greatcoat.
"Have you encountered a man;
taller than I am, travels with a little girl, he wears a yellow coat of some
sort. Have you seen a man by that description?"
The owner shook his head no.
After I had eaten my dinner I went
up to my room. As I kicked back on the bed ready to fall asleep I kept hearing
things hit my wall, coming from next-door. At first I ignored it but the
tapping and bumping was getting on my last nerve. I got up, grabbed my great
coat and nightstick, promising myself that the person making all that noise
would pay.
I banged on the door loudly. After
standing there a few seconds I rapped on the door again. Still there was no
answer.
"I am Police Inspector Javert!
I order you to open this door or I will force it open, do you
understand!?" I shouted. A little girl slowly opened the door; she was
rather homely and plain looking.
"Excuse me Monsieur
l'inspector. Is there something you would like?" she asked. It was like
being slapped in the face. How dare a little girl answer the door!
"Where is your gardian? Why are
you here alone?" I said trying to look behind the door.
"My father went to check on his
horse and I was left in here. Alone Monsieur l'inspector." She answered
looking at me with big eyes.
"What was all that noise I
heard coming from here?" I said dangerously. The child trembled.
"Monsieur, I was jumping on the
bed." She whispered.
Children jumping on the bed. That is
the stupidest excuse I had ever heard. I didn't push it though, since she
seemed to be sorry enough. I got down on one knee and was level with her face.
"If you jump on that bed one
more time," I said lifting up my nightstick to her chin, "you will
regret it."
The little girl didn't say anything
as I turned and left for my room. There was no more sounds coming from the
other room that night.
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I woke up the next morning feeling
refreshed. A goodnights sleep was just what I had needed. I got dressed quickly
and walked downstairs into the room. It was crowded with middle-aged men all
laughing and drinking together. I ordered breakfast and seated myself with a
couple of respectable gentlemen.
They were playing cards and drinking
wine, and had spotted me coming down the stairs and had greeted me with a
cheerful wave. When I had sat at the table one of them threw me a couple of
cards.
"We are one man short."
Said the dark-haired man on my left.
I had no planed on staying long but
their conversation was so interesting that I could not help but stay.
"Police force is getting
temperamental these days." Said the man named Luc.
"Peshaw. And how would you know
that? I think they're right to be jumpy. If you'd heard all the stuff going
around in Paris today you'd wet your pants you would." Said Gee.
"I think that whoever breaks
the law should pay for their crimes, no matter what situation they were in. We
can't make exceptions." I said looking at my cards. The table was silent
for a second.
"We Monsieur? Are you involved in the Government?" Said a man
across from me.
"Yes I am. I am a Police
Inspector from Paris." I replied.
"Well shoot, and here we were
rambling like idiots about the police force."
"I think that everyone should
be given his fair share in life. And that those who break the law are driven to
it." Said a young quiet man across from me. It was the first time he had
spoken and his voice was soft and sorrowful. It made my blood boil. How dare he
accuse the law for making people break it?
"Those who break the law are
corrupted by nature. There is no excuse." I said firmly. There was an uncomfortable silence around
the table. The man Luc spoke up to let the awkwardness pass.
"You're an inspector in Paris?
Wow, then you must have been there when they said something about the mayor
being a convict."
A wave of excitement passed through
my body.
"Indeed?
The Mayor a convict? I have not heard of it. How did it happen?" I asked.
I had to remind myself to keep a low profile since Valjean had undoubtedly been
in the area.
"You mean you haven't heard?
Have been long away from Paris? The Mayor (who I heard was a hermit) was
actually a convict. Not just any convict, but he broke parole. Someone find him
out and he's been on the run ever since. Just goes to show you can't trust
anyone these days." Said Luc in a low mysterious voice.
"This someone…" I asked,
"that found him out I mean; who was this brilliant man?"
"Well, he had his suspicions I
heard, but everyone thought he was a fool. Anyway, he followed the convict
around for a while and stuff, and later we found he was right. He must be in
the Police force though. I don't know his name."
" I do. Its something Javert
and no one in Paris is brave enough to face him. No one, not even the convicts.
He's obsessive, I heard, and extremely strict with punishments. I wonder not
why he is so successful in this horrible world, you have to heartless to get
somewhere don't you? I mean, you can't be nice to everyone because the law has
no prejudice or soul."
I
said nothing. Clearly this was my que to leave. I got up from my seat and left
without saying goodbye.
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Authors
Note: This will be continued (hopefully) but I am also trying to write the same
amount of HP fics as Les Miserables. I don't quite know what will happen next
in this story, so keep in mind that I might
use a suggestion if you make one.
