A/N: Last chapter! Still not too late to review though...


May 1, 12:30 PM, District Court, Courtroom no. 9

"You think I'm L. A. Holmes?" Jackie snarled.

"It's a possibility," Apollo said.

"Mr. Justice, this is a serious accusation," said the Judge. "Do you have any evidence…?"

"All we need to do is compare her DNA to the blood found at the crime scenes."

"I do not consent to such a test," Jackie snapped. "You'll have to get a warrant."

Apollo frowned. Getting a warrant would take too long, and Jackie would probably skip town while they were at it.

"We won't need a warrant if we have concrete evidence tying to either the hostage massacre or the murder," Miguel said. "Do you have anything like that, Mr. Justice?"

Apollo's frown deepened, and he looked through the court record. No… no, he didn't have anything like that. Everything he had against her was only circumstantial, and the only real reason he had to believe that it was her behind Jantje's murder, and by extension the hostage massacre, was that he knew Ennie was innocent.

Am I wrong? Apollo thought, is Proserpine really not the killer?

"Well, defense?" said the Judge.

"I'd like to outline what happened, your Honor," said Apollo, crossing his arms and speaking confidently. Maybe something would occur to him while he was talking.

"Go ahead."

"Sixteen years ago, Jackie Proserpine inherited a Hollywood hotel from a relative and assumed the fictitious identity 'Julia Smythe'. Two years after that, she began her serial kidnappings. At some point," he said, pressing a finger against his forehead, "she must have encountered Jantje, and somehow became allied with her. I assume Jantje stayed in the hotel with the hostages, since no one in this city had seen her before July four years ago - just after the hostage massacre.

"During the massacre, something must have happened between Ms. Proserpine and Jantje, and one of them attacked the other, which is how Ms. Proserpine's blood got on the carpet. Ms. Proserpine was somehow driven off or incapacitated, and Jantje took the opportunity to hide Alois in a closet and presumably escape… although why she didn't take just Alois with her, I have no idea…

"So the end result of the hostage massacre is that there were three people who could potentially out Ms. Proserpine as the mass murderer: Ked Napp, who was already delusional with little hope of recovery; Alois von Karma-Gavin, who would be a difficult target, since he works closely with the police and doesn't live alone; and Jantje. Last weekend, Ms. Proserpine enacted her plan to kill Jantje.

"While my client was out, Ms. Proserpine moved his suitcase to her apartment, changed her door code to match his, and switched the plate numbers. That way, when Mr. Ennie returned from the bar, he would enter her apartment instead of his and fall asleep on her couch, not noticing anything different in his drunken state, and the next morning would be so rushed and hungover that he would simply grab his suitcase and run out without ever noticing he was in the wrong apartment. Meanwhile, Ms. Proserpine lured Jantje into the defendant's apartment, most likely taking advantage of the fact that they were former partners in crime, and used one of Mr. Ennie's business cards to prevent the electronic lock from engaging so nothing would seem amiss.

"She then murdered Jantje with a knife from Mr. Ennie's kitchen, and used one of his jackets to transport her to the dumpster. After that, it was simply a matter of waiting for the crime to be discovered so she could tamper with the body and complete her framing of Lars Ennie."

"I see," said the Judge.

"Very complicated," Miguel commented. "And your proof?"

"As I said, the blood should match," Apollo said, "and the witness should be injured somewhere."

"I don't consent to being searched for injuries," Jackie snapped.

"So, lacking a warrant," Miguel said, "and lacking any proof with which to forego the warrant, the defense's theory all comes down to conjecture and circumstantial evidence." He put one hand on his hip. "I wouldn't mind getting a warrant for a body search and DNA test, Mr. Justice, but it'll extend the trial another day and we don't have grounds to detain the witness in the meantime."

Apollo nodded. This was bad.

"Can I go now?" said Jackie.

"Well, I suppose you…" the Judge started.

This was really bad.

The courtroom doors swung open before the Judge could finish dismissing the witness. A freckled head with glasses and boyish features popped in.

"Jourbon, y'all," Detective Grantaire said, "mon petit doigt m'a dit que the L. A. Holmes massacre is going to trial encore."

"More or less," Miguel said.

She walked into the room, twirling a flash drive around her finger. "I have une preuve here I think the court should hear."

"What is it?" the Judge said.

Detective Grantaire smiled vacantly at her. "An audio recording that la victime in this case, Jantje, gave to un ami of mine, another detective, Alexander Bires, some years ago."

"I've never heard of a detective named Alexander Bires," Miguel said.

"Oh, he's'n't around anymore, but I've been holding onto cette preuve for some time now." She tossed the flash drive at Miguel, who caught it neatly and plugged it into the court computer. "Jantje took this recording, on her phone je crois, during the hostage massacre."

"Let's hear it, then," Apollo said. Jackie was glaring at Detective Grantaire's back with the if-looks-could-kill equivalent of the Tsar Bomba.

Miguel pressed play.

"…

"…ach Gotter…

"thump

"…

"thump

"whack! whack! whack! whack! whack!…

"…

"I see you feel the same anger I do.

"…

"Who are you?

"…I… I am J-Jantje, and I will not let you hurt anyone else."

There was silence in the court. Jackie was white-knuckling the witness stand.

"The metadata from the recording is included with it," Miguel said, "this recording was taken on the day of the massacre, and the GPS coordinates put it at the hotel."

"Plus, that German phrase at the beginning of the recording," Apollo said, "that was Alois, wasn't it?"

"We'd need a voice analysis to say for sure," Miguel said, "but that's a reasonable assumption, yes. Speaking of voice analyses…"

Apollo folded his arms confidently. "If a voice analysis reveals that the woman speaking on the tape was the witness, then that's more than solid ground to run her DNA against the blood. How long will it take to get a voice analysis done, Prosecutor Fey-Armando?"

"A day, or maybe more," Miguel said, "since the recording isn't very high-quality. However, I think it'd be reasonable to detain the witness in the meantime…"

"You can't do this to me," Jackie snarled.

"Ooh là là, a day or perhaps more?" Detective Grantaire said, putting her hands to her face, "non, non, that's too long. J'ai un idée. M'sieur Justice, Athena Cykes still works at your law office, oui? As I recall, she is very good at… this sort of thing."

"Oh, of course!" Apollo said, "Athena! We can use her special hearing to ascertain if it's really the witness in the recording after all. Your Honor, I think I can get her here in fifteen minutes if you'll declare a recess."

"Well, I'm willing to give it a shot," said the Judge. "This court will now take a twenty-minute recess."


May 1, 1:15 PM, District Court, Defendant's Lobby no. 9

"That was close," Ennie said.

"We're not out of the woods yet, Mr. Ennie," Apollo said, "as it stands, the Judge can still reject my theory that Proserpine framed you."

"B-But if your co-worker proves that that was her on the recording?" Ennie said.

"She'll be nailed for the hostage massacre, but unless she lets something slip, the prosecution could still probably stick you with Jantje's murder charge," Apollo said, "and he might go back to claiming that you attempted to murder Proserpine."

"Oh," Ennie said, his face crumpling.

"But don't worry!" Apollo said quickly, "you'll be fine. Just trust me."

Athena ran into the room. "Apollo! Are you making your client cry?"

"I didn't do anything," Apollo said, "glad you got here in time. This whole case has gone on long enough." Something occurred to him. "Say, Athena, do you actually know that QLF detective?"

"QLF detective?" Widget chirped.

"You mean Anna Grantaire?" Athena said. "I'm pretty sure I've seen her around once or twice since February, but she's never said a word to me. I guess she's shy."

'Shy' wasn't really a word Apollo would ascribe to Detective Grantaire, but he shrugged it off. Plenty of people had heard of Athena, after all.


May 1, 1:30 PM, District Court, Courtroom no. 9

Since Jackie was occupying the witness stand, Athena stood next to Apollo at the defense bench. "Facciamolo!" she said, punching her palm.

Miguel played the recording again.

"…I see you feel the same anger I do…"

"Wow," Widget beeped.

"Ireon," Athena gasped.

"What is it?" Apollo said.

"I've never heard so much rage in one person's voice," Athena said, "it's like it's all she feels. Just endless, empty fury."

"That's consistent with the testimony Ked Napp gave us four years ago," Miguel said.

"But… I didn't know it was possible for someone to hate so much!"

Apollo glanced over at the witness stand. With the way Jackie was glowering, he could believe it.

"Ms. Cykes still needs something to compare the recording to," the Judge said, "witness, please say something."

"…" Jackie just redirected her venomous gaze at the Judge.

"Witness," Miguel said, "you are aware that the right to silence only applies to self-incrimination while you're in court?"

"…"

"Well, while the witness is being stubborn," Miguel said, perfectly unconcerned, "I have a question for the defense."

"Yes?" Apollo said.

"You claimed that Jantje and L. A. Holmes were accomplices," Miguel said, "specifically, that they worked together - not that Jantje was just criminally negligent. However, in the recording, L. A. Holmes asks who Jantje is." He looked at Apollo over the rim of his coffee cup. "Why would she do that if she and Jantje were partners?"

"…clearly I was wrong about that part," Apollo said, "but the recording did definitively place Jantje at the crime scene four years ago."

"As someone who attacked L. A. Holmes," Miguel said, and slammed his coffee mug down. "Tell me, then, Mr. Justice, if L. A. Holmes really is the killer, how did she lure Jantje into Ennie's apartment to kill her?!"

Apollo recoiled. It was true, it was a completely illogical move on Jantje's end - she'd know that Proserpine was the mass murderer, and she'd know that Proserpine would have a vested interest in shutting her up, so why, if they weren't partners, would Jantje trust Proserpine enough to be willing to be alone in the same room as her?

"Actually, I think I can answer that, Prosecutor Armando," Athena said.

"Really?" He looked a little surprised.

"On the recording," Athena said, "Jantje sounded very… sad, and grimly determined. I think she may have been planning ever since the massacre to get herself killed by L. A. Holmes, so she could drag her back out into the open."

"Is that so?" Miguel said. His face was inscrutable.

"Well, it's just a theory. I can't prove it," Athena said, "but that's how it seemed to me. She probably thought there wasn't enough evidence to book L. A. Holmes on the kidnapping and mass murder charges, but a separate murder some years later…"

"Surely there was another way she could do it," the Judge said.

"Maybe she felt she had to," Miguel said, "maybe that was the only way she could get things to stick."

You mean the charges? Apollo thought. "Well," he said, "if that's the case, then there isn't a contradiction in my theory after all. Now all we need is to find out if Ms. Proserpine is the one in the recording after all."

"And with such a distinctive voice-" Athena began.

Jackie cut her off. "Just because I was at the crime scene doesn't mean I'm L. A. Holmes!" she screamed. Athena recoiled.

"Kyllä," she said, "it's definitely her. There's no mistaking that anger…"

"Even if the blood is mine, it doesn't prove that I killed anyone!" Jackie said, stamping her foot, "it was just a stupid bluff by an overrated, half-senile defense attorney four years ago - why are you assuming he was right?!"

Miguel's jaw worked as he took a swig of coffee, then set his mug down, grinning widely and maliciously at Jackie. He probably didn't appreciate the slight against his father and hey, they were getting somewhere now. Apollo wondered if Lars Ennie was even on Miguel's mind at this point. "You know, witness," Miguel said, "during the recess I got a phone call. And while I was reluctant to do this…"

"What are you doing, Mr. Fey?" the Judge said.

"The witness is dismissed," Miguel said, "but bailiff, make sure she stays in the room. The prosecution calls Alois von Karma-Gavin to the stand."

"He's here?" said the Judge.

"He arrived from the hospital right at the end of the recess. Insisted on testifying."

"Against Jackie Proserpine?" Apollo said. "She's not the one on trial here, Prosecutor Fey-Armando." Not that he was complaining…

Miguel just smiled arrogantly at him. "Don't worry about that, Mr. Justice," he said, "it's the truth I'm after, not a guilty verdict. Besides," he added slyly, "just because Proserpine is L. A. Holmes doesn't mean she killed Jantje - it just means that Ennie tried to kill her, too."

So he was going to go back to that, Apollo thought, and finally Alois took the stand. He was almost sheet-white, for him anyway, and was dressed in hospital pajamas instead of his normal frills, which somehow made him look very small and vulnerable.

"Hey, kitten," Miguel said, "how you doing?"

"Better," Alois said in a parched voice. Despite everything, he was holding his head high.

"Should he really be out of the hospital right now?" Athena whispered to Apollo. Apollo just shrugged.

"You know the drill," Miguel told Alois.

Alois nodded. "I'm Alois von Karma-Gavin, a prosecutor."

"And your relationship to the witness?"

"She… kidnapped me four years ago." He grimaced. "I don't know how I could have forgotten her face until now, but I'm sure it was her. She killed another boy right in front of me, I-I remember. Ich erinnere mich an das Blut-"

"Don't push yourself, kitten," Miguel said as the Judge tapped her gavel to settle down the murmuring gallery. "Take a deep breath."

"…I'm alright," Alois said, smiling slightly, "I can do this. Yes, Miss Proserpine is the mass murderer from four years ago. There's no doubt about it."

It happened very suddenly.

Jackie bolted from her spot next to bailiff, the bailiff's hand just narrowly snatched thin air where her arm had just been, and she grabbed Alois around the chest, pulling a scalpel out of her pocket and putting it to his neck.

"Nobody move," she snarled.

People started screaming in the gallery. The bailiff drew their gun, but didn't advance or aim. Miguel's hands curled into fists, and Apollo had to hold Athena back. Detective Noir vaulted over the gallery railing and whipped her gun out, pointing it at Proserpine.

"Grab air," she said coldly.

Proserpine barked out a laugh and pressed the scalpel closer to Alois' throat, the tip of it digging into skin. A single drop of blood welled and trickled down to his collar. "Damn it," Proserpine said, "I had everything set up so well. It would have been a nice, easy case for the prosecution if only they didn't drag the incident four years ago into this. Damn it! That Jantje… broke my nose four years ago and ran off… thought she took the new kid with her… if I'd known he was hidden in that closet I would have killed him." She shook her head angrily, and her hair fell away from her face enough to see the white gauze taped her cheek, just below her eye. "Then she came back all of a sudden, told me she had proof that I was behind the L. A. Holmes massacre, and arranged to meet me at my apartment. Everything happened just as the defense said… she played me for a sap… should have known she was just trying to sacrifice herself for my conviction… DAMN HER!"

Detective Noir shifted forward slightly, taking a half-step forward, and Proserpine moved her wrist - would have sliced Alois' throat right then if he hadn't jerked his head back suddenly at that moment, smashing the back of his skull into her nose, and at the same time stamping down on her foot, hard. She recoiled, and Alois ducked - she grabbed his neck, scalpel raised-

And then Proserpine's brains were spattered all over the floor behind the witness stand.

Detective Noir blew the smoke off the muzzle of her revolver. In her eyes was a look of… relief.

The courtroom was still. Miguel's mouth was hanging open and Athena's hands were practically glued to the sides of her head. All the blood was draining out of the Judge's face. Apollo felt numb with shock.

"Did that really just happen?!" Widget chirped, breaking the silence.

Alois dazedly turned from where he had been staring at Proserpine's body, rubbed the back of his head, then staggered sideways. Miguel started, but Detective Noir ran to him first, supporting him and whisking him out of the courtroom.

"…I guess this proves I'm innocent," Ennie said from the defendant's box.

"Yes," the Judge said at length, once she was done inhaling off her sunflower, "yes, I suppose it does. Do… either the prosecution or defense have any objections to this?"

"Of course not, your Honor," Apollo said, recovering.

"None whatsoever, your Honor," Miguel said, sipping from a coffee mug that was noticeably trembling.

"V-Very well. This court finds the defendant, Lars Ennie… NOT GUILTY. Now, er, bailiff, could you please do something about the body…?"


May 1, 3:00 PM, District Court, Prosecutor's Lobby no. 9

"I thought you were going to die for a minute there, kitten," Miguel said, grabbing Alois by the shoulders, then pulling him into a hug. "It's finally over… I should thank you, Detective Noir," he glanced at her, "for shooting her. I know you're going to face some criticism from the media, but I'm sure Chief Gumshoe will be sympathetic."

Detective Noir nodded once. "Actually, Prosecutor Fey, I should be the one thanking you."

"Me?" He finally let go of Alois and turned to face her.

"For cornering L. A. Holmes."

"Just doing my job, ma'am. And Mr. Justice helped, too."

She shook her head. "Prosecutor Fey, have you ever really looked at the list of victims? Ever really dug it?"

Miguel blinked, then pulled the list out of his organizer and skimmed it quickly. A name caught his eye: Gris Noir.

"My son," Detective Noir said.

"I never realized…" Alois murmured.

Detective Noir pulled a photograph out of her trenchcoat and handed it to the two of them. It was of her and a young boy with curly gray hair and red eyes. It looked like it was taken at the top of the Centennial Wheel at Navy Pier in Chicago.

"He vanished while he was walking home from school two years before the incident," she said, "if he were still alive, he'd be about Alois' age."

That explains a lot, Miguel thought. He handed back the photograph.

"…he was the one I met," Alois mumbled.

"Come again?" Detective Noir said.

"He's the one I was locked in the room with," Alois said, unable to meet her eye, "and the one I watched die. I… I'm sorry, Frau Detektivin Noir. I should have done something."

She shook her head again. "Alois," she said, "you were thirteen. If you'd tried to do something, you'd be sleeping the big sleep yourself."

"He said he missed you."

"…"

Detective Noir turned away, clutching the photo to her chest. Her shoulders shook a little. She sniffed. "I… see," she said, her voice thick, "thank you… for telling me. That's good to know." She straightened a little, wiping her eyes, adjusting her fedora, and putting the photo back in the inner pocket of her coat. "Well," she said, her voice clipped, "I have some paperwork to fill out about squirting lead in a courtroom. Abyssinia."

She walked out, leaving Miguel and Alois alone.

"…so you finally remember everything, huh, kitten?" Miguel said.

"Ja," Alois said, "well, mostly everything. My memory gets a little fuzzy after a certain point, though. Some of it doesn't really make sense."

"Like?"

"Like…" he put his hands on his hips, frowning, "after I passed out, I guess I half-woke a little bit on my way to that closet where they found me. I know I must have been delirious or dreaming, but… I swear, Miguel, it was Mama who was carrying me through the hall."

Miguel laughed, and Alois looked at him, startled. "Sorry," Miguel said, taking a swig of coffee, "it's just that you and your sister have a lot to talk about, that's all."


May 1, 12:40 AM, Kaminogi Housing Complex

Watson squinted at her cell phone screen. It was a poorly-lit picture of a shirtless Miguel ushering Jana von Karma-Gavin into his apartment. "I guess this is as good as we're going to get," she said.

"Taking something really far out of context?" Ares said sardonically.

"Do you really think that's going to work?" Misty E said from the mouth of the alley, where she was keeping watch for Macario.

Watson sighed, leaning against the brick wall and rubbing her temples. "No," she said at length. "Not unless we manage to convince Jana to claim that something… unseemly… happened."

"You mean if you manage to convince Jana to make that claim," Ares said, "I'm just your unwilling chauffeur."

"…and anyway there's no way that'll happen," Watson continued, ignoring Ares. "She hates me but loves Miguel. And I doubt she has any dark secrets I can exploit, either."

"Finally giving up?" came Macario Armando's voice from just around the corner. Misty E immediately stepped out, and struck first, but he blocked her blow with the back of his arm, his other hand still shoved casually in his pocket.

"Why are you here in the alpha timeline?" Ares said, walking over.

"Oh?" Macario tilted his head, his one eye narrowing in the street lamp's glare. "Misty didn't say a thing?"

"Not a word," Misty E said, and it was less an answer to his question and more a warning to him. Her whole body was tensed.

"That's funny, Misty," he said, then addressed Ares, "I'm here because your godforsaken timeline is the one causing all my troubles. You're the reason why I can't go home."

"Go home? Why can't you go home?" Watson said.

"The lambda timeline is…"

"No," Misty E said.

"…destroyed."

"Liar!" Misty E said, swinging her leg around so suddenly that Macario didn't get the chance to dodge out of the way before her boot hit him the face. He fell backwards to the ground, and she was crouched over him in an instant, holding him down with one knee and pressing a derringer to his forehead. Watson hadn't even know Misty E carried a gun.

"That's not true," Misty E said through bared teeth.

Macario laughed at her. "Is that really what you think? You really think you can go back to the life you abandoned?"

"…"

"This is why I hate time travelers."

"You are a time traveler."

"I know. So go ahead and kill me," Macario said, putting his hand over her gun hand, and smiling widely, "kill me like you killed him."

There was a very pregnant pause in which the whole city seemed to go silent. Watson and Ares both watched Misty E and Macario without moving.

Finally, Misty E stood up, and tucked her pistol back into her vest. "Mr. Ares, sir," she said, her eyes shadowed and her voice neutral, "we should go. Wouldn't want to cause another scene at LA Central."

"…sure," Ares said, and the two of them began to walk off.

"Wait!" Watson called after them, following them for a few steps, but they didn't even slow down. And then they were gone. She grit her teeth, and turned to where Macario had just been lying, but… he had disappeared, too.

All alone in a pool of lamplight, Watson Justice's fingers slowly curled into fists.


May 4, 5:00 PM, Gavin Estate, Alois' room

"Has Uncle Kristoph left to pick Mama and Papa up from the airport yet?" Jana said, sticking her head through the door.

"Ja," Alois said, looking up from his book. "Did you need him?"

Jana shook her head and held her notebook up. "My future self left me a message."

"Jantje did?" Alois said as Jana sat on his bed.

"Yes," Jana said, "Jantje. I keep forgetting she changed her name and lived in this timeline for almost four years."

"She had to make sure your changes to the timeline would stick," Alois said. "But I still wonder… could she not have prevented the hostage massacre entirely, and then travelled to or waited for December '53 and prevent Ares' murder attempt on Maria? That would be the best route, nein?"

Jana shook her head. She'd been thinking a lot about this - it hadn't occurred to her at the time, but in retrospect that was the obvious solution and she couldn't believe that her older self wouldn't have thought of it. "I do not know why we could not do that," she said, "I think… we could not."

"Perhaps another time traveler would have come in and prevented you from interfering at that juncture."

"Perhaps." Jana tossed her notebook at him, and he caught it, and began flipping through the pages. His stomach flipped a bit when he passed the page where his future self's dying message was copied and deciphered - even if they were alternate timelines, the fact that Jana had confronted his death two times in the past week was… disquieting. "How do you know it was Jantje who left it?"

"It is in my handwriting," Jana said, "but I did not write it. She must have taken my notebook and written in it while I was not looking."

Alois found it on the back page.

Sometime in the next year, Watson Justice will disappear.

This will be when she travels back in time and founds the Tula Group.

Also, Ares is Huitzilopotchli, the founder of the Teotihuacan Foundation.

Quetzalcoatl Law Firm as a whole is not to be trusted, but you do have your allies there. Value them.

They looked at each other.

"I suppose," Alois said, "we can't really be too surprised."


Time: ? Date: ? Location: Tennessee
LN α ω

Watson looked up from her stupor to the cacophonous sound of a violin being dropped on her desk. She yawned.

"What's this, Misty?"

Misty sneered at her. "Thought you might be needing it… after all, you can hardly play fiddle while Rome burns if you lack a fiddle."

Watson rolled her eyes. "Always so dramatic. Just give your report."

"Yes, ma'am," Misty said with just enough of a huff to hint at the existence of a resentfully suppressed sigh of defeat. "There's activity in the phi timeline. I believe Mailit's starting to make his move."

"Is that all?" Watson said.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Well, keep an eye on him," Watson said, stretching. "Don't let him know you're there."

"I won't."

"You may go."

Misty hesitated. Watson narrowed her eyes. "What is it now?"

"Jana's gone missing," Misty said, her voice tight. "And for some reason, my time travel device now seems to think that my home timeline is the alpha epsilon timeline, not the alpha alpha. Should I… look into that?"

Watson's lips momentarily twitched in a half-smile. "No," she said, "it's not important."

"Not-!"

"Do as I told you to do. No distractions. Do you understand, Misty?" There was a dangerous edge to her voice.

"…yes, ma'am."

"You may go," Watson said again.

Misty, back stiff and straight, turned around and marched to the door. She had her hand on the handle when Watson said, "actually, wait a minute."

She turned around just in time to catch a small rock Watson had thrown at her. She looked at it - judging by its weight and appearance, it was a lump of pure gold. "What's this?"

"It's from that time last week you gave me a chunk of lead and told me to transfigure it," Watson said with a shrug. "Thought you might want it back."

"…I see." She put the gold in her pocket and left, passing Watson's freckled blonde wife on the way on. They exchanged a silent nod, and the door closed behind her.

Misty's throat felt very dry.


Yes, Alexander Bires is another one of Anna Grantaire/Airey Verkhovensky/the Phantom's identities. Once again named after me, with Alexander kind of being my 'boy name' and Bires being my mother's maiden name - a Czech name, which is now pretty much extinct in the male line since Uncle Donny only has daughters.
Also, yes, the irony of the Phantom recommending Athena be called in…

"Gris" is the masculine form of "gray" in French.
Detective Noir's dead son is actually something I've kind of been hinting at since JvK-G:AA. Although I've never implied she had children per se, the maternal attitude she takes towards Alois had to come from SOMEWHERE.

...So comes to an end the wildest Janaverse fic yet. Sith's currently working on two different new ones, one of which will explore this Mailit character and the other of which will explore the transition between LAL and the rest of the Janaverse. Me, I'm working on Tennessee Turnabout, which will be the Watson characterization I'm sure you've all been waiting for - plus, just who is Wat's wife? I'm also considering writing a sidefic detailing the murder investigation in epsilon-2057, if I have the time. If I do write it, it'll probably have lots of Macario. I haven't thought about a title, though. Nor do I know the titles of Sith's fics. Still, keep an eye out for Tennessee Turnabout sometime soon-ish! Before Thanksgiving, hopefully!

Translations:
mon petit doigt m'a dit que (FR) a little birdie told me that literally, my little finger told me that
encore. (FR) again.
une preuve (FR) evidence
un ami (FR) a friend
cette (FR) this
je crois (FR) I believe
J'ai un idée. (FR) I have an idea.
oui? (FR) yes?
Facciamolo! (IT) Let's do this!
Ireon, (KO) Oh my gosh, literally, This, as in How could it come to this?
Kyllä, (FI) Yes/Yeah,
Ich erinnere mich an das Blut- (DE) I remember the blood-