March 11, 2016 - Savoy Hospital - Athos and Porthos
When they arrived at the hospital they were surprised to find out their victim was the owner of the Savoy Clinic, Dr Lemay. The doctor looked quite frail laying in the hospital bed, with bruises littering his upper body from the struggle to get away. Lemay's neck was swathed in bandages from just under the chin to the top of the shoulders and he was sleeping off the sedative the nurses had just given him.
The other thing that hadn't escaped Porthos' noticed was Lemay's wrist shackled to the bedpost by a pair of metal handcuffs. There was also a guard standing just inside the door to the room. Porthos wasn't sure if the man standing near the door was guarding a prisoner or preventing people from entering. When he'd spoken to Serge on the phone earlier he'd never mentioned that their victim would be in handcuffs or that he was suspected of anything.
"Why's he cuffed to the bed?" Porthos asked the guard standing at the door. "It's not like he's going anywhere. And who are you guarding, him or the media?"
The police guard shook his head and shrugged. "He confessed to playing a part in these crimes, so he stays cuffed. You'll have to wait for the detectives to arrive from the crime scene for more information."
Porthos grunted his displeasure at having to wait for an explanation and ignored Athos' pointed look in his direction. Instead, he walked over to the other chair in the room and plopped down as Athos conversed with the guard at the door.
How is this my life? He thought to himself. Not for the first time did Porthos wish that Aramis had just stayed home with him the other morning. But, he supposed, if Isabelle really wanted his boyfriend, she would have just waited for another day and taken him then. This case was just so convoluted. He wasn't sure at what point it had become this revenge plot against Aramis by two psychos.
The worst part of this whole thing was that the man he was in love with wasn't who he claimed he was, but instead someone else. That alone was bothering Porthos more than he was letting Athos and d'Artagnan see. Even though his friend's had tried to help him understand who Aramis was at his core, he still had his doubts. The thing that scared Porthos the most, was Aramis might want to become Rene again, and would Rene want Porthos in his life?
Now they had their first male victim, which was their first actual survivor, and of course, he couldn't talk because his throat was ripped open. Porthos had about a million questions and this man couldn't even answer them. How did this man know Aramis? Had he seen Aramis? Was he ok? Did Aramis know they were looking for him?
Porthos bent over in his chair and rubbed his temples. He was developing a nasty headache from lack of sleep and it was only a matter of time before Athos noticed and forced him to sleep. He would have to remember to keep an eye on all beverages for the next bit just in case his partner slipped a sleeping pill in.
Athos clearing his throat brought Porthos out of his thoughts. He realised that the detectives from the Savoy precinct had arrived during his contemplations. He stood up and smiled at Serge. The ageing detective introduced them to his fellow officer and handed Athos a small bundle of paper.
"It's Lemay's written statement, he typed it up before they drugged him," Serge explained. "He's confessed to helping Victor and Isabelle Amadeus kidnap and murder all the victims from 2009 and now. He had access to drugs of all sorts and helped them treat minor injuries. Then he'd inject them with a drug to make them pliable and easy to move to the crime scene. They were also given a blood thinner to make their deaths quicker."
Athos took the copy of the statement and flipped through it. To his surprise, the document was several pages long and quite detailed.
"Did he see Aramis?" Porthos asked Athos, almost afraid of the answer. He wanted it to be no because then Aramis wasn't in the hands of Isabelle, but at the same time wanted it to be yes. He wanted to know how Aramis was doing, if he knew they were looking for him, if he was cold because Aramis hated being cold. He wanted to know if they were feeding him because Aramis tended to forget to eat. Porthos was always shoving food in Aramis' direction, making the man eat.
Serge nodded and glanced towards the still unconscious Dr Lemay laying on the bed. "He writes about a person named Rene being in the cell with him and does his best to describe in detail where your friend is…"
"But… I sense a but coming." Porthos asked, terrified of the answer.
"They kept a hood over his face so he wouldn't know where they were going. He did mention that it was close and that he felt as though he wasn't in the vehicle for more than twenty or so minutes..." Serge said.
Porthos' heart was pounding so hard in his chest he was sure he was going to drop dead from it exploding. His boyfriend was close.
"And Aramis?" Porthos asked. He crowded into Athos' personal space, trying to read over the man's shoulders.
Athos glared at Porthos' intrusion into his personal bubble and pushed him back with his hand before continuing. "Lemay describes an underground cell, he remembers walking down a long flight of stairs. He describes it as cold and lit only by one light hanging from the wall and there are no windows."
"What else, Athos? Does he say anything else about Aramis?" Porthos asked impatiently.
"Yes, let me get to it and stop interrupting me," Athos growled. "Aramis is locked in a cell with a collar around his neck and a chain bolted to the floor. Lemay says that Isabelle is trying to force him to fall in love with her, Victor is planning on killing both Isabelle and Rene."
"What? Wait… back up for a second Athos, if Lemay healed those women, it was because they were hurt. Is Aramis hurt?" Porthos asked.
Serge answered this time. "Lemay was treating Rene for a broken leg, a couple of head wounds and other various bumps and bruises."
"Son of a bitch broke his leg?" Porthos raged. "Athos, we need to get Aramis out of there now. And when we find him, Victor is mine."
"This isn't the time or place to have this conversation, Porthos," Athos said. He placed both hands on Porthos' shoulders, squeezing tight until some of the tension bled from his muscles. "We will finish this conversation at the hotel, I promise. Let's please just finish up here first."
Porthos grunted. He wasn't happy with the news and he didn't want to wait any longer. Aramis was hurt and his only desire was to wring someone's neck.
"What's going to happen to him?" Athos asked referring to Lemay. "What's the prognosis of his neck?"
"He's losing his license to practice medicine and will be in jail for a long time," Serge said. "It's a blow to the community to know of Dr Lemay's involvement in all this. He's loved and well respected here, but I guess you never really know someone. He won't be talking for a long time, though, if ever again. The doctors figure the only way he was saved was because of his height and strength. Victor hit his Adam's apple on the first try. While Lemay struggled to get out of his arms, Victor tried again and nicked his trachea. There was so much blood from both cuts that Lemay played dead and Victor fell for the ruse. Also, his survival is being kept from the media, to protect him and his family from retaliation."
Athos nodded and hugged Serge, thanking him for his help. They left the hospital a bit more optimistic than when they'd arrived.
March 11, 2016 - D'Artagnan's House - D'Artagnan
He'd done it. He'd actually found her and there was no one around to congratulate him or celebrate with him. Athos and Porthos were in Savoy and his Uncle was probably asleep at the precinct.
He could go there he supposed … Nah he'd let the man rest for a little bit longer.
D'Artagnan hadn't slept a wink that night and was bound to crash sooner or later. He'd developed an obsession with finding Ninon and persisted all night, becoming increasingly agitated after endless dead ends and frustrations. Until now.
On a whim, he'd broadened his search to countries bordering France and found her in London, England. She'd remarried five years ago into the Clerbeaux family and had three children, two girls and a boy. He was able to find an address to where they lived and school records for two of her children. For a long moment, his curiosity almost got the better of him and he was close to hacking into the school records but felt that was pushing it a bit too far. The children weren't involved and should be able to remain anonymous. There was also a phone listing for Ninon and he desperately wanted to call her now. He checked his watch, surprised to find it was only eight in the morning, which was a bit early on a Friday morning for a phone call, but he couldn't wait.
The phone rang 3 times before a frazzled sounding woman answered. "Hello?"
"Is this Ninon de Larroque?"
"Well now," the woman said. "That's a name I haven't heard in a long time, may I ask who wants to know?"
"I'm so sorry, I should have introduced myself first. My name is Charles d'Artagnan and I am helping detective de la Fere with an investigation. Your name appears on several of the files and we would like to speak to you in regards to it."
There was such a long awkward silence that d'Artagnan was beginning to think that they'd been disconnected when she finally spoke. This time, her voice was cold and formal. "There are many cases I worked on as Ninon de Larroque, could you be more specific?"
"Our friend Aramis de Vannes went missing two days ago, you may know him better as Rene d'Herblay."
There was an audible gasp on the other end of the line before Ninon spoke again. "I'm sorry. I am busy today and I don't recall anyone by the name or Aramis or Rene. I do hope you find him."
With that, she hung up.
Well, crap.
Not one to stop and think things through before barrelling head first into situations, d'Artagnan dialled her number again. This time, she picked up on the first ring.
"You have some nerve," Ninon said. "I said I don't know what you are talking about."
"You don't understand, he's been my friend for seven years and he never said anything about a fire or being married and losing everything in one night. We don't know where he is and we desperately want to find him."
"I understand far more than you even know," Ninon sighed, "I can't go through this again, don't you understand that?"
He supposed she was right, he didn't understand why she wouldn't jump at the chance to help her dead sister's husband. He could, however, sympathize on why she felt she couldn't go through this again.
"But we need your help! There are so many questions we have for you," d'Artagnan pleaded.
"Who's we?" Ninon asked suddenly.
D'Artagnan took a moment of silence, trying to figure out how much he should tell her. Ninon seemed like a woman who appreciated honesty and if he wanted to convince her to help he knew he would have to divulge some information.
"Along with being Aramis' best friend, we went to University for our master's degrees together and work at the same hospital. Detectives de la Fere and Du Vallon are also his friends. I realise now that it sounds super convenient that they are police officers, but… Detective du Vallon is Aramis' boyfriend. He means the absolute world to us and we want to find him."
There was a long sigh on the other end of the phone and d'Artagnan was preparing himself for another hangup when Ninon finally spoke.
"I'm glad Rene has friends looking out for him. It was a bleak future we were facing after the fire," she responded softly. "Fair enough, you have five minutes to ask your questions before I have to tend to my children."
D'Artagnan was barely breathing in excitement, things were looking up for the first time in two days. He scrambled for a notepad and a pen to write down her answers. "What happened the night of the fire?"
"That's a story that will take longer than five minutes, be more specific."
He frowned. Specific… hmmm… "Why the aliases?"
"We were the first two survivors of the infamous Savoy serial killers. Rene and I lost just about everything that night and neither of us were ready to make decisions about what was going to happen next. I remember Rene sitting on the steps of the church covered in Adele's blood holding… nevermind. Anyways, he and I raced to a friend's place and hid away so that no one knew there were any survivors. My friend pulled some strings and we entered into our own version of witness protection."
"Why didn't you wait for the police to figure all that out? What happened after you were given new lives?"
"There were extenuating circumstances, we figured that this was the product of the serial killers and since we were the first survivors ever, we felt the need to disappear fast. Also, everyone we loved was dead, would you trust the police when they couldn't even catch the bad guy? In the end, it took us nearly a week to tie up loose ends. Rene went to Paris and I left France, got married, had children, and I've never been back." She said.
D'Artagnan was pleased to be getting some real information finally, but something was still missing. He had this feeling in his gut that Ninon was still hiding something, but what?
"Why weren't you in the reception hall that night?" He asked.
"I'm a lawyer," She said as if that explained everything. "There was no cell service in the hall and I needed to make a phone call."
"Have you been in contact with Aramis in recent years?"
"Once or twice a year, usually near Easter and again in the fall."
That was news! Aramis never mentioned he'd kept in touch with someone from his past. But then considering their current situation was it really all that big of a surprise? He decided not to dwell on that bit of info for the time being and moved on to the one thing that Athos wanted to know about.
"What's in the sealed file?"
"Nothing that will help you find him," she responded curtly. "Do you know who has him?"
"We have a couple of people that are of interest, but please don't change the subject, maybe you don't think what's in the file will help, but let us be the judge of that?"
"No, what is in there will remain sealed until Rene decides to open it," Ninon said. The phone rustled a bit and d'Artagnan could imagine her running her hand through her hair in frustration. "Look I don't mean to sound cruel, but there is a reason that file was sealed. It's to protect all parties involved and is a pandora's box which I am not ready to have opened. I hope you find Rene, I really do. But I can't help you any further."
When she hung up for the second time d'Artagnan decided to leave her be for now. She'd alluded to the file being more important than they'd ever thought and he now had an even greater desire to find out what was inside it and hoped he could convince her soon. In the meantime, he needed to inform his Uncle of the conversation. He also hoped they could convince Ninon to make a trip to Paris to meet them all.
March 11, 2016 - London, England - Ninon
This couldn't be happening. It felt like everything was coming to screeching halt. Ninon leant against the wall, following it down until she was sitting on the ground, her cell phone still in her hand. The sounds of her children running through the house and of her husband frying up bacon faded away into the background. She ran her hands through her hair and rested her head on her knees. She was cold, clammy and beginning to shake despite the warmth of the house around her.
She and Rene never planned for this, they'd been foolish to assume they'd never be found out. But someone had found out because Rene was missing and those detectives were digging into his past. How did they find her , though? It's not like the de Larroque name was a real name, only an alias. She knew that some of the files were signed in her name, but that was so no one knew Ninon Bessette was still alive. Dammit, she wanted to call that man back and ask questions of her own.
Ninon wanted to know who had Rene, and she berated herself for not pushing this d'Artagnan person harder for who they suspected. She'd tried to keep in touch with the goings on in Savoy and Paris since the fire, but life had a way of distracting a person and she hadn't paid attention to current events in a long time.
An idea came to mind and she found herself thinking of someone she hadn't thought of in years. What if this was all Victor's doing? Ninon was going to have to check to see if he was still in jail because if he wasn't, her family was no longer safe. If Rene's friends found her, there was no doubt Victor would find her as well.
She felt a burning need to hop on a plane and fly straight to Paris to help Rene's friends. But of course, she couldn't, there was a larger matter to deal with here. She had to tell her family the truth and there was one particular secret that would tear them apart.
Strengthening her resolve she stood up and straightened her shirt. She'd tell them the whole truth and then if they chose to forgive her, she'd decide what her next step would be. She owed that much and more to Rene for saving her life and offering her a chance to live.
"Honey?" She called to her husband. "Can you gather the children in the living room, I have a story to tell…"