The friends watched Grantaire and Enjolras leave, and for a moment everyone drank in silence, mourning the loss of the two men that inspired much of their activities. Someone lit a fresh candle.
"They are watching us, I'm telling you." Someone to their friend loudly, bringing the light of the candle among them as they brought the birth of a plan.
A beardless young man dropped the latest paper from Orleans and looked up at the bringer of the candle, "There are too many of us, we shouldn't ever begin to imagine that our plans can't be discovered." His name was Lafrenière, he listened keenly to the silence.
"Well the police aren't bothered."
Lafrenière sighed quietly. He was silent most of the time, a childhood friend of Enjolras who had met him on a journey to the country with his parents at a young age. Enjolras admired his gift for seeing slight things, for noticing the overlooked aspects which the others may have neglected. "That isn't true." He said louder, with conviction. "The police, generally, aren't…but they are being encouraged. Inspector Javert-"
There was a muttering among the gathered, all knew Javert. His endeavours for justice far beyond the line of duty irritated them. He asked awkward questions, wasn't easy to put of the scent. They fell silent when he spoke again, his soft voice could not be heard otherwise "You all heard Enjolras, this is a key time for us…this is where we begin. We don't need him urging them into investigating us; we want the police to underestimate us."
They began to mutter again. The quiet man looked thoughtfully at the candle, unblinking as he stared into the yellow flame. "I think…" he began, bringing silence to them once again, "that he needs a distraction." His eyes moved silently to the men on his right, slightly older, broad shouldered men. His gaze met with those of a man named Auger, a man with rough facial hair and a steely dark gaze; he knew the violence of this man. He knew it because he had experienced it, as dark bruises against his ribs had once testified. This man reminded him strongly of Grantaire, but in appearance only. Grantaire was not violent. Lafrenière looked for meaning in those eyes, but found none. He was surprised when Auger spoke.
"You would like him distracted." He said in a voice that was surprisingly smooth for his appearance. Lafrenière's answer came in the lowering of his eyelashes, a slight nod. No more was needed.
Lafrenière smoothed out the creases of his paper, put it carefully down onto the table and lifted the wine glass to his lips. He didn't drink from it, the wine smelled foul. Lafrenière didn't did not drink alcohol; it was, ironically, his cynicism that provided an escape from the world.
In the opposite corner of La Chat Noir there hung a curtain of black material; it was unperceivable to the eyes of the customers. The Constable seated to his right, not in uniform of course, did not notice it. Neither did he notice the men that would pass through at intervals, fire arms slipped into their waist bands. Lafrenière noticed. And he smiled.
There was not a slit of light showing from the curtain. He would see nothing from here, he would hear nothing; he must find a way to get closer. Enjolras had sent him to hear the words of this group, to learn if their agendas were similar to their own. Lafrenière himself had pointed out to Enjolras that while it was excellent to learn if public mood swayed in their favour, it was also wise to know those who plotted against them. He would determine the intentions of this group; perhaps a friendship could be forged. They were all workers, a small union of men.
His eyes moved to the doorway when next it opened, his heart gave a desperate flutter. What on earth was Grantaire doing here? His stubborn refusal to comprehend anything that Lafrenière said, especially to Enjolras, and his crude simplifications would have him revealed to the world in moments. But Lafrenière need not have worried; Grantaire had not just entered La Chat Noir. It was a slightly taller man, whose eyes were dark and knowing. He walked with purpose, with a self arrogance and possession that Grantaire lacked.
Lafrenière left his neatly folded paper on the table and approached the man, his mind raced with ideas while his face was the perfect façade of calmness. Even his almost white hair and pale eyes lended to the gentle, thoughtful mask. The man who Lafrenière had mistaken for Grantaire was named Auger; his hair was as dark as his eyes though his skin was as milky white as that of Lafrenière.
"Excuse me, I am looking for the meeting." Lafrenière's voice was quiet and unassuming, but Auger was not the type to be dissuaded from his suspicions and to him, everyone was a potential spy.
"Meeting?"
"Yes, I was told that if I came here I would find the meeting for-"
As Lafrenière had hoped Auger glared at him, silencing him before he revealing what was going on in the back of the Inn not only to the customers of the pub but to the police Constable.
"Follow me." Auger said shortly, Lafrenière followed the man unable to help his eyes straying over the broad shoulders of the tall man in front of him. Before they entered the blocked off area behind the curtain Auger stopped, "Wait here." Auger left him, and went inside. Lafrenière moved close to the curtain and was amused to find that, if he blocked the noises of the Inn from his hearing, he could listen to the conversation within.
He heard Auger's voice, heated with irritation. "Who has been careless? Have we not agreed that even our trusted friends may not be confided to in this stage of our planning, did we not all concur that at this point we did not need to gather curious members of the public who could quite easily spill our secrets to the police!" Lafrenière was pleasantly surprised, that such a man was so articulate. He had expected a voice rough as the appearance of the man; instead it made him think of liquid darkness. He certainly had not expected the man had any authority within the group; that had been a factor in choosing this man. He might have slipped in alongside him; he was disappointed in his own perception of this man and at the same time powerfully curious. There was a muttering among the group, no one admitted to revealing the meeting time or place.
"Continue." Auger said, and came out of the curtain, giving a fleeting view of a candlelit room beyond. He looked at Lafrenière steadily; then indicated that he should follow him to rooms even further back in the Inn. Lafrenière watched the muscled arms held firmly at Auger's side and felt surprisingly vulnerable in the wooden hall, he was alone in a potentially dangerous building and was certainly lacking in any knowledge. So far all that he had discovered was that the group that met here did not want the interference of the police, of course that did not reveal much.
No words were spoken as they walked; the rooms ahead were in darkness. Perhaps he was being taken through the back way. A part of him knew that he was not. Auger led him into the darkness, and stopped. "Who are you?" Again his voice seemed like the dark that surrounded them, not a lack of light but a fluid-like substance that filled the air, this substance embraced the sound and they were one.
"My name is Lafrenière."
His lungs stopped, his lips parted in a silent cry. Auger withdrew his fist, caught the man in his arms as he slipped down towards the floor. "Lafrenière" Auger whispered as though he did not wish to disturb the silent anguish of the fallen man. Lafrenière was now taking short sharp breaths, forcing oxygen down into his reluctant lungs.
"We don't want unexpected visitors you see, Lafrenière. This is my reassurance that you will not give information you may have heard over to the police, I know you will understand this. I see cleverness in your eyes." As he spoke Auger's hand slipped under Lafrenière's shirt, his fingers slipped across ribs pressed their way across the fragile skin until he reached a warm nipple. He pressed the palm of his hand hard against Lafrenière's chest, and smiled when rewarded with a sob from the injured man.
Lafrenière felt that bones across his chest may be broken; he pulled in ragged desperate breaths trying to gather his only defence: speech. Auger simply looked at him, wasn't his punishment complete? Lafrenière would now take a gamble, with his next words he might betray his only friends in the world or he might save himself but the words did not pass his lips. He could not make them.
Auger's gaze moved over the younger man's face, at reddened lips which looked like rose petals against white silk and the pale eyes that he could barely see in the darkness. He was going to give him a chance to speak but he found himself unable to resist inspiring the spark of fear in those eyes again. All made the mistake that Lafrenière had, believing Auger to only have the ability for executing violence. It was true, Auger was a violent man, but he admired the damage with an eye for the aesthetically pleasing which put his violence on a more frightening level. He held both of Lafrenière's arms tightly, his thumbs pressing hard into the flesh as his grip tightened.
"Why are you here?" He asked gently. Auger had long ago learnt that with such a gift for injuring others, he need not speak violently to them also.
"I-loosen your grip please!-I came to-Aaaah" His eyes closed. Auger's fingers relaxed their grip on Lafrenière's throat. Auger tilted his head, frowned so gently that the most delicate of lines appeared on his smooth forehead.
