A/N: In this chapter, Denning shall get some more characterization.
Elizabeth Denning-Javert
Mr. Beauchamp/Jack LeJean- M. Madeleine/Jean Valjean
Elizabeth Denning watched Mr. Beauchamp disappear into the hospital doors with the prostitute. She frowned and furrowed her brow in thought. She only knew one man who could do that. Jack LeJean. But that was impossible, she had just arrested him. He was to be tried in court tomorrow. And anyway, how could an escaped prisoner become one of the most important men in all of Louisiana? Well, if he changed his name.....
Denning had been brought up not to trust anyone. She was born in a New Orleans prison. Her mother had been an insane murderess. She believed that if she killed on certain nights of the year, she would become an immortal. She had affairs with many of her male victims, and that is how Elizabeth came into being. She originally took her mother's last name, Laitte, but she changed it as she got older.
Her mother's theory of immortality obviously was not true, because she died two years after Elizabeth was born. One of the guards at the prison took Elizabeth in, and raised her like she was his own. It was then that Elizabeth acquired her love of the law and all people who obeyed it. She acted as though her mother and father had been two normal, loving parents. She washed her hands of her childhood in prison. By that time she was eighteen, and old enough to legally change her name. She kept her first and middle names, Elizabeth Sarah, and took the last name of the guard who raised her, Denning. From that point on, all papers regarding Elizabeth showed her name as Elizabeth Sarah Denning.
Denning frowned as she got back into her car. She turned around and began to head in the opposite direction. She stopped. Ever since she had seen LeJean steal the bread on the security tape from the bakery, she didn't trust him. He could be sitting in the Lafayette hospital with the young prostitute, and she was letting him. No....he was in prison. He would be tried tomorrow. Did the mayor know this?
She turned her car around and drove back to the hospital. She walked up to the tired-looking receptionist sitting at the white desk in the corner of the room.
"Hello," said the receptionist in a bored tone as she heard Denning enter. 'If you're here to see Dr. Peterson, sit in the room to the right. If you're here to see Dr. Johnson, sit in the room to the uh......Left also."
"Two friends of mine came in here," Denning told the receptionist.
"Should I care?" asked the bored receptionist.
Denning continued as if she hadn't heard the comment. "I'd like to visit them. A Mr. Beauchamp?" suggested Denning. She didn't know the prostitute's name. Names! Who needs them? What's in a name? That which we call a rose......
You don't need a name to be a good person, and likewise you don't need a name to be a bad person. According to Denning there were only two kinds of people: good and bad. No in-betweens. You couldn't be kind of good. You couldn't be kind of bad. You couldn't be alright. Once you broke the law, or did something untrustworthy, you were bad. If you never step off the path of goodness, than you are destined to a happy life. But even a little toe off it and......you can figure the rest out.
"Oh, right," said the receptionist. "The man with the slut," she chuckled. "Wonder what was wrong with her. You know?" asked the receptionist, completely leaving off the 'Do' in that question.
"I know what?" questioned Denning.
"What was wrong with the hooker,"the receptionist said. Denning shook her head. "Ah, well," the receptionist popped her gum loudly. "Yeah, visitor's place. Can't remember that name.... Can you? Doesn't matter," said the receptionist, just as Denning was about to answer her question. "That way," instructed the receptionist, pointing to the left.
"Thank you," said Denning, who then started into the left hallway. She ran into Mr. Beauchamp. "Mr. Beauchamp!" she said, startled. She didn't expect to meet him in the hall-way, she expected to have to look for him.
"Ah, Ms. Inspector," he greeted. "What was your name again? Davis?"
"Denning," she corrected. So he couldn't be LeJean. He would never forget her name. Unless he was lying.....
"Yes, Ms. Inspector Denning," grinned Beauchamp.
"Just Inspector please," she interrupted .
"Inspector," he corrected. "What do you want?"
"I wanted to apologize," she told him.
"Why?"he asked.
"I.....I mistook you. Misjudged you as well."
"In what way?"
"I thought you were an escaped convict, who brook his parole years ago, and I've been on his trail ever since. But, he has just be re-arrested. He was under the name Noir. His mother's maiden name," she told him.
"Thank you for that information, Inspector," said Beauchamp as he turned to leave.
"You're quite welcome," she answered.
"If you'll excuse me, I'm very busy. I have much work to do," he said as he left.
"Good-bye," she grinned. "Mr. LeJean," she added.
A/N: Next Chapter: Inside the head of Jack Le- I mean Mr. Beauchamp.