Author stuff: Alright, picking up right where we left off! Sorry this took so long. I couldn't find a bit of research ANYWHERE and it's super annoying, so I eventually gave up and decided to omit it until I can actually slip it in at some point.
Also, Alya is now actively involved!
no body, no crime
Episode 3
Two years ago, Emilie Agreste vanished without a trace. Her car was found abandoned on the side of the road, just outside of Paris. All of her things were still inside.
No one has seen or heard from her since that night.
The police are officially calling it a missing person's case.
I am your host, Adrian Agreste, and I plan to use this podcast docu-series to find out what happened to my mother and prove to the world that my father killed her.
The investigation on my mother's disappearance wasn't that deep of an investigation. It barely scratched the surface. It was all for show.
No one was putting in any effort to find out what happened to her. But why?
Well, that's actually pretty easy to figure out. My father has a lot of influence here in Paris. There's no getting around that. He… he can pay off people or threaten them, if it comes to it, to keep their silence or to make sure things never get out.
Which is why he's my number one suspect.
Okay, okay. I know what you're thinking: Adrien, why would you blame your father if you don't have any proof?
That's the thing, there is no proof. We have very little beyond what was released to the press. Which is why I, ahem, got Chat Noir involved.
[I still can't believe that you asked them without consulting me first. I do have ways to get a hold of them, you know.]
I, uh, I was going to introduce you, you know.
[It's fine. I can introduce myself.
Hey, ladybloggers and listeners! I'm Alya Cesaire. Most of you living here in Paris know me for running the Ladyblog — which has every possible scoop on the dynamic duo, Ladybug and Chat Noir.]
As well as Rena Rouge and the rest of the gang.
[Yeah, Rena Rouge is cool and everything, but have you seen Carapice in action?]
[Uh, dudes, can you not?]
Aw, what's wrong, Nino? Don't want to hear your girlfriend talk about a superhero?
[Not that I mind it or anything, but not on the podcast. Okay, Alya?]
[Sure, babe.
Anyway! Where was I?]
Talking about the superhero gang that roams Paris and saves it from Hawkmoth.
[Yeah, still working on unmasking him.]
It'll happen soon enough.
[Oh, how do you know?]
Eh, it's just something that I feel.
So, back to what we were talking about?
[Right, so I run the Ladyblog. Which means I should have been told that Chat Noir was helping with the investigation.]
Uh… Sorry?
[Yeah, yeah.]
So, want to tell my listeners how you figured out how little investigating went into the, uh, investigation?
[Okay, so, me and my girl Marinette got recruited pretty early on in this project. As in, before Adrien even decided to make this into a podcast. Great idea, by the way.]
Thanks.
[So, she and I were printing out as many news articles that we could find. And going to different libraries and going through the newspaper archives. There wasn't much that hadn't been digitized, but we did notice some… things, I guess you can say, in wording.
That was kind of my biggest clue.
In journalism, we have to use certain wording for certain things. It's pretty standard for the wording to change throughout the investigation as more information is uncovered. In fact, you tend to expect it. This is normal in any missing persons or murder case.
…You okay?]
Yeah. I'm fine. Just, um, yeah. Just continue.
[With Emilie's case, your mom's case, the wording never changed. It actually hasn't changed at all. Except for when your dad held the, um, the funeral service. For her.]
And that… that got you thinking?
[Yeah. It got me thinking.
Why weren't there any changes? Why wasn't a whole lot of new info being given out? It's true that only so much could be said, but there was nothing. No motivation for her running away of being kidnapped, no motivation for murder, no suspects list, no evidence found in her car or in the area surrounding it, no nothing.
She simply disappeared.
This big investigation for a woman — a pretty, white socialite, who would normally garner the biggest investigation you could ever possibly imagine. And you know it's true. This investigation wasn't going anywhere. It was stagnant.
Why? Why was that? Why has nothing been put out in the years since?]
You have a theory?
[I have two.
The first: Someone's being paid off and big time. Someone knows something or someone did something and now we're all being kept in the dark.]
I hate to ask, but any ideas?
[None that you would like, and I don't want to point fingers because I wouldn't be able to afford the legal ramifications if I said who.]
Right.
And the next theory?
[The reason that there's no new information is because nothing new has been found. It's… sad, to say the least, but it's true.
There is so little evidence, so little motive, so little everything. It's not difficult to believe that everything is already in police custody. There's nothing else for them to collect.]
Hm.
[Not exactly what you wanted to hear, is it?]
It's that obvious?
[It's understandable. She's your mom. I don't think… I don't think I would be able to handle it if my mom or any of my sisters or my dad ever went missing and nothing new came up.]
Yeah.
[So, I have a question.]
Okay.
[What makes you think that your dad killed your mom?]
Author stuff cont'd.: Going to have to relisten to the true crime podcast that really got me into them.
