Chapter 9: Some Suffer, Some Speak, and Some Save

"Well, well, well," said a surly-looking, muscular man in the same cell as Adrien. "New face. Say, did you just have a makeover?"

"No," said Adrien, still in denial of his situation. "Who are you?"

"Name's Moulin, Antoine Moulin," said Adrien's cellmate. "You?"

"Uh, my name's Agreste, Adrien Agreste," replied Adrien, imitating Moulin's pattern of speech.

"The model?" said Moulin. "I don't expect you've been in a rough state like this before."

"Um, if you don't mind me asking," said Adrien curiously, "what are you doing here?"

"None of your business, punk," said Moulin. "Now c'mon, we're out for dinner."

"Alright, punks," said the prison officer, after dinner. "Lights out! Tomorrow's spring cleaning, so you lot had better get to bed! Chop chop!"

"That wasn't much of a meal, was it?" said Adrien to Moulin.

"And I'm the King of England," said Moulin grimly. "Listen, Whatever-Your-Name-Is, life in jail is tough, so you'd better get used to it."

The prison guard met Moulin and Adrien at their cell.

"Well," said the guard, "another wifebeater, I see. Well, you're going to get your comeuppance. Moulin, you'd know, wouldn't you?"

"Whatever," said Moulin, and made to go inside, when the guard grabbed his arm.

"Listen, you criminal son-of-a-bitch," he snarled. "You'd better learn some respect. You may have taken your wife down, but you ain't taking me down. Now, get your ass inside."

Adrien saw fear - yes, fear - in Moulin's eyes. Could he be in the same situation as he?

Capucine was worried and frustrated.

She'd planned to get on the plane with Emma that evening, and head back to New York. Then she'd talked back, something she didn't do so often, when she'd discovered her poor grades.

And then the silly girl decided to run away. God knows where she had gone - to join the junkies and their kids in the ghetto?

Perhaps, she thought, perhaps she'd been a little hard on her.

No.

She'd been very hard on her. She regretted her actions. She didn't care so much about Adrien, but she did care for her daughter, even if she was hard on her. And even Marinette, who Emma was very close to, didn't seem to know where she was.

So she decided to make an appeal to the police. She would do that once she'd reported Emma missing.

For others, Saturday passed fairly quickly. Emma, who was feeling a little better after talking to Marinette, didn't want to leave her side, so they'd spent their time watching a few movies, reading, and going through Emma's homework.

Marinette had told Nino, Alya, and even Mike about what Emma had reportedly gone through, but she also asked them not to talk to Emma about it, because she was still fairly traumatised.

They were as good as their word - nevertheless, all four Lahiffes came to stay with Marinette and Emma, secretly to keep Emma as comfortable as she could be during these times.

The children played for a while, until it was time for bed. Nino, ever the entertainer, read the story this time.

Once all three of them were asleep, Marinette, Alya and Nino sat down to talk.

"So Emma told you that Adrien was being beaten up by his wife?" said Alya bitterly.

"It wasn't easy for her," explained Marinette.

"I guess you were right, Marinette," said Nino. "Men do get beaten up, too. I'm just glad Al and I are as happy as we are."

Alya nodded.

"Now what do we do about Adrien?" ranted Marinette. "If we don't clear his name, he'll go to jail! Just think: being sentenced for something you didn't do, probably not being able to leave prison ever again! Adrien doesn't deserve that! Not only that, but Emma will lose her father and she'll most probably have to go back to her nutcase of a mother!"

"I know, dudette," said Nino. "We'll just have to collect as much evidence against Capucine as we can."

"Speaking of the woman," said Alya crisply, "did she call today, looking for Emma?"

"Once yesterday," said Marinette, "and again this morning. She sounded genuinely worried... only now we know it was all an act."

"We'll just have to go to Adrien's flat and check the CCTV footage when Capucine is at work," said Nino.

"Sounds good," said Marinette. "There's another room down here, so make yourselves comfortable. I'll check on the kids."

"Righto," said Alya. "G'night, Marinette. Thanks for having us."

Marinette headed upstairs, to check on the kids. She heard a little bit of a kerfuffle, so she stood outside the door to see what was going on.

All three kids were awake, and one of them seemed to be in tears.

That was Emma, and Marinette peeked around. Mike was comforting her.

"It's okay, Em," he said, as her quiet sniffles subsided. "I got you. Don't worry, okay?"

"Mikey's got a girlfriend!" teased Martine quietly, sitting beside the other two.

"Shut up, 'Tine," snapped Mike. "Emma's had a bad dream. Don't you cry when you have bad dreams?"

"No I don't," said Martine.

"Don't lie," said Mike. "You cry the house down. Besides, Emma's supposed to be your cool big sister, so stop being a tease."

"Whatever," said Martine cheekily, and went back to sleep. Mike sat on Emma's side of the bed, and put his arms around her shoulders.

"Don't mind her," he said, "she's always making fun of us."

"Don't be mad at me for waking you up," said Emma quietly.

"'Course not, Em," grinned Mike. "You're my friend. I'm not mad at you. Go back to sleep now."

Emma curled up beneath the sheets. Mike looked around, seemingly making sure Martine was asleep, then he kissed Emma's cheek. The older girl stirred.

"Ew, Mike," she said.

"You're welcome," said Mike, and went back to his side of the bed. He saw Marinette at the doorway, watching. She smiled at him and gave him a thumbs-up as he got into bed.

"So I've figured out what to do," said Nino. "I've taken the morning off on Monday, so I'll head to Adrien's flat and ask for access to the CCTV. Then, I'll show it to the landlord and we'll take it to the police together."

"Sounds like a plan," said Alya. "Is Emma going to school tomorrow?"

"I don't think it's safe for Emma, being in public. Who knows - Capucine could be out for her," reasoned Marinette.

"Fair point," agreed Nino, "and speaking of Emma, I think we'd better tell her what we're doing."

He called out, "Emma, hon?"

Emma, who had been washing her hands in the kitchen, came in.

"Uncle Nino?" she said, cocking her head.

"Darlin', could we have a word for a second?" he asked her. Emma nodded, then sat down next to Marinette.

"Uh, Emma," began Marinette, "don't be mad at me for this, but I told Uncle Nino and Aunt Alya that your mum was hitting you."

"Yeah," said Nino, "it was very brave of you. But we wanted to talk to you about her. Your mum hurt you quite badly, didn't she?"

Emma nodded, scooting closer to Marinette.

"And she hurt your dad quite badly, didn't she?" added Alya.

Emma nodded, her expression pained.

"Well," explained Nino, "we want to tell the police about what your mum did, to both you and your dad. It's not alright to hit your child, and it's not alright to hit your husband or your wife."

Emma nodded again.

"Your mum," said Alya, "might have to go to jail if we tell the police about what she did."

"Really?" said Emma, perking up a little. "But what if she gets mad when we start accusing her?"

"That won't happen," said Nino. "Your mum did something wrong, and she has to be punished for it."

"So you're going to tell the police about what my mum did?" said Emma.

"Yes, that's the plan," said Alya.

Emma threw her arms around Alya and Nino. They hugged her back.

"You guys are great," she said. "But I don't want to be a bother."

"Emma, sweetheart," said Nino, "you're not a bother. You're a great girl. You're a great friend to Mike and Martine - heck, you might even be Mike's future girlfriend!"

"Now I know why Martine was making fun of Mike yesterday," grinned Emma.

"And we want to help you," said Alya. "And your dad."

"Thanks, Uncle Nino. Thanks, Aunt Alya," smiled Emma, and she hugged them once more. This time, Marinette leaned into the hug too.

Nino dropped his children off at school, and his wife off at work. They were going home today, leaving Emma alone with Marinette again.

Nino arrived at Adrien's flat, and went inside. He asked if he could be shown to the security room. The landlord looked at him suspiciously.

"Why do you ask?" he inquired.

"A resident here was arrested on suspicion of beating his wife," said Nino, "but I want to find evidence and take it to the police."

The landlord paled.

"What arrest?" he said quizzically.

"Oh," seethed Nino, "you know about this, don't you?"

"Yes, but-"

"And you've been hiding it?"

"Wha-well-" the landlord faltered, deterred by Nino's stare.

"Alright," he said. "A woman was beating up her husband, and I found out one day. And she offered me 25,000 Euros to keep quiet about it. And I took it."

"You silly bastard," growled Nino, "don't you see what you've done? An innocent man's in jail no thanks to you!"

"He must have done something to deserve it," said the landlord defensively.

"But you still accepted a bribe," said Nino, "I'm calling the cops."

And he did. A police officer, thankfully not the one he and Marinette had met the other day, came round.

"What seems to be the trouble?" she asked.

"Officer, this man accepted a bribe from a woman," explained Nino. "He took 25,000 Euros from her, because she wanted him to keep quiet about her crimes."

"What did she do?" the officer asked the landlord.

"She - uh - beat up her husband and daughter," the landlord said begrudgingly.

"I see. Do you know who the woman is?"

"I do," said Nino, "and you might not believe me because she's been all over the place stating that she was the one who was being abused..."

"Capucine Agreste?" said the officer incredulously, before regaining her composure. "I see. We'll just have to check the CCTV footage then."

So they did. Three days earlier, in Flat 224, there had been a disturbance.

Nino, the landlord and the officer watched as a short-haired woman with glasses shoved a young girl against the fridge, possibly leaving her with a shoulder contusion.

Then, she took her belt off and whipped the girl's feet.

"Holy Mother of God," said the officer, "it is her! She's been playing the victim."

The three of them watched the previous night's events.

Capucine and Adrien seemed to be having an argument in the kitchen. All of a sudden, Capucine overturned the dinner table and grabbed a broken glass jug with it. All three viewers thought she was going to hurt Adrien, but she instead brought the shards on herself, drawing blood from her arm.

"She must have done that to make it seem like she was being hurt," said Nino.

"Well," said the officer, "we'll have to talk to both Adrien and his daughter about the abuse," said the officer. "I'll arrest Capucine tomorrow, so that it'll be more of a shock for her, and I'll present my evidence to the rest of the force, but -" she put handcuffs on the landlord "- Thierry Bertrand, I'm arresting you for accepting bribes. You do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence..."

As the landlord was taken away, Nino called Marinette and Alya to tell them about what was happening.

"Adrien Agreste?" said a prison guard. An emaciated Adrien stood up and answered.

"Phone call for you," said the guard. "A Nino Lahiffe."

Adrien was overjoyed. He'd been languishing in jail for the past three days, without much food or missed his daughter and his friends, and cursed stigma for sending him here. He gladly took the phone from the guard.

"Nino!" he said.

"Hey dude," said Nino, "I can't talk for long. Just to let you know, we'll find a way to set things right."

"Thanks, man," said Adrien. He hung up feeling hopeful.

It's the beginning of the end for Capucine!
How am I handling this issue? Please let me know. And please stay tuned for Chapter 10.