"Bonjour, ma chère Suzanne, would you please inform Roderich -"
"The Commissioner is in a meeting, Mr. Bonnefoy," Suzie shot down without even looking up to greet the lawyer, "I have explicit instructions not to disturb him."
"What if you told him I was here on the Mathilda Jones case?" Francis asked.
The Frenchman smirked as the receptionist paused to look up and give him a subtle glare, before picking up the phone in defeat. A minute later, she was speaking into the receiver.
"I'm sorry to interrupt, Commissioner, but Francis Bonnefoy is here. He claims it is about Mathilda Jones."
After a moment, she passed the phone to Francis, who then placed it at his ear.
"Bonjour, Roderich," Francis greeted.
"I'm busy right now, Francis," Roderich scolded, "Make it quick, or I'll hang up on you."
"Mathilda broke into my office last night," Francis revealed as briefly as possible, earning a brief pause in response.
"Come up to my office immediately," Roderich finally responded before hanging up.
"Merci, ma chèrie," Francis thanked Suzie as he passed the phone back to her, "I can find my way to his office."
Francis strolled past the reception desk to the elevators, where one was just opening up for a waiting officer. As Francis rushed over, the officer entered the elevator, turned to see Francis, and held it open.
"Merci beaucoup, Ludwig," Francis greeted as he joined the Corporal in the elevator.
"Not a problem, Francis," Ludwig said with a small smile as he selected his floor, "Where are you headed this morning?"
"Same floor as you, I need to visit Roderich's office," Francis informed, before noting the Corporal's oddly pleasant mood, "You seem particularly happy this morning, Ludwig, did something happen?"
"I've met a brilliant and gorgeous woman named Madeline," Ludwig revealed, "She gave me her number last night."
"That's wonderful news, Ludwig," Francis cheered as the elevator began to move, "When will you see her again?"
"She's promised to join me for a coffee date later this week," Ludwig disclosed, "We have yet to work out the details."
"I would recommend Le Cafe Moulin on 25th," Francis suggested, "The coffee and pastries are fantastic, and the place is perfect for first dates."
"Ah yes, I was actually considering that cafe," Ludwig admitted, "I appreciate knowing that it would be a good choice, thank you."
"De rien, Ludwig."
The elevator stopped moving, and pinged as the doors opened to reveal their floor. Both men left the elevator, and strolled to the main area where the cubicles began splitting the various paths to each spot.
"Well, my desk is this way," Ludwig said, nodding towards the section of cubicles to the left, "I'll see you around, Francis."
"Of course, have a good day."
Francis went off to the immediate right, taking the path that acted as a hallway around the outside of the cubicles. He turned at the far corner where the cubicles ended and the enclosed offices began, following them along the right side of the room. He stopped as he reached the middle, and knocked on the door to Roderich's office. It was opened a moment later, by someone who wasn't the Commissioner.
"Ah bonjour, Vash," Francis greeted, "I wasn't expecting you to be here."
"Just shut up and get in," Vash grunted, opening the door further to allow passage.
Francis entered the room to see Arthur pacing around in his fury, while Alfred sat in one of the guest chairs. Roderich was standing by his desk, since Gilbert was sitting in the Commissioner's chair. The Sergeant was watching something on Roderich's computer, while Lieutenant Van Ryn looked over his shoulder.
"Good morning, everyone," Francis hailed, "This is indeed quite the meeting I'm interrupting, isn't it? A perfect coincidence, I needed to speak to you JCI gentlemen as well."
"Francis, we don't have time to waste here," Roderich deflected, "How is it that Mathilda broke into your office?"
"When I got to work this morning, there was a message from my alarm company," Francis explained, "They informed me that someone got into the office late last night. The woman they spotted on camera somehow found out my passcode for the alarm, and she also had a copy of the key for the front door."
"How do you know this wasn't one of your workers?" Arthur questioned, "What makes you say that it had to be Mathilda?"
"She left me a letter of confession," Francis defended, pulling a small plastic evidence bag from the inside of his jacket containing the letter and a USB drive, "She stole all my hardcopy documents for the divorce case and the criminal convictions, and left this note for me in their spot."
"God damn it, not you too," Alfred groaned, "Do you at least still have any digital copies?"
"I have my office manager investigating that right now," Francis disclosed, handing the evidence to Roderich, "Last I knew, Jeanne was having trouble finding anything."
"What's on the USB?" Gilbert asked as Roderich gave him the evidence in turn.
"That would be the security camera footage," Francis explained, "I had the alarm company prepare anything they could for me as documentation."
"How the bloody fuck does she do this all in one night?" Arthur snarled, slamming his fists on Roderich's desk.
"Please don't destroy my office, Arthur," Roderich requested, "I'm rather fond of this antique desk."
"It would appear I am missing some of the story here," Francis pointed out, "Would someone mind filling me in on what else happened?"
"In addition to your office, Mathilda also broke into Arthur's office and the courthouse," Vash enlightened, "The hard copy documents for the divorce case and criminal convictions were all stolen, and all the digital copies have been wiped from every computer and server they were saved to."
"She did all that in one night?" Francis gasped, "All the legal paperwork is gone?"
"Aside from our police records, only one copy of the drafted divorce statement remains," Lars stated, picking up a document from the desk and handing it over to Francis, "As you will see, though, she's rendered it void and useless in a court of law."
Francis was confused until he started flipping through the paperwork, immediately spotting what Lars was referring to. The paperwork was covered in X's, no's, refusals, and other sassy comments all written with a red permanent marker. The pièce de résistance was on the last page, where the spots allocated for her to sign and someone to witness were filled with a refusal to ever sign the documents, let alone in front of a notary.
"Mon dieu, she was very thorough," Francis remarked, handing the document back to Lars.
"Roderich, this woman in the Bonnefoy office footage is definitely Mathilda," Gilbert confirmed, "She even has the same outfit as in the other video, only her hair is tied back this time."
"What other video?" Francis inquired.
"As if her antics weren't enough, she left a webcam video for Arthur on his desktop," Gilbert elaborated, "She profusely refuses to sign anything, since it's apparently to her benefit to remain married to him for the time being."
"Now that sounds too good to be a coincidence," Francis noted, suddenly realizing which pieces were supposed to connect, "Would one of you boys care to read Mathilda's note for everyone to hear, please?"
"What the fuck does this have to do with anything?" Arthur growled, "The psychotic whore obviously doesn't know what she wants!"
"Dear Francis, I'm afraid I must decline your persistent offer of legal services," Lars read aloud from the note, "Although it does not exist yet, you will have a conflict of interest for my case. By the time I'm done with Arthur, you will be the lead prosecutor for my criminal proceedings. I will see you in court, when and if that ever happens. Sincerely, Mathilda Jones."
"As Attorney General, it is normally Arthur's task to prosecute her," Francis analyzed, "The only circumstance where I would qualify to take his place is if something ruined Arthur's ability to present himself in court. Of course, the standard reputational and mental capacities are primarily in Arthur's control, but there is something Mathilda could orchestrate that would also take advantage of her current legal rights."
"What would she try to do?" Arthur demanded, "And what legal rights could she possibly still have?"
"As long as she remains your spouse, your marriage contract stipulates that she remains your sole beneficiary until she agrees to change it," Francis clarified, "As it stands right now, in the case of your death, she gets your shares and majority control of JCI."
"You think she wants to kill Arthur?" Vash checked.
"Not only that, but if the murder of Lien Nguyen tells us anything, it's that she also wants to remain Alfred's sole beneficiary," Francis continued, "Her plan is to gain 100% control of Jones Conglomerates Incorporated, at the expense of having to kill her brother and her husband."
The group paused in shock to consider what the Frenchman had just put together.
"Holy fuck, she wants me dead?" Arthur muttered, leaning against Roderich's desk to support himself, "Is that what she has been plotting this whole time?"
"As plausible as that sounds, it still doesn't make sense," Alfred intervened, "If all she wanted to do was kill us and gain control of the company, she could've easily done it three years ago by poisoning our water. Why would she have gone through the trouble of building that supercomputer, and nearly destroying the company, if all she wants is full ownership of JCI?"
"I'm afraid Alfred has a good point there, Francis," Vash agreed, "The fact that she made a supercomputer with the intention of destroying JCI does not match well with a desire to control the company."
"Even if she still wants to destroy the company, killing Arthur and Alfred still doesn't fit her master plan," Roderich added on, "The only doors to the sealed supercomputer room requires all three shareholders to have their eyes and hands scanned. If Arthur and Alfred are dead, Mathilda can never again access that weapon of mass destruction."
"Hold on a second, Roderich," Gilbert interrupted, "How does the scanning work again?"
"The door has 6 scanners set up, three for handprints and three for scanning eyes," Vash described, "Each shareholder would place their right hand on the scanner to have their prints scanned, before the retina scanner emerges from the wall to scan their eyes. This door is designed so that all six scanners must be used simultaneously to open it. It is also specifically set up so that the only users that can open it are Arthur, Alfred and Mathilda."
"And what exactly are the scanners looking for?" Gilbert verified, "Do they only look to identify the hands and eyes, or do they also check to make sure they have a pulse going through them?"
"I think they only check for identification," Vash answered uncertainly, "I'm not sure I follow the rest of your question."
"Okay, let me reword that part," Gilbert tried again, "Do the scanners require that their eyes and hands be attached to the rest of their bodies?"
"Are you suggesting that Mathilda might try to remove my eyes from their sockets?" Arthur accused.
"Oh no, she doesn't need to go that far, and those would be hard to hold up to the scanner," Gilbert clarified, "Holding up your decapitated head would be far easier."
"In other words, she could kill us, chop off our heads and right hands, open the doors to the supercomputer, and destroy JCI?" Alfred summarized.
"I suppose you could say she literally wants your heads on a silver platter," Gilbert summed up with a smirk, prompting Lars to grab a folder from Roderich's desk and smack Gilbert's head with it.
"That was terrible, Gilbert," Lars scolded, "Inappropriate as well."
"Oh come on, that's the best use of the expression we'll ever see," Gilbert defended, "I've got to admit, as much as she may be driving you all bonkers, Mathilda might be the most brilliant criminal we will ever face."
"Roderich, can we please get this hothead out of the room?" Arthur demanded, "If he's not going to take this seriously, then he shouldn't be on the case."
"I'll agree with you on his behaviour, but the case is still going to Gilbert," Roderich decided.
"Wait, you're actually putting Gilbert on the case?" Lars asked, "Doesn't this one require a Lieutenant's authorization privileges?"
"Sadiq used to work on this while it was a smaller case, but it's become too complicated to keep as a side project," Roderich explained, "You will still be on the case as well, Lars, but I also need you to lead the other officers. Gilbert has accomplished more in a few months that what Sadiq did over a couple years, we need him on this case."
"Thank you for the vote of confidence, Roderich," Gilbert accepted, "Rest assured, everyone, I will take this seriously, and I will bring Mathilda into the hands of justice."
"It will be about bloody time when that happens," Arthur said, "Give him access to the restricted files, Roderich, he'll need them."
"I can assume that everything that has been discussed here is going into those restricted files, isn't it?" Francis pried, "Since Mathilda has made it clear that she doesn't want my representation, does this mean I will no longer be involved?"
"I don't mind keeping you in the loop, if Roderich agrees to it," Gilbert suggested, "After all, Arthur may be a bit biased, and I could use a neutral point of view once in a blue moon."
"How the fuck am I biased?" Arthur challenged.
"You represent both the government and JCI, and are looking to prosecute your wife and fellow shareholder," Gilbert backed up, "In terms of the professional discipline regulations taught in law schools, you're probably the worst offender of 'conflict of interest' the courts will ever see."
"I'm afraid Gilbert has a point there, Arthur," Roderich confirmed, "Francis, if you are willing, I can certainly keep you involved in the case for whenever we need another opinion."
"I'd be more than happy to help," Francis accepted.