Author´s Note

Hello again. Great that you could make it. I was afraid to never see you again. But since we´re all here now, why not take some time and talk about the story? Shall we?

When I ended the first story with Vidoqc offering Valjean and Javert to work for him, I intended to leave it at that. An open ending that promised a future. But somehow that wasn´t enough. Not for me at least. I wanted to see how these two guys would work together, and what better way to do this than giving them their first case? I knew, no matter what, Javert would take over the role of the mentor, as if he had to teach Valjean how to act properly, and I don´t know how it was for you, but personally I had a lot of fun watching that.

But let´s start at the beginning. How to construct a case that´s good enough for a sequel? I personally learned a lot about story writing by watching movies (story telling is story telling, no matter how the audience receives it) So I tried to go back and look upon all the sequels that I had loved watching over the years. There are not many that are good, because let´s be honest, most sequels are merely made because the box office of the first movie was so great and the producers hope for more money. Consequently the stories tend to suck.

But there are a few that don´t fit this pattern, and those stories are good. As in really good. And why are they good? A few basic rules: They build on the strengths of the first movie and they raise the bar. Means bigger, faster, more exciting (or more mysterious) yet still thought through and clever enough to surprise the audience and leave them in a sense of awe.

That´s what makes a story good. At least in my opinion.

But that is some task, you first have to try and accomplish. I hope I managed that, at least to a certain degree. The reviews remained rare this time, but if I may dare to judge myself: I think I didn´t do too bad. That´s the reason why I need reviews though. So I can actually know and hear a second opinion.

All right, back to the plot. I constructed the case around the last story. Bring back something that was already good in the first story and raise the bar. The first victim was inspired by a real case, that happened not too long, in my area. I read a newspaper article about a body that had been found in the woods, in pieces just like I described it.

The real investigation discovered the man had probably committed suicide and the dismantling of his body had been done by animals. But … for the story I left that out of course. Of course the man had been murdered and somehow Javert and Valjean would have to find the murderers. In order to hook Javert, I informed him right away, that the main suspects were the same people who were behind the conspiracy of story #1. Everything else developed from there.

Other than before, I didn´t have much storyline for Cosette, so I figured it would make sense for her to live on her own. And strangely enough, as soon as I suggested this to her, she was all for it. As if it was her own idea. Something about needing space and time on her own. I guess she accepted this suggestion of mine so easily because she´d never actually been on her own since Valjean took her in.

I guess she needed to know, if she could take care of herself, without having her father around all the time, before she would spend the rest of her life with Marius. A transitional phase so to say. Or at least … that´s how I think she saw it. I never know everything that makes a character do what they do.

But it definitely worked for me. With her out of the picture I could fully focus on Valjean and Javert, and I can tell you, those two are a treat all on their own. I especially loved writing their banters. There´s something unsaid between them, and that is a lot of fun, to watch and to write down.

But of course Cosette is still an important part of Valjean´s life, so she kept showing up. I figured she would try to prove to her father, that she could do things too. That´s the main reason why she went to this theater, and ended up watching a man getting killed.

Something I didn´t expect was Valjean and Marius starting to fight, when she told them what happened. I usually write scenes in the simplest way possible: Just put the characters in a room, and let them do their thing. Something will happen. And man, something did happen. There were so many layers to this one scene, so many things that were said, and even more that weren´t said, I could write a whole essay only about the psychology of everyone involved. But since this is not why we´re here, I´ll do us all a favor and skip this. Let´s just settle with: It´s one of my favorite scenes.

Another scene that was at least just as interesting and unexpected to me, was Javert´s reaction when he saw the hostage had been raped. I honestly have no idea why he reacted so strongly to this. One could speculate that he carries some old memories with him, about a similar case … but to be honest I don´t even want to know. Maybe he just can´t stand it to see a helpless person getting molested like that. I doubt we´ll ever know for sure. As you know the inspector doesn´t like to talk about personal things.

If that is an unsatisfying explanation for anyone, I can only apologize. But the truth is, even as the author of this story, I barely know anything at all about why the characters do what they do. I simply watch them and write it down. And that is also the reason why I can´t by anything in the world explain how Valjean and Javert ever became so close.

Sure, we all read the respective fanfics that go one way or the other, but in all honestly … which of those ever really feels realistic? Barely any. A few maybe. And I don´t pretend that my own story feels realistic to me. I found myself worried not too long ago, about the direction my story had taken. I wondered: Is this still right? Would that really happen? Isn´t that too much out of character?

I guess I´ll never know (except any of you has a totally different idea about their characters and wants to tell me) But you know … every time I ask myself this, all I need to do is remind myself of how I write a story. I never force a character to do anything, I never make anything happen just because I want to. I allow the story to decide what´s best and whatever the characters do, only happens because they want to. It never was me and it never will be.

So I believe it is quite all right actually. I think that Javert indeed would try to find a way to cope with everything that has happened, especially concerning Valjean and their past. Javert´s character has always been determined and just. I think it makes sense that he would try to incorporate the things that happened, into this new world he finds himself in.

He finally understands, at least to a certain degree, that what he believed to be the only truth in this world – the law – is in fact not the only truth. He build his life around serving the law, and that has now changed. He´s still doing the same things as before, serving, but it is not the law anymore. The law is still part of the picture but he now mainly serves justice. And he slowly starts to understand – and he knows that – that those are two different things. That those two concepts are not necessarily the same.

But that is exactly the point, he does know he has to learn, but he doesn´t know how. This way of serving is something he isn´t used to. But Valjean is. And that´s why I think he mostly relies on Valjean for exactly this point. As well as Valjean has to rely on him for all the rest. Javert has to teach him how to do these things – investigating, questioning people, and all that stuff – and Valjean has to teach him how to (mainly) look for justice, and not only for the law.

It´s not that Javert doesn´t know that. He does. And I think he really wants to change. But he has shielded his heart and his compassion almost all his life, has hidden it, suppressed it, and to let it out now, to let it guide him, more than his mind … I think that´s pretty hard for him.

In the end you could say they counterbalance each other, and as long as this works for both of them, things could be good. Don´t know if this explanation is good enough for you but it´s something I can live with.

So if anyone questions the things Javert did, to find the man he thought had killed Valjean … can´t change that. Neither can I change what he did. And I wouldn´t want to anyway. It´s very poetic in my mind, that he became what Valjean once was – a prisoner – in his desire to avenge his death. People can do incredible things if they have to.

The last scene was some treat, I can tell you this. I went through so many different versions, I lost count. At some point I had them be attacked outside of Paris, in another version it happened at the docks or some back alley. None of these scenarios really worked for me. And then I suddenly remembered the boy, Pascal. Somehow the moment he came back into the picture, the scene suddenly worked. It´s strange sometimes.

One last thing about the POV of this story. I initially started to write it in various POV´s but the moment I started to switch back and forth between the present and Javert´s recollection of past events, I knew I had no choice but to stay with him, all the time. The story was told from his POV so I had no choice but to leave everyone else out of the picture. Until the very end. The only time this changes is after the standoff at the cottage in the wood, right before everything is over.

And now it is over. Or is it? I don´t want to give away too much, but I might have some more in store. So if you´re interested … stick around.

Again, in order to know how good or bad I am, I need feedback. Be so kind and correct me in my delusion that I´m just THAT plain awesome, that it leaves you all speechless … :)

If any question remains that I didn´t address, don´t hesitate to ask.

And thanks for reading.