Porthos ended his story gloriously waiting for the expected laughter and surprise from the captain and the lady. Mostly the lady: he had to impress the ladies. She laughed and hid her straight teeth behind her hand. ''That is splendid Porthos. I envy your strength very much.''
''You have a different type of strength. Need I remind you the first night we met? When we followed through half of Paris? You almost gave me a heart attack for god's sake.'' answered Porthos.
''Not much is needed to give you a heart attack dear Porthos'' said D'Artagnan starting a new flow of hilarity and comments. The two musketeers hustle gently over the table while the handful of other musketeers that had joined the group shouted the name of who they thought would be the victor. Athos was standing a bit further and observing their visitors. Mademoiselle de Senneville seemed a bit annoyed by the brutal habits of his friends, but still smiled of the patient smile of a mother towards her excited child. She annoyed every bit of Athos' body. He finished his cup of wine and continued to observe the perfect and charming criminal. It was Aramis' turn to try the impress the lady and Athos was disgusted at their need to swagger themselves the way they did. He rose and offered the lady his hand; she took it gracefully and walked with him a couple of steps away from the crowd.
''You are not going to have me fooled. The promised documents that give you an alibi will be verified and if they are falsified, you are going to face justice. No mouth will save this time.''
She sighed deeply and looked sceptically at Athos. What the man must have been through to act the way he did must have been terrible. Or he was just an ass. ''You are not the trusting type, are you?'' she said still trying to win him over with her charms.
''I do trust. Just not your type'' He said it with such aggression and looked away as if mademoiselle de Senneville's type was not worth his attention. She laughed at his ignorance. How dare a simple soldier act with such snobbery?
''And what is that type exactly?'' asked the lady truly curious to hear his answer and not as offended as he had hope. She was used to being called all sorts of name and after what she had been through, a moody musketeer was easy to handle.
''Show us your proof now, or I could get you arrested.'' He said, finally bothering to face her.
''Well'' she laughed. ''That's what you call a party killer.'' She tried to make him laugh and pushed him playfully, but he kept his icy silence. ''Goodness, fine, I will show you my documented proof that I couldn't have committed the murder.''
Athos nodded and the small group went towards Beaulieux' garrison. Beaulieux and the lady giggled at anything they saw. Sometimes, they tried to enlighten their escort of musketeers as to why they were laughing and other times, the thing that brought laughter was to scandalous to mention. Once, they got in, Beaulieux invited the musketeers to sit while the lady went to fetch the papers. She came back with a promise of payment in a small village about a day's ride to be made the night the crime occurred. Then she showed a contract, signed by her and her client and dated the same night. She had carefully hidden the name of her client and Athos tried to reveal it. She simply smiled and shook her head no. Finally, she showed them what was left of the say payment, which was in - the not very common in France - Italian gold.
''I am also her witness'' said the captain. '' I was with her the entire night''.
''Convinced?'' asked mademoiselle de Senneville with an eyebrow raised.
Athos simply grumbled something while replacing his hat on his head. Aramis was relieved to see his friend surrender so easily. ''But don't leave town. We might need to interrogate you some more'' Aramis sighed. Just when he thought his friend was coming to his senses. They all knew that Athos saw Milady in the poor mademoiselle de Senneville. He was putting all his anger and his frustration of being powerless on her. The musketeers knew they had to play along and let Athos feel as if he had complete control of the situation, but Aramis was starting to feel bad for the lady. He knew how much of a pain Athos could be when he sets his mind to.
''Perhaps, if you told me a bit more about what happened...'' started the lady on dangerous grounds. '' I might be able to help you find the real murderer and we would all be done with this story'' she said, making her big eyes look as innocent as they possibly could.
Before Athos could say one of his many bitchy remarks, Aramis quickly jumped in: ''Why not? We are suspecting another woman who goes under the name of Madame de Lachapelle or Milady De Winter''.
Athos clenched his fists when he heard her name. Aramis betrayed him and the mission. He was always blinded by pretty eyes and a corset. He looked at Athos and raised his shoulders.
''Follow me'' said the lady bringing them upon the stairs. They kept walking in a couple of hallways and sat in a cozy living room. She asked them to wait here and disappeared behind a big portrait of some noble men they did know. Beaulieux sat uncomfortably with them, not sure of what mademoiselle de Senneville's plan was. She came back with a couple of folders.
'' I am familiar with the name, like anyone working in my business. As soon as she would put her big nose in our affairs, a witness disappears, a crucial evidence is stolen or ,worst, our men don't come back home'' she said while arranging the paper form evidence of some of her crimes. ''She's good, we don't have much evidence. But if you find a way to retrace her mark in that story, it's enough to get her behind bars''. Porthos went quickly over the papers and found proofs of murders, robbery and even identity theft. Beaulieux wasn't so comfortable with the work of his men being so exposed to the musketeers, but did not object, guessing that his friend had a good plan.
''Why are you doing this? People like you always demand a payment'' said Athos.
''How about you stop assuming what kind of a person I am and start acknowledging who I really am? You don't have to trust me, but trust that I am smart enough to see that we will all benefit from her incarceration''.
D'Artagnan laughed under his beard. He decided that he liked the girl, she might be very annoying sometimes, and she also had a sharp tongue that – when she didn't use it against him – was funny. '' We will need those'' said the young men when he realised people were staring at him laughing alone.
''These are copies. You can't present them as proof, it will be fraud'' answered the lady. When the musketeers asked to be brought to the actual documents, the lady seemed profoundly unsure. '' You see, the owner of the original papers isn't very social'' she tried to explain, struggling to get the right words.
We are used to it, thought Aramis, we have Athos.
''He prefers the company of small men'' Since all the musketeers stood still, she scratched her head, really struggling to find a nice formulation.''Well, to be quite honest: he despises any form of authority'' Oh, damn being polite, she thought before adding: '' He hates the musketeers''.