A few nights and a few chapters into the book later, Jodi was in her hotel room reading the rest of chapter 4: 'Box Five'. It was then that her cell phone went off on her nightstand, making her putting down her book and hastily picking up the phone. "Hello?" Brian's voice filled her ear, "Dagnter just called me, said they found a body up in Northern France." Jodi got out of her bed, "Why couldn't you just come down to my room?" she asked him. "I'm downstairs with Bret, waiting for you to come down." Now? This is one of the times that she wished she had appointment charts instead of constant calls. "Fine." She hung up.
30 minutes later, they were on the road up to Rouen located about 70 miles northwest of Paris. They drove off the main road onto a side road leading into the forest. "They said a few hunters were in the area and found the body in the brush." Dagnter said as he turned a corner and parked it just before the ledge of a cliff. "Also fits the description of the corpse." Everyone got out and went down the steep slope down to the bank side where a few policemen were, inspecting the body and interrogating the hunters in the far left.
One of the policemen moved off to the side, giving Dagnter and Jodi a better view of where the body was. It was sealed in a body bag but it clear that they moved it out of the brush in the far right of where they stood. Dagnter went over to the police, wanting them to open the bag. They bent down and unzipped it, with Dagnter looking down to examine it. He nodded and with that the policeman zipped up the bag, telling the others to put it in a truck nearby.
Dagnter talked to one of the other men for a moment, then lead him over to Jodi and Bret. "Ms. Whittaker, this is M. Bognarc, chief of police." The older policeman tipped his hat and gave her a small smile. "These are the ones who are taking care of this story." Dagnter added before M. Bognarc continued in a thick French accent but was understandable, "Bonjour madam, monsieur. Right now, we are interrogating the witnesses and will give you full details of the findings when they are finished questioning them."
"Who exactly is in charge of this investigation?" Jodi asked him taking out her notebook and writing down the Chief's name. "I am. Including some of the other heists that are going on around the Paris area. I am sure M. Dagnter has given you details about these pricey heists on other valuables such as cash, jewelry, and other objects of high value." Bret sat down on a rock nearby, listening to question after question Jodi gave and M. Bognarc answered.
While he was taking some nature photographs of the brush and the scenery, he noticed something else in the bushes. Without giving a mind to it, he reached down and picked it up. It was a wooden box, half buried under the dirt. Inside was a few bottles labelled in a language he could not read. He immiediately put the box in his bag and headed to the minivan.
"Thank you, M. Bognarc." Jodi said with a smile, "We'll keep in touch." Brian followed her back to the minivan while Dagnter stayed behind to talk to the officer. "Do you think the body is Le Fantome's?" Brian asked her. Jodi sighed, "If I knew, I would tell you." The body was then moved to the back of the minivan, still in the body bag. Dagnter got into the driver's seat and drove off with the police leading the way.
"Finally this can be put to rest." Dagnter said as he pulled out of the forest and onto the main road. "Yes but you still don't know who your burglar is."Brian said from the back seat. "The police will figure it out soon enough. They are known for their quick wit." Jodi glanced behind her, "Are you sure this is the body?" Dagnter nodded his head, "Quite sure. The description matches it perfectly." In no time at all, they were back in Paris and pulling into the back of the opera.
With the body inside and in place, they closed the lid on the corpse. "Hopefully these are the last of 'Le Fantome's' tricks." Dagnter said looking down at the closed coffin. He left the room along with the janiotrs that helped move the body back into the opera. Jodi, Brian, and Bret followed soon after hailing a taxi back to their hotel. Once they were inside, Bret getured them over to the couch. "I found something in Rouen that is definitely something you don't find everyday."
He pulled out the box and handed it to Brian and Jodi. Inside they saw the jars and labels of different languages. "The box is definitely old, rotted." Brian said examining it. "Where did you find it?" she asked Bret. "In the brush, about where the body was found. Strange item to be found in the woods, eh?" Brian chuckled, "Yeah, really." Just when Jodi was about to close it, she saw scratching in the wood.
"More musical notes." she brushed her hand over it.
Bret came over and looked over Jodi's shoulder while Brian's expression was puzzling. "How can there notes in the coffin and in the box, at least 70 miles from each other?" Jodi shook her head, "Maybe the bottles will tell us something, or at least where they are from." "But how are we going to translate these things? We don't even know if they are in French or not." Bret said touching one of the labels.
"Thomas knows a few languages," Jodi said as she rushed up the stairs with the box. "I am sure he could tell us." Bret and Brian followed close behind her while she went into Thomas's room. "Do you have any idea what language these could be in?" she handed the box to her cousin and looked at them with narrow eyes. He seemed to be staring more at the bottle than the label, then after looking at the last bottle he put them back in the box. "French. Handwriting indicates an uneducated or slightly educated person. Why? Where did you find these?"
"Near a bank in Rouen," Bret confessed, "That is where the body was found." Brian showed Thomas the notes on the lid, "We found musical notes on both the lid of the coffin and the box and we were thinking..." Thomas looked at him, "And why didn't you tell M. Dagnter?" Brian hesistated for a moment and answered, "I did not want him to get worked up about it." Thomas's tone was getting harsh,"Then maybe I shall for I am his lawyer and will probably have you arrested for tampering with evidence."