The French man was crying again, after telling the officers how he encountered his daughter. Both of them could relate at some point, considering that they both have sisters and the possibility of one day coming home to find them dead was terrifying, especially now that they seemed to have a serial killer on the loose.
"You were the one who left her by the hall?"
Yao asked, surprised by this new information that Francis had wrapped her in the blanket and brought her to the hall to then call the police, that would've meant that the body had been contaminated, as well as the crime scene was all contaminated.
"Oui, I did."
Francis nodded while tears streamed down his eyes and noticed the frown on Detective Wang's face. He knew that he shouldn't have touched her or enter the room but it was the commotion of the moment that he ran towards her thinking that she might still be alive. Until he held her in his arms and realized he was embracing a lifeless body.
"I'm really sorry, I thought that maybe she was still, I had hopes that Michelle would-"
He broke down into tears, sobbing loudly, covering his face with his hands. It was so painful, no father wanted to go through such a thing. Every parent expects to be buried by their children and not all the way around, that's not how things are meant to work. It was difficult for him to process it, to acknowledge that he might have completely messed up the investigation by trying to save his daughter.
"Mr. Bonnefoy, please, it's not your fault."
The Chinese man tried to reassure him, of course that by moving the body and disrupting the crime scene was a huge step back for the investigation but he understood why Francis did it. He would have done the same if it was his daughter, or his sister, or brother. Just like when it happened to Kiku, but that was a different circumstance, he was there when it happened. When his brother and partner were shot right in front of him. Yao didn't want to think about that grim memory anymore, he glanced at Ivan in hopes that the Russian could do something to calm Mr. Bonnefoy.
"P-papa, it's alright."
Detective Braginski said it, he didn't want to call his sister's father in law that way but he really did feel bad for this man. Francis really loved his daughter, he loved all his children, and Ivan couldn't imagine the shock he was going through now. The Russian wrapped an arm around the Frenchman that immediately held on it for dear life as he wept on Ivan's sleeve.
"Please, find whoever did this."
Francis composed himself, pleading the detectives to find the murderer. He had no idea how it even happened and he just couldn't wrap his head around that his baby girl had died, so young and so soon, so unfair, he was willing to give his life in exchange of hers.
"Do you have security cameras around the house?"
Yao asked since he didn't notice any security cameras inside the house but perhaps there were some outside or in the street.
"Non, this is supposed to be a safe neighbourhood, how was I supposed to know that things like this would happen? There are no cameras in the entire block because it's supposed to be a residential neighbourhood."
What was it with rich people believing that tragedy can't happen to them? Just because they live in a nice neighborhood didn't mean that there aren't people out there willing to damage them and didn't mean they should be completely oblivious to security. The Chinese man was starting to get frustrated, this case was just starting and it was getting complicated. If only the crime scene was intact then perhaps they could have gotten something about the murderer, as much as he didn't want to blame Francis for it, someone had to be responsible for it.
"Has there been anything stolen?"
The Chinese man asked, even if there were many similarities to Emma's murder, he had to treat them as completely different cases. Right now what he had in mind was robbery, since she was alone then it could be a possibility. That would have to depend if there was anything taken, other than Michelle's red bow.
"Nothing, I thought it could have been a robbery too but all the money, jewelry and electronics are here."
The Russian was taking notes again once papa Bonnefoy had let go of his arms. He couldn't shake off the similarities of Michell and Emma, it was far too similar. The robbery wasn't a possibility since nothing was taken and there weren't any signs of forced entry either, he was convinced that they were looking at the same killer here, but now they had to connect the clues and put the puzzle together and be able to prove that it was the same person, the question relied on how they were going to do that.
"Are there any windows broken or doors?"
Ivan asked this time but Francis simply shook his head, since there were no signs of forced entry anywhere then that could only mean that the killer was invited inside, meaning that perhaps Michelle knew the murderer personally, just like Emma might have known her murderer too.
"What about the red bow she had? Did she have two?"
Yao needed to know that important detail, it may seem insignificant compared to the wedding ring missing from the Belgian but if they were to compare the two cases, Emma's ring had a more personal value compared to the diamond earrings she was wearing but those were not taken, the ring was. It could be the same with Michelle, one of the bows was taken if she was, in fact, wearing two but the bangles on her wrists were still there.
"Yes, she always wore twin tails, it was her signature look and her mother gifted the bows to her before she divorced me."
The Frenchman replied in a saddened tone, the entire process of the divorce had been very hard on Michelle when she was just a kid. She always felt like her mother didn't love her since she was left in his complete custody while her mother returned to Seychelles. But then she grew even closer with Mona, her older sister becoming like some sort of mother figure.
"Do you think there was someone who would have wanted to hurt Michelle on purpose?"
The Asian asked, not trying to be insensitive and hoping that the Frenchman wouldn't get angry like Antonio when he asked a similar question. He was just doing a regular questionnaire that could actually be helpful to their investigation.
"No, absolutely no. She was a good girl, had a close relationship with her sister and good friends from school."
Yao nodded, they needed more clues, he needed to talk with the sister since they were close and could provide him with some more information.
"What about a boyfriend?"
The Russian asked and the French man paused for a moment before shaking his head again, he really didn't want to talk about the boyfriend or well ex-boyfriend but he had to cooperate.
"She had one, but they broke up about two weeks ago."
The Chinese man noticed how uncomfortable the French man was, perhaps they should end the interrogation, for now, it was also very late, almost midnight at this point and Ivan was probably tired. Yao was somewhat tired as well, but he was used to being sleep deprived and he was alone then he would have stayed there until the next morning investigating and analyzing. He had to remind himself that he wasn't alone anymore the poor Russian had a tiring first day with a complicated case, two murders to be exact!
"Thank you for your collaboration, we will let you know of anything new and we're very sorry for your loss."
Francis nodded, seeing Yao walk out of the kitchen with Ivan following behind him. The Russian placed his notebook back into his pocket while walking out of the house with his partner and heading back to the cop car.
"It's connected, I know that it is."
Ivan said he knew that it was and surely Yao was thinking about the same thing but the Asian worked based on facts and right now they had literally no physical evidence that can point them to Emma's murderer. They only had the body with the same mutilations as the Belgian and even that would have to be proved by Natalya. Now the Russian was starting to feel the same frustration that his partner was feeling as they investigated the two cases.
"I know, but we need evidence to support that and the scene is contaminated, we have to wait for the autopsy as well."
The Asian began driving, leaving the parking lot with his eyes fixed on the road. He felt defeated like that killer was playing games with us, trying to make their job more complicated. Emma's murder was basically the perfect crime and if they couldn't find a way to connect it with Michelle's then they were doomed.
"Hopefully Natalya can work on that tomorrow so we can know fast, then we know we're looking for the same murderer."
The Russian added, he was a hundredth percent convinced that it had to be the same man, he just had a gut telling him so. The bow missing was strange as well, why take only one and not the other, yet it was also similar to Emma's ring missing and not the earrings. It's almost as if the murderer knew both women personally and knew how important those objects were for them. It would make sense if the murderer was the Belgian's lover by the context of the case but what was Michelle's relationship with the same man?
"What about the ex boyfriend? The dad didn't want to talk much about it, there has to be something off about the boy, right?"
Yao discussed the case with his partner while continuing to drive, slowly retreating from the rich people's neighborhood. He thought that the reaction given by Francis about the boyfriend showed his disapproval of his daughter's relationship with that guy. Maybe the ex-boyfriend was the one who did it. Seeing that there were no signs of forced entry it was very likely that whoever did it knew Michelle and knew her enough to be able to enter the house. The ex-boyfriend would make perfect sense since he was someone she knew and could let inside the house, there could be plenty of motives why he did it but how did that relate to Emma? Unless they both were dating the same man.
"Da, the sister, Mona, must know about it."
That's when detective Wang remembered that Ivan knew all of these people, they were technically family since Yekaterina married Francis' son and the Russian had been at the wedding, so he naturally knew more about the Bonnefoy family.
"I almost forgot you guys are family, how much do you know about the Bonnefoy's?"
Now Ivan felt like he was being interrogated but Yao was just trying to get as much information as possible from him for the case so he would try to remember the details about the wedding which was the only time he met them and that day he was completely wasted with almost no memories about the ceremony and party after he walked his sister down the aisle.
"Not much really, only met them at the wedding and then all I know about them is what my sister told me about it. Yekaterina's husband, Matthew, is the oldest and he, Mona and Michelle all have different moms. Then there's another brother from Matthew's side but Francis isn't his dad. I can't remember his name but he didn't grow up together with the girls since they are not related. Matt however did grow up with them, but maintained contact with his brother too."
In conclusion, all of Francis' children had different moms, which was a bit confusing for Yao and difficult to understand why this man would change wives so many times. Either way, that was the French man's personal life.
"Well, we're here."
The Chinese man spoke after parking in front of a building as Ivan looked out of the window in confusion, unsure of where they were and why.
"What is this place?"
A chuckle came from detective Wang before unlocking the car's door so Ivan could get out of the car.
"What do you mean? This is your house."
An uncomfortable silence happened in the car while the Russian looked out of the window again and had absolutely no idea where he was and that was most definitely not his house.
"I don't live here."
Detective Braginski said quietly before the Chinese man raised an eyebrow and looked out of the window to then realize that it was Kiku's ex apartment. He never asked Ivan for his address to give him a ride and took him to his ex-partner's house out of habit, once again he had confused them.
"Shit."