Shit!

A woman screamed. He recognized her voice. It was her. The three men were attacking Cécile. The voice was coming from the right. John sprinted in her direction, and in less than eight seconds he saw them. A man with a leather jacket was pulling Cécile’s bag while the other two were grabbing her arms. One of them had sunglasses and the other was wearing a baseball cap.

John kept running, his feet pounding the ground. Leather Jacket heard him coming. He turned his face and his eyes grew bigger when he saw the huge fist approaching. He didn’t have time to avoid it, and John smashed his face. Blood shot through his broken nose. His head bobbed up and down. He fell on his back, both hands on his face.

The impact had helped John slow down, and he stood at an angle in front of Baseball Cap. His mouth was open in an O. A punch was too risky, John decided. The man was too close to Cécile and he could hit her by accident. In a split second, he fired a low kick, his shin biting the flesh of the man’s thigh. Baseball Cap screamed, touched his leg, lost his balance and joined his friend on the floor.

The third man was shaking. Behind his sunglasses, John knew his eyes were wide open. In terror.

“Get the fuck out of here,” John said in a low, threatening voice.

Sunglasses immediately turned away and ran for his life.

John picked up Cécile’s handbag and handed it to her. “Are you okay? Did they hurt you?” he asked, examining her face. She was pale; in shock, but safe.

Cécile was unable to speak, but she managed to nod.

“Forget about the train,” he said. “Let me drop you home.”

She nodded again. John grabbed her by the arm and looked up. People were gathered around, cell-phones in theirs hands, taking pictures and videos. But nobody came to help.

John shook his head in indignation. Pathetic, he thought.

Then he heard a familiar voice. “Hey! Hey! You!”

The controller.

“What?” John said, glaring at him.

“Ticket, sir,” the controller said. “I saw you jumping.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” John said. “Look around you. I came to help this lady.”

The controller suddenly became aware of the two men on the floor. “I’ll need you to stay where you are, sir. I need to call the police,” he said.

John flashed his badge. “I am the police,” he said. “Now get out of my way.”

In the car, John and Cécile were quiet. He glanced at her from time to time but she kept silent. He was worried about her but also wanted to continue with the questions. It was delicate, though. She might not appreciate it.

“Liliane Genet,” she suddenly said. “She was known to be voracious. Lots of people said she’d had multiple partners besides Daniel. Everybody knew about it but it was one of these subjects we weren’t supposed to talk about. Daniel had made it clear he’d fire anybody talking behind his back.”

John kept silent, listening religiously. She was finally telling him what she really knew.

“They were both into…” she said, hesitating. “Sexual games, you know. Role playing, fetishism, that kind of thing.”

“Okay,” John said.

Cécile shook her head as if she realized she was making a mistake. “God, this is so embarrassing. I really don’t think I should tell you about that. If he knows, he’s going to kill me…”

“Cécile,” John said. “If Dupont is the person we suspect he is, he might actually kill you. Literally.”

“What are you talking about?” she said, now looking at him.

“Your hands would be manacled behind your back. Then, he’d rape you. That’s what happened to Liliane Genet,” John said.

She joined her hands to her mouth. “Oh my God,” she said after a moment. “Are you serious?”

John nodded. “Can’t be more serious than that. That’s why we need to find out if Dupont is our man.”

There was a long silence. Then she swallowed once and decided to help him. “He’s a member of a BDSM private club. It’s called Le Club Coquin. Liliane Genet told everybody when she broke up with him.”

“Any idea why she did that?”

“He can be very childish. Like I told you, he’s very weak emotionally. When he’s upset or feels threatened, he likes to be mean. I guess she had enough of him and wanted to piss him off by revealing his secret at work,” she said.

John nodded.

“That’s all I know,” she said. “I swear.”

“I believe you,” John said. “I think we’re arrived. You’ll be alright?”

She nodded but didn’t open her door. She seemed to think about something. Then she leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek.

“Thank you, John,” she said softly before disappearing in the night.

6

The next morning, John and Sovann went back to Groupe Finaris. They knew Daniel Dupont would refuse to talk to them. It didn’t matter. They had other plans. And they weren’t alone. While John had been busy with Cécile the night before, Sovann and a team of Detectives had managed to collect names of people working with or close to Daniel Dupont and Liliane Genet.

Their goal was to confirm what they already knew from Cécile about Daniel Dupont. They needed more information. Details. Incriminating elements if possible. Unlike the day before, they didn’t hide their identity. They were clearly identified as police Detectives, and they expected everybody’s full cooperation.

Indeed, the death of Liliane was all over the news that morning. Somebody had told the media. John and Sovann weren’t really surprised. Liliane Genet had a key position. She was important. She couldn’t just disappear without being missed. She was needed at work. Someone would notice. And her death was kind of unusual. She had died in an embarrassing way, and the press had been too happy to have something sensational to publish. John and Sovann just didn’t expect the media to be informed that fast.

The police were now under pressure. The general public knew about the case. The murderer was still free, unpunished. He could still strike. If Daniel Dupont was the man, John wanted to have enough proof to send him before a judge. At the very least, he needed to convince his superiors to setup a surveillance team, 24/7, to confirm any serious suspicion. He had to be able to justify the expense in time, money and man-power. And this morning, it was exactly which he was determined to do.

Their approach would be general. No questions would target Daniel Dupont directly. People couldn’t guess they were actually following a lead. For that reason, John had decided they wouldn’t start with the human resources department. It was too obvious. They had to make everything look natural.

At lunch time, John let the rest of his team continue without him. Solving the case was important to him, but he had even more important things to do. Twenty minutes later, he parked his car, ready to use his influence as a police officer, which was extremely rare.

“Mr. Montclair,” the lady said. “We haven’t seen you for a while.” Her tone seemed to imply that it was actually a good thing.

“Hello, Mrs. Denis,” John said. “I’m good, thanks. How are you doing?”

“Ah! The flu, the flu! Nearly all the kids are sick. But not Claire. Not yet at least.”

“Can I see her?” John asked.

“They’re about to go to lunch, Mr. Montclair,” she said, annoyed.

“That’s why I’m here. I’d like to take my daughter to lunch.”

The school-teacher looked unhappy.

“Well, I’m not supposed to let her out, you know. Imagine if all parents did the same?”

“It would be chaotic and as a law enforcement official myself,” John said, pausing long enough to make her understand he had no time to waste, “I appreciate your eagerness to maintain order in our society.”

She looked at him, her lips pinched. “Well… I could make an exception for you, Mr. Montclair. But it cannot become a habit.”