CHAPTER TWO
1253 Words
CHAPTER TWO
Detective Leblanc glanced down at his phone, which was ringing as he walked onto the airplane. To his surprise, he saw it was a police colleague of his calling from Paris.
Leblanc guessed that this old friend had heard about the career opportunity he’d been offered, and was calling to find out if he was taking it.
“Bonjour,” he answered, feeling conflicted all over again about the decision.
A couple of weeks ago, he’d decided not to apply for the senior detective job in Paris, and to remain with the task force. But Leblanc had underestimated the power of his own thoughts and feelings.
His heart was begging him to stay with the cross-border task force, but his head was pleading with him to grasp this career opportunity, to return to the city where he’d spent most of his working life, and to benefit from everything it might bring.
Potential revenge was high on the list, and Leblanc found himself unable to get these thoughts out of his head.
While he’d been in Paris, his investigation partner and lover, Celeste, had been murdered by a prison inmate, Hugo Gagnon. Celeste's murder had destroyed Leblanc's life. He had never forgotten, and never forgiven, what Gagnon had done. He longed for him to get the punishment he deserved. Life in prison was too good for him.
“Bonjour, Leblanc,” his colleague said. “I am calling you with some interesting information that I just found out.”
“What is that?” Leblanc asked, feeling curious as he filed to his seat.
"Do you know the situation with Gagnon?" he asked in a hushed voice.
"What is it?" Now Leblanc felt eager to learn more.
"Don't say I told you, but there is a possibility he will be transferred. From the maximum-security prison where he is now, to another one. An older prison, which is not so well managed."
"What does that mean?" Leblanc asked, feeling intrigued.
"Security is very poor there. And there are several inmates in that prison who hate Gagnon. He was part of a g**g, before he was arrested. It is common knowledge that if he is transferred, he will be murdered there."
Leblanc couldn't help it, but he deeply longed for Gagnon to get the retribution he deserved - his life for Celeste’s.
"How do they decide who gets moved?" he asked. That would be the key to Gagnon's fate - whether he was among the inmates who got moved, or not.
"I will try to find out whose decision it is," his ex-colleague had said. “And whether there is any way of influencing it,” he added meaningfully.
“I would appreciate that,” Leblanc said. He felt as if a door had opened that he hadn’t even known about.
“Please, this must remain confidential. Don’t tell anyone I called you,” his colleague said.
“I won’t,” he promised.
As the plane took off, Leblanc realized he had a tough choice ahead of him. If he did learn who was making that decision, would he intervene? Would he plead for Gagnon to be moved, knowing it would be his death sentence? Was his quest for revenge going to take him that far?
Prisoners like Gagnon were not moved often. This opportunity would certainly not happen again.
He sighed, staring down at the snowy landscape as the plane lifted high into the cloudless sky.
It would literally be manipulating a man's life.
He wondered what Katie, his investigation partner for a couple of months now, would think about the fact he was considering this. What would she feel about it, and him?
Would she believe he was no different from Gagnon, and plotting to kill? Leblanc felt his stomach clench. He did not want to be like Gagnon. But, he wanted Gagnon's life more than anything.
Transferring him to the other prison was almost undoubtedly sending him to his death. Would he be able to obtain the power to influence the situation, and if he did get that power, would he use it?
These were very troubling thoughts.
He believed he had finished with his quest for vengeance. Yet, it seemed the prospect of getting Gagnon the punishment he deserved stirred the dark emotions he had buried deep in his soul.
He'd been living a lie. He'd been hoping that in this new town, he was free from the demons of the past. But it seemed not.
The next few days would be tense, no doubt, waiting to see if Gagnon's fate was within his power to decide.
Leaning back in his seat, he closed his eyes. He felt like a stranger to himself.
Should he tell Katie? Should he even discuss it with her, or would she be appalled by what he had been thinking?
And then, he saw that while pondering over the decision ahead, he'd had an incoming message from Scott. His boss knew he was currently on a flight back home.
"We have a new case called in. There seems to be a serial killer at work in the Seattle-Vancouver area. Call me as soon as you land, and be ready to take a connecting flight immediately."
Leblanc felt adrenaline surge through him. This was exactly the challenge that he needed.
He could take his mind off the uncertainty surrounding Gagnon, and focus on the serious case that awaited him. A serial murder investigation would require his full commitment, with no opportunity for distraction. Chasing down a killer could lead to a very dark and risky place, as Leblanc knew.
For the next while, all his time and attention would be on doing whatever it took to catch this murderer.
He felt simultaneously excited and relieved by this, and was looking forward to being partnered with Katie again. He realized how much he'd missed her company while he'd been away. The way she hooked her shiny, brunette hair behind her ears thoughtfully while she looked at case documents. The way her green eyes blazed with excitement when she had a lead, or a breakthrough. Her perception and intuition was phenomenal.
He'd been surprised by how well they had learned to work together, after a rocky start. Now, he felt a real connection to her.
This was something of which he'd not thought himself capable, still feeling so devastated by the death of Celeste. But, even knowing that he was not yet fully recovered, he had to acknowledge that Katie Winter was intelligent and independent, and Leblanc felt drawn to her. And he had also come to trust her instincts and judgment, which was something he'd not quite expected.
He felt in some ways that they had a lot in common.
At the same time, he knew that such a case could bring great personal danger for both of them. Going into a new case was never easy, especially as he grew closer to his investigation partner.
Leblanc knew his emotions were already entangled in this partnership, far more than they should be for a professional relationship.
He wasn't going to fight it, but it meant that every new case brought an additional level of anxiety for his partner's safety. He'd lost someone he worked closely with and felt for. He did not want this to happen again, ever.
But there was a killer on the loose, and above all else, his investigator's instincts flared. He felt eager to start the hunt, as soon as his plane landed.
- Writer
