Fantasy A Little Night Music by TMaskedWriter

[Ramesh_Rocky]

A Little Night Music Ch. 14

"Royalty, Lord, it looked good on me.

Buried in silk in the royal boudoir,

or going nuclear free.

Or playing Crokinole with the Princess of Monaco.

Telling my jokes to the OPEC leaders,

getting it all on video."

-Moxy Früvous, "King of Spain"



Generalissimo Hernando Ramirez received his call ten minutes before the end of the meeting. An empty office was found nearby for him to take it. Thankfully, the office had a convenient ash tray. He hung his jacket on the back of the chair, took out a cigarette, and lit it while his assistant connected the call.

"I can guess what this is about, Hernando," Detective Inspector Luc Allaine of Interpol, the voice on the other end of the phone said, speaking English with a French accent. "I have been watching the news. How is she?"

"They're closing her up for now," Ramirez said with a puff of his cigarette. "The intestinal damage has been seen to, but they say it is a waiting game whether or not they were able to save her liver or must go back in. In a few hours, they may have better news. I will know more when I return to the hospital. Until then; yes, Luc, I need you to dredge up a possible ghost for me."

"The man in the white windbreaker?" Ramirez could hear Allaine taking a drag of his own cigarette on the other end. "The tourist video did not give much. Left-handed was all I could get from his back."

"Si. I have more for you from my angle, Old Man." Ramirez propped his feet on whoever's desk he was using before continuing. "The man was deaf and he had a shuffle to his step, as if the right side of his body may have been weaker than the left. White, late 50s, balding. Nothing else I could distinguish about him at the time. There was also a broken vial found at the scene. We haven't identified the contents yet."

"Hmm..." Allaine thought. "Assuming it was his, if he had a medical condition, it may have been medication for it. Or a drug. A touch of Bolivian Courage before the deed? But non, if it were something he needed, why wait until that moment to take it? Would it not need time to kick in? Why not take it before, then discard the bottle instead of saving it until the last second?"

"Poison, maybe? No other substances were found on the broken blade."

"Possible, the old poisoned blade trick is good for the movies; in reality, hardly practical. I do not wish to hear about things that I should not know, old friend, but I am certain that in your career with Le Ultimados, you have had cause to stab a man at one time or another." Although he could not be seen over the phone, Ramirez nodded. "You do not stab him once and leave the knife inside the body long enough for a poison to take effect; you remove the knife and stab him again, non? And the the blood is coming out of the wound instead of circulating through the body. Any poison would be expelled with it. A glass blade might break off in the body, and perhaps then, it could take effect, but it is not something to chance. A professional would know this. So a contingency, maybe. There was some confusion beforehand, non? The maid in the video caused a distraction."

"Si. That was Jeanne Carpentier, La Contessa's personal maid. She is no suspect. It was an honest, if conveniently-timed accident that hindered his plan more than anything."

"Ah, Oui. You just had to say that she was French, Old Man. Oui, the crowd around him turns to see; bumping and jostling occurs. If our man had a physical weakness on his right side, as you suggest, he may have been unable to hold onto the vial. Now, like any good customer service, I must ask you the obvious question, Hernando: You were there with your gun; why did you not shoot? This 'Bystander Effect' satisfies the press, oui. But I think there is more."

Allaine was typing on the other end of the line and couldn't see Ramirez's face redden a bit.

"I was..." Ramirez took a puff of his cigarette to think. "It is difficult to say; I certainly cannot over the telephone."

"If that is your way of piquing my curiosity and drawing me into the investigation, Hernando, it is working. Un moment, le micro is thinking."

Luc muttered French curses at the computer until the results came back empty. "No one active in our system. But you didn't expect that either, did you? You said, 'possible ghost,' at the beginning of the conversation."

"Si. I think the man we're looking for dropped off your radar a while back. We're looking for someone who WAS a pro, say, 20 years ago."

"I see, a good time to be a young man good with a knife to be seeking work." Allaine typed again. "You're thinking someone who achieved every young criminal's goal: the fabled 'big enough score to get out of the game young.' Come back for one last hurrah?"

"Whoever he was, he walked into the castle with the tour group, knowing he would not come out alive. And he made no threats, before or during. I do not think this was ego or politics."