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Chapter Four: Desperately Seeking Lupin

Kelly's apartment

1:30am ( Wednesday)

Kelly tossed in her bed again for the third time. Unable to sleep, she sat herself up against the bed rest and peered out of her window.

All was quiet.

Glancing over at the other bed where Max was soundly asleep, Kelly let out a sigh as she hugged her pillow for comfort. Maybe she had been too anxious about Max the whole day, or perhaps she was still thinking about him going out with Iris again tomorrow.  She looked at the clock as the minute hand touched six.

Check that. Max will be going out with her again today.

That would explain why she's having trouble sleeping ...yet.... Kelly couldn't help but feel that was something else.  Max must have had quite an exciting day today, and Kelly could tell that he really enjoyed spending time with her.  So why couldn't she just be happy for him? The answer quickly struck her without hesitation.  It wasn't so much the fact that Max was friendly towards Iris, after all Max had always been friendly towards everybody, including Kelly herself  when they first met. It was more the fact that Iris is his 'long-lost'  mother that made Kelly  uneasy. Much as Kelly hates to admit it, perhaps she really is a little jealous of that woman. Kelly felt ashamed for   her own behavior, for she had thought herself  to be bigger person than that...

Well at least nothing more 'exciting' could possibly happen tonight.

Just then the phone rang. Kelly quickly picked up the receiver and spoke softly so as not to wake Max.

"Hello...yes this is Kelly Kincaid....What..... the docks? uh huh... I'll be right there!" she quickly placed down the receiver. 

I take that back...

Kelly got dressed quickly but silently. She reached for her coat and the camera that was lying the table as she double-checked to see if she had forgotten anything she might need. Feeling for her apartment keys from her left pocket, she bent down to give Max a quick peck on his forehead and tiptoed out of the apartment, closing the door gently behind her.

Amid all the muted commotion, Max stirred momentarily in his sleep, but soon all was quiet again.

@-'---

3.15am

Kelly was shocked when she saw the warehouse... whatever's left of it anyway. The fire had been under control, and luckily it was not too near any other buildings, so it could be easily contained.  She could see that  the entire roof  had caved in completely and all that was left was a huge pile of charcoal rubble. The stinging stench of burning wood was unbearable, as were the loud sirens from the police cars that drowned  the commotion that had since built up in the area.  Paris nights were seldom this restless.

"Sorry Miss. No one's allowed to get too close. The fire may have already been put out, but it's still pretty dangerous..." a policeman stopped Kelly as she tried to get nearer to get a close shot with her camera.

Kelly was insistent. She didn't haul herself all the  way here to just stand around with the crowd. "I just need to get a few pictures for the paper..."

"We've got our orders Miss. Now kindly..."

"It's alright. We'll take it from here."  Ganimard and Folefant  interrupted him as they walked up to her. The policeman nodded his head in acknowledgement and returned back  to supervising the restless crowd.

"Well hello again Kelly, still up so late?" 

"A reporter never misses a good scoop." Kelly replied statically.  "Could you tell me what happened here? How did the fire start?"

"The fire is under control Miss Kincaid." Ganimard answered. "As to how it has started, the building is still too dangerous for us to enter. We have to wait till daylight when it'll be safer to conduct a full investigation. Judging by the mess here however, I think this is going to take a few days."

He paused as he muttered sarcastically to himself ".Just what we need..another case to handle..."

"It's a good thing that that no one was reported to be hurt, I don't think anybody could have survived that.'" Folefant pointed to the pile of rubble, still emitting steam from the hot charcoal surface.

"Inspector , the men found something I think you'd be interested in." Another man in blue approached him and handed a small item over.

"What is it?" Kelly inquired curiously.

"Yeah boss..what is it?" Folefant looked over.

Ganimard looked at the small piece of charred item as he inspected it closer. He suddenly realized that the paper object was extremely familiar. "Why! It's...."

"Lupin's card!" Folefant finished his sentence.

"Lupin?" Kelly heart skipped a beat for a moment when she heard his name. What is he doing here? Wasn't he supposed to be meeting Mr. Blake back at the hotel?

"It's may be badly burnt, but it's Lupin's card alright Miss Kincaid. I'd recognize his trademark anywhere."

"Ah ha! That means Lupin must be behind this!" Folefant triumphantly declared.

"But why would Lupin want to set fire to a warehouse?" Kelly got defensive. "We all know that is not his style."

"W..W..Well....."

"Well maybe Lupin was trying to steal something from the warehouse and he accidentally started the fire." Ganimard quickly attempted to cover his partner with an appropriate answer.

"Yeah that must be it!" Folefant clumsily tried to recover his ego, but Kelly wasn't listening to him anymore.

But that means he could be inside...

Kelly felt a sudden premonition of dread overwhelm her as she fought hard to restrain herself from thinking the worst.

She wasn't alone. Folefant seemed to mirror her thoughts as he turned to Ganimard .

"Inspector...you don't think ....?"

There was a moment of  hushed silence as all three turned to look at the collapsed structure once more, and then again at the scorched piece of paper as it started to crumble in the inspector's hand....

 

@-'---

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