Grace met with Carmen Martinez, her new partner for this case, at the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles. Except it wasn't a murder for once—they were here to protect Annette Sommeur, editor in chief of the magazine Pretty Fair during an auction that was going to take place with the main prize being an ancient manuscript. She had booked the Hall of Mirrors for a photo shoot, so Chief Ripley instructed Grace and Carmen to meet there.

Carmen was in her early 40s with a dark tan complexion, curly brown hair and had a camera around her neck. She wore a pretty casual outfit of dark blue jeans, black boots, and a leather jacket, contrasting with their glitzed up surroundings (though Grace wasn't exactly dressed to the nines either).

The two women exchanged greetings and shook hands before Carmen started walking towards one of the exhibits where they were supposed to meet Miss Sommeur.

"Where the heck is she?! We don't have time to waste and get this woman is late!" Carmen says, clearly very impatient.

Chief Ripley had warned Grace of that.

"Maybe if we look around, we can just find the manuscript ourselves?" Grace suggested. Carmen didn't seem happy about the idea but acquiesced.

The two weren't expecting to find the woman they were looking for beheaded by a guillotine.

"Are you kidding me?! We came here to grill our main lead about this manuscript and she got her head chopped off? This is insane!" Carmen exclaims as Grace's face turns into a grimace.

The blood looked fresh as did the woman's body, her head and torso lying in two on the ground.

Still, Grace was determined to look for some clues. There had to be something here that could help them figure out what went wrong.

"The guillotine must have been part of the photo shoot. I'll have to call someone from the team to get down here and grab the body for Angela." Carmen comments as Grace continues to search the area.

She gets on her phone and dials the Bureau's number, explaining the situation to a staff member. She returned a few moments later as Grace found very little besides a faded business card and an antique chest on the ground.

"I didn't find the manuscript, but I did find this." Grace explains holding it up for Carmen to see.
"You think our killer left a signature or something?" Grace nodded.
"I think it's entirely possible."
"Well in that case, you can uncover it. I've heard you're quite good at that." That's when Carmen notices the chest next to Grace.
"What's this Antique Roadshow crap? I mean, the wooden box is pretty and all but I don't see how it's relevant."
"I think it could be useful. I have a hunch the manuscript could be in there." Grace explains stubbornly.

Carmen doesn't look convinced but she agrees that the detective can look through it. After all, Grace had a reputation of finding evidence in the strangest of places.

"Look, I know I seem blunt, but I just don't like wasting time. You of all people must understand that, Grace."
"Completely." The detective replies with a nod as she holds the box and the business card in her arms.

Carmen smiles briefly before her face turns serious,
"We'd better get to the bottom of this murder quickly! We've got way bigger fish to fry."

Grace nods and decides searching through the chest is the best course of action until the coroners arrive, then she would dust the business card after the body was moved.

ılı.lıllılı.ıllı.

It took a few minutes for a team from The Bureau to arrive and during that time Grace had uncovered the business card and found a digital camera in the antique chest.

Grace flipped the card around for Carmen to see as she squinted suspiciously.
"So the victim had organized a photoshoot...and it looks like Grace Goude was the photographer."
"And she could've also been Annette's executioner." Grace finishes gravely.
"Now that we know that, let's grill this Grace Goude about the shoot."
"Mm-hm. And then," Grace holds up the camera, "we can give this to Gretta and Elliot."

ılı.lıllılı.ıllı.

They find Ms. Goude quite easily. She is dark skinned wearing a black blazer, accessorized with red lipstick and a black beret. And lucky for them, she too was currently walking around Versailles.
"What do YOU want?! I will not be selling any photos taken of Ms. Sommeur to the tabloids, if you're some of those nasty vultures." The woman shouts as soon as they approach.
"Definitely not vultures, Ms. Goude. We're with the Bureau and we're here to investigate the murder of Annette Sommur." Carmen explains calmly with her arms crossed.

Grace Goude seems more smug now that she's heard that.
"Oh, the Bureau is on this case? Good. Annette would've wanted the 'créme de la créme'. That's why she asked me to do this shoot. Because I AM the best." She turns a little embarrassed before continuing,
"Except I had to go and walk out to the gardens for some fresh air. When I came back, she was...her head was in a basket!"
"Have you known the victim long?" Grace asked and Ms. Goude's face became saddened.
"Annette launched me. She made my whole career possible! You have no idea what it was like to see her like that. I was in too much shock to know what to do!" Grace gives her a look of sympathy before continuing her questioning,
"Did you see any other time before the murder?"
"Only two hours before," the woman explains, "I was picking her up at the Amelie B. Boutique in Montmartre and now...she's gone."
"Wait, did you say Amelie B.? We should go there and look for more clues, Grace." Carmen says and Grace nods.
"Stick around, Ms. Goude. We may need to ask you more question." Grace gives the photographer a small smile before they leave.

ılı.lıllılı.ıllı.

As Grace investigated the boutique for clues, Carmen got curious.

"The chief told me you have a daughter, what's she like?"
"Gretta? Stubborn, wicked smart, has quite a temper, can be argumentative...but ultimately she's a good kid. I've got no complaints so far." Carmen chuckles at that description.
"Sounds kind of like you." Grace hums in agreement as she picks up some ripped up cardboard near the doors to the shop.
"It's bad enough we look the same, but the way she's like me in almost every way can be a little jarring."
"I see. You two seem very close."
"We are," Grace says stopping in her tracks, "very close. I had her young, same age as she is now, made some mistakes I'm not proud of but through thick and thin she's been there. And when she was born I felt a huge weight on my shoulders—she was suddenly this responsibility I had to take care of and I was determined to make it work. With or without her father." She says the last part with a bitterness of someone who's held a grudge for years can have.

Carmen doesn't entirely understand that bond but she nods anyway.
"Find anything else?"
"Yes," Grace smiles triumphantly, "this champagne bottle could be useful." Carmen raises an eyebrow at it, unimpressed.
"You found it near the boutique? How do you know it doesn't belong to the cafe?"
"Because the tag says for Annette." Grace says, holding up the tag.
"Oh...I see." Carmen looks embarrassed by her mistake before she notices something else on the bottle,
"The label says "1945 Millésime". Does that mean it's fancy champagne? There's also...some sort of serial number on the front?" She says, pointing to it. Grace's eyes widened.
"I didn't even notice that part. I'll analyze it real quick. Can you hold this cardboard?" Carmen nods, grabbing it while Grace observes the bottle.
"I would question this cardboard but...whatever solves the case I guess." Carmen murmurs to herself.

"I've got the serial number!" Grace says with a wide smile on her face. Carmen smirks, amused by her expression and a little shocked.
"That was faster than I expected! Alright, let's get it down to Elliot to see if he can tell us more about who gave our victim the bottle."

ılı.lıllılı.ıllı.

Carmen and Grace returned to The Bureau's European Headquarters shortly after, going down to the Tech Room first with the bottle of champagne and the digital camera before they would go to Angela to see about the body.

"Hey kids! We come baring gifts." Grace says, announcing Carmen and her's arrival to Gretta and Elliot. Her daughter wheels back her chair to peer at the items they brought.

"You must be Gretta. Your mother has told me about you. I'm Carmen Martinez, her partner for this case." Gretta smiles politely in acknowledgement.
"I see my reputation precedes me. What's with the champagne bottle?" She asks, glancing at the giant bottle in Carmen's hands.
"The bottle isn't important. It's the label that I want one of you to analyze." Grace interjects.
"Well then, I will take that." Gretta says, gesturing for Carmen to hand the bottle over as Grace hands Elliot the camera and eyes the exchange.
"Looks expensive." Gretta observes, holding the bottle at different angles to get a fee for it.
"Interesting take from a girl who's never tasted champagne." Carmen pipes up.
"Well, I don't have to have tasted champagne to know that, as it says on the bottle, it's old and a rich person probably bought it. After all, the rich love things that are exclusive and old."
"I suppose you are right." Carmen muses, clearly amused by Gretta's observations. Grace however felt slightly worried as her daughter held the alcohol. Not because she might drop it...but for other reasons entirely.

"Just be careful. I don't want you to be influenced again." Grace says cryptically, but it's clearly an exchange they've had before as Gretta glares at her.
"I know. I'll be fine." She says sternly, the jovial expression in her tone changed in an instance.

Grace seems to relax at this somewhat and nods seriously.
"Okay."

It got kind of quiet after that. There was a discussion there that they weren't putting into words, a secret language they were sharing about an incident in the past that clearly did not end well.

"Anyway, we'll be back in a few hours. See you later."
"See you." Elliot says as the two women rush off.

He turns back to Gretta, who's still slightly stewing but carefully clenching the bottle.
"What was that about?" He asks and her eyes shift around as she shrugs.
"It's nothing. Don't worry about it." She dismisses quietly, clearly uninterested in talking about the exchange.
"Okay...I'm sure analyzing that label will take your mind off things." Gretta nods in agreement as she looks at the label herself, gears beginning to turn in her head.
"If you need any help with that camera, just let me know." She says as they both begin to work.
"Yeah, sure. Though I imagine if I just showed it to you, you'd it out way before I ever got a chance to." Gretta snorts at that suggestion and shoves his arm playfully before they get to work.

It may not have been much...but it did make Gretta finally smile.

ılı.lıllılı.ıllı.

They returned to the conference room where they laid out their clues, including the destroyed pieces of cardboard from the boutique. Grace quickly put it together again and both women tilt their head in confusion.
"So our mystery cardboard cut-out Jacqueline Proust, huh? Am I supposed to know who that is?" Grace shrugs at Carmen's question.
"She sounds familiar although I don't know why."

"Hmph, I'm rather impressed you don't know Miss Martinez," Dupont began as he entered the conference room, "you show more taste and intellectual capacity than I imagined."

Both women glance at each other.
Supposedly it was a compliment though it sounded a little backhanded.
"Um...thanks?"
"Do you know who she is, Dupont?" Grace asks.
"To my chagrin, yes. Jaqueline Proust is a pathetic excuse for fiction writer, but, unlike the great MARCEL Proust, her talent appeals to...how should I say it...the mass market?"
"Okay then...we should probably go see her?" Grace nods and the two end out the door.

"I wish Dupont would've been less smug about it." Carmen murmured as they walked towards the front door.
"Mm...I may have to read one of her books just to spite him." Grace replies, making Carmen laugh.

ılı.lıllılı.ıllı.

They found the author back at the boutique rather quickly, now knowing what she looked like. She was wearing a red blazer, black glasses, a pearl necklace, a cheetah print neck scarf and was currently smoking a cigarette as she sat near one of the tables with a pen and notebook in hand.

"Ms. Proust, right? I was wondering if you had a minute—"
"I only do autographs when my literary agent forces me to, sorry!"
"Did your agent force you to sign this?" Grace asks, holding out the cardboard cutout. Her smiling face turns into a frown.
"Oh...no. That one was a gift. She was an inspiration to creative women everywhere! Granted, not as much of an inspiration as I am, but still...I wanted to her know how much I appreciated her work! We women have to have each other's backs, you know?" Carmen raises an eyebrow at that statement.
"Just their backs or their heads, too? Annette Sommeur was decapitated this morning."
"What? No, that's awful! And she just bought that manuscript at the auction too. Do you the manuscript could be part of the murder?"
"Well, we're not supposed to discuss the details of the case with potential suspects, ma'am." Grace says, though Jaqueline doesn't seem to hear her.

Instead she grabs her notebook and begins to write notes feverishly,
"I bet it is! Please excuse me," she pushes past them, "I must get these notes down. Inspiration strikes!"

ılı.lıllılı.ıllı.

The champagne bottle and the camera were ready to be analyzed. The camera no evidence from the drive of what photo was taken could be found, but it was learned that the killer smoked (Carmen wasn't too happy about learning that, and neither was Grace, as it would take a while with how many of their suspects did smoke).

The champagne bottle, however, was much more interesting. Gretta placed it gently on the table and looked quite proud of herself for figuring out the puzzle.
"So, what makes it so special?" Grace asks. Gretta looks ready to speak, but Elliot had to jump in first.
"It's from Domaine Tafréze. 1945, an exceptional year, or "Millésime" for the vineyard." Gretta let out a loud sigh and rolled her eyes.
"We get it, you looked all this up about the champagne. Now can I talk now? I'm the one who cracked it after all!" Gretta points and Elliot rolls his eyes in turn.
"Fine, go ahead."
"Thank you!" Grace attempts not to laugh at the two—they don't seem to notice it but their personalities are more alike than they might think.
"As I was going to say before I so rudely interrupted," Gretta glares at him before continuing, "the serial bottle on the champagne bottle says it was purchased by Princess Sofia of Girona."
"What's a princess doing here?" Grace wonders.
"She's been in Paris since fashion week, which is only too predictable, and she's staying at the Royal Manchot Hotel, equally predictable." Elliot explains, looking bored by just talking about it.

Carmen, of course, is much more interested in finding the woman and talking to her so they can get the case over and done with.

"I guess it's time we talk to her most predictable highness! Thanks kiddos, you've been a big help." Neither teen looks too happy about the nickname Carmen has decided to give them, but there's no time to grumble about it as Carmen practically drags Grace out the door.

ılı.lıllılı.ıllı.

They find the Princess quite easily back at the boutique. The tiara, red dress, pearl necklace and a blue sash with a fleur de lys pinned to it were a dead giveaway and there weren't many people around, it was almost deserted.

"So, Princess Sofia of Girona—" Sofia stands up with a picture perfect smile as she holds out her hand up to stop Carmen from continuing.
"Just plain Sofia, please, no need for formalities just because I'm wearing my tiara!"
"Ok...um, Sofia. My partner and I were wondering if we could ask you a few questions?" Carmen asks and the princess looks puzzled.
"Alright...what is this about?"
"Can you tell us about this champagne bottle that you gave to Annette Sommuer?" Grace asks, holding it up.
"I'm sorry, I don't understand?" Sofia says, looking at Grace with alarm.
"Me and my partner, Carmen Martinez, are with the Bureau agency, Sofia. We're trying to piece a timeline for the events leading up to Ms. Sommuer's murder."
"Her murder?! Annette Sommeur was killed?! I just saw her this morning. I offered her this champagne as a thank you gift. She had decided to put me on the cover of her magazine, Pretty Fair. Finally, someone had recognized my superior fashion sense and wanted to share it with the world!" Her face faltered and it looked like she genuine tears in her eyes,
"Annette had so much class! She was royalty in her own way...and now she's dead!"
"We're sorry to say, but you better plan to stay in Paris for a few days. We may need to ask you more questions." Carmen explains once the princess is finished making her statement.

ılı.lıllılı.ıllı.

While walking away from the boutique, the two discussed possible leads. So far, nothing came up. Everyone had nice things to say about Annette...and yet she had her head on the chopping block. But then, as luck would have it, Carmen got a phone call.
"I have to take this. Carmen Martinez speaking? Hey, Ingrid what's up? You found out where she was last night? Oh that's great! Mm-hm." They talk for a bit longer, Annette was looking for the missing price of the manuscript in the Lourve gardens but couldn't find anything. However, more interestingly, witnesses mentioned seeing an altercation between Annette and another potential suspect.

Once they were finished, Grace as she looked down at the bottle.
"Guess I'm not getting rid of this champagne bottle anytime soon. I'll call us a cab that will take us to the Louvre."

ılı.lıllılı.ıllı.

Once at the Louvre Gardens, Grace found a newspaper, a blood splattered note and a mime's belongings.
"You find the strangest items, Grace. We might just have to nickname you bloodhound!" Carmen says as she sees what the detective brought, who laughs at the joke.
"I'm not opposed to it. More importantly, we should get a blood sample off this note for Lars—it could be a threat." Carmen nods.
"What about the newspaper? Or the...suitcase? Why would that be relevant?"
"I have a hunch the guy on the newspaper could be another suspect. As for the suitcase, maybe if we search through," she pauses to red the tag line, "Marcel's belongings we could find some clues about the altercation that went down." Carmen doesn't look convinced but shrugs, as Grace hasn't been wrong before.
"Alright. But you can search through the suitcase. I'm not touching that thing!" Grace rolls her eyes in annoyance but gets to work, dusting off the newspaper to reveal the article headline and the man's name: Constantin Pierre. Next, she does the suitcase only find at the bottom of it...a bobbed blonde wig and sunglasses.
"Maybe the mime Marcel can tell us about this?" Grace suggests and Carmen doesn't look too happy about this and agrees.
"That must be him right there." She says, pointing towards a mime near the fountain.

"Hello, sir. We're with the Bureau and we like to ask you some questions if you don't mind."
"......"
"I...I should've expected this." Grace says, rubbing her temples together in exasperation and allowing Carmen to take the lead.
"Man, I hate mimes. Look, pal, why did you have this wig and sunglasses costume? They'd make you look a lot like Annette Sommeur, who was just murdered!" Marcel mimics a crying face back at her and Carmen is unimpressed.
"Look, unless you're really mute, you'd better knock this crap off right now! We don't have time for this nonsense." Carmen snaps, making Grace and Marcel a bit spooked by her reaction.
"Whoa, settle down! Look, I was just performing right here by the Louvre and that...that..."lady" came up to me and kicked me! Unprovoked! Then she laughed!" Marcel says nervously.
"If I saw you'd impersonating me, I'd kick you too." Carmen murmurs, though Marcel heard her.
"I started impersonating her AFTER she kicked me! That's how I deal with bad stuff. I put it in my show. I turn it into laughter!"
"Well, let's hope that's all you did, Marcel. If we have anymore questions for you, we will back." Grace says with her hands on her hips.

ılı.lıllılı.ıllı.

The two retuned back to Versailles to question Constantin about his relation to the victim. He was an older gentleman, wearing a white blouse with a red cravat and a brown blazer, complete with round glasses, a smoking pipe, a fleur de lys pinned to his jacket and a black beret. He introduced himself the castle's supervisor.

He explained that he found out about the murder at lunch, when he was dining on some camembert cheese and he himself had actually scheduled the photo shoot as Annette was a high profile figure (and not just anyone would be allowed in the palace).

"Of course, now Versailles will get entirely the wrong sort of publicity. But one cannot control everything, as Louis XVI discovered to his dismay." Constantin finished melancholy.
"Louis XVI is an interesting example, Mr. Perrier, considering that Annette Sommeur was beheaded." Carmen observed. Constantin seems impressed by her observation.
"The King also lived in Versailles, so my choice in words hardly makes me a suspect."
"Well, just in case we have anymore questions, you might want to stick around Mr. Pierre." Grace says, looking at her phone to see a text from Lars about the blood sample.

ılı.lıllılı.ıllı.

"Hey, Grace! I see you got my text." Lars says, standing up to grab the sample from his desk. Grace is about to speak before Lars interrupts her.
"But first, you ought to check out my band's last rehearsal." He starts doing air guitar to emphasize his point and Grace tries to hold it together and not laugh.

Carmen isn't laughing, instead rolling her eyes.
"No, Lars. We just want information. We don't have time to listen to your hobby."
"Oh come on, man! We're a serious band! You're working with a future inductee of the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame and you don't even know it!" Grace can't help herself and lets out a laugh.
"Lars, please!" Carmen snaps, throughly annoyed.
"Fine, whatever. The blood in question belonged to the victim, point off point. This means your killer wrote the note after the murder."
"Great! We just need to figure what the heck it says." Carmen says.

Once again, Dupont appears out of nowhere, and provides an answer:
"Well if you would permit an old man to interrupt, I can tell you that your killer knows their Sarte."
"The philosopher?" Grace guesses and Dupont looks surprised by her answer.
"Very good."
"Sorry...Sarte who?" Carmen interrupts.
"Jean-Paul Sarte, he was French philosopher who coined existentialism." Grace explained.
"Okay...so what does that mean?"
"Well, your killer paraphrased his famous line: 'L'enfer, c'est les autres' or 'hell is for other people'. In this case, the killer wrote 'hell is for Annette Sommeur'."
"So our killer is into French Philosophy...well they'd better get ready for some angst with Grace on their tail!"

ılı.lıllılı.ıllı.

"How did you know French Philosophy?" Carmen asks once the detectives are back in a conference room, adding more evidence to the board. Grace looks at her, a bit embarrassed.
"Oh, that? My father taught philosophy at Grimsbourgh University when I was young. Jean-Paul was a favorite of his. My mother worked as a history teacher."
"Used to?" Carmen presses.
"Well, I don't know if he's still there. To tell you the truth, I haven't been in contact with my parents in years. When they found out I was pregnant, they helped me through for a while but after I had Gretta, they decided they weren't going to support me anymore and I lived with a close friend from then on. It's not a story I tell much...doesn't really come up often." Grace explains, wiping a stray tear from her cheek.
"I'm sorry." Carmen says after a moment of silence. Grace shrugs and puts on a smile.
"It's alright. It's all in the past. We should probably get moving and finish the case, right?"

ılı.lıllılı.ıllı.

Chief Ripley is found reading a newspaper intently in the hallway. She looks up when she sees Grace and Carmen leave the conference room and gestures them over.
"Grace, have you seen the latest political polls in France? The far right are getting rather too popular for my tastes."
"No, sorry Chief. I've been busy running around and tracking down suspects."
"Well, it's bothering me a great deal. That the politics of intolerance and fear draw all types of unsavory characters." The Chief explains with a sullen expression.
"At any rate, I doubt the recent political events have anything to do with Annette Sommeur's beheading. I guess I should let you two get back to solving the murder."
"I can't shake the feeling that the boutique where the victim was this morning is involved somehow. Like there's something we're missing." Carmen says, deep in thought.
"Well then, we'll go there again and see if we can find anything else."

ılı.lıllılı.ıllı.

After a few more hours of backtracking, Grace had found an interesting lead back at the palace that could help: a photograph of the victim just before her untimely death. And now they were back to see the results.

"Hey you two! Got any news about the photograph for me?" Grace asks as she enters the Tech Room.

"Except for the shape you wanted me to examine, this photo would make a great 80s heavy metal album cover." Elliot says.
"I'm sure from your perspective, but I...do not agree." Gretta retorts, looking down at her phone, clearly not willing to look at the picture.

Both women are puzzled by the reaction and she looks up, then tucks a piece of her long, wavy hair behind her ear.
"I uh...threw up in the bathroom when I first saw it." Gretta explains, clearly embarrassed, her cheeks a bright red.
"It's fine, sweetie. It happens, it was your first body. It will get easier with time, I promise."
"Thaaat...is not that as comforting as you think it is, mom." Gretta replies before going back to her phone.
"The photo also gave information about the killer. The photo was pressed against an object during a crucial processing point, an object shaped like a fleur de lys." Elliot adds on. 
"Great! Well, Grace, you ready to catch our killer?" Grace looks up at Carmen and nods.

ılı.lıllılı.ıllı.

After a few more hours of backtracking, the killer was finally revealed. It was Constantin Pierre, the Versailles palace supervisor. He had a simple wish: to live like a king instead of serving others. So when a mysterious group asked him to steal the manuscript and kill Annette Sommeur he did not hesitate. Carmen pressed for more information but he would not say who "they" were, for fear of being killed.

He was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Author's Notes

I thought making the cases their own chapter was a good idea. Which, yes, it is...but man is it a lot of work! I have decided to switch over to writing notes from now on when playing cases to save from needless backtracking lol

I had to cut the chapter short because it was just getting to long and I needed to tie it up somewhere before we got to 5000 words—

Gretta has a...complicated...relationship with alcohol let's say. She's made some mistakes she's not proud of but she's grown since then. But Gretta's past will be explained much, much later.

I'll just say this: as you can probably tell she's not very fond of Pacific Bay, mainly because she was moving from her hometown but also because she was bullied a lot and got into the wrong crowds at school and I'll leave it at that for now.

I think Carmen and Grace are a great match, they are both no-nonsense women who are good at their job and get shit done!

Next chapter will be Europe in Crisis Part 2 so hopefully things will be less heavy. I tried to get more than one update out as to be on level with my current game :)

BatgirlGeek❤️