In the car Jeni immediately started to play with her
cellphone. Hannah looked out the window
watching the scenery as they drove along the highway into Paris.
“I can’t believe you aren’t looking out the window at
things”
“I’m googling Mr. Sangril.”
“That sounds obscene.”
“Right? But it sounds
better than stalking”
“Why didn’t you do this before we left.”
“I was working on another case.”
“You had already finished the werecat case, what case are
you talking about?”
“Oh that obnoxious detective that tried to arrest me when I
was following that cat stopped by.”
“Oh? That gorgeous cop with the beautiful green eyes?”
“No, the pain in the ass guy, the one who’s so proud of
himself? Any how he had a suspect who had disappeared and he wanted to know if
I had any leads.”
“Did you?”
“He had something the guy owned and I could sense he was at
a 7/11 getting a cherry Slurpee.”
“Please tell me you are joking.”
“Well that and we met at the coffee shop across the street
and I saw the guy getting the Slurpee.”
“This whole Psychic thing is a joke isn’t it, you are just
lucky.” Hannah said shaking her head.
“I picked the time and location to meet the detective. So if
I’m just lucky, then I’m really lucky.”
Jeni started to scroll through a web page and her head
tilted brows furrowed in concentration.
“I know that look, you are on to something.“ Hannah said not
really caring if Jeni responded.
Jeni sat in silence as they drove on. The driver was focused listening to the radio
quietly. After what seemed like ages Jeni said “Hmm. Interesting.”
“What is?”
“Well as long as google maps is correct it looks the office
of our client is right across the street from a coffee shop.”
“I swear you have a one track mind.”
“I need time to collect myself and engage in the local
culture.”
“More time to stalk your client”
“No, I already know enough to get started.”
“Really what did you learn?”
“Not much, the Wikipedia entry just had vague biological
background.” Jeni said distracted.
“Ok, and what you learned was?” Hannah asked starting to get
annoyed.
“You know I find it interesting,” Jeni said looking out the
window. Hannah sighed realizing her question was not about to be answered
because Jeni was already thinking about something else. Jeni continued as
though she didn’t register Hannah’s sigh.
“In 1450 Paris was terrorized by a pack of man eating wolves, the winter
was so cold that they were desperate and they breached the crumbling walls from
the 13th century that King Phillip Auguste built and they ate like
40 people. Truth be known the
agricultural practices of the 14th century feudal system was the
cause, with crumbling infrastructure due to the Hundred Years War left the city
vulnerable to these invaders. The true
beauty of this though is the myth of the wolves. They feared them, they created these stories,
they talked about the leader of the pack, even going as far as to name her Courtaud, which implied that her
tail was bobbed. But isn’t it fascinating, that this pack that terrorized this
country for months was led by a female, and that they made this whole mythology
around a woman. This was just a short 20
years after the death of Joan of Arc another woman who was mythologized and vilified
about.” Jeni talked in a steady stream of consciousness that drove Hannah
crazy.
“So what happened to the bob tailed she wolf?”
“The Parisians drove the pack down the Ile de la Cite to the
steps of Notre Dame where they stoned the animals to death. Sounds very
biblical stoning someone to death eh? Did you know that there are natural
islands in the Seine? That’s what the
Ile de la Cite means, Island of the City.” Jeni had a dreamy look on her face.
“That’s great, has nothing to do with our case but
interesting” Hannah rolled her eyes.
Jeni smiled. “Oh everything
has a purpose, it’s all part of the web of intrigue”
“Oh?”
“In Europe all of history converges. Modern mixes with Medieval in a tapestry, a colorful depth filled tapestry. Speaking of tapestry
did you know that the Hunt of the Unicorn tapestries were created not fifty
years later in Scotland? They depict a
hunt for a unicorn led my men, but the successful taming of the unicorn way by
a virgin. This was during the period of
time when women were actively beginning to lose their rights and restrictions
placed on work women could do.”
“Once again what does this have to do with anything.”
“Isn’t it obvious?
Mr. Sangril has a curse on him”
