A Shepherd in France Ch. 01

The man dressed, all the while glaring at the three officers. His blush betrayed his humiliation and his facial scar stood out in stark contrast. Once he was shackled to the table again they left as did the watchers with Chanel. One of the ladies stopped and looked back at the detective. "I hope it isn't him. Sending such a beautiful man to prison for life would be such a waste." she said and ignored Chanel's glare as she left.

Minutes later she watched the door open on the interrogation room again. Detective Felix Mannus entered the room with a file in his hand. Mannus looked like he'd just stepped off a catwalk. Crisp, tailored suit, perfectly mussed hair, chiseled features, the man used his looks as a weapon against those he interrogated. He seemed to be able to get people to open up to him faster. People wanted to trust the pretty man. Babineaux snorted. She'd been told she could do the same thing but she found the idea distasteful.

Mannus sat and opened the file.

"Mr..." He looked at the file. "Shepherd it says here." he said in French.

"I'm sorry I don't speak French. Only English." the man said.

Felix looked at him. "I said the file reads that your documents indicate your name is Ben Shepherd."

"That's right."

"Ben Shepherd. Benjamin?" the detective asked.

"No, just Ben."

"Why did you attack the man in the customs queue, Benjamin?"

"Ben. I- I don't remember attacking anyone."

"Really? You don't remember? You are actually going to tell me that." Mannus said with a sigh. He pulled a tablet from under the file and queued up the clip. He turned it to the man and played it.

Chanel watched the expression on the man's face. She saw his jaw lock and his eyes go cold. Definitely a killer she thought. It's him! She was convinced.

"He hit the girl." the man said with a voice gone cold.

Mannus seemed to be looking carefully at the man across the table from him. "You struck the man very violently. He lost teeth." he said quietly.

"He hit the girl." was the only reply. Again, the smooth, calm voice sent a chill up Chanel's spine.

"Did you know this man or the woman he was with?" the detective asked.

"No." he said and began to blink. His eyes began to show confusion. "I need to let my friends know where I am. Tina especially."

"Your friends? You were traveling alone." Mannus said looking at the file.

"I was traveling with eight other people but we got separated at customs. Listen, Tina has... an anxiety disorder. She's probably in a bad state. I need to let her and the others know where I am."

Chanel frowned. This was a different ploy. Crafty bastard.

"Then perhaps you should answer my questions quickly so we can finish up here." Mannus said reasonably. The man frowned but nodded.

"What is the purpose of your visit to Paris?" he asked.

"We're on vacation. Sightseeing." the man replied but looked towards the door.

"How long will you be here, Benjamin?" the detective continued.

"Ben. Two weeks but we'll only be in Paris for five days. We're visiting several places as we head south and will finish up in Cannes and fly home from Nice."

"Your passport is new."

"Yes, I got it renewed before the trip." the man replied.

"You filled the other one? You travel a lot? Amsterdam? London? Warsaw? Johannesburg? Frankfurt? Rome?" Mannus said and Chanel recognized the list of cities where Rapava had left his mark.

"No, I've never traveled before. My neighbor Gabriella who organized this trip asked me to renew my old passport even though it still had a little under a year left on it. I hadn't used the old one."

"So you are claiming you've never been to the cities I mentioned." Mannus pushed.

"That's right. Paris is the first place I've ever traveled to and I'm starting to wish I hadn't." the man grumbled.

"That's odd because we have people claiming to have seen you in those cities." the detective pushed again.

"Then they'd be wrong because I've never traveled outside of the United States before." the man insisted.

"Their description of you was very specific." The moment Mannus said it Babineaux wanted to scream.

The man froze. He looked at the detective. "Is that what all this is about? I look like someone you are looking for? Is there a photo of this person I'm supposed to be?"

Chanel cursed. Felix had fucked up. She knew Rapava was done talking. She stormed out of the observation room. She had to contact her snitch to see if she could get more information on Rapava's actual reason for coming to Paris. She had to get it before he weaseled his way free of this. They still had his attack on the punk in the custom's queue. So they could hold him on that.

As she made her way through the halls she saw a cluster of officers and a medical team with a stretcher. There was a body under the sheet on it.

"Who's this?" she asked.

"Just some stupid punk who thought he could smuggle heroin inside his body and get into a fight. He attacked these guys and they put him down. But one of the bags in his intestines must have ruptured. He died of an overdose pretty quickly after that." the medic said.

Chanel pulled the sheet down and cursed. It was the guy from the queue. Their reason for keeping Rapava. FUCK! She thought quickly. There was still the girlfriend. She'd still be in holding. Chanel set off to find her.

Gabriella, Catherine, and Tina sat in a conference room waiting on the Chief Inspector. Megan had returned to them directly after speaking with a young woman who had witnessed the police taking Ben away. She'd filled them in on Ben's situation and everyone gave her hugs for her amazing detective work. The three women had immediately set off for the Security office and demanded to speak with whoever was in charge.

Gabriella looked over at Tina and saw she was looking a little better. Now that they knew Ben was in a room nearby the uncertainty was greatly reduced. They were taking action. But they still had to extract Ben from this mess.

A large burly man in a dark grey suit entered the conference room and introduced himself in French as Chief Inspector Antoine Boucher and that he understood they had asked to speak with him. Gabriella greeted him in French and asked if they could speak in English for Tina's sake. He smiled and graciously agreed.

"So I am to understand you know something of the man we currently have in custody?" he began.

"Yes, his name is Ben Shepherd and he is a very good friend and neighbor of ours. We've been neighbors for years and this is his first time traveling outside of the States. Ben is traveling with our group but we got separated in that mess at customs." Gabriella explained.

"Then you are unaware that he was involved in a violent altercation with another passenger." Boucher asserted.

"We understand that Ben came to the assistance of a young woman named Lucy who was being physically assaulted." Gabriella said.

"Ben does that. He is a good man!" Tina blurted and Catherine took her hand with a smile.

The Chief Inspector's face showed his surprise that they were aware of the young woman.

"Ben can't turn a blind eye when a woman is being abused. Did the passenger attempt to attack Ben when he stopped him from hurting the woman?" Gabriella asked.

This explanation spoke to Antoine's niggling doubts but he wasn't ready to hand over their suspect on the word of these three women. They were not citizens of France.

Gabriella read his unease and spoke up again. "I'm here on vacation this time but I'm in Paris frequently for my business. I import Parisian fashion from designers here for distributors in the States. I have several business contacts here that will vouch for me." Gabriella suggested. Boucher looked pleased and nodded. She brought up the contact details on her phone. She showed them to him and he made a note on his tablet.

When he saw the third contact he froze. "Is this a direct line to Madame Clarisse Leferre?"

Gabriella's face held a warm smile. "Yes. Clarisse is a dear friend as well as a colleague and she is aware of Ben. I've shown her a picture of Ben as well. She can vouch for me and for how long I've known him.

She pulled up a photo she had on her phone of her and Ben in the park in the center court during a block party. She turned the phone to Boucher. It was an older picture taken in the summer and Gabriella was showing a little more cleavage than she normally felt comfortable displaying. She'd done it to catch Ben's eye and she recalled it had certainly worked.

"If you would be so kind to forward this image to my account we will add it to the file... as proof of your previous knowledge." Boucher said with a slight blush.

"Certainly," she replied as she entered the email address he showed her on the tablet. The picture was sent and she watched him smile as it appeared on his tablet. Men were such slaves to their penises, she thought, but kept her smile to herself.

He looked closer at Ben's face in the image and noticed no scar. "When was this image taken? He is missing some characteristics his face now has."

She looked at Catherine. "When was our last block party? The big one we had in the park."

Catherine frowned. "I believe that was four years ago."

Gabriella nodded. "Ben now has a scar across his face."

Boucher perked up. "When did he get this scar?"

"Close to three months ago Ben was attacked by a man with a knife. He was stabbed in the chest multiple times and his face was slashed. He's healed very well but the scars remain." Gabriella replied.

Boucher felt disappointment settle upon him. Three months was too recent for this man to be Kirion Rapava. The first report of Rapava's scar was from five years earlier. Still he thought he'd try one last thing. He looked carefully at the ladies. "Does the name Kirion Rapava mean anything to you?"

Gabriella shook her head as did Catherine and Tina. He nodded.

"There remains the fact that your friend and neighbor used violence against a fellow passenger. A passenger that is in his rights to press charges. Please give me a moment to call your contacts and to confer with the assaulted man to see how he wishes to proceed."

Gabriella nodded and cast a worried look at Catherine and Tina. Once they were alone she addressed her fears. "The French judicial system is different than ours. Here you are guilty until proven innocent."

"We will not get to leave with Ben?" Tina whimpered.

"We will see. You may need to be brave Tina." Gabriella took her hand.

Chanel was in a rage. Felix was in the process of fucking up the most important interrogation of his career, the punk who could have pressed charges against their suspect to keep him in custody was dead, and the girl whose statement might have assisted them with at least delaying his departure was nowhere to be found. The detective was searching for the officer that released her.

She found him in the small kitchen pouring himself a cup of coffee.

"Jacob! What the fuck! Why did you release the witness to the attack!" she barked.

"Good morning to you, Chanel. You look lovely as usual." he replied with a weary tone.

"Answer my question!"

"There was no reason to hold her. The man she was with died. She claimed that he held her captive, took her passport and money, threatened to kill her, and tried to get her to carry drugs which she dumped back in the airport in Amsterdam. She said he would have killed her when he discovered she no longer had them. She was clean, her papers are good and he was dead so there was no reason to keep her." He finished with a huge yawn having just finished his extended overnight shift. The coffee was just to wake himself up enough so he could drive home.

"There is an ongoing investigation she is a witness in!" Chanel growled.

"Am I a mind reader? Maybe you should share information like that!" he growled back.

"Where the fuck is she now?" she asked.

"She said she'd be going to the Imperial Suites then she was flying home to the States." he offered then scowled as the detective spun and rushed from the room. "Fuck you too."

Boucher was all smiles when he entered the conference room again. His call with Madam Leferre and subsequent video call with her had been delightful. He normally delegated such calls to subordinates but to speak with such a celebrity of the fashion industry had been a perk he could not deny himself. And she had been as lovely and gracious as he'd expected. The fact that she had suggested they video conference so he could show her the pictures of his suspect for her to identify had been unexpected and very welcome. She had identified the man as Ben Shepherd and confirmed that Gabriella had been neighbors with him for years. When he showed her an image he'd taken of Ben this morning she sighed when she saw his scar and acknowledged Gabriella had mentioned the attack on him.

He would have Gabriella's other contacts called by a junior officer but Boucher was convinced this wasn't the man they were after.

Gabriella, Catherine, and Tina all looked at him with anxious expressions.

"I have some good news for you. I have confirmed that your neighbor is not the man we are looking for. Also the man he assaulted has died." Antoine said with a smile.

All three women cried out in dismay as he realized what he'd just said.

"Oh! I'm so sorry! I did not mean to imply the man died from the assault! He was carrying drugs inside his body and got into a fight with the officers detaining him. In the struggle one of the balloons of drugs must have ruptured. He died of an instant overdose. Nothing to do with your friend. Again, my apologies for my careless words."

All three smiled weakly and Tina leaned forward. "Please may I see Ben now!" she pleaded.

"I will bring him to you. Please wait just a moment more." Antoine said and glanced at Gabriella who smiled and nodded. He left the office and stopped by the tech department. He looked in and saw two of his tech heads peering at the screen on the suspect's notebook computer. Both were eating as they worked. Antoine shuddered at their poor eating habits. "Have you had any success?" he asked.

"Chief Inspector! Sir, uh, no sir. The security is like something from a spy novel. We have tried to get past it but there seems to be at least three levels of security, including biometrics which only the subject can match. If we had permission to take the machine apart..." one of the techs said with a hopeful tone.

"No, we are releasing the man. Close it up, pack it all away in his briefcase and bring it to interrogation immediately." Boucher said ignoring their looks of disappointment. He turned and walked back to the interrogation room. He stepped into the observation room and looked through the glass.

Ben was sitting as far back in his chair as the handcuffs would let him. He was glaring at the detective across the table but he wasn't saying a word. Antoine tapped on the glass.

Detective Mannus glanced over his shoulder and Ben jerked his head towards the mirror as if he suddenly realized it hid another room with watchers. His face went red but Antoine couldn't tell if that was from rage or humiliation. Even though he knew the man wasn't Rapava he still felt intimidated by him. Must be that damned scar.

Mannus closed the file and left the room. Moments later he entered the observation room.

"Chief Inspector."

"Detective Mannus. Your impressions?"

"He's big. He's menacing with that scar but I don't believe he's Kirion Rapava."

"Agreed. He was actually travelling with a group and I've spoken with some of them. They've provided confirmation that he is the man his passport indicates he is. I'm going to release him."

"What about the punk he assaulted?" Felix asked.

"He got into a fight with some officers and ruptured one of the balloons of drugs in his gut. He's dead. I don't need the headaches of trying to charge this man with no victim." Antoine said. "Get the officers to unshackle him please."

Felix nodded and left. Boucher took another look at the man inside the interrogation room. He sighed. If he had been Rapava there would have been reason to celebrate. Now that they knew it wasn't, and they knew Rapava may have slipped in, they would need to review all of the incoming passengers to see if any others matched the description they had. He saw the officers entering the room so he left to stand in the hall. The tech came by with Ben's shoulder bag and gave it to the Chief Inspector.

Moments later the officers led Ben out of the room.

"Mr. Shepherd, I'm Chief Inspector Antoine Boucher. My apologies for detaining you but we had to be certain you were not the very dangerous criminal we were informed had come to Paris. Your activities in the customs area helped set that impression."

Ben looked like he was struggling to control his emotions. Finally, he nodded.

"You have some ladies waiting for you in a conference room. One in particular seems very upset."

Ben's expression immediately changed to concern. "Tina? Is she alright? May I go to her?"

Antoine smiled and the last bit of doubt he had dissolved. This was not Kirion Rapava. "Yes, I will take you to her." He handed Ben his shoulder bag and nodded to the officers who walked away. Antoine gestured for Ben to walk with him. They got to the room and he allowed Ben to enter first.

"BEN!" Tina cried and leapt to her feet. She rushed around the table and crushed herself up against his chest. Ben held her trembling body tight and looked over to Gabriella and Catherine with love and gratitude. The other ladies came around the table as well and shook Antoine's hand and gave him a kiss on both cheeks. He looked very pleased indeed. He led them out of the conference room and once Ben pulled Tina from his chest they followed him into the hallway. They were led to the entrance of the Security offices and this time Tina leaned up to give Antoine a double cheek kiss. She also gave him a small bow then returned to cling to Ben's arm.

Boucher headed back to get the video analysis started and the others headed towards baggage claim.

Chapter 2

When the group reconnected by their bags there were hugs all around. When Ben learned it was Megan who found him and led Gabriella, Catherine, and Tina to him Ben stepped forward and pulled her into a big hug. Sophia and Rachel looked on with envy as their younger sister smirked at them.

Next came the ordeal of getting them and their baggage to their hotel. This was solved by piling into a number of cabs, Tina went with Ben, and the convoy made its way to the hotel without losing anyone or any baggage. Soon most of them were standing in the lobby of the hotel surrounded by their bags. Catherine was outside paying the last taxi driver and Gabriella was speaking to the front desk clerk checking their party in.

Megan noticed Lucy at the far end of the lobby, beat up backpack at her feet, being questioned by a tall woman with short dark hair. Lucy was shaking her head and didn't look happy. Megan reached over and tugged Ben's sleeve.

"Ben?"

He turned to her. "Yes?"

"The woman I spoke to who pointed out where you were? Her name is Lucy. She was pretty upset as the guy she was with basically kidnapped her. She just wanted to go home but he took her passport and money. I gave her cab fare and told her to meet us here. I kinda told her you would pay for her flight home." Megan said looking embarrassed at her presumption.

"She's here?" Ben looked up and spotted the girl, in tears now, at the far end of the room. He immediately set out in her direction with Megan and Tina in his wake. Sophia, Rachel, and Daniel remained with the bags while Miriam went to tell her mother where Ben was heading.

"Lucy?" he said and her head whipped up. The tall woman spun around with her hand moving to her sidearm. Ben saw fear and rage pass across her features in rapid succession then settle on incredulous anger.