Chapter 73

pen
I'm lost. How could such a thing happen to me? Me, Big Pen, locked in a cell! I have to swim in the middle of a nightmare and I have to wake up very quickly.
"Get me out of here, I didn't do anything!" I cry out for the umpteenth time, to my hoarseness.
"Stop breaking my ears, I want to sleep." My cellmate complains, tired of hearing my cries.
"How can you sleep in such conditions? It's just... filthy!"
"Yeah, you can always go to a five star hotel if you feel like it."
I need to get out of this mess real quick. When I talk about rat triu, I'm not exaggerating at all. There are rats everywhere here, let alone cockroaches. When I'm going to be allowed to make a call, I'm going to call Pauline. She at least always knows what to do in such critical situations.
The next morning, a police officer picked me up and took me to an office. This is the kind of office where you cook suspects on police premises. There is a table behind which sits a middle-aged man, about fifty years old. He seems to have more experiences. The police officer who accompanies me removes the handcuffs from my hands. I instinctively rub where the handcuffs had been put on my wrists. He then leaves, leaving me with the man in his fifties.
"So do you recognize the charges against you?" He questions me, looking me straight in the eye.
"No inspector. I'm innocent." I respond calmly.
"I see you want to play smart?! Know that you have heavy charges against you and you won't be able to escape easily." He replies by giving me a look that is meant to be intimidating.
"You have no evidence against me. Besides, it's not legal for you to keep me here without any evidence." I replied serenely.
"Why were you fleeing the city?"
"I wasn't running away. I happen to move regularly."
"Yes, you are used to traveling regularly, but this time it was different since your concierge told us that you intended to leave without returning."
I admit that I feel a bit stuck here. I had completely forgotten that I had told that idiot concierge that I wasn't coming back.
"You are certainly right, but I could just move."
"If I were you, I wouldn't freak out so much. I know you called the agency to book your travel ticket. We have enough evidence to bring you down. So I'd advise you to cooperate instead."
I don't know if this man is telling the truth or he wants to put pressure on me. However, I don't know if he is telling the truth or if he is lying.
"Can I at least make a call?"
The police inspector looks at him hesitantly. He must surely understand that this interrogation is not going to be fruitful.
"Very well! As you wish. But know that you are neck deep."
As promised, the commissioner gives me the opportunity to make a call.
"Pauline, it's me, Pen."
"Pen? Why are you calling me with this number?"
"It's hot my darling! I'm toast. Muse came to her father's company where I work and she discovered me..."
"What? How could such a thing happen?" Pauline exclaims, cutting me off.
"She told the police everything and they locked me up. I spent the night in a cell." I tell him while keeping my calm.
"Do they have evidence against you?"
"I don't know if they have any evidence against me, but the police inspector led me to believe they do."
"I'm ready to put my hand in the fire that by now, this plague of Muse and her gang must already suspect that you have something to do with the disappearance of Cécile." Pauline watched anxiously.
"That's what I think too. I'm afraid they'll manage to connect me to the brothel."
"Calm down my love! I don't think they have any evidence linking you to the brothel. Unless you left some papers or belongings lying around and it fell into the wrong hands."
"No, I'm very careful when it comes to the brothel."
"In that case, this young girl, Muse's sister, she might have information against you. She shouldn't testify against you." Pauline tells me, more like an order than a wish.
"I'm afraid she'll end up testifying against me. You know, she could say that I asked her to spy on Muse and her gang when they were discussing the search for Cecile."
"But why do you think she's going to testify against you? Didn't you manage to make her fall head over heels for you?" Pauline questions me in a worried tone.
"I think I screwed up everything. She told me she was expecting a child from me, but I asked her to have an abortion. She refused to do so, then I had to use of violence towards her, while asking her not to seek to see me any more." I explain to Pauline.
"That's not true! How are you now going to stop her from testifying against you? She might get revenge for what you did to her, and think you used her."
"That's what I think too..."
"Unless..." Pauline said, then paused, as if checking whether the formula she discovered worked or not.
"Unless what?" I hastened to ask.
"Unless you're using Audrey and this pregnancy to your advantage to get out of trouble."
I don't quite understand Pauline's thoughts. So I ask him the question with a lost look
"How can Audrey and her pregnancy help me? I don't understand your idea."
"Of course! If you used your brain to think more often, instead of your balls that you walk around all day long, you wouldn't be asking me this question." Pauline responds to me in an insulting tone.
"It's not because I'm in trouble that you allow yourself to insult me ​​Pauline. How about going straight to the point with your idea?! No need to remind you that I don't have all day to get on the phone." I grew impatient.
"Call that idiot who can't close her legs. Ask her to come see you." She orders me.
"But I just told you that I asked him not to try to see me anymore..."
"Made up nonsense. If she's a fan of me like you let me believe, try to confuse her with honeyed words. She'll come back to you even more in love. Then take advantage of her by putting pressure on her so that she asks her family to get you out of prison. They are people who like to be guided by their feelings. You will be out of prison in no time. So we will have time to think about what to do about them. ."
I listen carefully to Pauline detailing her idea and I must admit that she is a genius. Besides, I had no doubt that she could get him out of trouble. He now makes me think about what words to put together to coax Audrey and get her out of my cell.