Time: Present Day

Location; Paris, France.

Monique passed on the kisses to Margot and Michelle but she refrained from telling Michy what Amanda had said.

"You all set for tomorrow night?" Monique asked Margot.

Margot was the organiser in the family, she had contacted Louise and set everything up for tomorrow night's little event at Le Balajo. "Yes. Everything is set. Louise arranged everything, poor girl, She's still a bit lost over her dad, it's hard when an orphan, at any age," Margot said.

"Hasn't she got any family?" Monique asked in a voice laced with genuine concern.

"No. Her mum died in childbirth, she was brought up by her Dad and Gran but they're both dead now," Margot explained, "I think that's why she was a bit of a rebel as a teenager, you do remember it was Louise that gave Amelia the drugs, but she still swears she didn't have any heroin. She told me she wouldn't have touched that herself let alone give it to someone else, especially not Amelia.

After all these years she still hasn't come to terms with Amelia's death. How an accident like that could happen to someone like Amelia. She hasn't said so, but I get the distinct feeling whenever I talk to her, that she doesn't know exactly what happened but she still doesn't believe the police take on it. You can ask her yourself tomorrow night, just be prepared, it's likely to bring up some unhealed wounds in all of us.”

They all met up the next night at Le Balajo in the VIP room. They got a bottle of champagne and drank a toast to Amelia. Monique was about to ask Louise about how she was coping without her Dad when they were interrupted by a photographer asking if they would like their photo taken. They had a few shots taken both individual and group.

"Wait," said Louise, "just one more please," as the photographer was preparing to move on. Louise posed draped around a lamp post and after her photo was taken came back to the table. "I had the same shot taken the night we were here twenty years ago, just wanted to see if I still had it."

Louise explained, "You mean there are photos of all of you on that night, Amelia too? Do you still have them? I'd love to see them," Monique said expectantly.

"No, I've never had them. They belong to the venue. They take photos of everyone in the VIP room in case they are, or in case they become, really famous in the future," Louise explained.

"They wouldn't still have them would they?"

Monique asked.

Louise said, "I saw them once, the police had them during one of my interviews after Amelia was found. They might still be on the file, or maybe they gave them back to the venue, don't know what the procedure would be. I know Le Balajo puts some up on their website but I don't know whether they keep all of them. You could ask the police if you could look at Amelia's file if they still have it."

Collette then chimed in with, "Louise is right, I remember them asking me to identify Amelia in one of the photos, it was one of me, Amelia and Andre. I told them Andre had left that night to go back to Germany. They said they would have to track him down and interview him."

Then Louise said," Yeah they asked me about Andre and I told them the truth, that we had only met him that night at the venue, and if they wanted to speak to him they would have to get his details from my father."

"Who was this Andre anyway? Amanda told me you met him here that night?" Monique inquired.

"That's right," said Louise, "he was the son of a friend of my father's, a business associate I gather. Although since I took over Dad’s business interests I've never come across either him or his dad again."

"Thanks girls, maybe Michy and I will go and see the police in the morning. I'd like to see any photos they might have, especially of Amelia, maybe they'll even let me have one since the case is so old," Monique said.

Then Michy said, "Even if they won't release them, maybe they'll let you take a picture of them on your phone and you can get a print when you get home."

"Yeah let's do it," Monique agreed. "if you are going to see the police, ask them if they found out anything about how Amelia got there, and where she had been in the mean time?“ said Collette.

"Yes, when I rang my Dad that night he said that she had probably driven Andre to the airport to get his flight home. Andre might have told them more of what really happened, if they interviewed him," Louise said. Then Collette floored them all when she said, "Well she must have gone somewhere, because we searched the entire club that night and as I told the police, I remember searching in that lane at around 3 am when we were thrown out because they were closing and she definitely wasn't there where they supposedly found her."

"That settles it then, we definitely talk to the police, the one in charge of the case," Monique said.

"Then you'll be speaking to the police commissioner...he was the cop that interviewed us, of course he wasn't the commissioner then."

Margot had been strangely silent during all this, she finally said, "Why don't you call Amanda and tell her, she might remember something too or have something in mind we should ask the police, when we see them."

"Yes, I'll call her now, she might still be at lunch, it’s about 1.30pm in Sydney. But it's too noisy here, I don't think I'll be able to hear her, getting on a bit you know," Monique said with a smile.

They all laughed. Then Louise said, "I know a place we can go, the Secret Room, it'll be quieter down there."

"That sounds very mysterious, what's so secret about it?" asked Michelle.

"It's just a special area away from everyone else that VIPs can take someone to talk privately. There's a lounge and a complimentary bar, self service, so if a VIP for instance got lucky on the dance floor it's somewhere they could take them to be relatively alone and away from prying eyes or the media or maybe they might just want to make a private call like we do."

"Let's go then, but wait will we be able to get in there, we're hardly movie stars or rock legends?" Margot asked.

"There'll be a security guard, but they all know me, they know I own the joint. I think Danny's on on Wednesdays, he'll let us in," Louise said with a wink.

Sure enough when they reached the darkened stairwell leading to the Secret Room, the Security Guard opened the barrier rope as they approached, "Good evening Mademoiselle Louise, nice to see you again," he said with a big grin.

"Hi Danny, anyone important down there tonight?" Louise asked.

"Only you and your lovely friends," he replied in lilting French as he bowed before them and gestured for them to enter.

They went down the stairs and into a very plush lounge area done in crimson carpet with black mahogany furniture and a number of matching lounge and occasional chairs. There was a fully stocked bar and fridge and sink in one corner and a corridor leading to the rest rooms in the other. They were stunned to see such a beautiful place unoccupied.

"I think he's got the hots for you Louise, your Danny," Collette teased.

"Stop it Collette, she's always trying to match me up, okay make the call then. I'll get us some drinks, Veuve Clichot anyone?" Louise said as she made her way to the bar.

"Yes please," they said in unison.

When she got back they were chatting to Amanda hands free.

"Yes we are going to see the police tomorrow. "You don't happen to remember who interviewed you I suppose," asked Monique.

"De Vrise, it was De Vrise, he's the police commissioner now I believe," Amanda replied.

"What a memory my daughter has," Monique said proudly,"I don't think I'll ever forget anything that happened that night. It's etched in my memory with a knife," Amanda sobbed.

Do you remember if this Secret Room was here when you girls were here twenty years ago?" Monique asked Amanda.

"It was, I remember going past it. But it was closed for renovations so I couldn't go down there. What's it like inside?" she asked. "It's beautiful. And the free champers is great too."

"Does that mean you didn't look for Amelia down here?" Collette asked.

"No I didn't, and I didn't feel comfortable tackling the security guard, he was acting a bit weird come to think of it." Amanda recalled.

"Our security guards are great with customers, Dad used to insist on it. What do you mean weird Amanda?" Louise demanded.

"He gave me a strange look, like he'd seen a ghost or something," she replied.

Monique said, "Don't tell.me you and Amelia dressed the same again?"

"Yes we did Mum, you know we liked teasing the boys and playing with their heads by confusing them as to who they are talking to," Amanda said.

"Maybe he saw Amelia and Andre leave, and then you appear," Louise said defensively, "Dad said that Amelia probably drove him to the airport, she probably waited for his plane to leave, maybe it was delayed, then when she came back the club was closed, and we had gone, and, then I don't know maybe she met someone in the alley, took some drugs and died, maybe."

Then Collette said, "I've been thinking about this for a while. I know Amelia wasn't there at 3 a.m. like the police are suggesting. They told me they estimated that she had been dead for at least 6 hours when she was found at 7am. Maybe it wasn't an accident after all. Maybe he did think he'd seen a ghost when he saw Amanda in the same clothes, maybe he knew she was already dead, maybe he saw who killed her, maybe he killed her."

"That's an awful lot of maybes?" Margot said.

"I know, it's just I know it didn't happen the way the police said, it couldn't have, and Amelia would never have done what they were intimating would she?"

There was a strained silence, then Amanda said, "I'm afraid I have to agree with Collette, Amelia would never do anything that stupid. Mum, I didn't tell you this, at the time because I didn't want to upset you, but you remember the nurse who looked after Amelia. Well at the funeral I saw her pick up Amelia's arm and look at it. When I talked to her about it, she said that Amelia had had many blood transfusions and tests while she was ill. She had even let her do it to herself a few times because Amelia had told her she was thinking about becoming a nurse. She didn't think Amelia had punctured her own arm, she knew how to find the vein. The other funny thing was she ran a test on the mark on her arm and it was meat identification dye. The same stuff they use on animals going to slaughter. To hell with Ed, I'm flying over, no arguments."

Chapter 44 - Le Balajo Revisited.

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