Time: Present Day

Location: Paris, France

Before they had left Sydney Layla had arranged for Ed to employ Mal as a freelancer so he could gain a press pass and attend the press conference with the others. Since he had been partly funding the Carter investigation, and now this one, it seemed only fair that he see how his money was being spent. Besides Ed had come to realise that he was also contributing ideas and suggestions like a real reporter. After all it had been Mal that had suggested they should interview the ambulance driver that had led to the discovery of the mysterious priest with the unusual ring on the CCTV footage.

The police chief Michel De Vrise and his son Claude who had personally investigated tje accident met with the family for half an hour before the news cpnference. Michel always liked the family to know first so there were no nasty surprises in the media. Since he knew the family, he had allowed some friends to attend at the family's request. So the conference room was quite crowded. Jean joined Margot and Michelle at one end with Mal joining Layla and Amanda and Christoph at the other end. In the middle sat a very imposing Michel with Claude at his right hand side.

Michel began, "Before we let the rest of the media in I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincerest condolences to the family. I knew Monique quite well through police dealings with the media over the years, and I liked her a lot. She was always trustworthy and very professional. I have signed the release papers and so has the coroner for the two bodies. You are now free to make burial arrangements for the remains. I am given to understand that Monique is not to be taken back to Australia but to be buried with her mother and father in her home town, Paris. So the remains have now been sent to the funeral home you requested. Jean nodded agreement. Claude slid a plastic bag over the table to Jean. Michel continued, "These items belonging to Monique are returned to you, not much I'm afraid, her mobile phone, damaged in the crash and her cigarette lighter found near the scene."

Jean said, "There must be some mistake, Monique gave up smoking over ten years ago."

"Perhaps she took it up again," Claude suggested.

"No way," interjected Margot, "I would know if she had."

Claude emptied out the bag on the table. The mobile phone was trashed, the screen smashed to smithereens, but it looked like Monique's. It was probably being held together by her hot pink phone cover.

Claude said, "This is her phone though?"

"Yes, I think so," said Jean sadly. Claude took back the Zippo lighter, this must belong to the taxi driver then. I shall return it to the family this afternoon.

"Do you have any questions before we let the media in?" asked Claude. "What about Mum's bag?" Amanda asked.

"There was nothing much left of it or the contents I'm afraid. The fire was quite intense. The phone and lighter must have been thrown clear in the explosion. They were found some metres distant from the vehicle."

Layla chipped in, "Do we know exactly how Monique died?"

"Yes, unfortunately the coroner's report says that despite being pinned in the back seat Monique seemed to sustain only minor injuries in the initial crash, the majority of her injuries and death were as a result of the fire and explosion."

"Do we know who was the last person to see Monique alive?" asked Mal.

Carter whispered in his ear, "That would be me."

Claude said, "That would probably be either the taxi driver or the bus driver, the bus was the only other vehicle in the tunnel at the time of the crash, he said the taxi driver was dead definitely, although he's isn't sure if Monique was still alive when he used his fire extinguisher to try and put out the flames."

"Was there any unusual damage to the taxi, do you know why it crashed?" asked Mal.

"There was black paint on the rear bumper but the taxi company said there's a black barrier at the taxi parking lot and it's not unusual for taxis to hit it when some of the less experienced drivers reverse park there."

"So the bus is the only other vehicle on CCTV footage?" Mal persisted.

"I must cut it short now and let the media in, the question of CCTV will be covered in the press conference, so if you agree, I will let in the rest of the media as well as the son and daughter of the taxi driver who I believe have been waiting outside."

Claude indicated to the gendarme at the double doors to open them so the waiting media in the adjoining auditorium could join the meeting.

Soon the room was filled, there was a concocney of noise as they shuffled for seats closer to the front table in the small auditorium.

Michel introduced himself and his son as the lead investigator. He then issued a warning by saying, "I would ask you to be cognizant that the family of the victims of this tragic accident are present. You will no doubt recognise some of them since they are involved in the media themselves. For that reason, I ask that your questions be couched with that in mind and that the feelings of both the families involved, be taken into account."

Claude then proceeded to tell the meeting all the details of the accident that his father had okayed to make public. He then opened it up to questions.

After the standard clarification questions one of the reporters from Paris asked, "What do the police think about the obvious similarities between this and Princess Di's accident."

Claude said, "Perhaps the commissioner would like to take that question as he was involved in that investigation, it was before my time."

Michel explained the similarities and differences, and finished with the odd fact that in both cases the CCTV cameras were not working at the time, but for different reasons.

An Australian journalist from a rival network then said, "The accident has resulted in quite a storm of vitriole in social media in Australia. Some people saying it was a form of karma because Mrs Cheval was one of the editors responsible for setting the paparazzi onto Dodi and Di which resulted in their deaths. What do the police say about that?"

Carter picked up a bitter tirade, it was coming from Jean, he was reading Jean's mind. Fucking media . . , I honestly don't see what my family sees in it . . . they turn on each other like a pack of wolves . . . bastards!

"I'm sorry, is that an appropriate question given the family presence I mentioned earlier. That is if it is a question at all. I shall answer it with the facts as I remember them. Yes Monique Cheval was the international editor for her newspaper, and was in Paris at the time of Princess Diana's death. And Yes, she was interviewed by me at the time. She admitted to signing the cheques for pictures taken at the crash site on behalf of her network. One of the paparazzi taken into custody at the scene had her contact details and admitted working under contract for her network many times before. He said she had agreed to purchase all his photographs including those of the dying Princess in the back seat. To be fair to Monique though, as far as I am aware she did not use those photos. Nor did her employers. In the end she was exonerated of any blame in the matter, so no, it was an unfortunate coincidence is all. It was not, as you put it, karma for some past wrongdoing. As far as we can determine it appears there were no other vehicles involved, and it is not clear why the taxi lost control. We do know that there was evidence of skid marks at the scene so the driver had attempted to stop however there was a leak in the brake cylinder, leading to oil being present in the rear brake system which could have caused the car to skid and swerve off under hard braking. The official verdict then is death by misadventure in both cases. Now, if that is all, I'd like to ask you to respect the privacy of both families as they come to grips with this tragic event. I bid you all bonjour.

As the event broke up Layla and Amanda went over to talk to Michel and Claude and to thank them for their forthrightness.

Layla looked back to see where Mal was only to see him talking to a young man and young woman in the corner of the room. They looked nervous and were shying away from any attention from the media. Mal talked to the young couple for a few minutes and then came over to join Layla and Amanda as they were saying farewell to the police. Michel again expressed his sorrow at the loss of Monique, and said how discussed he was at the vilification she had been receiving from some of the bloggers on the Daily Telegraph website. "Your mother was a lovely lady Amanda. She doesn't deserve this shit, if you'll excuse the French." As Mal joined them he overheard the last bit of the conversation and said, "Do you know who started this?"

"The character assassination you mean, no it's impossible to tell, an anonymous source and these days it's hard to track ISP information. They bounce all around the globe, it could have come from anywhere in Europe. Your Federal Police don't think it started in Australia though, so I'm assuming someone with an axe to grind in France or the UK. I don't think the Scandanavians give a shit.

"Sorry, but I really must go now, yet another meeting about these damn terrorists. Coming Claude?" They both left the room together.

"Who were those two you were talking to Mal?" Layla asked, "she's very pretty."

"You jealous?" As soon as he said it he knew he shouldn't have. He saw the horrified look on her face.

He whispered to her, "She's behind me isn't she?" He turned around and above the hubbub of the other media conversations he said, "Ah, Amanda. Something interesting actually, they are the family of the deceased taxi driver, his son and daughter. I told them the police had their Dad's cigarette lighter. You know what, his daughter told me her Dad never smoked in his life. Amanda, I want you to do something for me, will you go back to the police and say that you just found out that it was your Mum's lighter after all and could you have it please."

"Why would I do that?" Amanda asked. "We all know it isn't Monique's, so why would I say it was . , . especially to the police?"

"It's too complicated to explain now. You're just going to have to trust me. Do you trust me Amanda? Do you trust Carter's best friend, who loved him dearly," Mal played his Ace card.

Carter whispered in Amanda's ear, "Trust him Mum, I do!"

A physical shiver went through Amanda, they all witnessed it. She hugged Mal.

"I'm sorry Mal, for everything, for doubting you. I'll catch Michel before he leaves." She raced out of the room towards the car park.

Mal had a chill in the spine, was that Amanda saying that, or someone else, he thought, maybe Carter . . , No, I'm dreaming, he thought, but he wasn't.

Amanda returned triumphantly, Zippo lighter in hand, "I have it Mal, now what's this all about?" Her investigative juices were kicking in.

"I'll show you, but not here, at home, tomorrow. I've got to buy a gew things, how about we all meet at Margot's place if that's okay?"

Margot said, "Shit yeah, I'm intrigued, and I think Carter is too!"

"Don't start with the clairvoyance again Aunty Margot," said Amanda.

"Jealous, eh?" Margot said.

They all had a stress relieving laugh and went home in much higher spirits than they had been in, when they arrived at the police building that morning.

Christoph spent much of the night downloading the contents of Monique's phone to his laptop,

He accessed recent images the latest being a black car parked at a forty five degree angle with a damaged front fender.

Mal was the first to notice that the car had no number plates showing as the driver was opening the door,

Then Amanda said, "Look, he's in a black suit. Chris can you zoom in on the back of his neck?" Chris zoomed the computer image onto the back of the neck of the person central in the picture.

"See, I told you, a black car, Carter told me. I think he did anyway," Mal said.

"And look, look at his neck, it's white, and very thin. It's a stiff collar, It's a priest!" Layla said.

"Shit, that's really weird, Chris are there any other recent photos?" asked Amanda.

Just this one, I wasn't going to show you, I thought it might upset you, but it's a picture of Amelia, the night she died, I assume.

"Let me see, yes, that's Amelia, that night at Le Balajo. That's Collette, and that's Andre. Mum must have shown it to Peter, I guess."

"Who is Peter?" Layla asked.

"Wait a minute, Chris, can you zoom in on the guy, Andre's arm around Amelia, look Layla,, there's that ring again. Andre had a skull ring, the skull ring, I told you, there's something very wrong here."

"Will someone please tell me what the fuck is going on, who is Amelia? And who is Peter? And what's this Andre guy got to do with it?" Layla begged.

"I second the motion" Mal added.

They all started to talk at once, nobody could hear anything. Mal whacked the screwdriver he was still carrying on the table a few times and called out, "Order, order in the house, Margot you're the oldest and besides it's your house, you tell us what's going on please, the whole story please, Carter says it's very important."

"Thanks, but enough about the age please Mal. It all started in a land far away," Margot always did have a sense of the dramatic, perhaps that's why Mal and Layla liked her so much.

As Margot began to tell the story, Layla broke in, "Thank God, I thought I was going nuts, back in Sydney after we heard about Monique. Jean asked me to get her birth certificate to take to Paris for the funeral home out of a draw in their bedroom. He wasn't up to it, poor man, well I found the certificate alright and right under it was this!" She took a couple of pieces of old folded A4 paper out of her bag and layed it out on the table.

"It's adoption papers, for Carter, his real name is Peter Cheval, and his mother was someone called Amelia Cheval, and the father was listed as unknown," Amanda broke down in tears.

"Carter was adopted. No shit, pardon the French, he never told me," Mal said a little put out.

"That's because he never knew," Margot explained. "Shall I tell them or will you Amanda?"

Carter gave his Mum another big hug and forgave her.

Teacher appeared next to him, "Very good Carter Cheval, you progress, shall we leave them to rediscover the truth. You know the story and now in your words it's time to visit you're father."

Chapter 54 - The Media Conference.

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