Conversation · Kim Kitsuragi

"You mean the rat-faced one?"

"Yes, well." The lieutenant thinks for a moment. "He did look a bit like a rat, you're right. Do you think those prints belong to him?"

"Probably not."

"Hmm, maybe you're right and it's someone else... although I doubt it."

"Yes."

"I could still be wrong, but... I'm probably not."

"A woman or a kid?"

"Could be a woman?"

"Okay. How do you know?"

He knows it's hard to discern sex from a person's gait.

"I don't."

"Understood. Anything else?"

"I'm just saying random things while looking at holes in the mud, I have no idea where any of this is coming from."

"That's okay," he nods, "go on."

"I just do."

"Could be a kid?"

"I don't think there's any way to be sure."

(Point.) "An aberration. One sole is smoother than the other."

"Interesting -- let's name it the Odd-Sole."

Oh, this one's easy. Way too easy. It's a driver.

"A driver would wear down their right shoe before the left -- the accelerator is on the right. And remember that abandoned lorry cabin we found?"

"With a piece of sandpaper glued to the throttle..." The lieutenant adjusts his glasses as his eyes light up with excitement.

"Which means that the missing lady driver was also present at the lynching? That's it, she's the odd-sole!"

"She's also the one running the drug trade... Interesting."

"Now we know who's the missing eighth person at the lynching. Do you think that Hardie and his boys could also be involved in the drug operation?"

"Those jerks? Definitely."

"We should see what Titus Hardie has got to say on the matter -- this might throw them off, work in our advantage..." He writes something down into his little notebook. "So, what else?"

"I think the entire Union is involved. Maybe even all of Martinaise..." (Look around suspiciously.)

"We should start with Titus Hardie, see what he's got to say on the matter -- this might throw them off, work in our advantage..." He writes something down into his little notebook. "So, what else?"

"Not necessarily. The lady driver could have kept the drug trade a secret."

"You're right. But we should still go and see what Titus Hardie has got to say on the matter -- this might throw them off, work in our advantage..." He writes something down into his little notebook. "So, what else?"

"This would fit what Joyce told us, but I don't want to make any assumptions."

"Understood. We should still go and see what Titus Hardie has got to say on the matter -- this might throw them off, work in our advantage..." He writes something down into his little notebook. "So, what else?"

"We've identified one of the footprints, but there are still seven to go..." He writes something in his little blue notebook.

"There's no denying it. Ruby really is running a complex operation out of her lorry."

"She is. And now we have concrete evidence binding everything together. We should ask Titus about this."

"Women..." (Shake your head.) "Always deceitful."

"Yes, well..." He quickly disregards your statement as another one of your outbursts.

"First the drug smuggling, now this... How deep does this rabbit hole go?"

"A driver would wear down their right shoe before the left -- the accelerator is on the right."

"So maybe one of them wasn't a dockworker but a driver?" His eyes narrow. "That traffic jam in front of the harbour gates -- I wonder if it's lasted as long as the strike?"

Check out the big brains on Harrier Du Bois!

The joy dissipates down your spinal column like a grounding effect. Glorious intellect at work!

"Unless they were a machine worker, or a drummer I guess."

"Yes... a drummer. I don't know about a drummer. Seems tangential. However."

"We should keep our eyes open around the traffic jam, see whether anyone strikes out as a potential suspect. Seems prudent, no?"

"Yes. Prudent."

"Mhm." The lieutenant writes the information down in his notebook, then reverts to the tracks in the mud.

You and him are on the same page now -- about The Law and being it. This has affected your relationship positively.

"I'm not sure. We don't want to attract too much attention."

"You're right. Let's keep a low profile." The lieutenant writes something down in his notebook, then reverts to the tracks in the mud.

"Case solved."

"The case is not solved," he says without a speck of laughter. "However."

I have a name and it's god damn Raphaël, how many times do I have to say it?!

Never again, Mr. Costeau. Everyone knows what your name is -- Raphaël A. Costeau. From here on it's what they will call you.

"I just blew this shit right open."

"Wide open," he says without a speck of laughter. "The expression is blew the shit wide open."

Beneath the mirthless exterior the lieutenant is amused. Although he does not actually think you blew it wide open.

"Behold my brain the golden throne of my consciousness. In here I am seated. Shackled. From here I police the land."

"Yes, you are after all, The Law. We are the law of the land."