The Ninth Victim – Excerpt 26 – Malcolm Marsh

The woman looked triumphant, this was obviously the culmination of several years work and planning, de Peysac like the eight girls before him would be picked clean by the boars. The woman Valjean decided was teetering on the verge of madness. But the reason still eluded him.

As a young woman she had been beaten and raped, but she had turned her life around and became a rich and successful woman, so why this? why now? it made no sense at all.

Valjean crept closer, they were stood on the opposite side of the boar pen. Bruno’s cousin, or so Valjean assumed was goading the boars with a stick trying to get them aroused. Bruno had lifted de Peysac on to the top of the logs that comprised their enclosure, de Peysac’s face was bloody where he had been beaten, his hands were tied behind his back and his ankles were tied together.

Valjean decided that it was time to intervene, before more harm came to de Peysac. He kept in the shadows and crept furtively around to the other side of the pen. He could see them but they could not see him.

‘Bruno, lift Monsieur de Peysac down carefully and place him on the floor, or I will put a bullet between your eyes, and have no doubts I will enjoy killing you.’ stated Vajean menacingly.

‘I don’t think that will be necessary, Bruno, the Inspector is going to hand me his weapon’; the words were accompanied by a prod in the back that could only come from a gun. Valjean realised too late that he had made a grave error of judgement in discounting the third car.

The voice of the man behind him sounded familiar, Valjean knew he had heard it before. ‘Your Commissioner was right Valjean, you are a very clever detective. In this instance a little too clever for your own good, the boars will eat well tonight, they will enjoy you!’