CHAPITRE DEUX: The House of de Saint-Germain

THEODORE WAS SILENTLY SITTING IN FRONT of the Brigadier Major and Brigadier Chief of the Police Nationale of town. The Brigadier Major was in his early 50s while the Brigadier Chief was around his mid 40s. They may look older than him but they’re showing too much respect on him. He somehow finds it ridiculous, though.

Somehow, the Brigadier Chief couldn’t help but stare at him in confusion and awe. He knew that spies do disguises to blend in to their surroundings and they couldn’t be identified but somehow, he just find Theodore’s appearance ridiculous.

The guy looked like an actual farm boy who just came to the city for the first time albeit he kinda looked attractive wearing a leather jacket.

Inside his rubbish backpack, Theodore pulled out a white envelope and showed it to the Brigadier Major who gave him a nod.

Theodore Doyle chuckled. “I really appreciate that you sent a letter to me in Copponex. Merci.”

“For someone who is a spy that has so many gadgets up his sleeves, you still want me to send you letters,” the Brigadier Major couldn’t help but shook his head. “I could just e-mail you, you know? We’re not in the 19th Century, Doyle.”

“I made my vacation gadget-free for me to relax and stuff so…” Theodore shrugged his shoulder as he spoke.

“I know, I know.”

From a playful expression, the two became serious. “You’re already aware why you’re here, right?”

“This is going to be a lot of work, I’ll be going to admit that,” the Brigadier Chief pulled out a half-folded newspaper and put it at the center of the table for his two companions to see. The said newspaper showed the “Teenage Girls are missing!” in bold letters in Times New Roman font and it was released earlier. “Especially that the ones involved in this case didn’t even leave any single traces that we can’t even track them down no matter how hard we try. These girls were not actually normal girls. These girls came from wealthy families, daughters of business tycoons and politicians. They took these girls and these girls that they took just disappeared out of nowhere, gone like a bubble… as if these girls didn’t exist because they didn’t leave any traces.”

Theodore’s brows creased as he listened silently at the two police officials in front of him.

“We speculated that this could be done by the underworld, such as the mafia. But because we don’t have enough evidence, we couldn’t pin point anyone.”

“That’s the reason why I sent you a letter to summon you here. I apologized for cutting your long awaited vacation after your mission,” the Brigadier Major added, clasping his both hands on the table.

The Brigadier Chief looked at the former in silent. So this is the reason why he came here.

This case is indeed complicated for the Major himself to come here and summon one of the Police Intelligence and Spy.

“Not at all. It was actually okay,” Theodore responded as he faintly smiled that his two companions didn’t notice it. “This is quite exciting.”

“Right,” the Major muttered. “As I said, this is the main reason why I summoned you here, Doyle,” he, then, put his index finger on top of the newspaper, pointing the main article in the front page. “I don’t want to see anymore panics inside this town because of this. We have to solve this case as soon as possible. Dead or alive, we have to save the kids and catch the criminals behind this.”

“I beg your pardon, sir but how are we supposed to do that? We don’t have any traces to track from them and even if we use our advance technology and some connections, so to speak, it’s really impossible.”

“That’s why I’ll give this mission to you too, Doyle,” in a serious tone, Brigadier Major said. “I want you to locate the head behind this case and catch them as soon as possible.”

Theodore nodded.

“But before I’ll dispatch you, please do change anything on you, especially your hairstyle.”

Theodore caressed his perm, slightly blond hair and spoke. “My hair? But I actually changed it just yesterday before going here. I thought this will be going to be my disguise for the next mission. Man, this hairstyle is quite pricey.”

“Let me guess, you actually based that hairstyle on a cartoon character.”

Theodore grinned. “I heard teenage girls like this certain dude in an anime show or something and he’s around social media so maybe I could blend in with these kids.”

Right. As a spy, of course, Theodore always changed his hairstyle and his wardrobe to blend to the surrounding of his mission. No one knows how he actually looked like.

He could be a normal vendor, a doctor, a rockstar, an artist or anything that he could blend in his surroundings as he discreetly spies anyone.

He’s like a chameleon.

And in the spy code: Don’t reveal your real name.

Of course, the name Theodore Doyle is not actually his real name.

The Brigadier Chief just stared at him in awe while the Brigadier Major’s stare was actually burning holes on Theodore’s face. “I wonder how old Theodore is. He looked like a goofball rather than a spy whom the Major respects the most.”

“The surrounding you might in in this next mission is not the normal surrounding you used to. In this surrounding I’ll be sending you, you’ll not going to act like normal discreet spy you usually do,” the Major, then, pulled a folder from his desk and as he put it on the table. He opened it, showing a picture of a girl. The girl has a long, brown hair with big curls at the end. She may be looked innocent but she’s wearing a cold expression on her face.

“I analyzed the situation and most likely, the next target of this kidnapping syndicate will be the daughter of Monsieur de Saint-Germain, Mademoiselle Claudette de Saint-Germain.”

The Brigadier Major’s gaze settled on Theodore once again. “I’m going to send you there as the House of de Saint-Germain’s new butler.”

“You must be the new butler that Monsieur de Saint-Germain is talking about.”

“Yes, Madame.”

The Chef de Chambre or the head maid nodded as she signaled the maids to open the double doors wide with three claps.

“Come in,” she, then, led him the way inside the manor.

Theodore silently observed the manor’s surroundings. He identified the gorgeous paintings around the manor, the furniture and even the huge golden chandelier on the ceiling, illuminating the whole place. His attention settled on the girl who’s standing on the first case of the grand stairs just at the center of the manor. She’s wearing a Color Pop Collarless Shirt Dress from Louis Vuitton. Her hair, like what he saw on the photo, was long and brown with big curls at the end. Her bangs were also fixed in place. She actually looked like a doll with her rosy cheeks and fair complexion. But albeit she looked so lovely, she’s wearing a blank expression on her face. “Who are you?”

As if it was a cue, Theodore put his hand on his chest and bowed at her. “Bonjour, Mademoiselle, I am Theodore Doyle, your new butler at your service.”