Chapter Nine
At that moment, Girard got word from the laboratory. The substance that killed the groom was a distillation of the venom from the deadly blue krait, a snake native to Indonesia. A quick check of travelers from Indonesia showed two men who had been arrested in a rural part of France, southwest of Massy, attempting to burgle a sweet shop. When the police searched the men, they found a vial of thick, yellow, paste that was identified as an extremely fast acting poison when injected into the body.
The men suddenly remembered information about Le Diable when the cops told them they would be charged with the murders of the bride and groom. The men said, they’d met with Le Diable at a small restaurant in Chaville, a nearby town.
Girard and Fournier traveled by fast automobile toward the little town. Girard began to think and talk. Fournier took notes.
Girard said, "Where would I live if I were a mass murderer. Everyone, even a man who kills in quantity, needs a place to relax. He needs to tune up his garrote, sharpen his axe, and clean his semi-automatic pistol. He's not going to be social. He hates other people. We're looking for a single house set out in the middle of rural fields with no neighbors and little traffic. Look at the map. Find me a murderer’s house."
Chapter Ten
Le Diable didn't know that Veronique Valon wasn't helpless in the face of a criminal or without resources. She was the daughter, the granddaughter, the niece and the aunt of policemen. He didn't know that she'd served with her husband in Algiers, that she'd fought alongside her husband when bands of roving bandits attacked their compound. She'd killed five men, one with a knife. She sent a silent apology to her husband. She knew she'd have to use her body to defeat this master criminal, this defiler of women and murderer of men.
She glanced at the man in the back seat again. Her mind rejoiced. “I shall lead him carefully into position. I will control him like an puppeteer with a marionette.” She forced herself to be calm. “I must remember not to smile. I am to be terrified.”
Le Diable directed her to drive to a small house in a field. the land all around the house was empty of human habitation. The little house sat in complete isolation. The perfect place for a mass murderer to live.
Le Diable grabbed the back of her dress as she approached the door and held her. "This is my home. Very few people see it. No woman has ever seen it. You will go inside and take off your clothes. No tricks or I will kill you very slowly, and you will be conscious for all of it."
They walked into a bare room. Bars closed off the windows. Blinds kept anyone from looking inside. The only piece of furniture was a bed with a freshly laundered sheet and nothing else. She started taking off her clothes right next to the bed.
Veronique went over her inventory. The room held nothing unless she discovered something she hadn't seen yet. It offered no hope. He finger touched a long, thin piece of metal in a pocket in her dress, and her heart leaped in her chest. It hid very nicely in the palm of her hand. She set it down on her dress, already on the floor and folded the dress to hide it. It would work, but it required delicacy.
She glanced over her shoulder. She thought, “I must take control of the situation from that animal. I must do it in such a way that he doesn’t know it. Should I incapacitate this man with verbal abuse or lull him into carelessness. The second surely.” That meant she had to appear weak, helpless and terrified. She would have to do everything he asked. He would keep her alive longer if she did. She'd have to lead him slowly into the situation she had in mind.
She felt a shove in the back. She gave a shriek of surprise and terror as she fell onto the bed. He flipped her over on her back. She thought, "I need to set him up early." She made her voice tremble. "Oh no. Don't rape me. Not this way. My husband always takes me this way. You don't have the right to do it."
He acted just as she wanted. He yelled, "Fuck your husband. You'll have me now and like it." His hands dove between her legs and under her hips. She felt the hands start to spread her legs. She tried to keep them closed with just enough force to lure Le Diable into overpowering her. He lifted her up until her hips were a foot off the bed, and her legs spread out on either side. He said, "Shall we see what you taste like? I'll bet your husband never does this."
Veronique covered her pussy with her hands. "No. Don't kiss me there. Only fallen women do that. Don't."
Le Diable dropped her hips and captured her hands. He turned them around and slid them under her butt. He lifted her up again. She was in the same position as before except that her butt rested on her own hands.