Free Midnight Train to Paris by Juliette Sobanet Page A

decided it would be fun to reenact the exact same crime with three other young, beautiful women. He always was obsessed with Isla.
    Whatever his twisted reasons are for doing what he did, I am sure it was him. I am sure it was Senator Williams.
    Now I just have to find out if Frédéric and Laurent are working with him too.
    Because if they are, I have to get the hell out of here fast .

CHAPTER 7

    December 24, 2012

    Évian-les-Bains, France
    I dial the number Samuel left me on his business card, but each unanswered ring only serves to make me feel more frantic.
    “You’ve reached the voicemail of Samuel Kelly. Leave a message.”
    “Samuel, it’s me,” I whisper into my cell phone, praying Frédéric and his father continue ranting a while longer downstairs to buy me more time. “You need to investigate a U.S. senator by the name of Parker Williams. I am one hundred percent certain he’s behind all of this, and I’ll explain more when you call me back. I’m emailing you a picture of him with Frédéric and Laurent Morel, taken only one day before Isla’s disappearance, at a charity gala. Obviously, this means you need to be investigating the Morels’ potential involvement in the abduction as well. Please call me as soon as you get this.”
    With shaky hands, I hang up the phone, then turn the ringer on vibrate. I don’t want the Morels to hear the ring when Samuel calls back. Next, I sign into my email, attach the Williams photo, and send the message off to Samuel.
    I’m sure he’ll call me back soon.
    He has to.
    Quickly, I scan through the emails I’ve missed from the past twenty-four hours.
    There are five unread messages from Natalie, my boss, and piles of unread emails from my other colleagues.
    Judging by the fact that Senator Williams was photographed in France only three days ago, and most definitely had something to do with my sister’s kidnapping, my original plans to expose and bust him back in D.C. have obviously been botched.
    Bracing myself for the possible loss of my job, I open Natalie’s first email, which she sent last night, while I was en route to France.
    Jillian,
    The third sister in your conspiracy theory did in fact show today. We took her statement on record, then set her up with Officer Reynolds for protection, as you requested. Everything with the girl checked out exactly as you said it would. I’m sorry I doubted you.
    One rather massive hitch: as we were taking Scarlet’s statement, Williams appeared in a live press conference from France, announcing his resignation from the Senate. Obviously, he was onto you and wanted to preemptively try to save his sorry ass.
    I know you did your homework on this story, but how could you have missed the fact that the senator left the country?
    Now that law enforcement has heard Scarlet’s testimony, Williams is wanted for murder. By the time officials made it to his family’s vacation home in the French Alps to take him into custody, he was already gone.
    He’s now officially MIA.
    His chief of staff, however, is already behind bars. They’re grilling the shit out of him to find out if he knows where Williams is hiding.
    Somehow the senator found out you were onto him, Chambord. There’s simply no other reason he would’ve resigned exactly when he did and fled the country. Is there anything you’re not telling me?
    On that note, what is going on with the whole “I have a sister I never told you about” debacle? Is she really missing? And who in the hell was that smoking hot man who came in here to deliver the news? I could tell by the way you two looked at each other that there’s a sizzling history there. When you get back, I want the full report on what goes down between you and the investigatory sex god.
    I’m serious Chambord—either you dish the dirty details, or you’re fired.
    —Natalie
    P.S. When are you coming back?
    In Natalie’s subsequent emails, she tells me that the search for Williams is still on and that news