Fracas Noir – Susanne Waldau – te Brake ~ for better or worse

I live in a small, cramped apartment on the Oudezijds Achterburgwal. It’s in the heart of Amsterdam and, moreover, the infamous Red-Light District. It’s a sublet, which suits me fine, leaving little to no trace of my name or person. I rarely venture out, ordering my groceries from a local shop. The owner knows me [...]

The room is empty, as I find no sign of either child or grandmother. Most of the belongings are gone too with the exception of the mattress and a few tins of food. I am dressed in a long skirt and a loose t-shirt. My rings are gone, including my wedding band, and soon I [...]

The Man is gone, and I realize this is my only opportunity for escape. I am not sure how long he will be away, but after a short call the TV is on. I can’t see anything as the curtains are closed. But I see this as my blessing. Although my legs are bleeding and [...]

“Justine, what’s your business here?’ “What do you mean? I already told you.” “Wrong answer.” He administers another cut, a few millimetres apart from the previous ones, and pulls away the skin with the knife, like a peel from an apple. Once more she cries out in pain. “I met someone…a man, who was involved.” [...]

Frederic Berthelot paces back and forward in his room at Place Louis Lépineon on Ile de la Cité. Roux has already seized his chance to blow new life into the investigation. He couldn’t know, of course the shocking truth behind the grim murders. It all points to a serial killer, and the DNA evidence that [...]

Mr. Nemo makes a sharp left turn and, as he hears the familiar sound of gravel, he knows he is on home soil. Home is perhaps not the appropriate word, because Mr. Nemo knows no such thing. He is, after all, a vagabond without a past, a soul without a sanctuary. His mission is to [...]

Two detectives arrive at the scene of 160 Rue de l’Université. They are let in by one of its residents who also opens the door to the communal cellar. With a search warrant already having been issued, they don’t need to wait for someone with keys to open up the brown door. The detectives descend [...]

Madame Douleur realises only moments later that the letter is gone together with the CD. “Merde!” She calls for Marat to run after the woman, but she has already vanished, absorbed into the street that now stands empty but for the few exceptions of passing vehicles and a trickle of tourists coming out of the [...]

I call Michelle, who I spoke to only days earlier. She tells me the studio of Madame Douleur can be found on 9 Rue Chaptal, which is on the other side of town, not far from Boulevard de Clichy. It’s a quiet neighbourhood I enter half an hour later. It’s already well past three o’clock, [...]

The operator, a middle age woman by the name of Madeleine Royale, sends a dispatch over to 160 Rue de l’Université. The call goes out over the police radio system TETRAPOL, and as soon as the address is given, a notification is sent to Frederic Berthelot, the Head of the French National Police. He must [...]