Crêpe Murder: Book 4 (A Patisserie Mystery with Recipes) by Harper Lin Read Free Book Online

table shown on the left screen.

    “That’s camera two,” said Ralph.

    After a moment of fiddling, he retrieved the footage from the date and time Clémence requested.  

    “There he is,” said Clémence.

    Although the camera caught him from a high angle and his chin was cut off by the top of Sophie’s head, they were able to see his face clearly.

    Cyril smiled triumphantly. “ Bien .”  

    “Is he a criminal?” Ralph asked.

    “A kidnapper,” said Cyril. “I suspect he’s the guy who attempted to kidnap an heiress in Austria almost two years ago. A year later, he succeeded in kidnapping a Swiss heiress. This Juan guy certainly fits the description from these two other cases. We have a blurry picture of him from street surveillance in Zurich, but nobody ever managed to pin anything on him. He’s good. He’s probably working with a skilled team. Now that we have his picture, and proof of his connection with Sophie, plus witnesses, including you, Clémence, once we get this guy, we’ll cream him.”  

    “How are you going to catch him?” said Clémence. “Any clue where he is?”  

    “I’ll be working with top investigators from Austria and Switzerland, and together, we’ll find out this guy’s real identity. I’m confident we’ll get him.”  

    “Fine, but what about Sophie?” she asked. “What are they going to do with her? What about the previous victims? Were they okay?”  

    “They’re alive,” said Cyril. “The Swiss heiress had been beaten, and bruises were found on her body.”  

    “Geez.” Ralph shook his head. “When did all these kidnappings start happening?”

    “Like I said, two years ago. The first one with the Austria heiress didn’t get pulled off as planned. The girl was lucky. A bodyguard managed to scare off the two kidnappers, clipping one of them in the arm with a gun when they tried to kidnap her in her home, but the men escaped. I think they aimed too high. The girl was practically Austrian royalty, fantastically rich. For the second target, they aimed a wee lower. Just some rich real estate mogul’s daughter, but equally filthy rich. Juan was never caught however, and he got away with millions. I’m sure it’s the same guy. It can’t be a coincidence that both girls had a boyfriend who fit Juan’s description, and now there’s a third victim with the same story.”  

    “God.” Ralph stared at the image of Juan frozen on the screen.  

    Clémence imagined Sophie being beaten, or worse. The realization dawned on her that Juan had probably traveled with them two years ago because he was scooping out whether they were worth kidnapping, and left when he thought they weren’t.  

    It could’ve been her. Clémence could’ve easily been the one kidnapped for ransom.  

    “Wow.” Clémence sat down. Her head was dizzy with thoughts and fears of what could’ve been.  

    She’d never been so glad to have grown up middle-class. Just because Damour made them millionaires, wealth didn’t change her. They lived in bigger apartments, had nicer clothes and got to travel more, but Clémence was never ostentatious about her wealth. But had she given off a rich vibe when she met Juan? Perhaps. They had met in the bar of a 5-star hotel, and all the girls had been dressed up in their finest clothes.

    Emily’s family were wealthy enough, but they weren’t millionaires. After Juan found out how much she was worth, he probably moved on to Clémence. Then he dropped her too, after learning that her parents were bakers, not knowing that they founded the Damour patisseries.  

    “I want a screenshot of this man,” Cyril told Ralph.

    “Sure thing. I’ll send it to your email.”  

    “I’m off then.”  

    “Is there anything I can do?” asked Clémence.  

    “Not at the moment,” said Cyril. “Although can you also send me the contacts of your friend Emily that you promised. I’d want to talk to her.”  

    “Okay, but I want to help. I