Frei had convinced me she didn't need a doctor. I was not happy with it, but she had gone into Panzer-Frei Mode, and I couldn't yet stop tanks with words

.

Right now, the rumble of the subway train moving on the tracks constantly echoed inside my head. I was getting an adrenaline down, and was feeling the beginning of a headache.

"You OK?" Asked my way too serious bodyguard. Like she wasn't the one who got hit everywhere.

"Yeah, yeah, don't worry, often happens after those kind of fights."

I could see her biting the insides of her cheek. She was still unaware of the stares she was getting from the other people in the subway compartment. They looked at her even more than before, after all, she was now a bruised kimono-dressed girl with a wooden sword.

She fidgeted on her seat, not saying something.

"Frei, what is it?"

She immediately responded, like she had been waiting for my authorization.

"What have you done to my father? He's an asshole, sure. But..."

"I told you already, I just spoke some truths into him."

She looked at me, irritated.

"What does that mean?"

I scratched my head.

"It's complicated."

That irritated her even more.

"I'm not an idiot, I've got a physics degree."

That surprised me. Not that she wasn't an idiot mind you.

"Really? Wow! You never told me. Where did you study?"

"Don't change the subject."

I pouted, it honestly interested me.

"Sias, don't think this face is gonna get you out of trouble."

"Wait? Unhappy face?"

She still looked angry, but blushed slightly.

"I forget you're not used to...well, you." She paused. "Yes, this face is definitely going to help you get what you want most of the time. Not this time though."

I pouted again.

"Tell me." She insisted. "How did you know so much about him? And about my mother? "

I sighed.

"I didn't, not really."

"You're not making any sense."

"No I'm not, I'm well aware... And it's not going to get better if I explain anything. That's why I'd rather shut up."

"You're not going to."

Well it didn't seem I had the choice.

"... It was a guess, Panzer-Frei."

She was pissed off now.

"Don't call me that. And stop lying to me."

I stared at her.

"I don't lie" I exclaimed too loudly. I got wrathful stares from the japanese commuters.

Frei didn't care.

"You can't guess things like that!" She almost shouted.

"Shhh... we're disturbing everyone..."

She looked around, finally realizing we weren't behaving as we should in japanese public transportation.

"Tell me the truth!" She whispered angrily.

"I am!" I answered in the same tone of voice.

"There is no way you are!"

This was getting tiring.

"You never talked about your mother. Still, I can say that all of this stupid duel idea, you did it to defend her."

That shut her up.

"How...?"

I continued, explaining my line of thoughts.

"How do I know? You tensed when he asked you about her. You only got really angry at him when he insulted her. Also, and this is the biggest clue, we may have met just a few weeks ago but I don't believe you're the kind of person who does all this for a personal vendetta. Conclusion: everything is linked to someone else, with your father's clue, easy to guess your mother. But you never spoke of her. Why? Maybe you're a bit scared of telling me something about her?

"I'm NOT sca..."

I interrupted her.

"Let me finish. I knew Shiwazaki-sensei from before. I knew his outlook on women. This thing he has against them isn't just because he's an asshole, it's personal. He got betrayed."

"My mother DID NOT betray him, he's the one..."

"Then he felt betrayed, all the same to him. He got hurt, badly, and like the big macho patriarch he is, he refused to bandage the wounds."

Frei tried to say something, but actually calmed down. She had a pensive look.

"Yes. That seems like him, true enough. Yet it doesn't explain how you know my mother is a lesbian, and how he has erectile... Even I didn't know about that."

"I took my chances. I saw how he reacted once, when students brought yuri mangas to the training ground. He was almost as pissed off as he was today."

She didn't seem convinced by my explanation.

"And about his erm... dysfunction ?" She didn't seem at ease speaking about her father's sex life. A pretty universal feeling to be honest.

"Well as his former student, I know enough about him to make this a rather easy assumption."

She looked at me quizzicaly.

I sighed.

"He's a drunk. Never drinks during his lessons, but often smells of alcohol before training. Add to this his relationship problems, his perfectionism and unbendable personnality, and his age, and you can conclude without much doubt that he's suffering from it."

"That's so farfetched... It's like you're playing Sherlock Holmes."

I laughed silently.

"Nah, nothing similar at all! Sherlock Holmes sees things no one else sees. I got all of this by talking and listening to things everyone already knows about. I'm not the one who thought he had a problem with lesbians and alcohol, it's just one of the numerous rumors his students have. I'm merely linking all those pieces of information together, and making a cohesive picture of the situation. I'm good at discerning good from bad information."

It didn't look like she was completely believing me, but at least she calmed down a bit.

"So it has nothing to do with a magic trick then? You told him things that you believed were true, and got what? Lucky?"

"In a way yes."

"What did you say to him to make him crumble like that at the end? What could you possibly have guessed that would push him down on his knees?"

I grimaced.

"I don't think it's ok for me to say."

"What?!" She shouted again.

Lucky for us we were going out at the next stop, the judging stares were getting unbearable. Making noise in public in Japan was extremely frowned upon.

"I told your father some truth he was fleeing from. Memories, feelings, that he's keeping inside until it kills him. I just opened the lid and let him smell how rotten it already was. I showed him how long he'd survive if he didn't do anything about it."

"Why can't you tell me though?"

I squirmed on my seat.

The train was stopping.

I got up, but Frei held my hand. It felt nice.

Shut up brain.

"Why?" Frei looked at me pleadingly.

"It is a magic trick Frei. I can't show the magic, it would ruin the trick. He needs to understand and act by himself. I gave him the tools, now he needs to decide if he'll use them or not. Telling wouldn't help anyone. Especially not you."

The doors opened.

"I don't understand." But even as she said that, she let my hand go and stepped out of the train.

I joined her.

"Is it gonna change things?" She asked her back turned towards me.

"Yes. Maybe in a good way, probably not." Not with how he reacted. How he left. Fled.

I could see her nod. We were slowly walking towards the main exit.

"Why can't I tell Hailey-sensei?" She finally asked.

"It'll make her sad. I would rather not make her remember unpleasant memories. Last time I did this, she was there to witness it, and it didn't go well." I answered truthfully.

She nodded again, and while climbing the subway station stairs, changed the subject.

"Don't you think my mother is disgusting? Leaving her husband for another woman." Her voice broke briefly.

I snorted.

"Please, people do what they want. I only wish it hadn't hurt your father so much. Once every so often, he can be nice, you can distinguish some remains of his true self. But I suppose it is this rare because he couldn't accept it."

She turned around. Looked at me.

Hey eyes were swollen.

"I apologize Sias-chan, you're not a liar. I'll believe you... But you shouldn't have meddled. I know you tried to help but you've done something really risky. Fighting a master swordsman while counting on mere guesses to win. If you were wrong about something, you'de be dead, and my father would be in prison. My job is to protect you and you just went and did that."

I felt a ting of guilt, she wasn't wrong.

"I know Frei, I know. I'm sorry. I knew it was a bad idea but letting you get hurt like this was something I just couldn't handle. I like you a lot you know." I touched her shoulder.

A timid smile appeared on her face.

"Let's get back to work then. I'll be your friend/bodyguard, and you'll go and try to get your life back together, like you wanted."

I smiled in return.

"Yeah, while trying to handle a crazy pervert ambushing me with dresses and shoes."

"There is a pervert following you?" She asked, suddenly on edge.

Ah yeah I forgot. She hadn't met this side of Fanny yet.

"Yeah, she even stalked me from Switzerland, touched my ass, watched me naked and everything."

Frei looked a bit confused now.

"What? Why didn't you say anything? ...Wait a minute...you're smirking... are you making fun of me?"

My grin got wider.

"Slightly. Fanny is a huge pervert."

"Fanny-chan? She's got a foul mouth, sure, but she's really sweet."

Haha, Fanny sweet? Fuck me. Ah shit can't say that anymore I forgot.

"I assure you. As my bodyguard I must tell you, my virginity is at stake. She is evil. She will corrupt my purity."

For whatever reason she blushed. Reaction explained by her next question, definitely a slip of the tongue : "You're a virgin?"

She closed her mouth and reddened even more.

"Well, technically I guess? In this body at least. Does it work like that?"

Her tomato cheeks were cute.

"Ermm..."

"You didn't seem that bothered by sex talk yesterday night."

"I was drunk, I barely remember anything..."

This was too fun.

"Really? So you don't remember asking me to take a bath together?"

"Sias-chan. Stop. Please. I do remember. I'm horrified."

"Horrified? At the thought of taking a bath with me? That's mean." I acted hurt.

She looked at me, annoyed. She knew perfectly well I was just teasing her.

She walked faster towards the subway's exit, and payed her ticked fare, leaving me in her dust.

"Hey! You're supposed to protect me!" I shouted as I was following her. Making a few people in the station turn around to watch me.

It was hard not to lose Frei in the crowd.

But before I could catch up, someone took my arm.

Shit. Really?

A tall occidental man in a long leather coat was holding me in a firm grip.

I began to panic and thought about different escape plans, but he immediately showed me a strange-looking badge, interrupting my thoughts.

"UNODC, M'am would you answer some of my questions?"

What the fuck. He felt like a cop, but I never heard of that organization.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"Sias-chan, is something wrong."

Frei had suddenly appeared besides me, the fakest smile ever pursing her lips.

The man had a brief grin. He was barely surprised by my friends presence, or her clothes for that matter of fact. He was smiling at something else.

"Sias? That's a rather... peculiar name... would you be related to miss Hailey Skröskind?"

How the fuck.

"I'm sorry but I don't know who you are."

"Oh of course." He finally let my hand go. I could see Frei hesitating to attack (Panzer-Freiiii). But she was still hurt from the previous fight. I made a sign for her to stay calm. Frei didn't move but she wasn't letting the stranger out of her sights.

He gave me his badge and a business card.

"Detective Kendrick, Hajimemashite."

I looked at them both carefully.

'Private detective M.Kendrick said the card. The badge was filled a lot of information: Detective Maxime Kendrick affiliated with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Bla bla bla, special division... bla anti-terrorism...anti-corruption... the list went on.' I read silently.

It also had the NATO and the UN sign on it.

An International detective? What the hell was that?

"Could I get it back? It takes months to get a new one from HQ."

HQ?

I looked at him more carefully. He was hiding his burly physique. My arm stinged where he had grabbed it. I wouldn't have guessed he was that strong if he hadn't stopped me.

He looked nice. He definitely wasn't. His eyes had seen death, and not only once. But he wasn't aggressive, and only seemed to want to talk.

"I could bring the police into this, but I'd rather not. Could we speak privately Miss Sias?"

"Can my friend come?"

He quickly eyed Frei out.

"Sure, if your rather strange bodyguard can be trusted, she 's free to come."

Frei almost snarled.

He was observant, that's for sure. He didn't even hesitate calling her my bodyguard.

A brief pause before I continue :

WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON NOW?

MY NORMAL LIFE WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?!

Alright, let's get it on now.

"Sure, you're paying us a nice tea then." I answered, with my best pokerface hiding my despair.

"Well. It seems pretty fair." He acquiesced.

We followed him from a safe distance. He was walking confidently, not even looking if we were still behind.

"Sias-chan? My ankle won't let me run away if we need to. Is this really smart?"

"Aha! I knew it. We're finding you a clinic after this new quest event."

My japanese-german friend grimaced.

"Sias... could you please take this seriously."

I sighed. I was sighing way too much these days.

"He's a pro. Out of our league. I'm sure if he wanted to kill me, I would be dead. He didn't need to give me his badge and everything. He took me completely by surprise. Which means he's really here to talk. And more info means we can prepare better, which means I'll be safer. So I'll take his offer."

"I don't like this. He could just be trying to kidnap you."

"Duly noted."

She frowned.

"I think I want to hit you."

"I knew my bodyguard wouldn't resist my superior personality. And mom who didn't believe me."

"I think I'm beginning to pity Hailey-sensei."

"Dont be mean now." I smiled at her.

She blushed.

Well, this new killer smile was seriously effective. I'd have to remember it.

Our new companion stopped in front of an old traditional bar, everything was written in kanjis and hiraganas.

"I hoped for a Starbucks honestly" I stated.

Detective Kendrick grunted in dissaproval.

"You asked for tea, not poison."

Well he definitely fitted the foul-mouthed detective stereotype.

I looked at the prices on the front door card.

"I didn't know detectives were payed that well."

He didn't reply, and simply entered the bar.

A gulf from the air inside gushed out, it was heavy with smoke and booze.

Frei stared at me with a "Let's not go in, please" look.

It didn't seem like the most secure place in Kyoto that's for sure.

I still stepped in. If I was still being followed or watched, like Frei had told me I was, I needed intel.

The bar was almost empty except some obvious regulars having a drink at the counter, looking like shadows in the dark and misty athmosphere.

Detective Kendrick brought us to a table in the back, closed off by room dividers.

He went there before then.

Someone came to take our orders, an old disheveled looking man. Our host talked with him in japanese, he was speaking well even though his accent was pretty bad.

They definitely knew each other.

He ordered a japanese whiskey.

I took a green tea and Frei a coffee.

He began by bringing out a mallet, not waiting for our orders to arrive.

He opened it in front of us.

Frei tensed noticably, but only documents were inside. He pulled out a few photos and put them face down on the table.

He pointed to Frei.

"You sure you can trust her? She could change her mind about her contract."

"I won't betray her." My friend answered with conviction.

I nodded. I believed her.

"Yup." He turned the pictures around.

Three bad quality images, most certainly from a security camera. Both my androgynous face and my mother could be seen on them.

"Almost two weeks ago, a potential terrorist attack occured in Narita airport. The perpetrators were two newly hired security guards. But the situation got defused without any innocent victims, because of the intervention, as reported by the other guards, of Hailey Skröskind and her son Sias Jourdin. A video clip showed this on youtube, as I'm certain you've seen by now."

Oh yeah the kid at the airport. I totally forgot. Also, I didn't do anything, my mother took care of them singlehandedly. Adding to her legends on the net I'm sure.

"What?" Exclaimed Frei surprised. She knew about the airport, I think, but not about the video, I had forgotten about it myself.

The detective continued, imperturbable.

"Miss Skröskind was interrogated in Bern yesterday, but her son was harder to find. Until she gave us her cooperation and told us where, and who to look for."

If she really told them, it meant they could be trusted. Relatively. I could feel Frei arriving at the same conclusion as she noticably calmed down.

"Your recent sex-change really slowed our search down, but here we are. I'll need your testimony on what occured in Narita airport last week. Depending on your answers I may have to bring you to the nearest police-station to be extradited back to Switzerland. You did flee from a crime-scene after all."

I cursed silently. I barely came back!

"Why the informal setting then?" Frei noted.

She was right. If I was a suspect, I should not have been questioned in a shady looking japanese bar by a badass-supposed-to-be-detective.

"Well, for reasons we don't know, and that is what's honestly bothering me the most, no official governemental investigation has been pursued. We have been asked informally by the airport's security team to investigate this. UNODC has quite a lot of power internationally, it's the reason why I was mobilised here. But my workplace is also a bureaucratic shithole. Pardon my language. It would take ages for us to get autorizations to involve japanese police."

He pulled out a cigarette and lit it. Adding to the already pugnant air around us.

"Let's cut to the chase, I don't really care about you and your mother getting involved in all this shit. I just wanna know why and how a potential terrorist attack has just been pulled under the rug."

"You're not a normal detective are you?" Asked Frei.

Yeah that much was obvious. His strength, his choice of words. I couldn't really tell where he was from though. His english was pretty accent-free.

"Nope. I'm the best detective." He grinned.

"Well mister Thebestdetective, what do you want me to say?"

"Call me Max please, it's an informal investigation after all."

We stopped talking when the server brought our drinks. After he left, and I warmed up my body with the warm tea, he continued talking.

"Who were those two men? They don't fit into the religious zealots or indoctrinated misfits category."

I thought about what to answer. I didn't like lying, and I was considering if it was actually worth telling this guy what was going on.

He looked capable enough, and could help us deal with our stalkers, and no, not the perverted types ones.

I decided to trust him.

"Assassins sent to kill me, that's who those two men were."

That seemed to shake him up a bit.

"Really? Mhh interesting, so the terrorist lead was just us seeing what we wanted to see then?"

Timid-Frei sipped her coffee quietly.

"Yup." I answered.

"So your mother didn't prevent an attack, but just helped you get out of there?"

"You don't seem to doubt me." I stated.

He hunched back in his seat.

"Nah, this whole story seemed too weird for terrorism. Makes way more sense this."

He said that like terrorist attacks where a daily occurence for him.

"So why were you being targeted." He asked.

"Family heirloom."

"Oh your grandfather's contract? People took that seriously? Shit."

He knew?

"You know about it?"

"Yeah, asked some contacts of mine when I researched you and your mother two days ago. I thought it was fake honestly. No way this could have been legal."

"It was."

"Now that makes me wonder who your grandfather was, that he could get this kind of crazy contract approved by French law."

My response was emotionless. "He's dead. Let's say it's all that matters."

"So who wanted to kill you? Shikami?"

"Shikami? Who's that?"

He cursed.

"Sorry, I was sure it was him so I said his name. Better you forget about it."

"Well, Frei here is pretty sure I'm being watched, not all the time, but way too much to believe I'm 100% safe. I would like to know anything that could help me prevent another hit on my head."

"This informs me you are not being targeted by the previous golddigger anymore?"

"No, we arrived at an arrangement. Could you tell me who Shikami is? Please" I tried my best pleading eyes.

It made him look at me uncomfortably.

"Shit girl. If I didn't know you were a man before, I would believe you just flirted with me, and my professionnalism would have gone right out of the window."

Uergh. Baiting forty years old wasn't the point of this.

"I'll tell you though. You deserve that much I suppose. Then you'll tell me who tried to kill you and hid the whole mess afterwards."

"Un échange de bons procédés." I said out loud.

"Sorry what?"

"I've got no idea how you would translate it." I honestly told him.

"Basically you give me some, I give you some." Frei intervened.

I looked at her astonished.

"You could speak French all this time?"

She stared at me, annoyed.

"I lived in Switzerland, they speak French there too, I know the basics and some expressions at least."

It looked like she wanted to say more, but went back to sipping her drink.

The detective coughed, put out the now cigarette butt in the ashtray and pulled out another.

"So wanna know about Shikami or not?"

I put my attention back on him. I knew I'd have to have a talk with Frei about this, I could sense some hidden tension growing in our relationship, but it would have to be later.

"Yes go on."

"Honestly it's more of a codename. Not much is known about him. Definitely one individual, really sneaky, going around doing things really old-school. Nothing passes through electronics, cash is sent hand to hand, with a clever way to not get caught. Thought to be a young japanese businessman, working in weapon's trade."

"Why would he be related to my case?"

He took a long gulp of his whiskey. Almost half of it dissapeared.

"The incident at the bar you went to, which led to your current physical state." He explained.

He knew about that too? Even though he was wrong about it being the reason of my physical state. No one knew what had happened there.

"What about it?"

"I got access to the drug components that were given to you."

"Really? How?" That was seriously impressive. I thought everything burned down with the medical cabinet and the lab.

"Nn, Nn" He moved his index finger left and right. "That's not part of the deal. Can't give out my sources after all. What you need to know is that Shikami is working in weapon's trade, he moves around a lot, is untracable, and specializes in biological warfare."

He closed in.

Frei clenched her hand on the wooden bokken hiding underneath the table.

I unseemingly took her hand. I didn't want her to do something rash.

Kendrick couldn't notice any of this, so he continued talking normally.

"What was in that glass should have killed you. Your mother apparently saw what it should have done to you... but she couldn't have known about this: this drug seems to have a particular trait, it only reacts to a specific gene mutation."

"Really?" I may have been mistaken. Maybe someone did know how I 'transformed'. Maybe that person was in front of me.

"I'll give you that info. For free. After you tell me what truly happened to you.

I clenched my teeth.

He had me. I needed to know this.

So I related to him everything I knew about Kakeshi Takehiro, and explained how I escaped two assassination attempts.

"Interesting. Takehiro Kakeshi eh." Detective Kendrick had listened to me silently the whole time. Only asking me to wait a bit whenever he wrote something down in his absurdly derelict notepad.

"I wouldn't exactly say interesting is the best word to describe my situation but sure. Now what about this drug is so special?"

He finished his beer.

"Wait. First off, I'm not really buying in this 'Kakeshi wants your heritage' stuff. I know the guy. He's an excentric untouchable asshole, sure. But he's quiet, doesn't like waves at all. Doesn't fit his MO."

"MO? He's not a serial killer." I corrected.

Maxime Kendrick gave me one long stare.

"So, as I was saying, it doesn't fit, not for heritage money."

I gulped, I got the meaning behind the stare. I let it go and answered him.

"Not the heritage, a specific, very desirable heirloom. That he had apparently owned at some point in time."

He nodded.

"Yeah, old possessions, that fits with that crazy magician wannabe...So what is it?"

"The object? No idea, don't really care, it's gone apparently. It was 'given' to me."

"You were given an item you know nothing about, and never saw?"

"Yup."

"That makes no sense."

"I know. That's the problem with crazy japanese psycho millionnaires who believe magic is real. They don't make any sense. Now, info, please."

He grumbled and wrote something down. For a moment I thought he wouldn't tell me.

But then he did.

"The drug, currently named Eve's Kiss, or DJP-EK152, is well-known now, it exists since like the 1980's or so. It's a pretty bad bio-weapon, and wasn't used much. It can only be used when ingested orally, which limits it's uses, it costs a shit-ton of money to produce, and it acts way too quickly and is non-contagious."

"Acts way too quickly?" I asked.

"Yes, I'm not an expert, but apparently, if you want a biological weapon, you either want it to be a slow-acting highly contagious airborne drug, or a slow-acting non-contagious contact or oral lethal poison."

"To either kill a crazy amount of people with only a little poison, or one person for sure. Why must that last one be slow though? Wouldn't it be better to kill your target fast so he wouldn't get an antidote?"

"It's so the assassin can get away with it." Frei unexpectedly answered.

The detective nodded.

"The young girl is right. Fast-acting poisons are usually just to send a message. Because they are messy. And this one sure is falling in that category."

I thought about it.

Grand-father wanted my death to be messy, a message. To whom?

"All right, I got poisoned by a really hipster drug. Yay me. Why am I alive then?"

"Well the drug specifically attack organisms with Y chromosomes."

What?

"It only works on men?" I translated the genetics speech.

"Yup, gives a bad headache to women. Doesn't pop their eyeballs out though."

"I don't understand."

"Well it's the feminists final solution I guess." He laughed by himself at his horrible joke.

I think I would've joined in if I wasn't so confused.

Frei tried to help, she didn't find this funny at all either. She put a hand on my shoulder and asked in my stead.

"But Sias only changed after that. And he should still be a man genetically now. Your info doesn't fit with what happened."

The detective grabbed his chin pensively.

"My info comes from UNODC Anti-bioattack scientists. They're pompous fucks. But really good pompous fucks. The drug that was given to Mr, sorry Miss Jourdin, is DJP-EK152. Her blood results are definite."

"But..." I couldn't speak. I could feel what was coming. But it was impossible. This gut-feeling had to be lying to me. The reason why I expected the DNA test I took in Switzerland to show me an XX result was coming. I knew.

He confirmed my doubts.

"It means one of two things. Either miss Jourdin was having a special, never seen before, blend of spontaneous sex change preceding her ingestion of Eve's Kiss, protecting her from the effect of the attacks. And I find this explanation... let's say statistically unlikely."

No. Things didn't happen out of thin air. That wasn't it.

Shut up instincts. I really want to believe in magic right now.

"Or." He continued. "Miss Jourdin was a woman all along, with a rather common hormone and gene anomaly, making her a perfectly normal looking man from the outside."

Fuck.

This was the simpler answer. And those were more often than not the right ones.

Truth.

I held my head down. This was a lot to swallow.

"But... what about the sex-change... or should I call it the physical remodeling then?" I tried.

"Well about that, it's only a theory, but one of the scientist at UNODC believes this drug could be responsible. It's pretty unlikely, but DJP-EK152's initial design could be medicine to cure a defectual X chromosome. If you want to know more about it, I could send you the researchers report. It's not confidential or anything, it'll be published next month."

Something didn't feel right. But I didn't want to know. Something else was creeping up the back of my mind.

And then it was clear. I made the link.

"Fuck." I said out loud.

Why didn't my father seem bothered by my appearance, by my sex-change?

Frei misunderstood.

"Come on. It's a lot to think about but it's not that bad. You're not having a genetic disease and dying in ten years. You're just a woman. A lot of people are women. I think they live through it pretty fine."

I smiled softly.

"Yeah. But that's not why I'm cursing."

I looked at the detective.

"Thank you for the tea. Could you leave us?"

He grinned. Showing yellowed teeth that you so often saw on heavy smokers.

"Sure. Call me if something else comes to mind. I'll do the same. I think you're in a deep mess, and not quite out of it. You're innocent, that's obvious. As a cop, I'll help you if I can."

Innocent. Hah. If only he knew. 

I made a mistake somewhere, my expression maybe, because he looked at me suspiciously for a split second.

"Thank you." I answered quickly.

He put his coat on and left the enclosed room we were in, without a look back or a word.

"Sias? What is it? It's not just the 'You're a woman, Luke' talk, is it?"

"No. Frei, my dad, he knew."

"What?"

"Yeah, my mother doesn't, she can't lie for shit, but he, he can. And he knew, it makes perfect sense. To his eyes, when I came back, it just meant his daughter got 'cured' from her genetic disease. So he wasn't surprised, he was just happy."

"You can't know that for sure."

"Oh, I will be sure. He wanted to tell me something before, I bet it's that. And remember, he's a renowned geneticist, do you seriously think he wouldn't be aware of a chromosomal anomaly in his own son? Or well, daughter?"

"Sias..." She didn't know what to say.

I wouldn't either. And it was supposed to be my job to know what to say to people.

I knew my dad.

To think he would actually betray my trust like that.

I was angry, furious. But I only wanted to confront him. Shout at him for a bit.

I could guess why he had done it, so it helped me understand. Not forgive though, not yet.

I had forgotten that he too, was a child of the Jourdin.