Psychosis

Chapter 25- A French Inquisition

Isabel looked at her watch, before looking at the blonde woman in front of her who was looking at a picture of her daughter. The daughter that had gone missing. Isabel sighed and asked her questions in a tongue not native to her. A tongue that she had taught herself. This woman had been raised with this tongue, so it was as natural to her as breathing. As the woman rambled on in this tongue, Isabel tried to keep up with the translations in her head. It wasn't as easy as she thought it was going to be. At the Circian academy, they had taught Isabel many tongues, but sometimes she struggled to keep them separated in her mind. This was one of those times. But, she knew that a girl's life may depend on her translations. So she hung onto every word, translating every word that came out of the woman's mouth.

************************

Knock, knock. Ciara watched as JJ was the one to knock on the door, while Prentiss stood behind her, Ciara down at the bottom of the steps that led up to the house. She was looking around the house, trying to see what she could possibly profile on the house. It wasn't a bad house, but it definitely showed that the people who lived there didn't have a huge income. There were flowers in the yard, but they had all been destroyed by the hail. Ciara could tell, though, that they were lilies, which were a flower native to France. Some of the shingles had been ripped from the roof, and one of the windows was covered in a tarp, having been shattered by the hail. Finally, a blonde-haired woman came to answer the door, a confused look on her face when she saw the three agents.

"Hi, Mrs. André? I'm Agent Jareau from the FBI. May we come in for a moment?" JJ asked, and the woman looked even more confused.

"Je ne comprends pas. Je ne parle pas Anglais. [I don't understand. I don't speak English.]," she said, and JJ and Prentiss both sighed.

"Prentiss, do you know French?"

"Some, but not enough to carry on a conversation with this woman," Prentiss answered, and Ciara sighed. JJ and Prentiss really forgot? How could they forget something as important as this?

"So, what are we gonna do? We don't have a translator at the moment, and-" Ciara cut JJ off.

"Move."

"What?"

"I said move," Ciara said, and JJ and Prentiss moved, giving her access to the woman in the doorway. "Bonjour, Madame. Je suis Agent Byrne avec le FBI. La blonde est Agent Ja-reau, et la brune est Agent Pren-tiss. Pouvons-nous entrer? [Hello, Ma'am. I'm Agent Byrne with the FBI. The blonde is Agent Ja-reau, and the brunette is Agent Pren-tiss. Can we enter?]"

"Est-ce à propos de Jeannette? [Is it about Jeannette?]," the blonde woman asked.

"Oui," Ciara answered, and the woman stepped aside, allowing them inside. Ciara looked back at JJ and Prentiss, who both looked impressed.

"How is it that I forgot we have a polyglot on the team now?" JJ asked, and Ciara shrugged, going inside after Mrs. André. "Well, let it be said that I'm thankful I asked you to come along."

"Mrs. An-dré-" Ciara started, but she was cut off.

"S'il te plaît, appelle-moi Claudette. [Please, call me Claudette.]," the woman, Claudette, requested. Ciara nodded and made sure that JJ and Prentiss were coming with her before following Claudette into the living room. It was a plain room, but it was homey. Ciara could tell that this was a family who didn't have a lot, but was thankful for what they did have and did their best with what they had. They didn't ask for much, but they did know when to reach out for help if it was needed. Ciara continued to look around and saw that there were several pictures under the TV. Most of them had a dark-haired man that she assumed was Jeannette's father, but she also noticed that he disappeared in all of the pictures after Jeannette was a child. So, no fatherly presence? "Crêpes?"