"30 missed calls? That's odd..." Ransom looked over at Antoinette with a frown as they walked next to each other down the airport halls. They were back home, it was 11 am already. It was a sunny day but a few too many clouds but the sun was out shining so it couldn't categorize as a cloudy day. "Does my family forget we were on a plane? jeez..."
"I have a lot too..." Antoinette spoke, the same intriguing tone in her voice. Her phone lit up with a call from Meg "Hello?" She picked it up right away
"Anne? Finally you're home!" Her voice sounded strained, teary. A wide range of possibilities made Antoinette's heart clench. 'This could be bad' She thought "Something horrible h-happened"
Antoinette stopped in her tracks when Meg started crying, making a concerned Ransom stop too. He puzzled her with his eyes, waiting for a response. "Meg? Megan, talk to me. What's wrong?"
"Grandpa's dead"
— — —
"You okay now?" Ransom asked, sitting down next to a shocked and heartbroken Antoinette who was wrapped in a blanket a held a cup of chamomile tea with shaky hands. When Meg told her, she couldn't move. Ransom was extremely concerned about her state of shock, trying to get her to speak, only to get a sob out. He ended up finding out from a call his mom gave him.
"I don't know..." Antoinette whined, looking up at him with puffy eyes. "Why aren't you so... about it" Without finding the words but her expression telling everything, Ransom understood.
"I just... I don't know. Suicide? That wasn't my grandpa. I always thought he would go out in one of the craziest ways ever but... It is so surreal. I'm not convinced" Ransom rambled on. He was in shock, of course. But just like Antoinette had a gut something might happen, he had the gut it just wasn't suicide.
"Why are you dressed all up like that anyways?" Antoinette sniffed, clearing her throat and sitting right up, starting to gain back her composure.
"The funeral is in half an hour. I wanted you to go but... I was out voted for you and Marta to attend. I'm sorry baby" Ransom kissed her temple "I'll be back soon, okay?
Antoinette found herself in the Thrombey manor instead of the funeral, where she thought it was only fair she should attend "How you holding up?" Fran asked, coming up behind Antoinette, who was concentrated more on her cooking rather than her own emotions. "You and Marta must have taken it harder than I did. Unless you were too distracted with Hugh on that matter..."
Fran hated their relationship more than she hated Ransom himself. Antoinette was a very calm person overall but that just set her off. It did so most of the time. "Can you just leave the two of us alone? Fran, I know how much you dislike Ransom—"
"Dislike him? Please, I despise him. He's toxic. I thought you knew better" Fran looked at her up and down, making Antoinette's blood boil
"Don't you dare look at me like that. And I do know better because he's changed. He's better and all that because of me" Antoinette snapped back, her accent getting thicker than petroleum
"Oh he's changed? I can't wait for that to come back at you and bite you in the ass, you'll regret—"
While the two ladies fought, someone took it as the perfect opportunity to walk down the stairs as silently as they could. The noise alerted Fran, who silenced herself and Antoinette "This isn't over. I'll go check that out" Fran was the woman in this murder mystery who believed herself to be too brave and proved to be at wrong place, at the wrong time.
The next day, Antoinette sat in Harlan's main living room, the one with all the knives. In the same chair everyone had sat, including Ransom "I don't even know why we're interviewing this one, she wasn't even here" One of the officers, clearly the least professional of them, said.
"Let her speak. Antoinette Gauthier; You assisted Marta Cabrera on her medical duties and cooked as well. Am I right?" The other officer asked. Antoinette nodded along all of this. "Can you recount us the events of the night?"
"Unfortunately I couldn't be here for the evening due to an unexpected event on the airport back in Italy. Before we left, we facetimed Harlan around 5 pm here. It was a 12h flight, we left at almost 11 pm and landed here at 11 am and few minutes as we got off the plane Megan Thrombey broke the news to me and my boyfriend"
"Your boyfriend Hugh Drysdale, correct?" The lieutenant asked, receiving a nod back from her.
"If I may interject" A voice with a thick southern aspect came through from the back of the room "Benoit Blanc, nice to meet you miss Gauthier"
"Likewise" Antoinette commented quietly. Lately she had been feeling disoriented, her calm and playful self was exchanged for a more anxious and hyper aware one.
"So tell me, how did your boyfriend take the news?" Blanc asked, sitting down on a chair closer to the scene.
"Well... I could notice he was a tad heartbroken but... he was more intrigued than anything else. He kept on repeating the whole way home that his grandpa wasn't like that." She took a deep breath, reliving the whole event. "Of course, I agreed but he keeps on insisting. I don't do so since I just want the man to rest in peace after all that he has done for me"
"I understand" Blanc nodded. "Thank you for your time, Miss Gauthier" He said, nodding Antoinette to leave. As she walked out the door, she heard one of the officers mutter "We weren't done with her..."
Antoinette walked the whole house looking for Ransom "What you thinking about?" She approached him carefully, observing how he just stared at the window, his hand in his chin; he always did that under deep thought.
"I'm trying to put in the pieces..." Ransom muttered "I mean, I already hired that investigator for it but I'm not completely settled..."
"Wait— you hired Benoit Blanc?" Antoinette whispered in return, her head leaning to the side
"Yeah... I was sure the police weren't going to do the job correctly. I told him it was me but asked for confidentiality"
"Babe, I think you should just rest the case" Antoinette sat down in his bed, looking at him with concerned but tired eyes "The way he died is too weird for it to be murder and let's not mention the position. You should just—"
"Don't tell me what to do." He snapped, his head whipping around to give her an icy look. Ransom instantly regret it when he saw the confusion and pain in Antoinette's eyes. "This is my family. Not yours."
Those words stung, it was unexpected for him to make a comment like that "R-right. I'm sorry. I better get going" Antoinette said quietly, slipping out of the room, maybe considering if Fran was right or not about Hugh.
— — —
A/N: no song to accompany this chapter! I felt it was too serious for me to add anything. We're finally getting into what happens in the movie; i'm excited to give it my own twist to everything. Hope you enjoyed!
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polaroid. (h. ransom drysdale) |UNDER REVISION|
Fanfiction" You are the opera, always on time and in tune and I am the color of boom " Antoinette Gauthier was taken in for the job at Harlan Thrombey's manor as a part time cook and assistant to Marta Cabrera on her nurse duties, as well to give Harlan so...
