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The Consequences of Flight (12944 words) by Tournevis
Chapters: 14/?
Fandom: Murdoch Mysteries
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: William Murdoch/James Pendrick
Characters: William Murdoch, James Pendrick, Julia Ogden, Inspector Brackenreid, Georges Crabtree, James Gillies, Dr. Roberts (Murdoch Mysteries), Thomas Edison, Auguste Lumière, Gustave Eiffel, Marcel Guillaume, Antoine Lumière, Alphonse Bertillon, Louis Lumière
Additional Tags: A host of OCs - Freeform, A host of historical figures, Diary/Journal, Fake Academic Essay, Historically Accurate, Bycicles
Series: Part 2 of The Dancing Suite
Summary:

The following is taken from a recently defended Master’s cognate in History entitled « The Consequences of Flight : The Rediscovered Diary of a Canadian Homosexual in the Late-Victorian Era. »

The Murdoch Diary, part 2:

Paris

21 and 22 May 1900

21 May, Monday .

James returned well past midnight last night. I help my piece. He was too drunk to reason with in any case, I could tell from his breath and demeanour. He still slept when I left for work this morning, but was gone when I returned just now. As worried as I am for this well-being, I must face the fact we many have bigger problems. Tragic ones.

Inspector Marcel Guillaume^1^ was at the Bank this morning. He was with several gentlemen of the Sûreté de Paris^2^, including a Commissaire, named François Duponnois^3^, according to the citybook, confirming what I overheard. They were touring the floors with several members of the Board. I know Guillaume recognized me. His expression was unmistakable. We worked closely last year back in Toronto^4^ and neither of us has changed much, except that he has cut his hair. From the few words I caught, this is an investigation about anomalous transactions, no doubt those I noticed. Guillaume looked straight at me, showed surprised for a second, then smiled. I dare not wonder what he concludes about my presence. We are living in Paris under aliases with forged documents. We are fugitives from the law. And now a member of the city police knows of me.

Heavenly Father, give me strength. I am going in search of James.

James is home. It is already nearly morning. I found him at __. He came back willingly, though he was too addled for me to explain our predicament, but he knows I must speak to him in the morning. I cannot sleep. St. Michael protect us^5^.

22 May, Tuesday .

Had to leave before we spoke.

No sign of Marcel Guillaume or any other police officer today, but we were given the half day off. A large portion of our ledgers have been take onto evidence. There are none to work on today. So I returned home just past noon, not long ago, and will write a clean copy of my own notes on the transactions for when Guillaume inevitably come knocking on our door. No doubt he will. Though I cannot hope much for our Future. At least, what is left of this Toronto Policeman will still serve the Law one last time.

James returns.

Marcel Guillaume (1872-1963), arguably France's most renown investigator and police officer. He became a commissaire of the Sûreté de Paris (see note 2 below) in 1913 and from 1928 began a career at divisional chief of the Judiciary police force in Paris, leading the Brigade criminelle from 1930 until his retirement in 1937. He is considered to have been one of the most successful police investigators in France's modern history, and his most famous cases involved organized crime. In 1945, he was part of the group investigating Adolf Hitler's suicide in Berlin. (see also note 4 below)
The Sûreté de Paris is the predecessor to today's Direction Régionale de Police Judiciaire de Paris, being the criminal investigative police of Paris. Founded in 1812, by the time the journal was written, it was headquartered at 36, Quai des Orfèvres. (see also 29 March, note 4)
François Victor Amédée Duponnois, in 1900, was a commissaire of the Sûreté de Paris, i.e. the Parisian judiciary police force, and Marcel Guillaume's father-in-law.
Toronto Police archives show that Marcel Guillaume was in Canada in March 1899 and collaborated with William Murdoch in the capture of Jacqueline Chiasson, a serial murderer who had escaped arrest and prosecution in France by taking an alias in Toronto. It is interesting to note that those same case files refer to Guillaume variably as an "Inspecteur" or a "Detective", as does Murdoch in this journal entry. However, French archives clearly show that he was only an ordinary police officer in 1899. In January 1900, he became an enquêteur-stagiaire (i.e. an investigator in training) at the De La Chapelle neighbourhood police station under commissioner Pontailler, and still filled the position at the date of this journal entry. He would only become an Inspecteur several years later. Nevertheless, it is a known fact that Guillaume's career advanced at a brisk pace, both because of his investigative genius and his connections to his father-in-law, who took him under his wing as it appears to be the case here.
Archangel Michael is the Catholic patron saint of police officers.