Casebook 3: War with Russia - 3.2[index]

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“How cute!” said Maud and went over to pet him. The monkey jumped down onto the floor, reached into his waistcoat, pulled out an envelope and held it out to Maud as she approached.

“Whatever have you got there?” she cooed, smiling down at him. She took the note, caught her breath and turned to look at me with bewildered eyes. Without saying a word, she gave it to me. My name was on the envelope - so I opened it. All the while the monkey stared at me intently with a grim face, as if waiting to register my acknowledgment.

There was a note:

War with Russia, 10 Rue du Pompiconche, 6pm.

The monkey nodded curtly, stripped off his waistcoat to reveal a curious little satchel, and deftly pirouetted into mid-air, landing neatly on the railings once again, before leaping recklessly off the edge of the tower. Maud screamed, and a few of the other tourists gasped in shock.

The monkey fell for a while, before his parachute opened, and he drifted away across the Paris skyline, staring back at me unblinkingly. I watched for a long time as he floated off into the distance. What manner of evil had already occurred?