Twelve years earlier…

“You’re late!”
A young woman got up from behind her desk. She wore a police uniform. Her name was Francine du Monde a 28 years old officer of the police headquarters in Paris. She was about one meter seventy long and a little on the thin side. She has worked as a police officer since she graduated. She started as a First year Peace Guard, but has been promoted to Major lately. Her long brown hair waved a little while she stood up.
“I’m sorry Francine. Bad traffic, you know. I hate all those traffic jams in this city.”
“Come on Pierre, it isn’t that bad.”
“Maybe for you, but not everyone gets up at 5 AM. Besides, summer season is near and I guess some people want to go before all hell breaks loose.”
Pierre Ronald is a police brigadier of 41 years old. He is about one meter eighty. He is nicely shaven apart from a small mustache. He is not fat, but it looks like he could not stay away from the croissants.
“What have we got for today?”
Francine walked to the fax machine to pick up the latest status report.
“Not very much. A robbery on Le Champs Elysées as always, two stolen cars and a neighbor fight in Drancy, the usual stuff.”
“That sound like this will be a short day.” Pierre took his seat and stretched himself. “I hoped so already. I promised my kids to take them to a soccer match this week.”
Only just after he said that the phone rang. Francine picked up the phone and answered.
“Hello, this is Francine du Monde.” After a few ‘uhu’s and nods her face became more serious. Pierre became curious. She wrote down an address and finished the conversation.
“What’s the matter?” he asked after she hung up the phone. “Seeing that look on your face tells me there is trouble.”
“You’re right, there is,” she replied. “The emergency center called. Some woman saw a toddler wandering down the street without any parent around. When she tried to get near she saw a ‘horrible animal’, as she described it, grabbing the toddler. They disappeared into the woods.”
“That’s strange…”
“It looks like it won’t be such a short day after all, right Pierre,” Francine said teasing to Pierre. He sighed.
“Well let’s get started right away. I want to keep my promise towards my kids.”

They drove to the address Francine wrote down. Pierre wondered.
“Who saw this toddler?” he asked.
“Her name is Marie Luzac. She lives in the district Villiers-sur-Marne and only a few blocks from Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée. She saw the toddler a while she was taking a walk. “
“How old is she? Is she married? “
“Don’t you already have a nice wife and kids?” Francine teased? Pierre sighed.
“You know I didn’t mean that. I love Cherine. We had our fights but not anything out of the ordinary. We’re happy together and I don’t even want to think about a life without her.”
“Speaking of her,” Francine said. “How is she? Last time I saw her she seemed a bit ill.”
“Oh, that. She just had a cold. She’s fine right now. Maybe you should visit us next week, seeing her healthy and all.”
“I would love that. Would you care if I join you for dinner too? I love the dishes that your wife makes.”
“Sure why not? I will tell Cherine.”

They arrived at Mrs. Luzac’s house. Pierre rang the door. The door opened a little and they saw a woman peeking through the opening. She seemed a little bit scared and stressed.
“Who are you?” she asked.
“Hello. Mrs. Luzac, I presume?” Pierre asked.
“Yes, I’m Mrs. Luzac.”
“We are detectives from the Paris police department. We would like to ask you some questions about incident you witnessed. Would you care to let us in?”
“Yes, of course, come in.” They followed her into the living room and sat down. Pierre looked at her. She was a tall woman. She had long blond hair and looked like she was about 25 years old.
After a short silence Pierre started the conversation: “A nice house you have. Do you live here alone?” Francine gave him a glance. He just shrugged. Mrs. Luzac didn’t notice.
“No I live here with my husband. He is at work right now. He is a researcher at a University near here.”
“Do you have any children?” Francine asked.
“No, we don’t have children yet but we’re really thinking about having a baby in the next couple of years. “
After a little more talking, Mrs. Luzac relaxed a bit. Francine thought this would be a proper moment to talk about the issue.
“So, Mrs. Luzac,” Francine started, but she interrupted her.
“Please, call me Marie”
“Very well. So, Marie, where did you see this toddler? We heard you were having a walk in the area.”
“I was walking at Avenue du Bois Saint-Martin, a couple of streets away. I was heading home, because it looked like it would be raining in a few minutes. I saw the toddler walking on the sidewalk.”
“How late did you see this toddler?” Pierre asked.
“This morning at around seven o’clock. I like to take a walk in the morning. That helps me to wake up fully.”
“Did you know that coffee helps a lot too?” Pierre stated in a joking way.
Francine shook her head and asked: “Was this toddler a boy or a girl?”
“It was a little boy. He looked like he was only one year old. He could barely walk.” Marie answered. Pierre wrote down all information while his colleague asked Marie about the details.
“What kind of animal did you see that grabbed this child?”
“I don’t know for sure. It looked like some sort of dog, but it was a very large one. It had grey hair and a fluffy tail. It didn’t have any trouble with dragging the kid along. This may be sound crazy but it even seemed like he’s done this many times, because it was in such a fluent motion. The strange thing is that the toddler didn’t even seem to struggle when this beast grabbed him.”
Pierre and Francine thanked Marie for her supportive answers and left.

“From her description I begin to think it was a wolf that grabbed the child,” Francine said. “But I highly doubt that, since there aren’t any wolves around here, are there?”
“Well,” Pierre answered, “I read an article about an increasing wolf population that threatened the goose. The increase was supposed to be halted by hunting them down until the population stabilized. Maybe they came to areas where they wouldn’t be hunted down. I don’t think anyone would hunt them around here.”
“Let’s find out. I hope that child is alright.”
“We should check the crime scene for evidence. I think we should bring a few search dogs too. They may find out which way that wolf - or whatever it was - went.”
Francine made some calls to the police station, while they drove towards the crime scene.