Jacqueline Proust

Jacqueline Proust (1970-2015) was one of the suspects in the murder investigations of editor-in-chief Annette Sommeur in Off With Their Heads (Case #2 of World Edition) and Greek finance minister Demetrios Metaxas in Murder's Cheap (Case #4 of World Edition). She also made an appearance in When Shadows Fall (Case #5 of World Edition). She was found roasted inside a brazen bull in The Impossible Dream (Case #6 of World Edition).

Profile
Jacqueline was a 45-year-old book author.

In her first appearance, she wore a red shirt and a leopard-patterned scarf with a fleur-de-lys brooch on it. She also wore a black office skirt and a black pantyhose. It was known that Jacqueline ate camembert, smoked, and read French philosophy.

In her second appearance, she wore a red and white polka-dot bra and had sunglasses atop her head. It was discovered that she knew Greek mythology, ate olives, and knew sailing.

Off With Their Heads
Jacqueline was first spoken to after Carmen Martinez and the player found an autographed cardboard cut-out of her she sent to the victim. She sent the cut-out to Annette as a gift, saying she was a creative inspiration to women everywhere. Jacqueline was shocked to hear that Annette was murdered, but wondered at the same time if the Manuscript she recently obtained was part of it.

Jacqueline was interrogated again after she called the player and Carmen to the Louvre. She had been looking for Annette's Manuscript as well, and considering it was nowhere to be found she was interrogated again on the spot. According to her, she heard that Annette bought the Manuscript and asked her if she could use it for researching her next book. However, Annette would not let her have any access to the book. Carmen pointed out how Jacqueline called Annette an inspiration before, and while she did say that she felt the victim was holding back her creative talents by not granting her access to the Manuscript.

Jacqueline was found to be innocent after the team incarcerated Constantin Perrier, however they needed her help in decrypting the Manuscript. From what she could tell, something was going to happen in Germany. She was not sure as what would happen or where in Germany it would be, but given more time with the book she could find out. Given how valuable as evidence the Manuscript is, Carmen would not allow her to keep it. They at least allowed her to make a copy of it, and she swore she would share her findings with them.

Murder's Cheap
Jacqueline found herself in trouble after Jack Archer and the player found a manuscript titled "The Murder of the Minister" and Armand Dupont determined it was written by her. She was grateful to the player for finding the manuscript, saying she got inspiration for it when she visited a nearby cave. Jack was curious how Jacqueline wrote the manuscript so fast before the victim's death, to which she replied saying she worked on it day and night for two whole weeks, then left in order to get on with the editing.

Jacqueline was interrogated again after the player and Jack found her plane ticket headed towards Barcelona, Spain. They managed arrived at the airport before Jacqueline left, and she explained she was headed to Spain for fresh inspiration. Jack made sure to inform her as a suspect in a murder investigation, she was not allowed to leave. However, Jacqueline stated that if she were really the killer, she would have escaped already thanks to her creative thinking while writing books. But Jack made it clear she was not allowed to leave until the murder investigation came to a close.

Despite her sudden last-minute flight, Jacqueline was found innocent of murder a second time after the team incarcerated Nikolaos Costas. However, Carmen Martinez and the player needed to speak with her regarding her fingerprints on a Promethian map. Jacqueline explained she was researching the Promethians for her next book, making the connection between the murders in London and Paris when she first found it. However, she did not tell the police about this because she thought they would not believe her. According to her information, the Promethians next move would be in Rome, Italy. Then said she would have no involvement in any events there due to her departing to Spain.

When Shadows Fall
Jacqueline called Carmen and the player saying she had “become a member” of the Promethians just when Chief Ripley and Carmen agreed that Brother Klaus was also the one responsible for blackmailing Johan Schnee and Enid Grimshaw to commit their respective murders. Jacqueline felt that something was going to happen in Spain, so she told Carmen to talk to Klaus in prison about the cult’s plan. Unfortunately, the team could not get anything out of Klaus as he had set himself on fire, saying that the plan had ended where it started.

The team called Jacqueline back which she replied that she knew what Klaus did and shockingly explained to the team that there was a detonator somewhere in Spain, with the Promethian leader, hence why the cult went to regroup there. Jacqueline told Carmen she knew where it was hidden when they come to Spain, not on the phone because they were already on to her. Jacqueline ended the call by saying she would wire money for the player's journey and she had to go because someone was coming. Chief Ripley ordered the player to travel to Spain in order to find Jacqueline and the detonator before it was too late.

Murder Details
Jacqueline was found roasted inside a brazen bull next to the Consuegra windmills in Spain. Coroner Angela Douglas deduced Jacqueline burnt to death when the metal bull she was in heated with the fire below it-- flagging the bronze bull as the murder weapon. Angela also found a strange brand on Jacqueline's skin (made in the same way as Pietro Agnelli's one in Italy), which could be read as "Traitor" in ancient Aramaic language. This proved the killer knew Aramaic.

Killer and motives
Jacqueline's killer and the leader of the Promethian Cult was European bank CEO Archibald Gilchrist.

The team, disguised as Promethian cult members, addressed Archibald as their great leader, to which the latter disapproved of due to him not being in costume. The banker had Papadakis lure Jacqueline to Park Güell in Barcelona with a postcard. When Jacqueline arrived, Archibald had ambushed her and dragged her out to the countryside, and he branded her with the word “traitor” written in Aramaic. As he saw Jacqueline as a traitor, he also felt that Prince Albert and Demetrios Metaxas should not have stood in the Promethians’ way, so thus he lit a fire under the bronze bull Jacqueline was placed in, burning her to death. Jack and the player then revealed themselves and took Archibald to trial.

Judge Adaku told Archibald that he would be lenient in his sentence if the latter revealed where to find the detonator. However, Archibald refused, saying that he acted to get rid of the victim and would control Europe with an iron fist. The Promethian leader was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Jacqueline Proust and the endangering the lives of thousands.

Trivia

 * Jacqueline is one of the suspects who appeared in two cases.

Case Appearances

 * Off With Their Heads (Case #2 of World Edition)
 * Murder's Cheap (Case #4 of World Edition)
 * When Shadows Fall (Case #5 of World Edition; during Europe in Crisis 5)
 * The Impossible Dream (Case #6 of World Edition)