La Proie et l'ombre

La Proie et l'ombre (The Prey and the Shadow) is the twelfth book from Yoko Tsuno comic book series written by Roger Leloup and published in 1982. (ISBN 2-8001-0908-4)

Story

While working on a report in Scotland, Yoko and Pol literally run into Cecilia, a disturbed young woman who is held like a prisoner by her uncle and also stepfather, Sir William. The man invites Yoko and Pol to his castle. Once there, Yoko discovers a ploy laid by Sir William to kill Cecilia and thus inherit her fortune. With the help of a look-alike named Margaret and an unscrupulous doctor, Cecilia is meant to lose her sanity, both herself and to the eyes of outsiders. Cecilia's mother, Lady Mary, was a beautiful but mentally unstable woman who died when Cecilia was a baby. A three-dimensional animated hologram, representing Mary, is used to lure the girl into the nearby ruins of an abbey, where Sir William plans her to perish in a fall through a collapsed floor section. Cecilia's death would be classified as a mere accident, and he would become the heir of her fortune.

After some days, Yoko and Pol leave again, but they return with Vic to the abbey ruins to foil the attempted murder. McNab, a rejected suitor of Lady Mary who is believed to be mentally unbalanced, works with them to carry out his vows of revenge against Sir William. After two decades, McNab is still in love with the deceased Mary, to the point of having a mannequin representing her, dressed with the thong that she wore when she was buried (he had found it in front of his door one day, possibly by the ploy of Sir William to implicate him).

When Yoko confronts Margaret about being both Cecilia's double and the model for the Lady Mary hologram, Margaret says she wants to help save Cecilia, since she's in the plan only because Sir William forced her to. Unfortunately, Yoko nearly falls victim to the machinations as well: she and Margaret are kidnapped, and Yoko is forced to watch how Cecilia falls in the trap. Unbeknownst to Sir William, a large tarp catches her in mid-fall, and the same technique is used to save Yoko after she's chloroformed and thrown down the same crevasse. When William shows up to check the outcome of his plans, he finds McNab's mannequin dressed as his daughter instead of Cecilia's corpse. Yoko and Cecilia confront William when McNab appears and grabs his rival. In the struggle that ensues, they both fall into the crevasse. Because Vic and Pol removed the net just moments before, both men die.

Yoko and Vic hurry back to the castle, where the doctor offers Margaret her life in exchange for her complicity in blackmailing Sir William. Yoko and Vic quickly overpower the doctor and free Margaret. After learning about the insidious plot, Cecilia forgives her doppelgänger and helps her travel back to Australia. Vic, Yoko and Pol stay by Cecilia's side as she recovers physically and mentally from her ordeal until a call from the Vineans comes in.