Episode 2 of Monsieur Spade opens with the aftermath of the ghastly massacre at the manor still hanging heavily in the air. The bodies have been removed from the cathedral, leaving a chilling silence in their wake. Chief Patrice sternly warns Sam to remain vigilant, urging him to seek something "more than your wits" to safeguard against the lunatic's relentless wrath.
Back at his abode, Sam's anxiety mounts as he fails to find Teresa's whereabouts. Helena, still slumbering on the couch, informs him that Teresa was indeed at home the previous night but must have fled unnoticed during her slumber. However, Sam senses a deeper, more sinister undercurrent.
As he ventures to the parking lot to retrieve his car, Sam's heart sinks to discover that its tires have been viciously slashed. Instead, he opts for Gabrielle's Rolls Royce, a vehicle that holds memories of their fateful first encounter. On his way out, Sam bumps into George, who reveals that he caught a glimpse of Teresa at the break of dawn. She appeared frantic, her shoes smeared with mud, and her expression fraught with distress. She didn't even pause to greet him, her mind evidently elsewhere.
Sam heads hurriedly to the manor, where he finds Claude, the janitor, busily sweeping the floors. Claude informs him that all the children have been evacuated to Saint Foye for their safety. The entire town of Bozouls is gripped by fear and Claude's grief-stricken expression mirrors the collective mood.
Sam makes his way to Elizabeth's office, the Mother Superior, to peruse the files of the fallen nuns. However, he is perplexed to discover that there are only five files, despite the presence of six bodies. The mystery deepens as he hears the tolling of the bells, prompting him to ascend to the bell tower. There, he stumbles upon an unfinished cigarette from his own case, a telltale sign that Teresa is perched casually above him, smoking on a wooden beam.
The pair hastily depart in Gabrielle's car, heading towards the house. But their journey is abruptly interrupted by the sound of gunfire. An unseen assailant opens fire, first shattering the car's rear window and then narrowly missing Teresa's head. Sam recognizes these as warning shots and reverses the car in haste. The gunman, panicked, hops onto his bike and flees through the fields. Sam gives chase, but the car's limitations prevent him from catching up with the fleeing assailant.
After a thorough examination of the bullets, Patrice and his brother reached a conclusion: the shots were undoubtedly fired from an army rifle. Spade, however, firmly dismissed any involvement of Philippe, certain that even he wouldn't risk harming his daughter to get back at Spade. Teresa's reluctance to engage with Patrice and her demeanor eerily reminiscent of Brigid only added to the mystery.
Henri returned with crucial information about Philippe. He revealed that crucial details such as time, dates, and places were deliberately blacked out from his service records, sparking Sam's suspicion. He deduced that Philippe was a spy, working clandestinely for the intelligence unit. Henri also shared rumors swirling around Philippe's last visit to the base, alleging that he had been hiding an Algerian woman in the army quarters, an unprecedented act.
Sam visited the doctor's office to inquire about the bodies. It was confirmed that Sister Angelique, a native of Africa, had a missing file. Intriguingly, the doctor discovered a quaint necklace on her person, adorned with a photo of her and a young boy.
Inspector Laurent Suchet, sent by the Minister of Interior in Paris, unexpectedly appeared at Patrice's office. It transpired that he and Elizabeth had a prior friendship, despite their differing ideological stances. Suchet aimed to transport the bodies to Paris and oversee the investigation personally. Patrice, however, threatened to make things difficult for Suchet if he didn't back off.
Sam left his Rolls Royce at Anatole's garage for repairs. Curiously, he noticed that the same garage housed the bike used by the assailant earlier, but he chose not to mention it. Marguerite, accompanying Spade from the garage to the bar, speculated that Jean Pierre might be the gunman. However, Spade dismissed the idea, arguing that while Jean Pierre was troubled, murder wasn't his nature.
Jean Pierre was revealed to be grappling with PTSD, the horrors of war still fresh in his mind, haunting him every waking moment. His marriage to Marguerite had changed, and both were aware of the shift.
Lady Cynthia, George's mother, unexpectedly arrived at the house. Sam graciously allowed her and George to view George's father's painting in the living room. She casually brought up Philippe in the conversation, inquiring about his whereabouts, hinting at a connection between them that deserved further exploration in the next episode.
The episode reaches its boiling point when Jean and Marguerite engage in another fiery altercation upon Jean's return home. Jean remains suspicious of Marguerite's purported affair with Sam, and he is firmly convinced that Gabrielle's promise to cede her share of the club to him still holds. He even discusses hiring a lawyer to wrest Sam's ownership stake from him.
However, the most emotionally charged moment of the episode undoubtedly unfolds between Sam and Teresa. After a long and tense interrogation, Sam finally manages to pry from Teresa the truth about the events of the night of the massacre. It is revealed that the enigmatic monk, who had approached Spade and Patrice during their lunch in Episode 1, was the perpetrator of the nuns' murders.
Teresa discloses that the woman Philippe had been hiding with him was Angelique. A month later, he appeared, wounded and accompanied by the boy in the locket, asking Teresa to conceal Zahid in the bell tower. That fateful night, Teresa recalls the screams of children fleeing the chapel. She quickly ushered them into a room and instructed them to stay silent. Then, she bore witness to the harrowing sight of the monk brutally slaying the nuns after inquiring about Zahid's whereabouts.
The monk eventually caught Teresa's scent, and she lunged at him with a knife, burying it deep in his stomach. As Angelique lay dying, she whispered, "The Mahdi waits for us." Both Teresa and Sam are left baffled by these cryptic words.
The episode comes to a shocking climax when Zahid is revealed to be hiding behind the curtains at Marguerite's club, brandishing a gun. The tension mounts as the scene hints at a potentially violent confrontation that could erupt at any moment.
