“Yes, indeed, young man. I’m her father. The world certainly does work in mysterious ways.” Behind him, Tiphaine stifled a cry of rage. He glanced back and saw the anger in her eyes, a ferocious look of sheer hatred. They glared at each other with mutual hostility for a few seconds that felt like a lifetime. They both knew it now: war had been declared.
Chapter 34
The door closed behind Gérard like the door of a vault slamming shut for eternity on the corpses of its tenants.
Milo stood in the entryway with the attorney’s card in his hand, completely thrown by the unexpected encounter. Lost in thought, he didn’t notice the strange silence, or Tiphaine and Sylvain standing there, stunned and dumbfounded with shock.
After a long moment he looked up and realized something was very wrong. They were staring at him with dread and trepidation.
“What’s going on? What have I done?”
“Nothing,” said Tiphaine bleakly.
“Who was that guy?”
Tiphaine felt a shiver run down her spine. Milo’s words resounded in her head, their distorted syllables clanging inside her skull.
Who was that guy?
That guy?
A macabre obsession flushed out from the nightmare of the past.
The ghost of a grief that bordered on madness.
“Who was he? Is it true he was my father’s defense attorney?”
Incapable of a response, Tiphaine turned instinctively to Sylvain—out of habit, and also because half an hour earlier he had still been an ally.
The specter she saw standing before her made her skin crawl.
“Hey,” she heard Milo say. “Is anybody there?”
She forced herself to ignore her feeling of utter revulsion and looked at Milo with a pathetic attempt at a smile.
“Yes, apparently, when he was in custody,” she said. She had the excruciating sensation that each word was gouging her throat. “I mean, he saw him for two hours in all. I don’t see how he could tell you anything you don’t know already.”
“You’re kidding!” Milo exclaimed eagerly. “He must be the last person who saw him alive.” Tiphaine closed her eyes. She felt nauseated, disgusted, and she had to concentrate with all her being to keep herself from slumping to the ground. The boy’s excitement finished her off, cast her into the depths of a nightmare from which she knew she would never awaken.
She had nothing left to lose now.
Chapter 35
Gérard would have done anything to exorcize his rage after he left the Geniots. He wanted to howl with anger, to dislodge, destroy, flush out the misery eating away at his soul. The interview with the Geniots had been highly dramatic and full of revelations, but it had not gone according to plan. He had the unpleasant feeling that things had gotten out of hand, and he was no longer in control of what might happen next. He had pulled the pin out of a grenade that might still blow up in his face.
And then there was the confirmation of his suspicions, the intolerable fact that his wife, his Nora, had been wrapped in someone else’s arms; her skin, her face, her mouth had been caressed by another’s hands. Stomach churning, he darted past number 26, ignoring the urge to kick down the door and smash up everything inside.
He had to get away. Without delay. Get his emotions under control, fight the impulse to do harm. His mind was ablaze in a turmoil of resentment, a chaos of words and images, Nora’s body, her moans, her mouth twisted in pleasure, and the poison of jealousy that was flowing in his veins, tensing his muscles, clenching his jaw.
He picked up his pace; he had to get out of this street, away from the neighborhood. Far enough away so he wouldn’t give in to the urge. Calm down, somehow. He shouldn’t act on a whim.
He glanced at his watch and let out an expletive under his breath. Mélanie was going to be furious. He had promised to be back by quarter to seven at the latest so she could leave. He had his children to take care of. How was he going to make it through the evening? Manage not to think about Nora alone at home, only a few steps from her lover?
He began to walk more slowly. Words and images flooded his mind, and his limbs felt as though they were struggling through thick molasses that kept him from moving forward. He thought of Tiphaine, the murderous gleam in her eye, the hatred she must feel now toward Nora. He stopped, his heart thudding with fear. Nora didn’t stand a chance against Tiphaine, especially since she had no idea what had just happened. If Tiphaine went around that evening with the idea of settling the score, Nora would open the front door and invite her in, without suspecting for a moment she was welcoming a spurned wife rather than a considerate neighbor.
He took out his phone and called Mélanie. While it was ringing, he tried to figure out a convincing excuse. He was still scrambling for what to say when he heard the secretary’s voice, so he said the first thing that came into his head: he was on his way, he just had one tiny thing to deal with, he wouldn’t be long.
Mélanie, well acquainted with her boss’s manipulative way with language, accurately assessed the situation. “Okay, I’ll feed the kids. But if you’re not back in an hour this is the last time I help you out.” She hung up.
