Chapter 3 - THE WOMAN IN THE FILE
Alexandre’s laptop sat on the dining table between abandoned dessert plates.
Officer Moreau asked the guests to leave the room.
Valérie protested.
“I won’t have family business turned into entertainment.”
“You made it public,” Lucie said.
Alexandre inserted the memory card.
The first video opened on a crooked view of his study.
Paul Renard, the family accountant, sat at the desk. Valérie stood beside him.
“Again,” she said on the recording. “His signature leans more at the end.”
Paul crossed out a name.
“This is getting dangerous.”
“It became dangerous when you agreed to help me.”
Alexandre’s jaw tightened.
He opened a photograph.
Then another.
A payment schedule. A medical invoice. A letter marked PRIVATE.
The patient’s name was Claire Delcourt.
He leaned toward the screen.
“No.”
Valérie folded her hands.
“Names get reused.”
The next image showed a recent photograph clipped to a care report.
A woman stood behind a window, one hand resting against the glass. Her hair was shorter and streaked with gray.
Alexandre made a sound Lucie had never heard from a grown man.
He reached for the table and missed.
She caught his arm.
“That’s her,” he whispered.
Valérie began talking fast.
“Listen to me. She was very ill. After the accident, the doctors said—”
“You told me they found her body.”
“There were things you couldn’t handle.”
“You told me you identified her.”
“Alex—”
He shoved back his chair.
“Who did we bury?”
Mathéo started crying.
That stopped him.
Alexandre crouched in front of the boy, struggling to steady his voice.
“You did the right thing. Do you hear me? Whatever happens next, you did the right thing.”
Valérie moved toward the door.
Officer Moreau blocked it.
“I need you to stay.”
“Am I under arrest?”
“Not yet.”
Her phone rang.
She glanced at the screen.
Lucie saw the name before Valérie turned it away.
MAISON.
“Put it on speaker,” Alexandre said.
“It’s personal.”
“Put it on speaker.”
Valérie answered.
A man’s voice came through, thin and urgent.
“We have a problem.”
She said nothing.
“The woman heard staff talking. She knows someone found the payments.”
Officer Moreau reached for his radio.
May you like
On the phone, a door slammed.
Then the man said, “She’s gone.”
