Chapter 6 - HER MOTHER’S LIE
Lucie called her mother from the pantry because it was the only room where nobody was shouting.
“Tell me you don’t know these people.”
Silence.
“Mom.”
“Where did you get that picture?”
Lucie shut her eyes.
The refrigerator hummed beside her. Somewhere beyond the door, officers were questioning the staff.
“Why is my name in a dead man’s notebook?”
Her mother began to cry.
Lucie had heard her cry from pain. From hospital bills. From exhaustion.
Never like this.
“I wanted you far away.”
“You sent me the job listing.”
“No, sweetheart. I sent you a housekeeping agency’s number. I didn’t know which house they’d place you in.”
“Then why didn’t you say something when I told you?”
“Because we needed the money.”
The answer landed between them, ugly and familiar.
“And because I thought she wouldn’t recognize you.”
“Who was Claire to you?”
A chair scraped on the other end.
“Your godmother.”
Lucie leaned against the shelves.
Her mother, Marianne, had worked at the estate years earlier as Claire’s personal assistant.
Claire had paid for Lucie’s first winter coat.
Thomas had taken the photograph after a village fundraiser.
Then Claire discovered money missing from a medical charity.
“She thought Valérie was hiding debt,” Marianne said. “She didn’t know how far it went.”
“What happened?”
“Claire asked me to hold an envelope. Before she could collect it, they said she’d died.”
“And you kept quiet?”
“Thomas told me to wait. He said he was getting proof.”
“Then his brakes failed.”
Her mother’s breathing stopped.
“How do you know that?”
Lucie slid down until she was sitting on the pantry floor.
“Mom. What was in the envelope?”
“Copies. Letters. A key.”
“Where?”
“In the lining of your father’s old suitcase.”
Lucie stared at the door.
“Do the police know?”
“I was afraid.”
“Tell them now.”
A muffled exchange sounded on the line.
Then Marianne whispered, “There’s a man outside the station.”
Lucie stood.
“What man?”
“He’s wearing a gray jacket.”
“Give the phone to an officer.”
A sudden shout came through the receiver.
Her mother gasped.
The call disconnected.
Lucie was still staring at the dark screen when Alexandre opened the pantry door.
May you like
“We found Claire,” he said.
Then he saw her face.
