Chapter 7 - THE GAS STATION
Marianne was safe.
An officer confirmed it three minutes later, though Lucie felt she had aged three years.
Marc had pulled into the station parking lot, seen the officers, and driven off. Marianne’s phone had fallen while a detective hurried her inside.
They were moving her to a secure room.
Lucie pressed her hand over her mouth.
Alexandre waited until she could breathe.
“Claire is at a gas station outside Saint-Rémy. A clerk called after she asked to borrow a phone.”
“Is she hurt?”
“They’re bringing an ambulance.”
He sounded almost calm.
Only his keys betrayed him, rattling in his hand.
Moreau had arranged for an officer to drive them. Valérie was being taken to the station on suspicion of fraud and involvement in Claire’s confinement.
As they crossed the courtyard, she appeared between two officers.
“Alexandre.”
He kept walking.
“She won’t be the woman you remember.”
He stopped.
Valérie’s expression softened with cruel precision.
“Fifteen years changes a person. You’ll find that out.”
Lucie watched him turn.
“So does finding out who’s been sitting at your dinner table.”
At the gas station, Claire sat beneath a silver emergency blanket.
She was thinner than the woman in the photograph. A cut crossed her forehead. Her shoes were mismatched.
Alexandre stopped several feet away.
“Claire?”
She looked up.
For a moment, there was no recognition.
Then her mouth trembled.
“You got old.”
A broken laugh escaped him.
“So did you.”
He crouched, hands suspended awkwardly between them.
“Can I—”
She reached for him first.
Lucie turned away while he held her.
An ambulance door opened. A paramedic asked gentle questions.
Claire answered some and lost track of others.
Then she saw Lucie.
“Marianne?”
“Her daughter.”
Claire stared.
“Little Lucie.”
Lucie nodded, tears rising before she could stop them.
Claire caught her hand.
“Your mother kept it?”
“Yes.”
Claire’s grip tightened.
“Don’t let anyone open it alone.”
Alexandre looked up.
“What’s in it?”
“Proof.”
She swallowed.
“And the name of the person who helped Valérie.”
“Paul?”
Claire shook her head.
“The man who signed my death certificate.”
An officer approached with his phone pressed to his ear.
His face changed as he listened.
May you like
Then he looked at Alexandre.
“Sir, we need to get you to the hospital now. Someone has reported a fire at your estate.”
