Part 11 (1/2)

Nicole breathed quickly, hands gripping the table, knuckles white Slowly, incredibly, he watched her recover herself They sat in silence for a few minutes, and he waited as she looked from his eyes, to the table, and back to hiet out of here,' she said 'Soer drink'

They found a suitable watering hole two streets away Dimly lit, noisy, anonymous Wooden booths lined the wall opposite the bar Nicole slid into one while he ordered two large cognacs and brought the candle sat in a dish upon the table She blew it out as he sat down, an indication of just how ed to shatter her demeanour in the last half an hour

Charles watched her take a s of her drink She hunched over in her seat, fingers laced around her glass He sipped his brandy, wanting to hear her story but careful not to pressure her He was still astounded that he had told her he loved her, and dis and her lack of reaction

'Jakab' She shuddered 'God, how I hate to say that nairl, my mother told me the tales of our family, told randarian by birth, but she fled with her husband to Germany before the start of the Second World War His naary to make theht They said goodbye to their faain

'They settled well enough in Gerave birth to my mother, Hilde, shortly after they arrived When war broke out, Albert was conscripted by the nazis He survived for about a week until a sniper got hiht-'

'Her real name When the war ended and the Allies occupied, Anna was itching to ain I don't know if she had a near miss with Jakab or she was just concerned about the borders opening up again Either way, she decided to move further west, this tiood time to be in France, if your husband was a dead nazi'

'Conscript But yes, you're right They were outcasts Moved around a lot My ed her name to Alice and then she met my father, Eric Dubois By this time, Anna had passed away I never met her

'Mystrange, to watch the behaviour of the people close to us, in case it changed She told rew obsessed with her grandmother There was a chance he was still out there With Anna dead, there was a chance he would co his expression 'Of course, she thought he was a hosszu elet And by this ti' She took another drink 'This is the bit I don't expect you to understand Or believe But let ine the ine that the woman you're obsessed with is ine that, even knowing how she feels, you don't care, you want only to possess her'

He shook his head, opening his hands

'Charles, you become the uarding against that all her life But at the ti, it still seemed like a superstition, an eccentric set of hand-s from a family too carried away by its own fireside tales That was until we started noticing the changes

'My father, Eric, was a quiet, lovely man A carpenter by trade When he wasn't in his workshopout toys forin a tiny place just outside Carcassonne A newcomer came to town Petre, we called him He and my father became very close Petre caan apprenticing to e Work was scarce People took what they could get

'But as ti out my mother He would visit the house when he knewpresents for her My fatherI think he was reluctant to act because he cared so much for his friend It came to a head one afternoon when Petre made a pass at her Father was a passive e He went berserk He found his apprentice and beat hie knehat had happened The man had nowhere to stay, nowhere to drink, nowhere to work Everyone loved Eric and no one was going to forgive someone who betrayed hian to notice changes intoys, for a start That was the first thing I noticed, anyway My mother she would never tell me but I think their relationshi+p' Nicole sed, choking on her words 'Let's just say their physical relationshi+p went froue chunks of our previous life together I would s we had done and he would nod in agreeh none of it was true

'Then one day, outside the village, they found the body It had been buried for a while, and the face was gone Sliced off The gendarme failed to identify it But my mother knew'

Charles nodded, transfixed by her words, filled with concern for Nicole's state as she talked 'What happened?'

'One evening, my mother packed me off to friends She plied my father with drink until he was virtually comatose, put him to bed and locked the door Then she went downstairs, boarded up the house and torched it'

'My God'

'She collected ht and we headed north We never went back'

Nicole leaned back in her seat She s tears from her eyes 'And that's it What do you think? Still interested in ed on hysterical

'Want me to play devil's advocate?'

'Sure'

'It's difficult to say this without the risk of hurting you, but your father could have been ill'

'A degenerative disease that would explain his behaviour Alzhei similar'

'And my mother burned an innocent man'

'That's the bit that's difficult to say'

Nicole nodded

Then he asked, 'So if Jakab burned in the house, why are you still running?'

'Because e she confided in She called her a few years later to find out what happened By the tiers out of their beds They saw aat one of the s So He broke theand threw hiht that would have killed or crippled ot up and ran away'

'And he's still after you'

She picked up her cognac, gulped it 'And that's why I' all this tiinal sources, docu Life but it doesn't er this can last'

Charles breathed deeply He found it difficult to respond to the enormity of what she had just told him It was impossible to believe any of thetragic had happened to the Dubois family Whether Beckett's tales had any relevance suddenly didn't matter to him Eccentric or not, he would take another leap of faith if she asked hiy to one side until he had worked out what to do

Reaching across the table, he took her hand 'Will you letthis time, and put her own hand over his 'Of course, Charles Thank you'

'Will you let me read the diaries?'

'If that's what you want'

'Will you leave them with me for a while? Maybe one or two of them?' She hesitated, then squeezed his hand and nodded Charles glanced at his watch 'We'd better get back to the cottage You sail for France in the , Charles' She still held his hand, and now she really did smile 'It sounds better in French'

'What is it?'

'Je crois que je vous aime aussi'

It was the most beautiful phrase he had heard

CHAPTER 8

Snowdonia Noave of nausea threatened to overwhelm Hannah as the full impact of Sebastien's words seized her

Have you validated Nate since he got into the car with you?