refused to sit at the dining room table and told his mother to get out of his room. In the evening, he got up, waited for the father to leave, and asked his mother for money. He rented a car and parked it along a dark section of the driveway to the house. As soon as he saw Rose leaving, he threw on a jacket, carefully brushed his hair and went into the street. Standing at the gate, he watched her walk away then, once she was far enough, he got in the car and started it. He had followed her from a distance for five minutes when she suddenly stopped. He braked and waited. Five more minutes went by, then ten. Suddenly he recognized the Gorilla at the wheel of his car. The door opened and closed behind Rose. For half an hour, the two cars drove a short distance through town, then along a deserted road where the houses, sunk deep at the end of long driveways, became more and more rare. The place was so dark he could barely see what was in front of him. He carefully drove down the driveway and arrived in front of the house. A bright light was shining through the window of one of the rooms framed by a wrought-iron balcony where he could make out two silhouettes in profile. The dogs began to bark furiously, breaking the silence, and the light suddenly became brighter as if another, more powerful bulb had been turned on. The two shadows vanished as if suddenly snatched by some unseen force, and shortly thereafter he saw the Gorilla at the window. Paul touched his knife through his shirt. “Blast it all,” he heard himself whisper, “if I only had a gun!” He hunched down and crept to the garden, right across from the window. He crouched and poked his head up. In the middle of the room there was a bed where Rose lay naked. Two bulbs hung bright as daylight above her. He saw her with her legs spread open, arms out in a cross, head turned to the side, motionless as a corpse, and he nearly screamed. He felt the knife, unbuttoned his shirt and held the blade between three fingers. He got up slowly, his left hand breaking a small tree branch that was in his way. He saw the man’s body slowly sit up and then start to retreat. He threw the knife, gleaming quick as lightning. He heard it hit something hard and fall below the window with a metallic sound.
“Shit! I missed him,” he said out loud.
The Gorilla had thrown himself on the ground. He saw the man crawling to the balcony and immediately bullets flew past his ears, followed by the furious barking of dogs. He fled the bushes, listening to the gunfire as it faded. Around him, nothing moved. He saw all the lights dim one by one, got back in the car and returned home, where he locked himself up in his room.
Two hours later, he heard Rose groping her way upstairs, not daring to turn on the lights.
There’s nothing left but to finish her now, he thought, picturing her again on that bed. Why all that light on her drawn and quartered body? I need to finish her off, for my sake, for her sake, for us. He sobbed, biting his pillow with all his teeth, lying in bed with his clothes on, refusing sleep.
At dawn, he left his room and cautiously went downstairs, avoiding Rose and the others. He filled up the tank, drove like mad to Carrefour and stopped in front of Anna Valois’ house.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Monsieur Florentin Douboute (aka the Boxer)
6 rue de l’Enterrement
En Ville
Monsieur,
You are about to be duped. Meet me at the office of Notary X at eight o’clock tomorrow morning, at which time twelve bills of sale will be drafted to the benefit of your boss. I’ve noticed your strong face and build. I am certain you will know how to defend yourself and demand the reward that should by all rights be yours.
A just man, who wishes you well
Sitting at his desk, Louis Normil sealed the letter, telling himself: Who would have thought I would be able to hold my own one day, howling with the wolves! Taking his hat, he excused himself before his colleagues and went to post the letter. On the envelope he scrawled the address in misshapen letters in an unrecognizable hand.
At lunch, he hid