Thomas measured the carpet with his eye. He wondered how much too big it was. It suddenly occurred to him that if there was a spare strip, he might take it for the passage in their lodgings. Taking out his knife, he cut the string that was tied around the carpet, and began to unroll it.

Then he stepped back, and stared in horror.

Luc gazed at him sadly.

“Why did you do that?” he said.

Thomas did not answer.

“I was only gone for a moment.” Luc sighed. “I never meant you to see. I didn’t want you to know.”

“What happened?”

“An accident. It was awful.”

“Didn’t you get the police?”

“I couldn’t. They mightn’t have believed it was an accident.” He shook his head. “It didn’t look right.”

“You killed her?”

“Of course not.”

“People will look for her.”

“I don’t think so. She was just … a young lady of the night. If they asked me, I could say that she left. But I don’t think they’ll even ask. I just have to get rid of the body.”

“Why did you kill her?”

“I didn’t. I swear it. There was an argument … She fell. It was an accident. That’s all.”

“Oh mon Dieu!”

“You mustn’t tell anyone, Thomas. Not even Édith. Especially Édith.” He paused. “Unless you want your brother …”

Executed. Or at least in prison.

“And now I’m party to it,” said Thomas.

“You opened the carpet. I never meant that to happen.”

“How will you dispose of the body?”

“That’s a secret. Unless you want to help me.”

Thomas was silent. He had two choices. One was to go to the police at once, and betray his brother. The other was not to betray him. If the latter, then he wanted to be sure the body was never found. The poor girl was dead anyway.

He weighed the options.

“I never knew what was in the carpet. You understand? If you’re ever caught and it’s discovered I brought the carpet up here, I had no idea what was in it.”

“That was always my plan.”

“How will you hide her?”

Luc glanced out of the window. Dusk was already falling.

“You’ll see soon enough,” he said.

It had been a year ago, Luc explained, that he’d been in the privy and heard a sound of rock and earth falling just behind him. Investigating afterward, he’d discovered that there had been a little landslide on the slope. And as he probed further, he realized that a small fissure, a few inches wide, had appeared. When he pushed a stick through, he found a cavity. The rock was quite soft. Widening the fissure, he was soon able to step into the cavity, and the next thing he knew, he was in a tunnel.