There was a crisp, metallic sound as the seal under the cap broke. Heloise brought the bottle to her lips and tilted her head back. The liquor burned her throat and warmed her stomach in a strangely comfortable way.

She grabbed the handset of the old, ivory-colored rotary phone that sat on the nightstand and slowly dialed Gerda’s cell—one number at a time—as the antiquated phone dial spun and hummed.

“Hello?”

“Hi, it’s me.”

“Hi!” Gerda’s voice sounded surprised, happy. “Where are you calling from? I didn’t recognize the number. You’re not still in the hospital, are you?”

“I’m in Paris.”

Gerda didn’t say anything for a moment. Then she asked, “In Paris?”

“Yes,” Heloise said slowly. “I was thinking that it was about time to get it over with.”

“But … why didn’t you tell me anything? I would have gone with you if—”

“I know you would have. You’re a good friend, Gerda—the best. But this is something I need to do alone.”

“Okay. I hear you. But why now?”

“I think … I think that’s what Anna Kiel wants me to do. She’s trying to tell me something about him.”

“Anna Kiel?” Gerda sounded skeptical.

“Yes.”

Heloise told Gerda about Schäfer’s call the day before. About the reference to the letters and what they meant.

“There can’t be any other explanation. He’s the one she wants me to get in touch with. Her letters to me are about him. The whole thing makes sense now: the private things she knows about me, her reference to a corpse flower, which pretends to be something it isn’t—like a pedophile running around with a bag of sweets convincing kids that he’s a nice cozy old uncle. My address, he knows it. And the picture on Instagram. He must have been the one who took it, before he went to prison. Don’t you see?”

Gerda tried to sound calm when she replied, “Are you planning to visit him?”

“Yeah.”

“When? Today?”

“I don’t know yet. I’ll call the prison as soon as I hang up here. Then we’ll have to see how quickly I can get permission to get in there.”

“Promise me one thing,” Gerda said. “When you’re sitting across from each other … try to see if you can forgive him. Not for his sake, but for yours. Try to see if you can see him as the human being he once was, as a person you loved.”

Heloise didn’t respond.

“For your own sake,” Gerda repeated.

“I’ll call you later.”

“Heloise,” Gerda hurried to say. “Take care of yourself, okay?”

Heloise promised her that she would be careful. They said good-bye, and she found the number for the prison in her notebook.