The call was answered, and she introduced herself politely in her student’s French and asked the man who answered if he spoke English.

He did.

“I would like to visit one of your inmates,” Heloise said.

“Which one?”

“Nick Kaldan, prisoner number eight-one-nine-eleven.”

“What’s the purpose of the visit?” The voice was professional, unmoved.

“It’s for personal reasons.”

“What is your relationship to the prisoner?”

Heloise swallowed.

“I’m his daughter.”

CHAPTER

36

“WELL, WHAT DO you know!” Schäfer slammed the book down hard on the table in front of Augustin and pointed to the cover.

She set down her coffee, looking puzzled. “What?”

“Look at the name of the author!”

Augustin looked from the book to Schäfer’s open mouth.

“Heloise’s dad wrote that,” Schäfer said. “Author and historian Nick Kaldan.”

“Shut up! Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

Augustin put her hand over her mouth. “Well, then she darned well must have recognized the reference!”

“Yup.”

“So, she lied to us.”

“No shit.”

“But …” Augustin sat down on the edge of the desk and then immediately stood up again. “Why?”

“I have no idea. I’ve barely had a moment to look into it while you were gone, but from what I can see, Nick Kaldan is in prison in Paris.”

“In prison?”

“Yes, in Fresnes on the outskirts of Paris. It’s one of those really grim places.”

“Why? What’s he convicted of?”

“Of being in possession of child pornography.”

Augustin closed her eyes as if Schäfer had spit in her face. When she opened them again, she asked, “Kiddy porn?”

“Yes.”

“Oh God … Tell me more.”

Schäfer sat down at his computer and skimmed the newspaper article that had come up when he searched the name. “He apparently lived in Paris for a number of years while he was teaching medieval literature at the Sorbonne.”

Without taking her eyes off Schäfer, Augustin reached for her coffee and took a sip of it as she listened.

“He and three other men were arrested when the local police raided an apartment that belonged to a local sex offender. There were two minors in the apartment when the police broke open the door, and several of the kids and the men were naked.”

“Fucking psychos!” Augustin’s voice sounded angry and filled with hate.

“One of the men was Nick Kaldan. His home was also raided. His computer was confiscated, and he was brought in for questioning.”

“And then what happened?”

“The children in the apartment showed clear signs of sexual abuse, and the police found a large quantity of pornography on Kaldan’s computer. Pictures, movies, a bunch of really messed-up stuff.”

“And then he went to prison?”

Schäfer nodded. “Then he went to prison.”

Augustin put her hand to her head and exhaled. “Okay, I totally get why Heloise doesn’t exactly go around bragging about this.”

“Yeah, it’s not a feel-good story.”