“No.” Schäfer shook his head. “If there’s one thing I’m sure of by now, it’s that nothing in this case is a coincidence.”

“At any rate, Heloise knows more than she told us,” Augustin said.

Schäfer got up and grabbed the car keys from the desk in front of him.

“Well, let’s go pick her up.”

CHAPTER

37

ANNA’S PHONE BARELY had a chance to ring once before she answered it.

“Hello?”

“It’s me.”

“Nick? Did she call?”

“Yes.”

Anna closed her eyes and exhaled heavily through her mouth. “Okay, good.”

A couple of seconds’ hesitation, and then, “I don’t know …”

“What are you talking about? This is what you’ve been waiting for.”

“I know, but … what if she changes her mind?” He sounded nervous, wavering.

“She won’t.”

“But what if she—”

“Nick, stop it, okay? She’s coming!”

Anna interpreted his silence as agreement.

“Do you know what time she’s coming?” she asked.

“Two o’clock, today.”

“Good.”

“What happens next?”

“Next?”

“Yeah.”

“What do you mean?”

“Will you and I see each other again?”

Anna was on the verge of bursting into stunned laughter. She controlled herself instead and replied, “No, Nick. We won’t see each other again.”

She could almost sense his shoulders dropping over the phone.

“So, what are you going to do now?” he asked. “Where will you go?”

“Don’t worry about that.”

“But if he finds you. You need to be careful. You—”

“Don’t worry about that,” she repeated.

“Well then … So, then, I guess this is good-bye?”

“It is.”

“Thank you for—”

“Don’t do that,” she snarled. She couldn’t keep the disgust out of her voice.

“Do what?”

“Don’t thank me. I didn’t do this for you.”

“Yeah, but you—”

“No, Nick. I needed some information. You had it. It cost me something to get it. End of story!”

Silence.

“I didn’t do any of this for you,” she continued coldly. “Don’t kid yourself.”

“No, well then … take care of yourself, Anna. Good-b—”

Nick didn’t have a chance to say any more before Anna hung up.

She checked the time on her phone. It was 11:21 AM. That gave her plenty of time to get ready, to reach the right location, and then just wait for the right moment.

Only a few hours left to wait.

Then it would be over.

Almost.

CHAPTER

38

IT WAS ALMOST an hour’s drive from the hotel to Fresnes. Traffic was heavy and the cars were honking and accelerating aggressively, passing on the inside, their drivers gesturing with angry fists.

Heloise didn’t pay attention to any of it. To her it felt like the trip had lasted only a split second as the driver pulled over in front of the big, gray concrete facade and turned around to look at her.

“Mademoiselle?”

“Hmm?” Heloise snapped out of her reverie and looked up at him.