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Back The Martins Save as PDF
Contents ( 99)
  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
  43. 43
  44. 44
  45. 45
  46. 46
  47. 47
  48. 48
  49. 49
  50. 50
  51. 51
  52. 52
  53. 53
  54. 54
  55. 55
  56. 56
  57. 57
  58. 58
  59. 59
  60. 60
  61. 61
  62. 62
  63. 63
  64. 64
  65. 65
  66. 66
  67. 67
  68. 68
  69. 69
  70. 70
  71. 71
  72. 72
  73. 73
  74. 74
  75. 75
  76. 76
  77. 77
  78. 78
  79. 79
  80. 80
  81. 81
  82. 82
  83. 83
  84. 84
  85. 85
  86. 86
  87. 87
  88. 88
  89. 89
  90. 90
  91. 91
  92. 92
  93. EPILOGUE
  94. 1
  95. 2
  96. 3
  97. 4
  98. 5
  99. 6

‘That’s not in my plans. But thank you for your concern about my future.’

Desjoyaux stood there for a moment, staggered by this man’s recklessness, then he left.

All Patrick’s colleagues watched him admiringly. They couldn’t believe it. Was this the same man? He felt happy that he’d done what he’d decided, without wavering. But what good would it do him now? He would be getting home at ten in the morning on a weekday, with two boxes filled with souvenirs of his career. Only two boxes after so many years. As he cleared his desk, people came by to congratulate him on his bravery. But would they still be thinking about him ten days from now? Or even two days from now? Probably not. His act of rebellion had thrilled them all, but it wouldn’t have any lasting effect. His heroism was a dead end too. What would become of him now? Everyone knew everyone else in the insurance business. Word of his gross misconduct would spread quickly. People always leap to conclusions. Whatever his reasons, it looked like an act of insanity. They would think: if he was being bullied, he should have filed a complaint. Only a madman would get revenge like that. Yes, it seemed obvious to him now: by burning those curtains, he had torched his own career. His wife would be proud of him, of course. He could sail on the calm seas of her admiration for a while, but sooner or later he would crash into the rocks of reality. And the gloomy future that awaited him. His euphoria was evaporating around him and he was starting to bitterly regret his rash act. He would pay a heavy price for those few moments of insurrection.22

  1. 22. For readers who like Patrick, and who applauded his crazy bravery, let me reassure you now: things will not turn out the way he imagines.

83

The advantage of that long phone call with Valérie was that it enabled me to go to bed a bit later. Not that it prevented me being wide awake in the middle of the night. I passed the time by watching television. Mostly game shows, with the contestants yelling all the time. In the United States, all participants on such programmes require a PhD in hysteria. When I went downstairs, about six in the morning, I found Madeleine already sitting in the breakfast room. She, too, had woken very early. Our meeting was at nine, and the wait seemed endless. I could feel her tension. She must have been wondering if she’d done the right thing by coming here. Strangely, she admitted to me that she was thinking about her husband. She almost felt as if she were being unfaithful to him. Everything was mixed up in her head.

I suggested we go for a walk on the beach to unwind. The sunrise was witnessed by an army of joggers. How is it humanly possible to do physical exercise that early in the morning? If you go out in Paris at that time of day, you’re more likely to find drunk people coming out of nightclubs. The dawn joggers, mingled with my jet lag, made the moment seem slightly surreal.