I wrench out of his grasp and bolt from the room. People extend their half-full glasses of liquor like barriers to the exit, and I dodge left then right. The deep noise I couldn’t place when we entered registers as intense moaning, thrumming beneath the ache of bass strings. The hostess yelps when I barrel into her in the foyer.

Pushing past her and her questions, I don’t stop until I’m back at the main street, glitter and sequins reminding me the night is just getting started. A cab stops a few feet down from me, and I cut in front of a pair of girls, then slam the door shut. It takes another minute before I can muster speaking a second language.

I thought I was out searching for my sister and only I could decipher the clues to her whereabouts. That I owed this search to her. What I’ve learned so far is that she’s not the person I grew up with.

Academic Angela. Reclusive Angela. Sexually deviant Angela.

The lights of Paris blur together at the speed of my cab as I try to recall any mention of Mathieu in Angela’s files. Bruises begin to form on my upper arms. Mathieu, slightly intoxicated, not exerting his full strength, was stronger than he appeared.

Now, certain that my sister was here before, I’m not at all sure she left in one piece.

Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Snaking through the city side roads forces me to steep in the images I just saw. The questions they raised. The words spoken. What did that man say beside the do-it-yourself bar? Old boyfriend. Your best friend. I can help.

Angela went to that place, maybe alone. What was she looking for? Could she have been approached by the same thug for hire? A thought burrows into me: What if Angela hired that man or some other man I saw slouched along the walls—uninterested in the curtained rooms—to intimidate someone? To go after Manu? My hand grips the armrest on the taxi door as the idea takes root. What if Angela did have something to do with Manu’s disappearance—or her death?

Spotlights illuminate the green arc of the Paris Opera’s dome against faint stars dotting the sky, a megawatt OPEN sign to music lovers. Groups of people attending tonight’s performance linger at the box office in sequins and coattails. Wide, flat steps lead to several windows for ticketing while pigeons hang on virtually every inch of the plaza at midnight.