A serial killer. Something Valentin has been alluding to for days now, and which my experience this week all but screamed through a megaphone. The information makes me feel exposed, raw. My eyes dart to the dumpsters of the next side street, the homeless man missing from my stoop. Cold fear slinks down my torso, curling into a knot in my stomach. Manu is dead. Officially.

If Jean-Luc stalked and kidnapped Angela to sell her as part of a human-trafficking ring—or if she was caught snooping and he wanted to get her out of the way before she told the police—is Jean-Luc the serial killer? Angela’s body double pulled from the Seine could have been another one of his trafficking victims.

An easy gunshot to the head would be in line with Valentin’s analysis. Impersonal. Clean. Driven by a higher need. Valentin didn’t say where the most recent corpse was found, but extra police will be deployed in force all over Paris starting now. I wonder briefly whether Valentin knows it’s Jean-Luc—has known this whole time, and that’s what his warnings were about. I hope you are not talking with strangers.

A shiver runs along my neck, then I nod to Chang. “Our motorized carriage.”

“It’s a looker. What do you have there?” She points to the photo.

“Just a good-luck charm.” I tuck it into my back pocket, and we slide across the seat of the taxi.

The driver catches my eye in the rearview mirror, wrinkled skin illuminated by the interior light. Most of his face is shrouded by a baseball cap. “Bonjour,” he chirps. Chang gives him directions where to go while I settle into the worn cushions, my bag across my lap.

Hugo’s words in the club—I met her in the tunnels—switched on a dozen light bulbs. Not only was Chang Angela’s building concierge, a billionaire widow, and a deejay since Reagan, but the free time she gained during the day allowed her to pursue the less conventional interests I saw framed on her wall—cave diving, running with the bulls, and exploring the catacombs. She confirmed as much when I knocked on her door and caught her unwinding with a pot of tea.