One last shot (orange) for the road. My brain was now running at full speed. It was exhilarating, though I knew it wouldn’t last. Then I had a brilliant idea. Why not just try to locate the iPad I’d left in the car? Modern surveillance made this only too easy. I took out my phone and launched the app, which was pretty efficient and worked most of the time. I logged in and held my breath. A blue dot began to flash on the map. I zoomed in. If my tablet was still in the car, the car was now at the southern tip of Cap d’Antibes in a spot I knew only too well: the parking lot next to Keller Beach, the lot used by tourists who wanted to walk along the coastal path.

I immediately called my father.

“I’ve tracked down Mom’s car!”

“How did you manage that?”

“We can talk about that later. She’s parked down by Keller Beach.”

“What the bloody hell would Annabelle be doing there, for God’s sake?”

Once again, I felt that he sounded unduly worried and realized that he was hiding something from me. He vehemently denied this, and I flew into a rage.

“You really piss me off, Richard! You’re happy to call me when there’s a problem, but then you don’t trust me. What the hell is going on?”

“All right, all right,” he said. “When your mother left this afternoon, she took something with her.”

“What?”

“One of my hunting rifles.”

My head was spinning. I could not imagine my mother with a gun. I closed my eyes for a second and tried to picture her.

That’s when I suddenly realized I had been wrong; I could easily imagine Annabelle with a rifle.

“Does she know how to use it?” I asked my father.

“I’m heading down to Cap d’Antibes” was all he said in response.

I was not convinced that was a good idea, but I didn’t see what else we could do.

“I’ll just finish up here and then meet you there. Okay, Dad?”

“Okay. Make it quick.”

I hung up and went back into the gym. The mood had changed somewhat. Fueled by alcohol and drugs, people had begun to let their hair down. The music was deafening. I looked around for Maxime but couldn’t see him. Then I thought maybe he had gone outside to wait for me.

Of course—the Eagle’s Nest.

I ducked out of the gym and headed up the steep path leading to the ledge. There were candles and paper lanterns at intervals to guide my steps.

Reaching the foot of the rocky outcropping, I looked up and saw the glowing tip of a cigarette in the darkness. Leaning over the railing, Maxime gave me a wave.

“Careful as you climb up!” he called. “It’s really dangerous in the dark.”