When Joséphine left the wood, she found the bright summer light where she had abandoned it, there on the narrow path leading to liberty. She made the journey back without hurrying the horse. She simply let him go at his own rhythm. In the distance she could see that the ewes were still in the shade. They had not moved. A few had got up to graze again, but the heat had not lessened. Joséphine went into the hut where the air was cool. She could not believe how delighted she was to be back in her humble abode, as if the simplicity of the surroundings helped her to think clearly. But then she noticed a pot placed at the foot of the stone sink, a pot that had not been there all the time she had lived here. There were four blue notes tucked under the pot, twenty francs in all. When she raised the lid, she immediately recognised the smell of slow-cooked sauté d’agneau. But she especially recognised the earthenware receptacle. It was the kind one of the butchers in Limogne had always cooked his terrines in. She rushed out to count the ewes, but her haste upset the sheep. Seeing their shepherd dashing towards them, they began to run about in all directions, making it hard for Joséphine to count them. It took her a while but she succeeded and clearly two ewes had gone.

Le Simple must have been selling them for some time, one by one, or two by two. Maybe he was trying to make money, or maybe he didn’t dare refuse the butcher, who bribed him with banknotes. Joséphine was panicked at her discovery because she could not accuse Le Simple. If she denounced him she would feel she was the one committing a crime. She couldn’t do it. But if she said nothing she would be complicit, and in spite of her presence, in spite of all her vigilance and care, two ewes had just disappeared. There was nothing she could do about it. And as she looked around the inviolate meadow and at these plateaux deserted by everyone, she said to herself that the world was mad. There was evil in everything. Wherever she went, even here, even deep in nature, far away from everyone, she was trapped by malevolence and strange alliances.

August 2017

August 2017

It was the dog that led the way. The three men walked in single file behind him, zigzagging through the trees. After just ten minutes of ascent with the sun hot on the back of their necks, they were out of breath and had stopped talking. Alpha was moving fast, and Franck was reassured by his determination. The animal seemed to understand the plan and was taking them exactly where Franck wanted him to. He had been watching the way the dog behaved around Liem and Travis ever since they arrived; the animal must have sensed his distrust.