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Chapter 20

20

“S he’s here.” Chastity jumped up from the couch and ran over to the intercom. “This should be fun,” her mother said, patting Tommy's back. Her mom was wary of any movement that might jostle him or cause one of the tension headaches he was now prone to. Her grandson didn’t answer but continued to push a small car over the tiny hills in his blanket.

Chastity opened the door and turned the lights on in the hallway before the elevator pinged open. A sturdy woman of uncertain age exited the elevator, hidden under coats, scarves, and hats. Her teethwere bright against her dark skin.

“Bonjour, Madel.” Chastity shook her hand, smiling back at her. “Thank you for coming a little early for my first day back.”

“It’s my pleasure,” the woman replied. “We can make sure Thomas has everything he needs before you leave.”

“My mother is here, but I think if there’s anything you two need to communicate to each other, Thomas should be able to translate it.”

“We’ll be just fine,” Madel reassured her. “Bonjour, Madame.” She nodded her head towards the older woman as she unwound her scarf and removed her coat. “Bonjour, Thomas.” She directed her attention to her unresponsive protégé.

“Would you like some tea? We have fruit tea with honey.” Chastity had gone into the kitchen and returnedwith the box in hand. When Madel nodded, it was her mother who took it from herand headedtowards the electric water kettle. “You take care of seeing that Tommy has everything he needs, my dear.”

Chastity sat on the large square footrest that extended from the couch where Thomas was sitting. Madel had pulled up a chair from the dining room table and was sitting next to him with a notepad, marking observations.

“Hello, Thomas. How are you feeling today?” Madel tapped her pen on the notepad. He shrugged. After waiting a minute without receiving further clarification, she prodded, “Where does it hurt today?”

“It doesn’t hurt,” was the sulky reply. “But I feel irritated.”

“That’s nothing new, is it then? We’re going to do our usual routine today, but change some of the memory games and stretches. You’ll get plenty of chance to rest in between. Do you feel up for it?” Thomas shrugged again, but nodded.

“Great.” Madel clapped her hands on her lap with one of her sunny smiles. "I also brought you a new movie that I think you’ll like.” She turned to Chastity. “Has he been to the osteopath this week?”

“Yes, twice. She feels like he’s making progress, and I do think Tommy is sleeping better."

“That’sjustwhat I’d hoped to hear. Osteopaths work wonders, and I'm glad you're getting coverage for his. Shall we let your mom get to work, Thomas?” Chastity’s mother had come to stand in the doorway at this point, and though she didn’t understand the conversation, she could see that Chastity was standing with her coat and purse in her arms. Thomas didn’t answer, so she went over to take her daughter’s place at his side.

Chastity tried to keep her voice steady as she addressed her son in English. “Okay, sweetie. Grandma’s here and so is Madel. Is there anything you want for when I get back from school?”

“I want to visit the stables like that guy promised.”

“What guy?” Her mind flashed back to Deauville. Could he be remembering that incident? His mind didn’t often stretch to things beyond what was currently happening—at least not in any way he communicated. That would be a good sign.

“When we saw Mickey.”

So itwasthe encounter in Deauville he was remembering. She couldn’t forget such a name, or such a large animal. “It won’t be today, honey.” That was the only thing she could think of to say. She wasn’t sure she’d be comfortable enough to ask Charles if they could visit his stables. Plus, it was too cold, and he was too unwell to attempt such a visit. Her son didn’t say anything else in response, so she kissed him gently on the forehead then went over to hug her mom.

“I’m nervous,” she whispered, as her mom squeezed her tight.

“You’re doing the right thing.” Her mom patted her hair. “I’ll be here for another week, and by then it will be routine for everyone. Don’t you worry about a thing.”

Louis stomped along the muddy path next to the houses with no sidewalks. Without warning, he slipped and landed in the mud. Blood rushed to his cheeks, and he felt fury take hold of him as he reached over to grab his bag and get himself into an upright position. The fact that no one was there to see his humiliation, apart from an old lady in a housedress who was in the process of opening her shutters, did nothing to calm his rage.

First it was his dad. He chose today—the day when Louis had planned on ending things with Jean and Max and the whole drug scene to read him a lecture on the dangers of drugs and getting in over his head. As if he were a child that needed to be told what to do. He wasn’t even done with breakfast when his dad started in on him.

“—and when I get back from London, we’re going to have more of a regular schedule together to see how you’re doing and start taking a look at some of your homework.”

“I don’t need a babysitter, Papa,” he flashed back.

“That’s not what I meant—” His dad had looked hurt, but Louis shoved that out of his mind. Served him right. He had no right to meddlenowwhen for years he had been too busy to take notice of him. All that time when Louis was on his own and had no one to talk to besides Paltier.

And now his interview with Jean had not gone at all like he had expected. He thought he could end things cleanly and move on with his life, but he now knew it was not going to be that easy.

“I brought you something,” Jean had said, tossing a bag of weed on his lap by way of greeting. “It’s a freebie. To thank you for your service these last couple of months. There’s more where that came from if you continue to pull in the same amount of orders.” He seemed more cheerful than he had any right to be.

“Thanks,” Louis mumbled, stuffing the marijuana in his bag. There was no reason to say no to something free. “I need to talk to you about that. I want out.”

Louis looked at Jean now and was startled, then afraid.He had never seen such hardness in Jean’s eyes before. When Jean spoke, his voice was deceptively casual. “Where’s the money you owe me, Louis?”

Louis broke out in a sweat, though the late February air was chilly. “I’ll get it to you. I just need some time.”

“You shouldn’tneedtime. It’s simple. You give the goods, you get the money, you give it to me. Are youstealingfrom me?”

“No. No.” Louis’s voice cracked. “Someone stole from me twice after I made the drop. Both times it happened at the party. I think I was drugged—”

“Oh please. That’s a likely excuse. You were drugged on the stuff I gave you—the stuff you got for free because I trusted you to bring in more clients.” Jean’s voice got louder. “If you think you can rip me off, you don’t know who you’re dealing with.”

Louis stood suddenly from the park bench. He searched, but the quiet town brought no welcome sight of joggers, or anyone that could lend him a hand. “I promised I’d have it, and I will. It’s just that being robbed twice…the amount is getting too big. I’m not sure how…” Louis cast about in his mind for something to say that would satisfy this guy. “Didn’t you mention that I could do you a…a favor? Instead of paying you back?”

Jean had stood as well. “That favor was for the first couple a’ thousand.” He suddenly grabbed Louis’s prep school tie and pulled ittight. He could feel the pressure on his throat. “Do not. Mess. With me,” he growled.

Just as suddenly, Jean stepped back and laughed, patting a shaking Louis on the back. “I’ll call in that favor,” he said loudly. Two middle-aged men jogged by discussing when to plant spring bulbs, which seemed like such a ludicrous subject at that moment. Louis wanted to call out to them, but he had no idea what to say, and he wasn’t sure he could find his voice.

The two of them were silent until the men were out of sight, but Jean seemed to have relaxed. In any case, he made no more threats. “Here’s the deal. I’ll let you do the favor instead of paying me the huge amount of money you owe. And I’m being generous.”

Jean sat back down, indicating for Louis to follow. “This is what I want you to do. My uncle used to work as a gardener for your grandfather a long time ago.”

Louis knit his brows together, but Jean didn’t give him a chance to speak. “He had a set of gardening tools, wrapped in a leather pouch with a handle, and they had been passed down in the family. My uncle disappeared, and no one knows what happened to him. I want the tools, which are still in the chateau. They belong to my family anyway.”

Jean paused, and Louis waited for more. When Jean said nothing further, Louis was perplexed. “But…what makes you think the tools are still there? The shed is a mess, but the gardeners tend to know where everything is. Those tools would have been thrown out or put to use by now.”

“They’re not in the shed. In fact, they’re not outdoors at all. They’re in the basement.”

Louis’s mind drifted to the basement in the chateau, which—to a young boy—had been a disappointment. It was more open and light-filled than a boy with a good imagination could have liked. There was nothing very dungeon-like about it. Except maybe the wine cellar… Ever since he outgrew such fancies, he had barely set foot down there. Louis finally managed to speak. “How do you know?”

“My uncle told my aunt everything while he was still working there. There’s a stretch of stone corridor near the wine cellar where it’s not well lit. When you walk towards the cellar, you’ll pass through an archway that has a ledge cut into the stone just above your head—it’s where there used to be an iron gate that rolled up into it. The tools will be there towards the back of the ledge. You’ll probably need a stick to reach it.”

Many questions swirled through Louis’s mind, but he settled on one. “Why didn’t your aunt just ask for the tools? I’m sure my grandfather would have given them to her.”

“Yes, but then you wouldn’t have a way out of your own fix, would you?” Jean lit a cigarette. “When my uncle disappeared, the tools were the least of her worries and she forgot about them. Now she’s getting old, and I’d like to get them back for her. She’s nostalgic,” he added by way of explanation.

“This is worth all the money I owe you?” Louis’s voice was filled with disbelief.

“Don’t question me too closely if you want me to forget the money you owe.”

“I’ll be shocked ifthey’re still there.” Louis folded his arms with belligerence.

“They had better be, or you and I have a problem,” was Jean’s calm response that left Louis more disquieted than he had felt at the open menace.

Louis trudged along, now on the street away from the muddy path. His pants were wet and dirty, and so were his hands. He had nothing to wipe them on, and everything about this stupid day was going wrong. He didn’t like it, but he knew he was going to have to take something from his house and give it to Jean. It wasn’t stealing, precisely, but it made him uneasy. There were too many questions. Why were these tools worth so much money? Why did the gardener hide them? Because there would be no other reason to stash them there.Did Jean target him? Was that the reason he had approached him in the first place? Despite the unanswered questions and uneasiness,it was the only solution he could see to get himself out of this fix.

The school was in sight, and there was a group of kids a year older than him walking from the outlying buildings towards the main gate. Louis stopped on the street corner where the tall bare trees and parked cars lent the intersection protection. He dropped thebook bag from his shoulder, and reached into the side pouch for his wallet. There was some cigarette paper folded in the bills. He glanced around before taking the bag of marijuana from his backpack and pinching a large amount into the cigarette paper. He licked the edge and lit the end, inhaling greedily, hungrily, as if he couldn’t fill his lungs fast enough.

He held each hit of the acrid smoke as long as he could. Everything’s going to be okay. Everything’s going to be okay , he repeated to himself. After several hits, he was starting to believe it. Another group of students came into view from his left, heading for the school across the street. A petite brunette glanced over, and when she saw Louis, said something to the group in a soft singsong voiceandwalked over to where he was standing. Eloise Prynne’s smile faltered as soon as she got close.

Louis stood, holding the joint slightly behind his right leg and waved at her with his left hand. He knew he looked guilty. “Aw, Louis.” It was not hard to miss the disappointment in those words. Defiantly, he took another hit from the stub and threw it on the ground. “Are you going over?” he asked with false bravado.

It seemed she wasn’t going to answer until she noticed his pants. “You're all muddy. Did you fall?”

“Yeah. It was stupid. I was walking on the muddy path, and I slipped.”

She shook her head. “Let’s go. History starts in five minutes.”

Chastity was losing energy by the end of lunch hour. There had been so many emotions—fear of leaving Thomas, guilt over throwing her mother together with Madel when the two of them couldn’t communicate, excitement at being back in school, exhaustion as she tried to act as if everything were normal in front of her students. Only over lunch was she able to pour her feelings into Maude’s sympathetic ear. It had relieved some pressure, but she was eager to get through the three remaining periods and head home.

She stood against the wall as a flurry of students walked past her, blocking her from entering the classroom. Suddenly, she caught sight of Louis’s head of dark, wavy hair, and before she had time to think, her heart leaped at the connectionwith his father. I wonder if Charles has mentioned me to him . I wonder what Louis thinks of me. Chastity blushed, thankful no one could read her mind.

Her heart tugged her inexorably onwards as she remembered how Charles had come to the hospital every day the week before. After she saw him with Manon, he should have put more distance between them; but rather than pulling back from her, he seemed to settle in. He became more…comfortable. The day before Thomas was discharged, her mom went for a walk as soon as Charles showed up, and the two of them sat, side by side. He read some medical research, and she…well, apparently she dozed. How strange it was that she could do that in his presence. When she thought of this, her heart seemed to sink and take flight at the same time. I wonder what Charles thinks of me.

“Welcome back, Miss Whitmore,” sounded the cheerful voice of Eloise Prynne.

She smiled at the young ladywalking next to Louis. As soon as they got closer,Chastity went still. Louis passed in front of her without even noticing her, and his red eyes and the heavy sour smell of marijuana were impossible to miss.

She groaned inwardly. Oh Louis .

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