Sophie

Sophie

Penthouse

Can I trust her? Do I have any other choice?

“I will never tell anyone what she did.” Somehow she has managed to guess my greatest fear.

She is right: if I wanted to kill them, I would have done so already. I know that I cannot trap the two of them here indefinitely. Nor do I want to. And I don’t think my stepsons will cooperate with me now. Nicolas appears to be falling apart at the realization of his father’s death; Antoine has helped so far only because he thought he was doing his father’s bidding. I dread to think what his reaction will be when he learns the truth. I will have to work out what to do with him, but that’s not my main problem now.

“You will not tell the police,” I say. It isn’t a question.

She shakes her head. “The police and I don’t get along.” She points to Nicolas. “He’ll back me up on that.” But Nicolas barely seems to hear her. So she keeps talking, her voice low and urgent. “Look. I’ll tell you something, if it helps. My dad was a copper, actually. A real fucking hero to everyone else. Except he made my mum’s life hell. But no one would believe me when I told them about it: how he treated her, how he hit her. Because he was a ‘good guy,’ because he put bad guys in jail. And then . . .” she clears her throat, “and then one day it got too much for my mum. She decided it would just be easier to stop trying. So . . . no. I don’t trust the police. Not here, not anywhere. Even before I met your guy—Blanchot. You have my word that I am not going to go and tell them about this.”

So she knows about Blanchot. I had wondered about calling him for help here. But he has always been Jacques’ man, I do not know if his loyalties would extend to me. I cannot risk him learning the truth.

I size the girl up. I realize that, almost in spite of myself, I believe her. Partly because of what she’s just told me, about her father. Partly because I can see it in her face, the truth of it. And finally, because I’m not sure I have any other choice but to trust her. I have to protect my daughter at all costs: that is all that matters now.