All the Devils Are Here(15)

The others in the room, waiting for news of their loved ones, looked gaunt with anxiety and exhaustion. And boredom.

Armand had washed the blood from his hands and face. But couldn’t get it off his clothes. They’d be thrown away, he knew. He never wanted to see them again.

It was ridiculous to blame the shirt and tie, the jacket and slacks, for what had happened. But even the socks would be tossed out.

He’d called Reine-Marie first, to let her know where they were. She’d arrive soon. He suggested the others return home and wait for news.

Then he’d called his friend.

“I’ll be right there, Armand.”

Reine-Marie arrived within minutes, with Annie and Daniel. Jean-Guy and Roslyn had returned home to the children.

“Any news?” Reine-Marie asked, taking Armand’s hand.

“None.”

“He must be still alive,” said Daniel. He put his hand on his father’s arm.

“Oui.” Armand gave his son a thin smile of thanks, and Daniel dropped his hand.

“Armand,” came a voice from the entrance.

A slender man, in his late fifties, and wearing clothes clearly just thrown on, walked rapidly toward them. His hand out.

Armand took it. “Merci, mon ami. Thank you for coming. Reine-Marie, you remember Claude Dussault?”

“Of course.”

Dussault kissed her on both cheeks and looked at her gravely, then turned to the others.

“These are our children, Daniel and Annie,” Armand said. “Claude is the Prefect of Police here in Paris.”

“This is a terrible thing to happen,” said Monsieur Dussault. He shook their hands, then turned to Armand, noting the bloodstains and exhaustion. “How is he?”

“No word,” said Armand.

“Let me try.”

Dussault went over to reception and a few moments later returned to them. “They’ll let us in. But only one of you.”

“We’ll stay here,” said Reine-Marie.

“Go home,” said Armand.

“We’re staying,” she said. It was the end of any discussion.

As he went through the swinging doors, Armand felt himself light-headed for a moment. Swept back into memory. As bloodstained sheets were drawn over the faces of officers. Young men and women he’d recruited. Trained. Led.

Whose birthdays and weddings he’d danced at. He was godfather to several of their children.

And now they lay dead on gurneys. Killed in an action he’d led them into.

He’d had doors to knock on then. Eyes to meet and lives to shatter.

He took a ragged breath and kept walking, through those memories and into this new nightmare. His friend and colleague by his side.

“He’s in one of the operating theaters,” said Claude after speaking with a nurse. “We should make ourselves comfortable.”

They sat, side by side, on hard chairs in the corridor.

“Terrible place,” whispered Dussault, clearly struggling with his own memories. Of his own young gendarmes. “But they do good work. If someone can be saved …”

Armand gave a curt nod.

“On the way over I looked up the preliminary notes of the flic who responded to the call.”

The Préfet had used the Parisian slang for “cop.” Les flics. Learned on the streets before he’d joined the force. Though it was not, strictly speaking, a compliment, most cops, between themselves, had adopted the word. Originally from Yiddish slang, “flic” had become a sort of term of endearment. Or, at least, of camaraderie.

Armand remained silent, his focus on the door leading to the operating rooms.

“He wrote that you said it was deliberate. Do you believe that?”

Now Armand turned to him. His eyes bloodshot with exhaustion. And emotion.

“It was. The vehicle was stopped. Then it sped up. It meant to hit Stephen.”

Dussault nodded, looked down at his hands briefly, then back up. “The other witnesses agree that the van left the scene. One of them, your son-in-law, I believe, got a very bad photo of it.”

“Reine-Marie also saw it speed up to hit Stephen.”

“Did she? After you left, she described what happened. She said you were both looking at the Tour Eiffel that had just lit up.”

“That’s true. I began to speak to Stephen—”

Armand stopped, and blanched. Suddenly feeling he might be sick.

“What is it?” asked Claude.

“I didn’t realize Stephen was in the middle of the street. When I spoke, he stopped and turned. He didn’t see the van. Couldn’t. He was looking at me.”

“This isn’t your fault, Armand,” said Claude, immediately understanding what he was saying. Feeling.

The swinging doors opened and a nurse came through.

“Monsieur le Préfet?” he asked, looking from one to the other.

The two men stood up.

“Oui,” said Dussault.

“Mr. Horowitz is alive—”

Armand’s face opened with relief, but the nurse hurried on.

“—but he’s in critical condition. We honestly don’t know if he’ll survive the surgery. And even if he does, there’s significant trauma to his head.”

Armand bit the inside of his lip. Hard enough to taste blood.