Lucien sat bolt upright in bed as if someone had doused him with a bucket of ice-cold water in the middle of the night.
He rubbed his face with both hands to make sure he wasn’t dreaming, then prodded Celeste, who was sleeping soundly on her stomach.
“Did you hear that?”
Celeste groaned.
“It sounded like a—”
A loud rapping on their apartment door interrupted Lucien. He began breathing heavily. When the rapping started again, he began to tremble uncontrollably. He drew his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them, and started rocking back and forth. He shook Celeste’s shoulder violently, and she rolled over on her side.
“There’s someone at the door,” whispered Lucien.
“What time is it?”
“It’s almost three in the morning.”
“Who’d be at our door at this hour?” mumbled Celeste, burying her head in her pillow.
Lucien knew the answer to that question. There could be only one visitor who’d come calling at 3:00 a.m.: the French police—or worse, the Gestapo. He had heard that they always raided a house in the middle of the night when their prey was asleep. People woke up confused and disoriented, making it easier for the police to cart them away. He couldn’t decide what to do. Face the music or run like a rabbit out the servants’ entry in the rear of the apartment? He felt like an idiot for not having an escape plan, but then what about Celeste? He couldn’t leave her. Lucien looked down at Celeste, who’d fallen back asleep. If the Germans came through the front door with Panzer tanks, she would sleep right through it.
The rapping began again, this time harder and more impatient. He took a deep breath and finally mustered the courage to jump out of bed. An invisible hand in the middle of his back pushed him toward the door. In the six meters it took to get there, the same gruesome image flashed over and over through his mind: a lead pipe splitting his head open like a melon.
By the time he reached the door, Lucien was shaking with fright. He closed his eyes for a few seconds, then calmly opened the door and stood face to face with a man in his forties wearing a dark gray suit and a black fedora. Lucien was surprised to see an actual Gestapo agent instead of a French policeman who usually made these kinds of arrests. He must be in a shitload of trouble, he realized, if the Gestapo was making a personal call. He wasn’t able to see any of the other men out in the corridor with him.
“You must come with me at once,” said the man in a very loud voice.
“May I get dressed?”
“Yes.”
Leaving the door open, Lucien turned and started to walk back to the bedroom. He didn’t really want to wake Celeste and tell her, but he had to. This would probably be the last time he would ever see her, so he had to say good-bye. He began to sob.
“And please bring your bag,” shouted the man through the doorway.
Lucien stopped and looked back at the man.
“I need my bag?” So they’d be taking him straight to Drancy, not to rue des Saussaies.
“Yes, bring your instruments. My wife’s condition has worsened. You must come right away.”
“My instruments?”
“You’re Doctor Auteuil, right? I was told you live in apartment 4C. Please, we must hurry.”
Lucien felt he was about to faint and steadied himself against a bookcase. His chest started heaving. His first instinct was to curse the man out, but he stopped himself. When his breathing returned to normal, he walked back to the doorway.
“Doctor Auteuil lives in 3C.”
The Paris Architect: A Novel
Charles Belfoure's books
- The Face of a Stranger
- The Silent Cry
- The Sins of the Wolf
- The Dark Assassin
- The Whitechapel Conspiracy
- The Sheen of the Silk
- The Twisted Root
- The Lost Symbol
- After the Funeral
- The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding
- After the Darkness
- The Best Laid Plans
- The Doomsday Conspiracy
- The Naked Face
- The Other Side of Me
- The Sands of Time
- The Sky Is Falling
- The Stars Shine Down
- The Lying Game #6: Seven Minutes in Heaven
- The First Lie
- All the Things We Didn't Say
- The Good Girls
- The Heiresses
- The Perfectionists
- The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly
- The Lies That Bind
- Ripped From the Pages
- The Book Stops Here
- The New Neighbor
- A Cry in the Night
- The Phoenix Encounter
- The Dead Will Tell: A Kate Burkholder Novel
- The Perfect Victim
- Fear the Worst: A Thriller
- The Naturals, Book 2: Killer Instinct
- The Fixer
- The Good Girl
- Cut to the Bone: A Body Farm Novel
- The Devil's Bones
- The Bone Thief: A Body Farm Novel-5
- The Bone Yard
- The Breaking Point: A Body Farm Novel
- The Inquisitor's Key
- The Girl in the Woods
- The Dead Room
- The Death Dealer
- The Silenced
- The Hexed (Krewe of Hunters)
- The Night Is Alive
- The Night Is Forever
- The Night Is Watching
- In the Dark
- The Betrayed (Krewe of Hunters)
- The Cursed
- The Dead Play On
- The Forgotten (Krewe of Hunters)
- Under the Gun
- The Darling Dahlias and the Silver Dollar Bush
- Always the Vampire
- The Darling Dahlias and the Confederate Rose
- The Darling Dahlias and the Cucumber Tree
- The Darling Dahlias and the Naked Ladies
- The Darling Dahlias and the Texas Star
- The Doll's House
- The Garden of Darkness
- The Creeping
- The Killing Hour
- The Long Way Home
- Death of a Stranger
- Seven Dials
- Anne Perry's Christmas Mysteries
- Funeral in Blue
- Defend and Betray
- Cain His Brother
- A Breach of Promise
- A Dangerous Mourning
- A Sudden Fearful Death
- Dark Places
- Angels Demons
- Digital Fortress
- A Pocket Full of Rye
- A Murder is Announced
- A Caribbean Mystery
- Ordeal by Innocence
- Lord Edgware Dies
- A Stranger in the Mirror
- Are You Afraid of the Dark
- Master of the Game
- Nothing Lasts Forever
- Rage of Angels