The Paris Architect: A Novel

“Make a right here, my love,” she ordered. “About five more minutes. You’re going to be quite impressed with your little Adele’s new house.”


Lucien didn’t catch the last remark because his attention was focused on the rundown feed store on his left. Where had he seen it before?

“The house came completely furnished with everything, including sheets, if you can believe it. I’ve already had a party there. It was incredible,” gushed Adele.

“And you didn’t invite me?” Lucien asked, genuinely disappointed.

Adele instantly realized her faux pas and backpedaled. “Oh, they were just fashion people. Total bores, my love. You’ll be coming out quite often—you’ll see. And it’ll be for a party of two,” she said, rubbing her hand on the inside of Lucien’s thigh.

Lucien was quite aroused by this gesture of affection. He was now glad that he’d worked his way out of his depression and had called Adele up to surprise her with his new car. It would do him good to get out and have some fun and sex. Lucien’s good mood vanished when he looked up and saw a grand stone and wrought-iron gate just ahead. Sheer panic gripped him, as if someone were throttling him by the neck.

“Here we are!” Adele exclaimed. “Isn’t it magnificent? I bet you thought it was going to be some puny little cottage. Now be honest, didn’t you think so?”

Lucien stopped the car just past the gate and stared in disbelief at the house before him. This was the hunting lodge in Le Chesnay—with his secret staircase. It all made sense now. No wonder so many things looked so familiar. He had been this way before. Twice in the middle of the night, but he still remembered some landmarks along the way. His first instinct was to turn the car around and speed off. A voice in his brain shouted, “Don’t panic, don’t panic,” and another kept saying, “Run like hell.”

Forcing a smile on his face, he turned to Adele. “It’s magnificent, my sweet.”

To Adele, Lucien’s expression of utter disbelief meant abject admiration, and she was beside herself with pride and joy. Bouncing up and down in her seat, she gave him a hug.

“Let’s go, I want to show you the inside.”

“Of course…” Lucien replied weakly. Adele yanked him out of the car by the sleeve of his suit jacket and led him toward the great house and pushed him through the front door, which was unlocked.

“So what do you think?”

“It’s just…incredible,” replied Lucien, wondering if anything worse could happen to top this catastrophe.

Taking him by the hand, Adele led Lucien through the first floor and then the second, showing him every room he’d seen before. She saved the master bedroom until last.

“And this, my pet, is where we’ll take a slight detour,” said Adele, shifting her eyes toward the great bed. “But before the afternoon’s festivities commence, let me show you something quite peculiar that I discovered—quite by chance.”

Lucien had tried with all his might to avoid looking at the little staircase to the study. Now, to his horror, Adele grabbed his hand and dragged him toward it. He resisted like a child being led to the sink to get his mouth washed out with soap.

“Lift up on the first step and see what happens,” said Adele.

Lucien stared at the staircase, silently asking himself why life kept singling him out for such punishment like this. First, the fireplace disaster a few weeks ago, which had devastated him, now this. He stooped down and did what Adele asked. With great effort, he lifted the stair up to reveal the mattress.

“What do you make of all this?” Adele said. “I thought you might know of somebody who could’ve built something like this.”

Lucien let the stair come down with a crash, giving Adele a start.

“Why are you so curious…about this?”

Adele paused for a second or two. “I just thought it was an ingenious hiding place and was impressed by it, that’s all.”