Page 28

28

Tristan

T he clock on the wall struck three a.m.

And we’re nowhere near done .

Tristan leaned back in his chair, sighing. He understood why this had to happen tonight, and he knew why they’d had to bring in gendarmes from Annecy—people who didn’t work directly with him—but he hoped the colonel had at least managed to get Lena home. She could answer questions tomorrow.

As if on cue, the door to the interrogation room opened. A tall, lean man with a well-populated beard walked inside, followed closely by the colonel. Tristan only just stopped himself from asking about Lena. The less he said until this mess was straightened out, the better.

“Lieutenant Devallé,” the man began briskly, as if middle-of-the-night meetings were a common occurrence. “My name is Lionel Cubé. This isn’t an interrogation, of course.” Of course . “We just need to make sure we get all the information from you tonight, while the information is still fresh in your mind. Colonel Pelegrin would like to sit in during our meeting, if that is okay with?—“

“That’s fine,” Tristan said, though he was surprised that the colonel, who was both Tristan’s superior and Lena’s father, had managed to muscle his way in here.

The tall man folded himself into a chair and nodded to the colonel to do the same, but the older man chose to remain standing in the corner. “Lieutenant. You said you’d never met this man …” He stopped to check his notes. “André Rogier, yes. That you’d never met him before.”

“I haven’t,” Tristan confirmed. “A few days ago, I was in the car with Lena—with Madeleine Pelegrin—when he called her and told her he’d arranged a meeting for her with a well-known gallery owner so she could show her photographs. That was the first time I heard his voice.”

“And Madeleine—Lena—was happy about this?”

Tristan clenched his teeth. He didn’t know why they were talking about Lena, rather than about the man who’d held her at gunpoint. But he forced himself to swallow his irritation and reply. “I think she was distracted by other things at the time. She had only just learned her father’s house had been broken into. But yes, as a photographer, I think she was excited about the chance to show her prints.”

“Okay. So that’s where you went today.”

Tristan shook his head. “Lena was the one who went to the meeting. I just drove her there.”

“So you left your job at …” Once again, the man made a big show of checking his notes. “A little after four p.m., just to drive the colonel’s daughter to this meeting?”

As if you don’t already know .

“Lena Pelegrin is my girlfriend,” Tristan clarified. “But yes, that’s what I did.”

“I see. Given your professional relationship with her father, did you not think to speak with HR about this?”

“He did,” the colonel interrupted. “He spoke to me shortly after they started dating, and I spoke with HR on his behalf. You can check the records.”

Had he? Tristan certainly hadn’t thought of doing so.

“I’ll be sure to do that, Colonel.” He turned the page in his notebook, even though there was plenty of space left. “So. On to tonight’s events. You were waiting outside the gallery.”

“I’ve already said this before,” Tristan said. “I was waiting outside when Lena came out with this man. The way he was holding her arm … it was clear she didn’t want him to be touching her.” He felt the colonel tense. Tristan understood. He felt like throwing up every time he remembered the scene. “When they came closer, I realized he had a weapon.”

“Mademoiselle Pelegrin said he asked you to drive him to the caves.”

“He did. He wanted to go to the spot where she and I discovered the skeleton of a man some weeks ago. André Rogier insisted the body was his grandfather’s, and that he had a valuable diamond with him. But if you’ve spoken to Lena, you already know this.”

“Relax, Lieutenant. You know I need to speak with both of you. Let’s move on and make sure I have this straight. It was your idea to offer to take him to the gendarmerie hangar, and to fly him to the cave?”

“Yes, it was my idea,” Tristan said slowly. He understood Cubé was just doing his job, but he was holding on to his patience by a thread. “I offered to fly him there … if he left Lena safely on the ground.”

“You did this, even though you know the helicopters are the property of the gendarmerie,” Cubé said thoughtfully.

“You don’t need to answer that, Lieutenant. Get on with it, Cubé,” the colonel growled from behind them.

“Yes. Once Lena was safe, I figured there was a chance I could disarm him. It was a risk worth taking. I also knew someone here might think it strange that I should be at the hangar tonight, and come to check it out. Which is exactly what happened.”

Something flashed in Cubé’s eyes. It looked suspiciously like a smile, but was gone moments later.

Cubé tapped his pen once against the open page, thoughtful. “So, to be clear, your plan was to keep André distracted until backup arrived.”

“Rogier wasn’t stable. There was no talking him down. My plan, if you want to call it that, was to get Lena safe, and figure the rest out later,” Tristan said simply.

“A risk,” Cubé murmured, jotting something down.

“I didn’t see another option,” Tristan replied. “The longer we waited, the more unstable he became.”

Cubé nodded, flipping another page. At this rate, he was going to go through the whole notebook. He looked meaningfully at Tristan’s scraped, reddened knuckles. “Rogier claims you broke his jaw.”

“He was pointing a weapon at my girlfriend.” Tristan remembered the fear in Lena’s eyes. He would have liked to break a lot more than the man’s jaw. But he was smart enough not to tell Cubé that.

The colonel’s boots shifted behind him—just a scuff against the tile floor.

“Fair,” Cubé said neutrally, scribbling something down. “The gendarmes on site—your colleagues—say you didn’t resist when they arrived. You followed orders and cooperated fully.”

“Of course.” Tristan rubbed at his eyes. He felt like he hadn’t slept in weeks.

Cubé closed the notebook. “Okay. I think the rest of my questions can wait until morning. Given that there was no actual unauthorized use of the helicopter, and that Rogier is already under arrest, I don’t expect disciplinary action … assuming the colonel doesn’t press the issue.”

Tristan glanced at Pelegrin. The older man met his gaze — steady, unreadable.

“Lieutenant Devallé,” the colonel said, his voice low but firm, “will remain in his position until I’m given a damn good reason otherwise.”

It was only then Tristan realized how badly he’d needed the colonel to say that. For a long time, he hadn’t realized how much his job meant to him. Now he did.

Cubé stood. For some reason, his suit wasn’t even wrinkled. “Then I’ll thank you both for your time. We’ll confirm the formal statement tomorrow. Before I leave, any questions on your end, Lieutenant?”

“Only one. Where is Rogier now?”

“In the hospital,” Cubé answered, stroking his beard. “Under police custody. You don’t have to worry about him.”

“I’m going to worry until he’s in prison,” Tristan said.

Cubé left with the quiet efficiency of a man used to high-stress middle-of-the-night interviews. The door clicked softly behind him.

Tristan finally let out a breath. “Thank you, Colonel. For staying.”

Pelegrin didn’t reply immediately. His gaze lingered on Tristan, sharp and searching. Then, finally: “If you’d actually taken the helicopter up, you would have lost your job.”

Tristan knew that already. “I understand. I hoped it wouldn’t come to that, but it was a risk I had to take. It was the only way I could think to keep Lena safe.” He didn’t add that he would have done anything— given anything up —to get her away from Rogier.

“You could have gotten yourself killed.”

Tristan dug in his heels. The colonel, of all people, had to understand. “It was still worth the risk, colonel.”

The colonel nodded, stiffly, as if making his mind about something. “She’s home. She’s safe. I’ll drive you to her.”

Tristan blinked, surprised. “Sir?”

“She insisted she wanted to go to your place.”

Something warm filled him, at the thought of Lena waiting for him in his bed. He knew better than to mention it out loud, though.

“I’m still not sure you’re good enough for her,” the colonel said, and something like a wry smile ghosted across his face, “but tonight? You came close.”

Tristan couldn’t help it—he smiled, just a little.