S. Cedric - Of Fever and Blood

Vauvert shrugged. “Whatever you say.”

Nadal cleared his throat.

“I know you think I’m some dumb country bumpkin, Vauvert. But that’s what you and me are going to write in the report and nothing else. You hear me?” He watched his men come and go, collecting evidence. The truck from the morgue had finally arrived. “You think you’re so good? And now look at the fucking result! Two of my men are dead because you forced us to come here instead of sticking to procedure. No one will ever cover your ass for such a thing.”

Vauvert understood that full well. He was aware of what he had done and the trouble he was in. But he also knew that if he had surrendered right away, none of the local men would have lifted a finger to check his story. These very same guys had not even tried to investigate the missing girls three years ago.

Meanwhile, he still did not know where Eva was or even whether she was still alive.

Vauvert was spared any more grief from Nadal when Leroy called to the captain from the van.

“Captain Nadal! I have Unit Chief O, from Homicide in Paris, on the phone. He would like to talk to you. But if I move, I might lose the connection.”

“I’m coming,” Nadal grumbled, walking to him.

Leroy handed him the phone and took the opportunity to join Vauvert.

“How is he taking it?” Vauvert asked as he flicked his butt into the damp grass and lit another cigarette.

“The boss? He’s on our side,” Leroy assured. “He’s going to take care of everything. There’s no way we get away without sanctions, but as we speak he’s giving orders to our friend here to let us get back to Paris.”

“Good.” He pointed to the officers working the crime scene. They were shooting them looks brimming with anger. “I’d rather not be stuck too long in the hands of these guys. If they had half the chance to lynch us, they would do it without thinking twice.”

“But there’s something else,” Leroy added, his voice hesitant. “Eva.”

Vauvert turned toward him with an anxiety-filled look.

“What about Eva?”

“She’s alive,” Leroy hastened to say. “She fought with Saint-Clair and managed to get away. She got away, okay?”

Vauvert threw his head back and let out a long sigh.

“Thank God. Thank you.”

“They just got her to the hospital,” Leroy said. “She’s lost a lot of blood, and she’s been cut badly, but she’s okay.”

“What about Saint-Clair?”

“Not a trace. They think that Eva wounded her pretty seriously, but she’s still at large.”

“Eva?”

The voice was coming to her from far, far away.

“Can you hear me?”

Eva opened her eyes.

The light was too bright and too white. Little by little, the world came into focus. She realized that she was lying in stiff bedsheets. She recognized the smell of hospital disinfectant.

She tried to weave through the holes in her memory.

She had no recollection whatsoever of having been brought here.

Squinting in the blinding light, she tried to identify the various shapes in her room. She finally recognized the massive figure sitting next to her bed. Unshaven, hair unruly, eyes anxious.

“Eva?” Vauvert said again.

He was holding her hand in his, which was shaking a little. As her vision became clearer, she took in his misshapen nose, the line of his jaw, the sharp angles of his face.

He was smiling at her. And in his eyes, she could see undeniable relief

“I’m so happy to see you again,” he whispered, in an unsteady voice.

“And you’re crushing my hand,” Eva grunted.

He let go of it immediately, looking sheepish.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I’m happy to see you, too. Even under the circumstances.”

She broke into a coughing fit. The world shook a little before settling down again.

Only then did she notice Leroy. He must have been sitting in the other chair. He rose to his feet, looking shy, and came closer. He too had shadows under his eyes and wore a smile that radiated relief.

“Welcome back to us, tough girl.”

“What did you expect?” Eva kidded, her voice weak. “As for you, kid, you look like hell.”

“For a guy who hasn’t slept in three days, I think I’m pretty damned handsome,” he snapped back with his usual aplomb. He ran a hand through his blond hair, making it neat again. “Is that better?”

This made Eva smile.

“No excuses. It’s not like you got butchered by some crazy bitch.”

She glanced around at the room. Small, bathed in light. Everything she hated. Through the window, all there was to see was a slice of grayish fog.

“Where am I? Pitie-Salpetriere Hospital?”

“That’s right.”

“What’s today?”

“Wednesday. You got here early yesterday morning. You lost a lot of blood, but the docs got you patched up pretty good.”

“I feel funny.”

“It’s the morphine,” Leroy said. “You’re pumped full of drugs.”

Eva shot him a smirk.

“Finally, some good news.”

The events of the past few days were still a blur in her mind.

Of course, some things she could remember. Her wrists still bore the marks of the ropes that held her down for almost two days. And she remembered the unbearable pain of the scalpel sinking into her flesh.

But not much beyond that.

She tried to recall the details. Impossible. Her mind had built a new wall to protect her. But against what?

She changed the subject.

“And what about you two? You been here long?”

“We just arrived an hour ago,” Leroy said. “We were, well,” he said, and opted to evade. “We had a couple of administrative issues to take care of down south. The last forty-eight hours haven’t been quite a picnic for us either. Thankfully, the boss made sure we could get back right away, and let me tell you, he got us out of a fairly major jam.”

“Rudy always does that,” Eva said. “He puts on a show, but he loves us.” She paused before adding, “You guys saved my life. Thank you.”

“We didn’t do a thing,” Leroy assured her. “You got out of it all by yourself, like a big girl.”

Eva knew it wasn’t true.

It was all coming back to her.

She remembered the mask hovering over her.

That mask that had become like a mirror. She remembered it very well now. Her tormentor had gone into some kind of trance. And that is what saved her.

“I saw you. Both of you. It’s thanks to you that I could escape.”

“We were down in Aveyron,” Vauvert told her.

“Maybe, but I still saw you guys. I don’t know how, but the fact remains, I saw you both in the mask that mad bitch wore.”

Vauvert and Leroy frowned.

“You were in her house,” Eva continued, digging into her memory. “That’s what happened, right?”

“Well, yes, that’s true,” Leroy admitted. “But it was…”

“There were mirrors. You fired at them. That’s what wounded her. I don’t know how it happened, but she was connected to the mirrors. When you shot at them, you actually hit her.”

The two men didn’t know what to say and didn’t want to contradict her.

As for Eva, she tried to remember the rest. Jumbled images were coming back to her. She could recall reaching the door. She remembered a garden. She remembered crossing it, heading for the gate.

“What is…”

She swallowed hard. Yes, she had reached the gate, and she had opened it. In her mind’s eye, she could see the little albino girl by her side, her ghost sister who watched over her. And suddenly, she remembered the black wolf that appeared in the driveway. The wolf that crushed the little girl in its jaws.