I had almost murdered Marcelle exactly the same way, without seeing her eyes.
“Madame Lesage,” I heard a voice say over and over as I started to wake up. It wasn’t until I dared to open my eyes that I saw I’d been dreaming. I wasn’t back on my parents’ farm. I was still in Indochine. In a hospital bed. The voice I was hearing was a doctor’s. But next to him was Victor.
“Oh, thank God,” Victor said, hurrying to my side and putting his arms around me.
“Where did you go?” I said, weeping and holding him, not even acknowledging that I was in a hospital. I knew why, even if he didn’t. “At the station. Where did you go? You and Lucie just disappeared. I was terrified,” I said, my voice muffled as I buried my face into his shoulder.
“Lucie rushed out of the bathroom,” said Victor, releasing me. “She said you were sick and needed help. We went to ask the stationmaster if there was a doctor nearby, as Lucie was very upset, and he said there was, just a block from the station. I went running off to find him, and Lucie came with me. I didn’t realize until I reached the doctor’s office that she was right behind me. She should have gone back to you, but she followed me. When we returned to the station with the doctor, you were gone. Up and vanished. We were looking for you everywhere, all over the city. We were traveling by taxi and pousse-pousse because Lanh was gone, too. Lucie was extremely upset. But then, luckily, we were at the station again, fetching our bags, when Cam came to explain. We’ve been at the hospital now for hours. All day.”
“All day?” I repeated. “How long have I been here?”
“About eight hours,” said the doctor, pushing his glasses up his long, thin nose. “It’s nearly midnight and you came in a bit after four. You were awake for some of it, but I don’t think you’ll remember.”
I shook my head. I remembered nothing. I looked at his dark brown hair, his tired blue eyes. He did not look the least bit familiar to me.
“I’d like to examine you again now that you are awake, Madame Lesage, but there is a police officer here who would like to speak to you first,” said the doctor. “May I show him in?”
“Of course,” I said weakly. When the doctor left, Victor reached for my hand and whispered, “Lanh told me everything.”
I nodded, gripping his hand harder.
“But don’t tell this policeman a thing,” he added, before greeting the uniformed man as if they were old friends. “Better if we take control of the situation ourselves,” he whispered. “My uncle, I’m sure, would prefer it.”
When the policeman had gone, I turned to Victor and for the first time noticed that he’d grown older. He did not look like the carefree boy whom I’d met at Maxim’s; he looked like a man who had seen quite a bit of the world, not all of it good. He had slight lines at his eyes, and his lips seemed thinner, less inclined to smile.
“Victor,” I said, turning to my side. “Who are Anne-Marie de la Chaume and Cao Van Sinh?”
He thought for a minute and then sat on the side of my bed in his wrinkled clothes.
“Anne-Marie de la Chaume? I haven’t thought about her in years. She’s a cousin of mine, distant, on the Michelin side. I believe she went crazy a few years ago. And the other name? What was it?”
“Cao Van Sinh,” I repeated.
“A native man? Did he work for us? I don’t know. I don’t recognize that one.”
“Marcelle said you would know it. She said that the Michelins ruined their lives. Trieu said that it happened several years ago, perhaps before Marcelle and Arnaud came here.”
“I know who he must be then,” said Victor after a pause. “I had forgotten about this family stain but you saying her name has jarred it back. Anne-Marie fell in love with a native man. Cao Van Sinh must be him.”
“You have a cousin who fell in love with a native man? A Michelin cousin?”
“I do,” he said. “I’d forgotten, but at the time it did cause quite a stir.”
“Where is she now?”
“I have no idea. France, I imagine. Though she could be anywhere. From what I heard, she lived a life devoid of boundaries.”