it out. Then, I don’t know what happened. I closed my eyes for a few seconds, perhaps a minute at most, and when I opened them, Lucie was gone. I ran out to find her, but she’s not anywhere in the station—and I’ve looked everywhere—and neither is my husband, Victor, who was supposed to wait for us right here.” I slapped the bench we were sitting on. “He’s not here sitting where he’s supposed to be waiting for me, and Lucie’s not anywhere, either. I’ve been running all over the station for fifteen minutes now, but I can’t find them. I’m alone, and we are going to miss our train to Vinh. We have to meet Victor’s cousin. It’s a very important trip, and now he and Lucie have disappeared. They’re gone!”
The stationmaster nodded and looked at me, not unkindly but blankly, as if he had failed to follow me.
I stared back at him, thinking that perhaps I had mistaken idiocy for kindness.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” I blurted out. “Don’t you understand me? Don’t you understand?” I knew I sounded horribly rude, but I needed him to help me.
He shifted slightly but said nothing, and instead of crying again, I dropped my gaze to the gold nameplate on his jacket. Pham Van Dat. After nearly two months in Indochine and many hours waiting for trains, greeted each time by the same stationmaster, I had never bothered to learn his name.
“Monsieur Dat, I beg you,” I said quietly. “Please help me find them. We have to meet Victor’s cousin tonight. We must have already missed the morning train, but perhaps there is one later today? We must be on that one. Together. Please help me find them.”
“You say that you are looking for your husband and daughter? Victor and Lucie Lesage?” he said slowly.
“Of course!” I bellowed. “You just greeted us outside a half hour ago! Who else would I be looking for?”
He shook his head and laced his hands together. “But madame, I’m afraid you’re mistaken,” he said, meeting my gaze. “I did greet you a half hour ago, as you said, but it was just you in the black car. Just you and your chauffeur. There was no husband and child. You were alone.”
Alone.
It couldn’t be. The stationmaster was mistaken.
“No, Monsieur Dat. You are mistaken,” I said, shaking my head. “Of course they were with me. We are all journeying to Vinh together, as I said. To see Victor’s Michelin cousin. A young but important one. He and his wife—she’s from the La Trémoille family—they are nhan vat quan trong,” I said, using the Annamese words for notable persons. “Victor, Lucie, and I—we are all here in this station somewhere. We came here, together!”
He shook his head again. “Madame, I saw the black car from my perch outside just thirty or so minutes ago,” he said. “And even when it was still moving, I saw you and your red hat inside. I knew when I saw the hat that it was you, as I’ve seen you wear it before, on more than one occasion. And Madame Lesage,” he finished up, his spine straightening, “do not think me rude, but I am sure it was you getting out of the Delahaye car. Alone. You are a difficult person not to notice.” He looked at me with concern and repeated, “I am sure you were alone.”
“That can’t be,” I insisted. “You are not remembering correctly.”
I rested my heavy head in my hands, my vision blurring even more, and closed my eyes. “We traveled together to the station,” I repeated, feeling queasy. “We came inside together. Victor, Lucie, and I.”
I lifted my head with a jerk, propelled by a sudden idea. “Lanh will tell you!” I said loudly. “Please call my tai xe now. I insist. Phone our house. Lanh will have returned. And our servants saw us all off this morning. Please phone them,” I begged. “Ask for Lanh, or Trieu. One of them should answer straightaway.”
“Of course,” he said, standing up.
When he had left, I looked at the restroom, holding my breath, waiting for Lucie to skip out of it. Was she still refusing to sit, afraid to wrinkle her now stained dress? Had they really wandered off? Or had something happened to them? Had they been taken away by force? Everyone knew who Victor was. Our wealth wasn’t what some thought we had, but it was still more than nearly everyone else in Indochine.