those words. Now, she tried to remember the exact conversation.
‘What did she say about Vivienne? She said something in French. Do you remember what those words were?’
Alex also seemed to be trying to retrieve the memory. ‘Remember the swallows? That’s what I think she said. “Souvenez-vous des hirondelles”,’ he reiterated the words in French.
‘What could that mean? Do you think she was signalling something to him? It’s an odd thing to say right before you die. Surely you would plead for your life? It sounds so out of place. Do you think for even a second she was challenging him to kill her? I know it sounds preposterous, but maybe it was a signal between them?’ Sophie speculated.
‘But “remember the swallows”? What could it mean?’
‘I have no idea.’
He reached forward to touch her hand and instinctively she drew it away.
‘Sophie? What’s wrong?’
‘I need time to come to terms with this. Things are happening too quickly.’
‘Do you mean what we’re finding out about Vivienne and Marcus, or between us?’
She glanced out of the window, trying to avoid his question.
‘Sophie, are you having any regrets about what has happened between us?’
‘I don’t know, Alex. I have to be honest with you, I’m struggling with all this new emotion. It’s a lot to take in, and I’m exhausted. I didn’t sleep well last night, you know, realising we would see Frau Strauss today. I think I need to take a step back. Things have happened incredibly quickly between us.’
He took time to respond to her. ‘It has not exactly been the most edifying day for my family, either. Bad enough that my great-uncle was a Nazi. Now I know that he murdered women in cold blood, it’s hardly going to help my cause very much. I was so hoping to take good news to my mother, something positive.’
‘I think I’m going to lie down for a while,’ Sophie decided, finishing her coffee and making her way to the hotel. She was grateful they hadn’t got a room together so she could gather her thoughts. She tried to use the analytical part of her brain to pull all the pieces together and create a different conclusion, but everything pointed to one thing: Marcus had killed Vivienne. But why, if Vivienne was really a Nazi? Just because she made a mistake?
Meanwhile, Sophie knew she wasn’t being totally fair to Alex, but she needed time to think about all this, so she texted him to say she would eat in her room that night, and after a light dinner, she fell asleep in her clothes at around nine o’clock.
She woke up in the middle of the night freezing and changed into her pyjamas, then crawled under the cool sheets. Why had she stopped feeling anything for Alex? Her heart felt numb and cold. Was she being cowardly? Or was she looking for a way out, fearful because of what had happened with Matt, not wanting to move on from her grief?
Sophie tried to keep things in perspective. She would visit Vivienne’s grave out of respect tomorrow, and then go home to London. Had she only been away for a little more than a week? It felt like her real life was an eternity away. She closed her eyes, thinking of her flat and her cat, and it brought back feelings of warmth to her. That’s what she would do. She would go home and file Alex away as a holiday romance. A fling. A need to move on after Matt. Hopefully it wouldn’t hurt him too much. She had so much going on inside her, she couldn’t possibly contemplate a relationship right now. These thoughts settled her as she went to sleep.
The next morning Sophie felt clearer than she had for days. She dressed and texted Alex to ask him to meet her downstairs for breakfast. When he came down and met her twenty minutes later, it was apparent he had just got out of the shower. He smelled fresh, his blond hair damp and tousled, his blue eyes showing concern.
‘How did you sleep?’
‘Like a log,’ she stated. ‘Yesterday was so hard. I guess my body just needed a good rest.’
Alex sat down, and she noticed he didn’t reach for her hand or hug her or even offer the customary kiss on both cheeks. He was being careful, probably allowing her to dictate their interaction. He had obviously given some thought to their relationship after what she’d told him the day before.
‘Sophie, I want you to