Page 73 of Mountain Summons

André let out another low, pained groan, but none of them gave him the sympathy he was clearly fishing for. And then, as they watched, André’s eyes went wild again. “It’s there,” André rasped, his voice cracking. “It’s still up there … my diamond …”

Lena turned slightly, watching as Lorenz hauled André to his feet and dragged him away to the waiting car, where two gendarmes wasted no time handcuffing him and reading him his rights.

Beau snorted softly. “Yeah, good luck explaining that to the judge.” A pitying look appeared on his face. “There’s nothing up there. The forensic scientists already swept the site. If anything was ever there, it’s long gone.”

Lena leaned into Tristan, exhaustion suddenly slamming into her like a wall. She didn’t care about the diamond. No diamond was worth somebody’s life.

Tristan kissed the top of her head softly, murmuring, “You were amazing.”

She gave a shaky laugh, half on the verge of tears, and turned to face him. His left eye was going black. “I thought he was going to kill you. I’m … not okay with that, Tristan.”

“We’re going to be okay,” Tristan said, and, for the first time, Lena believed it. She shivered. She wasn’t dressed to be out here in the snow, and the adrenaline in her body was draining fast, leaving her lightheaded. “Come on, let me take you home.”

Home. Her father. The break-in. “André told me he was the one to break into my father’s house. He was looking for my photographs, hoping to find some sign of the diamond. We need to tell him.”

“You can tell him yourself. He’s on his way here.”

Lena sighed. “He knows I’m okay?”

Beau nodded. “I’m afraid it’s going to be a long night. We’re going to need statements from both of you.”

Tristan grimaced but nodded. “Of course.”

Lorenz returned, brushing snow off his gloves. When had it started snowing? She watched, half-dazed, as he took off his jacket and handed it to Tristan, who placed it around her shoulders. She immediately felt warmer.

“Thank you,” she said.

Lorenz dipped his head in acknowledgment. “On the bright side, you’re going to have one hell of a story to tell over drinks.”

Lena let out a soft laugh. “I guess we will.” In the distance, blue lights flashed as two more cars pulled up. Her father was in one of those cars, and she wasn’t sure she had the energy to see him right now.

28

Tristan

The 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 youtonight, 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 superiorandLena’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.”

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