The Mentor

by Monticelli, Rita Carla Francesca

  Eric looked back at her. He was finding it difficult to react to even the slightest stimuli. He could see Adele turning to him for help, but he had no idea what to do. He didn’t understand her question.

  “Eric!” screamed Adele.

  That finally shook Shaw out of his torpor. “There’s nothing we can do.”

  “Goddamn it, call for help! Go on, move!” she yelled at him.

  After everything Garnish had done, including murdering her ex-husband less than twenty-four hours ago, Adele was still doing whatever she could to save him.

  He felt small and mean for briefly considering letting Garnish bleed to death. Adele was right. He had to call for help.

  He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket.

  In the meantime, Adele had gone over to Dillon’s body and taken the scarf off her neck. She used it to try to stem Christopher’s bleeding.

  “There’s no signal in here,” said Eric.

  “Go outside. I’ll handle this.”

  He glanced at her, unsure. “Are you sure you’ll be okay?”

  Adele looked up at him. Her face was calm, the shock that had paralyzed her not long ago now a distant memory. “Yes,” she said, displaying a small smile. “Go. I’ll wait here for you.”

  She listened to Eric’s footsteps drawing farther away, ringing out as he ran down the metal gangway. It would take him a few minutes to get outside and make the call, longer if he had to go back to Miriam’s car and use the radio.

  Adele turned to look at Miriam. She was still unconscious. Finally she looked Garnish in the face. Their eyes met and she smiled. Then she took her hand off his wound.

  The man’s face contorted.

  “Don’t be afraid,” she whispered kindly. “It won’t take long. Your life will be over soon.”

  The man moaned again, stronger than before. “Please . . . ,” he managed to whisper in a weak voice.

  Adele chuckled. “Who knows how many times you’ve heard other people say that to you? It sucks to be on the other side, doesn’t it?” She leaned in close, bringing her head near his. “You shouldn’t have killed Danny too.” Then she sat up again and put her hands on the scarf covering his wound; only this time she pressed outward with her fingers, pulling the edges of the wound farther apart.

  Garnish emitted a strangled cry as his body contracted, then relaxed. His head rolled to one side, immobile. His eyes were wide open and empty, his mouth half-closed.

  Adele felt her own lungs clamoring for air, greedily fighting a growing sense of breathlessness. Tears glistened on her cheeks while her body convulsed with tremors.

  A coughing sound made her turn around. Miriam!

  She looked at Christopher’s body again. She took the scarf off his wound and abandoned it alongside the body. Then she got up.

  He ran up the stairs and across the gangway, but when he got to the door of the office the only thing he found was Garnish’s dead body.

  “We’re over here,” said Adele, making him turn on one heel.

  Miriam was sitting on the floor, her back against the wall. There was a grimace of pain on her face, but otherwise she seemed okay. At least she was conscious. Adele was kneeling beside her, helping her take off her jacket.

  “Merde! Fais-le lentement! Be careful . . . ,” Miriam said to her.

  “Sorry,” muttered Adele. “I think she’s okay,” she said to Eric, irony in her voice.

  “What happened to Garnish?” He paused again at the criminal’s body. What had happened while he was gone?

  “He lost too much blood.”

  “That son of a bitch must have broken my ribs,” said Miriam. “It feels like my chest is being torn apart every time I take a breath.”

  Adele was opening up her bulletproof vest. There was a bullet lodged in the fabric on the lower part of the vest. “Thank God you were wearing it.”

  “I don’t dash off to play hero without at least a little protection,” said Miriam, glaring at Eric.

  He went over and knelt down by the two women. He couldn’t believe it was over and that they’d managed to get out of it all alive—that he wouldn’t be forced to dig into the past.

  He looked at Miriam, then Adele.

  “Okay, that’s good,” murmured Dr. Steward to himself as he checked the X-rays. “Just a cracked rib. Nothing serious.”

  Miriam snorted noisily, then gave a little moan of pain that was swiftly followed by cursing.

  “However, you absolutely have to rest,” the doctor continued. “For a while you’ll feel pain even just taking a deep breath.”

  “I figured that part out already,” she growled.

  Adele giggled a little and Detective Leroux cast her a baleful look.

  “Don’t worry, doctor,” said Eric. “We’ll take care of her.” He gave Miriam’s head a swift, paternal caress.

  “I’m just sorry I didn’t get a chance to watch that bastard die,” Miriam said.

  The doctor coughed with surprise and gave the other two a perplexed look. “Maybe I can give you something for the pain . . .”

  “Bravo. Finally you understand her,” said Eric.

  But the doctor had already walked away.

  Miriam was okay, better than okay in fact. Eric couldn’t help but smile when he looked at her. He truly loved her like a daughter. When Garnish had shot her, he’d completely lost control. The mere thought that she might be dead had overwhelmed him. He’d felt a need to annihilate that man. For the first time in his life, he’d been consumed by a thirst for revenge, and he couldn’t do anything to stop it. But when he’d seen Garnish lying dead after he’d run outside to call for help, all he’d felt was an enormous emptiness inside.

  Part of him was happy the man was dead, but that subtle sense of satisfaction he’d felt when he pulled the trigger had completely vanished.

  “Darling!” exclaimed a male voice, dragging Eric back to the present. A big blond man around thirty years old was standing at the door to the hospital room.

  “Oh shit! I told you not to come here,” said Miriam, clearly annoyed. She buried her face in her hands.

  “Are you kidding?” said the young man, going over to her and completely ignoring the other two people in the room. He sat down on the edge of the bed, pulled her hands away from her face, and kissed her passionately.

  Eric felt his stomach contract involuntarily. Where the hell had this guy jumped out from? He cleared his throat in an attempt to get their attention, but he had to clear it again, louder this time, before he could get them to pull themselves apart and look at him.

  “Um . . . ,” said Miriam. She was flustered, something rarely seen in the young detective. “Jonathan, I’d like you to meet Eric and Adele,” she said, pointing to them in turn.

  “Hi!” said Jonathan, holding out his hand to Eric.

  Eric stared at the young man, then down at his hand. He had no intention whatsoever of shaking that thing.

  Adele stepped between them, holding her own hand out. “It’s a pleasure,” she said, smiling. She shot a foot out behind her, kicking Shaw. Reluctantly he stood up and shook Jonathan’s hand.

  After that, Jonathan only had eyes for his woman, as if the other two had disappeared altogether. He began caressing her face, then her arms, while leaning onto the bed. “Are you sure you’re okay, my little darling?”

  “I’m fine,” said Miriam, almost resigned to his ardent attentions.

  “I get the feeling we’re two people too many,” murmured Adele.

  Eric pretended he hadn’t heard her and continued to watch the two on the hospital bed. They didn’t seem at all like a couple going through a crisis. He suspected that Miriam had exaggerated a little when she’d told him they’d broken up. Or maybe she was just trying to protect her own personal privacy. That thought hurt a little. He’d always looked out for
her, protected her, but she’d stopped being a little girl a long time ago.

  Now Jonathan was caressing her sides and her stomach, almost as if he wanted to check her out inch by inch. Shaw felt a tug on his arm. He glanced at Adele, perplexed.

  “I think they’d like to be alone,” said Adele, pronouncing her words clearly.

  He gave up. She was right. Eric followed Adele out into the hallway. Miriam and Jonathan didn’t even appear to notice they were leaving.

  Only after he’d gone out through the door and started walking alongside Adele down the hospital corridor did Eric realize just how tired he was. It was after midnight now, and he’d been awake since five o’clock in the morning. He’d just come to the end of what had been his busiest day in decades.

  When they stopped outside the elevator, Adele took his hand and glanced up at him furtively. “You’re behaving just like a crazy, jealous father,” she said.

  “I can’t help it,” said Eric. It was embarrassing to admit.

  “It’s sweet,” said Adele, reaching up and caressing Eric’s jawbone with the index finger of her left hand. “I know a secret, something you don’t know.”

  Secret? What secrets were left now? But from the expression on his companion’s face, Eric could tell it wasn’t bad news.

  “I think Miriam is pregnant.”

  “What!”

  “Haven’t you noticed how she’s got a weak stomach lately, and she’s irritable?” Adele paused for a moment, then continued. “Okay, she’s always been irritable. But more than usual lately.”

  Goodness gracious. Yes, he’d noticed. He’d also noticed her panic attacks had returned, after it had seemed like they’d disappeared for good. Now he knew why.

  “You’re going to be a grandfather . . . Aren’t you happy?”

  “What! No . . . No!” he protested vehemently. A little too vehemently, to be honest. Then he noticed the mocking look in Adele’s eyes. “My son is just fifteen years old. I wasn’t planning on becoming a grandfather anytime soon.”

  Adele laughed out loud.

  Why the heck was he getting angry? After all, it was good news. Eric started laughing too. Then they both stopped and stared in each other’s eyes.

  “I think this time I’m going to take at least a week’s vacation,” Eric said.

  “Will you take me up to your country cottage?” She was giving him that naughty young girl glance, the same one that had made him lose control that afternoon.

  “I will if you behave,” he said, hugging her close. “But first I need to sleep. A lot.”

  “Let’s go home,” she whispered in his ear.

  The elevator doors rolled open.

  “Oh! Hey there!” Jane’s voice was unmistakable. This was the last thing they needed right now. “No, no,” Jane continued, “I don’t want to bother you two.” She stepped out of the elevator and brushed past them, pausing only to wink.

  CHAPTER 15

  SEPTEMBER

  “Okay, okay, now it’s time for my present!” exclaimed Miriam, plopping a red gift down on the tabletop right in front of Eric.

  Today was his birthday, and he’d brought together his entire odd family for dinner: his son, his “adopted” daughter, and his partner Adele. Despite the way their love affair had begun, it was slowly but surely moving forward, with highs and lows and not too much pressure. They’d decided to start by dating, each living at home but taking increasing advantage of opportunities to spend time together and share one another’s interests. They wanted to take time to get to know one another and figure out where they were heading together. If he were being completely honest with himself, Eric felt ready to skip a few steps in this process, but he appreciated her attempts to set limits. This way he felt like he appreciated each individual moment more, which was exactly what they had gathered together to do today.

  Now looking around and seeing himself surrounded with the people he loved the most, Eric felt truly happy. Though he wasn’t the least bit excited to be turning fifty. Surrounded by all these younger people, he felt a little younger himself—and that’s exactly what amused his companions the most.

  He examined the present with an air of suspicion. He picked it up. It felt light. He shook it but couldn’t hear any telltale sounds from within. Whatever lay inside the packaging, it was lodged in tight.

  “Go on, open it!” urged Brian.

  Adele caressed his arm and looked at him with one of her usual enigmatic smiles.

  “How come I’ve got the feeling that everybody knows what’s in here except me?”

  “Eric,” protested Miriam, “stop being an investigator for once and open that goddamned present!”

  Shaw raised both hands in a show of surrender, making everyone there laugh, save Miriam, who stood at his side and glared at him, her hands on her belly, which was just starting to show. His baby girl was about to become a mother herself. It was hard for him to think of her in that role, and he continued to be less than impressed with her boyfriend. When she’d told him she would be coming alone because Jonathan had to work, he hadn’t exactly broken down in tears. He smiled now at that thought, but Miriam’s impatient look told him that now was not the time to make her wait any longer.

  Eric untied the bow and started opening the present, moving with deliberate, studied slowness. Every once in a while he stopped, made a silly grimace, and then started again. Finally he got all the wrapping paper off and found himself holding a box with a smartphone.

  “Oh no, not one of these infernal contraptions!” he groaned.

  “Oh Dieu, le gentil vieil homme . . . ,” echoed Miriam, making everyone assembled burst out laughing.

  “I’m right here, young lady,” he said. “I can hear you, and I can understand you!”

  Miriam finally abandoned her grumpy air and smiled, then gave him a gigantic hug. “Happy birthday!” she said, accompanied with a big kiss on the cheek.

  Eric took the phone out of its packaging and began examining it suspiciously.

  Brian yanked it out of his grip. “You stick your SIM card in here,” he said, pointing to the battery slot, which was empty. He pulled out the battery from its box and removed the back cover for his dad. “Then you close it.”

  Gee whiz, he thought. The kid could already set up a smartphone. “Okay, I think I can take it from here,” said Eric.

  “No, wait. I still have to show you how to set up your e-mail account.”

  “Who picked that phone, you or him?” said Eric to Miriam.

  Miriam and Adele exchanged a mysterious look. Then Adele said, “To be honest, Jane was the one who suggested it.”

  “Oh no. That means she must be preparing a trick of some sort for Saturday.”

  The two women giggled together, obviously accomplices. It was a pleasure to see them like this. They’d never really gotten along together, but over the past few months, once Miriam finally accepted the reality of Eric’s relationship with Adele, they’d practically become friends.

  “Don’t worry. I’m sure the party Jane’s preparing will be a relaxed, easygoing affair,” said Adele. But her reassuring tone did nothing but raise his innate sense of anxiety. What the heck did she have in mind?

  “You know Jane,” he said, followed by the sound of their laughter.

  Later on he wound up alone in the car with his son. He was bringing the boy back home and wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to have a heart-to-heart with him. Lately that seemed all but impossible to organize, since there were always other people around. Even now, when they were theoretically “alone,” that wasn’t really the case. Brian was busy messaging someone on his phone and appeared entirely consumed by his virtual conversation.

  Lord how the boy had grown over the past few months! When the days slipped past one at a time, it was impossible to see the way they grew up, but seeing him just twice a
month made the changes obvious. He’d be turning sixteen soon. He was an adolescent now, and Crystal certainly had her hands full raising him. Being a good parent, the one who hands out presents and has all the fun, was something of an advantage. But if he was honest with himself, Eric had to admit that he often missed parenting full time. He had the feeling that he’d lost control of his son’s life, and that the person now sitting next to him was becoming more and more of a stranger.

  Suddenly Brian burst out laughing. They were stopped at a stoplight, so Eric watched his son sidelong, taking advantage of the opportunity to get a good look at him, his face illuminated by the city lights. There was something in his eyes, a certain kind of mischievousness that Eric knew all too well.

  “Who? Nicole?” Obviously he was messaging a girl. That was the only kind of subject that could get Brian to disappear entirely from the world around him like this.

  Brian’s face reddened, and he shook his head no. It wasn’t Nicole.

  “So it’s someone else, another girl?”

  His son fumbled around with his phone, then showed his father a photograph. It was a close-up of a pretty girl with blond hair and green eyes.

  “Very pretty!”

  The streetlight turned green and the car got moving again.

  “Her name is Claudie. She’s French.”

  “Really? Then I’m guessing your French is improving.”

  “Yeah. Thanks to her. We met on Facebook.”

  “Oh,” was all Eric could reply, taking the opportunity to make a mental note that he should get one of those accounts too. Maybe that way he’d be able to maintain a closer relationship with his son. The thought made him laugh a little to himself. “So you two have never met in person?”

  “Well, no. But we’ve seen each other on Skype.”

  “Oh.” Okay, at least he knew what Skype was, but it would probably be better to change the subject before they wound up in entirely unfamiliar territory.