The Handyman (Chambre Noir Book 1)

by Susan Finlay

  “You look beautiful,” he said. “I wanted to tell you when I was in the bakery this morning, but didn’t want to embarrass you in front of your other customers.”

  She blushed. “Merci. How are Paulette and Charles getting on?”

  “Okay, I guess.”

  They ordered their meals, and then he mentioned the dog’s reaction to Charles and filled her in about the lunch incident.

  “Are you suspicious of him?” she asked, looking concerned.

  “I don’t know. I suppose these days I’m becoming suspicious by nature, and he doesn’t seem to be the easiest guy to get to know.”

  “Yes. Perhaps it is wrong of me, but I’m worried he may have come back with us just to make sure he’s in his mother’s will. It sounded like he needs money.”

  Josh nodded. Although his intentions were to do something good for Paulette, maybe he was really only helping Charles, and perhaps inadvertently hurting Paulette. Damn. People are so complicated, so hard to trust in their good intentions. Changing the subject slightly, remembering another point he wanted to discuss with her, Josh said, “I think we need to talk to Paulette in private. That diary you translated brings up questions about whether she has another child.”

  “I too have been wondering about that. It’s quite possible she has another offspring.”

  VANESSA GASPED WHEN Josh and that young woman walk out of the café. She didn’t realize until then that they were back in town. That woman gazed up at him like he was a god. How dare she! Joshua Clayton was her boyfriend. She stormed across the street and blocked their path.

  “Aw crap! Why are you still here?” Josh asked.

  “We need to talk. In private.” She glared at the other woman, giving her the most intimidating look she could muster, and she had plenty of experience, since photographers constantly coached her on emotions to show for the camera.

  “I—I should go,” Isabelle said. “We can talk later, Josh.”

  She turned and rushed off, the little man stealer.

  Vanessa held her smile inside. Yes, she still had the power.

  “I have nothing to say to you, except GO HOME,” Josh said.

  “Well, maybe you don’t, but I have news for you. We can go to my hotel room. You might not want your friends to hear what I have to say, and if anyone else in this town overhears, they’ll gossip. I know. I’ve been hearing gossip all over this little backwater dump ever since I arrived.”

  Josh sighed, clenched his jaw, but nodded.

  She smiled to herself. She had him right where she wanted him. She grabbed hold of his left arm and sidled up close to him, guiding him to the hotel. Pulling open the door with her free hand, she led him inside where two guests stood together, talking.

  Madame Laroche looked over at Vanessa and Josh, her eyes widening in surprise when she saw them, but then quickly averted her eyes. Oh, yes, let her spread this tidbit. That other woman will know she’s lost this competition.

  Vanessa pulled Josh up the stairs. It was like pulling a cat on a leash, never wanting to go where it was supposed to. Outside the hotel room, Josh anchored his feet and no matter how hard she pulled, he wouldn’t budge.

  “Come in. I won’t bite.” She gave him her flirtiest smile, the one she knew always turned him on.

  He closed his eyes, waited several seconds, then opened them and walked a couple steps closer to the doorway, with the same look she’d seen him give when he’d gone to the dentist to have a wisdom tooth pulled. After that appointment, he’d told her he never wanted to go to the dentist again.

  Go ahead and try to resist me. I know you. You can’t do it.

  Vanessa settled on the bed, lying sideways, and patted the spot beside her. “Come here.”

  “No. Tell me what’s going on.”

  She pouted and tried again, patting the bed.

  No response.

  “Oh, all right. But you might want to sit down.” She hesitated. He still hadn’t budged from the doorway. “You really should come inside and close the door behind you.”

  He shook his head. “Come on, let’s get this over with. What do you want to tell me?”

  She gave another pout—her best—the pout that always worked on Josh.

  He sighed and entered the room, closing the door behind him and leaning against it. “Now, get this over with.”

  Okay, not what she wanted, but it was a start. “Josh, darling, I—we—are going to have a baby.”

  His mouth twisted. “What? Yeah, like I’m going to believe that crap. I’m not stupid and I know you’re desperate. Go try that line on my father in a few weeks. Maybe he’ll divorce my mother and marry you, or maybe he’ll just pay you to go away.”

  “I’m serious. I took a pregnancy test in Paris and then confirmed it at a medical clinic. I’m six weeks along. You know they count from the date of the last period, don’t you?”

  “I’m not buying it. I know you, and I know you’ll say whatever you think it’ll take to get what you want.”

  “No. Look here.” She pulled her last two packets of birth control pills out of her purse. “See here.” She held them up. “I couldn’t understand how it could have happened, but when I looked back at these, I realized I’d missed a couple of days, back when we were getting ready for the trip and while we were en-route to France—running around, last minute tasks, the time change, lack of sleep, you know how crazy it was.”

  His forehead creased and his eyes moved around slightly, obviously processing what she’d said and calculating the days. Then he sighed and unfolded his arms. He turned around suddenly and walked out the door, closing it behind him.

  Hah! He did not look at all happy, she smirked to herself.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  JOSH STAGGERED UP the hilly trail, eyes barely able to focus. Another bomb had just been dropped in his lap. Wasn’t catching his fiancé and dad together enough? He felt like his life had fallen apart and some giant foot had stomped on the pieces. Even going to work for Paulette was another nail in his coffin. Finding a skeleton in her home? Geez, what part of being a handyman was that covered under? What did he do to deserve this? Almost losing his footing, he decided he should try to calm himself and pay attention to his footing. A wrong step in this particular area could cause him a disastrous fall, but did it matter? Falling might be a blessing. If he broke his neck, he wouldn’t have to face any more of the crap. With my luck, I wouldn’t kill myself, just break something and become a cripple.

  Vanessa, if she really was pregnant, could manage on her own. Hell, she’d always told him she didn’t want kids until she was too old to model. Her daddy would take care of her and make it all better, like he always did.

  His parents still had his sister and her family, so they had each other.

  Paulette had her son to take care of her now, and she didn’t really care if she found out the truth about who killed Franco.

  Isabelle. Well, maybe it was possible she truly needed him. In the short time they’d known each other, she really seemed to come out of her shell—at least stuck her head out. She seemed to be making real progress.

  He stubbed his toes on some big ass rock and screamed in pain. Damn, damn . . . damn. Hobbling over and plopping down on a nearby boulder, he yanked off his shoe and rubbed his foot until the pain began to subside. He leaned forward, no longer able to hold back his anguish and the pain. Tears streamed down his face, he held his sides, and sobbing filled the air. “Oh, God, oh God” — he kept saying, over and over, praying for it to all go away. What am I supposed to do? But no one was there to see him, no one was there to care.

  After what seemed like an hour, red-eyed and sniffling, bone weary and drained, Josh picked himself up and began trudging on to the troglo. Still, his mind would not leave him alone, dragging him over and over back to Vanessa’s words. Would he have to marry a woman he no longer trusted? He wasn’t even physically attracted the woman anymore. If anything, the sight of her made him slightly ill. Physical attribu
tes aside, he didn’t love her anymore. Maybe he never had. He’d loved the idea of being engaged to a sexy model.

  Him a father? Of course he’d always figured he would want kids someday, but now? Diapers, two a.m. feedings, crying. He shuddered.

  His phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket and checked the caller I.D. It was Isabelle. Can’t talk right now. Need time to think. Even if he did feel like talking, it would not be fair to drag Isabelle into his nightmare with Vanessa. If he were back home, he would talk to his mother, but he couldn’t really do that, now, could he? Not after what had happened in Paris. Then he thought about Paulette. Paulette has almost ninety years of life experience. She might have some advice for a dumb kid like me.

  The troglo was quiet as he entered. The pups were all asleep in their make-shift bed. Paulette was snoring in her chair. Gigi, at Paulette’s feet, raised her head, then recognizing Josh, wagged her tail once, then went back to sleep.

  Josh walked around the house, looking for Charles, but didn’t see him anywhere.

  “Oh, Josh-you-ah, you’re back,” Paulette yawned and said as he approached. “Did you have a nice lunch with Isabelle?”

  He nodded. “Where’s Charles? He still hasn’t returned?”

  “He came back shortly after you left and we talked a bit. He went into town to see if he could find some of his old friends.”

  Josh sat on the sofa. “Can I talk to you about something?”

  “Certainly.”

  He explained what had happened with Vanessa, then sat with his head hung, staring at the coffee table.

  Paulette let him finish his story without interrupting and didn’t respond immediately. He was afraid to look at her. When she finally spoke, her voice was almost a whisper. “Do you believe her?”

  He looked Paulette in the eyes. “I’m not sure. She showed me the pill packets. But that’s not really proof of anything. Part of me says she’s lying, doing anything she can think of to lure me back. She’s knows I’m not the type of guy who would abandon a pregnant woman.”

  “But you aren’t sure she’s lying?”

  “No. We had a scare last year. She’d been ill with the flu for several days and hadn’t taken her pills then, because she’d forgotten. It happens.”

  “Back when I was a teenager, we didn’t have contraceptives. Many girls got caught and either had to go through an unwanted pregnancy or take a big risk on an abortion. Vanessa has more choices than I did.”

  He remembered what Isabelle had told him about what she’d read in the diary. Up until now, he hadn’t had a chance to ask Paulette about it. “You had a baby that you didn’t want?”

  She nodded, a faraway look in her eyes. “I was seventeen. The war had barely ended. When they found out, my parents sent me away to a convent in Apremont-sur-Allier in Burgundy, because they were ashamed and didn’t want anyone to know I was pregnant. That’s the way it was in those days. On a cold day, the first day it snowed that winter, I gave birth. The 10th of December, 1945. I saw the baby for only a few seconds; never got to hold him. The nuns found a family to adopt him straight away, told me it was for the best.”

  “Did you ever get to see him? After the adoption?”

  She looked directly at him. “I almost forgot. He came here twice. The first time, he showed up at our door and told my husband that he, Andre Rabaud, was my son. That was in July 1964. I remember, because it was an especially hot summer. Anyway, my husband Rene was furious, because I’d never told him about the baby. He screamed at the boy and told him to never come back. There wasn’t anything I could do. For days we argued. Then, one day, less than a week after Andre’s appearance, Rene suddenly died. A heart attack. His longtime friend, Annabelle, always blamed me.”

  “How was it your fault that your husband had a heart attack?”

  “She said that all the stress that I’d caused him triggered it.”

  “Wow, I’m sorry. It’s bad enough losing someone you love, but then to be blamed for it? I can’t imagine.”

  “I often wonder if Annabelle was having an affair with Rene. Why else would he always tell her everything?”

  Josh didn’t want to discuss affairs, so instead he asked, “Does Charles know he has a half-brother?”

  “They know about each other. Charles, seven years old at the time, stood beside me, and we watched Rene chase Andre away. Charles asked me about it later. You have no idea what it’s like, telling your little boy that you gave up his brother. He was stunned. Broke my heart to see that look. I told him that I’d not been allowed to keep my first baby, and he seemed to understand, but I wondered if he ever really did.”

  Unable to come up with a response, Josh sat silently for a few moments. “You said Andre came here another time?”

  “He came back the day after the funeral. He said he’d stayed in town and heard about my husband’s passing. After offering his condolences, he asked if he could come in and talk.” She wiped a tear from her eye. “I was horrid. You have to realize it was terrible timing. I’d buried my husband and felt guilty, that maybe Annabelle was right.”

  “You sent him away?”

  She nodded and blew her nose. “I treated him even worse than Rene did. I shouted that he was the son of a Nazi and I’d never wanted him.” Her eyes pleaded with Josh for forgiveness and she wiped her cheeks with another hanky from her pocket. “How could I have been so cruel?”

  Josh’s mouth dropped open. He shut it before Paulette noticed, but he couldn’t have been more stunned. On his second day here, he and Paulette had talked about this sort of thing happening during the war. She’d told him then that it hadn’t happened to her.

  She straightened her clothes, which didn’t really need straightening, taking a moment to gather herself. “Well, enough about me. Getting back to your problem, if I were you, I’d want proof of the pregnancy. Like you said, she may have missed some pills by accident, but that seems an odd coincidence. If she is really pregnant, who is the father? Do you know it is you?”

  “Well, that’s a good question. I’m not sure if a paternity test would tell whether I am or my father is.”

  “Those pill packets don’t mean anything. I would go with her to a doctor and find out for sure if she’s pregnant. Not one of those little home tests I hear about. Get the answer straight from the doctor. My guess is, she will change her story, rather than go to a doctor with you. That should tell you all you need to know.”

  “Thank you, Paulette. I’m glad I have you to give me advice.”

  She smiled, leaned over and patted his hand. “Guess my wild living has taught me a few things. Too bad I had to wait until I was eighty-eight before those lessons sunk in. Would have saved me some heartache, too, if I hadn’t been so thick-headed.”

  He nodded.

  She continued. “I remember being told that back in the seventies, girls used to sneak their mothers’ birth control pills. They would replace them with baby aspirin.” She smiled. “You’d be surprised how many late-in-life surprise pregnancies there were.”

  “I’ve never heard about that before,” Josh said.

  “Oui, well, I’m glad I didn’t have daughters.”

  Josh thought again about her first son. “Hey, what do you think happened to Andre? He never came back or tried to contact you again?”

  “Non. He looked pretty shaken.” She paused and seemed to be somewhere else. “I barely remember his face, only that he was a good-looking eighteen-year-old lad, with blond hair and blue eyes like his father. Not much of me in his appearance.”

  “You’re sure he was who he claimed to be?”

  “I guess I can’t say for sure.” She shook herself and pursed her mouth. “If that man came here now and said he was my son, I would certainly demand proof, but I was stupid back then. Of course I was emotionally wrought after Rene’s death, but I was gullible, too.” She gave a half-smile. “Gullible can get you into lots of trouble. Mark my words. Don’t let that happen to you.”

  �
�Good advice. You know, I had another thought. What if he came back here without you knowing and—” Unsure if he was out of line, he hesitated.

  “You’re thinking he may have killed Franco? Why would he do that?”

  “It’s probably nothing, but what if he came here to kill Charles and killed Franco by mistake? He might not have known Franco lived here.”

  Her brows pulled together. “I don’t understand. Charles never did anything to Andre. Why would he want . . . ? Oh, I think I see where you’re going. Charles had the life that he, perhaps, thought should have been his.”

  Paulette placed her hand over her mouth, covering her surprise. “If that’s the case, and he learns that Charles is still alive, Charles could still be in danger.”

  Josh leaned forward and put his hand on her knee. “I really doubt it. Chances are, Andre is long gone from this area, if he’s even still alive. But don’t worry, Charles is going back home tomorrow morning anyway, remember? He told us he has to get back to his farm because he has a shipment arriving tomorrow afternoon.”

  “Oh, oui, I forgot.”

  Josh glanced at his watch. “I guess I should go back to town and talk to Vanessa. Now that I’m calmed down and have a game plan, I feel a lot better. Maybe we can talk more, later, when I come back.”

  “Good luck. I’ll probably just take another nap. All this excitement is wearing me out.” She coughed, reached down to pat Gigi’s head, then pulled her throw blanket up around her shoulders.

  When he arrived at the hotel, he stopped at the desk and Madame Laroche told him Vanessa had gone out. She didn’t know where to, or when she would return.

  He tried calling Vanessa, but his call went to voice mail. He ended the call, rather than leave a message. Seeing her face when he made his demand was too important.

  Without really thinking, he wandered around and found himself outside the bakery. He pulled his phone back out and auto-dialed Isabelle, who picked up right away.

  “I’ll buzz you in,” she said.