The second bridesmaid walked up the aisle. In a moment it would be their turn. The organ swelled.
“For the iron supplements. The blood test shows I’m anemic … wait.” She punched up the phone’s volume. “What did you say?”
“You’re pregnant, Madame Leduc.”
“But there’s some mistake.” She spoke loudly over the organ, which struck a loud chord and then paused between verses.
“No mistake. You’re pregnant,” the lab technician shouted, his voice blasting in the suddenly quiet stone vestibule.
The phone and the flowers fell to the stone floor. “Pregnant?”
Everyone turned.
René swooped the bouquet back up and tucked the phone into her beaded clutch. He pulled her down and kissed her. “I’ll plan the baby shower.”
The organ strains rose, filling the church.
Beads of perspiration popped on Morbier’s forehead. He took her arm and turned her toward the chapel. “Alors, Leduc, pregnant? You listened to me for once.”
Now he wanted to claim credit?
“A baby? Me, barefoot in the kitchen?” she shot back in a whisper as her two escorts led her down the aisle. “I don’t think so.”
Morbier smiled. “You’ll do it your own way, Leduc, like you always do.”
Acknowledgments
MY HEARTFELT THANKS belong to so many: Dot; Max; Barbara; Jean Satzer; Grace and Lillian; Mary and Susanna von Leuven; Keith Raffel from the Valley; Dr. Terri Haddix, medical pathologist; Jean-Luc Boyer, Commandant de Police Chef de la Documentation; Corinne Chartrelle, Commandant E.F. Chef Adjoint of the DCPJ-OCBC (Office Central de lutte contre le trafic des Biens Culturels); Stéphane Thefo and Jeanette Kroes of the Criminal Intelligence Office, Works of Art Unit, Drugs and Criminal Organizations Sub-directorate I.C.P.O. at INTERPOL; Catherine Driguet, retired veteran of the Brigade Criminelle; Arnaud Baleste, veteran of the Brigade Criminelle; Thomas Erhardy of the BRB, Brigade de Repression de Banditisme; Andre Rakoto, Chef de Cabinet, Service historique de la Défense, Chateau de Vincennes; Olga Trostiansky, adjointê Maire de Paris; the brilliant collector Peter Silverman; Adrian Leeds; Carla Bach; Benoit Pastisson; Jim Haynes for sharing his kitchen, his friends and his heart; Natalia Rublevko; Madame Fauvette; Karen Fawcett; Cathy Nolan and Emilie la chat; Svetla; Valeria Pavlova; Julie McDonald; Ariane Levery; encore Naftali Skrobek; Sarah Schwartz, who insisted I write about her ‘ood’; Agnes Varda on rue Daguerre; Alice Barzilay; Gilles Thomas.
This book wouldn’t have been written without the help of plotmeister James N. Frey; Bronwen Hruska, my wonderful publisher, and everyone at Soho; my editor extraordinaire, Juliet Grames; and the support of Jun and my son, Tate.