Chapter 338: Lying to a Snake

The phone kept ringing.

Aria looked at Damien.

He took his own phone from the pocket of the robe, opened the recorder, and set it on the desk beside hers. Then he answered her call on speaker.

"Hello," Aria said.

A soft breath on the line.

"Bonsoir, Aria."

Low, amused.

Aria’s fingers went cold against the desk. Damien stood behind her chair, one hand on her shoulder.

"You left my message unanswered," Valérie said. "I was hurt."

"I was busy."

"Yes. Buying flowers." A pause. "Rue Saint-Honoré is charming at noon."

Aria fixed her eyes on the cassette player and kept her voice flat. "Is this the part where you threaten me? Because I’ve had a long day."

Valérie laughed. It was a warm laugh, the kind people laugh at dinner parties.

"No threats. Two women, doing business. You have two things of mine."

"Your son eats three meals a day," Aria said. "I’m guessing that’s more than Leo gets."

"Rémy eats too much. It will do him good to miss a few." The voice cooled a degree. "And the other thing?"

Aria looked down. Her coat lay on the floor, the key in its pocket.

"I have it," Aria said.

Behind her, Damien’s hand tightened on her shoulder.

The line went quiet for a moment.

"Describe it."

"No."

"No?"

"You want to see it, you show me Leo first. Alive. Talking. Tonight."

"Proof of life," Valérie said, as if tasting the words. "How American."

"I am American."

A rustle. Footsteps on concrete. A door, a man’s voice in French, and the scrape of a chair across a floor.

"Sister Aria?"

His voice was hoarse and thick, but it was Leo.

"Leo. Hey. Are you okay?"

"Five stars," he said. Something close to a laugh came out of him and broke into a cough. "Is Jade with you? Is she okay?"

"She’s safe. She’s right next door."

"Tell her—"

The sound muffled. The chair scraped again.

Aria gripped the edge of the desk until it hurt.

"There," Valérie said. "Alive. Talking. Very worried about his sister. It’s touching."

"If anyone hurts him again—"

"Then what, chérie?"

The rest of the sentence was gone.

Damien leaned down beside her, close to the phone.

"Then you get your son back the way I get Leo."

A pause. When Valérie spoke again, the amusement had thinned.

"Monsieur Sinclair. I wondered when you would join us."

"Now you know."

"Bring Rémy yourself. I want to see the man who keeps my son in a basement."

"You’ll see me."

"Tomorrow at seven, as agreed. I will send the place one hour before. My son, and the Key." The silk came back into her voice. "And Aria?"

"What."

"Is it heavy?"

Aria looked at the coat on the floor.

"Yes," she said.

"Bon," Valérie said.

(Good.)

[Call ended: 06:14]

Aria watched the screen until it went dark. Then she put her head down on the desk.

"I just told the head of the Vipers I have it," she said. "I don’t even know what it is."

"She believed you."

"She asked if it was heavy, Damien. What kind of question is that?"

"A test."

"Did I pass?"

"She said bon."

Damien dragged the recording back to the moment the door opened and played it again with the phone against his ear.

"What are you listening for?" Aria asked.

"Behind Leo." He played it a third time and held the phone out to her.

Under the scrape of the chair, far off, a ship’s horn sounded twice.

"A port," Aria said.

"Marseille." He was already dialing New York.

"Rémy. Put him on the jet tonight. Marseille by morning."

He hung up, lifted her head, and turned her chair to face him. He crouched in front of it so his eyes were level with hers, took her cold hands between his, and kissed her palms.

"Did I just make it worse?" she asked.

"You got him on the phone. She was ready to hang up on you." He held her eyes. "You did well."

"I’m terrified."

"It’s okay to be terrified." He stood and pulled her up out of the chair and into his arms.

***

Aria pulled the hotel’s second robe over his shirt and knocked on the door across the hall.

It opened before her knuckles left the door. Jade was dressed, shoes on, phone in her fist. Behind her, the bed was still made.

"Was it her?" Jade asked.

"He’s alive," Aria said. "I talked to him."

Jade’s hand went to the doorframe.

"What did he say?"

"He asked if you were okay. That was the first thing."

Jade laughed, wet and furious, and pressed the back of her wrist to her mouth.

"Idiot," she whispered.

Aria hugged her. After a while, Jade stepped back and wiped her face on her sleeve.

"What does she want?"

"Rémy and the Key. Tomorrow at seven."

Jade’s eyes narrowed. "Do you have it?"

"She thinks I do."

"And when she finds out?"

"Then she finds out with Leo already in our car."

Jade nodded. She went back inside and closed the door.

Back in the suite, Damien had moved the cassette player to the middle of the desk. He waited.

"I just bet Leo’s life on something she hid," Aria said. She sat down and pulled the player toward her.

She unwound the cord of the foam headphones, kept the left earpiece, and held the right one out to him. Damien pulled the second chair up beside hers, close enough that their shoulders pressed together, and fitted it to his ear.

Aria pressed play.

Hiss. A click. The thump of a microphone being moved across a table.

A man cleared his throat and said something in French, dry and bored, like someone reading a date off a form.

Then a woman spoke, close to the microphone, in calm English.

"Good morning, Doctor. Shall we talk about Marcel?"

Aria’s fingers closed around Damien’s under the desk.

It was her mother’s voice.