She heard a muffled voice, hard to distinguish from the increasing loud gnawing of the bulldozer and pealing church bells somewhere. Was it night . . . was it dark? No . . . the men were still working. Or were they working late on the new Métro line?
She opened the door partway and undid the chain. Her foot stuck behind the doorframe and she stumbled.
Clumsy . . . still so awkward!
A breeze sliced by her face and a splintering, cracking noise accompanied it. Her body trembled.
“Salope!” said a man with an accent she couldn’t place. His sour breath hit her in the face. Then a sharp, stinging slap knocked her against the wall.
She tossed the open nail varnish remover at the man and ducked. And then she remembered the match . . . had she put it out? A fire hazard. Stupid.
From somewhere on her right came a yelp of pain.
Her arms were grabbed, then she felt a sharp shove in her back. Hard. She was airborne. Flying across the room. Good thing she’d flung her arms out to break her fall. Instead, they caught on a cold metal grille over cool fresh air.
The window was open.
She screamed. Panic overwhelmed her. A hand covered her mouth, then another big push shoved her hips over the grille. She tried to hook her legs onto the smooth metal, to cling to the bars. The next push and her legs went over. Blood rushed to her head. Good God . . . couldn’t someone see her from the street?
She screamed again. And again. The air was chilly. Dank with humidity. Was it night?
The scraping of the bulldozer in the street sounded close. Too close. She was hanging halfway out the window.
Why didn’t anyone see her or hear her? Was it dark? Or the bulldozer too loud?
Terror flooded her. Her fingernails scratched wood and she dug in, hugging what had to be the outside shutter. Clinging for dear life, her feet scrabbled, slipping and scraping the stone.
She had to hold on. Her fingers burned from the abrading stone. Her silk pajamas flapped in the wind. She couldn’t climb back into the room. She would have to take her chance with the concrete below. How far below?
“Help me!” she yelled once more.
Couldn’t anyone hear her? Each time she scrabbled her legs for purchase, her knees hit something hard. Somehow she found a toehold with her bare feet in the metal grille guard.
She kept screaming for help. Why didn’t anyone notice?
And then she became aware of gray fog, like a steamy vapor, crossing before her. And it felt so natural . . . because it was. She saw the fog from the Seine.
Her pulse leaped!
She blinked over and over. She could see. Furred yellow globes appeared and she realized they must be streetlamps. A foggy, grainy quality overlay what seemed a dark hulk of trees and what had to be car headlights on the street below. Dots of red and orange lights bordered the bulldozer.
And then darkness descended. It was gone.
She swung her leg on top of what felt like a stone ledge, reached out, and pulled herself up. Was this another window? Powderlike soot and crumbling concrete bits came back in her hand. What felt like a tin gutter was below her feet. She stepped onto it. It skidded and came loose. She grabbed at the nearest thing, some kind of rough weatherbeaten molding, and held on, trying to find the windowsill. Somewhere, a window slammed shut. She heard smashing and a crashing noise.
She felt a thick rock slab and then an indentation, like a little vest-pocket balcony. Nothing more. Merde. On her knees crawling now, and nowhere to go. Except to back up. Scarier than inching forward. Her hands, bloodied or wet from the moist railing, slipped. She smacked into a stone wall and clutched a shutter. A creaking and a ripping noise came and she clung for dear life.
Her hands slipped . . . how far were the cobblestones below? She’d never know because she wouldn’t be able to see the ground rushing up at her. Her heart hammered. She didn’t want to die.
Where was Mimi’s room? There had to be a ledge. All buildings had ledges under the windows. Didn’t they?
Wind whipped around her legs. Her fingers throbbed. If the building was as old as the Quinze-Vingts there’d be stone cornices. Where were they?
She felt rusted pipes, grabbed them and hugged the façade. Wires snapped off in her hand and she lost her balance. Her leg slid, then her foot jammed against sharp roof tiles. Fear flared up in her. She couldn’t hold on any longer.
“Somebody help!”
She heard a voice.
Raising her leg, she kicked as hard as she could. A wooden shutter banged away and glass splintered. Fine slivers beaded her calf.
“Don’t move, I’ve got a socket wrench aimed at your head,” she heard Mimi threaten.
“Mimi! Help me. Someone’s trying to kill me,” she screamed. “Let me in!”
“But . . .”
“Hurry up, it’s cold out here and I can’t hold on much longer!” Fear clutched her as her fingers loosened. Slipped. This was it. Her life was over. Then a hand pulled hers and her knees scraped over the shutters. By the time she was inside Mimi’s room, she knew what she had to do.
“I must have scared him away,” Mimi said.
“Call building security.”
“Be my guest.”
“Er, how do I do it?”
“The only security we can call is that loafer in the front gate. Try 37 on the wall phone.”
* * *
AIMÉE WAS perched on Mimi’s bed, with a blanket over her feet, when footsteps sounded in the hall. Stopped. Then came a pounding on Mimi’s door.
“Nom de Dieu,” said a high-pitched voice. “Quelle catastrophe!”
Aimée opened the door. “Someone broke down my door and attacked me!”
“But property can’t be destroyed like this.”
Aimée choked.
“Where’s security?” she asked. “Who are you?”
“The Matron, I’m responsible here,” said the woman. “The hospital administration only gives us conditional use. You’ve had some party going on with your hall neighbor, eh? But now you’ve ruined it for us.”
“Don’t you understand? Someone attacked me in my room and could still be there, although he’s probably gotten away by now.”
Aimée knew there were kilometers of corridors, underground links to the hospital, the Chapel and several administration buildings. With people all dressed in scrubs and walking around wearing masks, it would have been easy for her attacker to avoid detection.
“Smashed chairs, broken windows . . .” the matron’s voice trailed off. “Who gave you permission to have a room on this floor?”
“Chantal brought me here. But you don’t understand . . .”
“She has no authority,” said the matron. “I did not authorize you to sign in. We have strict rules. Our funding and insurance depend on upholding them.”
“I heard Aimée screaming and someone thrashing around next door, breaking things,” said Mimi.
“The attacker might still be here,” said Aimée.
“All I see is a mess you created,” the matron said. Aimée heard her sniffing. “What’s that smell? Drugs. . .?”
Did she mean the acetone smell of the lemon nail polish?
“Where’s security?”
“Allez-y, you’re out of here!” the matron said.
Wasn’t she the victim here? But it was hard to argue with an irate woman she couldn’t see. More footsteps came down the hall.
A shiver passed through her.
“What have you done now?” Dr. Lambert’s voice asked.
Where had he come from?
“Luckily I trip a lot, since I can’t see. That’s what saved me or the damage to my door would have happened to my face.”