By six in the evening, Hubbard had the two death certificates lying side by side on his desk. After studying them for a few minutes, he picked up the telephone and dialed the number David Wiseman had given him. When David answered, he said, ‘Mr. Wiseman? Hubbard here.’
‘Hello, Chief Inspector,’ David said. ‘I didn’t expect to hear from you so soon.’
‘We’ve managed to get copies of your aunt’s death certificate from both the Swiss lawyer and the Family Records Center.’
‘So soon? That’s fantastic!’ David blurted. ‘Was I right about the differences?’
‘Yes, it seems that what you told me earlier was correct. There is definitely a discrepancy between the two documents in the cause of death box. Part of the entry has been obliterated on the Swiss copy.’
‘Then we’ve got a case?’ David asked eagerly.
‘I didn’t say that,’ Hubbard said flatly. ‘We must consider all the options first.’
‘What options?’ Davis asked. ‘The guy changed the death certificate, that’s all there is to it!’
‘Maybe he changed the certificate, or maybe it was a faulty copy. Photocopier machines weren’t as good back then as they are now.’
‘Aw come on, who are you trying to kid?’ David scoffed. ‘We both know how that copy got changed, and it wasn’t by a faulty photocopier! Now, what are you going to do about it?’
Hubbard thought for a moment then said, ‘First thing in the morning, I’m going to take your story and the two certificates to my immediate superior, Commander Mycroft, with a recommendation that we exhume the body and carry out a forensic post-mortem.’
David let out a long sigh of relief. ‘Thank you, Chief Inspector. That’s all I wanted to hear.’
Much later, back in France, by the time Philippe and Alice had finished typing and proofreading the statement and had inserted all the photographs, it was cold and dark. They had been so engrossed in what they were doing that neither of them had noticed the time. As the final version was printing, after being scanned to make it look like a photocopy, Alice rubbed her bare upper arms with her hands and shivered.
‘You are cold,’ Philippe said with concern. ‘Would you like me to light the fire?’
There was a large, stone fireplace at one end of the living room with a pile of logs stacked up next to it. ‘That would be lovely,’ Alice said. ‘I think I’m still a bit chilled from being on that mountain.’
Philippe slipped down the hall into his bedroom, then came back a few moments later carrying one of his own fleece jackets. ‘Here, put this on,’ he said, holding it up so she could slip her arms into it easily.
It felt good. Soft and masculine scented as she turned the collar up and snuggled into it. ‘Thank you,’ she said with a smile. ‘You’re so kind.’
Philippe got down on his hands and knees in front of the grate and set about lighting the fire. ‘While you’re doing that,’ Alice said, ‘I’ll find us something to eat if you like. How hungry are you?’
‘After that lunch,’ he replied, ‘not very.’
‘How about some bread and cheese and a bottle of wine? We could eat it in front of the fire.’
‘That sounds perfect,’ he said as the kindling caught alight and an orange tongue of flame started licking around the logs.
By the time Alice came back into the living room with the food and wine on a tray, the fire had caught hold nicely and the room was lit by the dancing orange glow of the flames. Philippe had moved the big leather sofa around so that it was facing the fire and was sitting with his eyes closed, slouched in one corner, stretching his long legs out towards the flames. Alice pulled a coffee table over in front of the sofa, put the tray down, then sat and poured them each a glass of wine.
‘This is nice,’ she said, spreading some Camembert onto a chunk of baguette.
Philippe opened his eyes and sat up, reaching for his wine. ‘You know,’ he said, ‘I haven’t felt this relaxed for years.’
‘You look tired,’ she said.
‘I feel tired,’ he admitted, ‘and drained. It has been a difficult couple of days, but somehow I feel I have turned a corner.’ He helped himself to some bread and cheese then laid back into the soft leather of the sofa as he munched contentedly.
They ate, sipped their wine and chatted for a while, then Alice took the tray back to the kitchen, tidied up and put what was left of the cheese away in the fridge. When she came back into the living room, Philippe had swung his legs up and was sound asleep with his head resting on one of the arms. She leaned over the back of the sofa and looked at his face, peaceful now, softly lit by the flickering orange firelight. After a few minutes lost in thought, she walked through into her bedroom and came back with a blanket, which she gently tucked around him, letting her fingers rest lightly against his cheek for a moment.
After that, she cleared away their wineglasses and the empty bottle, put the guard in front of the fire, then took herself off to bed. Tomorrow was going to be a long and difficult day.
Chapter 10
Alice slept very badly. Although she wasn’t afraid of him, even after what he’d done to her, she was worried about facing her husband down. Maybe it was because he was so much older than her, or maybe it was his air of seedy grandeur, but whenever they had confrontations he always managed to make her feel like a little girl. Not this time though, Alice told herself over and over again. This time I’m in the right and I’m going to stand up to him. She kept repeating it to herself like a creed until she was convinced that that was how it was going to be.
The other thing preying on her mind was leaving Philippe and this house. The plan was that he would take her to see Ross and would hang around outside until she gave him a sign to let him know she was safe, then he would return home, leaving her in England to sort out her life. He’d been kinder and more considerate to her than anyone had ever been in her adult life, and in the short time she’d known him, she’d become very fond of him indeed. She tried to analyze her feelings, just in case she was misinterpreting her gratefulness towards him, but decided no, she didn’t feel the way she did just because he’d saved her life, it was much, much deeper than that.
She smiled as she lay in bed thinking of him. Although he had a successful business and was reasonably wealthy, he led an extremely simple life. He wasn’t one of those men who live for their work and spend every waking hour at the office. On the contrary, he’d built his business up to a point where it ran smoothly without the need for his continual involvement, so he was free to live out of town in this simple old hunting lodge and spend time in the mountains whenever he wanted. She kept imagining herself living here, married to Philippe, loving him, being his constant companion, giving him the children he so desperately wanted, and that thought gave her strength. If she was ever going to have a decent, normal life, she was going to have to face up to Ross and demand the divorce on her terms.
By six a.m., when the alarm on her watch went off, Alice had firmly resolved in her own mind what she wanted for the future and what she had to do in order to get it. With a steely determination she got out of bed ready to face what she thought was going to be one of the most difficult days of her life. She slipped into her bathrobe and went through the living room into the kitchen to brew some coffee. Philippe was still sound asleep on the sofa so she left him until the coffee was ready, then took a cup through and woke him gently.
Philippe blinked and looked up at her with a lopsided grin. ‘Hello,’ he said sleepily, ‘what time is it?’