Chương 11
After several seconds, Anouk crossed the hall beside her mother.
Sabine said, “Hello, Anouk.”
The girl looked at the floor.
They climbed the eastern staircase. A deputy housemistress followed at a respectful distance as official supervision. Elise found herself irritated by the woman’s quiet shoes, then embarrassed by the irritation.
Room twelve smelled of Camille’s strawberry shampoo and the lavender sachets parents placed in uniform drawers. Half of Anouk’s things remained where she had left them: two books beside the bed, a stuffed fox beneath the pillow, pencils arranged by length.
The bottom desk drawer jammed.
Anouk looked at Elise.
“You have to lift and pull,” Elise said.
The girl tried. The drawer opened.
Inside were the arithmetic workbook, three smooth stones, a packet of crackers, and a folded sheet of paper.
Anouk snatched the paper before anyone else could see it.
Nadine noticed. “What is that?”
“Nothing.”
“You don’t have to show me.”
Anouk looked suspiciously at the adults, then unfolded it.
It was a drawing of the reception hall.
The marble floor was represented by pale squares. The desk was a yellow rectangle. A dark figure stood beside a smaller figure in cream. Another figure in gray occupied the space between them.
Above the doorway, Anouk had drawn a black circle.
From the circle, a line extended to a square monitor. Inside the square were two stick figures joined at the wrist.
No police lights appeared.
No folder appeared.
At the bottom, in uneven English, she had written: IT SAW FIRST BUT MADAME HARTMANN SAW ME.
Elise turned toward the window.
Outside, the lake shone between branches. On the path below, two boys argued over a football. One kicked it too hard, and it rolled beneath a hedge. Their quarrel ended because both had to crawl into the wet leaves to retrieve it.
Nadine folded the drawing carefully.
“May I keep this?”
Anouk shook her head.
“That is fine.”
“I want Madame Hartmann to have it.”
Elise faced her.
“You should keep your drawing.”
“Why?”
“Because it belongs to you.”
“I made it for you.”
The deputy housemistress looked away, granting privacy she had not been instructed to grant.
Elise accepted the paper.
“Thank you.”
Anouk placed the arithmetic workbook into a canvas bag. She left the stuffed fox beneath the pillow.
“Aren’t you taking him?” Nadine asked.
“He lives here.”
“You don’t live here now.”
Anouk pressed her lips together.
“Not now,” she said.
The possibility inside those words frightened Nadine. Elise saw it in the way her hand tightened on the bag.
They descended to the reception hall.
Before leaving, Anouk looked up at the camera.
“Can he delete it?”
“No,” Sabine said.
The girl looked at Elise instead.
“The police have a copy,” Elise said. “The school has a protected copy. The investigator has verified both.”
“Can he say it is different?”
“He can say many things.”
“Will they believe him?”
Elise felt Nadine’s attention sharpen.
“Some people might,” she said. “That does not make the recording change.”
Anouk seemed to think about this.
Then she walked through the glass doors.
Sabine waited until the car left the drive.
“You should not have answered a child’s legal question.”
“It was not a legal question.”
“No,” Sabine said. “It wasn’t.”
They stood beneath the camera.
“Dr. Ward found another complaint,” Sabine said.
“Sofia?”
“Two, actually. Sofia spoke to her. So did a former facilities manager.”
“What happened with him?”
“Victor pushed a chair into his path during an argument. He was not injured.”
“Was it reported?”
“To me.”
“And?”
“I told Victor never to behave that way again.”
Elise looked at the headmistress.
Sabine’s face showed no plea for mercy.
“I wrote a private note,” she continued. “I did not place it in the formal governance record because he apologized and the facilities manager asked not to pursue it.”
“Why are you telling me?”
“Because I gave the note to Dr. Ward this morning.”
“What did the board say?”
“They do not know yet.”
“You went around them.”
“I fulfilled the review request.”
“That is a careful answer.”
“Yes.”
For the first time, something almost like bitter humor passed between them.
Sabine looked toward the empty drive. “Victor called me last night.”
“He was told not to contact witnesses.”
“He called as chair of the trust.”
“What did he want?”
“He wanted me to state that his access to the records room was authorized.”
“Was it?”
“Not specifically.”
“What did you say?”
“I said I would confirm his card permitted entry, nothing more.”
“Did he threaten you?”
“He reminded me that the school may become insolvent if the agreement fails.”
“That sounds like a threat.”
“It is also true.”
The headmistress adjusted the cuff of her sweater.
“The bank has given us ten days. The foundation contribution was personally guaranteed through one of Victor’s companies. Without it, the south residence project ends. We may lose deposits already paid.”
“And forty-two scholarship places.”
“Yes.”
Elise imagined those children as numbers first, which shamed her. Then she remembered the current scholarship pupils: Tomas who saved bread rolls in his pockets, Mina who played cello with her eyes closed, twins from Moldova who shared one winter coat during their first week because luggage had been delayed.
“What will the school do?”
“I don’t know.”
“You always know.”
“No. I usually know what can be postponed until I know.”
Sabine turned toward her office.
“Elise, Victor has requested a private meeting with you through counsel.”
“Why?”
“He says he wishes to apologize.”
“Do you believe him?”
“I believe he wishes to speak without a police officer present.”
Elise declined twice.
On the third request, Dutoit proposed a formal mediation attended by lawyers and the independent investigator. Nadine objected to any arrangement that might allow Victor to shape testimony, though the meeting concerned Elise, not Anouk.
Marc advised Elise not to attend.
May you like
Her mother told her to attend and say nothing.
Helen Ward said the choice was hers but warned that Victor might later characterize refusal as hostility.
