Page 21 of The Last Library of Paris

‘Thank you.’ I was chuffed. ‘I’m trained in all sorts.’

‘Shooting?’ Henry sounded interested.

‘Yes.’

‘How about hand-to-hand combat?’

‘That too.’

‘Then I need to be careful around you,’ he said, with a grin.

‘Well, no, you seem nice,’ I said, light-heartedly though I was only half-joking.

‘So you’re saying Valentine …’

‘He needs to watch his back.’

Chapter 5

Frances

Paris

Once he had the right medication, Maurice recovered quickly. When I called on him again just two days later, he was out of bed and sitting up reading in a chair.

‘You look much better,’ I said.

‘I feel like a new man.’

I put the book I’d brought him on the shelf next to the door. ‘As requested.’

‘Merci.’ He smiled at me. ‘If it wasn’t for the books, boredom would finish me off long before my kidneys did.’

‘Well, we can’t let that happen, can we?’

‘Was he with the Resistance?’ he asked. ‘Guy’s friend?’

‘So he says.’

‘You don’t believe him?’

‘He was a bit too pleased with himself,’ I said.

‘True.’ Maurice nodded. ‘But he got the medicine I needed.’

‘Did he charge you a fortune for it?’

‘Actually, he didn’t charge me at all.’

I was surprised. ‘Well, I never.’

Maurice gave me a sly look, swapping from French to his heavily accented but word-perfect English. ‘What do you say? Never judge a book by its cover?’

‘Very clever,’ I said with a chuckle. ‘You’re right. Perhaps I misjudged Monsieur Travers.’

‘Come and sit for a while,’ said Maurice. ‘Tell me what you’re doing today.’

Obediently – after checking my watch subtly – I sat. ‘It’s a big day today,’ I told him. ‘I can’t stay long.’