Rider on the Rain by Sébastien Japrisot

Author:Sébastien Japrisot
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Gallic Books
Published: 2021-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

19

Awalnut, thrown with great force, breaks in half against the glass of a French window in Mellie Mau’s house. Alone in the living room, Dobbs picks up the pieces and begins to eat the kernel as he listens to the young woman coming hesitantly downstairs.

He is sitting on a sofa.

Near him, a glass has been poured from the whisky bottle standing open on a low table. They are the first things Mellie sees when she enters the room. She has taken off her jacket. In one hand she holds the money her husband gave her the evening before.

Ignoring Dobbs, she goes straight to the full glass. She picks it up and takes a large swallow, of her own accord. She coughs, but drinks some more.

Dobbs watches her suspiciously.

DOBBS: You’re starting to like it?

MELLIE: My mother says it helps you forget.

DOBBS: Forget what?

MELLIE: That men are bastards. (Casually.) She knows what she’s talking about. When it comes to alcohol and adultery, she’s unbeatable.

She throws the money she holds in her left hand at Dobbs’s feet. And standing there, she swallows another mouthful of whisky.

MELLIE: Except that she’s the one who was cheating on my father. (Turning towards Dobbs.) Well, Mr Dobbs? Pick it up!

If he is annoyed, he does not show it. He simply leans down and gathers up the banknotes. He pulls the other three bundles from his pocket and puts them all together.

DOBBS: You’re paying cheaply for this murder, Love Love.

MELLIE: I’m paying to have my husband left alone, and nothing more.

The bundles of notes from the bank are secured with pins, which Dobbs removes and lets fall to the carpet.

DOBBS: Come on! Why should you be afraid for your husband?

MELLIE: Until he comes back, I have no idea. I’m buying time from you, Mr Dobbs.

He looks at the money he holds in his hand, weighing it on his fingertips. Then he throws it at Mellie’s face. The banknotes scatter all over the carpet, around the startled young woman.

DOBBS: It’s your turn to pick it up! (And when she does not move.) Pick up that money and keep it! … Do I look like the sort of man who would take a woman’s housekeeping money from her?

There is so much anger in his voice that Mellie sets down her glass and obeys. While she is bending over to gather up the money, he pulls the photo of Tony from his jacket pocket, strikes a match, and sets the picture on fire.

She watches him do this. She stands up, slowly, not believing her own eyes.

MELLIE (sincerely): I don’t understand anymore, Mr Dobbs.

He drops the burning photograph into an ashtray.

DOBBS (cross): I’m not a blackmailer!

MELLIE: But then, who are you?

He moves towards her with that feline grace he has. He is wearing his cat smile again. His voice becomes friendly, terribly friendly.

DOBBS: Your partner, Love Love.

She understands less and less.

DOBBS: I’ve been chasing Sacchi for more than a week now. I’ve crossed all of France and quite a bit of Germany to find him.

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