The Paris Deception by Bryn Turnbull

Author:Bryn Turnbull [Turnbull, Bryn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-03-13T18:51:09+00:00

36

July 1941

Fabienne stepped off the train, crooking her carpetbag on her arm as she lifted her hand to look down the platform. Steam drifted through as she watched a handful of other passengers descend from their compartments and disappear into the station. A moment later, a piercing whistle screeched through the air, and the train lurched onward, leaving Fabienne alone on the platform.

Her heart sank at the realization that Papa hadn’t come to collect her; that despite sending a telegram to her parents two days ago, she would have to make her way to Château Dolus alone. She went into the station and knocked on the stationmaster’s door, hoping for the use of his son’s bicycle, but there was no reply. Disheartened, she snugged the painting she carried beneath her arm and carried on.

Outside, the July sun beamed down on the green fields and stone buildings that made up the outskirts of Bar-sur-Aube, and although she started sweating almost immediately, she didn’t remove her trench coat. Instead, she began to walk toward the far-off steeples of the town square.

A fitting welcome, she thought grimly, given that no one asked me to come.

She crossed the street and passed a garage with a rusting Citroën in the drive, wishing for a gallant young mechanic to emerge from within the building and whisk her away on his motorcycle—but most of the region’s young men had been carted off to labor camps in Germany. No, judging by the state of the car, as well as the petrol shortage that had impacted all of France, the garage hadn’t been open for some time now.

She turned at the sound of hooves clattering on the road. Motorcars might be out of the question, but all a cart needed was a horse and two wheels. Her heart lifted at the prospect of a ride, but then she set down her carpetbag with a thump. Hardly a gallant mechanic, she thought as Sébastien, his tall frame slouched over the reins of the chateau’s elderly horse, Lutin, pulled to a stop.

“Thank goodness,” she said, waving her free hand to dispel a cloud of midges as Sébastien jumped down from the chassis. “I’d started to think that no one had received my telegram.”

He picked up the carpetbag and flung it into the back of the cart. “Had to make another stop,” he said as Fabienne shrugged out of her coat. “And your train was early.”

“Well, I wasn’t in charge of the schedule,” she retorted as she laid the coat gently atop the carpetbag. She circled to the front of the carriage to greet Lutin, pressing her forehead to the horse’s long nose. “Hello, old friend,” she murmured as Sébastien climbed back up onto the seat.

“Are you coming?”

Biting back a snarky retort, Fabienne opened her eyes and crawled up beside him, hugging the painting close to her chest.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.