29
Nancy hung around at Christa and Ingrid’s until 11 pm, thinking that if there was any news, Ingrid was more likely to be informed first as she was Dieter’s wife.
Olivia and Pierre had already gone to bed when Nancy got home.
She gulped down a large glass of Olivia’s wine in a bid to make herself tired. But it didn’t work. After a restless night, she finally gave up trying to sleep at 7 am and got dressed.
She headed down the stairs to Hans’ flat in case he’d returned overnight. She knocked several times on the door. There was still no reply.
She was just about to head back upstairs when she heard footsteps below. Don’t get too excited - they sound like a woman’s. Ingrid appeared on the landing. Judging by the dark circles under her eyes, she hadn’t slept either. ‘Any news?’ Nancy asked.
‘No, I was hoping you would have heard something.’
‘Nothing at all.’
‘I’m going to call in sick,’ Ingrid said. ‘I haven’t slept, so it’s not an untruth. I’ll phone around the hospitals later.’
‘Let me know if you hear anything,’ Nancy said, giving her a hug.
Olivia was making coffee when Nancy walked back into the flat. ‘Still no Hans?’
‘No. And Ingrid hasn’t heard from Dieter either. Do you think we should report them missing?’
‘I doubt the police will do anything until they’ve been gone for more than 24 hours.’
‘Which will be lunchtime for Dieter,’ Nancy said.
‘Are you going to work?’
‘I may as well. Hans will come looking for me there if he wants to find me.’
Later that morning, Madame Dubois cornered Nancy in the back room of the shop. ‘Will you be alright with Monsieur Laurent this afternoon? You’ve been drifting around the shop like a wet weekend all morning.’
‘I’m sorry I’ve been distracted. Hans has gone missing.’
‘Have you fallen out with him?’
‘No. We’ve been getting on really well. His friend Dieter has gone AWOL too.’
Madame Dubois looked concerned. ‘Have you checked the hospitals in case they’ve been injured? The way everyone drives round here, I’m amazed more people don’t get run over. ’
‘Dieter’s wife has already phoned around. She popped in just now to tell me. There’s no sign of either of them.’
‘It must be worrying, but I’m sure there will be a simple explanation. What about his employer - have they heard anything from him?’
‘I don’t actually know who his employer is.’ Which sounded ridiculous given how close they’d become. Hans still avoided talking about his work.
‘You could report him missing?’
‘Olivia thought it was too soon.’
‘Possibly. If you want to take this afternoon off I can always phone Monsieur Laurent to ask him to rebook?’
‘That’s very kind of you but I’ll be fine. It will take my mind off it.’
After she left the bookshop at the end of the day, Nancy looked into the café opposite, hoping that Hans might be sitting there ready to surprise her. But there was no sign of him.
He might have gone directly to the Bois de Boulogne?Her inner voice was more optimistic than she was today. She headed to the park, but there was he wasn’t at their usual cafe either. One of the waiters came over to her.
‘Have you seen Hans?’ she asked.
He shook his head. ‘Not since you were here two days ago. Your usual?’
‘No thanks. I better not stay.’
He looked at her sympathetically. He was probably thinking they’d had some sort of argument.
‘Hopefully, we’ll see you both tomorrow,’ he said kindly.
‘Hopefully.’
Nancy hurried back to her apartment building. She checked the postbox - it was empty. She ran up the stairs to Hans’ flat and banged on the door. Still no reply. ‘Where the bloody hell are you?’ She shouted in frustration, leaning her head against the door.
She heard Olivia’s voice call out to her over the bannister. ‘Ingrid and Christa are here.’
‘There’s no news, though,’ Olivia added when Nancy looked up expectantly.
‘What do we do now?’ Nancy asked as she walked into the living room.
‘I went to the police station this afternoon and reported them missing,’ Ingrid said.
‘What did they say?’
‘They took all the details and said they’d be in touch if they heard anything. So I guess we just have to wait.’
‘I’m not very good at waiting,’ Nancy said as she took the cup of tea Olivia offered her. ‘I wonder if Madame Morceau would let us into Hans’ flat? There might be a clue there.’
Or Hans lying there unconscious or worse. Why didn’t you think of that yesterday?
‘You could ask. She can only say no.’ Olivia said.
‘I’ll come with you,’ Ingrid offered.
She followed Nancy downstairs and across the courtyard to the concierge’s tiny lodge.
Madame Morceau was sitting by her window. She opened her door. ‘Oui?’
Nancy explained the situation. ‘Please could you let us into his flat so we can check if Hans is there?’
‘He’s not there,’ she said.
‘But you don’t know that for sure.’
‘I do. The flat is empty apart from the basic furniture that belongs there. A woman came to take away his things this morning.’
‘What woman?’
Madame Morceau shrugged. ‘I didn’t ask her name. She had the necessary paperwork. She was from the company that rented the apartment. They wanted to terminate the rental agreement early. She paid the remaining rent, so I let her in. She left with a suitcase half an hour later. I checked everything was ok in there and locked up.’
‘Did she say why he’d left?’
‘No, and I didn’t ask either. It’s best not to ask too many questions in this job.’
‘What did she look like?’
‘Thirty-ish. Short dark hair, apart from a streak of white at the front. Smartly dressed.’ She sounded exactly like the woman Nancy had seen with Hans in the Louvre all those weeks ago.
‘What’s the name of the company?’ Ingrid asked.
Madame Morceau reached inside her lodge and produced a letter typed on headed paper. Nancy quickly read it. The letter requested that the rental agreement be terminated exactly as Madame Morceau had said. The company name was Fischer Exportations. She’d never heard of them, but their address was near the bookshop.
She showed the letter to Ingrid. ’It’s too late to go there now. No one will be there at this time,’ Ingrid said.
‘We’ll go first thing tomorrow.’