The Body In the Vestibule (25 page)

Authors: Katherine Hall Page

BOOK: The Body In the Vestibule

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To the Fairchilds' surprise, the car was not blocked in by others and they set out for the
auberge
a few miles away where they'd arranged to stay. It was a beautiful night, or rather, morning. The sky was clear and filled with stars.

“Happy, darling?” Faith asked her husband.

“Blissfully, now that you are back safe and sound. Don't do it again, Faith, okay?”

“You always say that.” She leaned her head on his shoulder.

He kissed the top of her soft, fragrant hair. “And you never listen.”

Just before dawn, there is a moment of total silence the French call
“l'heure bleue”
âthe blue hour. It is not, strictly speaking, an hour, but a minuteâa minute that seems to stretch far beyond sixty seconds.

It is the time when the night creatures have fallen asleep and those of the day are not yet awake.

If you are in the country away from the noise of a car or truck, you can feel the silence. It is palpable and, for the duration, even frightening. You stand in a large field and
watch the sky begin to lighten, praying for the return of sound other than your own blood pounding in your ears. Praying for proof that the universe continues. You are tempted to call outâto no one.

Then the shrill peeps of the morning birds start and mount. They sound unnaturally loud. Only nowâafter the silence.

A rooster crows.

And far away from France, on this particular day, September sixteenth, a baby adds her first cries as
l'heure bleue
passes.

Also by Katherine Hall Page

The Body in the Bouillon
The Body in the Kelp
The Body in the Belfry

All the characters and events of this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to living individuals or real events is strictly coincidental and unintentional. The city of Lyon and the CÃ©vennes region are quite real, although in a few instances some slight liberties have been taken with geography and two street names.

THE BODY IN THE VESTIBULE. Copyright Â© 1992 by Katherine Hall Page. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information, address St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

Drawings by Phyllis G. Humphrey

Design by Dawn Niles

eISBN 9781466813113

First eBook Edition : February 2012

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Page, Katherine Hall.

The body in the vestibule / Katherine Hall Page.

p. cm.

ISBN 0-312-08148-0 (hardcover)

I. Title.

PS3566.A334B68 1992
813'.54âdc20

92-18455
CIP

First Edition: September 1992