Paris: The Novel

Monsieur Eiffel wishes it, I personally see no need to take matters further.”
    Eiffel indicated that he also was satisfied. At a nod from the inspector, the two assistants put Pepe on the stretcher and started to carry him away.
    “I think I should take Anna to her home,” said Thomas.
    Ney glanced at Eiffel, who said he was going to remain at the site for a while. Then Ney told Thomas that he and Anna should come with him, and he would convey them home. Thomas wondered if he should say something to Monsieur Eiffel, but the engineer had already turned his back.
    By the bridge, the lawyer had a small fiacre waiting. The two men put Anna between them, the cab driver whipped up his single horse and they set off.
    Anna lived with her parents in a small tenement near the southern Porte d’Italie. It took them nearly half an hour to reach it. When they got there, Ney went in with Anna to speak to the girl’s parents. When he emerged he told Thomas that he would return him to his lodgings.
    “You must not try to see Édith today,” he told him. “She is resting.”
    They had gone a short distance when Thomas ventured to speak something that had been on his mind.
    “You were good enough to say to the police that I was your client, monsieur, but you know I haven’t much money.”
    “You need not concern yourself with that,” the lawyer replied. “Monsieur Eiffel wishes it.”
    “I am amazed he would do such a thing for me. Does he know that this is partly my fault?”
    “Do not deceive yourself, young man. Monsieur Eiffel is not pleased with you at all. But there is more at stake here. The tower is the center of the Universal Exposition, the World’s Fair that is about to open. The honor of France as well as that of Monsieur Eiffel are at stake. Having heard the details from Édith, I was able to point out to him, and also to the inspector, that tragic though the business is, it is somewhat fortunate, to put it bluntly, that the deceased young man was Italian. No one wants a Frenchman to be involved with such an embarrassment. It is in nobody’s interest that your part in this should receive publicity. I was therefore able to protect both Édith and yourself.”
    “That is why the inspector never asked me where I was when Pepe fell.”
    “Precisely. He had no wish to know. If there were any doubt that this was a stupid and terrible accident, it would be another matter. But that is not the case.”
    “His fall was exactly as I described it, I assure you.”
    “If the authorities require you to testify again, they will come to me, and I shall tell you what to do. But in the meantime, I must stress to you that nobody must know of your part in this. I have made the parents of Anna quite terrified. She will not speak of it at all. Édith you may be sure has no reason to do so. But you must keep silent, or Monsieur Eiffel will be very angry. Technically, you know, he could prosecute you for entering the tower the way you did.”
    “I shall not speak a word.”
    “Good. I was able to tell Monsieur Eiffel that, as a lawyer, I thought you had acted very wisely after the accident.”
    Clearly Ney had lost no time in making himself useful to Eiffel, thought Thomas. One could only admire him for it.
    But after the lawyer dropped him off in the rue de la Pompe, he suddenly found he was very tired.

    By the time he went to work the next day, Thomas was ready with his story. In the first place, he’d say nothing. If by chance anyone knew he’d met Pepe for a meal on Sunday, he’d simply say that he’d parted from him immediately afterward, and known nothing about the accident.
    If there had been any doubt in his mind about the consequences of saying anything else, they ended as he walked down the rue de la Pompe.
    He was just passing the place where Édith’s family had once had their little farm when Jean Compagnon fell into step beside him.
    “Nice day,” said the foreman.
    “It is,” said Thomas.
    “Keep your mouth shut,” said Compagnon.
    “Don’t know what you mean,” said Thomas. “But I always do.”
    “If anyone finds out, Eiffel will fire you. He’ll have to.”
    Thomas didn’t answer.
    “But that,” continued Jean Compagnon pleasantly, “will be the least of your troubles. Because I’ll be waiting for you, and you’ll join your friend Pepe, wherever he may be.”
    “I don’t know what you mean,” said Thomas, “but I’m sorry if you don’t trust me.”
    “I trust you,” said