Point Blank

air.
    He had done it! He had gotten away! He was still sliding forward, the train adding its speed to his own. No snowboarder had ever moved so fast. But then the train reached the bend in the track. The board had nothing to keep it from sliding on the icy surface. As the train sped around to the left, centrifugal force threw Alex to the right. Once again he soared into the air. But he had finally run out of snow.
    Alex hit the ground like a rag doll. The snowboard was torn off his feet. He bounced twice, then hit a wire fence and came to rest with blood spreading around a deep gash in his head. His eyes were closed.
    The train plowed on through the night. Alex lay still.

AFTER THE FUNERAL

    THE GREEN-AND-WHITE ambulance raced down the Avenue Maquis de Gresivaudan in the north of Grenoble, heading toward the river. It was five o’clock in the morning and there was no traffic yet, no need for the siren. just before the river it turned off into a compound of ugly, modern buildings. This was the second-biggest hospital in the city. The ambulance pulled up outside SERVICE DES URGENCES—the emergency room. Paramedics ran toward it as the back doors flew open.
    Mrs. Jones got out of her taxi and watched as the limp, unmoving body of a boy was lowered on a stretcher, transferred to a gurney, and rushed in through the double doors. There was already a saline drip attached to his arm, and an oxygen mask covered his face. It had been snowing up in the mountains, but down here there was only a dull drizzle sweeping across the pavements. A doctor in a white coat was bending over the stretcher. He sighed and shook his head. Mrs. Jones had seen this. She crossed the road and followed the stretcher in.
    A thin man with close-cropped hair wearing a black sweater and vest had also been watching the hospital. He saw Mrs. Jones without knowing who she was. He had also seen Alex. He took out a cell phone and made a call. Dr. Grief would want to know…
    Three hours later, the sun had risen over the city. Grenoble is largely modern, and even with its perfect mountain setting, it still struggles to be attractive. On this damp, cloudy day it was clearly failing. Outside the hospital, another car drew up and Eva Stellenbosch got out. She was wearing a silver-and-white-checked suit with a hat perched on her ginger hair. She carried a leather handbag, and for once she had put on makeup. She wanted to look elegant. She looked like a man in drag.
    She walked into the hospital and found the main reception desk. A young nurse sat behind a bank of telephones and computer screens. Mrs. Stellenbosch addressed her in fluent French.
    ‚Excuse me,‛ she said. ‚I understand that a young boy was brought here this morning. His name is Alex Friend.‛
    ‚One moment, please.‛ The nurse entered the name in her computer. She read the information on the screen and her face became serious. ‚May I ask who you are?‛
    ‚I am the assistant director of the Academy at Point Blanc. He is one of our students.‛
    ‚Are you aware of the extent of his injuries, madame?‛
    ‚I was told that he was involved in a snowboard accident.‛ Mrs. Stellenbosch took out a small handkerchief and dabbed at her eye.
    ‚He tried to snowboard down the mountain at night. He was involved in a collision with a train. His injuries are very serious, madame. The doctors are operating on him now.‛
    Mrs. Stellenbosch nodded, swallowing her tears. ‚My name is Eva Stellenbosch,‛ she said.
    ‚May I wait for any news?‛
    ‚Of course, madame.‛
    Mrs. Stellenbosch took a seat in the reception area. For the next hour, she watched as people came and went, some walking, some in wheelchairs. There were other people waiting for news of other patients. One of them, she noticed, was a serious-looking woman with badly cut black hair and very black eyes. She was no doubt from England, as she was periodically glancing at a copy of the London Times .
    Then a door opened and a doctor in a white coat came out. Doctors have a certain face when they come to give bad news. This doctor had it now. ‚Madame Stellenbosch?‛ he asked.
    ‚Yes?‛
    ‚You are the director of the school?‛
    ‚The assistant director. Yes.‛
    The doctor sat next to her. ‚I am very sorry, madame. Alex Friend died a few minutes ago.‛
    He waited while she absorbed the news. ‚He had multiple fractures: his arms, his collarbone, his leg. He had also fractured his skull. We operated, but unfortunately there