As he stared wide-eyed at their retreating shadows on the stone wall behind the walkway, Pradel suddenly shouted, ‘Wait, wait; this is a joke, this has to be a joke. In the name of Christ, you cannot – ’
‘Shut up, Pradel. I’m warning you. One more peep…’
Already Henri Grandet’s voice sounded far away, the last voice Pierre Pradel would be hearing for half a decade.
‘Henri!’ he shrieked.
The light went out.