Free Goodbye, Janette by Harold Robbins Page B

“
Bon soir
, Madame.”
    “
Bon soir
, Henry,” she said. “Any messages?”
    “No, Madame,” he said. “But Monsieur le Marquis is already at home.”
    She nodded. “And Janette?”
    “She is in her room, Madame.” he paused for a moment. “What time would Madame like dinner?”
    “Eight thirty,” she said, starting up the staircase. She walked down the corridor and stopped in front of Janette’s room. Quietly she knocked on the door.
    Janette opened it. She smiled. “
Maman!
”
    Tanya leaned forward and kissed her daughter, then followed her into the room. Quickly her eyes took in the closed valises standing near the door. “You’re all packed?”
    “Ready to go,” Janette said. “Seven o’clock in the morning.”
    Tanya smiled. “Anxious to get back to school?”
    “In a way,” Janette answered. “Truth is, I’m getting tired of vacation. There’s nothing really much to do around Paris in the summer. Most of the girls were away.”
    “Maybe next summer I won’t be so tied up. Then we can go away too.”
    “Maybe,” Janette said. “By the way, I forgot to tell you. Maurice came home early. He was looking for you. He told me to tell you it was very important that you speak to him right away.”
    “Okay,” Tanya said. “I told Henri to have dinner ready at eight thirty. Is that all right?”
    “It is with me,” Janette said. She looked at her mother. “Just the two of us? Or is Maurice eating with us too?”
    “Just the two of us if that’s what you want,” Tanya said.
    “I’d like that.”
    “Just the two of us then,” Tanya said. She stared from the room. “I’ll call you when it’s time.”
    She walked down to the other side of the hallway and stopped in front of Maurice’s door. She knocked, and at the muffled sound of his voice coming through the closed door, went into the room.
    Maurice was sitting in a lounge chair, a half-empty cognac snifter in his hand. He stared up at her balefully without getting up. “Where the hell have you been all afternoon?”
    She ignored his question. “You wanted to see me?”
    “Whose prick were you sucking this afternoon?” His words were slurred.
    “If I were,” she answered, “it wouldn’t matter to you anyway. It would be someone who definitely wasn’t your type. Now, you either have something important to tell me or you haven’t. If not, let me go and take my bath.”
    His voice was angry. “You’ll never guess who called today.”
    Suddenly she knew. Even without his telling. She was silent.
    “Johann Schwebel,” he snapped. He studied her face. It was expressionless. “Aren’t you surprised?”
    “Should I be?” she asked ingenuously.
    “Maybe that’s the wrong word,” he said. “Concerned should be more like it.”
    “I see no reason for that either,” she said. “We’ve kept the books honestly. Wolfgang’s share is intact.”
    “You’re stupid,” he snarled. “What if they want to take over? Take everything back? Then where will we be?”
    “Did he say that?” she asked.
    “No. He merely wanted to arrange an appointment with the two of us. I told him to call back tomorrow at eleven o’clock.”
    She looked at him. His face was flushed with liquor and she knew that he never drank that much in the daytime unless he was upset. “You could have called him back and made an appointment.”
    “He said he would be moving around too much and would call us.”
    She nodded. “That’s possible. After all, we don’t know what other business he has in Paris.” Johann had to have a reason for what he did. He knew about the call at eleven, yet he had asked her to call him at nine. She started from the room. “At any rate we’ll know more tomorrow.”
    He rose to his feet. “I was only waiting to give you the news. I’m going out to dinner. Will you be using the car?”
    “No. Take it,” she said. “I’m having dinner in tonight with Janette.”
    ***
    Johann came out of the Georges Cinqu and waited