Victoire tried to convince me otherwise, but my mind was made up. Finally, he shrugged his shoulders and said something in French that sounded like, “I did everything I could.”

Not nearly, I felt like replying, but I didn’t know how to say it in French, and besides, he did offer to pay for a cab back to my hotel so I didn’t want to be overly rude.

Back at the hotel, I didn’t even bother checking at the front desk to see if I had any messages. I didn’t feel like speaking with anyone. I trudged up to the stairs to my room and listlessly rummaged through my purse for the key. It slipped through my fingers and fell to the carpeted floor.

As I reached down to pick the key up, another hand was already there, picking it up for me. I looked up and saw Sebastian standing there.

“Give me my key, please,” I said, trying to inject as much ice into my voice as possible.

“Only if you let me explain what happened today.”

“There’s nothing you can say that can explain what I saw, Sebastian. Victoire already tried.”