Chapter 22
They sat around on satin embroidered cushions in a darkly lit room at the back of the house. Fabienne had lit a few candles here and there, and their soft glow cast long shadows on the white walls, but Billy didn’t like the ambiance in this room. It was bare and windowless. There were no books or paintings here. No furniture, aside from a canape covered with a plastic sheet. Fabienne had said that she’d just gotten the canape cleaned and didn’t want anyone sitting on it yet. Strange.
There were two speakers and a stereo system in the corner of the room, next to their original packaging, and the large cardboard box lay open as though someone had hurriedly pulled the sound system out to plug it in. The wires were still taped to the side of the stereo, which was a foot from the o
