Chapter Fifty-Four
For the third time, Jean-Paul Mazenc repeated his plea. “Look at me, Albert.”
Ten minutes earlier, when they’d entered the room, Jean-Paul Mazenc had uttered a startled cry. “It’s him!”
The patient’s reaction was surprising. He let his chin sink onto his chest and hung his head as a child waiting to be punished. Before Denis could intervene, Mazenc took a few steps, grabbed the patient by the chin and gently brought it upwards. The faces of the two men were just inches apart.
“Albert, it’s me, your brother Jean-Paul!”
The patient struggled to bring his head down again. “Let go of him,” Denis said, remembering how Mrs. Mangin had desperately clung to the patient. The Mole had been impassive then. This was different. Mazenc cast Denis a disturbed glance, but obeyed. H
