25On Monday morning Ben and Molly headed over to the school, wanting to confront the principal directly about his affair with Iris and see what he had to say for himself. “That’s Séverin’s car, right?” asked Molly, pointing at a blue Citroën in the school parking area.
“I think so.” Ben swerved over and peered inside. “Untidy,” he said.
“I want to come look but I don’t want him to see us. He lives in the village, right? Why would he drive, in weather this nice?”
Dufort shrugged. “Ask him.”
They passed the school office window and could see Caroline and Séverin inside at their desks. Dufort had a momentary pang of wishing he were still chief gendarme, in possession of the deference and authority that came with the position.
“Excuse me,” he said to them, knocking on the opened door to t
