D'Artagnan groaned. "My friends…"
"Are wanted men."
D'Artagnan looked at her. "Why didn't you tell me?"
Celeste didn't even look at him. "I'm not even going to try and answer that."
Suddenly, they both heard the sound of a scream. It was short and muffled..
D'Artagnan's head came up sharply.
Celeste turned. "That was a woman."
D'Artagnan's heart stopped. Anne! He stood.
The door burst open and Louis rushed in. He was already rattled by the night's events and he seemed to have forgotten that he had just turned Celeste against him and had given D'Artagnan orders to hunt down his best friends. His eyes where wide. "What was that sound! Did you hear it? It came from Michelle's room!"
Celeste went pale. She knocked Louis aside and ran out of the room. She burst into Louis's rooms and ran through them. "Michelle?" she called as she ran.
D'Artagnan was only steps behind her.
Celeste jerked back the hidden passage and ran up the stairs to Michelle's apartment. She entered it but it was empty. "Michelle?"
D'Artagnan stepped in. "What…"
Celeste's eyes landed on the window. It was open. She moved toward it.
D'Artagnan was looking at the bed and around when Celeste screamed. He whirled. He bounded over to the window and gasped. He grabbed Celeste and turned her away.
She pressed her face into his chest and screamed again. This time out of anger, fright and sadness.
D'Artagnan pressed her face into his chest to muffle the sound. "Shh," he said softly. With one hand he reached out and closed the windows.
Louis was pacing when D'Artagnan and Celeste reappeared. He had heard Celeste's first scream and almost come out of his skin.
Celeste, who had been pale before, looked like death. She glared at him, her blue eyes almost black with anger.
"Where is she?" asked Louis. "Where's Michelle?"
Celeste looked at him for a long moment. She moved forward until she was inches from his face. Then she stepped around him and went to the window. She opened it.
Louis came over. Then he leapt back in horror.
Michelle was dangling there, her eyes open wide with horror. But she was dead. She had hanged herself with the very golden bunting from her bed as her noose.
Louis slammed the windows shut and leaned against them. "Get rid of it!"