South West
Sarah has arranged a video meeting for early morning here, late night in the South West where Gabrielle apparently is, she thought, visiting Helga, the analyst who treated Julian in the last months of his illness. At the appointed time we are waiting around the table facing a screen Paul has rigged to capture the meeting. There is no sound but the video comes up, showing a computer screen: on it is displayed a message, apparently from Gabrielle. She is greeting Sarah, and tells her that she hardly knows her son, other than as a very small child. She, whoever it is, as at no time Gabrielle appears on the screen, says that she cannot answer any question about Chalons, what Paul wants to ask her about, as it was a long time past, and she is now elderly and suffering from amnesia. The message is concluded with what looks like a polite but final farewell. The screen goes blank.
An old church
Sarah says that her initial contact after Paul’s request, had been with email, but that Gabrielle’s email address had since been deleted, presumably by her, or by whoever was in control of it. Paul shares his disappointment. He had wished to check a few facts about a church in Chalons Julian had visited with Gabrielle, and about some note he, Julian, had made afterwards suggested there stood some sort of portal. The note was not precise, and may have been part of another paper Julian had later deleted or stored elsewhere. Paul does not say that Sarah had been part of the visit according to his reading. Sarah says that they, Jane and her, had not been in touch with either Gabrielle or Helga for many years. Helga had disappeared after Julian’s funeral, and they learned a few weeks later that Gabrielle’s house in East London has been sold. The entire location had been redeveloped, and was now unrecognisable. All are silent for a while. Paul concludes that he did not matter for their visit to C…s, and Sarah agrees.
Fiction
Sarah is aware that her son’s search for the truth would be hindered by the fact that Julian’s writing on their lives, his, her own, all those they knew, was not distinguishable from his fiction. He was a talented writer with a vivid imagination, perhaps to the point of losing track of what was real and what he’d imagined. But she has now committed to help Paul. They will visit the small town, the old church, and she will meet the girl, Solange, who may, as far as she knows, marry Paul.
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