"Pierrette died on her 22nd birthday." "That's no age to die, people say, as though there were a right age." "Who could have done it?" "No one, as usual." "She probably shouted and struggled." "But she shouldn't have." "The man panicked and killed her without meaning to." "She died by mistake." "How could someone lose their head over a few hundred francs in a handbag?" "They'll find this accidental killer someday... but no one will hold her in their arms again." "9, 10, 11, 12..." "See?" "All gone now." "I have a few questions to ask you." "But first I would like to know why people don't like you." "They don't." "It's true." "But then, I don't like them." "That's no reason." "What did you do to make them hate you so much?" "Nothing." "That's the point." "I'm not very sociable or friendly, and they don't like that." "Conversations stop when I approach and resume after I've passed by." "It doesn't bother me." "I prefer silence." "I don't like to talk." "You're a strange guy." "I don't agree." "See?" "You're just like the rest of them." "Pierrette Bourgeois was murdered near your place." "A taxi driver saw a man run toward your building, not very tall, in a dark overcoat." "It's strange, don't you think?" "Well, not so much." "She was a very happy girl." "Everyone will tell you that." "Pierrette was always happy." "She was so pretty when she was alive and happy." "Imagine her fiancé's reaction when I told him the news." "Yes." "Life is horrible." "No." "I was just joking." "She lived alone, like you." "She was unsociable, like you." "And she never talked to anyone." "She was a strange girl." "It can't be easy to still be just a detective at your age." "I like the way you kiss." "You kiss like a real man." "I love it." " Will you give me a child?" " What?" "Will you give me a child?" "Several, if you like." "Let's walk a bit." "I need some air." "I've been shut up all day." "Listen, Alice..." "You're really a jerk." "Why didn't you fix things?" "You know it's not my fault." "I promised my dad." " You always say that." " No, that's not true." "I spoke to him about us." "He'd like to meet you." " How about that job for me?" " Don't rush things." "Hold on." "Be patient." "You're important to me, you know." "Here." "Don't treat me like this, Emile." " Where have you been?" " You know how it is." " Five minutes, you said." " I know." "Like a picture of me?" "I have something to tell you, Alice." "It came to me when I woke up." "I came right away to talk to you about it." "I think it's serious." "You'd better know the truth." "Will you marry me?" "Yes, I want you to be my wife." "Don't knock yourself out." " What do you mean?" " You don't have to sweet-talk me." " Don't you believe me?" " No, but I love you just the same." " You're weird." " Yes, I know." "Well?" "I don't know." "Maybe." "We'll try again." "Start again, please." " Was it him or not?" " It could be, but I'm not sure." "Sorry." "I can go home then?" "Backwards!" "Please, mademoiselle... blindfold me." " Here." " Thanks." "Nine nights, is that right?" "Don't worry, Paul." "I always check." "See?" "Some places I'm not hated." "We found a record on you." "Six months for indecent assault." "That's not going to help your case." "Monsieur Hire - that isn't your real name?" "No, that's right." "It's Hirovitch." "My father and grandfather changed it to "Hire."" "Tell me, Monsieur Hire... how long is it since you came inside a woman?" "A little bit more." "I'm sorry." "Excuse me." "How old would she have been?" "Seventy?" "Eighty?" "Come." "She'd been around forever." "People loved her, this little old lady who spent all her time feeding the pigeons." "Feeding the pigeons." "Come." "Shut up!" "All day, going from park to park, distributing birdseed by the handful." "All the park rangers knew her... and were touched." "A photographer wanted to market a postcard of her surrounded by pigeons." "She agreed." "In her own way, she was famous." "One day-I don't know how it emerged - her will maybe " "people found out that the birdseed was poisoned." "For years, smiling all the time, she'd been killing thousands of pigeons." "Her neighbors couldn't believe it." "She seemed so nice." "Come on, you'll catch cold." " No, I don't want to." " Do you want someone else?" " Should I get Rosa?" " Not Rosa, notJasmine, not anybody." "I'm sick of screwing you sluts!" "Leave me alone!" "You coming?" "I don't need help." "Leave me alone." "You needn't be afraid." "I'm no hoodlum." "I'm Monsieur Hire." "I didn't think anyone lived here." "I never turn on the lights." "I want to see." "It's terrible." "You can see everything." "If you hadn't moved that time, I'd never have known." "It could have gone on a long time." "You took advantage of me." "All I did was look." "You frightened me that night." "I thought you wanted to hurt me." "Why do you do it?" "Why would someone like you, so dignified, so elegant, spy on people that way?" "I could have reported you." "I could have, you know." "You could have, but you didn't." "Why are you afraid of me?" "You can't imagine how I've suffered." "I lied." "I don't hate you." "Just the opposite." "It's nice to be watched." "I enjoy it." "But only because it's you." "I couldn't with someone else." "With you it's different." "I can see you're sweet." "How can you say that?" "You don't know me." "Sit by me." "We can talk more comfortably." "Don't you want to?" " Have you been watching me for long?" " Yes, every night." "When I go to bed, what do you do?" "Nothing." "I wait." " What for?" " I don't know." "I sleep very little." "So you watch all the time?" "You know all about me?" "Not all, certainly, but some things." "What's your favorite moment?" "When I undress, when I wash up?" " Go now." "Don't stay here." " I'm sorry, I thought " "Get the hell out!" "That's more like it." "But not so sharp." "It's a quieter, more rarefied scent." "Waiter, the same again, please." " Drinking makes you look lovely." " If I look lovely, then kiss me." "Do you still want to marry me?" "I think now's the time." " How about tomorrow morning?" " What's your hurry?" "I'm serious, Emile." "Marry me right away." "I knew you didn't mean it before." "Say something, damn it." "The cops came to my place." "We swore never to talk about that again." "You promised." "They know nothing." "No one saw me." "There's no problem." "I just have to be more careful." "I agree." "We won't mention it again." "I just wanted you to know." "Don't worry." "I'm with you." "You're so beautiful." "It doesn't matter if you only love me a little." "I love you enough for both of us." "I brought back your scarf." " Why not pick it up?" "It's yours." " Why mine?" "It seems very you." "Yours would be cleaner, of course." "Those stains are Pierrette's blood." "We found it in a field." "Your neighbors were happy to tell me it was yours." "I do have one like it." "In that case, show it to me." "Certainly." "New, isn't it?" "I rarely wear it." "It's so dreary." "New, in effect." "Anything else?" "Good night then." "There's a note under the mat." "She's a cute girl... and no fool either." "No fool." "You can't imagine how sorry I am about what happened the other day." "Perhaps I shouldn't have come to see you." "But I wanted to so much." "I know you don't mean me any harm." "Me neither, of course." "Will you have lunch with me on Sunday?" "Please say yes." "Just the two of us quietly together." "Alice." "Don't you ever tidy up?" " What are you doing here?" " We had a date this afternoon." "Sorry, I had a late night." "What time is it?" "Midday, but I have to meet my aunt instead." "I thought I'd be nice and warn you." "Yes, of course." "I was afraid I'd miss you too much." "Since I'm not meeting my aunt for another half hour, here I am." "You smell nice." "Sorry, I'm a bit late." " Have you been waiting long?" " No." "I'm so glad you came." "So you're not mad at me?" "My nerve almost failed me when I left the note." "Silly, right?" "I find that hard to believe." "Shall we eat?" "I love stations." "Especially this one." "Watching, imagining." "That man who's early, killing time." "The old lady looking for her train." "The young woman meeting her new lover." "Or maybe she has just left the man of her life." "Young women can be so unpredictable." "I love watching people." "I'm sorry." "That was tactless." " You mind?" " No, on the contrary." "I often come here alone." "But this is nicer." "In Lausanne, people repaint their shutters every year." "When they take out their brushes you know it's spring." "It doesn't look like much, but it means they want life to be beautiful." " Do you know Lausanne?" " No." "I've never been abroad." "I don't know many places." "I arrived a few months ago, a country girl." "An old aunt met me at this station." "She put me on a suburban train to make sure I wouldn't get lost." "The woman I work for at the dairy collected me." " That's all I've seen of Paris." " Why?" "Alone is no fun, and Emile doesn't take me anywhere." "He's my fiancé." " I know." " You know him?" "I know of him." "I've seen him two or three times." "He's often at your place." "You're right." "Stations are wonderful." "Nothing happens in your place that I am not in some way aware of." "I have a house in Switzerland - in Lausanne actually." "Not large but nice, and I own it." "I never go there, for now at least." "Someday I'll move there for good and won't come back." " Why are you laughing?" " I almost didn't come today." "I was afraid we'd have nothing to tell each other, but there's so much to say." "I want to show you something." "Just look through it." "You'll see my apartment." "I've been there 10 years." "I'd rather you kept this." " Does Emile know about me?" " No, and he's not going to." "Shoot." "It ran out." " How can you love that boy?" " I don't know." "He's my fiancé." "I don't want to talk about it." "Let's just enjoy being together." "It's too late for that." "Why go on playacting?" "We both know you're not here for the pleasure of my company." "You're intelligent, Alice." "Don't say you don't understand." "Or do you just not want to?" "I'm cold." "Won't you take me in your arms?" "Love me a little?" " Could you love two men?" " Why not?" "You'd go to any lengths then?" "Kiss me." "Please say you will." "You're so sweet." "I can't believe how sweet you are with me." "All for the charming Emile's sake?" "You both want to know if I was watching that night, if I saw him come in and wake you... to help him clean the blood of Pierrette Bourgeois, who he had just killed... and to hide his bloody raincoat." "That's what you want to know?" "Yes, I was watching." "That night, like all the other nights." "I saw everything." "So... will you still be nice to me?" "Still want to take me lovingly in your arms?" "Still want to kiss me?" "Still want to let me watch you undress?" "Why don't you tell the police?" "Because I can't." "Some evenings," "Some evenings, alone at home, I find myself unable to stop crying." "I've never told anyone this." "At those times, I leave... and I come here." "Scents and smells all mingle." "I never ask for a particular girl." "Perhaps to avoid becoming involved." "I sit here, close my eyes and wait." "When the girl comes in, I can tell who it is... just from her scent when the door opens." "My eyes remain shut." "She is close... and gently starts to undress me." "She is naked, with just a towel around her waist." "Sometimes her breasts lightly brush my back, a furtive sensation I adore." "The skin so silken." "She touches me lightly again." "Kisses me softly here and there." "I never know where her lips will caress me." "Then, as my desire mounts... she lies beside me, unknotting the towel... and offers herself to me, smiling," "legs slightly parted." "But that's all over now." "I'm no longer intimate with these women." "I don't want to be." "You understand?" "Why tell me this?" "A few months ago, when you moved in across the street, everything changed." "I first saw you by accident." "Soon I couldn't tear my eyes away from your window." "If I no longer make love to these women... it's because I fell in love with you." "I love you, Alice." "That's why I'll say nothing to the police." "I'd have turned Emile in, if it wasn't for you." "But it was an accident." "He didn't mean to kill her." "Don't speak." "I didn't turn him in because legally you're an accessory, and I couldn't bear to lose you." "My love for you is stronger than anything." "You mustn't love me." "You can't." "It's impossible." "Don't worry." "Everything's going to be all right." "I know." "Everything's going to be all right." "You'll see." " It's late." "I'll see you home." " No, I'll go alone." "As you wish, Alice." " Let me go!" " What are you doing?" "Let me go!" "There are cops everywhere!" " It's all fucked now." " I'm coming with you." " I'll hide with François." " I'm coming with you." "You're crazy." " What will happen to us?" " Nothing at all!" " You can't leave me." " Can't you see the mess I'm in?" "Leave me alone!" "I hate you." "Come on, they're after you!" "Help me, damn it!" "Your hands." " You promised me." " It's better for you this way." " I'd have followed you anywhere." " You mustn't, Alice." "What are you waiting for?" "Remember, I love you." "I've considered it carefully, Alice." "I see only one solution." "Will you go away with me?" "He isn't worthy of you." "I know he means a lot to you." "I can make you forget him." "It's okay if you love him more at first." "I'll be patient." "In any case, time won't matter there." "You'll love me at your own pace." "I won't rush you." "I know how to protect you." "You can trust me." "No one will ever love you as I will - as I do already." "I'll devote every second of my life to you." "All I want is for you to smile again." "I love it when you do." "Alice, I'm a man of my word." "I'll never desert you." "Here's your ticket." "The train leaves at 7:12." "I'll wait at the station." " Where did they go?" " Excuse me?" "Listen to me, Monsieur Hire." "Stop putting on your act." "I'm sick of it." "Why go on refusing to talk?" "Don't you realize it'll be pinned on you?" "Oh, hell, why should I care?" "Too bad for you." "You're really a fool." "It's funny." "I was sure it wasn't you, but I was wrong." "If it wasn't for her," "I'd never have known." "Cleaning your flat, she found Pierrette's bag." "Hidden in a cupboard." "Not very clever." "Right, mademoiselle?" "Don't be concerned, Monsieur Hire." "It's just shock." "She didn't see you as a killer." "Nor did I, but that's always the way." "Right." "Anyway." "I must ask you this:" "Do you admit to having hidden this bag?" "Well, Monsieur Hire... yes or no, was this sack in your possession?" "You'll think me a fool, Alice, but I don't feel any anger." "Just a deathly sadness." "But never mind." "You gave me my greatest joy." "This isn't funny anymore." "Pick up your case." "Dear Inspector," "When you read this letter..." "Alice and I will be far away." "In the locker you'll find the raincoat Emile wore... when he killed Pierrette Bourgeois." "That night, he threw this raincoat away in a field." "I picked it up." "Technically an accessory, Alice had nothing to do with it." "I'm taking her away because she's innocent and I want to protect her." "Please don't try to find us." "I trust you." "I think you will respect this happiness." "We are happy... together and nothing else matters." "Monsieur Hire."