"THE FALSE STEP" "Robert!" "Robert!" "Take me!" "Take me!" " With pleasure, but where're you going?" "My car got stolen." " When?" "Well... just now." "It can't be." "I went on a walk in the pine forest above the sea." "When I came back, my car was gone." "A little English car." "A white Morris." "That's why I was hitch-hiking." "This is my first time." "Oh, that's not dishonorable, you know." "What are you planning to do?" " I don't know anymore." "I came to France to visit the French Riviera a second time." "And then I wanted to go to Italy." "To Rome." "The trouble is that I'm not going to Rome." "I stop at Cassis." "That's fine for me." "You are English?" " Yes." "My name is Katie Greenwood." "And you?" "Philippe Meursault." "And unlike you, I'm lucky." "Why?" "It is not every day that one can make such a cute meet on the cornice." "What will I become now?" " Don't worry, we always find stolen cars." "I speak to you with full knowledge of the facts." "I'm an insurer." "If your car was really stolen." " You don't believe me?" " I do." "The only thing to do is to file a complaint at the police station." "Why not?" "You yourself don't believe me." "So, how could they believe me?" "All my things were in my car." "My two suitcases, my money, my papers." "I don't have a single piece of ID to prove who I am." "I'm a foreigner." "I'm afraid they'll put me on detention." "I prefer to go to the British consulate." "It'd be easier for me." "Yes, but there is no consulate here." "The nearest one is in Marseille." "I can't take you there." "I've a very important appointment now." "A bus to Marseille?" "Yes, but the time to get there, your consulate will be closed." "And what will you do on your own there?" "Without papers, without money." "Marseille is a big city." "I have a proposal for you." " What is it?" "To stay at my house tonight and to take you there in the morning." "Would you do that for me?" " I told you I was lucky." "No, I don't want to go to your home." "I will do otherwise." "You're free but you're mad." "What do you care if I'm mad?" "Thank you, anyway." "Thank you for all that you wanted to do for me." "Goodbye, Mr Meursault." "Hello!" "What are you doing here at this hour?" " I'm aasking myself the same question now." "Why now?" "Who's this woman?" " Which woman?" " Don't be a fool." "The one I saw you with." "The one who just left you." "Ah, you're jealous!" "Bravo." "I'm not!" "And you looked rather ridiculous." "Always the same thing." "They never believe you when you speak the truth." "You could've given me something else than the hitch-hiker treatment." "Isn't it lovely?" " You like it?" "You'd be better off at my home." "Here!" "You are home." "I wonder... if I will stay." " But what else do you want to do?" "The bathroom is up there." "I'll meet you here in an hour." "Really, can I stay?" "I'm not bothering you?" "Of course not!" "I'm very happy to be helpful to you." "Put the music on, if you want." "Mr Meursault is not here." "I know." "It's him who asked me to bring you these packages." "It's for you Miss." " Thank you." " Goodbye Miss." " Goodbye." "You have never thought of suicide?" "When I was a little girl," "I stood in front of a mirror and I imagined myself dead." "What a funny idea!" "I don't believe in people who do that kind of things." "It's only a game." "It is not an intention." "That's the safest way to miss your suicide." "When you really want to kill yourself ..." "Have you noticed how the creeks are high in some places?" "Yes, some of them are more than a hundred meters high." "But Katie, why do you say that?" "The seaside is really isolated in this season." "It would be easy to throw oneself from the cliff of a creek." "Nobody to see you." "How long does it take, you think?" "Time to count up to 4." "One..." "Two..." "Three..." "Four." "And then, nothing." "Only troubles for the others." "Do you think the body would be discovered long after?" "It can take 2 or 3 days, you know." "Just last year, at the same time, at the White Bastide, not far from here, a young girl, a Swedish girl, threw herself into the void." "She was very beautiful, like you." "A heartache, an obsession, a moment of madness." "Well, they found the corpse only 8 days later." "Do they always find the body?" " It depends." "Usually, it's found rejected by the swell at the bottom of a cove." "It happens often?" " What?" " That there are people who ..." "There is always desperate people." "But tonight I've too much beauty in front of me to want to keep talking about this." "Because all this, Kathy, believe me, it's so stupid when you have your whole life before you, and the night before us." "Don't forget, my princess, that this evening you're my Cinderella." "Let's go for a ride on the jetty." "There's no such thing as a night on the Riviera to forget the worries." "Katie..." "Look at me." "Better than that." "With a smile." "You see..." "If only you tried a little harder." "You should be laughing, singing, dancing, when you have this kind of sea at your feet, warm, even in winter," "instead of rehashing this strange idea of making a big..." "What a stubborn forehead!" "Tell me, Katie." "What's the matter?" "Money problems?" "A love story?" "A great and dreadful solitude maybe?" "One feels all alone." " No, Philippe." "Can't you tell me?" "Yet, life is so easy when one still has the lips of a child." "Do you like coconuts?" "On the islands, you can spend months under the coconut trees." "You watch the nuts grow." "They fall by themselves." "You just have to pick them up." "You eat them and then, you get old without realising it." "Come!" "I'm stupid." "I think you're very tired." "Leave me alone, Philippe." "Let me sleep." "I'm tired." "Sleep well, little girl whom I can't make out." "Good night." "See you tomorrow." "No, Robert, no!" "No, I will never do it!" "I'll kill you!" ""La Boulardière"." "This is all that remains of my childhood." "You never loved me." "You only want my money." "You lie, this is not true!" "You lie ..." "I'll kill you ..." "I'll kill you ..." "Come on, calm down!" "Don't threaten him like that." "Be careful about what you say." "It is serious to say such things." "I'm calm." "I know what I say." "I'm not crazy." "I have one last house to sell but he will not sell "La Boulardière"." "I'm sorry." "Elisa is very tired at present." "She overworks herself." "Robert, you should convince Elisa to come and see me at my office." "If only you could cure her." "But it is her who refuses to be treated." "I didn't deserve that!" "I only wanted a divorce." "Katie!" "Hello, Philippe." "Already up?" "You frightened me." "Breakfast is ready." " Oh, that's very nice!" "You'll have to get ready." "I'll take you to the consulate." "Stop there." "I have something to tell you." "There's no British consulate for me." "Come and listen to me, Philippe." "You must forgive me, Philippe." "I lied to you." "My name is Elisa Langereau." "I've never had my car stolen and I'm not visiting France." "I'll be accused of the murder of my husband." "Everything is pointing to me and yet it was an accident." "He killed himself yesterday in front of me." "He must have slipped or lost balance, I don't know." "He fell from the top of the cliff." "I can still hear his cry." "It was horrible." "I was sitting in a nearby creek." "He'd gone for a walk and then, everything happened in a flash." "I ran like crazy at the edge of the abyss." "I found his body 100 meters below." "I couldn't do anything." "Robert and I got along very badly." "I wanted to divorce for more than a year." "He married me for my money." "He used it to set up his business." "Little by little, he dispossessed me to his advantage." "By divorcing, I could take it all back." "That's what he feared." "In order to prevent this, he tried to commit me by all means." "He was trying to make me look mad." "He skillfully prevented me from sleeping." "He tried to isolate me." "He made my friends worrying about me." "A crazy woman ..." "Can you imagine, Philippe, what it is when one wonders if one's really mad?" "It was hell!" "We quarrelled all the time." "I was losing control of my nerves." "I've come to threaten him with death before his friends." "The last time was 2 days ago." "How do you think someone could reasonably believe that I did not do it?" "Especially since my glasses dropped near the body." "Now, you understand why I shall be accused of murder." "I lost my mind." "I wanted to run away." "I didn't know where to go." "That's when I invented this story." "I wanted to save time." "Because I'm innocent!" " It's so simple to understand." "Had I known all this, I would've acted otherwise." "Why didn't you tell me the truth last night?" " Because I didn't know you." "Now, it's different." "Like it or not, you are my accomplice." "Don't take it the wrong way, Philippe, please." "Only you can save me." "It's stupid." "I didn't dare to tell you." "His death would have to look like a suicide." "Thee must be reason to explain a suicide." "Robert pretended to be very in love with me." "And everyone believed it." "The very word divorce made his friends afraid of seeing him despairing." "I thought about it that night." "They must believe that I left him yesterday." "What could possibly prove it?" "A simple letter, Philippe." "In which I mean my intention to abandon him." "Definitely." "I'll drop it to the house tonight." "And you think that will be enough?" " Yes, I believe so." "Please, help me!" "You don't think the weather gonna improve?" " Improve?" "It's going to get cooler." "The sea will be freezing cold tomorrow." "It'd be the death of you." "It's annoying." "No, Philippe." "Turn left." " Ah, yes, La Boulardière." "You want me to go with you?" " No, it will take me two minutes." "We're being followed." "What are we going to say if they stop us?" "I took all my jewels." "Faster!" "Try to outrun them." "That's it." "What a bummer!" "So you try to keep us in suspense?" "Your papers, please." "What's the matter?" "Thank you, sir." "Insurance agent?" " Yes." " I do not congratulate you." "Here are your papers." "Have this red light repaired." "And drive slowly." "Madame does not seem reassured." "You can go." "Sir!" "There's someone on the phone for Madame." "What shall I say?" "I was afraid I'd never see you again." "I just invented a new recipe." "It'll be ready in a moment." "You let me know." "You know, doing the dishes, laying the table..." "It's the bright side of things." "It makes me feel comfortable in your home." "Katie, I want to have a serious conversation with you." "What a crumpled tie!" "You should change it." "You look so serious suddenly." "I want to talk to you about the accident." "I thought a lot about it." "I think you are playing with fire." "The police may have already found the body." "Maybe they're already investigating or whatever." "The disappearance of your husband, yours." "All this had to worry those around you." "Oh, Katie, you're taking too much risk." "Stupid risks." "Do you have another solution?" " There is only one:" "to go and explain everything to the police." "Don't worry, I'll go with you." " I'm afraid, Philippe." "I'm convinced that there is a way to get out of this." "We just have to find it." "There!" "There is one detail I'd like to know." "This creek, why did you go there with Robert?" "Robert suggested this walk because ..." "For the first time he agreed to discuss about the divorce that I asked for." "I was almost happy going there." "I hoped we would finally find a possible agreement." "This walk, it's him who suggested it?" " Yes, it's him." "You don't believe me?" " I do, I do." "Tell me:" "you went to this creek in a car?" "Yes, in his car." "Why?" "Which car?" "A white Morris?" " A white Morris?" "No, you know that I made it up." "We went there in his Fiat." "A dark, blue Fiat." " Yes." "I'm..." "I'm going to buy cigarettes downstairs and I come back." "Good morning, Mr Philippe." " Good morning, Vincent." "Give me the phone book, please." "I have to make a call." "You don't have a phone book at home?" " You got me." "I see, a private call!" "Thank you." "A glass of Sintra as usual, Mr Philippe?" "Hello?" "088332?" "Yes." "I would like to talk to Mr. Langereau, please." "It's me." "Who's on the phone?" "Hello?" "Who's on the phone?" "Who are you asking for?" "Something wrong?" "Husbands are always where you don't want them to be." "Katie?" " Yes, it's me." "It's Philippe." " Ah, it's you." "I wasn't sure I should pick up the phone." "I was afraid you would not answer." " I hesitated to do so." "Say, I'm sorry but I just met an important customer." " Really?" "This will take time." " Well..." "Don't wait for me." " What am I going to do?" " Stay at home." " Okay." "I'll come back as soon as possible." " Yes, come back quickly." "See you later." "I'd like to speak to Mr Langereau." "I have something very important to tell him." "Your name, Sir?" " Philippe Meursault but my name will not tell him anything." "I don't know if he'll be able to receive you." "Tell him it's very important." "Yes." "Sir, there's someone who asks to see you." "Who?" " Mr Philippe Meursault." "I don't know him." "This gentleman insists, sir." "He says it's very important." "Well, get him in." " Yes, sir." "Mr Langereau?" " Yes." "Mr Robert Langereau?" " It's me." "Please, come in." "You wanted to see me, sir?" " Yes." "Excuse me." "Yes?" "Yes, it's me." "No, I don't think so." "These days?" "It seems difficult to me right now." "With pleasure." "With the greatest pleasure." "I'll remind you without fail." "Thank you." "Please, sit down." "I wanted to talk to you." " I'm listening to you, sir." "What I have to say to you is very delicate." "Well, your wife ..." "Where's she?" "Your wife, well, I mean, Mrs. Langereau ..." "She is ..." " An accident?" "No, don't worry, she's fine." "But I don't understand!" " She's at my place for the last 24 hours." "I met your wife two days ago." "She was hitch-hiking." "She looked completely mad." "I took her on board because she pretended she had been robbed of her car with all her affairs in it." "It happened on the national road, along the creeks." "She told me that she was British and that she had to get to the nearest consulate as soon as possible." "It was already very late." "So I offered her hospitality for the night, until driving her to the consulate." "Don't get me wrong." "She was helpless and ..." "Yes, of course." "This morning, she confessed to me that she was married." "And what will seem to you the most extravagant ..." "She was convinced that you died by falling from the top of the cliff." "She was afraid of being charged with murder." "Especially since her sunglasses had fallen near your body." "I realize how it may seem incredible." "I wanted to inform the police but your wife refused." "She came here last night to bring a letter and pick up her things." "It was I who accompanied her." "All this seemed so strange to me that I wanted to get to the bottom of this." "I came here this morning." "I recognized you without knowing who you were." "So, I had the idea of calling you." "You see, sir." "My wife is an amazing woman." "Lovely but a bit surprising." "I am really sorry for the troubles that Elisa may have caused you." "And I thank you for coming this far to reassure me about her condition." "It's nothing at all, sir." "I've only done my duty." "It was only natural that I act as I did." "I beg your pardon, but ... no." "I think you've done something exceptional." "And I think you're very nice, I must say." "I love Elisa a lot." "Unfortunately, she is a young woman who is not ... always responsible for what she says or what she does." "And yet I assure you that Mrs. Langereau..." " know." "I know." "Elisa has lost both parents in an air crash when she was a young girl." "Did she tell you?" " Not at all." "When I met her, she was about 21-years-old." "She was already behaving in a... special way." "I mean that, instead of living normally, she stayed for hours lying down, staring off into other worlds, in a sort of second state." "I guess she relived the plane crane in which her parents perished." "At night, she had nightmares." "She dreamed." "She dreamed that she saw people fall." "She was obsessed with the idea of falling." "I managed to distract her." "We got married." "And I thought that ... with patience and affection," "I would succeed in making her lose this obsession." "I have tried everything." "Everything." "I sold my factory, 3 years ago." "I wished to settle here because this property reminded her of her childhood." "At first, she appeared more balanced." "She led a normal life, quiet, even entertaining." "We had the time here to develop new friendships." "And then, little by little, her anxieties have returned." "You understand, sir, I don't want to hear about a rest home." "It's a decision that..." "Elisa..." "She's everything for me." " Of course." "Clinically, my wife is suffering from a form of persecution mania and a guilt complex." "She feels responsible for the death of her parents, who, at the time of the accident, were going to her side." "Is it that bad?" "She's convinced that everybody wants to hurt her." "Apparently, I want to hurt her too." "She invents herself dramas in which she's the only victim." "But it's more serious now, she runs away from home." "Two months ago, she disappeared for 48 hours." "Then she came back." "I never knew where she went." "Yesterday, we went for a walk." "She was tired, she preferred to sit down." "I kept walking in the rocks, I love doing that." "When I came back, she'd disappeared." "She had to invent herself God knows what story!" "I called, I called..." "I searched her everywhere." "And then I came back here." "No one." "So I waited." "Then I started to call some police stations hoping that ..." "But no." "Nothing." "So I kept waiting." "And then, this morning, I found her letter." "I was a little reassured." "And then you came." "That's all." "It's terrible." "I would like, if I may, to ask you a favor." " But I'm just asking for that." "I thank you." "Since Elisa is at your home, can you tell her that nothing happened to me?" "I'll entrust her letter to you." "I'll prove her that I'm alive." "How about a drink?" " I don't want to impose." "Not at all, on the contrary." "It'd be a pleasure." "And after what I've just told you, I must admit that I'm very thirsty." "You took some time to come back." "Oh, flowers!" "It's for me?" " Who else?" "How nice, Philippe." "All that I love." "They must be put in a vase." " You'll find one in the bottom cupboard." "Why bring flowers?" "To seduce me?" "To seduce you and to make you happy." "Flowers are always a sign of something happy." "Why is that?" "What's going on, Philippe?" "I don't get it." "Because everything's going to be okay for you, Katie." " What?" "Well, look at these flowers, they say everything." "Come on, Philippe!" "What're you hiding from me?" "But nothing, I assure you!" "If only you could be right." "You got me worried me this morning with these stories about police." "Tell me, Katie..." "Your husband, you love him or not?" "Why do you ask me that?" " Answer my question." "When I married him, I loved him a lot." "And then he quickly disappointed me." "You can't imagine, Philippe, what he made me endure!" "I'd come to hate him!" "I would've gladly pushed him from the cliff, if you want to know the truth." "I killed him a hundred times in my head." "Well, yes, I killed him!" "I pushed him!" "He cried!" "It was scary." "Do you really believe that I could've killed him?" "Tell me!" "Say something!" "You know that I've no reason to think so." "You never wished the death of your husband, I mean for real ." "And if Robert was still alive, you wouldn't be here." "Without a doubt." "He hurt me but I didn't wish to hurt him." "All I wanted was to leave him." "Since I believe you, why do you think others won't believe you?" "You should go home." "And you brought me flowers to tell me that?" "That's cowardly, Philippe!" "No, Katie, you're wrong." "You were mistaken the other day, when you believed that Robert had fallen." "What?" "Robert is not dead." "Listen to me carefully." "I saw Robert this afternoon." "He is doing very well." "I spoke to him as I'm speaking to you right now." "He's very sad for your departure." "He searched you for hours last night." "Maybe you heard someone scream but it was not him, I swear." "He even gave me the letter." "He wrote a word on it." "You see, Katie, it all works out." "All this story was just a nightmare." "I don't understand." "If he wanted to make me mad, well, he has succeeded." "No, Katie, you're not crazy." "Don't be afraid, I'm on your side." "It's his writing." "Everything you say must be true." "But I saw it." "Down the cliff." "Robert's body, motionless." "All this is impossible." "I'll take you home." "You'll talk with your husband and everything will become clear." "Never!" "I'll never go back home." "I don't want to see him again." "Never!" "You hear me, Philippe!" "I left him." "I left him for good." "You can go and tell him!" "I'm ready to leave right now, if you wish." "I don't care." "Nothing matters to me now." "I'll go anywhere." "But you won't make me return home." "If that's what he asked you." "You don't have to believe me but there is one thing that I want to tell you." "When I came here," "I discovered that it was possible to live happily, simply, quietly." "And I'm grateful to you because it's thanks to you alone." "It's funny ..." "You've never called me Elisa." "You're Katie for me and I hate as much as you Elisa's past." "It's amazing how gentle you are, Philippe." "So, you do not abandon me?" " What kind of question is that!" "I want you to know that I didn't lie to you." "Help me to discover the truth." "Tomorrow morning, we must find the body that I saw." " Yes, Katie." "There's still something that I want to tell you." "I think I love you." "It's right there." "It's here but be careful, it's a steep cliff." "Beware, not too close!" "You make my head spin!" "Bend down." "But there's no corpse." "It's not possible!" "Come on, let's go." "It can't be!" "But he was there!" "He walked there when he stumbled." "You don't believe me?" "What am I going to become?" "I only have you, Philippe." "I'm not crazy!" "He was walking there!" "He fell." "I saw him!" "I saw him!" "I'm sure I saw him!" "Come on, Katie." "There's nothing more to do here." "But I tell you that I saw him!" "If you love me, tell me you believe me!" "I beg you!" "I'd never ask you anything else." "I'll do whatever you want but tell me you believe me." "Come on, Katie." "It's not worth it." "They won't take me back." "You don't believe me." "No, I'm not having this!" "I'm not having this!" "You hear?" "I recognize it!" "I know it's him." "This is his boat." "Everything's clear now." "I got the wrong creek!" "It's the mistral that saved you, Katie." " Why?" "Without it, he would've come for the mannequin last night." "He hoped that you'd go to the police and claim that he'd died before your eyes." "You would've been considered mad while he would've been waiting for you at home." "Robert!"