Peter says, "I don't believe you."

Lucas takes Peter's hand and presses it to his abdomen. Peter pulls his hand away. He gets up.

"No, Lucas. Don't come into this world of mine."

He goes to his room, closes the door.

Lucas waits. A few hours later he gets up. He opens the door quietly, approaches Peter's bed. Peter is asleep. Lucas leaves the room, closes the door, pulls on his boots, picks up his jacket, checks to see that his weapons are still in the pocket, and leaves the house without a sound. He goes to Station Road. He waits outside Clara's house.

A man leaves the house. Lucas follows him, then passes him on the other side of the street. To get home, the man has to go past a small park. There Lucas hides himself behind some bushes. He wraps the large red scarf knitted by Yasmine around his head, and when the man arrives, he stands up in front of him. He recognizes him. It is one of the doctors from the hospital who examined Mathias.

The doctor says, "Who are you? What do you want?"

Lucas grabs the man by the lapel of his coat, pulls a razor from his pocket.

"If you go to see her again I'll cut your throat."

"You're insane! I've just been on night duty at the hospital."

"Don't bother lying. I'm not joking. I'm capable of anything. Today is just a warning."

Lucas takes a stocking full of gravel from his jacket pocket and strikes the man on the head with it. The man falls senseless to the icy ground.

Lucas goes back to Peter's, lies down on the sofa, and goes to sleep. Peter wakes him at seven o'clock with some coffee.

"I came to check on you earlier. I thought you had gone home."

Lucas says, "I haven't moved from here all night. It's important, Peter."

Peter looks at him long and hard. "I understand, Lucas."

Lucas goes home. Yasmine says to him, "A policeman came. You have to go to the police station. What has happened, Lucas?"

Mathias says, "They are going to lock Lucas up in prison. And Lucas will never come home."

The child snickers. Yasmine grabs his arm and slaps him. "Will you shut up?"

Lucas grabs the child from Yasmine and takes him in his arms. He wipes the tears from his face.

"Don't be afraid, Mathias. They won't lock me up."

The child stares Lucas straight in the eyes. He stops crying. He says, "Too bad."

Lucas presents himself at the police station. He is shown the way to the commissioner's office. Lucas knocks and enters. Clara and the doctor are sitting with a policeman.

The commissioner says, "Hello, Lucas. Sit down."

Lucas sits on a chair next to the man he knocked out a few hours previously.

The commissioner asks, "Do you recognize your attacker, doctor?"

"I wasn't attacked, I told you. I slipped on the ice."

"And you fell on your back. Our officers found you lying on your back. It's strange that you have a lump on your forehead."

"I probably fell forward, then turned over as I began to regain consciousness."

The commissioner says, "Of course. You claim that you were on night duty at the hospital. According to our information you left the hospital at nine o'clock in the evening, and you spent the night with this lady."

The doctor says, "I didn't want to compromise her."

The commissioner turns to Lucas. "The lady's neighbors have seen you enter her house on numerous occasions."

Lucas says, "I've been doing her shopping for her for some time. Especially last week when she was ill."

"We know that you didn't go home last night. Where were you?"

"I was too tired to go home. When the bars closed I went to a friend's house and spent the night there. I left at half past seven."

"Who is this friend? A drinking buddy, I suppose."

"No. He's the Party Secretary."

"You claim you spent the night at the Party Secretary's house?"

"Yes. He made me some coffee at seven o'clock this morning."

The commissioner leaves the room.

The doctor turns to Lucas, stares at him. Lucas returns his gaze. The doctor looks at Clara. Clara looks out of the window.

The doctor stares straight ahead; he says, "I haven't brought charges against you, even though I recognize you perfectly. It was some border guards on patrol who found me and brought me here, like a common drunk. This is all very unfortunate for me. I ask you for your total discretion. I am an internationally renowned psychiatrist. I have children."

Lucas says, "Your only solution is to leave this town. It's a small town. Sooner or later, everyone will know. Even your wife."

"Is that a threat?"

"Yes."

"I've been assigned to this godforsaken hole. It's not for me to decide where I go."

"It doesn't matter. Ask for a transfer."

The commissioner comes in with Peter. Peter looks at Lucas, then at Clara, then at the doctor. The commissioner says, "Your alibi is confirmed, Lucas."

He turns to the doctor. "I think we'll leave it there, doctor. You slipped while returning from the hospital. The case is closed."

The doctor asks Peter, "Can I see you on Monday at your office? I wish to leave this town."

Peter says, "Certainly. You can count on my help."

The doctor gets up, offers Clara his hand. "I'm sorry."

Clara turns her head away. The doctor leaves the room, saying, "Thank you, gentlemen."

Lucas says to Clara, "I'll walk you home."

Clara goes out ahead of him without saying a word.

Lucas and Peter also leave the commissioner's office. Peter watches Clara leave. "So it was because of her."

Lucas says, "Do everything you can, Peter, to get this man transferred. If he stays in this town he's a dead man."

Peter says, "I believe you. You're crazy enough to do it. Don't worry. He'll leave. But if she loved him, do you realize what you've done to her?"

Lucas says, "She doesn't love him."

It is already almost noon when Lucas gets home from the police station.

The child says, "They didn't lock you up?"

Yasmine says, "I hope it was nothing serious."

Lucas says, "No. Everything is all right. They needed me as a witness to a fight."

Yasmine says, "You'd better go and see the priest. He's stopped eating. He hasn't touched anything I took him yesterday or the day before."

Lucas takes a bottle of goat's milk and goes to the priest's house. The congealed food stands on the kitchen table. The stove is cold. Lucas crosses an empty room and enters the bedroom without knocking. The priest is in bed.

Lucas asks, "Are you ill?"

"No, I'm just cold. I'm always cold."

"I brought you enough wood. Why don't you warm yourself up?"

The priest says, "I have to economize. On wood and everything else."

"You're just too lazy to light the fire."

"I am old, I don't have enough strength left."

"You don't have enough strength because you don't eat."

"I have no appetite. Since you no longer bring the meals, I have no appetite."

Lucas hands him his dressing gown. "Get dressed and come to the kitchen."

He helps the old man into his dressing gown, he helps him to walk to the kitchen, he helps him to sit on the bench. He pours him a cup of milk. The priest drinks.

Lucas says, "You can't go on living on your own. You are too old."

The priest puts his cup down. He looks at Lucas.

"I'm leaving, Lucas. My superiors have recalled me. I'm going to retire to a monastery. There won't be a priest in this town anymore. The priest from the neighboring town will come once a week to celebrate mass."

"It's a sensible decision. I'm happy for you."

"I will miss this town. I've been here for forty-five years."

After a silence, the priest continues. "You have taken care of me all these years as if you were my own son. I would like to thank you. But how can I repay you for so much love and so much goodness?"