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Summary
Nick, Mimi, Nick, Sophie, Jess, Sophie, Nick, Jess, Sophie, Epilogue: Jess
Nick
Nick is shocked to see Ben, who is injured but sitting up on the mattress in the maids’ quarters. Sophie, he observes, is not shocked at all, suggesting to him that she is responsible. Ben could not possibly be alive, he thinks to himself, because Nick himself buried Ben’s dead body.
Mimi
In her apartment, Mimi attempts to remember the events of the night that Ben disappeared. She recalls spying on him through her window, hoping to find some way of avenging herself upon him. However, when she sees Jacques enter Ben’s apartment and attack him with a wine bottle in a state of homicidal fury, Mimi runs to his defense. Using a canvas knife, she attacks her father in a trance-like state, only regaining full consciousness later when she is in the shower.
Nick
Nick remembers telling his father about the story that Ben was writing and then taking some drugs which left him numb and unresponsive for a few hours. When he came to, he heard a commotion upstairs and went to investigate. He and Antoine entered Ben’s apartment where they saw copious amounts of blood on the floor. Sophie then told them that a horrible accident had occurred. Nick immediately blamed himself, assuming that Jacques killed Ben after learning about the article. Nick and Antoine buried the body, which Sophie previously wrapped in sheets, in the garden of the apartment.
Sophie
Sophie reflects upon the events that transpired three days earlier. When she entered Ben’s apartment she found Mimi, covered in the blood of Jacques, whom she murdered in defense of Ben. Despite her shock, she quickly sprang into action in order to protect her daughter. Knowing that she could only get her stepsons to cooperate if they believed that Ben, not Jacques, had died, she and the Concierge hid the badly-injured Ben in the maid’s quarters and wrapped up the body of Jacques in sheets. Sophie then lied to Antoine and Nick, telling them that the body was that of Ben rather than Jacques and ordering them to bury the body in the garden. Since then, she has kept Ben alive, but only barely, while planning her next course of action. She has also carefully maintained the pretense that Jacques is away on business, texting his sons from his phone to keep them from suspecting the truth.
Jess
In the maid’s quarters, Sophie admits that Jacques is dead, leaving Nick in shock. Armed with a knife, Jess tells Sophie to let her and Nick leave. Sophie refuses, but Jess promises that she will not report Mimi to the police, noting that Mimi saved Ben’s life.
Sophie
Sophie mulls over her decision. She is terrified that Jess and Nick will report Mimi to the police, but she also knows that she cannot lock them up there forever, nor does she have it in her to murder them. After Jess confides in Sophie that her own father was an abusive cop who beat her mother, Sophie believes that Jess will stay true to her word.
Nick
Nick is in shock, unsure of how to feel about the revelation of his father’s death. He helps Jess to carry Ben downstairs and out of the apartment. Ben looks at him with an expression that appears apologetic before shutting his eyes. Sadly, Nick thinks to himself that he never truly knew Ben.
Jess
A week later, Jess and Ben chat in the cafe of the hospital where he was treated for his injuries. He apologizes to Jess, both for putting her in such a dangerous situation, but also for not being there for her more often in the past. Theo arrives and Nick confirms that he still has the report on La Petite Mort backed up to his Cloud account. They agree that the story must be published, but Jess is worried that the young women who work there will be arrested or deported after the club is exposed. She comes up with a plan.
Sophie
Shortly after, Sophie receives a letter from Jess, who notes that Ben’s story about La Petite Mort will be published in two weeks and then offers Sophie a deal. Jess promises to keep her name, as well as those of Nick and Mimi, out of the story if Sophie arranges to send a substantial amount of money to the girls who work at the club so that they can start a new life. Reflecting on her options, Sophie notes that she has sent Mimi to the South of France to recuperate, and that Nick has also moved out, which she believes is best for him.
Additionally, she observes that the Concierge, despite her injuries, disappeared on the evening that Ben was discovered in the maid’s quarters, stealing a number of small but valuable objects before leaving. Later, a story is printed in the Paris Gazette, noting that La Petite Mort is under investigation and that the girls have all left. Further, it notes that Jacques has “disappeared” in the wake of the investigations, that Commissaire Blanchot has been arrested, and that Antoine has committed suicide in order to avoid being taken into custody.
Epilogue: Jess
Jess gets ready to leave France for Italy, having used her “cut” of Sophie’s money to rent a studio apartment in Rome. Ben, she notes, is staying in France to make a name for himself as an investigative journalist. At the train station she sees the Concierge getting ready to board a train for Nice, where Mimi is convalescing. Jess looks away, deciding that everyone deserves the chance to start a new life.
Analysis
These final chapters reveal the truth about Ben’s apparent disappearance, solving the final mysteries at the heart of The Paris Apartment. The novel has, up to this point, been framed as a “whodunnit”-style mystery, with the various residents of the building serving as suspects. The ending, however, reveals that noone killed Ben. Instead, Jacques, who has been a powerful force throughout the novel despite his absence, attacked Ben and was in turn murdered by Mimi. Despite the pain and outrage she felt at being betrayed by Ben, who was not only investigating her family but also sleeping with her mother, Mimi’s defense of him against Jacques attests to the genuine, if obsessive, nature of her love for him. Love is an important theme in these final chapters of the novel. While Mimi’s actions are motivated by romantic love, other characters are guided by love for their family. Sophie, for example, will stop at nothing to protect her adopted daughter, Mimi. She devises an elaborate plan, disguising Jacques’ body as that of Ben and hiding Ben in the maids’ quarters, in order to protect Mimi from the legal consequences of her actions.
So too does the Concierge, who is secretly Mimi’s grandmother, assist in the coverup of the crime, cleaning up the blood from the floor of Ben’s apartment to conceal what Mimi has done. In a way, much of the Concierge’s life has been an act of love for Mimi, as she spends many years working in the building just to be close to her despite the fact that Mimi does not even know that they are related and treats her coldly. Familial love, in this novel, is fraught and complicated.. Despite his cruel and abusive mistreatment of them, both Nick and Antoine mourn their father’s death in their own ways. While acknowledging his faults, Jess is also motivated by love for her brother. When she believes that he is dead, she is horrified to have lost the only family member she has left.
The grizzly sight of his apparently dead body triggers her memories of their mother’s death, an event that has clearly left deep psychic wounds on both siblings. In the hospital, Ben confesses that he has always been envious of Jess, as she got to see their mother one last time, even though Jess thinks of this memory as profoundly traumatic. Indeed, the two siblings have very different temperaments and personal values. For Ben, his investigation of La Petite Mort was first and foremost motivated by his own ambitions. He wanted to report on a major story that would make his career as a journalist, with little interest in the people who might be hurt in the process. He gives little thought, for example, to what will happen to the young women who work at the club, many of whom are illegal immigrants who would likely face deportation once the club’s activities are brought to light. Though Jess is not above stealing and lying, her actions show that she has strong moral values, particularly with regard to the abuse and exploitation of women. She points out the harm that his article might bring to the dancers at La Petite Mort, devising a plan so that they will have enough money to start new lives before the story is printed. Jess is a strong believer in second chances and fresh starts, a key theme in the novel.
