The Right of Way — Volume 03

On a quiet winter evening in a small French‑Canadian village, Rosatie feels a restless anxiety that refuses to fade. Her crippled father, seated in his wheelchair, chatters about gossip while the postmaster, a proud but meddlesome man, urges her to peer through the shuttered windows of the tailor’s shop, where a solitary lamp still burns. The strange light and whispered rumors of a missing iron cross and threatening neighbors stir a mixture of fear and curiosity in her mind.

Compelled by a sense of duty toward a man who has been assaulted and by the mysterious signal she once saw, Rosatie slips into the empty streets after everyone has retired. She approaches the shop, watches a crack in the shutters, and catches a fleeting glimpse of a figure grasping a red‑hot cross with tongs, a sight that freezes her blood. The moment leaves her torn between staying hidden and uncovering the secret that lingers behind the glowing pane.