Knock 'Em Dead, page 16
‘No, I didn’t.’
‘What about the junction of Avenue Montand with the loop road? Was anyone coming down the hill when you passed?’
‘I didn’t look.’
‘Were you aware that Mademoiselle Rosay had an appointment to see Mayor Hervé Montand at 7 o’clock? In her private office?’
Jodie sat upright. ‘She did?’
‘You seem surprised.’
‘It’s just that we – Caroline and I – had been speaking about him earlier.’ She recounted the conversation. ‘I suppose I am surprised she didn’t mention she was meeting him.’
‘You say you’re not sure what the earlier disagreement between Doctor Zep and Monsieur Montand was about. How did it end?’
‘Arnaud had the parting shot. Whatever it was, it stunned Montand. You’d better ask them about it.’
Neither protagonist having referred to their meeting, Flaco intended to do just that.
‘Just a moment.’ Jodie stiffened. ‘Did Montand keep that 7 o’clock appointment?’
‘Mademoiselle...’
‘Did he?’
‘I can’t answer that.’
‘No.’ Jodie looked away. ‘Of course not.’
On to the final hurdle. ‘Jodie, do you have keys to Mademoiselle Rosay’s villa?’
‘To the side door only. It’s on the table there. Take it. I don’t need it anymore.’
‘Did anyone else hold a key?’
‘Don’t think so.’
‘Did anyone come regularly to the house? A gardener?’
‘Caro did it, herself.’ A deep exhalation. ‘Daniela, the cleaner, comes in one afternoon a week. Yesterday, it was, actually. But she doesn’t have a key. Caro just let her in.’
‘We’ll need to talk to her. Do you know where..?’
Jodie gave the cleaner’s name and her Vence address.
‘Thank you. Finally, can you think of any reason why anyone would want to kill Caroline?’ She heard herself. ‘Sorry, I could have put that better.’
‘No, no. Besides, I prefer straight-talking. There are people who didn’t like her. She could be difficult. Wilful. Mischievous. I remember I didn’t like her much myself until I got to know her.’ As if astonished by the recollection, she shook her head. ‘But she had another side. Take this evening. I stupidly scraped her console with my table when I was wheeling it in from my car. She was really sweet about it.’
‘So, can you think of anyone—’
Jodie clicked her tongue. ‘Sorry, I forgot the question. No, I can’t imagine anyone could think so ill of her. It’s to do with Paillaud’s will, isn’t it? I don’t know what but it has to be.’ A steelier look hardened Jodie’s red-rimmed eyes; the look of a gymnast about to embark on a dangerous routine. ‘I tell you what I do know, though. If I find out who stove my gorgeous Caro’s head in, I shall take a hammer—’
‘Stop there,’ Flaco said, the nakedness of Jodie’s feelings giving her an unexpected frisson. ‘Revenge?’ She shook her head. ‘Bad idea. Anyone killing a killer in cold blood goes down for a very long time. And by goes down—’
‘I know what it means.’
Over the next few minutes, Flaco built a persuasive case for allowing the law to take its course and at the end of it, Jodie acknowledged that her reaction had been forged in the heat of the moment. Flaco was content to leave it there.
‘I should go now,’ she said, but realising she had a final hurdle to present Jodie with, she glanced at her watch. ‘Have you the time? I’m way slow, I think.’
‘I have... 8.42.’
Further relief. ‘Thank you.’ She gathered her things, reflecting that if she were Darac, she would give Jodie’s arm or her shoulder a little squeeze in parting. Expressing what he felt physically – tenderness, anger, elation – seemed to come so easily to him. Maybe another time. ‘Do you have any family nearby, Jodie? Or friends? You should be with someone.’
‘I’d rather be alone.’
‘What about tomorrow?’
‘I intend to work. It’s the best thing.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘Quite sure.’
Their eyes met. Once again, Flaco felt a little unsettled.
‘No need to worry, Officer. I’m not going to kill myself. Deliberately or accidentally on purpose.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I’m a diabetic. Type One. You have to stay on top of it but I always do. And I will now.’
‘Do you inject yourself?’
‘Three times a day.’
Flaco’s admiration for Jodie was growing all the time. ‘Tough regime.’
‘Not at all. I have patients who suffer from conditions such as motor neurone disease. That is tough.’
‘Nevertheless, you’re sure you wouldn’t at least like to see a doctor? Under the circumstances, not Monsieur Zep, of course. But I can have a police doctor here in less than half an hour.’
Jodie steadied herself, putting her collapse on hold for just a little longer. ‘No.’ She reached out and gave Flaco’s plump forearm a pat. ‘But thank you.’
‘We may need to speak again,’ she said, rising, ‘I’ll see myself out.’ After no more than a couple of paces, she heard Jodie break into a juddering torrent of tears. She turned and for a long moment went no further. Then she moved slowly to the door and let herself out.
26
Granot sounded exhausted on the phone. ‘Any word from Flak?’
‘Not as yet,’ Darac said. ‘Jodie had calmed down – well, numbed down, by the time they left for her place but of all the things you wouldn’t want to see.’
‘Yes, poor kid. How are you getting on otherwise?’
‘We’d be doing better if Frènes didn’t ring every ten minutes demanding speed, more speed and more speed still.’ Darac ran an eye over the stacks of evidence cases littering Caroline’s office. ‘There’s a lot of stuff. We’re doing our best but we need you, basically.’
‘Tell Divisional Command that.’
‘Agnès has been telling them for years.’
‘I’ll be there as quickly as I can,’ Granot said, and rang off.
Darac turned to Perand. ‘So Montand finally gets his wish. Up for it?’
‘Sure.’
‘He may be mayor of one of the smallest communes in France but as you saw, he’s got a Versailles-sized ego. I was brisk with him earlier and he didn’t like it. I’m going to continue in that vein – make it appear I’ve got something better to do. He won’t like it again.’
‘Want me to play Good Cop?’
‘Better Cop will do.’
‘OK.’
In the dining-room Montand was sitting with his head resting on the heels of his hands as Darac led Perand in and sat down at the table.
‘At last,’ Montand said, standing. ‘Are you aware that I’ve now had to postpone our monthly development meeting at the Mairie? Postpone! For the first time in living memory!’
‘Sit down, monsieur. You’re wasting time.’
Montand’s jaw dropped. ‘I... I will not be spoken to in that manner.’
‘Then we’ll have very little to say to one another. Sit down!’
In lieu of his mayoral sash, Montand straightened his tie and sat.
Darac took a longer look at Mayor Hervé Montand. Physiognomy, he believed, revealed little about a person’s true nature, and nothing at all of their likely innocence or guilt. He’d interviewed both angel-faced murderers and evil-looking saints in his time. Yet he still found the impulse to read a face irresistible. Montand’s was top-heavy, a short chin and prodigiously-domed pate combining to suggest a bias toward the life of the mind. His mouth, moist and thick-lipped, hinted at altogether more basic appetites.
Safer conclusions could be drawn from Montand’s conscious choices. His carefully-shaped goatee was surely an attempt to hide the weakness of his chin, a strategy that chimed with the over-compensating arrogance of his demeanour.
‘Now, monsieur – tell me everything that happened.’
‘I should have a lawyer—’
‘If you want me to take you into custody, I will, and you can go for any lawyer you like but as we’re merely trying to put a picture together here, get on with it.’
‘I understand that but I find your attitude deplorable, Captain. Not that I’m surprised. My brother-in-law, Monsieur Vaselle, told me how rough you were earlier.’
‘He was stupid enough to be unco-operative.’
‘Had to release him, though, didn’t you? Innocent. Completely.’
Apart from receiving a caution for coercing a witness to lie on his behalf. ‘Get on with it, Monsieur – what is it? – Montand.’
‘I will not be spoken to in that manner.’
‘No?’ Darac rapped his notebook on the table and got to his feet. ‘Alright, Perand – caution this person.’
‘No!’ He wiped a slick of sweat off his bald pate. ‘I cannot suffer any further delays. Continue.’
With his strong, broad-boned face and light-heavyweight build, Darac could appear menacing when he felt like it. He felt like it. ‘Let’s talk money, Monsieur Montand. Your money.’
‘What does that have to do—’
‘How do you earn your living?’
‘As with every mayor in France, I am paid according to the number of inhabitants residing in the commune.’
‘So you’re down a couple for the day.’ Darac shrugged. ‘Tough break.’
‘I will speak to Public Prosecutor Frènes about you, Captain. Your attitude to your elders and betters is truly appalling.’
‘I spoke to him just now. He says he doesn’t know you from Adam.’
‘That is not true! We met at the...’ The handkerchief was pressed into service once more. ‘We met at the—’
‘I don’t care if you met at the Menton Lemon Fanciers AGM. I’m not asking about your mayoral stipend. I’m asking about your principal income.’
The man seemed genuinely astonished. ‘You have never heard of Montand Sanitary Ware?’
‘There are pissoirs,’ Perand said, nodding reverently. ‘And there are Montand pissoirs.’
‘Absolutely so, young man.’
Darac glanced at his watch. ‘The company doing well?’
Montand’s muddy eyes somehow managed to flash. ‘It’s been doing well for almost two centuries.’
‘Uh-huh.’ Darac gave it a couple of beats. ‘Alright, tell me, as exactly as you can, what you did when you got here this evening.’
Montand began to pick at the logo on his pale-blue polo shirt.
‘Very well. I... parked on the drive. I walked to the front door noticing that my dear friend, Doctor Arnaud Zep, was next door.’
‘You saw him?’
‘I saw his cycle leaning against the porch wall. He was visiting Brice Kerthus, the victim’s next-door neighbour. Quite unnecessarily as it turned out. Poor Arnaud.’
‘You’re getting ahead of yourself.’
‘Yes, that’s right. I rang Mademoiselle Rosay’s front doorbell. No one came. I rang it again and still no one came. I’d visited her before and thought she might have been playing that music of hers so I decided to try the side entrance.’
‘Did you see anyone en route?’
‘In retrospect, I realise there was someone. As I got out of my car, I was vaguely aware of a shape, a shadow – something – among the shrubbery in the front garden. I didn’t pay it any attention at the time. I suppose I imagined it was a cat or something.’ He wiped his pate and his mouth in succession. ‘When I think about what happened,’ he gave a dismissive nod in the direction of next door. ‘I may have been very lucky this evening.’
Darac eyeballed Montand once more. The man had no soul. And he was still picking at the logo on his shirt. Nervously. And he’d seen a mysterious presence lurking in the undergrowth? Convenient.
‘You didn’t see an actual person?’
‘Not as such.’
‘Then?’
‘I rang the side door bell. No one came and then I saw light spilling on to the rear garden so I took the side path. The first disturbing thing I saw was a smashed pane in the patio door. Then I saw all the mess inside. And then Mademoiselle Rosay, lying on the floor, motionless.’
‘Did you enter the room at that time?’
‘No. Certainly not. I knew Arnaud was next door so I hurried there. I explained the situation and we returned to the office straight away. We both instructed Kerthus to remain where he was but he tagged along anyway. We couldn’t prevent it.’
‘You say you “hurried” to Kerthus’s villa?’
‘As fast as I could. I’m afraid a lifetime of service to the commune has left its...’
‘Did you run? And did you keep to the path?’
‘I went as fast as I could. And yes, I kept to the path.’ Montand’s top-heavy face seemed to magnify the anxious, questioning look he gave Darac. ‘What... is going on here?’
‘Take over, Perand.’ Darac swiped his mobile and mimed looking something up.
Perand smiled. ‘Someone clearly murdered Mademoiselle Rosay, monsieur. I’m sure you know that we need to establish who did what, when and how. To help us eliminate them from our enquiries, if you like.’
‘Yes, of course.’ Montand’s thick lips widened into a weak smile. ‘For a second there, I was concerned you actually suspected me.’
‘Considering what you witnessed, I appreciate you probably weren’t looking at your watch but how much time would you say elapsed between parking your car and knocking on Monsieur Kerthus’s door?’
‘I didn’t knock; I rang the bell. I would say... two minutes. At the very most.’
‘And on your return to the office, did all three of you enter?’
‘Yes.’
‘Together?’
‘No, Arnaud is a very fit man and he got there perhaps half-a-minute before me; Kerthus, was probably another forty-five seconds behind that. With my official experience, I knew very well that nothing must be disturbed. Only Arnaud did in fact touch anything – when he felt for a pulse in the victim’s neck. There was none as was obvious.’
Impressed with Perand’s performance, Darac put away his phone. It was time to get rough again. ‘You stood next to him while he did that, Montand?’
‘As I said, I knew not to set foot in the room so I stood at the open patio door. As did Kerthus later, although I had to physically stop him from entering.’
That put them no more than a metre and a half from Caroline’s body. ‘You could see Mademoiselle Rosay’s wound clearly?’
‘Yes. It was horrible.’
‘Describe the state of the blood.’
‘Wet. Red. What do you expect it to be like?’
It seemed Zep’s estimate of Caroline’s T.O.D. was looking more and more secure. ‘Then what did you do?’
‘We called the police from my mobile and waited the five or so minutes until they came. Waited outside, I might add, in the rain. Luckily, there’s a porch over the side door.’
‘What time did you arrive for your meeting here this evening?’
‘At 7 o’clock.’ He essayed a hard stare in Darac’s direction. ‘Ample time, I assumed for a brief discussion before heading off to the Mairie.’
‘Who arranged the meeting?’
‘Mademoiselle Rosay herself. She rang me.’
‘Why did she want to see you?’
‘She didn’t say in detail at the time and she was dead when I arrived here as I think I may have mentioned.’
The pulse in Darac’s temple began to throb, a feeling he was used to. The tightening sensation he felt in his chest was a newer development. His pulse seemed to be racing slightly, also. ‘You think my attitude is deplorable? Mademoiselle Rosay wasn’t merely dead, was she? She had been murdered. Beaten horribly to death.’
Montand had overstepped the mark and, seeming to realise it, managed a regretful nod. ‘Do not misunderstand me. I’m... only making light of the tragedy to come to terms with it. It’s difficult.’
Darac eyeballed him. ‘Is it?’
Montand returned the look. ‘Yes. It is.’
‘You say you didn’t know in detail what the meeting was about. Considering the events of earlier in the day, why do you think the mademoiselle, your local notary public, might want to see you?’
‘It was to do with Ambroise’s will. That much is obvious.’
‘What about “Ambroise’s” will?’
‘Just to reiterate the position. Dot the i’s and cross the t’s – that sort of thing, I imagine.’
At 7 o’clock in the evening? On the same day as the benefactor’s suicide? Darac didn’t believe it. Paillaud’s file had contained several wills. In the two short years since he’d moved back to the village, it seemed he’d promised money to half the local population, each will nullifying its predecessor. The last, however, had remained unchanged for the past eight months.
‘Were you aware that Mademoiselle Rosay and Monsieur Paillaud had had a meeting of their own, this morning?’
‘No,’ Montand said, more a sound in his throat than a word. ‘I wasn’t.’
‘Why did you ring him at home this morning?’
‘How do you..? Uh, he wasn’t in. I didn’t speak to him.’
But you left a message. ‘What did you want to speak to him about?’
‘I often called. Just to see how he was, and so on. We were all very proud of him in our community.’
‘I think he must have been pretty proud of you. You are the sole beneficiary of his estate, are you not?’
‘Not at all.’ Stronger now. More confident. ‘The commune of La Crague-du-Var is the beneficiary.’
‘But you are empowered to spend the money as you “see fit.” ’
‘Only for the wellbeing of the commune and its citizens; not for my own personal gain. Obviously.’
