Barbara Cleverly - Strange Images of Death

Jacquemin broke the silence. ‘Your notes, Lieutenant, if you please.’

‘Certainly, sir.’ The officer flipped open his notebook. ‘I summarize: Date, time, place and all that … Three victims noted.’ He paused and offered: ‘Oh-and two suspects.’

Joe intercepted a warning glance from Jacquemin and the young man, brought to heel, continued: ‘In date order of commission of crime:

‘First victim. Stone carving. Smashed by hammer or similar. Remains removed from original site and piled where shown on sketch. Provocatively displayed.

‘Second victim. One rabbit. Death from a broken neck estimated to have occurred a week before inspection. Provocatively displayed where shown on sketch.

‘Third victim. Young lady. Identity to be established. Fatal stab wound to heart. Weapon ancient dagger, still in wound. Estimated time of death-sixteen to twenty hours before time of inspection. Full rigor still evident. Body provocatively displayed.

‘Noteworthy feature: signs near door of temporary occupation by intruder. Flower vase containing suspected urine bears traces of fingerprints. Tramp/wanderer of some sort seeking shelter or setting up an ambush position?’

‘Thank you, Lieutenant. Now, Sandilands, perhaps you are in a position and of a mind to fill in some of our gaps … answer a few questions such as: Who? What? And why the bloody hell? We’re listening!’

‘She’s English and her name’s Estelle …’ he began.

And concluded: ‘Well, there you are, gentlemen. That’s as much as I can tell you. You’ll probably find more personal information if you locate her belongings. She had a place in the women’s dormitory. Miss Makepeace will be able to show you. There’s clearly a meaning-a message-here that strangers such as ourselves are not able to make sense of at first sight. The element of display you’ve noted I don’t believe was intended for our eyes-transient visitors that we are.’

‘Yes, visitors. I understand the place to be full of visitors. Art school in progress or some such?’

Joe reached into his pocket and brought out a sheet of paper. ‘Here, take this. I’ve made a copy. It’s a list of everyone who’s spent time under the castle roof since the beginning of the season. With a few details I’ve added myself as they became known to me.’

‘Thank you, Sandilands. Very useful.’

‘It’s incomplete. For more information you must refer to the steward or the lord himself when he returns.’

‘Returns? From where? How long’s he been gone?’

‘He left after lunch yesterday. He rode over to spend the afternoon and the night with his friend some ten miles away but declared he would be back in time to greet you. Perhaps we should open the door and declare we’re ready for business?’

He opened the door and stepped out to catch sight of the lord walking across the courtyard from the great hall towards them, a motoring coat flung across his shoulders like a cape.

He hailed Joe. ‘Sandilands! I return not a moment too soon! Guy tells me I must prepare myself for a pitiful and distressing sight. Perhaps you’d show me? And introduce me to our French policemen.’ He took off the coat on entering the building and threw it over a chair. ‘Jacquemin? Martineau? Do I have that right? Welcome to Silmont. Horse went lame. Had to leave him in Alphonse’s stable and accept a lift in his Delage. Now, gentlemen, what do we have?’

He approached the tomb and began to falter as he took in the unearthly scene. At that moment the sun shifted its angle and a shaft of light, diffused through a pane of coloured glass, dusted Estelle’s cheeks with the rosy glow of life. The lord staggered, and for the second time that morning Joe found himself offering an arm in support. He did not brush it away but clung, trembling and panting. All animation drained from his features, his mouth tightened. In an automatic gesture, he put a steadying hand over his heart. He tried to speak but no word would come.

In one swift movement, Martineau produced from his pocket a small silver flask. He held it out tentatively to Silmont.

‘A little cognac sometimes helps in these circumstances, sir,’ he murmured.

Silmont accepted it with a grateful nod and downed a gulp, breathed heavily, and took another.

Joe was trying to identify the strong emotion that was racking the lord. Shock? Distress? Both elements were present but there was something more, it seemed to Joe, something bitter he was trying to repress. Anger, perhaps? He could not wrest his eyes from the form of Estelle. Finally, a little colour returned to his face and he found his voice. ‘I’m sorry to show such weakness of spirit, gentlemen. I am physically not what I once was but that can be no excuse. I will just say that the shock of seeing a young girl who is … was … known to me in these circumstances is overwhelming. And the weapon! Do you see the dagger? It’s mine. The bloody nerve of the man! She’s been done to death with a misericord from my own collection. I have two on display in the armoury. We’ll go over and take a look. I think we’ll find there’s only one remaining. You know-it’s the element of parody that is ultimately distressing. None of you will have seen the original sculpture of my ancestress … This young woman has been done up to resemble the original.’

‘Sir,’ said Joe, ‘in my pocket I have a guidebook to the region. It has an illustration of the carving as it was. Perhaps …?’

‘Yes. By all means. Show it to the officers.’

‘Great heavens!’ Jacquemin was intrigued and offended. ‘Someone’s gone to quite a lot of trouble to make the girl look exactly like … what’s her name? … Aliénore. Anyone can see there’s a superficial similarity between the women but it takes more than a chance resemblance to trigger a man into going to all this bother, I’d have thought? All artistically arranged, you’d say. A crime of placement rather than passion? Is that what we’re looking at? Something studied?’

‘The shoes, the dress … the hair,’ Joe agreed. ‘Good Lord! I hope we’re not being treated to an expression of the latest “-ism” … necroplasticism, perhaps?’ he heard himself say and instantly regretted it. Jacquemin didn’t strike him as being receptive to word-play or remarks of a fanciful nature. And now he would have him marked down as a facetious English lightweight.

The Commissaire turned his double-barrelled gaze on Joe for a moment. ‘Wouldn’t surprise me at all,’ he said and then turned his attention back to the tomb top with its deathly offering. ‘You should see what they get up to in Paris in the name of art! Necrophilia, necromontage, necroplasticism … could well be the latest thrill. I’ll keep an eye out. And let’s admit, Sandilands, to this extent, whoever this sensation-seeker is-he’s succeeded! I, for one, am ready to admit I’ve spent rather longer transfixed by this display before us than I ever have by the Mona Lisa. Read what you like into that!’

‘Don’t you think, sir, it would take more than a flight of fancy and stage management to produce this?’ Martineau dared to object. ‘It would take a rush of energy … an outburst from a dam of pent-up hatred.’

‘You’re right, my boy,’ said the lord. ‘Look-let me show you something which may cast some light on what you’ve just said. A motive for murder which has remained alive and strong through the centuries. Will one of you give me a hand? I need to move this wooden superstructure, here on the side abutting the tomb.’

Martineau stepped forward and seized the wooden boards where the lord indicated and began to lever up the structure. Joe hurried to assist.

‘I discovered this when I was a very young man. I had fallen completely in love with Aliénore-everyone did. A strange thing to say of a lifeless effigy but-she was deeply alluring.’ He paused to cast a bleak look at the pile of rubble which had once been a glorious work of art. ‘Throughout my guardianship I’ve kept her in excellent condition. The image was originally decorated, you know. The locks of hair were gilded, her shoulder cape painted blue-a formula we have never been able to recreate-the jewels, though paste, gleamed convincingly. Miss Makepeace has been studying and advising. And restoring. Beautifully. And all to end like this …’