J. Janes - Tapestry

Even this news didn’t move him. He was insisting that he be told everything.

‘Jeannot says there’s a bronze funeral urn in the temple’s courtyard and that perhaps the mother could arrange to have the daughter’s ashes placed there among those of her ancestors. Then her little boy could always visit. The temple, a pagoda,****** was donated to the Colonial Exhibition of 1906 in Marseille and is really called a dinh , he says. A large communal house that was used for worship and where the elders of the village would go to discuss important matters. Frankly, I can’t understand how anyone could let such an important building be taken away but they did, and in 1917 it was moved to the Bois de Vincennes to become the memorial. Is it not good and kind of him to want to see the mother, Teddy, and to offer to help her financially with the funeral? A girl he didn’t even know but whose mother and child shouldn’t be made to suffer more than they already will? He … he thought that if I were with him it might make things easier for the little boy and that … that Colonel Delaroche would insist on our taking something from here. He was certain you could help that little boy.’

Let me have the rest of it then , said Teddy.

‘Look, I’m sorry. Really I am but you’ll see everything I do. There’s a passage , Teddy. Jeannot says it’s well worth a visit. All along its walls are beautiful bas-reliefs that were copied from those at Angkor Wat in Indochina. He’s been there. He really has. He’s seen the ruins of that great temple. He says that among our scholars there were some who at first felt that the temple at Angkor Wat was Buddhist but that there is a magnificent shrine to Vishnu, the Hindu Preserver, another to Brahma, their god of Creation, and yet another to Siva, their destroyer. I … I hadn’t realized he would even know or care about such things. Honestly I hadn’t, but … but people don’t visit those memorials much now, so we and the mother and little boy should have the place much to ourselves.’

Teddy didn’t say anything for the longest time. His feelings had, of course, been hurt and she was going to have to do something about that.

You fool , he said at last. Wasn’t this Jeannot of yours standing inside the door here when you ran back upstairs? Didn’t he stop you from crying out in panic?

‘He … he did grab me from behind, but …’

He clamped a hand over your mouth and held you pinned against the door. You thought you were going to die. You did! You nearly fainted.

Teddy never missed a thing, not even that Jeannot had come back to tell her what had happened to that girl. ‘When he released me, I saw that he had been badly bitten on the left wrist and thought that I’d done it in panic, but … but I’d only pulled the bandage off.’

It was inflamed and you stood helplessly before him in tears.

‘He knew where I’d been, knew I’d followed him.’

Yet didn’t accuse you of it?

‘He was too polite.’

Admit it, you couldn’t face him.

‘All right, all right, I won’t go. I won’t! On Monday, when I get to the office, I’ll tell him I wasn’t feeling well.’

She would clear things away now, thought Suzette. She would turn her back on Teddy, wouldn’t throw anything out. They would just have to eat it tomorrow for supper. ‘He’s not like the others at the agency, Teddy. He’s decent, honest and kind, and keeps to himself. That’s why he insisted we sit in the salle de sejour among all those lovely things, and that I drink the last of his eau-de-vie . He was genuinely worried about his having terrified me and held my hands. I had no need to fear him and said I would help him. I promised , Teddy. He’ll be expecting us-he really will. I’m not to tell Concierge Louveau where we’re going even if that one asks, which he will. It’s … it’s best we don’t.

‘ “Let’s keep it to ourselves,” Jeannot said. His fingers trembled when he kissed me on the cheek and I felt the warmth of him. He said, “Please don’t worry. Everything will be fine. It’s probably best that you’re not here when the coroner and the police come to remove that body.” I can’t have the police asking me any more questions. I can’t. I know too much. I’ll lose my job if they make me tell them things.’

And what about that bite you saw? Did Bob do it or some other dog like that Lulu?

‘Bob wouldn’t have bitten him. Not Bob. I … I don’t know how he got the bite. I wish I did but couldn’t ask.’

Plunged into the damp, cold darkness of the rue La Boetie at 2107 hours Berlin Time, they were moving now. They weren’t wasting time, having just left the Agence Vidocq. ‘It’s this house, Louis. This one,’ insisted Kohler.

‘No it isn’t. It’s this one.’

‘ Merde, how the hell would you know?’

‘Try me.’

The candle stub had gone out. Uncanny, that’s what Louis was. ‘Why didn’t you tell me they had a photo of the boys?’

‘I couldn’t. There wasn’t a chance.’

Jeannot Raymond hadn’t been in his office. ‘Have they got Giselle?’

‘Later … We can discuss it later.’

‘Garnier and Quevillon took Elene Artur. I’m certain of it.’

‘Did I not say “later”?’

The door was locked. Fist to it, Louis summoned the concierge. ‘Louveau?’ he demanded. ‘Surete and Kripo.’

‘Messieurs …’

‘The flat of Judge Rouget and hurry!’ They didn’t take the lift. They went up the spiralling main staircase two and three steps at a time, Louveau soon falling far behind.

‘Armand Tremblay hasn’t been in yet,’ said Louis when they got to the flat. ‘The seals haven’t been broken. If Jeannot Raymond paid this a visit, he must have only wanted to confirm that you had found her.’

‘That still doesn’t explain why he didn’t come back to the agency.’

Collectively the seals were examined. Nothing could have been disturbed since Hermann’s departure. Nothing.

‘Boemelburg can’t have let our coroner know of the body, Louis.’

‘And that can only mean Oberg didn’t want him to. Oberg, Hermann. Monsieur, was Jeannot Raymond here to examine these?’

The seals were indicated, Louveau taken aback. ‘M. Raymond? Whatever for? He simply brought the Mademoiselle Dunand home and stayed with her awhile.’

‘ Ah, Jesus, Louis …’

‘ Vite, vite, monsieur, her flat!’

They took the side stairs this time. Ach, why hadn’t they considered that the girl might live in the same building?

Louveau knocked on the door of a fifth-floor flat nearest to that staircase. ‘Mademoiselle Dunand?’ he quavered. Impatiently they waited. Would the detectives insist on entry? ‘Monsieur Raymond told me the girl had been upset over the murder and that he had thought it best to stay to calm her, Inspectors, and to reassure her that my building was absolutely safe otherwise and that she had no need to concern herself further. He said he told her he would see her Monday morning at the office and that she was to enjoy her day off.’

‘He actually came downstairs to tell you all of that?’ asked Kohler.

‘But certainly.’

‘Your passkey, monsieur. Don’t argue,’ said Louis, nodding curtly at the door.

‘Mademoiselle Dunand,’ sang out Louveau. ‘ C’est moi, your concierge. Are you all right?’

From behind the still locked door came the hesitance of, ‘ Oui, I was just getting ready for bed. Is … is something wrong?’

‘Mademoiselle, it’s me, Jean-Louis St-Cyr.’

‘I’M NOT DRESSED! YOU … YOU CAN’T COME IN! CAN’T IT WAIT?’