J. Janes - Carousel

‘YOU HOLD NO CARDS!’ shrilled Lafont, firing rapidly – three bursts … three. More rain, more shrieks! The tortured wailing of Madame Minou, and then:

‘Jean-Louis … Jean-Louis, please tell them,’ pleaded Gabrielle Arcuri. ‘I think I love you, Jean-Louis. I will die gladly, but … but there are others. The hostages also.’

‘Inspector, don’t!’ shouted Rejean Tourmel. ‘Lafont will only kill you.’

‘Yourselves included,’ snapped Pierre Bonny.

More silence, but this was broken by the weeping of Hermann’s little pigeon.

Lafont, Bonny and their hostages would be off to the left of the entrance; Brandl and the other two well off to the right.

The falsetto voice of Henri Lafont rang out. ‘Your guns, Louis. Hurry, hurry, eh? Toss them out and raise the hands. Up! Up! or me, I will chew this place to pieces!’

‘Don’t do it, Inspector,’ shouted Charles Audit. ‘Without the gold and the emeralds that one has nothing.’

‘But we have four murders, monsieur,’ began St-Cyr. ‘Surely their solution is worth more than all your hidden wealth?’

Again there was a pause, and then: ‘Clement, my friend, are you still at the controls?’ hazarded St-Cyr.

Terrified, the monkey raced to freedom, dragging its chain and banging its cup.

‘ Clement Cueillard ! I have asked you to do your duty!’ shouted St-Cyr tremulously.

From deep inside the workings came the voice of bitterness. ‘Is it that you think I am dead also, eh? You shits , messieurs. You call yourselves detectives! Are you not paid to protect the innocent?’

Ah merde! ‘Just start it up,’ sighed St-Cyr. ‘Let us not have the general strike at a time like this. The lights, eh? and the action.’ Mon Dieu , Paris … Paris these days!

‘ For your sake , I hope that one has not shot everything to pieces, Inspector!’ came the cry.

A tragedy, eh? Ah Nom de Jesus-Christ!

The thing began to turn, slowly at first and then with gathering momentum. Punctured, the calliope could offer but reedy wheezings of ‘The Blue Danube’. The roundel lights came on, broken here and there, and in that moment St-Cyr stepped from behind the cage, blinking as he took it all in.

Hermann’s little pigeon had been flung to the earthen floor. Nicole de Rainvelle held a straight razor to Gabrielle’s cheek …

‘Hermann, don’t move!’ he hissed. ‘Please, my old one. I beg it of you. Nothing, eh? Not even a breath. Just leave things in my hands.’

Reluctantly Kohler moved away from Otto Brandl. Madame Van der Lynn ran a trembling hand through her hair; Madame Minou could not find the will to lift her eyes.

There was no sign of Captain Offenheimer and in that moment St-Cyr and Kohler knew Brandl had silenced him for ever.

Kohler tossed his pistol into the gathering mud and went to wrap his overcoat about Giselle le Roy and to brush a tender hand across her battered cheeks.

‘Now yours, Jean-Louis,’ said Lafont, motioning with the Schmeisser.

The carousel went round and round, oblivious to all that was happening. St-Cyr hesitated. Pierre Bonny lifted his pistol to point it at Gabrielle Arcuri’s chest.

Nicole de Rainvelle flicked her lovely eyes over the Surete’s gumshoe and waited tensely for the one movement that would allow her to slash the chanteuse’s beautiful face to pieces.

The Lebel skidded into the mud. ‘You fools !’ seethed Charles Audit. ‘Must my brother have everything?’

‘Your brother, ah yes,’ said St-Cyr. ‘Where is he?’

‘With me,’ confessed Otto Brandl, warily enjoying the moment. ‘So you see, Henri, I still hold more cards than you.’

‘Then have him brought inside,’ said St-Cyr, ignoring the Schmeisser. He shouted for the carousel to be stopped, and the animals in their terrified race began at once to coast slowly into submission, going up and down. The turtle, the panda, the black stallion in the fourth row, ah yes.

He strode firmly over to Pierre Bonny and pushed the gun away from Gabrielle, but found that her lovely eyes would not leave him. ‘Please, it will be okay, eh? This bunch, they are nothing, Gabrielle. Some day France will be free of them. Then you and I -’

‘Will be dead.’

Must she say it so accusingly? Turning his back on them, he went over to the carousel to set matches, pipe and tobacco pouch on the very edge nearest the cage. ‘So, my friends, what really went on in that room at the Hotel of the Silent Life?’

Antoine Audit was thrust forward by two of Brandl’s men and left to stand alone under the lights.

‘You, monsieur, could answer for me, eh? The granddaughter of your brother Charles, a virgin until after the moment of her death.’

‘A virgin …?’ snorted Lafont, swinging the Schmeisser in an arc.

‘Ah yes. Oh for sure there were the trappings of a liaison, and she did take off her clothes on several occasions but …’

‘But we did not have sexual congress,’ said Antoine Audit. ‘Christabelle refused me, Charles. Always she refused.’

‘You bastard ! You killed her! Me, I will -’

‘ Silence ! Speak only when told to.’

Kohler was impressed. Never had he seen Louis quite like this. In spite of everything, the Frog commanded respect. Even from gangsters.

Louis lit the pipe but did not take his eyes from Antoine Audit. ‘She reminded you of Michele-Louis Prevost, monsieur.’

‘That proves nothing. Nothing ! All … all right, she … she was the reincarnation of Michele-Louise, so what?’

‘You had seen her naked in the drawing studios.’

‘Yes … yes, I had seen her that way enough times to wet the appetite. Is that a crime?’

‘ Viper! Cannibal ! You stole her from me just as you stole Michele-Louise!’

‘Charles … Charles, for the love of Jesus, don’t say anything.’

‘Rejean, she’s gone. Gone! My little bird. He … That one, my brother !’

‘Your brother wanted everything, Monsieur Charles. He took Michele-Louise, took the few gold coins you had started collecting, took the shop, the villa and left you on the broken rocks of the Ile du Diable for fifteen years.’

‘She deceived you, Charles!’ shouted Antoine Audit. ‘Ah, yes, my brother, Michele-Louise came willingly into my arms.’

‘Revenge,’ said St-Cyr quietly. ‘It was all a matter of revenge, eh, Monsieur Charles? Christabelle was only too well aware of the hatred you and your brother bore each other. Doubtless she adored and trusted you implicitly, and though very brave, made a very foolish mistake.’

‘The coins were forgeries!’ seethed Lafont. ‘ Nom de Jesus-Christ , Pierre, let’s finish the bastards and get it over with!’

‘And end up in disgrace? Is that what you wish the avenue Foch to think, Monsieur Henri?’

‘Then get on with it,’ snarled Pierre Bonny.

Otto Brandl had kept himself watchful and a little isolated from the others.

‘It was all a set-up, Louis,’ breathed Hermann. ‘The girl was a partner to it with Charles and Rejean. On their okay, she held out the offer of her body to Antoine Audit while behind his back she was arranging the sale of forgeries her grandmother had made years and years ago from the original coins in Charles Audit’s collection.’

‘Ah, yes, Hermann. First Christabelle shows Corporal Schraum a real coin, one that her grandfather has provided – Roman and perfect. Schraum is not unintelligent. Though he asks to see her papers, he knows enough not to arrest her.’

‘The coins would simply have vanished,’ said Hermann, taking three small steps no one else noticed.