Peter May - Extraordinary People

‘Who was it?’ Sophie asked.

‘A message from Uncle Simon.’

‘Well, call him back, quick. He’s a lawyer, isn’t he?’

‘In England, not France.’

‘Well, he must know someone in France who can help.’

Enzo pulled up the recall option and and listened as the phone began ringing at the other end. It was answered almost immediately. ‘Magpie, where in God’s name have you been? I’ve been trying to get you all bloody day.’

‘Simon, just shut up and listen.’ Enzo knew he had to make this quick and concise. ‘I’m in a police cell in Auxerre. Nicole, Sophie, Bertrand and I have been arrested. We need help. Legal representation. Someone to get us out of this mess.’

‘Jesus, Magpie, what have you been up to?’

‘It’s a long story. I’m going to give you a name and a number in Paris.’ He flicked through the repertoire in his phone’s memory and rhymed off the number. ‘His name’s Roger Raffin. He’s a journalist. His paper’s lawyers got us out of trouble before. Tell him I know the names of all of Gaillard’s killers.’ There was a long silence at the other end of the line. ‘Simon, are you still there?’

‘Give me his address,’ Simon said. ‘I’ll go and drag him out of bed personally.’

Irritation creased Enzo’s face. ‘Simon, there’s no time for you to fly to Paris.’

‘I’m in Paris.’

And something in his voice brought earlier forebodings flooding back. ‘What are you doing there?’

‘Enzo, that’s why I was trying to get you.’ Enzo heard him draw a deep breath. ‘Just don’t panic, okay?’

‘Why would I panic?’ But he was starting to already.

‘Magpie, Kirsty phones her mum once a day, every day. She has done ever since she arrived in Paris.’

Just the mention of Kirsty’s name made Enzo tense. ‘What’s happened to her?’

‘Just listen!’ Simon’s voice was insistent. ‘She hasn’t phoned home in three days. Her mum’s tried to get her several times on her cell phone, but it’s always switched off, and she hasn’t responded to any messages. Linda phoned me in a panic yesterday, and I got the first flight over. According to the concierge , Kirsty hasn’t been home in three days. She hasn’t been at work either. Magpie, she’s just vanished. Into thin air. And no one seems to know where the hell she is.’

The single fluorescent strip in the ceiling burned out everything around it. The world turned a blinding white. Enzo closed his eyes tight to shut it out. A line had been crossed, and there was no going back. His life, he knew, was about to change again. Forever.

‘Magpie?’

‘Just get me out of here, Simon. As fast as you can?’ His voice was barely a whisper.

He hung up and the phone slipped from his grasp and clattered to the floor. He stared at it blindly.

‘Papa?’ Sophie was kneeling beside him. She picked up the phone and looked at him. He could hear the fear in her voice. ‘Papa, what’s happened?’

He looked at her, and saw her mother in her, as he always did. ‘They’ve got her.’ His voice was strained and quiet. There was no doubt in his mind. No question of innocent coincidence.

‘Who’s got who?’

‘Gaillard’s killers.’ Then he corrected himself. ‘Killer.’ He looked into Sophie’s eyes. ‘Madeleine. Whoever she is, she’s got your sister.’

They had no idea what time it was, or how long they had been sitting in the interminable fluorescent glare of this square, featureless police cell. Without windows they did not know whether dawn had broken, or if it was still dark outside. But they had not slept. Tired eyes scratched and burned with every blink, heads aching, necks stiff, faces shadowed and drawn.

The first indication that things were about to change came with the sound of raised voices from the corridor. Then the door flew open, and Simon stood there grinning, his beard bristling, and he looked greyer than Enzo remembered. In spite of the smile, he too had dark penumbrae beneath his eyes.

Sophie hurled herself across the cell and threw her arms around him. ‘Don’t do that,’ he said, mock embarrassed. ‘You’re dad’ll think I’m only after your body.’

‘Thank God you’re here,’ she said, and she gave him a big hug.

Simon put his arm around her and shook hands with Enzo and Bertrand and Nicole. ‘You guys okay?’

Enzo nodded.

‘No, we’re not!’ Sophie protested. ‘We weren’t allowed a phone call, we weren’t allowed to talk to a lawyer.’

‘You called me, didn’t you?’

Sophie’s laugh of contempt sounded more like a bark. ‘Only because they forgot to take my Papa’s portable off him. I was refused access to a doctor after all their manhandling.’

Simon raised an eyebrow. ‘Were you? One more to add to the list, then. These guys are in deep shit. Roger figures they were trying to keep you under wraps and out of the way for forty-eight hours so they could make some kind of announcement to the press.’

Enzo nodded, realising now why they had been locked up like this. ‘To claim the credit for finding Gaillard’s remains and revealing his killers.’

‘Before we could run the story in Libé.’ Raffin appeared next to Simon. He looked flushed and weary, and he shook all their hands gravely. ‘Your detention order was signed by Juge Lelong. Again.’ He nodded back along the corridor. ‘He’s here, you know. He might try to argue that you damaged public property, or that you were interfering with a police investigation. But it’s not going to wash. Not now.’

Simon grinned. ‘He’s fucked,’ he said. ‘And you guys are free to go.’

Enzo put a hand on his arm. ‘Any word of Kirsty?’

Simon’s grin faded and he shook his head. ‘Nothing.’

Raffin said, ‘We’ve got a car waiting for you outside. We can be in Paris in a couple of hours.’

At the charge bar, they had all their possessions restored. Bertrand was told that his van was in the yard behind the police station. ‘Take Sophie and Nicole straight back to Cahors,’ Enzo told him. ‘And don’t let either of them out of your sight.’

‘No!’ Sophie stood her ground defiantly. ‘We’re going to Paris, too.’

‘All of us,’ Nicole said.

For almost the first time, Sophie and Nicole were in accord. ‘We’ll follow you.’ Sophie thrust her chin out and dared her father to challenge her. But he knew better than that. She was, after all, her father’s daughter. And in many ways he was happier to keep her close. The thought of anything happening to Sophie, too, was almost more than he could bear. He sighed and nodded, and they were led through to the foyer. It was daylight outside, but the rain from the night before had not stopped, and it streaked the windows all along the front of the Hôtel de Police. Through them, Enzo could see the blurred shape of a rain-stained church tower across the street. Traffic sat in long, patient queues, windscreen wipers beating countless paths back and forth through the endless summer downpour.

The accueil was filled with uniformed officers and men in dark suits. There was some heated debate in progress. As they followed Raffin out through the front door, Enzo caught sight of the pale face of Juge Lelong among the men in suits. Their eyes met for just a moment, and Enzo saw defeat in the set of the other man’s face. Long gone the arrogance which had so characterised their first meeting. He had made a mess of this, and the Garde des Sceaux would be furious. Only scandal and humiliation awaited them both now. But Enzo had other things on his mind.