Dominique Manotti: Rough Trade

‘No doubt that’s the collection in which I might almost have ended up myself.’

‘You’d have been in very good company. Apparently there’s one cassette with the wife of a French cabinet minister. I wasn’t allowed to see it. And it was in that series that I found the Bertrand cassette.’

For the last few moments everyone had been waiting for the finale. There was a short pause, while they digested the news.

‘If Bertrand was important enough in Baker’s eyes for the latter to find a means of pressurizing him, then it might mean that he could have a direct role in the network.’

‘The outcome may have been like this: VL went to the Club Simon, where she had a date with Kashguri. The studio was empty. She had a quick look at the cassette that had remained there and took it to Baker, whose little business she knew about, but she didn’t know who Bertrand was. Baker bought the cassette and had VL killed in order to protect Bertrand.’

‘What worries me about this version is that too much in it happens by accident.’

‘And for the time being we’re not even sure that Kashguri was present at the Club Simon during the murder.’

‘We’re not sure but it’s more than likely. He’s the member. And also he’s the one that the Thais recognized.’

‘There could be a quite different version. VL had been working with Baker for a long time. It was she who’d told him that Sobesky was the ideal sucker, and it was she who stayed in the house to observe him. On instructions from Baker she set a trap for Bertrand and made an appointment with him at the Club Simon. Remember: she left Sobesky for an important appointment. She arranged for Bertrand to swallow something nasty which would definitely give him a bad trip. If it went as far as murder, then all the better. While Bertrand was dealing with the corpse she dashed off to New York with the cassette.’

‘And was it Bertrand who had her assassinated by Kashguri?’

‘Or had her assassinated by the Kashguri method? Kashguri has a hold over Bertrand because he knows about the murder of the Thai girl. That’s the message he sent him when he gave us his alibi for the evening of 29 February. Bertrand’s reply: he has a hold over Kashguri by making him responsible for the murder of VL.’

‘How do you fit the 14 March lunch into that scenario?’

‘Baker had his faithful collaborator assassinated by Kashguri when he learnt, through Attali’s phone call, that the police were on to him.’

‘In any case we haven’t done enough work on Bertrand.’

‘We were ordered not to do it.’

‘That’s not a sufficient reason, as you well know. I’ve rather concentrated on Kashguri. We should have investigated Bertrand’s past. I’m sure we’re going to come across him somewhere between Tehran and Istanbul during the 70s, and involved with the CIA trafficking. Perhaps he’s a member of our own secret services. We’ll have time now to go into all that. We’ll start by arresting him for murder. But he’s a Deputy, protected by parliamentary immunity. It’ll certainly be complicated.’

Daquin telephoned the Drugs chief while Romero made coffee for everyone.

*

It was after 5 p.m. when Daquin and his team went to Bertrand’s home. The day had been spent in various telephone calls. Various procedures had to be followed before Daquin could obtain authorization to interrogate the Deputy immediately, before he could be charged and arrested. In the end contact was made with the secretary in Bertrand’s office at the Assembly. After receiving a telephone call at about 3 p.m. Bertrand had immediately gone home, leaving orders that he was not to be disturbed for any reason whatever.

‘Who was this telephone call from?’

‘I couldn’t tell you. A man, with a foreign accent.’ Elevator. The door to the apartment was locked. They rang the bell. Nothing. Daquin sent for the concierge. She opened the door. They found Bertrand in his office, lying over the big leather armchair, a bullet in his head, the pistol on the floor. The enquiry would conclude it was suicide.

Who had telephoned, or got someone to telephone? A friend in political life? A cop? Anna Beric? Erwin?

Friday 23 May, 3p.m. Passage du Désir

Noted with half an eye in Libération …

… It would be reasonable to assume that Sheikh Khalkhali would carry out with obvious awareness an apparently modest task for the man who had decided to exterminate the enemies of Islam … Twenty executions on Wednesday, nine on Thursday: the Sheikh has not disappointed his admirers … The thirty condemned men were accused of belonging to an international group who sold drugs throughout Iran and had connections with counter-revolutionaries abroad.

*

Attali, who had been somewhat tested by his New York trip, had asked for a few days’ leave, which he was spending with his family at Antony. Romero had taken a day off too. The Official Travel Service had grilled Kashguri’s two menservants, in vain. Daquin, alone in his office, was working on photocopies of Bertrand’s personal papers. Without much conviction. The ending of any affair is always bitter, but he felt totally apathetic. Kashguri and Agça had disappeared, and for the time being there wasn’t the slightest sign of a clue. Baker had died in New York and he hadn’t even seen him once. Bertrand had committed suicide or his suicide had been arranged before he could arrest him. Frustration and more frustration.

Romero appeared at the door of his office.

‘Chief, may I disturb you for a few moments?’

Daquin indicated that he could.

Romero stepped back and showed in a woman, a bunch of curly red hair, white skin, golden eyes. Daquin stood up, fascinated.

‘Chief, let me introduce Yildiz, we’re going to get married, and I should like you to be my witness.’

Once they had left Daquin closed his files and decided to start his weekend at once.

Monday 26 May, 10 a.m. Passage du Désir

The Official Travel people were tensed up.

‘All security measures have been reviewed and strengthened. We have two facts on our side. The first is that Agça doesn’t speak French and will find himself very isolated, because you’ve arrested most of the people he knew in Paris. We’ve arranged surveillance of all the remaining militants and extreme right Turkish areas in Paris, so far without results. Second fact: Agça is a bad shot. If we succeed in always keeping the Pope away from contact with the crowds, we can avoid catastrophe. We’ve planned to use helicopters and cars for his journeys: access will be carefully controlled: invitation only or passes. Twenty thousand volunteer lookout men have been taken on, plus three thousand state security police and five hundred plainclothes inspectors. There will be two very delicate moments because it will be difficult to keep the Pope at a distance: the meeting with the Polish community at the Champ-de-Mars, and the visit to Saint-Denis where the Pope is meeting the immigrants … you can see the sort of thing …’

‘It’s all the better that Agça, on the whole, looks very like an immigrant … Less like a Pole.’

‘For Saint-Denis we’ve informed the local council who are calling in the disciplinary services of the Communist Party.’

‘Well, then, everything’s going well.’

‘Every police force in France has received a photo of Agça. But we’ve still had no response. And about your side?’

‘On my side, nothing. I must tell you that since the death of Bertrand I’ve had no ideas. And I’m somewhat unmotivated.’

*

Telephone call from the chief of Drugs. He’d just been informed that Iran was asking officially for the extradition of Kashguri on charges of drug trafficking. Daquin made himself coffee and, in his armchair thought vaguely about Lespinois, who must be negotiating hard at this moment. With the Islamists, against Parillaud. Like the CIA in Afghanistan, against the Soviets … The drug traffic forming an element not to be neglected in confused strategies. And suddenly he had an idea. He searched through his files, found the address and telephone number of Oumourzarov and called his office at La Défense. The secretary. A wait.