Ken McClure - Tangled Web

‘I believe the French police have already been here to ask about the patient we are interested in,’ said Gordon.

Balard nodded. ‘They were here about three hours ago, looking for the Trool baby’s parents. I understand the couple are wanted by the British police for questioning.’

‘The Trools’ daughter is here?’ asked Gordon.

‘Yes indeed. She is due to be operated on the day after tomorrow.’

Gordon exchanged a relieved look with Mary then said to Balard, ‘A transplant operation?’

‘Eye tissue — a delicate procedure.’

‘How much do you know about the donor, Doctor?’ asked Gordon.

Balard shrugged. ‘Nothing at all — the operation has been arranged privately. Our clients have contracted for our theatre facilities and nursing services but they have made their own arrangements for surgical and medical staff.’

‘So the eye donor is not here?’ said Mary.

‘Balard said not, ‘I don’t even know if the donor is here in Paris, or whether they are flying in the tissue from abroad.’

‘Were you able to help the police with the Trools’ whereabouts at all?’ asked Gordon.

‘I know where they are staying if that’s what you mean. They’re at a hotel in the Marais, the Pavillon de la Reine in Place Des Vosges. But I’m afraid that’s as much as I could tell the police or you for that matter. Might I ask what these people are wanted for?’

Gordon ignored the question and said, ‘Presumably the police have already been to the hotel by now.’

‘I would suppose so,’ replied Balard.

‘Would it be a terrible imposition to ask you to telephone them on our behalf?’ asked Gordon.

‘Not at all.’ Balard looked in his desk diary for some notes he had made earlier and called the number he found there. After a conversation lasting some minutes he put the receiver down and said, ‘They are coming over. The inspector would like to speak to you personally.’

‘Did they say whether they have the Trools in custody and whether they had a child with them?’

Balard seemed puzzled. ‘The inspector said that they had interviewed the couple, but said nothing about holding them. He didn’t mention anything about a child, but when he heard that you were here, he seemed interested. I think he want to ask you some questions.

Gordon shrugged and said, ‘Maybe it’s for the best. We might as well all put our cards on the table.’

The police arrived within ten minutes, during which Gordon and Mary were served with coffee and plied with subtle questions. Balard, sensing that something was seriously amiss, was becoming increasingly anxious about the apparent involvement of his clinic but Gordon did not see this as a reason for telling him anything. Instead he tried to assure him that there was no question of the clinic being under any suspicion if what he had told them was accurate.

‘You have come from England today?’ asked the tall, rangy man introduced to them as Inspector Le Clerc. ‘Wales, actually,’ said Mary.

‘Ah yes, Wales,’ agreed Le Clerc. We had a call from Inspector Davies in Wales, asking for our assistance in a case of child abduction but I think there must be some misunderstanding. We found the couple easily enough but they did not have any child with them. Apparently they came with a child but she is their daughter; she is a patient here in the clinic, awaiting an operation.’

Gordon felt vindicated over his decision to come to France. This was just the kind of misunderstanding that he feared might happen. He said, ‘They arrived with their child two nights ago?’

‘ Oui ,’ replied the inspector.

Gordon turned to Balard and asked, ‘When was the Trool child admitted to the clinic?’

Balard checked his patient records and said, ‘Six days ago.’

The inspector looked bemused. Gordon told him about the earlier trip and said, ‘It wasn’t really their daughter they arrived with two nights ago — it was the baby they’d abducted.’

The Inspector, who was now fully in the picture, remarked gravely, ‘I’m sure there was no sign of a child being with them when we interviewed them at the hotel. But, in the light of what you’ve just told me, we’ll go back there now and question them further.’

‘Maybe that’s not such a good idea,’ said Gordon thoughtfully. ‘If Anne-Marie is being held somewhere else, we could be in trouble.’

‘But surely if the police turn up on their doorstep with you in tow, they’ll see that the game’s up and they’ll confess?’ said Mary.

‘It’s what will happen to Anne-Marie if they don’t that concerns me,’ said Gordon.

‘What do you mean?’

‘Anne-Marie is the key to the whole case against the Trools. That fact alone puts her in danger. Without her, there is very little in the way of evidence against them. In fact, about the only thing we’re left with is the money that Sonia paid into Ranulph Dawes’ account and he’s now dead so they’ll probably be able to concoct some story to explain it. Thinking we know why he was paid the money is a long way from proving it.’

‘So you think they might try to get rid of Anne-Marie if they can’t go ahead with the operation?’ asked Mary.

‘Yes... I really do.’

‘What do you suggest?’ asked Le Clerc.

‘I’m trying to imagine what the Trools must be thinking right now,’ said Gordon. ‘They’ve had a visit from the French police, which must have shaken them, but from what you’ve said, you just asked a few routine questions and then went away again, apparently satisfied with what they’d told you. They don’t know anything about us being here or of the conversation we’ve just had.’

‘So?’

‘I’m hoping there’s a real chance they will have seen no reason to change their plans and the operation will stay scheduled to go ahead in two days time. That being the case, I think if your men were to keep watch on the hotel and follow the Trools whenever they go out, it’s my guess they’ll lead you to where Anne-Marie is being held.’

‘That makes sense,’ agreed Le Clerc.

‘What sort of place do you think they’ll be holding her in?’ asked Mary.

‘It really has to be a hospital or possibly another clinic,’ said Gordon. ‘Under deep sedation probably — to simulate coma conditions. Then when they’re ready, they’ll bring the coma to a fatal conclusion and bingo! They’ll have their donor.’

‘But that is outrageous!’ said Balard. ‘There is no question of my permitting such an operation to be carried out in this clinic. I will telephone these people and make it clear that there is absolutely no point in going ahead.’

Gordon shook his head and said, ‘You mustn’t do that, Doctor. You’d just be telling them that they’d been found out, in which case they would almost certainly kill Anne-Marie and dispose of her body to save their own skins.’

‘Doctor Gordon is right,’ said Le Clerc heavily. ‘It would be better if you were to behave as if nothing were wrong should they phone or come here in person.’

‘Presumably they will come to visit their daughter?’ said Mary.

‘Good point,’ said Gordon.

‘Very well,’ agreed Balard.

‘And don’t say anything at all about this to any member of staff,’ Le Clerc ordered. ‘Just so they behave normally too. In the meantime, I will see that a watch is mounted on the hotel. He turned to Gordon and Mary and asked, ‘Where will you be staying, Doctors?’

Gordon looked at Mary, realising that it was something they hadn’t considered at all. ‘I’m not at all sure,’ he said, feeling stupid. ‘We came straight here.’

‘In the circumstances,’ said Balard, ‘You are both welcome to stay overnight here at the clinic. We have guest rooms for relatives of our patients.’