Cara Black - Murder in Belleville

“Mademoiselle, do you have an appointment?” the blond coiffed receptionist asked, looking Aimée up and down.

Aimée smoothed her skirt and smiled at her. “Monsieur Roberge at two o’clock,” she said.

“Let me confirm,” the receptionist said with an intake of breath that brooked no argument and was meant to reveal how busy she was at the same time. Her glossy coral-manicured nails clicked over the keyboard, consulting her computer screen.

Aimée wondered why she couldn’t just check an appointment book—-even in this part of Paris she doubted that too many sheikhs or billionaires beat down the door to purchase rare pearls at the same time.

Her idea of jewelry shopping was bargaining at the antique stalls in the Porte de Vanves flea market. She rifled through her Hermes bag and touched the pearl she’d stuffed in the small plastic bag. It felt bumpy and cold.

“You may go up,” the receptionist said.

Aimée mounted the stairs to Roberge’s upper floor office.

“Bonjour, Mademoiselle.”

Pierre Roberge stood and greeted her. A tall man, his bony shoulders were hunched, giving him a stooped look. Aimée figured him to be in his sixties, and with a good toupee. He smiled and motioned for her to sit down. The plush Aubusson carpet absorbed her footsteps. Roberge’s tall gilt-edged office windows overlooked the Ritz Hotel and the verdigris statue atop the Vendome column.

“Thank you for seeing me, Monsieur Roberge, on such short notice.”

Below, a fleet of chauffeured Mercedes waited by the entrance of a bank so discreet that no name was posted out front. Aimée shifted in the little gold chair to avoid the view.

“To be honest, Mademoiselle Leduc, I was intrigued by your call,” Roberge said fitting the jeweler’s loupe over his eye. He adjusted the thin halogen lamp and donned a pair of white gloves.

She set the odd-shaped pearl, fat and tumescent-looking, on the black velvet tray.

Roberge sat forward and peered closely.

“Mikimoto is renowned for cultured pearls, Mademoiselle,” he said. “Unlike these.”

“Monsieur Roberge, I was told you are a pearl expert. I appreciate your kindness,” she said. “I hope I haven’t wasted your time.”

Politeness would prevent him from agreeing with her even if she had.

He turned the pearl, luminescent under the light, in his gloved hand.

She studied the framed Provencal landscapes ringing the room. Impressionist by the look of them, less known but original. She figured everything in the room was authentic except her story.

“Les maudites,” he murmured. The damned.

What did he mean by that?

“Comment?” Aimée asked.

“Forgive me,” he said.

Roberge’s voice had grown tight, she noticed, his tone more clipped.

“That’s the term we use,” Roberge said. “May I ask where you obtained this pearl?”

Irritated, Aimée wondered why he’d started posing questions. Instead she smiled and crossed her legs.

“All in good time, Monsieur Roberge,” she said. “I’d like your impressions. Tell me what you think first.”

“To be honest, Mademoiselle,” he said, fingering the pearl once more before setting it down on the black velvet, “the value diminished once this piece was removed from the setting.”

She kept her surprise in check and nodded. “And the setting—?”

“But you’re a thief,” he interrupted, “you should know.”

“Hold on, Monsieur!” she said, alarmed. “I didn’t steal this.”

“Security will deal with you,” he said, reaching for the phone.

Alarmed, Aimée stood up, putting her hand on his glove. “Why do you think this is stolen?”

He didn’t answer.

She saw his eyes flicker with fear, but she kept her hand on his.

“You know whom the pearl belongs to, don’t you, Monsieur Roberge?”

“I’m an old man,” he said. He blinked so much that his jeweler’s loupe fell on the velvet. “Don’t threaten me.”

“Tell me who it belongs to, Monsieur Roberge,” she said, perching on his desk. “And I’ll take my hand off yours and tell you who I really am.”

He looked unsure.

She let go, fished in her bag, and pulled out her ID. “I’m a private investigator, Monsieur Roberge.”

He stared at it, his jaw set and stubborn. Maybe he didn’t like the unflattering photo on it.

“From what I’ve discovered so far, Monsieur, my next stop will be the morgue.”

“What do you mean?”

She stood up and walked to the tall window. But after staring at the Place Vendôme, she didn’t have the heart to tell him the truth. Thinking back to Madame Visse’s conversation about Eugénie, she had to be sure of the dead woman’s identity.

“I believe the woman who owned this could be there,” she said, and turned to him. “Your information might help me avoid that process. Her toe tag will probably say Yvette, what the flics label unknown dead females. A number will be penciled next to that indicating the order in which her corpse was delivered.”

“So she’s dead?” he asked.

“A woman’s been murdered,” she said. “I’ve been hired to find her killer, but her identity is unclear. I just want to know if this pearl belonged to her.”

“Mademoiselle Leduc, you could have told me this before. However, we are under no obligation to provide confidential details to you.”

“Exactly,” she said. “However, I told you who I was. It’s your turn.”

Roberge stared out the window, his eyes reflected sadness. “Tiens. I don’t normally perform appraisals or commissions for the money,” he said. “When something exquisite crosses my path, I find joy in sculpting and weaving the piece to highlight the beauty. With Biwa pearls, its simple. Set off their uniqueness.” He paused. “Not hard to do.”

His Gallic evasiveness bothered her.

“Why won’t you tell me her name?”

Silence. She kept her steady gaze on him.

“I only pay attention to the work.” He shook his head. “I am a craftsman. When the piece speaks to me, I listen.”

Aimée reasoned that few patrons would argue with Roberge’s dictum after that speech, impassioned but spoken with an honesty she rarely heard.

“Are you trying to protect her, Monsieur?” Aimée asked. “She’s beyond caring, I’m afraid.”

Outside, shadows cast by the column lengthened across the Place.

“She came to me with loose pearls in a jumble,” he said. “There were four, an unlucky number for Japanese. I suspected their origin. But when I examined them I knew.”

“Knew what, Monsieur?”

And why did that unlucky number mean anything, she wanted to ask, but she held her tongue. Maybe he was trying to tell her in his own convoluted way.

“Les maudites are the last natural pearls gathered from Lake Biwa,” he said. He set the jeweler’s loupe down on his desk. “No more exist. At least none we know of. Now they’re cultured in mass freshwater farms nearby. But it’s not the same. Connoisseurs know this.”

“Why the term mandites?

Roberge’s forehead wrinkled. “Luck evades the possessors, you might say. Fortunes shift and change.”

Like the Hope diamond, she thought. Many believed a curse followed the owners. Aimée paused; another angle occured to her. Had Sylvie been killed for the pearl?

“Won’t you help me?” she asked.

He shrugged.

Aimée leaned forward and stared at Roberge.

“Japanese numerology has its own rules.” He gave a thin smile. “Mademoiselle, the pysche is not an exact science like your science of criminology.”

She stood up. “So you’re saying rich people are superstitious?”