by Katie Penryn
We pushed the door open to be met by a house as dirty and untidy as on our last visit. No one had made any attempt to clear up or clean up the piles of dried vomit. Zack and Petey I could understand, but Joliette?
We checked all the rooms. The house was empty. Nothing had moved in Jonny’s room. I guessed Joliette was sleeping on the sofa or with one of the other band members. A quick search of Jonny’s belongings turned up his passport and return air ticket in the pocket of his backpack. Maybe his ticket could be cashed in to provide the others with some spending money.
“Let’s get out of here,” Felix said. “This place offends my feline sensibility. We cats are clean creatures.”
Chapter 15
When we entered the town, I turned up towards the mayor’s office instead of down towards the seafront and our house.
Felix banged his hand on the dashboard. “Where are you going? I thought we were on our way home.”
I pulled into a space at the side of the road and stopped the car.
I took a deep breath and turned to face my bodyguard and companion.
“Felix, I know you are unhappy about my possible involvement in anything to do with Jonny Sauvage’s death. Let me explain. So far, his death was natural. Unexplained but natural. No one has even hinted at foul play. So, it’s not like the other deaths. That aside, I’m a lawyer and he was my friend. As we walked through that filthy house I took on the mantle of his legal representative. I’m acting for him in his death. That means helping the mayor with the red tape and seeing that Jonny has a funeral.”
Felix stayed silent for a couple of minutes. He struggled with our conflicting notions of duty. He wanted to protect me. I wanted to do what was right by Jonny. To me our desires were not mutually exclusive, but to Felix they were.
“Felix, you can keep me safe. I’m not doing anything dangerous this time. I can’t turn away at this stage.”
“All right. Drive on then. But at the first sign of anything threatening you must drop out of this business.”
“We might as well walk,” I said taking the key out of the ignition. “The mayor’s office isn’t far, and I could do with some fresh air after that stinking hovel.”
Felix followed my lead, and we strolled up the hill towards the mairie. I must have won Felix over for he took my elbow to help me up the steps.
The mayor’s secretary said the mayor wasn’t expecting me but she would buzz him, anyway. He came hurrying out of his office, all of a jitter.
“Ah, Madame Munro, so good of you to drop by. I need your help. Come in, come in,” he said shepherding us into his office. “Please take a seat while I order some … tea?”
“Please,” I said. “With milk.”
I’d learned that I had to say that. The French didn’t drink milk in their tea.
While he went out to ask his secretary to fetch us some tea, I suggested to Felix he use her computer to Google the requirements for the death of an American citizen.
He and the mayor crossed in the doorway. “It’s all right if Felix checks up something, isn’t it, monsieur?”
The mayor beamed with delight that someone else was taking the initiative.
“Good, good,” he said and settled his plump frame back in his chair.
He asked me what had happened at the hospital that morning and I told him everything we’d seen and heard.
“Unexplained death? Autopsy?” he asked. “That doesn’t sound too good, does it? I hope we’re not in for another police investigation.”
“At this stage it is merely a medical investigation. The doctors don’t like unexplained deaths.”
“But you said something didn’t seem right to you?”
“That’s right, monsieur. But, please, don’t mention that in front of my friend, Felix.”
He stroked his chin while he thought over what I’d said. “You fear it might be foul play?”
“Let’s wait and see what the autopsy reveals. My intuition might have been working overtime because I sensed his death. He died while we waited at the nurses’ station for permission to see him.”
The door opened, and the secretary came in with the tea tray closely followed by Felix waving several sheets of paper.
While I poured the tea Felix gave us the gist.
“Monsieur le Maire, you have to contact the Special Consular Services Unit (the SCS) of the American Citizen Services Section in Paris and report Jonny Sauvage’s death.”
The mayor put his teacup down and turned to me. “You will make this call for me, Madame Munro?”
“Of course. Should I also tell them the deceased had no money and no assets here in France? Therefore, there are no funds to pay for his funeral.”
“Yes, yes. Our commune does not want to be left with the bill.”
“And should I mention the other members of the band and his girlfriend? They are destitute. Without Jonny Sauvage they can’t get any gigs, and he seems to have spent all the money they earned from appearing at the Cognac Blues Festival.”
The mayor sank back in his seat and wiped his brow with his spotted handkerchief. “It is so hot and these affairs are so complicated. Sometimes I wish I had never been voted in as mayor of Beaucoup-sur-mer.”
Felix pushed the mayor’s cup closer to him. “Drink up, monsieur. You will feel better when you have had a good cup of tea.”
That made the mayor smile. “Oh, you English. You think tea is the answer to everything.”
I’d taken the opportunity to drink mine while the mayor indulged his sense of drama. “Shall I make the call now?”
“Yes, yes. Please. It’s already Thursday. In France the funeral has to take place within seven days. That doesn’t give us long to sort out this muddle.”
I made the call to the SCS in Paris. They told me to send a photocopy of Jonny Sauvage’s passport to them immediately. They needed it to trace his next-of-kin. They would need a copy of the French death certificate to issue a Consular Report and to determine whether they had any responsibility for organizing the funeral. I explained the situation to them. They said they would get back to the mayor.
I put the phone down and reported to Monsieur Bonhomie.
He gave a heavy sigh. “It is getting more complicated by the minute. We will be chasing round in circles. Let me phone the hospital.”
He made a brief call asking when the results of autopsy could be expected.
“Not until tomorrow afternoon at the earliest,” he said when he finished the call.
“About the band members. Can you spare them some more Red Cross parcels?”
“Of course. Speak to my secretary on the way out.”
We shook hands. Monsieur Bonhomie escorted us to the door of his office and opened the door for me.
A thought struck me.
“Monsieur, what about your daughter? Have you told Emmanuelle about Jonny Sauvage’s death yet?”
He took out his handkerchief again. “I don’t know what to say to her. She will be upset and if I tell her, she will think I’m pleased. I am, of course, terrible as it is to say it, but I don’t want to rub her nose in it.”
“My brother Sam said he’d call on her today. Would you like us to visit on our way home and give them the news to save you from having to do it?”
The mayor clasped my arm and heaved another great sigh. “That would be wonderful, Madame Munro.”
We stopped long enough to organize the parcels for the band. Felix pulled me out of the building and rushed me down the steps.
“Why do we have to do this, Penzi?”
“Because I like Emmanuelle, and so does Sam. I want her to hear about it from someone who liked the good parts of Jonny Sauvage. She has to come to terms with her near seduction and if we can help her, we should.”
*
As expected, Emmanuelle burst into tears when she heard the news of Jonny’s demise. She was only eighteen. He was her first serious crush. We handed her over to her mother because Sam wasn’t there. He arrived a
s we were getting in our car.
“Where’ve you been?” I asked him. “I thought you were coming round here first thing.”
“I had to take a couple of loads of junk to the recycling center. Gwinny asked me to.”
“Oh, it’s re-opened?”
“It’s a franchise. They sent someone down from head office to take over.”
“We’ve just told Emmanuelle that Jonny Sauvage died this morning.”
“Wow,” said Sam taken aback. “That was unexpected. Do they know what happened?”
“Not yet. The hospital is carrying out an autopsy. We’ll have the results tomorrow.”
“Right,” he said. “I must go in to Emmanuelle.”
“Take your time. Come home when you can.”
Felix and I drove around the crescent to Les Dragons. We’d only been gone a few hours, but it seemed like centuries.
*
“You look dreadful,” Gwinny said looking up from her work at the sink when we walked into the kitchen.
“It’s been a horrible morning,” I said sitting down. “Jonny Sauvage died this morning and the doctors don’t know why.”
A pan fell into the water with a splash.
“Drat. I’m covered in dirty dishwater now,” Gwinny said snatching up a tea towel and patting herself. “You took me by surprise. I thought his condition was stable.”
“Everyone did. The hospital is carrying out a post mortem to find out the medical reasons for his sudden death.”
Gwinny turned to Felix. “Give my daughter a glass of cognac, Felix. She’s too pale.”
Felix tutted as he took a glass out of the cupboard. “She won’t listen to me, Gwinny. She’s on her legal high horse. She won’t let it drop. She insists on helping the mayor deal with Sauvage’s death.”
Gwinny nodded. “She has to do what she thinks is right.”
Felix put a glass of cognac in front of me. “Drink up, boss. Let’s get some color back in your cheeks.”
I sipped it and the glow spread through me, easing my anxiety and boosting my heart rate.
I paused. “Gwinny, the worst thing about it all is that he must have stopped breathing while Felix and I were there waiting for the ward sister to let us through to his room. It’s as if his soul flew past us and out of the window.”
Felix tipped my hand up towards my mouth. “Drink. You’re being fanciful.”
“Where are Audrey and the three children?” I asked Gwinny looking around me. No sounds of children playing reached into the kitchen.
“I sent them down to the beach for a picnic lunch. Audrey’s been working so hard on cleaning up the shop. Her children have barely seen her for the past few days.”
“And Jimbo?”
“You’re not giving him enough attention at the moment, Penzi.”
That was rich coming from our mother who had ignored his existence for nine years, but her remark did remind me my time with Jonny’s band had cost me family time. That had seemed fine when I expected to return from the festival and devote myself to my family. Now Jonny’s death had intruded and pushed Jimbo’s needs out of sight again.
“Gwinny, it won’t be for much longer and he’s lucky to have found you again. I have to help the mayor with the formalities then it’s over.”
Felix snorted. “We’ve heard that before.”
“What could go wrong now?” I asked and crossed my fingers quickly as a frisson of misgiving ran up my spine and raised the hair in the nape of my neck.
Gwinny and Felix shrugged in unison.
“Lunch is nearly ready,” said Gwinny.
“Felix, I think I’ll pop down to the beach and check on Audrey and the kids while Gwinny finishes off here,” I said draining my glass.
“I’m coming with you then,” he said.
Zig, Zag and Piffle whined to come with us, but dogs were not allowed on the beach at Beaucoup-sur-mer.
“Another time,” I said ruffling their fur in turn.
Felix and I snatched up our sunhats and hurried out into the fresh air again.
Chapter 16
Felix and I halted on top of the wall that buttressed the Esplanade against the sea and scanned the crowds below. The high tide had foreshortened the beach which was crammed with holiday makers making it difficult for us to spot Audrey. Excited shrieks and laughter filled the air.
“It’s good to see everyone so happy,” said Felix. “Life goes on.”
“Such a change from the hospital.”
Felix pulled me close in a friendly hug. “Penzi, admittedly I didn’t like Jonny Sauvage but I wouldn’t have wished him dead. It’s always distressing when someone dies too young.”
“Thanks, Felix.”
I caught sight of Audrey waving to us. “There she is.”
We descended the stone steps to the beach and inched our way towards Audrey.
“That’s a magnificent sand castle,” Felix said to the two children as he squatted down beside them. “What’s the story?”
Wilfred and Simone began one of those long convoluted tales small children love to tell.
“Audrey, where’s Jimbo?” I asked her anxiously.
She pointed across the beach to a spot where a dark-haired woman I hadn’t seen before sat with two other boys of Jimbo’s age playing a game with toy vehicles.
I sat down beside Audrey. “I have something to tell you. Jonny Sauvage died this morning.”
Audrey clutched at her throat. “Do they know why?”
“Not yet.”
“Oh my, the woman over there is the one Martine was telling us about. Jonny Sauvage is … was … the father of her son. You should go over and tell her he’s dead, Penzi.”
“Wouldn’t it be better coming from a friend?”
“You know what the grapevine is like here. Better she hears it from you than at the butcher’s or the baker’s.”
I tapped Felix on the shoulder and pointed across to Jimbo. “I won’t be a moment. You can see me from here.”
He nodded and turned back to Audrey’s kids. He would make a good father some day, but I had no idea how shape shifters had children or what form the children would take. A problem for another day.
As I neared the woman, I got a good look at the two boys playing with Jimbo. The one facing me was the spitting image of Jonny Sauvage. How sad it was he had never met his father and now it was too late.
“Hi,” I said to the young woman. “You don’t know me. I’m a friend of Audrey’s.”
“Oh, you must be her English fr—”
“Hi Penzi,” Jimbo shouted out, scrambling to his feet and knocking sand everywhere.
I said hi back and indicated the boy I’d been studying on my way over the beach. “I want to talk to your friend’s mother for a moment.”
“Okay, but that’s Marc. This lady isn’t his mother. She’s this boy’s mother, Pierre’s,” he said knocking the other boy on his shoulder.
When he turned around, it was all I could do not to gasp in astonishment. A second miniature Jonny Sauvage looked up at me.
The woman — Pierre’s mother — held out her hand. “I’m Natalie. You wanted to speak to me? About Jimbo? He is your brother, no?”
“Yes, I need to talk to you, but not about Jimbo. Can we move away a little? What I have to say is private.”
She took a few steps to the buttress and leaned up against it.
“You know Jonny Sauvage?” I began.
“Yes, and you know him, too. Audrey told me about the Blues Festival. I saw you give a start when you noticed my son’s friend and then my son.”
“They are both his children?”
“Yes,” she said with a rueful French shrug. “His mother, Francine, and I met when we both attended the pre-natal clinic at the same time ten years ago. It was something of a shock.”
“It must have been difficult living that down in a small town like this, especially as Jonny Sauvage never paid any child maintenance.”
She shrugged agai
n. “Yes, it was not easy, but we French are pragmatic about sexual matters, and our state system is generous.”
“I think you should sit down, Natalie. What I have to say may upset you.”
Her eyes opened wide, and she slid down the wall until she was sitting on the sand.
I knelt in front of her and put my hand on her shoulder. “Natalie, I have to tell you that Jonny died this morning — in hospital.”
Her head dropped on her chest and she heaved a great sigh. After a few moments she looked up at me again. “What a waste. He was so beautiful, so alluring. I found it impossible to resist him although I knew he had a bad reputation even then.”
“Natalie, I do understand. I, too, fell under his spell, not completely, but I was smitten.”
“Oh my goodness,” she said fumbling in the pocket of her jeans. “My phone? Why hasn’t Francine called me?”
“Why would she?” I asked as she pulled her phone out and checked it.
“The battery’s flat. She may have tried to call after all.”
I shook her gently to get her attention. “How would Francine have known about Jonny before you, Natalie?”
“She’s a nurse at the hospital. That’s why I’m looking after Marc.”
She struggled to her feet. “We must go home. It isn’t seemly to be sitting on the beach when my son’s father has just died.”
I steadied her and handed her my phone. “Please enter your phone number. And Francine’s. I’ll contact you as soon as we have more news. I’m helping the mayor with Jonny’s funeral arrangements and all the other formalities. And I’ll inform you of the time and place of the funeral if you want me to.”
“Please. It’s kind of you. I think Pierre and Marc should be there even if they never met their father. One day they will ask about him.”
I said farewell with a kiss on both cheeks and called Jimbo to come away back to Audrey. Of course, he fussed until Natalie left the beach with two fatherless boys.