Becwethan (The Leopold Dix Thrillers Book 1)

by mark mctighe

  “That’s why I said ‘family of murderers’ Dominique’s grandfather is Mattieau, Marc’s brother, my mother’s brother, I think Gustav’s in some serious shit here Pascal.”

  Both of our heads were spinning.

  “Where are all the women in this family of yours?” Pascal asked.

  “They do as they’re told; the only ones who haven’t are my mother and now Dominique. I think that tells us something.”

  “We’re getting some good lines of enquiry,” Pascal said “but the only concrete things we have at the moment are; your father’s body; a second body, probably Klaus; we know that Pascoe knew Klaus and finally Pascoe tried to kill you........ Don’t jump too far ahead Leo, Gustav could turn up tomorrow, Klaus’s murder could be pinned on Pascoe, and with nothing new on your father’s murder, the case would be as good as closed..... I’m going up to Grimentz now. I need to inform the family of Pascoe’s death, and I need to question the main protagonists. If you have any more thoughts call straight away, oh, and well done for finding the picture....Ah yes, I’ve asked one of the men, to drive you home when you’re finished here”.

  “Thanks Pascal, I appreciate it”, he raised his hand and left the room.

  My mind was alive with possibilities; it was pointless me looking for Gustav, I’d have to leave that to the police, but I needed to find Pierre and Raphy; put some good old fashioned pressure on them. I was sure they were the key to finding Gustav’s whereabouts.

  Rufus was looking presentable when I found him. The blood had been cleaned off his face but his nose was badly swollen, his eyes blackening from the impact.

  “You really did face plant out there” I said.

  “Kept the teeth” he said, smiling with his lips. “They’ve given me a couple of stitches in the calf; I’ve broken a rib and ligament damage in the ankle; all in all not too bad”.

  “We’ve often joked about that stunt you pulled out there Rufus, but you actually did it, jumping off the other side of that ridge saved us.”

  “Did Pascoe fall deliberately?” Rufus asked.

  “I’m certain he did, it was a crazy move but one way of splitting us up, and making sure our defences were down.”

  “He didn’t know what you were capable of dad”.

  “Even I surprised myself”. I sat with Rufus as they finished their tests, bringing him up to speed on Pascal’s investigation.

  We left the hospital early the next morning; Rufus was going to need some physio on his ankle, and a ‘check up in a couple of days’ the doctor had said..... I was going to leave Rufus to tell his mother when he was ready.

  The climb up to Chalet Rothorn was a bastard. Rufus hopped on his good leg as I acted as his crutch. We probably should have stayed somewhere else for a couple of days but we both just wanted to get home. As we came out of the forest the sun climbed over the peaks of Les Diablons and illuminated our home, smoke gently swirling out of the chimney.

  “Just wait here, I’ll check” I said. I moved quietly to the door, opened it slowly, no one. It took a few minutes to check the place thoroughly before I shouted “all clear”. Fifteen minutes later Rufus was sitting down with his hands firmly clasped around his Union Jack drinking tea.

  I went upstairs, exhausted, and lay on the bed. Within seconds I had fallen into a deep sleep. I could see Pascoe’s face as he brought the ice axe down with a killing force. The hatred, the mirth, the arrogance all mixed into one. The look of shock as his feet lifted beneath him, arm and axe reaching forward trying to hook me. His cheeks hollowed, eyes bulged as he saw the irresistible force of my blow piercing his chest; then limp, spasm and gone.

  FOURTEEN

  I woke and looked at my watch. I’d been out for three hours. I went down stairs; Rufus lay asleep. I grabbed a quick shower, cleaned my furry teeth, and put on some fresh clothes. I scribbled a note: ‘gone for supplies, back around 4.00pm’. I changed the battery on my mobile and snuck out, checking I had my wallet.

  ‘The police search should be well underway’ I thought as I tracked back to the car. My phone buzzed a couple of times as the messages were received. Three messages had come in. The first was from Simone. ‘How did it all go? Call me when you get back.’ It felt good. The second and third were from the combox telling me I had a message. I called the combox: ‘Leo, it’s Dominique, ..... Gustav, ..... I don’t know what to do, I don’t know what’s happened to him, I need your help; please help.’ I started to jog to the car as I listened to the third message: ‘Pascal here, call me when you get the message we need to meet up, it’s just a fucking brick wall up here’.

  “Fuck” I said, “no fucking progress, we’ll see about that”. The jog became a run as I considered what might be happening to Gustav. I jumped into the car and set off to see Dominique. I called Pascal and arranged the meet.

  Dom saw the car arriving and came straight out. She looked drained; eyes red and puffy.

  “I’m so worried” she said. I gave her a hug and whispered “don’t worry I’m going to find him, but I need the absolute truth from you.” I looked straight into her bloodshot eyes and gestured for us to go inside.

  The door closed, “you don’t think I’ve got anything to do with this?” She said verging on the hysterical.

  “No, but you know more about what’s going on than I do”.

  “Sit here and listen. If you don’t already know, Pascoe’s dead. I killed him and I killed him because he was trying to kill me and Rufus.” I could see she had started to flop. Pascoe was going to be the best man at her wedding; she had grown up with him; they were barely four years apart. “Dominique” I brought her to attention with the force and volume of my voice. “I’m telling you straight because if we don’t solve the problem Gustav will be dead.”

  “What problem?”

  “Who killed Klaus? Who killed my father? And why they were killed? I believe that all of these have a direct relevance to Gustav’s disappearance. Remember, my father allegedly disappeared just before a climb and look what happened to him.” I thought that Dominique was now sufficiently scared to betray any trusts she had been asked to keep. “Why do you think Pascoe wanted to kill us?”

  She nodded her head, “I can’t believe he would do that. No, there’s no reason why.”

  “I found a picture of him, pinned to the wall in Tracuit, with Klaus. They’d just made a climb together. He told me he didn’t know Klaus.” I paused and left an uncomfortable silence. “Were you aware that he knew the missing climber?”

  A confusion drifted over Dominique’s face. She answered in a broken monotone.

  “Yes, he wasn’t close’ but I knew they’d climbed together”.

  “And Gustav, did he know this?”

  “No” she replied.

  “Where is Pierre?” Again silence.

  “Fixing the Lona..”

  I interrupted, “is this the family party line. He wasn’t there when I visited, the Police have been unable to track him down, he wasn’t at your engagement party, come on Dominique, where the fuck is he? I need to see him now.” Silence.

  “Pascoe told me he’d gone native for the summer, didn’t want to get mixed up with you and all the bad blood your mother had created. He’s taken some livestock and he’s moving from mayan to mayan.”

  At last the truth was starting to come out, I pushed on.

  “Did Gustav know this?”

  “No, I was going to tell him, but Pascoe told me not to, it would make my position too difficult with the family.”

  “Who pulls the strings in this family Dominique?” The silence hung in the air, suspended by thought. “Come on, we don’t have time on our side.”

  “Raphy and Pierre don’t do anything without their father’s say so. The family revolves around Marc.”

  “Is there anything else you think I need to know? Anything that could help us find Gustav? Lock ups, caves, mayans, somewhere that Gustav could be being held; somewhere particular to your family?” She looked pale.
r />   “I suppose there are lots of remote places.”

  “I’m going to ask Pascal to send a police officer to sit with you and make a list, then we can start checking, it’s a long shot...... Dominique, you can’t keep anything back, if there’s anything else you’ve been asked to keep quiet you must tell me.”

  “There isn’t, I’ll call if I think of anything.”

  I stood up, “don’t call anyone, and don’t tell anyone else what you’ve just told me. I want to turn up unannounced.” She came over and held on tight, the tears had started again.

  As I reached the front door I turned; “this splinter catholic group, do they have any peculiar meeting places?”

  “No,” she snivelled, “they either say mass at the Bourgeoisie, or outdoor at the Mayens de Pinsec. I left because Gustav felt uncomfortable. But It’s nothing unusual, just a bunch of Catholics who like to say mass in Latin and who question the direction that the pope is taking the church; nothing more.”

  I cast my mind back, remembering the look of distain on Dominique’s father’s face when he saw Gustav up at Chalet Rothorn. “One more thing, why does your father dislike Gustav so much?”

  “It’s not my dad, he’s not like that, he’s too gentle.” She said.

  “The question, Dominique, answer the question, why does he dislike Gustav?”

  “He’s not from the valley; he’s different, he’s funny, his influence, maybe his age, who knows? He doesn’t hate Gustav, he just can’t understand him. He asked my grandfather, Mattieau, to speak to me about it and he gave me a lecture on family values, community, and religion. When I thought about it later I reckoned it wasn’t my dad’s idea at all. That the pressure was really coming from grandfather all the time.”

  The thoughts started to crystallise; my mother’s two brothers, Marc and Mattieau, were calling the shots.

  I left Pinsec and spent the 15 minute journey to Grimentz pondering. Dominique had been quite clear that the family revolved around Marc, that’s where Pascal was going to have to push. And if his official pushing didn’t get him very far, then I would push, unofficially, as hard as I had to; the investigation needed speed.

  I parked just below the old town; it was quiet. A narrow cobbled path wound through the centre of the old village, the black twisted chalets decorated with vibrant red window boxes, a swarm of geraniums, settling on each and every available window ledge; troughs filled to overflowing lined the cobbled path. The old town stood tall, stone basements, and staircases twisting upwards to four or five stories; the top floors overhanging the street below. My phone started to ring, Simone’s number flashed up. “Hello,” I kept moving towards the arranged meeting with Pascal. “I can’t quite believe what’s happened…., yes.., it’s true.” I answered her questions. “I’m absolutely fine, but you could help me. Rufus is expecting me back about now, he’s stuck up at Rothorn and he won’t be mobile for a couple of days. It’s a hell of an imposition but could you take him some food up? Tell him I’ll be back but it could be late.” Simone seemed pleased to be able to help and I knew Rufus would love the company; he’d talk her socks off.

  The narrow path opened up into a square, a small creperie on the corner. I opened the door and peered in. Pascal was sitting down with two other officers behind an unusually small table. He saw me and immediately waved them away to continue their investigations.

  “Leo sit” he shuffled along the bench as there wasn’t enough leg room for us to sit opposite one another.

  “Interesting meeting spot” I said.

  “I know the owner; we’ll be able to keep it private in here. He’s shut up shop for the day.”

  “We’ve recovered Pascoe Von Arx’s body, and 500m further down his backpack. You were right he was here.” He pointed at a map on the table, I recognised it as mine.

  “The photos are pretty brutal, enough to put any budding climbers off”. He slid a shot across. The body wasn’t recognisable as Pascoe, the green Arc'teryx jacket had been ripped off his body, only one sleeve remained, the facial features had been rubbed off on the rapid descent. His head deflated by the final impact. I could see the orange handle of my ice axe pushed against his chest, the axe head protruding.

  “Where are we Pascal?”

  “We can’t find Raphy or Pierre; no one knows where they are. Right now they’re the ones I want to take in for questioning.”

  “If you want my opinion, you need to concentrate your questioning on Marc and Mattieau, especially Marc. According to Dominique Pierre’s gone walkabout, Raphy’s probably with him, they could be anywhere. My guess is they’re in touch with Marc and been told to keep some distance.”

  “I’ve considered that and we’re trying to track down mobile numbers; see if we can establish any location.. We’ve had no luck with their usual numbers, probably using a ‘pay as you go’. I’m checking everyone’s phones to see if any numbers regularly come up, and checking the area for general telecom traffic.”

  I took Pascal through my conversation with Dominique whilst he made his cryptic notes.

  “Right, I clearly need to see Marc and Mattieau now.” He waved the two police back into the creperie. “Find Marc Von Arx, stay with him, and bring him to me here at 5.30”, he turned to the other officer “It’s Mattieau Von Arx for you, again you must stay with him, bring him here at 7.00”. He waved them away. “I’ll speak to you around 9.00. Still no reception at your place I guess?”

  “No, I’ll pop in here after the interviews, or call you when I’ve found some reception.” I said.

  Pascal slid a sheet of paper across the table. “We found your mother’s statement on the microfiche. I’ve read it a couple of times, nothing new. But, with a son’s intuition you might spot something I didn’t.”

  I left Pascal to prepare for his interviews. I’d always found the 30 minutes before an interview were critical, to set your mind, focus on the target, decide on the questioning technique and approach. I had four to five hours to kill, and I was unsure whether to go home or wait in the village. Every time I started to tire I thought of Gustav and my adrenalin started to kick in, this time I knew I had to sleep, I had to let the police cover the mundane, if Pascal hit another brick wall I had to be ready to break things open another way.

  I left the creperie and walked back to the car. A small group of tourists, Dutch I think, were taking photographs. A team of police were conducting door to door enquiries. I drove up through the village, past the sports shops and on towards my usual spot.

  It was 7.15pm when Chalet Rothorn came in to view; a welcome sight. I could hear laughter.

  “Jesus, don’t you ever knock?” Rufus nearly leapt out of skin as I pushed the door open.

  “Glad to see you’ve met at last” I said. Simone came over and kissed me on the cheek.

  “Sit down; let me get you something to eat”, and I wasn’t going to argue. A large bowl of thick soup and chunks of fresh bread were placed in front of me.

  “This looks fantastic.” They both sat there watching me eat and waiting for me to say something.

  “I think you’re going to be on your own for a few days, I’ve got to help the police, starting tonight.” Rufus didn’t look surprised.

  “When Simmy turned up I thought as much”.

  “I need to meet Pascal around 9.00pm, so I’ll just freshen up and set off. I can walk you back to the village if you like.” I turned to Simone.

  “I’d like that very much.” She set to on the dishes, Rufus was recounting some great adventure, and I headed upstairs. I packed a rucksack and brought my laptop, just in case I needed to contact Jack. ‘I’m going to have to extend this sabbatical again..... Must contact Jack see if a 1st of November start’s ok’.

  It would have been a lovely evening walk with Simone if the problem of Gustav hadn’t been weighing heavily on my mind.

  “I don’t want to interfere but what do you think has happened to Gustav?”

  I stopped and turned, Simone stood close.
“Actually I could use your local knowledge”. I nodded a finger at her.

  “You see I don’t trust any one of these Von Arx’s....... I mean Pascoe tried to kill me, Dominique has been lying through her teeth and they’re the ones we were getting friendly with!” I paused for thought .“Is there.... Do you know of any special hiding place?..... Somewhere where they could be holding Gustav?... Any rumour, hint of a secret location?” I let it hang there and soak in for a bit.

  “They’re a massive family and have so many farm buildings and mayans spread across the valley. He could be in any of those I guess. But you’re not really thinking about a building are you? That would be too obvious; too exposed.”

  “Exactly, a special Von Arx hiding place, that no one’s supposed to know about. Just think for a minute.”

  We carried on down the track and met the bike route.

  After five minutes Simone spoke “There is one anomaly, something that never quite sat right.”

  “Yes.”

  “From June onwards I tend to train for the bike race on the road up to the Moiry barrage, the snow’s gone by then.”

  “Carry on”.

  “Well the section of the race from the Moiry dam to Grimentz is critical, if you know it well you can make up a couple of places; anyway what I’m getting at is It always seemed odd to me that Marc Von Arx’s car was up there, I’ve probably seen it a dozen times over the last few years, perhaps only twice this year; a long way up the road, between the lake and the glacier. I’m sure I once saw Pascoe’s Suzuki there as well, last year sometime. It’s not close enough to the lake to say you were fishing. It’s the sort of place you’d start a serious high mountain walk from.”

  I pulled out another map and folded it to show the lake and glacier. Simone traced the trail with her finger. “There, you can just pull in off the track. I wouldn’t have noticed it the first time, but stopped the bike because I got caught short. After that I used to glance up, more out of curiosity than anything else.”