Murder on Brittany Shores
Page 21
‘She couldn’t say whether he knew Konan and Pajot. If he did, then not well in any case. She said her husband has been very agitated since yesterday. She assumed it was due to the news of Lefort’s death.’
‘Agitated in what way?’
‘He wasn’t speaking much, she says, he kept standing up and walking around. Yesterday evening he tried to call someone many times, but he didn’t get through. His wife didn’t know who it was. Apparently, he was up extremely early today. At six o’clock. An hour earlier than usual.’
‘Hmmm.’
‘Anything else?’
‘No.’
‘I want to know who Le Menn has been on the phone to recently, we need the phone records for all of his lines.’
‘We’ll need to claim that there is danger in delay on this one too. Otherwise we won’t get it at this stage,’ said Riwal.
‘Danger in delay, Riwal. Absolutely.’
‘Good. I’ve just received the report on the search of the three men’s houses too. And the boats by the way. Nothing of note has been discovered yet. But we’ve removed all of their computer hard drives, we’re analysing them now.’
‘And nothing on the boats? Maps, nautical maps? Nothing remarkable?’
‘No. Are we looking for anything in particular?’
‘Tell them I want to see all nautical maps if they find any. I want to know whether one, two or all three went repeatedly to particular coordinates at sea recently. No idea how we are meant to find that out. We’ll need some luck.’
‘Everyone navigates electronically these days…’
‘I’m up to speed.’
‘You’re genuinely thinking about a treasure hunt?’
‘I’m thinking about everything that seems possible and impossible.’
‘If there’s a sunken ship involved, which the three men discovered, and if nobody was meant to know anything about it, then they will have been extremely careful.’
A loud bang made Dupin jump. Anjela Barrault had slammed the hatch in the railing shut and was already on her way back to the wheelhouse. There was a considerable hustle and bustle at the stern, the divers were in the process of stowing their things underneath the narrow wooden seats.
‘I’ll be in touch again very soon, Riwal. I’m on Drénec.’
‘What are you doing on Drénec? Did you not want to speak to Anjela Barrault?’
‘I’m on her boat.’
‘You’re on a boat again?’
‘I’ll be in touch, Riwal.’
Dupin had almost hung up.
‘Wait.’
‘Chief?’
‘Has Kadeg found outanything about this dispute between the former mayor and Konan, regarding salvaging rights?’
‘Bellec made enquiries at the mairie. No documents about any kind of incident were found. And even Monsieur Tanguy didn’t know what Muriel Lefort might have meant by that story.’
Dupin sighed deeply.
‘Speak to you later, Riwal.’
The diesel engine ramped back up, the low vibrations began again, Anjela Barrault put it into gear and the boat slowly, then more and more clearly, picked up speed.
Dupin groped his way back to the wheelhouse.
‘Did you get reception?’
‘Yes.’
‘It’s always the luck of the draw out here.’
‘What do you know about the business links between Medimare and the Institut Marine, Madame Barrault? About conflicts that Leussot and other researchers have with the institute?’
‘Nothing really. Just that Leussot and Lefort got into a fight once and it was about that amongst other things. And that the Director of the institute is a nasty character.’
‘A fight? Leussot was in a fight with Lefort? An actual, violent altercation?’
‘In front of the Quatre Vents. About a year ago. Alcohol was probably involved. But that’s as much as I know.’
Her gaze seemed more mischievous to Dupin than before.
‘Ask Solenn Nuz.’
‘Why her?’
‘She knows – the most.’
‘And this is generally known? This issue of the fight?’
Nobody had mentioned it yet. Everyone out here only seemed to say what suited them in their respective situations.
‘I’d say so.’
Dupin again pondered how he could manage to make notes in this position, he needed both arms for stability. He gave up.
‘What’s your relationship to Monsieur Leussot?’
The question did not seem unwelcome in the slightest.
‘Let’s put it this way: it was once – clearer, but it hasn’t been like that for a long time. We’re friends. Most of the time, anyway.’
‘I see. Is Leussot also a treasure hunter?’
‘Even he definitely takes a look, if something is lying on the seafloor. He’s always out on the Atlantic. He has the best of everything when it comes to equipment. The latest technology. Even if it has other functions. Nobody can record the seafloor as precisely as he can.’
Dupin hadn’t thought of that but it made sense.
‘Is that his boat he goes out in?’
‘No, it belongs to the institute. But he’s been using it all the time recently.’
‘Do you know it?’
‘I’ve never been on it. But Tanguy has, the two of them know each other well.’
Dupin’s mobile rang and he took it out with his left hand. He looked at the number, taking great care not to relax his wedged-in elbows. He knew the number from yesterday or today, but couldn’t place it.
‘Excuse me.’
Now he did ease out of his safety position, walking cautiously to the bow.
‘Hello?’
‘Muriel Lefort here. Can you hear me, Monsieur le Commissaire?’
‘I can hear you, Madame Lefort.’
‘Where are you? It’s terribly loud where you are, I can hardly make out what you’re saying.’
‘I’m investigating right now.’
The boat bobbed strangely to and fro, in quick, short movements. For no apparent reason – nothing could be detected at sea which could explain this. It was extremely surprising how diverse and perfectly distinct the unpleasant movements of a boat could be; by this point, Dupin felt he was in a position to formulate a small typology of these movements: there was a rocking, a teetering, a bobbing, swerving, swaying, lurching, wavering …
‘There are some – things I’d like to discuss with you in person.’
‘Same here. It would be best if I came by later. I’ll call you again.’
He desperately needed a coffee. Especially after this second adventure at sea.
‘Great. Then I’ll expect your call.’
Dupin hesitated for a moment.
‘Madame Lefort. I have one quick question. Do you happen to know whether your brother was out at sea particularly often recently?’
‘He was always out at sea a lot.’
‘I mean…’
‘You mean was he hunting for treasure?’
‘Yes, that’s exactly it.’
‘People are saying you think that’s a possibility.’
Dupin wanted to ask who was saying what, but left it.
‘We are looking into all possibilities.’
‘As I said: Lucas has been dreaming about treasure since we were children. Oh God. But I’m not able to give you an answer. I would definitely be the last person he’d have told.’
‘I understand. See you later then.’
She had hung up.
At the same moment, Dupin’s phone rang again. He took it away from his ear and glanced quickly at the number. Nolwenn.
‘Yes?’
‘The Prefect wanted to have it confirmed personally by you that the large manhunt operation for Le Menn is of “extraordinary relevance”. I’ve explicitly confirmed everything. You should just know that that’s why I called you. An hour ago.’
‘I … good.’
‘Are you
making progress?’
‘I don’t know. There are lots of figures involved.’
‘You don’t have to drink the whole sea, even in this case.’
Nolwenn’s untiring use of Breton sayings always reassured him – and he was very happy to hear Nolwenn’s voice anyway (and, of course, to know that he didn’t need to drink the whole sea).
‘Do we have access to the three men’s accounts? It’s important.’
‘I think we will very soon. You’re quite difficult to understand, Monsieur le Commissaire, where are you right now?’
‘On a boat, with Anjela Barrault.’
‘You poor thing, on a boat, yet again?’
‘Exactly.’
Dupin was now deeply regretting that everyone knew about his little boat phobia.
‘Last week there was a big article about Anjela Barrault in the Télégramme. She is planning to win back the world championship title this summer.’
‘The world championship title?’
The mobile was clamped to his ear again.
‘She is a freediver. She has already dived the deepest twice. No other woman has reached a greater depth,’ Nolwenn broke off briefly. ‘You know what a freediver is?’
‘Possibly. A kind of – diver.’
Anjela Barrault had mentioned it herself, but Dupin could not in all honesty have said any more than that.
‘Diving without oxygen tanks, as deep as possible. A tough sport.’
Dupin had vaguely heard of it.
‘And she is the world champion? Anjela Barrault?’
‘A Breton woman. She was a yoga teacher actually. A very attractive woman. Absolutely stunning. She wants to make it to the hundred-metre mark in the summer.’
‘A hundred metres?’
‘A Breton woman. She will manage it.’
‘I see. Nolwenn?’
‘Yes, Monsieur le Commissaire?’
‘On the boat this lunchtime … we saw dolphins.’
Dupin didn’t know how he was getting onto this subject now, which had no place here. It was probably because of the diving.
‘Interesting animals. But be careful.’
‘Excuse me?’
‘Do you not remember Jean Floch? The dolphin who deliberately tore fishing nets and attacked and sank rowing boats, so that the anglers were tossed into the sea? Four years ago, you were still in the capital then, but it went national across all the media. An aggressive maverick, spreading anxiety and fear along the Breton coast. Like a rabid dog. Three hundred kilograms!’
That sounded brutal. Dupin had always had a different impression of dolphins.
‘A miracle that he didn’t leave any widows or orphans behind. Swimming bans were imposed everywhere in southern Finistère. Then they drove him away with noise. Yes, sexually mature males can sometimes display extreme dominant behaviour and are excluded from the group.’
‘They were all very clearly in the group. I mean: it was most definitely a group, not a single animal.’
Dupin had also wanted to say that the aggressive male was certainly the absolute exception and that overall they were peaceable creatures. After all, that was the very thing that they were famous for of all things – but then he left it. This was an absurd conversation in any case.
‘Okay. Then let’s speak later, Monsieur le Commissaire.’
Nolwenn sounded fully composed.
‘Let’s.’
She hung up.
Dupin stayed stock still. This was a crazy case. Not just the case itself. Everything.
* * *
The Bakounine had now come within fifty metres of Cigogne – the island in the middle of the chamber. The fortress, more or less round for the most part, could already clearly be made out. The legendary Fort Cigogne had a pointed, sharp bend in seven places, which is where it got its name (‘seiz kogn’, seven corners in Breton). Now it was used by the sailing school. Corsairs that had found perfect cover on the Glénan were chased out of here in earlier times. The worst of them came from the English island of Guernsey, of course. It was regarded as fact that there were hidden chambers and vaults both in and underneath the fort. Corridors suddenly ending in nothing. People spoke about widely branching secret tunnels underneath the seafloor that you could get to all of the islands through. Seeing the dark, atmospheric fortress, you believed it straight away.
It occurred to Dupin that he hadn’t even enquired what ‘doing the rounds’ meant earlier. There were quite a lot of islands.
The dark band of cloud had pushed closer, it was deep black by now and much wider. That didn’t mean anything in Brittany. Even so, Dupin had to admit that he wouldn’t have suspected a few hours ago that it would move in their direction at all. You still couldn’t class it as proper wind, but the weak draught that was palpable again this afternoon was clearly coming from the opposite direction, from the east. Dupin relaxed. A moment later he was standing in the wheelhouse again. Anjela Barrault greeted him with her bewitching laugh.
‘This is an amusing investigation. The way you work, I mean.’
‘I … you and Solenn Nuz are friends, I’ve been told.’
‘Very old friends. We went to primary school together. Loctudy.’
‘And how did you come to the islands and to this job?’
‘You want to hear my story?’
She seemed genuinely astonished for the first time.
‘I do.’
‘After the death of her husband, Solenn Nuz considered buying the diving school. Lefort wanted to take it over. He made a very impressive offer. Likewise Muriel Lefort. She even outbid her brother. I was an amateur diver at the time, a yoga teacher really and before that I had been in Kathmandu for two years. When I came back, I happened to run into Solenn. We arranged to meet. Then she told me about her situation, made me an offer and, in a pub, at two in the morning, I said I’d do it. My then boyfriend had found someone else while I was away and my parents had died shortly before. The way it always is: everything happens at once. Life is chaos, more muddled than a ball of wool.’
Dupin liked the image of the ball of wool. It was very true, he thought.
‘That is my story in one minute.’
This was expressed without sorrow, without flirtation.
‘And then you become a world-class free diver?’
‘Believe me. Strictly speaking, it’s just a different form of yoga.’
She throttled the engine. They had arrived at her next stop. A small group was waiting on the beach again, this time there were just three divers.
‘Just these ones and then off to Penfret. Have you done yoga before?’
Dupin had nothing against yoga, nothing at all, but he was certain that he was the most unsuited person in the whole world when it came to that kind of thing. Yoga, meditation, self-hypnosis, all relaxation techniques. He got nervous just hearing the words. Nobody could be less talented in matters of conscious relaxation. He deliberately ignored the question.
‘So Madame Lefort had made Solenn Nuz a very high offer for the diving school?’
Muriel Lefort was more business-minded than he’d thought.
‘Yes. She was really serious about it. By the way, since you’re so interested in sunken ships: on this side of Cigogne alone there are four, all pirate ships. Immense treasures were found in the wreck of the Double Revanche in the thirties. It was buried deep in the sand, amid dozens of lobsters. The lobsters love the wrecks of the old wooden ships. Did you know that the Glénan have a mascot? A lobster, Charlie, over eighty years old. He lives in a wreck not far from the quay on Saint-Nicolas. Everyone knows him. The club set up signs under water at his favourite spots to sit. Every diving newbie has to pay him their respects once.’
She laughed.
‘Charlie. There are some videos online,’ in more of a scholarly tone she added: ‘Lobsters are completely sedentary. A one-hundred-and-forty-year-old lobster was saved from the pot at the last minute recently – it was almost a metre long.’
‘The same procedure as just now.’
Dupin stepped aside and headed for the prow again. He was still occupied by the idea of the one-metre long and one-hundred-and-forty-year-old lobster: so it had been born around 1870, Charlie in at least the 1930s – he was older than Dupin’s mother. He was anxious to keep it all abstract. He liked the taste of lobster too much.
His mobile had slid deep into his trouser pocket again. He dialled Goulch’s number. The young police officer was on the line immediately.
‘Monsieur le Commissaire?’
‘Where are you?’
‘Still in the docks, at the examination of the Bénéteau. But we’ll be done very soon. We’ve also been able to save map stuff. Ordinary nautical maps, laminated paper. We’ll take a good look at them. We haven’t been able to find any markings yet.’
‘I need you. Go to Monsieur Leussot’s boat. He’s probably still somewhere near the Moutons, or already on Saint-Nicolas. Take a look at his ship, check what technical equipment and technology he owns which would be suitable for hunting for treasure. And see if you see something that definitely indicates that he’s actively – how to phrase this – on a hunt.’
‘A proper search, am I understanding you correctly?’
‘If need be.’
Even though this way of going about things had – like all the other actions today, in Dupin’s opinion – something of a stabbing in the dark quality to it, he wanted to know now. And: even stabbing in the dark could be very effective. So long as he was not stabbing in the wrong direction entirely.
‘And then look at Kilian Tanguy, Muriel Lefort and Du Marhallac’h’s boats. And the one belonging to the doctor who disappeared, Devan Le Menn. Have I forgotten someone?’
‘The Director of the institute? Anjela Barrault?’
‘Anjela Barrault?’
‘The head of the…’
‘I know who she is.’
‘She has her own boat too. She often uses it for the diving school.’
‘How do you know that?’
‘Everyone who is constantly out on the water here knows each other, at least to some extent. They know of each other.’