She was smiling to herself, as she climbed out of bed and headed for the bathroom. She wondered what Alain had found and hoped it would prove to be significant enough to give them some direction, but not turn out to be too dramatic. She’d come to appreciate Laurent’s quiet, subtle, slightly sarcastic sense of humour. She felt instinctively that he was honourable, and didn’t really want to discover otherwise. Sighing, she stepped into the shower and let the hot water wake her completely.
Dressed in jeans and a light woollen pullover, she wandered into Gabriel’s room and plumped down onto the end of his bed. ‘Gabe, wake up.’ She reached across to shake him, and suddenly found herself being pulled across the bed and tucked under Gabriel’s chest. ‘So you are awake, then I have news.’ She tried to pull away from him, but he kept her anchored to his side.
‘It’s dangerous to come into my room when I’m sleeping,’ he said into her ear. ‘You might find yourself looking at a knife, or even a gun.’ He grinned down at her. ‘Be warned.’ Without any seeming physical effort, he swung her out of the bed and put her onto her feet. ‘What’s this news?’
Bede raised her eyebrows at him. ‘That was an impressive move. Alain wants to meet this morning. He seems to think he’s found something significant, but will not talk over the phone. He’s always a little paranoid, so I wouldn’t take too much notice of that, but I do think we should go. He’s suggested we meet at my favourite park at ten. The park is close to where he works.’
Gabe frowned. He was lying back against the pillows with his hands behind his head. ‘I wonder what he’s found. I have to make a few phone calls this morning, and we need to ring Martin and Hera to see if they’ve found anything significant. What time is it there at the moment?’
‘It’s about 3 p.m., so a good time to call, but maybe we should ring the mobile just in case they’re not at the property.’ She pulled her phone out of her pocket and sat back down on the end of the bed.
Gabriel looked at her. ‘If you turn your back, I can get out of bed and have a quick shower, while you catch up on the gossip from Hera.’
Bede grinned at him. ‘You should wear PJ’s to bed like everyone else.’
‘Piss off, I get too hot, now either turn your head or close your eyes.’
She turned away. ‘Hera’, she yelled, ‘this is not a good connection, where are you? Can you ring back on Skype?’ She listened for a few moments. ‘Okay, fifteen minutes, talk to you then.’ She turned back and yelled into the bathroom. ‘Did you hear that?’
‘Yes, I think the whole house heard you. I’ll see you in the office in fifteen.’
Bede strolled to the bathroom, leaned on the doorframe, and gazed at Gabriel with pure lust in her eyes. She took in his beautiful back and shoulders, tapering to a small firm, and very hard backside. She willed him to turn around, so she could see him from the front. Her breathing was affected, her mouth was dry, she glanced into the mirror opposite the shower, and her eyes met Gabriel’s in the reflection,
‘I think you should join me’, he said, ‘so that I can perve on you. It’s about time, don’t you think?’ He turned fully toward her, and she saw his broad chest and his fully aroused cock. Bede took two steps into the bathroom, pulling her jumper over her head as she moved. Gabe was smiling that wonderful seductive smile she had come to love. The one she had seen only a few times in the last few days. ‘I’ve been waiting for you to finally acknowledge how you felt,’ he said in a gravelly voice. ‘But I didn’t want to frighten you. Come here.’ He caught her hand in his and pulled her into the warmth of the cascading water.
It was much later, lying in the warmth and comfort of his arms, with the doona pulled over their cooling bodies, that Bede remembered the call she was supposed to make to Hera. She sat up suddenly in bed, turned to Gabe, and saw him grinning at her. He was now lying back with both arms behind his head, looking more relaxed than she had seen him ever.
‘Hera’, Bede gasped, ‘she will be wondering what happened.’
Gabe pulled her back down. ‘Forget Hera for a moment, now, I can tell you about those bloody dreams of mine. They were vivid, but nowhere as spectacular as the reality. When I first saw you at the airport, I had an instant hard on. I could scarcely move. You looked so beautiful. Then when the reality of who you were hit me, I wanted to smash something. I think I fell in love with you in that moment.’
Bede scowled, ‘You were such an arsehole. I was so angry with you, you were ignoring me, and you were the stranger in my dream, the one who rescued Hera and me. I recognised you immediately, and wanted to throw myself into your arms, but you were such a shit. I hadn’t been able to tell Meredith or Hera, but the kiss in my dream was sweet, so sensual, and when you left, I was bereft and lonely.’ Her arms were crossed on his chest, and her fingers were sifting through the hair there. She nuzzled his throat and nipped at his chin.
He pulled her closer and nibbled at her lips, ran his tongue over her mouth, and deepened the kiss. ‘Bede, you know this is not really the smartest thing either of us has ever done. Martin and my position in the Family make any association with your family a little difficult to say the least. It’s why James kept our dealings a secret. I’m not sure he would approve, but I’m not letting you go now, I hope you realise that.’
‘Well, the feeling is mutual you know, and I might add I have a very jealous streak, so you had better subscribe to the theory of monogamy.’
Gabriel threw back his head and shouted with laughter, he wrapped his arms tightly around her. ‘God, you’re beautiful, I can’t seem to get enough of you. And Hera and Martin can wait. Now just stop talking.’
Later, still wrapped securely in his arms, Bede murmured, ‘What time is it? We haven’t rung Bede and Martin, and we’re to meet Alain at ten, but I’m loath to move at the moment.’
Gabriel smiled gently down at her, tucked securely into his side with her head resting on his chest. He sighed, ‘Come on, we need to move, we can continue this later. And believe me, we will.’ He leapt out of the bed, pulling Bede after him. He slapped her smartly on the backside and turned to pull on his jeans.
Bede, already dressing, turned. ‘Do we have time to ring Hera before we leave? She is going to notice because she notices everything!’
‘Perhaps it would be best to send her a text, tell her we’re about to meet with Alain, and we’ll ring when we find out what he has to say. It makes sense at this point, and I do need to know what Martin has been up to. He’s following a strange trail at the moment, I haven’t had time to tell you about it.’
Bede sat down on the end of the bed, and then raised her eyebrows. ‘You can tell me on the way, we need to get going. Alain hates to be kept waiting.’
Martin watched as Hera walked down the steps of the homestead. She had waited until the blades stopped rotating before walking toward them. He took a few moments to consider how to explain Damian, and then decided to play it by ear. He greeted both Hera and Meredith with a cheery smile. ‘We had to hire someone to bring us back, as we needed to get here quickly. There have been some surprising developments.’ He indicated Damian, now climbing slowly down, and at her startled expression, continued, ‘I’ll explain inside, I’m glad you’re both here. We really need to talk.’
They caught the metro to St Paul, and Bede dragged Gabriel in her wake, along the Rue de Rivoli toward one of the most strange and beautiful parks in Paris. On Rue Payenne, bordered by Rue de Sévigné and Rue du Parc-Royal.
Bede said, ‘You’re about to see my favourite park. I found it the first time I came to Paris. I was eighteen, and it was the middle of winter then too. It was all so beautiful and romantic, everything covered in inches of deep snow, and I was on my own, free at last.’ She grabbed his hand and pulled his along. ‘After finding this place, I went looking for as many other quirky parks as I could find. There are lots of them just tucked away in out of the way places. I’m sure th
ey all have some significance, but mostly to their local community, I would think. Anyway, on that day, Alain was taking photos and we just started talking. That’s basically how we met. The park was like a fairyland for me. Pristine white covering everything, even the cars parked on the side of the road had a foot of snow on the bonnets. There were children throwing snow balls, making snow men, and generally having a great time leading up to the Christmas season.’
You’ll see the ancient roman ruins scattered around the periphery, and in one corner, the remains of a temple complete with ionic columns and a frieze incorporating a roman warrior and an angel, perhaps Gabriel? There was a free-standing semi-naked Diana, the huntress, sculptured in marble, standing in the centre of the garden surrounded by dormant rose bushes. The most startling aspect of the park was the trees planted around the perimeter, beautiful and straight, looking silver in the winter light. The trunk of each tree had a wooden kitchen chair attached about three metres from the ground, looking as if the trees had grown straight up through the seat of each chair. Some of the chairs were painted bright colours and others varnished, but all the chairs depicted a previous era and use. There was no indication of the intent behind the statement made by this amazing exhibition. A very post-modern experience!
Gabriel and Bede looked around in delight. This challenging and exciting park was the perfect place to meet, particularly at this time of the year. It was too cold for most to be outside for any length of time, and so the park was empty, but there was no snow.
Gabriel looked around in astonishment. ‘This is really something. A pity there are no chairs in the trees now, it must have been an astonishing sight. I had no idea this park existed, and I’ve lived in Paris.’ He turned to her and smiled. ‘You continue to astonish me, Bede.’ He pulled her gently into his arms, and kissed her softly on the lips. ‘Thank you.’
Bede draped her arms around his neck and lifted onto her toes ready to explore that kiss, but was interrupted by a greeting from behind them.
‘I see you two are on time, merci.’ Alain smirked, and clapped Gabriel hard on the shoulder as they pulled apart. ‘I asked you here because I knew we would not be disturbed, and it is very close for me, I can walk from here.’ He looked around himself and smiled nostalgically. ‘Just as beautiful as always.’ He was looking at Bede.
Gabriel scowled, ‘Stop playing games, Alain, you are being paid very well for this information. What do you have to report, and why not just send it by e-mail?’
‘Ahhh, I just love this place. It’s been a while since I was here, and I thought it would be Bede, not Bede and her large cousin as well.’
Bede raised her eyebrows, but her lips were curved. ‘Come on, Alain, what do you have?’
‘Yes, I have news, although I’m not sure it’s what you expected. My research has been very extensive on your family tree, and although, Bede, you’re were right, there was some reason to suspect that Laurent may not be the legitimate heir.’ He paused dramatically, then spread his arms wide in an expansive gesture; and with a grin, continued, ‘But it seems that he actually is.’ He turned to Gabriel. ‘Your family is indeed complicated. It’s like an exercise in Algebra, but in reality, Laurent is the legitimate heir.’ He looked so pleased with himself. ‘I’ll explain even if as you suspect, the child intimated in your strange journal is illegitimate by a series of bizarre pairings over the years. Laurent is still the legitimate patriarch to the Family.’ He continued, ‘I might add that you have some very famous or infamous figures in your family tree including several suspected criminals from not so long ago. Some that I personally would not boast about.’ He smirked at them both then continued thoughtfully, ‘Although now it appears most of the business enterprises are indeed legitimate.’ He went on. ‘I have spent a week on this, and it’s been one of my most intriguing and rewarding challenges. I’ve had to go screaming off all over Europe to get a look at some documents and have enjoyed every moment.’
Gabriel was looking more relaxed now, lounging against the remains of the Roman Temple. He held out his hand. ‘Thanks for that. I don’t think we could have achieved as much in as little time even with the records in Laurent’s library. Send your bill in, and I’ll see it’s paid quickly.’
Alain gazed at him for a moment. ‘Dare I ask where you hoped this would lead?’
‘It’s not really appropriate to say at this point, but be reassured you’ve helped Bede and Hera enormously.’
Alain still looked thoughtful. ‘I hope so.’ He pulled a rolled-up scroll of papers enclosed in a transparent plastic cylinder from his backpack, and held it out to Gabriel. ‘This is the family tree from before the dates you requested, so you can study it at your leisure. Even if the child in question was not the legitimate child of that marriage at the time, by now, it’s all come full circle. The only family tree I’ve ever found more complicated than this one is the legitimate succession of any royal family.’
Gabriel took the scroll and unrolled it carefully. It was quite substantial, not something easily read, and certainly not standing in the middle of a park covered in snow. ‘I was starting to suspect what you would find.’ He turned to Bede. ‘I’m convinced that the reason behind James’s death is indeed in Australia, but probably originating from within the Family. We’re looking in the wrong direction.’ He paused thoughtfully then turned back at Alain. ‘As I suspect, we were meant to.’ He turned fully to Bede. ‘We need to return to Australia, and I think very soon.’ He held out his hand to Alain. ‘Thanks again for your help in this, don’t forget to send in your account. I don’t want you to be out of pocket in any way. You must have worked like a Trojan to come up with this so quickly.’
Alain drew a long breath. ‘Yes, but I knew how important it was to Bede, and for her, I would do anything. I am happy to have been of service.’ He turned to Bede. ‘Cherie, I think perhaps you will go home now. Be safe.’ He suddenly caught her shoulders, pulled her close, and kissed her sweetly on the lips.
Gabriel stiffened. Bede put her arms around Alain and hugged him close. ‘I will call you next time I’m in Paris. Thank you so much for all you’ve done.’
Gabriel watched him walk away with a frown on his face, and then turned back to Bede. ‘Well, I can see you two have a history?’
She smiled sweetly at him, and took his arm. ‘You’re not jealous, are you?’
‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ he snapped. ‘We need to go.’
Bede smiled to herself.
They were all gathered in the library that evening, sitting quietly around the fire. Laurent looked up from the glass of brandy he had been studying and across at Gabriel. ‘Are you going to tell me what’s been going on over the last weeks?’ He slid his eyes across to the three women, then lastly at Bede.
Bede cleared her throat. ‘I feel it should be for me to explain everything,’ she said.
Gabriel climbed easily to his feet, put his glass on the table by his chair, and took a few restless steps toward the fireplace, then turned back to Bede. ‘No, I think it should be me that explains to Laurent what we have been doing, and what we hoped to achieve with the investigation.’ He turned fully to look at Laurent. ‘We have been investigating James’s death, which we strongly suspect of being murder. More than that, I personally suspect that it was a planned assassination controlled from within the Family, and for a while, we suspected you were implicated in the cover up. We never suspected you of being part of the original plot.’ He held up his hand as Laurent started to speak. ‘Wait, there is more. There is a book, an antique book that James has in his library. The book is a book of letters written in the seventeenth century, which cast suspicion on your legitimate claim to the position of patriarch of the Family.’ He held up his hand again as his mother tried to speak. ‘Wait’, he turned back to Laurent, ‘we have now confirmed, with the help of one of Bede’s friends, that this is a false premise. I am slightly embarrassed now by that sus
picion and for staying here in your home, while we investigated.’ He paused for a moment. ‘But in my defence’, he looked across at Bede again and continued, ‘in our defence, I felt it important enough to investigate fully. I might add that I have always thought it highly unlikely that you would have been the instigator of such an underhand assassination of one of our own.’
Laurent sat unmoving in his chair, gazing thoughtfully, but not speaking to Gabe as he continued. ‘Although to be fair, we had initially no intention of staying here.’ He looked across at his two great-aunts. ‘We were in fact, effectively kidnapped,’ and he smiled ruefully.
Laurent held up his hand. ‘I thought it was something like that. I could have saved you the trouble, you know, that rumour has been around for several generations now. My father looked into the matter very quietly not long after he assumed the mantle. He was determined to put the rumour to rest for all time, but in the end decided to let it stand. You may not know it, but he had a decidedly peculiar sense of humour.’ He looked at Josephine, Marina, and finally across at Mette. ‘You ladies do tend to interfere at times, but in this case, I forgive you.’ He turned to Bede. ‘It’s given me the pleasure of meeting you, my dear, and if I’m not mistaken, to welcome you solidly into the family.’ With a completely expressionless face, he turned to Gabriel. ‘Am I mistaken?’
Gabriel’s face, also expressionless, lifted one shoulder, but remained completely impassive.
A Conundrum Page 14