The mayor continued. “One other thought has occurred to me. Are you sure the name you gave to me for Lerenard was correct. It seems possibly to have been a made-up name. Could he have been known to his references by some other name?”
“I was never given any other name. He was called Lerenard in the report, as you will see. And Abbe Dugard knew him by that name when he worked for him.”
“Ah.” His eyes lit up. “Perhaps I could ring the good Abbe.”
She shook her head again. “I’m sorry. I tried to speak to him an hour ago about another matter. I was told he had gone to Narbonne and wouldn’t be back until late tonight. You can get him at work tomorrow morning.”
“It’s the people in Narbonne again,” said Philip. “They seem to be causing you a lot of problems, Monsieur Amboisard.”
“Indeed.” The gleam of battle was in the man’s eyes. “I will have to sort out Narbonne. But first I will need the telephone number of Abbe Dugard.”
“I have it here.” She read it out to him and he made a note on his pad.
No sooner had he finished than the phone rang again. A considerable conversation ensued. Philip understood none of it but, when he glanced at Jackie, he saw she was biting her lip in vexation. At last the mayor hung up and he turned to them with a mirthless little smile.
“That was Sergeant Leblanc. Unfortunately Henri, the concierge, has gone out for an hour and there is a young girl on hotel reception. For some unknown reason the hotel register doesn’t seem to be there. Leblanc is just going up to your room to collect your brief-case.” He shook his head. “I don’t think I can recall a case where I have been led up so many blind alleys. It’s almost unbelievable.”
Later, as they returned to the hotel, Jackie said, “I think I understand the mayor’s frustration. The only difference between us is that I believe somebody is setting up this plethora of disinformation to try and discredit me. I wonder who it can be?”
“The finger points at either Narbonne or TV France,” said Philip. “And I can’t really understand why it should be the latter. They are already losing too much by the cancellation of the series.”
“I used to trust Alain. Now I don’t think you can trust anybody in big business.”
“Whoever it is, at least they couldn’t suppress that report about Lerenard which was in your brief-case. It even mentioned Alain Gisours’ office”
“No?” She turned to him furiously. “What do you bet? When they contact the agency, they will either say they know nothing about it, or else that the man who prepared it has just conveniently left for a job in Cambodia.”
She was so angry that Philip couldn’t help laughing at her. After a short pause she joined in and the tension eased out of her face.
“I do think that Maitre Amboisard believes us now.” He grinned. “At least he hasn’t stuck us in jail. I was beginning to wonder at one time whether he would let us out of police custody.”
“And in a half-hour or so Henri should be back to produce the hotel register and support our story.”
“And when he rings Abbe Dugard tomorrow morning the mayor should get further corroboration.” Philip had a sudden thought. “You don’t think the Abbe can be bought, do you?”
“Who knows? I would have said ‘no’ until now. But these people seem to be able to wield a very big stick. He’s got his pension to consider and his beloved excavations at Prouille. I’m not sure that I could count on him anymore.”
They arrived back at the hotel and went straight in to reception. Henri obviously hadn’t returned and the young girl was still there. Jackie went up to her.
“You have four bamboo tubes in your safe. Can you let me have them now, or do you want to wait until Henri returns?”
“But, mademoiselle - that other gentleman took them, not ten minutes ago.”
Jacqueline controlled herself. “I specifically told Henri that they were not to be given to anybody but me or Monsieur Sinclair here.”
“I am sorry, mademoiselle.” She shook her head. “I do not know anything about that. All I know is that the man gave me this note you had written which told me to let him have the bamboo tubes.”
“Let me see it.”
The girl handed it over.
Jackie read it. “It looks just like the note I gave to Sergeant Leblanc which authorised him to collect the brief-case.” She turned back to the girl. “Who was this man? Was it Sergeant Leblanc?”
“Oh, no. I thought it was one of your helpers, but I had never seen him before.”
“Right,” said Jackie. “Give me that note. We’re going to run this one to earth. First stop Sergeant Leblanc.”
However, despite several meetings and interviews in the next hour with the people at the town hall and elsewhere in Quillan, they had got no nearer to recovering the bamboo tubes. Leblanc had left her note at reception. And, when they looked at the new note they could see that somebody had cleverly altered the original to make it look authentic. It was a very frustrated and angry Jacqueline Blontard who ended up drinking another coffee with Philip outside the hotel.
“Well,” she complained. “I’m sorry but it looks as though I’ve lost you all your inheritance except for the one tube which is up in the bedroom.” She clamped a hand over her mouth. “We haven’t checked whether the one we opened is still up there.”
They rushed upstairs, dreading that it might have disappeared. But when Philip reached up on top of the wardrobe, he discovered it was still there. Jackie burst into tears of relief and Philip hugged her.
“Oh, my God,” she said. “I wonder just what else is going to go wrong today.”
“Well,” he said optimistically, “at least we’ve still got one tube. Perhaps we can use that to get back at whoever has the others.”
“What do you mean?”
“We might arrange a swap.”
“What!” She stared at him. “Give away the one we’ve got? That’s a unique historical document.”
“But what’s most important is the information it contains - although we don’t know what that is yet. What I suggest is that we photograph it in full and in close-up. Then we can make as good a written copy of the thing as we can. We must also copy the photos from the camera onto your lap-top. Can you then e-mail them to a safe recipient?”
“I don’t know. I don’t feel like trusting anyone anymore.”
“Well, I can arrange for my colleagues in London to store them for you. I’m sure they’ll be safe there. Then at least we’ll be ready to negotiate if anybody contacts us.”
For the next two hours they were busy carrying out Philip’s plan. By the time they had finished, evening was already drawing in. They took dinner but neither of them had much appetite.
During the meal Philip said, “We haven’t decided what to do about the treasure in the underground room.”
“Let’s leave that until tomorrow.” Jackie smiled bleakly. “I’ve had enough excitement for one day. I feel tired and emotionally drained.”
“I think it’s our duty to do something about it, even if it’s only to inform the police. I don’t think we should let it drift for another day.”
“All right. You go and tell the police about it. See what they want to do.”
“OK.” He patted her hand. “You go up to the bedroom and have a rest. I’ll be back in half an hour.”
However getting hold of Leblanc was more difficult than he had expected. It was already after seven o’clock and there was only a youthful gendarme on duty at the police station in the mairie. The young man resisted Philip’s request for a while but finally agreed to ring the sergeant, clearly not happy about facing Leblanc’s fury for disturbing him when he was off duty.
After a short introduction he handed the phone to Philip. The next five minutes were very difficult, with each man struggling to understand the other one with their limited knowledge of the other’s language. Obviously the sergeant didn’t believe that what Philip was trying to tell him was of any real
importance. Finally he was told to come in to Leblanc’s office at nine o’clock in the morning. Then the sergeant firmly hung up.
By the time he got back to the bedroom it was fully dark and Jackie was almost asleep. But Philip was still worried about letting the matter wait overnight. He told her about his abortive conversation with Leblanc.
“If you’d been there we might have got on better. He clearly doesn’t believe me.”
“I don’t think I’d have done any better than you. Our credibility has been destroyed in the eyes of the police.” She sighed. “Well, you can’t do any more tonight. We’ll have to leave it until the morning.”
“I’m not prepared to do that.” Philip was slightly surprised at his own perseverance. “I’m not happy about that chap Hebert. I’ve got a nasty feeling he may jump in there and try to make off with some of it. I’m going to go back up there, take the back off that cupboard, and take enough photos to convince Leblanc that I’m telling the truth. Then, if Hebert tries to pinch some of the stuff, I’ll have a record of what’s gone. You stay here and catch up on your sleep.”
Jackie was on her feet straight away. “Not likely! I’m not going to let you go up there on your own. We’re a team and we’ll stick together.”
Despite his arguments she would not change her mind. Half an hour later they were on their way, dressed in suitable dark clothing and equipped for the night-time task. After a short discussion, they decided the safest place for the last bamboo tube was in the boot of the car, wrapped in a spare blanket.
“Hopefully we’ll only be an hour or so,” said Philip. “I don’t think I’ll take long to prize the back off that chest. Then it’ll be a few photos and return for an early night.”
- 28 -
“What have you to report?” asked Charles Robert of the young Armand seated on the bed opposite him.
“As instructed, monsieur, when the archaeological team dispersed yesterday afternoon, we took occupation of the top floor flat you had rented for us across the square from the hotel. Jeanette and I took it in turns to watch the hotel. Sinclair and Mademoiselle Blontard went out at about seven o’clock. I was parked to the south of the town ready to follow them when she rang me. I collected her at our agreed pick-up point. She had tracked them to their own car and seen them set out towards Limoux.”
He paused and Robert urged, “Go on.”
“They were well ahead of us so we couldn’t follow them closely. But, from Jeanette’s description of their clothes, I didn’t think they were going for a celebratory meal. In any case, the place we most wanted to keep an eye on was le Bezu. So I decided to see if they had gone up there.”
“And had they?”
“Yes. Sinclair’s little red car was parked in its usual place. So I left Jeanette with our car and set off after them.” He took a breath. “The main site was deserted. So I decided to take a look at the lower trench and that’s where they were.”
“What were they doing?”
“Making a lot of noise for a start. They were hammering at some stones.”
“Mon dieu. Were they trying to break through the roof into the room below?”
“No. They were more clever than that. They were breaking out some stones from a wall which had been used to block up a hollow in the rock-face which was beside the stone roof. They had apparently decided that was the easiest way to get round the slabs.”
Robert put his head in his hands. “My God!” He looked up. “What did they do next?”
“It took them a couple of hours to knock down the wall and by then it was getting dark. Philip carried on hammering by torchlight. Then suddenly there was a big noise of stone collapsing and the torch went out. He must have dropped it and broken it.”
“What on earth had happened?”
“Of course, I couldn’t see at that time. They talked for a couple of minutes then they obviously decided to give up for the night. I heard them start to come back up the path. So I had to move out of their way and lie low. When they went past my hiding-place I could see that Jackie was carrying something very carefully. It looked like some sort of stick, but I couldn’t be sure. They made their way slowly up to the main site. Of course, it was slow going in the dark.” He paused again. “When they were out of earshot, I made my way down to the trench. It took me some time because I didn’t have a torch.”
“That was thoughtless of you.”
His comment irritated Armand. “I didn’t realise that I was likely to be scrambling around le Bezu in the dark. It’s a fairly hazardous pastime.”
“So what did you find when you got down there?”
“The roof slabs were still in place and were undamaged. The whole of the rough stone wall across the hollow had gone. I lay on the slabs and reached down as far as I could into the hole, but it seemed to me that there was no wall left, at least for a metre below the slabs. I peered down, but of course I could see nothing.”
“So what did you do then?” Monsieur Robert sounded vexed.
“What could I do? Firstly I phoned Jeanette and told her to move our car further along the track out of sight of Sinclair’s car. Then I set off back up the site, moving as quietly as I could to avoid alerting them to my presence, not that it was much of a problem. They were making enough noise themselves not to hear me. I just kept a comfortable distance behind them. Of course, when I got back to the parking area, they had already gone.” He shrugged. “I walked along to where Jeanette was parked and we drove back to Quillan. We checked that their car was parked back in its usual place, which it was, and then we went to bed.”
“You should have contacted me. I could have arranged for reinforcements. As it is we have lost a whole day.”
Armand dared to argue. “What reinforcements? We haven’t got an army. When we got back to the flat it was nearly midnight and I wanted to be up at daylight to continue the surveillance.”
“All right. Please continue.”
“Well, first of all Jackie and Philip were delayed this morning by having to go to the mairie. Apparently it has been decided that Andre Jolyon, the chap who died, was banged on the head before he was chucked off the cliffs. So it was murder.”
“Are they suspects?”
“I don’t know. They came out of the mairie at about ten and went straight up to the site - obviously to see what they had uncovered the previous night. And they were carrying a large, blue canvas bag which seemed to be stuffed with something. When they got to the parking area at le Bezu, there was another car already parked there. So they went on and parked further along the lane out of sight. I told Jeanette to drop me, drive back to the village, and park where she wouldn’t be seen. After a few minutes the other two came back along the track and Philip was carrying the blue bag.”
Robert snorted. “I’m not sure I want to hear the rest of this.”
“The next thing was that a woman came hurrying down the path. It was the journalist who had shown an interest in us when we were digging the trench above the room. She is called Cesar Renoir and she told us she was researching Cathar castles.”
Charles Robert made a note of the name.
“The other two hid themselves so that she didn’t see them. She drove off at some speed in her little car and I got into the bushes out of sight. When I saw Jackie and Philip next they were going up the path to the site, so I followed at a safe distance.” He took another breath. “When they got to the site office they unlocked it and Philip came out with some rope. Then they went down to the trench.”
“I do not like the sound of this at all.”
“When they got down to the bottom, Philip tied the rope to a small tree and dangled the end down the hole. He was obviously going to descend into the room.”
“No! You couldn’t let him. What did you do?”
“Ah. There was a surprise in store for them. Suddenly another man stepped out of a hiding-place just above the trench and accosted them.”
“Another man? Who was this?”
Armand shook his head. “I did not know him. I wondered whether it might have been somebody who the council had sent. Of course there was nothing I could do with the three of them there. Some sort of argument took place, but I couldn’t hear what was said.” He pulled a face. “Anyway, after a few minutes, Philip went ahead and climbed down into the room on the rope. He was down there for about ten minutes. After a while Jackie lowered the bag down to him. It was only down there for a few minutes, before she pulled it up again. Soon after that Philip climbed up and they opened the bag for the other man to look inside. He seemed satisfied with what he had seen and left them, coming up the path past my hiding-place. However he only went a little further before he moved off the path and hid himself. Then Philip undid the rope and he and Jackie went back up to the site hut.”
“So you don’t know what he took away in the bag?”
“No. But it wasn’t anything heavy. Although the bag was stuffed with something, I would say it was only padding. That path is steep and rough. I should know. I’ve been up and down it quite a few times. And he wasn’t having any problems with carrying the bag.”
“What did you do then?”
Armand sighed. “What could I do? I couldn’t risk giving myself away to this other man, so I had to remain where I was until he had gone.”
“So how long did you stay there?”
“For about another ten minutes. The old man came out of hiding when Jackie and Philip had gone and he went back up to the site hut. When he got there he just sat down on a rock and seemed to wait for something else to happen. It was soon obvious he was going to stay there to see if any other visitors came. Or maybe he was waiting for Cesar Renoir to come back.”
“He didn’t see you?”
“No.” Armand allowed himself a brief smile. “I know my way pretty well round that site so I was able to avoid going near the hut where he’d positioned himself. I decided there was no point in staying there any longer so I set off back to the road. I rang Jeanette and she picked me up half an hour later. Then I got in touch with you.”
Charles Robert scratched his head. “How can we find out what was in that bag?”
The Secret Of The Cathars (2011) Page 21