A small meeting room, fixed up at the end of a corridor, light entering through a Velux skylight. A table and five padded chairs fill the entire space, which is closed off by a soundproofed door. In one corner is a fridge, containing a variety of drinks.
‘If you want coffee,’ says Macquart, ‘you have to go to the machine in the corridor.’
On the table are writing pads, felt-tips, and a jam jar full of squares of chocolate. No ashtrays. A man gets to his feet as they enter. Macquart performs the introductions:
‘Inspector Levert. One of the best cops in Intelligence …’
Mid-thirties, athletic-looking, long, narrow face, with a prominent nose and a very straight forelock, chestnut hair starting to grey. Instinctively, Noria’s antennae pick up macho cop. Watch out.
‘… Noria Ghozali, police officer. A new recruit. Tremendous natural ability, in my view, but a lot to learn. I’m counting on you, Milou.’
They sit down. Macquart, relaxed, helps himself to a piece of chocolate and begins.
‘First of all, let’s review the Fatima Rashed murder, and you’ll see that it’s a bit different from the Crime Squad’s case. Let’s begin with Chardon, a journalist involved in all kinds of trafficking and a blackmailer who runs his business with a great deal of wiliness and caution. We’ve got him, we’ve had him sentenced for living off immoral earnings, and we can have him locked up any time we choose. For us, he’s a mine of information. As soon as the investigation opened, I informed the Crime Squad that he was on our books. A couple of weeks ago, he tells us that people are gossiping about Bornand’s mistress. Do you know Bornand? No? He’s an advisor to and close friend of the President’s, who plays an important and shadowy part in Élysée politics. He’s one of the heads of the Élysée unit, the President’s private police. In other words, a big fish. The minute his name comes up, the matter needs to be handled with kid gloves. That’s why I couldn’t allow you to carry on sniffing around undisturbed. But the fact is that Chardon didn’t tell us any more about Bornand’s mistress. The rumours are probably still too vague, or, more likely, he hasn’t followed them up yet, and doesn’t want to risk us fouling his pitch. We, on the other hand, have nothing on her in our files. No record. That’s a mistake, I grant you. And now we have to work fast.’ He pauses, and takes another square of chocolate. ‘The morning of Fatima Rashed’s murder, Bornand asks us for a personal file on Chardon. We give it to him, expurgated of course. We also know that Fatima Rashed was one of Bornand’s favourite call girls and that she spent the night before she was killed at an orgy with him and his friends. Lastly, Bornand is one of Mado’s main protectors, and Martenot is his lawyer. That makes too many coincidences.’
He stops and looks at them:
‘Are you with me? No questions?’
She’s with him.
‘The scenario we’re working on is the following: Chardon has something on Françoise Michel’s sex life that enables him to blackmail her. It’s a habit with him, and his chief source of income. He approaches Bornand, perhaps through Fatima Rashed. It ends in bloodshed. I believe Chardon’s dead, otherwise he’d have contacted us to ask for protection — which we’d have given him, incidentally. Yesterday, after you left, I sent an inspector to the Brasserie des Sports. The waiter identified the one you call the second man. It’s Fernandez, a cop seconded to Bornand’s personal security. You see how the pieces are falling into place? And yesterday we had another new lead. Bornand’s mixed up in arms trafficking in some way. So far there’s nothing confirming the link with Chardon. We’ve decided to keep working on this hypothesis, because whatever happens, we’ll get something out of it. All we need to do is find out why Chardon was blackmailing Françoise Michel, and we’ve got Bornand. One of my inspectors is already digging up Françoise Michel’s past. The past always sheds light on the present, at least in police matters. You two will follow Françoise Michel. Pay attention to every detail, since we don’t know what we’re looking for.’ He shoots Noria a critical look. ‘Milou, will you make sure she’s appropriately attired for the milieu you’ll be operating in.’ He opens a file lying on his desk. ‘I’ve had a brief biography of Bornand drawn up for you, to give you an idea of the individual, plus some key dates. You may find it useful.’
FRANÇOIS BORNAND: BIOGRAPHY
Born on 10 April 1921, in Lyon, only child, family devout Catholics. Father, Raymond Bornand, career army officer. Mother, Delphine Bornand née Gautron, went to visit family in the USA in August 1939 and gave no further sign of life after the outbreak of war. François Bornand passed his baccalaureate with distinction in 1939 and enrolled in the Law faculty at Lyon university in autumn 1939. In May 1940, Captain Bornand is killed in action. François is then taken into the care of Édouard Thomas, a distant cousin of his mother’s, owner and manager of the Teinturerie Lyonnaise, a dyes and chemicals factory in the Part-Dieu district of Lyon with around fifty employees. After the armistice of July ’40, Thomas enters into relations with the Vichy government, the production committees and the Industrial Production Ministry. His business grows steadily until 1944 thanks to regular contracts with the German army. In January 1941, François Bornand, still a law student, joins Marshal Pétain’s youth workshop, in the Allier, where he remains until October 1941. From November 1941 until November 1942, he works at Radio Vichy as a specialist youth reporter. It is alleged that he entered into contact with Resistance groups (no confirmed testimonies). He leaves Radio Vichy when the German army invades the southern zone, and returns to Lyon, to his uncle Thomas’s house. He joins the collaborationist militia based in Croix-Rousse as soon as it is formed, to infiltrate it on behalf of the Resistance, according to his own account and testimonies from reliable sources gathered in 1946. He leaves it in March 1943, on the point of being unmasked, and disappears. By August 1944, he’s in Paris, and takes part in the Liberation of the capital. In 1945, he meets up with Édouard Thomas who, after a bit of trouble with the Lyon Liberation Committees changes the name of his company to Thomas Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals (TCP), and establishes its head office in Paris, settling there himself and moving into the pharmaceuticals industry. In 1947, François Bornand marries Nicole Thomas, Édouard’s only daughter, and the same year sets up his own import-export company specialising in trade with the emerging countries, the Middle East and Pakistan. He becomes a prominent second-hand arms dealer (reselling American stocks) and trades chemicals and pharmaceuticals, in association with his father-in-law’s company. He thus acquires an in-depth knowledge of a number of foreign countries, which makes him a valuable contact for the French Intelligence Service. His political commitments support his various business activities. Pro-American and a militant anti-Communist, he eventually becomes part of the clandestine Rainbow network, financed by the CIA and set up to combat all forms of Communist penetration in France. He also maintains ongoing relations with some CIA agents in the Middle East.
In 1954, he enters into a business relationship with François Mitterrand’s law firm. The two men become close on a political level, united in their opposition to the coup d’état of 13 May 1958 that restored General de Gaulle to power. From then on, Bornand distances himself from the French secret services, while maintaining close ties with the Americans, and adopts the US position in favour of Algerian independence. Throughout the Algerian war, he maintains relations with the Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic (GPRA), chiefly business relations, which create difficulties for him in France resulting in two years’ residence in Switzerland and a bigger outlet in the Middle East.