A saint again. ‘Why was Genévieve Ravier to be dismissed, Maître? Was her voice no longer good enough?’
‘You doubt my word? You think I am lying? Merda, what is it with you? Constant disbelief? “Good” is never enough. Squisita — exquisite — is the word you want, but we Italians would also use its other meanings and give other words to them. Raffinatezza — refinement, e vita — joy and pleasure. Yes, gioia e piacere. A gift from the gods.’
‘Then she wasn’t to be dismissed because the quality of her voice had lessened?’
Ah bravo, now you can feed on the crumbs! ‘As happens sometimes in such close quarters, our Alto had become too attached to our Primo Soprano. Such a thing will inevitably break apart the solidarity a group such as ours demands, and one can’t have that.’
‘Too familiar sexually? Too possessive, eh?’
It would be best to give a guarded answer. ‘That and in other ways, dependent totally.’
‘Then why not dismiss the Alto?’
Suspicion still lingered. ‘Because, caro Ispettore, Mireille was to have replaced both Genèvieve and Xavier, but could never have replaced Christiane whose voice, among altos, is not just exquisite, but unique.’
‘You told Mireille she had failed.’
Bene, they would now settle that business once and for all! ‘I did so from the other end of the Palais’s Grand Tinel, yes.’
‘And what was her reaction? Refresh my memory.’
‘She stood as if struck dumb, her head bowed. I tried to be encouraging. Another time … another chance, but she just stood there like that. Beaten, defeated, in tears and ashamed — yes, yes, she was ashamed of her paltry efforts. She was good. She could so easily have passed. We had deliberately not asked much of her.’
Good? Hadn’t the proper word to use been squisita? ‘And afterwards, Maître?’
‘The three of us left the hall together.’
‘A moment, please.’
Note pages were flipped out of the way until St-Cyr had what he wanted.
‘A small matter, Maître. It’s only that Bishop Rivaille’s accounting of those final moments doesn’t agree with what you’ve just said.’
‘Not agree? In what way, please?’
‘The girl didn’t bow her head in shame. On hearing the result, she abruptly turned her back on the three of you and left the hall. Rivaille thought this unforgivable of her.’
‘But … but that is nothing. A mere moment in time. First she bowed her head as I’ve said and then, on hearing the result and my attempt to be encouraging, turned her back and abruptly left the hall as Henri-Baptiste has said.’
‘You didn’t put out the candles?’
‘It didn’t seem appropriate. Salvatore would do so in any case. I knew he would be there shortly to make his rounds. Even when we reached the entrance, I felt, and I can never forgive myself — never — that he would find and escort her safely home, but … Why could he not have been a moment earlier? He could have prevented it, could have interrupted things.’
The tears were very real but could hardly be the truth. ‘You forgot to mention something,’ breathed St-Cyr. ‘When you and Albert Renaud were questioned at your flat by my partner, you stated the possibility of your wife’s having come to the Palais at the last minute. Renaud then said he was certain there had been someone else present — in the stairwell where he went to get the chairs. A sound, a presence … but when he shone his torch around, there was, apparently, no one.’
‘Alberto didn’t think any more of it at the time and failed entirely to mention it to us, but it was good of him to have come forward wasn’t it? And yes, Mireille could well have left the door unlocked behind her when she entered the Palais, but unfortunately none of us will ever know if she did.’
‘But let me ask again, Maître, could this other person have been your wife?’
Ah grazie! ‘Marceline? It’s possible, yes … but you will get little from her now, I’m afraid.’
‘Then one last thing, Maître. When Mireille de Sinéty was found, there was a tin of sardines in her aumônière.’
‘Sardines?’
‘A gift from Frau von Mahler, I believe.’
‘Then it’s true what the Kommandant thinks. Dédou Favre was there to meet her after the audition but … Ah sì. The boy failed entirely to steal the contents of her purse or to find the nourishment she had denied herself for him, her killer.’
And not the wife — was that it, then? Not Genèvieve Ravier, either, or Christiane Bissert? ‘But … but Dédou couldn’t have been there, Maître. Alain de Passe had arrested him early that morning.’
It was freezing up on the walkway that ran alongside the roof of the Grande Chapelle of the villa, thought Christiane, and still the Hooded Ones hadn’t come to kill Herr Kohler.
Wet with her tears, the collar of her blouse touched his cheek as she clung to him.
‘A partouse?’ he asked of the picnic last October on the Îie de la Barthelasse. An orgy …‘We did things,’ she wept. ‘Scandalous things. Absinthe at first releases one from one’s inhibitions, and quickly. It makes one wild. Adrienne we drove crazy in front of them, but … but she was pregnant and … and some among them noticed this and … and took offence.’
Ah merde, Rivaille. ‘The bishop?’ he demanded.
She would swallow and nod, would stand right up on her tiptoes now. He’d be thinking of how enraged Bishop Rivaille had become, of how, when he’d seen them first like that he had coloured rapidly and hadn’t been able to take his eyes from Adrienne who was supposed to have been so pure, so virginal, with her belly beginning to swell. Adrienne with Marius and Genèvieve and the others, herself included. She would let Herr Kohler feel her body clinging to him as the stiletto was driven into his back. She would feel him stiffen in shock, would hear his gasp and hold him tightly as he shuddered and coughed blood which would run down her cheek. But he’d be too heavy for her and both of them would collapse.
‘Rivaille, de Passe, Renaud, César and … and others of their group. The hunters,’ she said.
‘De Passe heads the Cagoule, doesn’t he?’ breathed Kohler softly and heard her faintly say, ‘Yes. Some of those were there, too, with their … their women.’
Her arms were still wrapped tightly about his neck. ‘What happened?’ he asked, so gently she was afraid she would weaken and tell him, but knew the sunlight couldn’t be fully in his eyes and that they still must be alone up here, just the three of them. The three! No one else would know what she’d done to save the group, not Genèvieve who mattered most, not Marius or Guy or Norman. Not even Herr Kohler’s partner. Only Préfet de Passe and the assassin he had sent. The assassin!
When she flinched, Kohler threw them both to one side. They hit the tiles and rolled. Several times she shrieked, ‘Not me! Not me! Oh God, what have I done?’ He shook her hard. He was too heavy for her, too strong, had her by the arms and was forcing her down … down …
‘Where is he?’ she spat fiercely and tried to free herself.
The girl ducked her eyes away in doubt and caught a breath. ‘Where’s who?’ he asked.
Sunlight glinted from his scars. She couldn’t force herself to look at him. ‘One of them. I don’t know who, damn you! Antonio, maybe. César’s gardener. The one with the … the stiletto.’
There’d been no one, thought Kohler. Her imagination had simply run away with her. ‘Oh, him. Down below us, I think. Let’s have a look, shall we?’
He hauled her up and, holding her by the back of the neck and an arm, forced her to look well over the battlement and far down into the courtyard below.