Anna Beric leant back against the banquette. Felt she was definitely getting out of her depth and how pleasant that was. The eggs in wine sauce were sublime.
‘What do you know about my life, Daquin?’
‘A certain number of things. How you crossed war-time Europe on foot, at the age of ten. The aunt who slept with the Germans and took you over in Belleville. Her pimp who put you into prostitution on the streets when you were thirteen. And who was assassinated when you were twenty-three.’
‘In fact, you know a lot about me.’ She reflected briefly. ‘It was work I didn’t like. One day I was waiting for clients outside the café, supervised by my aunt. A young man stopped, he was about eighteen or twenty, he was good-looking. He had good manners, as my aunt used to say. He asked me if he could watch me when I was making love with another client. I said no, it wasn’t my sort of thing. And what is your sort of thing? I don’t know what got into me but I replied: Greek tragedies. He then began to recite to me the first lines of Cassandra’s prophecy in Agamemnon. I continued with those that followed. At that period I would recite the Greek tragedians to myself during the assignations. We would go upstairs together and spend an hour reciting poetry. He moved over very quickly to the Persian poets, whom I didn’t know at all. In Persian and in French. I liked that a lot. He came back often …’
She had never told this story to anyone, not even to Meillant. The tripoux came. And suddenly she was overcome with anxiety. Would it be prison tomorrow, and for how long?
‘Give me something to drink, Daquin.’
‘And then your wickerwork trunk, at the bottom of your wardrobe, also made me think long and hard. The workmanship of the weave, the beauty of the clasp, the leather corners. It expresses an atmosphere of other times, or other lands. Another gift from Kashguri?’
‘What are you trying to make me say? That I still see him? Well, I’ll tell you: he’s remained one of my best friends. He’s a rather flamboyant personality.’
‘And the trunk?’
Anna drank her glass of wine very slowly, her eyes on Daquin.
‘When he returned from Iran, in 1979, everything he brought with him, linen, books and small things were in trunks like that. I had gone to greet him when he arrived. I found those trunks superb. He gave me one. Now, it’s your turn, tell me how you … found me.’
Daquin described the police file, the old investigating magistrate, the ashtrays, the inn at Le Bas-Bréau. Anna was impressed. For desert there were prunes in Armagnac.
‘And the body in my workroom, which was the start of it all for me, have you found the murderer?’
‘No, not yet. Why did you go away? That body was there by accident, apparently.’
‘I’m not in the habit of underestimating the police. I thought there was a strong possibility that my setup would be discovered during the investigation. I wanted to find shelter. That seems logical to me.’
‘In Marrakesh?’
‘The weather is very fine there at this time of year.’
‘Certainly it is. But why not Istanbul?’ No reply. ‘Shall I take you home?’
*
In the car:
‘One more question, Daquin. Meillant told me you liked boys.’
A broad smile. ‘I like boys too. Why?’
No answer.
The car stopped in rue Raynouard, by the block where Anna Beric lived. Daquin didn’t move. Anna Beric looked at him.
‘What’s going to happen now?’
‘You’re going to go up to your apartment.’
‘And you?’
‘If you like, I’ll come up with you. Otherwise I’ll wait for you here. In any case tomorrow we’re going together to the local squad office in passage du Désir.’
Her hand on Daquin’s arm.
‘Come along. I’d like to offer you coffee, since you appreciate the brand I use.’
30 WEDNESDAY 2 APRIL
7.30 a.m. In the car, on the way to the local squad office
‘Do you know what we’re expecting from you?’
‘More or less.’
‘We want to know how the profits between the manufacturers and yourself were divided up. With proof. And to get some idea about what they do with the dirty money. Will you tell us?’
‘Yes.’
A silence. The car was held up in the underpass along the quais.
‘Who are you protecting, Anna?’
‘Meillant, as you well know.’
‘Not only him.’
Anna turned her head away and said nothing. Daquin went on: ‘I’m going to ask for, and get, a period of preventive detention for you. Until my investigation into the Turkish network is over.’ Silence. ‘If you co-operate with the Fraud Squad as arranged I’ll do nothing special to find out more than I already know about your part in the drugs business that I’m investigating. But I don’t want to look a fool if I come across some material proofs that you have inadvertently left somewhere behind you.’
They drove in silence to passage du Désir through the morning traffic blocks. As they reached Boulevard de Strasbourg Anna turned to Daquin, her eyes creased into a smile.
‘You remind me of someone, Daquin. But I was younger. And available.’
Noon. Daquin’s office
‘Let’s go over it again. The trucks will arrive at the French frontier tomorrow, Thursday. The Customs officers will arrange for them to arrive at Sobesky’s place at about 4 a.m. The raincoats will be unloaded. That should take about two hours, more or less. A group from Drugs will be there, and will play it by ear. But they’ll certainly wait a little before going into the boutique. Once empty, the trucks will set off for their garage, Euroriencar, at Gennevilliers. There, the chief will direct operations. He’ll arrest everything that moves and he’ll have the trucks searched. From 6 a.m. about thirty Turks, whose names I’ve listed, will be arrested, and Moreira too. I hope also to arrest Oumourzarov, but it’s far from certain. Another group will follow the trucks going towards Le Havre, and what they do will depend on what’s happened in Paris. Altogether two hundred and fifty police officers will be mobilized. I’m going to spend the time I’ve got left preparing notes about the people we’re going to arrest. I’ll use the information I already have plus whatever we learn from the groups responsible for the surveillance of Moreira and Kutluer. I’ll settle the details with the chief. In emergency you can contact me through his office. But I advise you to take a day’s leave, you’ll be needing it.’
‘And what do we do on Friday morning?’
‘That’s why I’ve called you together today. Attali will be attached to the Sobesky surveillance group, Romero to Moreira’s. I will arrest Kashguri. Lavorel, you’ll come with me.’
31
Very early in the morning
The early evening had been terrible. Waiting. Impossible to touch Sol. Nerves too tense. Daquin wasn’t available. Now it was just after 1 o’clock in the morning. Time to get dressed. He looked for his service revolver, in a kitchen drawer, among utensils he didn’t use often, such as the hand-operated liquidizer or the ice-cream scoop. That made Soleiman laugh, after which he went to sleep.
Daquin went out onto the avenue Jean-Moulin pavement. He could feel his pistol under his jacket and didn’t like it. Being armed always made him aware of possible failure. That was very much on the cards tonight. A large unmarked car, with radio, two inspectors in front. Daquin got in behind. They set off to avenue du Maréchal-Lyautey. They arrived quietly outside Kashguri’s place. Stopped twenty metres away from it, by the pavement. The radio was permanently switched on and spluttered quietly. The wait began.
3.24 a.m.
‘Bosphorus 4 to all Bosphorus groups: The convoy of trucks divided into two on reaching Brie-Comte-Robert. Two went off towards Paris. As agreed we’re following the convoy going north.’