‘I used to fly these things. I know what they can do.’ He sighed.
We watched as the aircraft located us and began to descend , its rotor blades whipping up a local typhoon. Dust flew as the roaring machine hovered above the lip of the old quarry’s edge then moved crab-wise until it was over us.
Chapter 26
Moments later a paramedic was winched down and the helicopter swung away to land in some open ground at the foot of the quarry. People in flying suits jumped from the cabin and started to walk up the slope toward us. Two of them carried a rescue stretcher and behind them came the overweight, scowling Bertrand with his sergeant.
~ ~ ~
‘Ah ha, Englishman. We meet yet again.’ Puffed the red-faced Gendarme. ‘Indeed you are a resourceful, elusive fellow. But I won’t lose you this time.’
Before I could move, explain or protest, he snapped a handcuff around my wrist and fastened the other end around his own.
‘Now we will see who is in charge. Ha ha!’ he laughed and nodded to his sergeant who was standing behind me. ‘You will accompany us back to the hospital for examination and formal discharge into custody of the law.
His sergeant announced that I was now under arrest and he proceeded to recite the charges and my rights.
I was so dazed and dog-tired that my mind refused to take it all in. But I wasn’t surprised. It had to happen. It was lucky, I guess, that I’d found my witness before they got to me. But a witness wasn’t any good if he didn’t speak....Tell the truth of what had happened at the foot of that old oak tree. I was surprised to find that I felt quite resigned to my fate, even began to wonder what a French cell would look like.
We all turned at the sound of someone scrambling down the rocky slope of the quarry’s lower edge. Marie was striding toward us, her face a picture of rage. Rachel followed, she pressed her phone to her ear, a frown of concentration on her pretty young face as she spoke and listened.
‘Is this the way our French military reward a foreign gentleman for saving the life of one of her citizens?’ said Marie angrily as she came up to us, pointing a figure at the nervously smiling Bertrand.
‘Ma’am.’ Bertrand sprang to attention and tried to salute with the hand he’d snapped my handcuff to. ‘He is an accessory to a homicide, and is suspected of causing the death of your dear son. He must be taken into c....’
‘You’ll do no such thing.’ she interrupted and stood close in front of Bertrand. ‘Do you not listen man? You have been told that your witness statements that tell of his involvement in the murder at the chateau were lies. You’ve been told of the circumstance that surrounded the unfortunate demise of Jacques.’ hands on hips, she stood ramrod straight and looked the unfortunate Bertrand in the eye. ‘Well....speak up.’
Rachel stepped forward looking at Marie as she spoke into her mobile.
‘Yes, yes. Madam is here with me now.’ said Rachel into her mobile phone. ‘Excuse me Marie, I have the private secretary for the Minister of the Interior on the phone for you.’ Rachel held the phone out to Marie.
‘Ah, André, bonjour. It’s so good of you to leave your meeting.’ Marie turned away from the group, walking a few steps and nodding her head. ‘Yes, yes it’s all quite unbelievable...So, so very stupid. A complete waste of tax-payers money’
She gave me a secret smile and winked as she passed. ‘Well yes, that’s right. Very unfortunate. But of course, as you know, he had nothing whatever to do with the accident...As I told you yesterday.’
She turned to look at Bertrand over her shoulder. ‘Yes of course, I understand you must hurry back.....Yes André of course, I will tell him. Merci André, et tu aussi, au’revoir.’ she passed the phone back to Rachel.
Marie turned back to Bertrand, shaking her head. ‘Well monsieur, you do know who that was I suppose?’ she asked
‘Oui madam....Oh yes, he’s in Pontivy today. It was his luncheon that I was at when I received your call for urgent assistance.’ he puffed himself up with his presumed self-importance.
‘Well, both André and Pierre, the Minister of the Interior, are very good, personal friends of mine. If you proceed with this abominable charade, the Minister will need you to explain yourself, in detail. To him and to the British Ambassador in Paris.’ Marie shrugged.
‘Ah....Well....Please understand ma’am that I need to interview our English friend...I do not yet have his statement.’
‘I realise that. Monsieur Bertrand.’ she smiled. ‘But of course, you have forgotten your witness at the scene. Allow me to introduce the General, this is Gerard de Beauchamp.’ She waved towards Gerard as they lifted him into the Stokes rescue stretcher.
‘Gerard, be so kind as to brief monsieur le gendarme on the events of Sunday morning.’
Marie bent close to Gerard’s head and I’m sure she whispered something in his ear. I marvelled how she could stand the stench. Perhaps she was used to it? I was still silent, confused I suppose. It would seem that the man called Gerard was Marie’s relation. Perhaps her husband, I thought with a sinking feeling.
I walked with Bertrand to stand before my witness.
‘Well...Gerard, we’re waiting. Quickly now.’ prompted Marie.
And he did. He recounted everything that he saw from the time he spotted me sprinting across the high moorland right up to the time he hit me in the face with his shotgun.
‘Unfasten those deplorable things Bertrand.’ ordered Marie, nodding at the handcuffs. ‘We are going home. You may visit us tomorrow for a statement...But phone first.’
Chapter 27
William, Rachel and Marie stood in the bowl of the quarry and watched as the helicopter took off. It hovered for a moment then swung away to head for the Hospital and Polyclinique at Pontivy. Gerard would be in good hands and maybe they’d help him get back to a more normal life with some plastic surgery. They can do some clever things in cosmetic surgery these days.
Slowly, with tired legs, the trio walked and scrambled their way back to the lip of the quarry’s ridge, William found his bow and they headed for the old forester’s pathway. They walked in silence, each of their voices stolen by their tumbling thoughts. Then, simultaneously, the bubbles that held their questions disintegrated and they all began talking at once.
~ ~ ~
‘How do you feel Dad? You look....’ started Rachel.
‘So who is Gera....’I tried, sliding an arm around the waist of each of my girls.
‘I expect we’ll all feel better after something to eat and....’ smiled Marie.
We all laughed like school-kids let out of college early.
‘You first Dad, how are you feeling.’ said my clear headed, lawyer daughter.
‘Well I’ve felt better, I must admit. But mainly I’m just hungry, tired and dirty. How’s your shoulder Marie, you’re looking a quite pale.’
‘I’m ok. Same as you I suppose....hungry and tired.’ she looked suddenly unsure, her eyes looked deep into mine.
I knew what she was thinking. I knew the question she was waiting for. But I couldn’t decide if I should wait till we were alone or perhaps wait until she was ready to tell me. But my mouth led the brain and the question popped out of its own accord.
‘So, Marie, who is this chap Gerard?
My tactful daughter smiled and stepped out to walk in front of us. I gently pulled Marie closer.
‘Well, he was my husband.’ Marie answered with a quiet voice. ‘He wasn’t....no....he isn’t a nice person.’
I was about to speak, but Marie put her finger to my lips.
‘In a moment. Let me tell you, while I feel I can.’
Marie told me quite a tale of a husband who treated her brutishly, repeatedly hurting her for his amusement and sexual arousal. He was of course a bully, but careful that none of his cruelties left marks that could be seen. His favourite spite was to pinch the flesh under her breasts with his fingernails until she sobbed. Even in public he would sometimes put his arm around her shoulders and pinc
h the skin on her underarms. She thought that was the reason he bought her sleeveless gowns and dresses.
He had been an Army officer, a major and was made a General when he retired. He travelled away a lot, often for many months at a time. Marie used to dread the homecomings that always resulted in her being hurt, once it had been so bad she’d needed private treatment from their doctor. Eventually, she moved out of their bedroom and into one of the guest rooms at the other end of the house.
‘You can’t imagine the awful row that caused!’ she said defiantly. ‘But it resulted in Gerard volunteering for a lone posting to the Middle East and he was gone for over a year. His homecoming was a subdued affair, so I knew something was wrong. One evening, when he’d been drinking, he admitted that he’d been invalided-out of the service. But wouldn’t say why, he got violent when I questioned him, I went to my room and locked the door.’ she stopped for a moment and then went on.
‘After a while, he started to get sick, sores formed on his face and body, he became incredibly depressed and increasingly violent. I moved out to stay in a hotel. You know the one, the Citotel le Rohan in Pontivy, the one down by the river. And I didn’t skimp, I took a suite with the best view and ran up some substantial bills. I had them send them to Gerard every week.’ She stopped walking, lost for a moment in her dark grey memories.
‘And d’you know what?’ she asked angrily. ‘He didn’t pay any of them! Not one ! All so, so embarrassing.’ she stamped a foot and we walked on.
‘Eventually, I spoke to our doc about him and indirectly learned that he had contracted an unusually virulent form of Syphilis that would eventually eat him away. But he would insist that it was some little known, rare tropical disease. He contacted an old friend in the military hospital clinic in Paris and persuaded them to treat him, or at least give him something to keep going. Kill the pain and soothe the soreness.’ she looked up at me. ‘That’s where I used to go a couple of times a month. Sometimes taking him, sometimes just for medication refills.’ she sighed and carried on.
‘I did it, not through any feelings of love or of duty, but I suppose, a simple compassion. But this last trip was to have been the very last one, I’d made up my mind and I was going to tell him. But I don’t need to now, do I?’
‘No I suppose you don’t.’ I agreed. ‘But back then, when he fell ill, the medics could have helped him.’
‘Oh, I know....And he knew.’ she shrugged. ‘But he couldn’t bear the thought of his private life being exposed. Dragged out for public scrutiny. He saw it all as an indignity and damage to his family name. But of course his credibility in social and military circles was in tatters, completely shredded, just that he couldn’t admit it. He wouldn’t accept responsibility for what he’d done.’ she sighed and went on with her story.
‘About two years ago, we had a really bad row, one of the many, but this was the last and the worst. I accused him of an obvious adultery with some dirty eastern whore. I mean, you don’t get Syphilis from flying kites do you? So I demanded a divorce with an immediate separation.’
‘The long and the short of that was, he moved into the Hunting Lodge, which he’ll keep, and a complicated divorce petition was drawn up that gave me our whole estate, but with a proviso that it would transfer to Jacques immediately he reached twenty-five. Which would have been next year. That’s how Jacques got the idea that his father was dead. He was away at school in America, he never did see his father with his illness.
‘God, what a story. Poor you.’ I said stopping and hugging her tight. ‘But selfish wretch that I am, and you’ll have to forgive me, I’m pleased that things have finally turned out as they have. Nobody will hurt you again. Ever. I’ll see to that.’
‘Are you two going to stand there all night.’ called Rachel from the next bend in the pathway. ‘Time’s trotting by and I’m bloody starving!’
~ ~ ~
As we pulled into the cottage driveway, I saw that lights were on and a wisp of smoke was coming from the tall chimney.
‘What’s going on?’ I asked.
‘Ah.’ said Rachel. ‘There’s something I have to tell you.’
‘Seems I’ve missed a lot of things in just a couple of days.’ I said smiling.
‘Well, we’ve missed you.’ she said squeezing my hand. ‘Our housekeeper and potential odd jobber is Charles. You remember? I told you about him.’
‘Oh, yes. I remember. He must have recovered from his beating then?’
‘Yeah, I think so. He’s a funny lad.’ she said. ‘I’m glad to see he’s here though. I gave him some cash this morning and sent him off to buy some clothes and toilet gear. He had absolutely nothing. And was too scared to go back to his hostel to get his stuff.’
‘You took a risk, giving him cash Rachel.’ I didn’t intend to, but I thought my voice sounded a bit sharp.
‘I guess I did. I loaned him your old bike too.’ she said, with a defiant edge as she opened the door. ‘You need a bit of help around here and I thought he could do some work around the place to pay me back.’
‘Ah, I see...I think.’
‘Oh, you wait. You’ll like him.’
And in we all went. My heart thumped a little and the breath caught in my chest. I couldn’t believe it was all over.
Chapter 28
It had been a day full of action and dusk burnt itself out in a bright sunset as night approached.
Coming home seemed almost surreal to William, it was something that he’d dreamt about at odd moments over the past forty-eight hours and now, with Rachel on one side and Marie on the other, it was better than even his most outrageous fantasy.
A fire was burning gently in the lounge and an interesting smell of something spicy was coming from the kitchen.
~ ~ ~
William felt his troubles fall away from his shoulders as he came into his lounge. Gently, he pulled Marie down to sit beside him on the sofa.
‘Rachel, where’s our friend Charles then?’ I asked. ‘Smells like something good in the kitchen.’
‘I shouldn’t be at all surprised if he’s embarrassed and hiding. I’ll go find him in a minute.’ she said as she put another log onto the fire.
‘Having him about isn’t going to spoil things with your chap down there in Nantes, will it?’
‘Well, bit of a story there. He’s going to be history next time I see him.’ she said, with a sigh. ‘I explained to him what was happening here and asked for his help. He said he was too busy – but would get a lawyer friend to contact me.’
‘Oh, he sounded like a nice chap. Did he call a lawyer though?’ I asked her. ‘One might still be needed, if Marie’s friend in the Ministry changes his mind.’
Ah...well there’s a bit of a story there as well.....’ Rachel blushed a little and looked at Marie.
‘I’m afraid I was speaking to an empty telephone William.’ Marie grinned. ‘We didn’t actually call anyone. No signal down there anyway, you see. But I do know him.’
‘What an act!’ I said, with a laugh. ‘You certainly took me in.’ I lifted her hand and kissed it. ‘But I suppose we could be getting an angry gendarme knocking on the door sometime soon.’
‘Oh I don’t think so.’ said Marie, still smiling. ‘Can you imagine our Bertrand approaching a government minister or even his private secretary? I don’t think so. I bet he’s keeping his head down, hoping to win back some points when he uncovers the criminal gang activities in Rennes. And for that, he needs us and he needs young Charles.’ she looked at Rachel. ‘Where is the boy? I’ve not met him yet.’ Marie stood and started to go into the kitchen.
‘You stay there, I’ll go find him. Where his confidence should be, is a bit empty. He’ll be worried that we’ll send him away, now Dad’s back. But I think I know where he is.’
I heard her go outside. ‘While Rachel’s on her quest, I’m going to open a bottle of bubbly that I’ve been saving for a special occasion.’ I stood to go to the cellar.
‘I do
n’t think I should have anything to drink William. I’ve put the house up for sale and have moved out. I’ll need to drive back to the Hotel soon, while I’m still awake.’
I sat down again.
‘Oh...I didn’t know. That must have taken courage. But please, no hotels. Stay here. Stay with me.’
‘I’d love to William...You know that. But when I left the house, I packed everything I might need into a couple of suitcases. And I’ve not even got so much as a toothbrush with me.’
‘Well I’ve got a whole box of new toothbrushes and loads of clean towels. You can use my dressing gown to shower.’ I chuckled and took her hand. ‘And with what I’ve in mind, you won’t need a nightie.’
‘Won’t it be a little awkward for you...with Rachel.’
‘No, not at all. I’m sure of it. We’ll ask her if you like...In fact that’d be a good idea, because as soon as I’m able, I intend asking you to marry me. And she should know. I’m sure she does already. But I would like to tell her. Oh hell, I’m talking too much.’
Marie laughed, ‘Well, when you are free to ask, I will be very pleased to say yes.’
She snuggled tightly into me and kissed me, which put a firm bridle on my runaway tongue. Her eyes brimmed with tears, ‘I’d like to stay here, tonight and every night...if you’ll have me.’
‘So we’ll tell Rachel now, tonight? Shall we?’
Marie smiled and nodded.
The outside door creaked as it opened, ‘Tell me what?’ asked Rachel with a grin as she came into the lounge towing a reluctant Charles by the arm.
‘Well, we’ve a champagne cork-popping occasion. As soon as I can, I am going to ask Marie to marry me...But I think we’ll start practicing from today.’
‘Well I think that’s the best news I’ve heard since I’ve been over here. I’ll get the bubbles and glasses....Oh, this is Charles. I’ll leave you to get acquainted, his English isn’t too great, but I’m sure you’ll manage.’
‘Bonjour Charles’ I tried.
‘Bonjour Monsieur, Bonsoir Madame.’ Charles shuffled towards the door, as if he would follow Rachel.
‘Rachel, my daughter, says some good things about you.’