by Katie Penryn
“That’s the one. Apparently, she was having an affair with the baker.”
“Is that significant?” Sam asked.
“I don’t know, but it opens up several possibilities, doesn’t it?”
Chapter 35
Gwinny’s car stood in the driveway of the Déchets’ house. Felix hadn’t left by car if he had left at all. We hurried up the steps to the front door and rang the bell. No one answered. I rang again and thumped on the door. So early in the morning it was unlikely that Nicole had gone shopping and she wouldn’t be going to work as her job had blown up with the bakery.
“Let’s try the back,” Sam said as he jumped down the steps three at a time.
No one came to the door.
I knocked again and called out. Sam started round the other side of the house peering into the windows as he went.
“Hey, Penzi, come here quickly,” he yelled out. “She’s in here. All tied up.”
She lay on the floor of the bedroom, hands and feet bound and tape stuck across her mouth confirming my worst misgivings.
“Turn your back, Sam, while I unlock the door,” I said.
I cast the unlock door spell. We pushed into the house and made for the bedroom which was also locked. Another spell and we dashed in to help Nicole.
She let out a cry of pain as Sam pulled the tape from her mouth. She rubbed her sore lips. As soon as she could speak she said, “My husband’s taken Felix. I saw him slug your friend in the head and kick him several times in the ribs. I’ve been tied up here all night. After he put Felix in the trunk of his car, he came back for me, tied me up and locked me in here.”
“Where do you think they’ve gone?”
Nicole gulped down a sob. “I don’t know, but I’m scared.”
Sam finished untying the straps around Nicole’s ankles and helped her to stand up.
“They’ve been gone for hours,” she said.
“What happened?” Sam asked. “Did Felix ask you if you had been having an affair with Monsieur Tidot? I know it’s a personal question but Felix is in danger and we need to know.”
Nicole sniffed and wiped her hand across her nose. “Yes, he asked me and I had just answered when my husband came storming in. He said he’d known about it all along. And then…” She burst into tears.
I snatched some tissues from the dressing table and handed them to her.
“Get her a drink, Sam.”
When Sam came back with a glass of water Nicole took a few sips and the drink calmed her down.
“What then?” I asked.
“He said that’s why he’d had to do something.”
“Did he say what?”
“He didn’t have to. It was obvious. Felix tried to get away but Déchet pushed him down the steps. Felix hit his head on the way down. Then my husband jumped on him and beat him up.”
Sam grabbed hold of my arm. “Penzi, come. We must hurry. Déchet’s had a helluva start on us but maybe he hasn’t done anything to Felix yet.”
“Where to?”
“We’ll try the recycling center first. I’ll drive while you phone Dubois.”
I turned to Nicole. “Can you call a friend?”
She nodded. “My next-door neighbor.”
“Go and stay with her at once. Your husband may come back and you don’t want to be here when he does.”
Sam and I dashed out of the house, down the long flight of steps. Felix must have taken quite a tumble if he’d fallen all that way.
*
Dubois answered on the first ring.
I cut through his morning pleasantries. “Dubois, we’ve found your murderer.”
“Madame Fer-de-Lance is not going to be pleased with what she calls your meddling. I’ll be in trouble for not discouraging you.”
I tapped my phone on my knee while I strove to keep my cool. “Dubois, do you want to know who it is or not?”
“Of course, I do.”
“Jules Déchet. And he’s kidnapped my friend Felix, beaten him up. We think Déchet’s taken him to the recycling center. Can you meet us there with your men? We may be too late for Felix but we have to try.”
“You think he’s going to hurt your friend?”
I sighed at her Dubois’s thickheadedness. “Of course. Why else would he take him? Felix is a witness to Tidot’s confession to his wife.”
“Very well, Madame Munro. You’d better be right. Madame Fer-de-Lance will have my job if I’ve squandered resources for nothing.”
I counted up to ten. “Dubois, just do your duty as a policeman. Please.”
I ended the call and put my phone back in my pocket.
“Well?” asked Sam taking his eyes off the road to scan my face. “Is he coming?”
“He says he is. Let’s hope we’ve picked the right place.”
*
As we drove up to the gates of the center a workman was opening them. Nine o’clock, the start of the day’s business. We carried on through and up to the office where we found Déchet’s car parked outside. So, he was still here. But where was Felix? As soon as Sam switched off the engine I jumped out of the car and ran over to Déchet’s vehicle. I cast the open lock spell and lifted up the lid of the trunk. No Felix.
I looked round the huge steampunk site in panic. It would take us hours to search everywhere. All the plant and machinery, gigantic metal containers, piles of barbed wire, heaps of oil drums, cars waiting for crushing, mountains of tires. And the noise coming from two giant machines already in motion cut out all chance of being heard.
“What can we do? Where can we start?” I asked Sam.
“He might not even be alive, Penzi. You must prepare yourself for that.”
“If he’s not, I shall tear Déchet limb from limb and leave him for the buzzards.”
“Do we start looking or wait for Dubois and his men?”
“Start. Every second counts. How do we know Déchet isn’t about to crush him to death in one of those huge compacting machines?”
Sam raised his hands asking where?
An idea struck me. Sometimes I could be so stupid.
“The office. All those monitors Déchet uses to keep an eye on the site. I’ll look at those and find Felix that way.”
“Penzi, Déchet’s not going to let you in his office. He’ll probably attack you, too.”
We both looked towards the office where we could see Déchet sitting at his desk with his back to us. His attention was focused on the screens in front of him.
There was only one thing to do. “I’ll go invisible,” I said. “And creep into the office.”
“You can do that?” asked Sam looking at me as if I’d stepped off the moon.
I tutted. “Sam, you know I’m a witch. It’s one of the spells I’ve learned. Don’t be frightened when I disappear. And if Dubois arrives before I materialize again, tell him everything. Now turn your back.”
I cast the spell. To check it had worked I walked around to stand in front of Sam and waved my hands in his face. He didn’t react, so I was good to go. I ran across to the office, slipped through the door and took up station next to Déchet. The bank of screens showed the whole site. I began at the one on the top left and worked slowly along the row. It took me a few minutes to accustom my brain to deciphering the grainy images. Nothing in the top row. Nor the second. Three along on the third row showed the inside of an enormous container. A crane with a huge weight attached to it stood alongside. As I watched, it dropped the weight down into the container. I could hear the crash from where I stood in the office.
In the far corner something moved. Something larger than what I could now discern were beer cans. I strained my eyes to make out the image. I glanced at Déchet. His eyes were fixed on the screen as he operated the crusher by remote control. I looked back at the image. It was blurry but the next time it moved I could see it was a man. Felix. About to be squashed to death in a sea of beer cans.
What could I do? Déchet had his hand on the controls. I
wasn’t strong enough to overpower the brute. Dubois hadn’t arrived. Sam? Too far away and no match for Déchet. Magic? I searched through my meager repertoire of spells. Then it hit me — the freeze spell.
I had so much adrenalin flooding through me I couldn’t think straight. I fluffed my first attempt. I looked back at the screen as the weight descended with a mighty wallop pinning Felix in the corner. Its next descent would be the end of Felix, the only person in my life who ever looked after me one hundred per cent. I had to concentrate. Felix’s life depended on my getting the spell right.
I stared at Déchet and concentrated every cell of my mind and body on stopping him from guiding the weight across to Felix. I breathed in deeply and cast the freeze spell again. It worked. Déchet froze with his hand on the controls. I glanced at the screen. The weight swung on the shortened chain directly above Felix ready to plunge when the brake was released. What if the brake couldn’t hold it? There was no time to lose.
I ran as fast as I could to fetch Sam calling out to him as I ran. He looked my way trying to judge where I was and he jumped when I grabbed hold of his arm.
“Quick. We have to rescue Felix. I’ve stopped the machine, but it’s hanging perilously above Felix and the chain could release the weight at any moment.”
Sam looked at me as if I was talking Chinese. Of course, he hadn’t seen the screen.
I clicked my fingers to release the invisible spell, making Sam take a step back as I reappeared right in front of him.
“Come on, Sam. We have to get the ladder.”
I started running off towards the raised platform we had used to deliver our junk into the appropriate bins. Déchet had been using it to sort out the stuff in the bottom of one of the bins when we arrived on our first visit to the center. We ran up the slope past the cars queuing up to deposit their junk and along the platform to the end where we found the ladder hooked onto the side of the last bin, the one Felix was in. The bin had been roped off against the public for the duration of the crushing process. We unhooked the ladder and carried it over to the side of the bin. I had no idea how long the freeze spell would last. We had never had to rely on it for more than a couple of minutes before. As we reached the top of the bin, we could now hear Felix shouting for help.
“We’ve got you, Felix. It’s Penzi. Hang on,” I shouted back.
Sam and I angled the heavy ladder over the brim of the bin and began to slide it down over the inside. A rattle and whirring started up above us. I looked up to see the weight travelling to the apex of its journey ready to plummet down. Déchet had broken through the freeze spell.
“Hurry, Penzi,” Felix called up.
We had to ease the ladder down slowly. If it got away from us and fell into the bin, Felix would never be able to lift it on his own before Déchet dropped the weight.
“Do you hear that?” asked Sam as the foot of the ladder dinged against the cans. “Police sirens.”
“Hold the top steady,” Felix called up as he launched himself at it even before it was anchored.
He scrambled up and clambered over the side to fall on the platform gasping with relief just as the weight fell and crushed the cans where he’d been standing seconds before.
Felix grinned at me. “Wow, Penzi. You certainly believe in leaving things till the last minute.”
Sam pulled Felix to his feet. I threw myself at my precious bodyguard wrapping him in a hug.
He laughed and hugged me back. “Whoa, let me breathe, will you?”
Sam moved in to hug us both. We broke apart as Dubois arrived with a posse of his men.
“Are you all right, Madame Munro?” he asked me. “I believe you’re crying?”
Crying? Me? Never. Not tough Mpenzi Munro. But I was. I wiped my tears away laughing at the same time.
“Dubois, I thought I’d lost him, lost my best friend,” I said keeping a tight hold of Felix’s hand.
Dubois raised his eyebrows and whispered at me, “Only your friend?”
What is it with men?
I dismissed his question with a shrug. I was about to ask about Déchet but I could see another posse of Dubois’s men in the distance leading a struggling Déchet in handcuffs out of his office.
“So, you have your murderer, Dubois,” I said. “And all thanks to my friend, Felix.”
“Correction, we have Déchet for the attempted murder of your friend, but we do not have enough to charge him with the murder of Tidot.”
“But you have a motive now. Surely you can prove means and opportunity?”
“Time will tell. We’ll begin inquiries immediately. Fortunately, thanks to you and Felix we can keep him in a cell for the attempted murder charge while we make inquiries to incriminate him in the murder of Tidot.”
Felix jerked my hand. “I hate to break up this discussion, but I could do with a bath and a square meal.”
Dubois patted Felix on the back. “Of course. We’ll talk tomorrow.”
Dubois signaled his men to leave. We hung back giving the gendarmes time to pile into their French navy colored vans and drive away taking Déchet to his police cell.
*
Sam drove us home. I asked him to liaise with Gwinny about picking up her car from the Déchets’ house.
“That reminds me,” I said taking my phone out.
I called Nicole Déchet and told her Déchet had been arrested on suspicion of the attempted murder of Felix.
“He’ll be in a cell at the gendarmerie if you want to find out what further action the police are taking. I suggest you don’t go home until you have checked.”
And I rang off.
“You didn’t tell her the police are pursuing inquiries into his alleged murder of Tidot?” Felix asked.
“No, she’ll find out soon enough and I’m sure it won’t come as a surprise.”
“Speaking of Déchet’s alleged murder of Tidot, I’m not happy leaving it to Dubois and his lackeys to find proof of means and opportunity. Although we’ve handed them a plausible motive — that Tidot killed his rival for his wife’s affections and sexual favors — we can’t rely on them.”
Sam glanced in the mirror at Felix. “What do you think you can do that police can’t do with all their resources?”
Felix shrugged. “Use some lateral thinking.”
I was glad Felix left it there. Sam didn’t need to know about Felix’s hacking abilities.
“We’ll discuss it further when we reach home, Felix,” I said before he was provoked into indiscretion.
Chapter 36
As soon as we entered the house Felix dashed upstairs pulling me after him.
“I need a shower and a shave,” he said. “But I can talk to you while I shower. We must be quick. We don’t want Déchet let out on bail for the attempted murder charge because Dubois hasn’t found the evidence against him for Tidot’s murder.”
I waited in the corridor while Felix undressed. He opened the door to me dressed in a towel and strode off to his bathroom, ducking into the shower and dropping the towel on the floor outside the smoked glass panels.
That gave me time to consider our options. About the murder I mean.
When Felix called out, “Any ideas, Penzi?” I told him what had occurred to me.
“We need to prove he was in the vicinity of the bakery after dark on Saturday night and that he could gain access.”
“If he had used the back door, the cats would have seen him, so it must have been the front door. Either he took Nicole’s keys after she’d returned home and fallen asleep, or—”
“He had a duplicate made some time earlier. He could have borrowed her key on her day off.”
“So as soon as we’ve had some lunch — I’m hungry by the way — we can check out all the key cutters in Beaucoup-sur-mer.”
“What about CCTV in the street?”
“Good idea. We’ll check that out afterwards.”
A search on line gave us four businesses involved in the cutting of duplicate keys, one o
f which was in the largest shopping mall in Beaucoup-sur-mer, Le Marché des Sables.
“Let’s take that one first. He could have thought there would be safety in numbers,” said Felix.
“We’ll need a photo of him because I doubt if he used his real name.”
“No problem. Give me a few minutes and I’ll hack into the driving permit records and download his photo.”
*
We made a detour to the house of Nicole Déchet’s neighbor to ask Nicole for her key to the bakery. Felix had reminded me we would probably need the make and number. We asked her if it was possible for her husband to have borrowed her key when she was off duty. She said she never looked at her keys from the time she threw them down when she entered the house until she left again, so yes, it was possible.
The shopkeeper at the key kiosk did not recognize Déchet from the photo. “But,” he said. “I’m not always here. I have an assistant who comes in on alternate days. Leave me a copy of the photo and the details of the key and I’ll see what we can find out.”
On we went to the other three key cutters but without success. It looked as if Déchet could have gone further afield than our little town and that would mean no speedy resolution to our quest.
We decided to move onto the CCTV footage if there was any.
Only one shop in the street used CCTV cameras, one of the many souvenir shops in the town.
We explained we were working on a commission from the mayor, Monsieur Bonhomie.
“Do you mind if I phone him to check?” the owner asked.
“No, please do.” I said.
He walked aside and made his call. He nodded his head several times. Closed off the call and returned to us.
“Sorry about that but yours is the second inquiry today,” the owner said. “The gendarmes were around here about an hour ago asking for my footage.”
“Did you give it to them?” asked Felix.
“I had no choice.”
“Oh dear, they’re not generous about sharing their information,” I said feeling a deep disappointment that Dubois might beat us to the evidence.
