Death in Saint-Chartier

by Ivo Fornesa

  ‘No, thanks, it’s a bit early for me, Monsieur Jablard,’ answered Laurent. He wasn’t at all thrilled to see the lawyer.

  ‘You’re quite right, it’s still early, but it’s hard to find whiskey like this in France. Carlos had it brought over from his ancestors’ village, in north-western Ireland, and believe me, it’s worth a morning tipple. Madame Shennan, who knows my weaknesses, told me to help myself before running off to attend to a small domestic matter. She’ll be right here, and asked me to tell you to make yourself at home.’

  ‘I suppose if Madame asked you to come, it’s to discuss the inheritance? If she wants to retract the offer I’d understand, and wouldn’t feel offended in the least,’ Laurent took the opportunity to say.

  ‘Your attitude does you honour, Monsieur, but that’s not what it’s about. I think Madame has found a solution for you that you’ll find very appealing. Before she gets here, let me sit down and get you caught up. Now, what I’m about to tell you,’ he said, taking a seat in the chair across from Laurent, ‘is confidential, and I’m only explaining this because you’re an interested party, and because you’d find out in a moment anyway from Monsieur Shennan’s widow, who was never in favour of this medieval caprice of her husband’s, as you well know. And now, as you can imagine, it’s not just a place she dislikes, it’s the place where her husband died under such peculiar circumstances. So you won’t be surprised to learn that she feels positively repulsed by it.’

  Laurent didn’t much like the direction the conversation was taking, but he couldn’t deny he wanted to know where it would lead.

  ‘I’m sorry she’s not comfortable in Saint-Chartier, but I understand perfectly,’ he said. ‘What does Madame Shennan plan to do, if I may ask?’

  The lawyer had the irritating habit of playing with his glass, which he had now placed on his belly.

  ‘Soon it will no longer be a secret,’ he said. ‘Madame wanted to sell it right away just to get rid of it. But two things have conspired against her: in the first place, the extent of her late husband’s investment in the château makes it very difficult to sell at market prices; and second, her husband, who was sly as a fox, had foreseen this situation. He arranged his will so that, with the exception of a few minor items and a sum intended for distant relatives, his faithful secretary and various charitable organisations he was a member of, his wife would get most of his property – almost all, in fact. But the château, and when I say the château I mean the estate and everything in it, along with the lands and other houses and farms he owned in the area, was to be inherited in equal shares by his three daughters.

  ‘Madame Shennan has usufructuary rights to the château, and as the girls’ guardian, she’s responsible for maintaining it with the rents from the inheritance she receives in their name. Their daughters, in turn, can’t sell the château until the youngest of the three comes of age, and even then only if they all agree. Should any of them wish to hold onto the property, they have the right to buy out the other shares – but only at the price their father has indicated in a sealed envelope kept by the town notary, whatever that may be, which can’t be modified. As you can see, Shennan knew human nature quite well, and was furthermore possessed of a peculiar sense of humour. I bet you’re curious about that price in that envelope, as am I, but I can guarantee that none of the daughters will ever dare open it. If Shennan wanted to ensure the château remained in his family line, he’s succeeded, at least for a generation.’

  Laurent looked at the bar cart. ‘It’s early, but hearing all this I feel like Carlos Shennan is practically here with us, smoking a cigar and laughing at his own will. I’m going to get myself a drink like yours.’ And, pouring the amber nectar into his glass, he asked, ‘And until the girls come of age, what does Madame intend to do with the château, if she has no interest in living here?’

  ‘Madame Mayumi is a woman of rare resources and intelligence,’ replied Jablard, ‘and I think that, when it comes down to it, she can be much more ruthless than her husband. With all due respect to Monsieur Shennan, since she won’t waste all the time and money her husband devoted to pursuing the fairer sex, I daresay she’ll be much more efficient. I don’t know how she did it, but within a week the estate will become a high-end Château Relais establishment run by a hotel chain belonging to one of those exasperating recent multimillionaires from Russia. The château has been rented out with all its decorations and fittings – even the sheets and towels will stay where they are. After all, it meets the highest standards of hotel quality, and everything is already embroidered or engraved with the emblem of the château, so for the Russians the deal couldn’t be easier.

  ‘Madame has persuaded them that the location is ideal, and in addition to obtaining a very lucrative annual rent, she’s managed to have them undertake the maintenance, with a comprehensive insurance policy covering everything, down to the tiniest salt cellar. With her perseverance, and with Xiao Li’s help, she’s inventoried and photographed each object. The icing on the cake is that the rent is guaranteed for twenty years, with draconian penalties should the Russians withdraw before the end of the contract. I can tell you, Monsieur, I wouldn’t want to have to negotiate my fees with her. Luckily Shennan thought well of me and Madame seems willing to continue with my services. And part of that whole caboodle is your inheritance, which is what Madame wants to speak to you about.’

  Just then, as though she’d been listening in on them and knew the moment to make her star entrance had arrived, she walked into the room with her ineffable elegance. Laurent found her somewhat thinner, with more wrinkles around the eyes, no doubt because combing through the tangle of Shennan’s businesses was like untying a titanium Gordian knot.

  Madame Mayumi offered him her hand, and Laurent took it and raised it to his lips, which brought a smile to her face.

  ‘I’d almost forgotten your gallantry, Monsieur de Rodergues. In the world I move about in now, if someone brought my hand to their lips I’d fear they were trying to rob me of a ring, or bite me. You’d be a smash in my country.’ With a good-natured smile she turned toward Jablard.

  ‘And you would too, my dear, if you were a few years younger and had a better haircut. Please, sit down, both of you.’ She looked at them for a moment, and when she realised they were drinking, said, ‘Remind me later, before you go, to have all the Irish whiskey left in the house sent to you two. As I imagine you’re aware, Monsieur Laurent, we’re soon going to rent out this château to some Russians who will turn it into a hotel, but in the inventory we’ve provided them we only counted the wine, not the spirits. If I’m not mistaken, we still have four cases of that whiskey, and I hope you’ll do me the honour of accepting two cases each, on the condition that you raise a glass to Carlos once in a while. I’m sure he would have liked that.’

  ‘From the bottom of my heart, I thank you for this undeserved gift,’ said the lawyer, overjoyed by this unexpected present. ‘And believe me, Madame, if this whiskey belonged to me and I were up in heaven, I’d like nothing more than to look down and see it being enjoyed by people who can appreciate it.’

  ‘Carlos, in heaven?’ The widow gave a laugh. ‘You must be joking, Jablard. That’s the last place I’d look for him. But it’s very kind of you to say, I appreciate that. Now, on to the matter at hand: the collection of equestrian gear for Monsieur de Rodergues, who I assume is aware of what will become of the château.’ When the lawyer nodded, Madame Mayumi turned to Laurent. ‘Monsieur Jablard told me you were reluctant to accept what Carlos left you, so I’ve found a possible solution that requires only that you accept it.’

  ‘Madame, I am honoured by the gift,’ said Laurent with humility, ‘but I’m familiar with Carlos’s collection, which is enormous, and as you know, the vicarage where I live isn’t large enough to store hardly any of it. If you don’t mind, I’d prefer to choose a few saddles and tack. With that I’d be quite satisfied.’

  Madame Mayumi shook her head. ‘Under no circumstances. I re
alise you’re unable to store it all in your home, but it’s a marvellous collection, and it wouldn’t be right to break it up, so I took the liberty of telling the tenants you’d be willing to lease it to them for five thousand euros a year, plus the right to use the saddles, stirrups and whatever else you need, whenever you like. They readily agreed, and I think it’s a good solution. The collection is together, you’re still the owner, and owning it will provide you money to cover your taxes, fuel and then some. What’s more, you’ll be able to use any pieces you wish, and there’s no better place to display them than where Carlos put them. No matter how you look at it, Laurent, you can’t deny it’s a good deal.’

  He put his hands up and accepted defeat. ‘I surrender. You’re right, and the solution you’ve found would make Salomon look like an apprentice by comparison. Now I understand why Monsieur Jablard says he’s afraid to negotiate with you.’

  ‘Is that what he says? Well, Monsieur Jablard, don’t give me any ideas. So, as you can see, Monsieur de Rodergues has agreed to my proposal, so please make it official in the documents you’re drawing up. And don’t worry, I won’t forget my promise about the whiskey.’ The lawyer came over to kiss her hand, copying Laurent’s gesture, and as Laurent had gotten up to say goodbye, shook his hand as well.

  As Jablard headed to the door, Madame Mayumi pressed a button, and a few seconds later Tum appeared, every bit as pretty as Laurent remembered, but a bit glum, perhaps for the same reasons Yammei had mentioned.

  ‘Tum, see Monsieur Jablard out, and tell Yammei to bring me a hibiscus tea. Monsieur de Rodergues, I don’t suppose you want another, do you?’

  Tum turned to Laurent. ‘Good morning, Monsieur de Rodergues. The girls would very much like to see you. Madame, they asked permission to take him to their game room.’

  ‘Yes, of course, but don’t keep Monsieur Jablard waiting. Go on, off with you,’ said Madame.

  Once Tum had left, Laurent turned to Madame Mayumi.

  ‘I’ve always been intrigued by that girl’s story. She’s exceptionally pretty, but every time I see her she gives the impression her soul is pierced by sorrow, despite the fact that you treat her practically like a daughter.’

  That remark caught Madame off guard. It was the first time since he’d known her that she was slow to react.

  ‘What can I say, Laurent? I love her and I’ve cared for her like a daughter. She came to me, or I to her, when she was only thirteen. Her story is very sad, but if sadness were a plant, for some decades now it would be the most widely grown plant in Burma.’

  Just then Yammei arrived, serving the tea in a delicate tea set of Chinese porcelain, white on the inside and flamboyantly red on the outside, with a golden dragon at the bottom of the cup that went remarkably well with the reddish hue of the tea. Madame noticed Laurent looking at the set.

  ‘Westerners never seem to understand that tea isn’t just for drinking. It’s a way of reflection that should inspire and feed all the senses,’ she remarked. Then she began to tell him the story of Tum. ‘As I suppose you know, my husband’s business involved constant dealings with military regimes in many countries about which he didn’t speak and I didn’t ask. Before we had the girls, sometimes I’d go with him on his trips to Burma, because I’d heard stories about the country from my grandfather, who served there in the war, and it had always intrigued me. On one of those trips, while Carlos was working, his clients arranged for me to have a tour of the country, with a translator and an escort. They took me to several places – Mandalay, Bagan and other names I’d now have to make an effort to recall.

  ‘Burma is a beautiful country with wonderful handicrafts. I was interested in antiques, especially household shrines and chests, but more than anything I wanted to get an antique court dress, because their embroidered fabrics have a richness and exuberance that’s hard to describe. One of the driver’s contacts gave us an address north of Mandalay, and we went there in spite of the danger – because, as you know, alongside the ruling military junta, and the disorder everywhere, Burma is full of different ethnicities, and at least five of them are at war with the central government, which also has to fight against various drug-running clans, typically led by Chinese descendants of the Kuomintang.

  ‘When we reached the village, we came upon a group of people arguing. One of them was a Spanish or Italian nun shouting at the top of her lungs at a tiny but dangerous-looking man who was holding a girl by the wrist. The girl couldn’t stop crying. I was upset by the scene, and I asked the translator to explain what was going on. It turned out that the nun came from a congregation that ran a dress-making workshop in the town, open to people of any ethnicity or religion, that sought to give girls and women a trade, so they wouldn’t fall into the sex trafficking networks that ran the area. Sex is a business: everyone’s involved, with the blessing of the junta or its local representatives, who profit from it monetarily or otherwise. The girl was an orphan, and the man was a cousin of hers who lived off whoring her out to the nearby rubber plantations. The nun was doing all she could to prevent that monster from taking her away to sell her in the next town.

  ‘I looked at the girl, and she looked at me, and I knew right then that I wouldn’t let him take her. Maybe it was a way to atone for some of the suffering my grandfather no doubt inflicted on the area years ago, I don’t know. But I did know I wasn’t about to let that girl be sold by a “cousin” who treated her worse than a dog. I ordered the translator to tell him my husband was a partner of the junta, and that I wanted to take the girl. I ordered the escort to take out his pistol, and we let that piece of filth know that he had two choices: he could either take one hundred dollars for the girl and disappear, or I’d shoot him in the face. And believe me, I’ve never been so willing to do so.

  ‘There was no more discussion. Vultures like that know when to beat a retreat. Once he’d left, I spoke to the nun, and she herself urged me to take the girl, because if she’d stayed behind, her cousin would have come back for her. My husband had no trouble getting her an appropriate passport, and we took her with us … and she’s been with us ever since. Otherwise Tum would have wound up in a network of paedophilia and prostitution, abused, drugged out of her mind, and then, when she was no longer useful, probably sold off for a snuff film.’ She said this without betraying any of the feelings that did her honour.

  ‘Now I see why she’s so devoted to you, and why she loves the girls so much,’ said Laurent quietly. ‘You saved her, and you’ve given her a life she could never have dreamt of. She must feel an absolute loyalty to you. You can tell.’

  Madame Mayumi remained silent for a moment. ‘Yes, I know she’d give her life for my daughters. And as for her loyalty … well, it’s the least one would expect, but she’s only twenty-three, and at that age, my dear Laurent, one can’t expect anything of anyone.’ She sipped her tea slowly, then sat for a long time staring into her cup. Laurent imagined the dragon moving about in spirals.

  At last she broke her silence, changing topics dramatically.

  ‘From what I hear, you’ve taken up sleuthing since we left. Is it true, the rumour that you were looking for my husband’s potential murderer?’

  Laurent turned beet-red all the way up to his hairline. ‘You heard about that, too? Really, it was just a way to pass the time. And now that you’ve brought it up, I’d like to express my thanks for the testimony you gave on my behalf. I don’t know how I would have made it through that whole mess had you not stood up for me.’

  ‘Laurent, all I did was tell the truth. Given everything you did for me in the hunt for my husband, there was no way you could have been guilty. Sometimes the police can be so simpleminded … but let’s not waste any more time – tell me what you uncovered.’

  Briefly and succinctly, avoiding embellishments and skipping over the less heroic aspects of his investigation, Laurent summarised his process, going through each of the suspects and explaining how he’d gradually ruled them out, until he’d finally accep
ted Tartarin’s theory.

  ‘Bravo, Laurent,’ said Madame Mayumi when he finished. ‘I congratulate you on an impressive job. I also think Lafonnier was correct, though you certainly had every right to investigate on your own. I imagine such excellent mental exercise must have helped you get to know yourself better, and also to make decisions about your own future. From what Yammei has told me, it’s also been beneficial for your love life. I’m happy for you. You’re a good man, and you deserve to be loved.

  ‘And now you must excuse me; I still have some work to do with Xiao Li so that we can leave everything in order for when we hand the place over to the tenants. I’ll have the girls come and get you.’

  ‘Don’t bother, Madame. I know the château well, and you have a small staff. I’ll find my way up to where the girls are.’ He got up and gave a nod to the widow. ‘It was a pleasure seeing you again, and I hope I’ll get a chance to say goodbye before you leave.’

  On his way to the study, which was on the third floor, he ran into Xiao Li, Shennan’s secretary, carrying a stack of files, round glasses bouncing on the end of her nose. She stopped.

  ‘Good morning, Xiao Li. I’m going up to see the girls.’

  ‘You’re not angry with me, Monsieur de Rodergues?’ she enquired.

  ‘No, why should I be?’

  ‘When you discovered the body of Monsieur Shennan, I reacted very badly, and my statement may have led the police to cause trouble for you.’

  ‘Don’t worry,’ he reassured her. ‘Your reaction was perfectly normal, especially given your special relationship to your boss. Don’t give it another thought. Madame Mayumi told me you’ve got a lot to do preparing lists and other things, so you can’t worry about that now.’

  Xiao Li grabbed him by the jacket sleeve to stop him before he could continue on his way. ‘I’m sorry for everything that happened, I truly am. I know you didn’t do it.’