The Complete Maggie Newberry Provençal Mysteries 1-4

by Susan Kiernan-Lewis

  She hurried to the front gate of the cemetery and shivered against the harsh wind. Graveyards, typically, didn’t unnerve her. Never had. She had been a boring victim on Halloweens in the past. To her, if a thing was dead, it stayed dead and that was the end of it. There had never been a question of a thing being maybe dead, or dead right now but perhaps in some fashion not dead later. Her sister, Elise, had always seen it as a lack of imagination that Maggie couldn’t be terrorized by the thought of ghosts and goblins.

  Even to a nonbeliever, however, the St-Buvard cemetery looked very unwelcoming tonight. The gravestones and obelisks jerked out of the hard ground like frozen screams. Maggie tugged at the rusting gate, then jumped at the sound of its unwilling screech as it moved in her hand. She directed the flashlight beam into the middle of the graveyard until she found Mireille Alexandre’s grave. She couldn’t read the inscription from where she stood, but she knew what it said: Beloved wife and mother, 1900-l930. Funny, she never heard how Mireille died, Maggie thought, frowning as she moved the light over to some of the surrounding gravestones. Mireille had died five years before her husband took up with Mrs. Fitzpatrick, so it wasn’t like Patrick had been running around on her or anything. But dying at thirty years old was dying young, even in those days.

  The wind picked up a muffled noise and tossed it into the graveyard. Maggie couldn’t make out the origin of the noise, but she turned in the direction of it. It sounded like a soft moaning, the kind of sound the wind makes between the shutters of an abandoned house. Irrationally, an image of Gaston Lasalle came to Maggie’s mind as she turned off her flashlight and stood silently by the gate, listening. She strained to hear anything on the wind besides the sound of dead leaves rustling and scuttling across the stonehard ground. Nothing. She snapped the flashlight back on and jogged in place for a minute to warm up, but this made the beam bounce uselessly, creating an eerie strobe light effect against the large sycamore trees overhead.

  It was then, while her unstable light jerked, that she saw it. Positioned outside the high stone walls of the cemetery, she could see the tip of a large, almost neon-white gravestone. Maggie backed out of the graveyard and ran through the gate to the other side where the gravestone stood. She approached slowly and shone her flashlight on the lone grave, planted well outside the sanctity of the churchyard.

  It was Patrick Alexandre’s headstone.

  The carved inscription read simply, Patrick Alexandre, 1900-1947. The grave was crude, inexpensive and crumbling, yet a fresh bouquet of white carnations lay against the stone. Someone still cared.

  Maggie stared at the grave, trying to understand what it meant. Why was it not inside the village churchyard? Why was it not positioned next to Mireille’s grave? What was this, a sort of banishment after death? The ultimate eff-you, française-style? As she was about to turn away, Maggie saw the second grave. Smaller, and positioned slightly behind Patrick’s, as if to share his banishment.

  Excited, Maggie moved closer to focus the beam of her flashlight on the grave’s brief inscription. Suddenly, she heard the eerie sound again. This time, it was very near. Maggie snapped off her light and listened, her heart beginning to beat faster. More growl than moan, the noise seemed to come up at Maggie from the pits of the grave itself.

  Chapter Fifteen

  1

  The dog sprang at her with a strength that brought her down hard to the ground. She grabbed its fur and held it at arm’s length, her forearms shaking violently with the effort. The slathering jaws and angry, yellow eyes thrust near her face.

  Then, for no obvious reason, the dog wrenched itself away and stood over her, panting and dreadful, its coat still raised in aggression and threat. Maggie covered her face and rolled away from the dog, trying to scramble to her feet. An arm reached out to help her. The voice she heard was unintelligible. Maggie allowed the stranger to pull her to her feet.

  2

  He was small, no taller that her own five foot five inches. With thinning, brown hair and light blue eyes, his lips were full and pink, making Maggie think, irrationally, of Gaston or one of his gypsy brothers. But this man’s eyes were not dull and confused. They were lively and intelligent. He was dressed all in black save for the bright ring of white of his clerical collar.

  Maggie had finally stopped shaking and now sat, pale as a corpse, in Father Bardot’s tiny, rectory living room. Hidden from view to passersby on the road, the small stone house was ill-lighted and cold, in spite of the small woodstove in the center of the room. Maggie held a chipped mug of strong coffee between her hands. The priest had even come up with some brandy. His dog, seemingly forgiving of her trespass, waited patiently outside the rectory door.

  The young French priest, who had spent two years in Kalamazoo, Michigan, spoke English well.

  “You are feeling better now, Madame?” the priest leaned forward towards Maggie and peered into her face as if to inspect her coloring.

  Maggie nodded. “What the...kind of dog is that?” she asked, barely escaping swearing in her benefactor’s living room.

  Father Bardot smiled. “A good dog,” he said. “A protective friend.”

  “I’ll say.” Maggie dabbed at her pant leg where she’d spilled a drop of coffee. “I thought he was something from beyond the grave. Did you teach him to go lurking about the headstones like that? Very effective, Father.”

  The priest smiled again but said nothing. His own coffee rested on the small wooden side table beside his chair.

  Maggie glanced at her watch and was shocked to realize that it was nearly eleven. Far from being curious about her whereabouts, Laurent would be apoplectic with worry. She finished off her coffee with a long draught and set the cup down.

  “I’d better go,” she said. “You must be frantic with preparations for Christmas.” Although, she had to admit, he didn’t look frantic. He looked relaxed and remarkably unperturbed. “Will there be a big Mass tomorrow night?” she asked. “Christmas Eve and all?”

  “Oh, absolutely,” he said happily. “As always, n’est-ce pas? You and the Monsieur will come, perhaps?”

  “I’d like that,” Maggie said, getting to her feet. “Do you get much of a turnout?”

  He laughed. “It is the only time most of them do come,” he said. “The rest of the year...” He shrugged good-naturedly.

  She smiled in commiseration, while feeling a complete fraud. She hadn’t been to church since last Christmas Eve in Atlanta.

  He stood up with Maggie. “Pedro will not bother you,” he said, gesturing towards the door.

  Maggie turned to face him. “Listen, I’m sorry about tromping about your yards so late at night. I didn’t know anybody lived here.”

  “Cela ne fait rien,” he said pleasantly. It doesn’t matter. His eyes looked into hers kindly, and Maggie found herself liking the man very much.

  “Could I ask you one question?”

  “A question?” He stood, still holding her flashlight, looking a little like a usher at a movie house, Maggie thought.

  “Why is Patrick Alexandre’s grave not buried with the others? Why is he outside the walls of the cemetery?”

  “Ah....” Father Bardot’s pleasant face opened up in an expression of understanding and bemusement. “The Church will not allow suicides to be buried on consecrated ground, Madame.” He shrugged, as if the rule was nothing to be seriously unhappy about.

  “Suicide?” Maggie was surprised. She’d been told that Patrick had died in prison but no one had mentioned suicide.

  “Oui, Maggie,” the priest said. “By his own hand, yes?”

  “And the grave next to Patrick’s? I couldn’t read the inscription before Pedro tried to take my face off...”

  Father Bardot looked puzzled and directed his gaze in the direction of the graveyard.

  “Do you know which one I mean? It’s smaller and positioned right behind, and sort of next to Patrick’s.”

  “Ah! Louise’s grave, I believe.”

  “Louise?”


  “A dear friend of Monsieur Alexandre’s, I am told.”

  “You don’t know for sure?” she asked.

  “It was many years ago. Before my time.”

  “Well, why is she buried outside the graveyard? Did she kill herself too?”

  “Maggie, I believe Louise was a beloved hunting dog of Monsieur Alexandre’s. It is not unusual,” he continued, “and the Church would certainly not allow the animal to be buried in consecrated ground.”

  “No, I can see that.”

  “Have I answered all your questions?”

  “Thank you, mon Père. You’ve been a big help.” Maggie shook the young priest’s hand. “We’ll come, Father,” she said. “For Christmas Mass. And do you think I could come back now and then? Your English is so good and I’d really like that.”

  Obviously pleased with the praise and the idea, Father Bardot beamed back at Maggie and nodded.

  “Je vous en prie, Maggie,” he said, his handsome blue eyes sparkling in the dim light. You are very welcome.

  3

  “You are running...parcourir...all everywhere and speaking with the gypsies and the time is going and going. Cinq minutes, Maggie! And I was calling les gendarmes, comprends-tu? Five minutes more.”

  “Laurent, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to get attacked by a crazed dog. It took up more time than I―”

  “Don’t be sarcastique! I have been with worry and thinking you are in the ditch now. I am very angry with you, Maggie. Very, very angry.”

  Laurent stood in the center of the living room, his arms crossed in front of his barrel chest like a cartoon figure. She sat on the couch in front of him, her legs pulled under her, little Petit-Four curled up in her lap, licking her hand.

  “Look, Laurent, I’m sorry, I―”

  “And the gypsies!” Laurent looked at her in horror and incredulity. “Do you know what the gypsies do?”

  “I’ve heard stories...”

  “You have heard nothing!” Laurent turned to the cold fireplace and kicked at a crumbling remnant of log. “They are dangereux. Une peuple diabolique.”

  A few days earlier and Laurent himself would have called that racist, Maggie knew. Wisely, she did not mention this to him now.

  “I’m sorry, Laurent, I―”

  “Bof!” He kept his back to her, comfortable in his anger and not ready to be appeased. It had been a long evening of worry.

  Guessing correctly that the timing was not good for revealing her evening’s worth of investigative work, Maggie set down the little dog and moved toward Laurent, who was still standing by the fireplace, his back to her.

  “I’m sorry, chéri,” she said, putting her arms around his waist.

  Laurent turned and put his arms around her. Maggie felt the harder squeeze in his hands and cursed herself for her thoughtlessness. Worse than that, because up until the moment when time had really gotten away from her, she’d actually harvested a small desire to make him worry a little about her.

  “Let me prostrate myself at your feet, O forgiving one.”

  “It would be a good start,” he admitted, the tension already leaving his hands as he held her.

  “In fact,” she said, “let me prostrate you, big fella.”

  “Perhaps I could grow to forgive you,” he said. Then, scooping her up into his arms, he kissed her. “In time, of course.” She laughed as he carried her upstairs.

  An hour later, Maggie sat in their rumpled bed picking at a wedge of blue cheese and eating a juicy pear. She fed bits of the cheese to a polite but subtly begging Petit-Four.

  “It is a bad habit, this feeding the dog,” Laurent said. He lay on his back, an arm thrown over his face, his eyes closed. It always filled her with a touch of awe for him when he demonstrated some of his ability to see without appearing to see.

  “I’ll get right to work on breaking it,” Maggie said, offering the animal a crust of bread. “And what did you do today?” she asked, without looking at him.

  “Bernard was formally charged this afternoon,” he said.

  Maggie wiped her fingers on a cloth napkin and turned to look at Laurent.

  “Oh, Laurent,” she said.

  Laurent sighed and sat up in bed. She snuggled under his arm and he kissed the top of her dark head.

  “They’re moving him to outside Paris,” he said. “There is a prison there.”

  “Poor Bernard,” Maggie murmured.

  “Eduard has volunteered to testify against his brother.”

  “What? Eduard Marceau? He did?”

  Laurent nodded. “He said he heard Bernard threaten Connor with his life.” Laurent looked at Maggie. “Eduard is helping to convict his brother.”

  4

  The tall sycamore trees loomed over Maggie’s café table. The bases of the trees were bricked into the cement-blocked terrace, causing the tile pattern of the café floor to buckle wildly in spots, although the waiters stepped over and around each one so nimbly that it was clear the irregularities were as familiar to them as the floor of their own living rooms.

  Maggie glanced at her watch. Grace was nearly twenty minutes late. This morning sickness must be diabolical, Maggie decided, nodding at the waiter to bring her the check. Grace didn’t easily pass up a morning out of the house. Maggie settled back into her seat, enjoying the heat of the sun on her face. The weather was always cold now but the southern sun allowed a few hours of comfort in the morning when one could take one’s petit-déjeuner on the terrace. Maggie cupped her hands around her bowl of café crème to feel its warmth.

  “Madame Dernier?”

  Maggie looked up and blinked into the sun. Madame Dulcie, the butcher’s wife, stood in front of her, a heavy shopping bag in one hand, an outlandishly outdated black purse with a long loopy handle tucked under her other forearm.

  “Madame Dulcie,” Maggie said brightly. “Joyeux Noël.”

  “Joyeux Noël,” the older woman responded, heaving her shopping bag onto one of the empty chairs at Maggie’s table. “Madame does not breakfast at home this morning?” Madame Dulcie twisted the wrist of her lightly frayed cardigan to check her watch, as if to decide if it could possibly be considered still morning.

  “Uh, no,” Maggie said, wondering why she was beginning to feel guilty, as she sat in front of a cooling café au lait bowl with the crumbs of her pain-beurre still evident on the table of this Christmas Eve morning. “You are going shopping, Madame?” she asked, hoping to distract the nosy old dear.

  Madame Dulcie looked at her as if shocked. “I am been shopping,” she corrected.

  Naturally, Maggie thought to herself. It’s nearly eleven. She’s probably done all the family shopping, delivered Christmas baskets to the poor, and had a goose browning in the oven all morning.

  The waiter approached and tucked Maggie’s bill under a small saucer. On impulse, Maggie detained him. She turned to Madame Dulcie. “Do you have time for a Christmas café this morning?” she asked.

  Surprised and obviously delighted, Madame Dulcie turned to the waiter and stuck out two fingers.

  “Deux cafés,” she said.

  It was true, Maggie decided as she sipped her fourth cup of coffee of the morning. The light was different here in the South of France. It was bright and illuminating―oddly so, for this time of year―but it wasn’t so bright it hurt the eyes. Maggie looked at the surrounding planton trees, their pale trunks looking like they had been tossed with bits of yellow and bone-white confetti. How very impressionistic, she mused.

  “And so you spoke to the gypsy, n’est-ce pas?” Madame Dulcie asked.

  Maggie was dragged back to her conversation. “Yes,” she said. “She seemed very nice but it was all in French so until I get the tape I made of her translated, I’m not sure what she said.”

  Madame Dulcie grimaced.

  She sure doesn’t care for gypsies, Maggie noted for a second time.

  Madame Dulcie took a long sip from her demitasse. She had explained to Maggie that, in
France, one doesn’t drink café créme once breakfast is over. And breakfast, she made it clear, was long, stone-cold over.

  “I am sure the old woman’s story will be lies,” she said, raking the last of Maggie’s breakfast crumbs onto the stone floor of the outdoor café. “You will not hear the truth from her.”

  “Do you know the truth?” Maggie asked, hoping it didn’t sound too challenging.

  “I lived it, n’est-ce pas?” Madame Dulcie narrowed her eyes and focused on Maggie. “I was a young girl when it happened.”

  “Yes, well, what exactly did happen, Madame Dulcie?” Maggie wrapped her blue-jean jacket tighter around her, sorry she hadn’t worn her wool cigarette coat. The morning sun was definitely on the wane. “I mean, I think I know the facts of the case? But I don’t really know much about the people involved. Did you know Patrick Alexandre personally?”

  The visible effect of the question on the butcher’s wife was dramatic. The hard lines of her face softened, the unforgiving twist to her mouth disappeared. It was a transformation that Maggie wouldn’t have believed if she hadn’t seen it for herself.

  “Patrick Alexandre was our hero,” Madame Dulcie said. She looked at Maggie and shook her head. “I am not just talking about his work in la Resistance. That was fine and good. We were proud that he fought the Nazis, yes?” She gazed over Maggie’s shoulder as if expecting to catch sight of Monsieur Alexandre at any moment. “Everyone loved him,” she said simply.

  “Some more so than others,” Maggie reminded her.

  Madame Dulcie looked at her sharply. “It’s true,” she said. “When Jennifer Fitzpatrick came to St-Buvard, it was as if all the characters of Paris-Match had come to life in postwar France, you know? She was vogue, she was beautiful, she was exotique, you see? I remember the first time I ever saw her. She was sitting in this very café. She was sitting with her husband and they were smoking and drinking wine, and the laughter...” She looked again over Maggie’s shoulder in a hazy, dreamy sort of way. “We had not heard such laughter. A laughter of not caring, you understand?” She looked back at Maggie. “The war had been very hard. For all of us. But Madame Fitzpatrick, she laughed as loudly as the men, she spoke as readily as they. Her French was good. There seemed to be nothing she could not do...and do very easily. And everything she did or said was heard by all.” She smiled at Maggie apologetically. “It is a small village, you understand,” she said.