by Fred Vargas
‘Oh, what a dirty war,’ murmured Lucien.
When they reached the house again at about four in the morning, the beech tree had been dug up, Sophia Siméonidis’ body had already been exhumed and taken away. This time the tree had not been replanted.
The three evangelists, worn out, didn’t feel like going to bed. Marc and Mathias, still wrapped in blankets instead of clothes, were sitting on the little wall. Lucien was perched up on the big dustbin opposite them. He was growing fond of it. Vandoosler was smoking a cigarette and walking up and down. It felt warm. At least compared to the well, Marc thought. The chain would leave a scar on his arm in the shape of a coiled snake.
‘It’ll go well with your rings,’ said Lucien.
‘Wrong arm.’
Alexandra came round to say good night. She had not been able to get back to sleep after the police had been to dig up the beech tree. And Leguennec had been round. To give her the piece of basalt. Marc looked at her. He would have been so glad if she could have fallen in love with him. Just like that, to see what happened.
‘Tell me, Mathias,’ he said, ‘when you whispered in her ear to make her talk, what did you say?’
‘Nothing. I just said “Go on, Juliette, talk to them”’.
Marc sighed. ‘I might have guessed there wasn’t any magic trick. It would have been too good to be true.’
Alexandra kissed each of them and went away. She didn’t want to leave her son on his own. Vandoosler followed her slim figure with his eyes as she walked away. Three little dots. The twins, the woman. Shit. He looked down and stamped out his cigarette.
‘You should get some sleep,’ Marc said.
Vandoosler started off towards the house.
‘Does your godfather usually do what you tell him?’ asked Lucien.
‘No, never,’ said Marc. ‘Look, he’s coming back.’
Vandoosler tossed the five-franc piece into the air and caught it. ‘Let’s chuck it away,’ he said. ‘Anyway, we can’t cut it into twelve.’
‘There aren’t twelve of us,’ Marc said. ‘Only four.’
‘Ah, that would be too simple,’ said Vandoosler.
He swung his arm and the coin tinkled to the ground a long way off. Lucien had climbed onto the dustbin to follow its trajectory.
‘Company dismissed!’ he cried.
FRED VARGAS was born in Paris. A historian and archaeologist by profession, she has now become a bestselling and award-winning novelist. She is the author of many novels. Have Mercy on Us All and Seeking Whom He May Devour are available in English.
VINTAGE CANADA EDITION, 2006
Copyright © 1995 Éditions Viviane Hamy, Paris
English translation copyright © 2005 Siân Reynolds
Published by arrangement with Harvill Secker, one of the publishers
in The Random House Group Ltd.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.
Published in Canada by Vintage Canada, a division of Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto. First published in Great Britain by Harvill Secker, a division of The Random House Group Ltd., London, in 2005. First published in France unnder the title Debout les morts by Éditions Viviane Hamy, Paris, in 1995. Distributed by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.
Vintage Canada and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House of Canada Limited.
www.randomhouse.ca
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Vargas, Fred
The three evangelists / Fred Vargas; translated from the French by Siân Reynolds.
Translation of: Debout les morts.
eISBN: 978-0-307-37342-7
I. Reynolds, Siân II. Title.
PQ2682.A697D4313 2006 843’.54 C2005-905091-8
v3.0
Table of Contents
Cover
Other Books By Author
Title Page
Dedication
Chapter I
Chapter II
Chapter III
Chapter IV
Chapter V
Chapter VI
Chapter VII
Chapter VIII
Chapter IX
Chapter X
Chapter XI
Chapter XII
Chapter XIII
Chapter XIV
Chapter XV
Chapter XVI
Chapter XVII
Chapter XVIII
Chapter XIX
Chapter XX
Chapter XXI
Chapter XXII
Chapter XXIII
Chapter XXIV
Chapter XXV
Chapter XXVI
Chapter XXVII
Chapter XXVIII
Chapter XXIX
Chapter XXX
Chapter XXXI
Chapter XXXII
Chapter XXXIII
Chapter XXXIV
About the Author
Copyright
