Rough Cut

by Owen Carey Jones

  As they drove along the road to Sainte Maxime, Carter decided that he should make sure that Philippe was being watched. He wanted to help him if he could but he was acutely aware that the French police were still unaware of Philippe’s involvement; a call to Le Grande had confirmed that Jacques had yet to be formally interviewed by the police and that apart from giving them a description of the man who had got away from the farmhouse, he had told them nothing. If Philippe were to suddenly disappear now, Carter would have a lot of explaining to do and his explanations would probably not be acceptable to the French police. He decided to give Conrad the job of watching Philippe.

  “After we get to the Gendarmerie,” he began, “Could you go on to Port Grimaud and keep an eye on Philippe. I’d like to be sure that we know where he is at all times. He’s quite capable of disappearing without trace.”

  Conrad nodded and when the taxi pulled up outside the police station in Sainte Maxime, he stayed in the car. After Carter had got out, Conrad instructed the driver, “Continuez a Port Grimaud, s’il vous plait,” and the car pulled away as Carter approached the entrance to the Gendarmerie and went in.

  Half an hour later, Carter was sitting opposite Inspecteur Le Grande in his office and was concluding his summary of the case with an evaluation of Philippe’s involvement.

  “Philippe was involved but he was a pawn, a partner of convenience for no other reason than he owned a diamond mine, something which made it easier to hide the source of the diamonds. He had nothing to do with the murders, that was down to someone else. It was almost certainly someone he was involved with, but it wasn’t him.”

  “Monsieur Lacoste, for all his power and influence, cannot escape all responsibility for what has happened,” responded Le Grande, “And there is still the matter of the stolen diamonds. We will pick him up and talk to him. If he tells us everything and we can arrest all the people involved, we may be able to do a deal.”

  Carter nodded as Le Grande rose from his desk and went to the door of his office. He opened it and called a uniformed police officer over to him.

  “Bring in Philippe Lacoste, we need to talk to him,” he said.

  The uniformed officer nodded before turning away and gesturing to two of his colleagues to accompany him. Le Grande turned back to face Carter and held out his hand.

  “A bientot, Monsieur Jefferson. I will keep you informed.”

  Carter rose from his seat and took Le Grande’s hand.

  “Thank you, Inspecteur. A bientot.”

  _________________________

  While Carter was busy talking to Inspecteur Le Grande, a small inflatable dinghy, barely big enough to hold its two occupants, bumped gently into the bows of the Esprit de Jacques. Silently, Henri pulled himself up onto the deck of the boat, making sure that he could not be seen from the Capitainerie by the gendarme who had been sent to watch the boat. Gilles passed him a large bag and then followed him onto the boat. By the time he too was on deck, Henri had forced the plastic hatch above the forward stateroom. The superstructure of the boat hid him from the people on the quay as he dropped the bag onto the bed below and then slid himself quietly through the hole. Behind him, Gilles followed, though he found it more difficult to squeeze his larger frame through the small opening.

  “I will check out the boat and find the best place to wait for him to come back,” said Henri, once they were both inside the stateroom.

  “I know this boat well,” said Gilles, “The best place is in the master cabin at the back. And you can have a look in the engine room from there as well to see if it’s a good place to put the bomb.”

  Cautiously, the two men climbed the stairs from the stateroom to the saloon. They knew that the bright sunlight would make it impossible for anyone outside to see them through the tinted glass. Nevertheless, they crept slowly to the back of the saloon, keeping their heads low, and then down the circular staircase into the lobby outside the master cabin at the stern of the boat.

  Henri opened the small door in the lobby and looked through into a dark room; he could just make out the boat’s engines by the light from the lobby. He bent down as he went through the door into the engine room. Inside, he switched on the light and surveyed the two huge Detroit diesel engines, each of which could deliver nearly a thousand horsepower to the boat’s propellers.

  Gilles did not to attempt to get through the door which was only four feet six inches high and less than two feet wide. Instead he waited in the lobby.

  When Henri came out of the engine room, he looked at Gilles and said, “It is a good place. An explosion in there will send the boat to the bottom in seconds.” He wiped his hands on a cloth he had found in the engine room and threw it back through the door. “When we are ready, when it is done and we are out at sea, I will fix a bomb under one of the engines. The explosion will rip the bottom out of the boat and it will go straight down, taking Jacques’ body with it. It will look like an accident, as if the engine just blew up.”

  “OK,” responded Gilles. “Now all we need is for Jacques to come back. Then we can put an end to this mess once and for all.”

  The two men went into the master cabin, being careful to leave the door to the lobby open so that they would hear Jacques returning. Then they sat on the bed and waited. They were ideally placed; the circular staircase leading from the cabin to the rear of the saloon would enable them to enter the saloon at the back and block off any possible escape by Jacques.

  _________________________

  Fifteen minutes later, Jacques trudged across the gangway onto the Esprit. He was carrying several plastic shopping bags full of supplies he had bought in preparation for his departure from Port Grimaud and his heart was heavy. Yvonne was dead and now Eloise had deserted him. He didn’t blame her for that; it was understandable in the circumstances but he missed her. He missed Yvonne too, but that was different. Yvonne was dead and there was no way back from that but Eloise wasn’t dead, though she might as well be for all the difference it made. And now he had to leave Port Grimaud, and everything he knew, before anything else bad happened to him.

  Jacques unlocked the sliding door, opened it and took his bags of shopping into the saloon before closing the door behind him. When he reached the galley, he put the bags down and sat in the helmsman’s chair. He leaned forward to put his arms on the wheel and then rested his head on his arms.

  As Jacques sat there, pondering the events of the last few days, a noise coming from behind him dragged him back from his desperate thoughts. He turned his head to see what it was and saw Gilles coming up the last few steps from the master cabin.

  “Gilles! What are you doing here?” he asked as he rose from the chair and went down the steps into the saloon, “And how did you get in? The door was locked.”

  As he waited for Gilles to answer, Jacques saw Henri coming up the steps behind Gilles. He recognised him immediately and a chill ran through his body as the horror of Yvonne’s death came vividly and sickeningly into focus again. Right in front of him was the man responsible for her rape and death. Jacques looked round the saloon; his instinct was to run, but where to? Every fibre of his being screamed at him to get out of there; to get off the boat, somehow. But how? Gilles and Henri were blocking any escape through the saloon door and there was no other exit. He turned quickly, his heart beating faster and faster as he tried to think of a way in which he could escape from them. The sweat gathered in beads on his forehead and started to pour down his face as panic took hold of him. He ran back to the front of the boat and jumped down the steps leading to the forward cabins and the stateroom. He knew there was no way out there either but there was nowhere else to go. As he entered the stateroom, he saw the open hatch above the bed and a chance of escape. He was breathing rapidly now. He could hear Gilles and Henri coming down the steps after him. Leaping onto the bed, he reached for the sides of the hatch. Desperately, he tried to pull himself out of the room and out of danger and, as he pulled himself up through the hatch, a wave of
relief came over him. He was safe! In a moment he would be off the Esprit and out of their clutches.

  Then, as he was nearly through the hatch, he felt the iron grip of Gilles’ hands round his ankles. He struggled, with all the strength he could summon, to pull his legs up after him but, slowly, he felt himself disappearing back down into the stateroom. He made a last huge effort and, for a second, thought that he had won the battle, but his arms gave way, they were no match for the weight of Gilles hanging onto his ankles, and he fell back through the hatch and onto the bed. Gilles let go of his ankles and Jacques turned to look at him. Henri stood beside Gilles, smiling. Jacques knew what Henri was capable of and it terrified him. Jacques shuffled along the bed. He pushed himself against the forward bulkhead and froze. Only his eyes moved as they flitted between Gilles and Henri and then settled on Henri who was holding a large knife and leaning against the door which led to the shower room in the corner. He wasn’t looking at Jacques but Jacques could see he was still smiling, laughing at him. At that moment, they all heard the sound of someone else in the saloon above, and a voice calling.

  “Jacques… Jacques, where are you? I need to talk to you.”

  Jacques recognised Eloise’s voice and his heart sank. Henri’s smile faded quickly as he put a finger to his lips and looked at Jacques through serious eyes.

  As Eloise checked the master cabin and then returned to the saloon, Jacques hoped she would conclude that he was not there and leave. But then he heard her voice coming from the steps next to the galley.

  “Jacques, are you down here?” said Eloise as she came down the steps and pushed the stateroom door open.

  Gilles reached out and grabbed Eloise’s arm. He pulled her roughly into the room and threw her onto the bed. She looked at Gilles, then at Henri and then at Jacques. Nervously, she wriggled herself up the bed until she was close beside Jacques, holding onto his arm for comfort. Her blue eyes looked into his; he could see her fear in them.

  “Jacques, who are these people? And why are they here?” she asked, pushing herself harder into Jacques as if, by doing so, she would somehow be safe.

  “They are the ones who killed Yvonne,” said Jacques as he put his arm around her.

  Gilles looked at Jacques. “It is time to leave,” he said, “Go and start the engines and cast off. Then we can get under way.”

  Jacques cursed his stupidity. Why, oh why, had he not realised the urgency of his situation? Why had he not taken Philippe more seriously and left Port Grimaud immediately? He could have talked to his mother from the safety of another port. Now he was trapped, his father’s warning repeating itself over and over again in his head.

  “This is a big boat,” he said, dismissing the incessant voice and concentrating on the bones of a plan. “I will need Eloise to help me.”

  “I don’t think so. I’m sure you can manage if you try,” said Gilles, moving menacingly towards Jacques and Eloise, “The girl stays here with Henri. Now get on with it! And don’t forget to pull our dinghy up onto the deck.”

  Jacques realised that he had little choice other than to obey, at least for the time being, but he was reluctant to leave Eloise in the stateroom with Henri, a man he knew to be a rapist and a killer.

  “If you touch her, I swear I will kill you!” he said with as much conviction as he was able to dredge from his fearful heart.

  “Ah, oui. Now let me see. Where have I heard that before?” Henri smiled and tapped his chin with the knife before the cold hard look returned to his eyes.

  “Don’t mess me about, Jacques!” said Gilles sharply, “Get started. Now! I want this boat under way in two minutes. Understand?”

  Not wanting to provoke Gilles unnecessarily, Jacques got off the bed to do as he had been instructed. First, he went to the forward deck and pulled the little dinghy up onto it. Then, he went to the helm station and started the Esprit’s engines. Gilles stood beside him as he did. Eloise was alone in the stateroom with Henri. With the engines ticking over, Jacques looked at Gilles. “I need someone to cast off,” he said.

  “You do it,” said Gilles. He was not about to show himself outside the saloon so that anyone who might be watching the boat could spot him and raise the alarm. “And don’t forget who’s with your girlfriend below. Just remember what happened to Yvonne.”

  Jacques glared at him. How could he forget what Henri had done to Yvonne? He would never be able to forget that; it would be etched on his mind for ever. But he wasn’t going to let it happen to Eloise. He went out of the saloon onto the aft deck and walked across the gangway onto the quay.

  As Jacques reached the quay and began to untie the Esprit’s mooring warps, Philippe, who was being followed at a discreet distance by Conrad, passed the hotel on his way to the Capitainerie.

  Slowly, Jacques untied the first of the Esprit’s two mooring warps, all the while trying to think of a way to get himself and Eloise off the boat in one piece. But no matter how hard he tried, no ideas came into his head. Instead, his mind was filled with thoughts and fears about what Gilles and Henri might be planning to do.

  Jacques threw the rope onto the boat and then went to the second warp and did the same with that one just as Philippe arrived at the Capitainerie from the Rue Grande. Jacques did not see Philippe but Philippe saw him and his pace quickened as he watched Jacques, slowly and reluctantly, walk back onto the Esprit.

  As Philippe walked towards the Esprit, half raising his arm as if to hail Jacques, Conrad took his phone from his pocket and called Carter.

  Once back on board the Esprit, Jacques raised the gangway and returned to the helm station where Gilles was waiting for him, watching his every move as he pressed the button to raise the anchor.

  Jacques was about to push the throttles forward, and take the Esprit out of the harbour, when he thought he heard a shout from the quay. He wanted to investigate, but Gilles was standing behind him urging him to get the boat under way.

  As Philippe got closer to the boat, he could see through the open sliding door and thought he recognised the person standing next to Jacques at the helm. When he was near enough to get a clear look through the door he knew he was right; it was Gilles! Thoughts of impending disaster ripped through him, filling him with alarm and he called out again but Jacques did not hear him.

  With panic getting the better of him, Philippe started to run towards the Esprit as she slowly began to move away from the quay.

  “Jacques!” he called out again, but to no avail.

  He ran the last few yards towards the boat as fast as he could, thankful for all the hours he had spent in the gym keeping himself fit and in good physical condition. “Jacques! Wait!” he shouted at the top of his voice, but the words were lost in the sound of the Esprit’s engines as Jacques pushed the throttle levers forward.

  Philippe was still running as he reached the quayside and he took an instant decision. His son, and possibly his granddaughter, were on that boat and he had to try. The Esprit had moved about six feet away from the shore as Philippe leapt from the quay and reached for the end of the gangway sticking out over the stern of the boat. It was a desperate act, but somehow he just got to it and grabbed it tightly with both hands, his knuckles turning white from the ferocity of his grip. His body swung from side to side and his legs flailed about wildly as he struggled to keep hold. Jacques didn’t see him as he concentrated on taking the big boat out of the harbour.

  “Vite!” Gilles urged Jacques as he witnessed Philippe’s success in bridging the gap between the quay and the boat. “Plus vite!”

  Jacques wondered why Gilles was in such a hurry. He looked back and it was then that he saw Philippe hanging from the gangway. He didn’t know what to do. He looked at Gilles who stared back at him.

  “Keep going,” instructed Gilles tersely, “Or I’ll let Henri amuse himself with the girl!”

  Jacques was torn between protecting Eloise and helping his father but he knew there was little he could do for Philippe. If he stopped the boat
, Gilles would simply overpower him and take over so he kept the Esprit moving, and increased speed as they left the harbour and entered the bay.

  When the Esprit began to pick up speed and her prow lifted out of the water, Jacques looked back and saw Philippe trying to get a foot round the side of the gangway so that he could work his way onto the boat, but it kept slipping off.

  Within a minute, the Esprit was planing at full speed, moving towards the open sea. Philippe fought to hang on as the wind pulled at his clothes, but it was no use. He cried out Jacques’ name one last time as, finally, he could hold on no longer and he dropped into the sea. Jacques heard the desperate cry and looked over his shoulder. He saw Philippe bouncing along behind the Esprit before coming to rest in the boat’s frothy wake. Gilles pulled Jacques away from the helm roughly and pushed him towards the chart table. Not expecting the move, Jacques tripped and fell, hitting his head against the corner of the dining table and dazing himself.

  With the boat still going at full speed, Gilles spun the wheel round to starboard. The Esprit lurched and heeled sharply to port as she tried to comply with Gilles’ violent wishes. Below, in the stateroom, the force of the turn rolled Eloise off the bed onto the floor and threw Henri across the room.

  Henri muttered under his breath as he recovered his composure and made his way to the saloon where Jacques was trying to get to his feet, a task made all the more difficult by the lurching motion of the boat.

  “What’s going on?” shouted Henri above the sound of the Esprit’s engines which were still racing at full throttle.

  “It’s Philippe,” shouted back Gilles. “He was hanging onto the gangway. He’s in the sea now.”

  Henri stood close beside Gilles. They both stared intently through the front window as Gilles brought the boat round on a course aimed directly at Philippe who was floundering in the water. When Jacques saw that Gilles and Henri were engrossed in the act of running Philippe down, he slipped quietly down the steps into the stateroom. He went over to Eloise and quickly lifted her to her feet, motioning to her to be quiet. Silently they crept back up the steps and ran past Gilles and Henri, towards the stern of the boat.