Cognac Conspiracies (10 page)
Read Cognac Conspiracies Online
Authors: Jean-Pierre Alaux,Noël Balen
Tags: #Amateur Sleuth, #cozy mystery, #whodunit, #wine novel, #France, #Cognac, #Food, #gentleman detective, #French culture, #European fiction, #European mysteries, #Jarnac, #gourmet, #wine
“What are you doing to my mother, you moron? Let her go, or I’ll break your face!”
“Nathan. Don’t concern yourself with this. Go away, please!” Sheila yelled to her son, who, despite his threat, made no move to take on the winemaker.
“No, Nathan, I think you should stay. After all, it was your greed that caused this, wasn’t it? Your mother, living on her inheritance, couldn’t give you everything you thought you were entitled to, so you exploited and manipulated Pierre. He loved you, and what did he get in return? An arrogant man who wasn’t worthy of him.”
Sheila Scott stopped fighting. The thorns had lacerated her arms and face, and she was panting.
“Get up,” Benjamin ordered. “First, tell your son who I am. Tell him about Paris, the Beaux-Arts, and all the rest. Your son should know about your past, your list of lovers, long and varied, up until just a few months ago, when you tried to compromise my own assistant, a naïve womanizer whose brain is in his boxer shorts. Go ahead, Sheila. Tell him before he hears it from the authorities.”
Nathan Styron helped his mother off the ground and watched as she straightened her clothing. Her dress was ripped and stained with mud. The scratches on her arms and face were oozing blood. Benjamin pulled out his handkerchief, but Nathan pushed him away before he could hand it to Sheila. Nathan pulled out his own handkerchief and dried her tears and wiped away the blood.
“What is he saying, Mother?”
Sheila then confessed, slipping from French to English and then back to French.
“I knew Nathan was taking money from Pierre and threatening to leave if he didn’t keep the checks coming. Pierre had finally had enough. He told Nathan not to expect any more money. He could go ahead and leave. But Nathan needed the money. He was planning to move to the United States. I asked Pierre to meet me. I wanted to explain that Nathan just needed a little boost in his career, and then he could stand on his own two feet. But when Pierre got there, he reeked of alcohol. He had been drinking. He called me a pimp and other names, too. By this time he was shouting and getting too close. It scared me, and I pushed him away. He fell into the river. I think he hit his head. I didn’t hear him scream. Nothing...Just the deafening sound of the water.”
Sheila collapsed in tears on a carpet of rose petals. Her chest was heaving beneath the bodice of her frayed dress. The rose gardener had never looked so desirable. Benjamin cut through the garden to get to the landline in the house. He called his assistant.
“Virgile, I guessed right. Sheila is definitely not the sort of person we want to be seen with. Oh, by the way, before I get back to Bordeaux, think about this saying by Jules Renard: ‘It is not the rose that draws the bird to the rosebush, but the aphids.’”
Epilogue
Sentenced by the Court of Angoulême to eight years in prison for manslaughter, Sheila Scott is writing a guide for rose growers, which the London publisher Huston expects to release next year. Nathan Styron is writing erotic novels and just made the cover of
Vanity Fair
. In an interview in the
Times,
the son of the famous writer said he intends to give up modeling to devote himself to intellectual pursuits. In Migron, Samson’s Mill was sold to an allegedly dissolute Parisian antiquarian. Meanwhile, Lavoisier Cognacs has been restored to its former status and is a financial success. Marie-France and Claude-Henri continue to reside at Château Floyras. Many in Jarnac say that brother and sister live together as husband and wife. It is well known that the waters of the Charente have always been troubled.
§ § §
Benjamin removed Bacchus’s leash and walked into the kitchen. They had just returned from their morning walk. Elisabeth was at the window, gazing at the garden. Benjamin went over to her and kissed the nape of her neck. It had always been one of the most exquisite parts of her body.
“I’m thinking about redoing the garden,” she said, smiling at her husband and pointing to a spot to their right. “Maybe pulling up that part of it and planting some roses. Maybe tea roses. What do you think?”
“Hmm. Maybe we should drive into Bordeaux this weekend and take a walk through the botanical garden for inspiration. I’m thinking we should plant something else, something beautiful and rare. Like you, my love.”
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The Winemaker Detective Series
A total epicurean immersion in French countryside and gourmet attitude with two expert winemakers turned amateur sleuths gumshoeing around wine country. The following titles are currently available in English.
Treachery in Bordeaux
This journey to Bordeaux takes readers behind the scenes of a grand cru wine estate that has fallen victim to either negligence or sabotage. Winemaker turned gentleman detective Benjamin Cooker sets out to find out what happened and why. Who would want to target this esteemed estate?
Grand Cru Heist
Benjamin Cooker’s world gets turned upside down one night in Paris and he retreats to the region around Tours to recover. There, a flamboyant British dandy, a spectacular blue-eyed blonde, a zealous concierge, and touchy local police disturb his well-deserved rest. The Winemaker Detective and his assistant Virgile turn PI to solve two murders and a very particular heist. Who stole those bottles of grand cru classé?
Nightmare in Burgundy
The Winemaker Detective leaves his native Bordeaux to go to Burgundy for a dream wine-tasting trip. Between Beaune, Dijon and Nuits-Saint-Georges, the excursion becomes a nightmare when he stumbles upon a mystery revolving around messages from another era. What do they mean? What dark secrets from the deep past are haunting the Clos de Vougeot? Does blood need to spill to sharpen people’s memory?
Deadly Tasting
A serial killer stalks Bordeaux. To understand the wine-related symbolism, the local police call on the famous wine critic Benjamin Cooker. The investigation leads them to the dark hours of France’s history, as the mystery thickens among the once-peaceful vineyards of Pomerol.
About the Authors
Noël Balen (left) and Jean-Pierre Alaux (right).
(©David Nakache)
Jean-Pierre Alaux
and
Noël Balen
came up with the Winemaker Detective over a glass of wine, of course. Jean-Pierre Alaux is a magazine, radio, and television journalist when he is not writing novels in southwestern France. He is a genuine wine and food lover, and won the Antonin Carême prize for his cookbook
La Truffe sur le Soufflé
, which he wrote with the chef Alexis Pélissou. He is the grandson of a winemaker and exhibits a real passion for wine and winemaking. For him, there is no greater common denominator than wine. Coauthor of the series Noël Balen lives in Paris, where he shares his time between writing, making records, and lecturing on music. He plays bass, is a music critic, and has authored a number of books about musicians, in addition to his novel and short-story writing.
About the Translator
Sally Pane studied French at State University of New York Oswego and the Sorbonne before receiving her Masters Degree in French Literature from the University of Colorado. Her career includes more than twenty years of translating and teaching French and Italian at Berlitz and at University of Colorado Boulder. She has worked in scientific, legal and literary translation; her literary translations include
Operatic Arias; Singers Edition
, and
Reality and the Untheorizable
by Clément Rosset, along with a number of titles in the Winemaker Detective series. She also served as the interpreter for the government cabinet of Rwanda and translated for Dian Fossey’s Digit Fund. In addition to her passion for French, she has studied Italian. She lives in Boulder, Colorado, with her husband.
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