The Secret Of The Cathars (2011) (11 page)

After a brief mental struggle he said, “You heard what I told the police sergeant. Everything I said was the truth.”

“
Hmm.” She appeared to chew over his comments. “But did you tell him everything?”

He was surprised by her perception. Had she somehow managed to guess that there was more to his story than he had revealed to them so far? Or was she just fishing for useful information? After a few moments thought, Philip decided it was too early in their relationship to tell her any more.

So he shrugged. “I told the police everything that was relevant to the accident.” He looked back up at the castle, now darkly etched against the evening sky. “I want to be as helpful as possible.”

“
The story you told the sergeant interested me,” she said. “That bit about your grandmother - was that all true?”

“
Of course.”

“
She sounds a remarkable woman. Please tell me about her.”

He shrugged. “What is there to tell? She was typical of the type of self-reliant English women who made Britain great in the Victorian age.”

“
That makes her sound a bit of monster.”

“
I didn’t think of her as being at all like that. She was always very affectionate towards me. But she was a very strong character. She’d had a very tough life. She was married to my grandfather just before the war and they had one son - my father, of course. Then grand-dad was killed in the war and she was left on her own to bring up my dad in the huge great house in Templecombe. That’s a village in South West England.”

“
I’ve heard of it. I believe it used to one of the centres of the Knights Templars in England.”

“
That’s right. Well, as a result of my grand-dad’s early death, she didn’t have much money and there weren’t any close relatives to help her. But somehow she made a success of it and built up the family fortunes and, at the same time, she managed to find out about the family history, going back to the time of the Cathars.”

“
Go on.”

“
Well - that’s it really.” Philip was being careful that he didn’t give too much away. “As I told the sergeant, she found out that this guy, Phillipe de Saint Claire, escaped from the slaughter of the Cathars at the end of the Albigensian Crusade when he was a young man and came to England. He bought a piece of land from the Templars and built a house on it which is still owned by the family. In fact, it’s mine now.”

“
Did you say from the Templars? Do you mean the Knights Templar?”

“
That’s right. Templecombe in Somerset was the location of the chief preceptory of the Templars in England.”

“
So do you think this ancestor of yours - this Phillipe de Saint Claire - was a Templar?”

Philip shook his head. “I don’t know about that. All I was told was that he was a Cathar. Could he have been a Templar as well?”

“
There’s no reason why not.” She paused. “What documentary evidence do you have to support your claim? You said that she had found some old papers. Have you got those papers?”

“
Er - no. Not with me.” He felt bad about not telling her the whole truth, but how did he know what she would do with it if he told her about the journal? “I haven’t moved into the house yet.”

“
But she told you to go and look at le Bezu. Where did she get the name from?”

“
I think it was in the papers she found.” He pulled a face. “You must understand that I didn’t know anything about this until I received a letter from her after she had died.”

“
And you came all the way down here as a result of what she said in her letter?”

“
Well, she had left me a lot of money, and she especially asked that I came and looked at the place. I suppose she thought I would be able to find out more information locally.” He shrugged. “So - I was able to get a couple of weeks’ holiday, and here I am.”

“
I suppose that’s fair enough.” She turned away from regarding him and looked at the river. She sounded disappointed.

“
Meanwhile I’m trapped here while the sergeant completes his preliminary enquiry. I can’t leave the area to do any research. I don’t know what I’m allowed to do while I’m here.” He leaned forward. “Am I allowed to go for walks and to explore the surrounding countryside?”

She shook her head irritably. “Don’t be silly. All Sergeant Leblanc asks is that each one of us holds ourselves available in case he has any further questions. In the long run it will speed up the enquiry. There are no other restrictions on the movements of any of us.”

“
Am I allowed to go up to the castle and poke around up there.”

He was watching her closely and saw that she was a little startled.

“
Why would you want to do that? You won’t find any records of your forebears up there. It’s just a ruin.”

“
Yes, but I only had a quick look round yesterday. I fancy the idea of getting a feel of what it was like for the occupants who were living in the place seven hundred years ago. Who knows? - that may have included my ancestor. Besides which, I’m interested in seeing anything which you’ve found out about the place.” He grinned mischievously. “Have you forgotten that you had promised to show me round and explain to me exactly what you are doing up there?”

Jacqueline had the grace to smile. Philip thought that it lit up her face with a rare beauty. “I think it would be unwise for any of us to go up there tomorrow. I understand the police forensic team are expected in the morning. They will be checking for clues of what may actually have happened to Andre last night.” Her eyes turned sad again. “I don’t somehow think that they would welcome members of the public being in attendance.”

“
And what about you?” asked Philip. “What are you going to do while you have to remain in the area? Will you continue your excavations?”

She shook her head and the tears in her eyes made him want to hug her. “It won’t be easy. Andre wasn’t only a very dear friend. He was an important assistant and organiser. What do you call it?”

“
Your right hand man?”

“
Right hand man. That’s what I meant. I’d find it difficult to carry on without someone like him to organise things. However I will have to discuss what I must do with my principals.”

“
Who are your principals?”

She didn’t answer him directly. “I rang my agent this afternoon. He will be here some time tomorrow. He will advise me what I must do next. I’m hoping he’ll be able to arrange the right sort of support for me.”

“
But you won’t simply give up and pull out?” It seemed important to him that she should continue with her exploration, even though it might make things more difficult for him personally.

She shook her head. “I don’t think I would be allowed to do that. A lot of things depend on what we are doing here. There’s a whole television series planned around the story of the Albigensian Crusade and the crushing of the Cathars.”

“
It’s all sounds most interesting.” Philip stood up. “So - will you keep your promise to show me round the excavations when they start up again?”

“
Of course.” She smiled up at him in that heart-stopping way that she had. At that moment he could easily understand how she had become the darling of the French television audiences.

He saw her shiver and he was suddenly aware that it was almost dark. This special little interval was at an end. He held out a hand to her and she accepted it to rise from her seat. Disappointingly, she immediately let go of it again.

Nevertheless, as they walked back to the hotel in a companionable silence, he felt that, as far as she was concerned, he was less of an outcast than he had been earlier.

- 12 -

It had been after midnight on the Tuesday when Alain Hebert got back to the cottage after his abortive visit to Marseilles. On the way back he had stopped near Montpellier for a meal and a rest and that had delayed his progress.

The cottage had been empty when he went in. It disappointed him a little. He had hoped that Cesar might have been waiting for him, anxious to hear about her father. After all, she had a key to the back door. She could have lit the wood fire and might even have had a bottle of red wine warmed in preparation for their chat.

On consideration though, he acknowledged that it was really his own fault that she wasn’t there to greet him. He had always refused to carry a mobile phone, holding the view that his contacts with other people would be when he wanted them to take place, rather than at any casual moment when they chose to phone him up and destroy his privacy. So he guessed she had probably been there earlier and had given up waiting for his return. As a result it wasn’t until the following evening that he was able to discuss his visit to Marseilles with her. By then he had heard about the death of the young archaeologist at le Bezu.

Cesar arrived at her usual time of seven o’clock carrying the bag of supplies which she habitually brought with her. Alain was in his seat on the terrace in front of the cottage. On the table beside him was a bottle of Bordeaux and the two glasses, his own already half-empty. He rose and filled her glass as she drew near.

He motioned her to the chair which he had put ready for her, set at ninety degrees to his own. “I’m afraid the news is not good,” he began. “I met your father and I
was
able to talk to him alone. He didn’t appear to be under any obvious pressure from the others. However he refused to even consider leaving Marseilles.”

She sat down heavily. “I knew he wouldn’t come.” She gazed down at the paving at her feet. “You don’t get away from the Force that easily.”

“
What do you mean?” He had been prepared for her to be upset, perhaps tearful. He was surprised to hear this fatalistic acceptance of his failure.

She looked up at him, half-defiantly. “Once you are a member of the inner circle you know too much to be set free. The only way out is death or, funnily enough, a long term of imprisonment.”

“
How is that?”

“
Once you have been jailed you are a marked man. Your anonymity has gone. When you are released the Force won’t have anything more to do with you. They know the police have your number. You are the first person to be suspected when a crime is committed. You can never get away from that.” She gave a short, bitter laugh. “You are an unacceptable risk.”

“
Don’t they still care for members who have been jailed as a result of serving the Force?”

“
Oh, yes. They will pension them off - as far away from Marseilles as possible. But they won’t be permitted to have contact with any of their former colleagues.”

“
Wouldn’t they be willing to pension off your father?”

“
No.” She looked down at her hands and appeared to be marshalling her thoughts before she spoke again. “I realised that he was in very serious danger as soon as he was disabled. He has become a liability to the Force. I’m very much afraid he will be eliminated unless I can stop it.”

“
What can
you
do about it?”

She didn’t answer him directly. Instead she turned to him. “You did your best, Alain. It had to be tried.” She shook her head slightly. “But I knew he wouldn’t come back here. That’s why I couldn’t bear to go to Marseilles with you.”

“
I see.”

“
And what I didn’t tell you, Alain - although I suppose I ought to have done - is that if, for some strange reason, they had allowed you to take him away it would also have put both of us in dreadful danger. We would have had to flee from this place within a few days. He must have known that. It’s probably one reason why he wouldn’t come with you.”

“
Really?” It was the first time this thought had struck him. “Do you think we’re still in danger?”

“
No. I don’t think so - at least not until they have found the treasure. They won’t risk losing that.”

She took a large gulp of her wine and looked down the valley into the distance. Alain also put his glass thoughtfully to his lips. For a long time neither of them spoke, contemplating what might have been. They were both digesting the unpalatable fact of being involved with La Force Marseillaise. After a while Cesar put down her glass and rose.

“
Let us prepare the meal,” she suggested.

Alain followed her through the cottage to the back kitchen. This making of the evening meal together before they ate it on the terrace as darkness fell had become a regular routine which they both enjoyed. But this evening it was overshadowed by their earlier conversation. What Alain wanted to ask her was where she had been the previous night. However he was aware that they had both been careful in the past not to presume on their developing relationship and he did not feel able to change that now. So they both worked in silence.

At last he said, “I was horrified to hear of the death of that young fellow up at the chateau. Have you heard what happened?”

She looked sharply at him and for the first time he fancied that he detected a slight hesitation in her manner. “All I have been told,” she said carefully, “is that he fell from one of the cliffs below the castle.”

“
And that was enough to kill him?”

“
Well, it
is
more than thirty metres. And I understand he fell on to rocks at the foot of the cliff. I was told that his body was dreadfully broken when it was recovered. That’s all I know.”

“
You nevertheless seem to have picked up quite a bit about the accident.”

She laughed, not altogether lightly. “I am a journalist. It is my job to be where the news is. I also found out that the dead man was quite important. He is the sort of second-in-command of the whole operation.”