Grand Cru Heist (10 page)

The Spaniard was also a great wine connoisseur, frustrated that he didn’t have a wine estate of his own. He had made an offer to purchase the Château Angélus estate, which was rejected. Now he was extremely envious of the owner of the grand cru classé Saint-Émilion, and it had turned into an obsession. He wanted to get his hands on all the Angélus he could.

He was very demanding of his Belgian supplier. Unprepared for this customer’s new fixation, Roberton had tried to sell him some cases of Clos du Clocher, a very fine Pomerol, but Ignacio would not have it. He wanted Angélus. His terms were strict, and he paid cash.

Willem Vanderbroecq was in charge of finding the wine, and Gerrt Voets was supposed to step in, as needed.

“We didn’t know where to find the bottles he wanted,” John the Belgian explained. “That’s when we started tailing Cooker. That notebook of his is famous for holding secrets. Gerrt Voets planned the carjacking. The kids weren’t supposed to hurt the man.”

Then Roberton’s men robbed the cellars on the Place de la Madeleine in Paris, as well as La Vinothèque de Dionysos in Bordeaux. They had planned a third heist.

Ignacio had a strange sense of humor, and his way of thumbing his nose at the famous Bordeaux wine estate was sending out a cryptic message to coincide with his taking possession of purloined Angélus.

In the meantime, Roberton, ever the opportunist, continued to tail Cooker all the way to La Tortinière. He wanted to meet the man in person.

His Spanish customer insisted on making the exchange in Bordeaux, so Roberton had planned to drive there from La Tortinière. His accomplices would then head to Paris for the final heist. But Roberton had changed his mind at the last minute and had gone looking for Oksana in Tours. That decision threw off their schedule and ended up sabotaging the Paris job.

A young detective was typing out the statement as Barbaroux half-listened to John the Belgian. The deputy came in without knocking, carrying a can of beer.

“Want me to take over, Inspector?”

“No. Sit down. Mr. Roberton is going to serve us up his best and explain how he got rid of his mistress—employee is a better word—in the Loire Valley, along with her lover.”

For the first time, the accused dropped his waxy face into his hands.

“Believe me, Inspector, that’s not my fault. That was Gerrt. He’s the one who found Oksana in Tours. He knew I was hooked on her, and her skipping out had hit me hard. But Gerrt wasn’t about to be taken in by her charms. She knew too much, and he didn’t hesitate. He killed her, and, to throw the cops off, he made it look like it was the concierge by faking his suicide. The concierge had never even been with her. Gerrt followed him from the hotel on one of his nightly walks and did him in right there on the riverbank.”

“Don’t try to get out of this, Mr. Roberton. Once you’ve poured the wine, you have to drink it. And yours seems to be bad two-buck chuck. Now, you said three heists, where was the third?”

“We never got to it because of the Oksana ‘incident.’ Vanderbroecq took the Morgan to race back to Paris to do it, but didn’t make it in time for those crackpot letters. That crazy Ignacio got pissed at us. He cancelled the Châteaux Angélus deal, and decided he wanted a Cave de l’Angélus—that’s a rare Swiss wine from the Valais region, purplish robe and leathery aromas. So, there I was, left with all those bottles of wine to unload.”

Then he added with a sheepish grin, “I thought Cooker would like them.”

Barbaroux booked Roberton. After being held for forty-eight hours, the call girl was released. Although she had Baltic traits, long flowing blond hair, and big Prussian blue eyes, she was really the daughter of a farmer from Corrèze, in the middle of France.

§ § §

The sky looked low. The rainfall that had intensified all day long seemed to be taking a break. The winemakers in Beauséjour, Cheval Blanc, Belair, Canon, Fourtet, Figeac, Pavie, and Trotte Vieille knew the rain would start up again before nightfall. Yet they had to prune the vines before March first. There was a saying in the Garonne valley. “By the feast of Saint Aubin, prune your vines to shape, and be assured of a plump grape.”

The sun was setting, casting its final rays on the hills that overlooked the Landes forest. Workers in dull-green rain jackets were tirelessly removing suckers from the vines. The needle on the barometer fluctuated between rainy and windy. The weather forecasters were predicting a depression over the Bay of Biscay.

Cooker and Virgile were a little late arriving at the Château Angélus, but Hubert de Boüard was not a man to take offense.

“Just in time,” their host said loudly when they finally climbed the château’s steps. They were soaked from the storm.

Under the large front awning, Hubert congratulated them for so cleverly solving a case that had given him a lot of unasked-for publicity.

Inside the château, he had lined up several bottles that were coming to room temperature not far from a crackling fire in the hearth. Bits of grit were causing occasional mini-explosions, which interrupted the ceremonial silence. The vertical tasting promised to be sumptuous.

At that instant, the church bells of Saint-Émilion rang out the Angélus. Then the bells of the Saint-Martin church responded with equal fervor.

“France’s churches are empty. For whom are the Angélus bells ringing?” Virgile asked.

“For God’s children like yourself,” Benjamin answered. “You know, my boy, wine, like God, is an enigma. You need to taste it many times to make a religion of it. And then—”

“And then, what?” Virgile asked.

“And then, you see, life is nothing but a succession of small miracles. Like this 1989 Angélus that awaits us.”

“A miracle, yes,” Hubert de Boüard said. “But also a blessing.”

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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. These titles are already published or coming soon.

Treachery in Bordeaux

The start of this wine plus crime mystery series, this journey to Bordeaux takes readers behind the scenes of a grand cru wine estate that has fallen victim to either negligence or sabotage. World-renowned winemaker turned gentleman detective Benjamin Cooker sets out to find out what happened and why. Who would want to target this esteemed vintner?

www.treacheryinbordeaux.com

Nightmare in Burgundy

The Winemaker Detective leaves his native Bordeaux for Burgundy for a dream wine tasting trip to France’s other key wine-making region. Between Beaune, Dijon and Nuits-Saint-Georges, it urns into a troubling 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 be shed to sharpen people’s memory?

www.nightmareinburgundy.com

Deadly Tasting

A serial killer stalks Bordeaux, signing his crimes with a strange ritual. 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.

www.deadlytasting.com

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

Anne Trager has lived in France for more than 26 years, working in translation, publishing, and communications. In 2011, she woke up one morning and said, “I just can’t stand it anymore. There are way too many good books being written in France not reaching a broader audience.” That’s when she founded Le French Book to translate some of those books into English. The company’s motto is “If we love it, we translate it,” and Anne loves crime fiction.

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