Authors: Alexander Campion

Killer Critique (32 page)

BOOK: Killer Critique

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“Early on I sensed the first murder was different from the others,” Capucine said. “The use of poison was a factor. It was only in the first murder that death resulted from poison. In all the others it was obviously symbolic. Also, all the other poisons were foodstuffsâeven belladonna, which was once used as a condiment. Curare certainly isn't edible. And the feel to the first murder was different. It didn't have the same degree of hands-on violence of the other four.

“But it was the pens that were the clincher. It took me a while to see it. Fesnay had his pen in his pocket. Monteil had two plastic pens on him. So at that point they weren't an issue. PerochÃ© had no pen but he might have forgotten it somewhere, so I didn't give it a second thought. It wasn't until I checked and found out he had been taking notes during his dinner in a spiral notebook that the penny dropped. Someone had clearly taken his pen. And then Laroque was found without a pen. So it was clear that the murderer was taking pens as trophies. We found Monteil's plastic pen in BÃ©atrice's trophy case. He'd had three plastic pens in his pocket but BÃ©atrice only took one.”

“All that's very well, but how did you know Voisin was the other killer?” Alexandre asked.

“Motive. The most powerful motive of all, money.”

“And I thought with those pens we were finally going to get a little sex into this story. Can't you work that teen temptress into this somehow?” Jacques said.

Capucine ignored him.

“From the beginning a lot of little things about Voisin didn't quite add up, the fact that his son had had such an easy time deposing him, the fact that he was so broke his girlfriend had to pay to have his car maintained, things like that. But we were looking for a serial killer and that he definitely wasn't.

“Even when he let drop at the Salon du Bordeaux that he knew Fesnay, it was obvious he'd told us a lie but I still couldn't see him as a serial killer. Of course, when it dawned on me there were two killers the whole thing popped into focus. I could have spent weeks digging into Fesnay's and Voisin's background would have come up with a nice paper trail of the blackmail, but I decided to chance it with a quick arrest and interrogation.”

“
Cousine,
get back to the sexy chef and her phallic pens. How did you know it was her?”

“That's the whole point. I was
sure,
but I didn't
know
. You see, we had breakfast a few days after the murder at Dong. She gave herself away with a tiny slip. She was horrified that Laroque had died with âhis
pipi
hanging out,' to use her phrase. We had never released that detail to the press.”

Jacques' cackle erupted. “Ah, finally sex rears its ugly little head. I knew that would happen sooner or later.” He brayed loudly.

“At the time I was confused. I knew from my first interview that she had a very positive reaction to Gautier du Fesnay. She convinced me she thought he was going to be instrumental in getting her first Michelin star. But when I knew there were two murderers, then she was obviously the serial killer. Her profile was perfect, and she had tipped her hand. But I didn't have a single scrap of evidence.”

“So you resorted to entrapment?” Jacques asked.

“It was the only thing I could do. Otherwise, she could have gone on killing for years. We had nothing. Even what we found in her apartment is so circumstantial, we couldn't have made an arrest stick without her attempted murder of Alexandre.”

“And other than my boyish good looks, how were you so sure she'd walk into your trap?” Alexandre asked.

“She was already far overdue for her fix and must have been completely strung out. And the setting was just too good to pass upâfamous critic, opening of the year, celebrity guests, lots of press. It would have been her most exciting killing. I knew she would bite. And she did.”

“So without Alexandre there would be no case at all,” Jacques said. “
Fabuleux!
Alexandre is the real hero! Let's drink to him.”

They all raised their glasses. Alexandre beamed. It was obvious that for him the attempt at his murder had been far less troubling than a broken cork in a bottle of
grand cru.
Still, Capucine bit her lip. She could just not bring herself to believe that her ambition had not cost her a good bit of her Alexandre.

As if he had read her mind, Alexandre shot her a look. He nodded almost imperceptibly. They rose, walked to the river's edge. Alexandre fished a leather cigar case out of his jacket, eased out a Rey del Mundo robusto, bit off the end, lit it slowly and sensually. The heady aroma of the Cuban cigar floated over the group. Jacques opened his mouth to say something. Vavasseur pursed his lips slightly. Jacques closed his mouth.

Capucine leaned up against Alexandre and took his hand. Slowly they strolled up the stone walkway, their hands swinging slightly with the cadence of their stride.

After a few dozen yards they stopped and looked deeply into each other's eyes. Capucine took the cigar out of Alexandre's hand and cocked her arm to toss it into the river.

Instead she took a deep puff, held it in her mouth for a second, and let it out.

“These things are really quite good. Why didn't you ever tell me?” she said with a giggle and gave the cigar back to Alexandre. He puffed contemplatively for a few beats and returned it to Capucine.

They continued off, hand in hand, down the walkway to the far end of the island, passing the cigar back and forth. In a few minutes the walkway curved to the right and they were lost from sight.

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Library of Congress Card Catalogue Number: 2012934789

ISBN: 978-0-7582-7873-9

BOOK: Killer Critique

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