The Secret Of The Cathars (2011) (27 page)

They then continued to gently extract the fabric from the tube. Jackie was so careful that it took nearly ten minutes before she finally laid the coil of material back on the bedspread. Then Philip had to photograph it again.

“
The great thing about waxed silk is that is retains its flexibility. It should unroll fairly easily, as long as we take our time. Now, if I gently open up the top edge of the coil, can you place that wooden ruler from my bag on it?”

She then proceeded, with Philip’s help, to slowly unroll the fabric until they had a sheet of material lying on the bed. It must have taken nearly half an hour, checking the edges all the time to make sure that nothing got caught up. When they had finished they could see a scroll which was approximately thirty centimetres wide by nearly a metre long. The edges were slightly tattered.

There appeared to be four columns of signs on it, written in strange symbols. The rows of markings were so varied that they seemed to have been impressed on the fabric at different times by different people using different tools. Some of the signs near the top of the list had become so faint that they were barely decipherable.

“
What on earth is it?” asked Philip, rather disappointed by the scroll.

Jackie shook her head. “I’m afraid I don’t know. It’s obviously a list - but what of, I’m not quite sure. I can’t read any of the words. They’re in a language I don’t know. I believe it may be ancient Hebrew. But I haven’t studied that language so I can’t tell you anything about it.”

“
Oh heck!” Philip banged his knee despondently. “After all those hopes.”

“
Don’t be too disappointed. I can find people to translate it for us. So we’ll be able to find out what it means - but it’ll take a week or two.”

He smiled weakly. “I suppose you’re right. Although, after all this effort, I was hoping for a more immediate outcome.”

“
Wait a minute.” She put a hand to her forehead. “I believe Bertrand is a Hebrew scholar. You remember. Abbe Dugard. I think he majored in it at university. A clever chap is our Bertrand. I’ll ring him and see if we can take the tubes over to him this afternoon. I’m sure he’ll be only too willing to help. He always likes to get involved in new mysteries.”

She picked up the phone by the bed and asked for Dugard’s number. After a couple of minutes she was put through. There followed a quick-fire conversation in French which Philip couldn’t understand. It concluded by Jackie saying, “Oui, merci. Oui. Jusqu’a demain matin.”

She hung up and turned to Philip. “I spoke to the nun who takes his messages. Apparently he has gone to Narbonne today and won’t be back until late. But he is working tomorrow. She says she’s sure he’ll see us if we go in the morning.”

“
Oh, well. What’s one more day?”

“
Exactly. We can use the time to open up all the tubes and prepare them for Bertrand to look at - that’s assuming they’re all similar.”

“
How do we do that?”

“
First, I want you to split this bamboo tube into two halves down its length. Now we’ll roll up the scroll again and put it in one half. We lay the other half on top and tape the two halves together to protect the fabric. We also tape over the ends to make sure no foreign bodies get in. Tomorrow we can easily open it for Bertrand to look at.”

“
Full of bright ideas, you archaeologists.”

“
We do it all the time.” She fished a roll of broad adhesive tape out of her site bag. “We carry the equipment for it.”

It took them a further ten minutes to strap up the roll of fabric.

“
OK. Now to collect the others. Where shall we put this?”

“
It should be safe for now on top of the wardrobe,” suggested Philip.

Having disposed of the first tube, they set off downstairs with the duffle bag to collect the other four. But, when they got to reception, they found Sergeant Leblanc waiting for them.

- 27 -

“
I was just coming to get you,” said the Sergeant Leblanc curtly.“Can you come to the mairie immediately.” It was more of an order than a request.

“
I’ll just drop the bag at reception,” said Philip.

They followed the sergeant who was already striding across the square.

When they got to the mairie he took them straight to his office.

“
Wait here a minute. Monsieur le Maire wants to see you.”

He went out and left them alone.

Jackie pulled a face. “What do you think that’s all about?”

“
Not very friendly, was he? Do you think they’ve discovered we’ve been back up to the site?”

“
We’ve got a perfect right to be there. We’re not breaking any laws.”

“
What about it being a crime scene?”

She shrugged. “It’s some way from where Andre was killed. Besides, they hadn’t told us we were to keep away.”

There seemed to be no point in speculating.

They waited in the office for more than half an hour before the sergeant returned and led them in to the mayor’s palatial office.

“
I apologise for keeping you waiting,” said Maitre Amboisard, although his tone was far from apologetic. “I had some important telephone calls coming in.”

He paused, looking from one to the other. At last he said, “The Bishop’s Palace in Narbonne say they have never heard of Jean-Luc Lerenard.”

“
What?”

“
Furthermore Alain Gisours’ secretary says that he knows nothing about a man of that name and didn’t recommend him to you for employment.”

“
He what?” Jackie looked at Philip. “What is this?”

“
Wait a minute,” intervened Philip. “Have you spoken to Mam’selle Blontard’s agent, Bernard Cambray? He was the one who brought the message about Lerenard.”

“
You didn’t give me his telephone number.” There was an almost accusatory tone to Amboisard’s response.

“
That’s because I didn’t know that you might need it.” Jackie startling blue eyes flashed. “I hadn’t realised then that I was getting embroiled in a conspiracy of lies.”

“
Perhaps,” suggested Philip, trying to calm the atmosphere, “Jackie could use your phone to ring her agent now. She can explain the situation to him and hand the telephone over to you. Then you can ask him whatever questions you wish to ask.”

“
Very well.” The mayor pointed to the phone and she picked it up and dialled the number.

“
Please sit down.” As a sign that he was unbending a little, he indicated a chair for Philip and placed another beside Jackie, before sitting back in the grand leather swivel seat behind his desk.

Jackie’s fingers drummed on the edge of the desk while she waited. At last she got through. “Oh, bonjour Pauline. Je veux Bernard, s’il vous plait.”

There was a pause while the woman at the other end spoke.

“
Pourquoi?”

More explanation.

“
Quand est-il departe?”

A reply. There came a rapid exchange of question and answer which Philip couldn’t follow before Jacqueline said, “Oh, merci. Oui. Au revoir.”

With a strange expression on her face she hung up. “Bernard has gone on holiday to the Seychelles for two weeks. He flew from Charles de Gaulle airport at ten o’clock this morning. He won’t be available to be contacted for several days. Apparently he said he would telephone the office at the end of next week to take any messages.”

There was silence while Amboisard digested this latest set-back.

“
I asked Pauline why Bernard hadn’t rung me to tell me before he went - he always does that. She said he only decided to go last night. He left a message for her to ring his clients later today to tell them.” She passed a hand across her forehead and removed a stray lock of hair. “I feel as though I am the victim of some kind of conspiracy. Wherever I turn, people are against me.”

“
What about Armand Sejour?” Philip asked the mayor. “Have you tried him?”

Amboisard bowed his head to look at the list in front of him. “We have. He hasn’t yet arrived at the address in Paris which he gave us yesterday morning. They are expecting him but don’t know exactly when he will arrive. They also say they do not know how to contact him. They have promised to ring me when he arrives or when they hear from him.” He frowned. “Strictly speaking he has broken the law by not going straight to his new address, but I can’t do much about it for a few days.”

“
And,” said Jackie, “I bet the same can be said for Gaston Lesmoins and everybody else on your list.”

“
So far we have been unable to contact anybody except you.”

“
I’ve just thought of something,” said Philip. “A room was booked for Lerenard at the hotel and the concierge will be able to confirm that he took it. So you will then know that a man of that name was definitely here. Also, Jackie, you told me that you’d received an investigative report about Lerenard. What did you do with it?”

“
It’s in my brief-case.” She stood up. “I’ll get it for you. I can’t remember who the agency was - Bernard organised it - but I expect their details will be on the report.”

Amboisard had also risen. “Please be seated, mademoiselle. I shall send Leblanc to speak to the concierge and to collect your brief-case.” He picked up the phone and called in the sergeant.

He put the phone down and leaned back in his chair. “Meanwhile perhaps you would like a coffee.” He smiled at Philip. “I’m afraid my staff would not be able to prepare your English tea.”

“
Coffee will be fine.” Philip sensed a gradual relaxing of tension in the room.

Leblanc arrived in haste. The situation was explained to him.

“
Where can the sergeant find your brief-case, mademoiselle?”

“
It’s in the bottom of the wardrobe.”

“
Very well. Please can you write the sergeant a note for him to give to the concierge, authorising him to enter your room and remove your brief-case?”

“
All right.” Jackie was still a bit annoyed about not having her word trusted.

However she relaxed as the conversation became friendlier. Amboisard was clearly being polite to them after his brusque attitude when they first arrived.

“
I must say,” he admitted, “that at first I was annoyed to think that you might have invented a story to give to me so as to prevent me from regarding you as suspects. That was especially so when such authoritative bodies as the Bishop’s Palace and TV France denied it, However I am now inclined to think that you truly believe that you are telling the truth and Leblanc should shortly be able to confirm this.”

Jackie shook her head. “What I don’t understand is why somebody seems to have gone out of their way to hinder your investigation by shielding this man.”

“
Neither do I. Of course it may be a genuine mistake. Perhaps I contacted the wrong departments at Narbonne and TV France. Once I have confirmed the truth of your story, I will go back to them and question them much more closely.”

The mayor continued. “One other thought has occurred to me. Are you sure the name you gave to me for Lerenard was correct. It seems possibly to have been a made-up name. Could he have been known to his references by some other name?”

“
I was never given any other name. He was called Lerenard in the report, as you will see. And Abbe Dugard knew him by that name when he worked for him.”

“
Ah.” His eyes lit up. “Perhaps I could ring the good Abbe.”

She shook her head again. “I’m sorry. I tried to speak to him an hour ago about another matter. I was told he had gone to Narbonne and wouldn’t be back until late tonight. You can get him at work tomorrow morning.”

“
It’s the people in Narbonne again,” said Philip. “They seem to be causing you a lot of problems, Monsieur Amboisard.”

“
Indeed.” The gleam of battle was in the man’s eyes. “I will have to sort out Narbonne. But first I will need the telephone number of Abbe Dugard.”

“
I have it here.” She read it out to him and he made a note on his pad.

No sooner had he finished than the phone rang again. A considerable conversation ensued. Philip understood none of it but, when he glanced at Jackie, he saw she was biting her lip in vexation. At last the mayor hung up and he turned to them with a mirthless little smile.

“
That was Sergeant Leblanc. Unfortunately Henri, the concierge, has gone out for an hour and there is a young girl on hotel reception. For some unknown reason the hotel register doesn’t seem to be there. Leblanc is just going up to your room to collect your brief-case.” He shook his head. “I don’t think I can recall a case where I have been led up so many blind alleys. It’s almost unbelievable.”

Later, as they returned to the hotel, Jackie said, “I think I understand the mayor’s frustration. The only difference between us is that I believe somebody is setting up this plethora of disinformation to try and discredit me. I wonder who it can be?”

“
The finger points at either Narbonne or TV France,” said Philip. “And I can’t really understand why it should be the latter. They are already losing too much by the cancellation of the series.”

“
I used to trust Alain. Now I don’t think you can trust anybody in big business.”

“
Whoever it is, at least they couldn’t suppress that report about Lerenard which was in your brief-case. It even mentioned Alain Gisours’ office”

“
No?” She turned to him furiously. “What do you bet? When they contact the agency, they will either say they know nothing about it, or else that the man who prepared it has just conveniently left for a job in Cambodia.”

She was so angry that Philip couldn’t help laughing at her. After a short pause she joined in and the tension eased out of her face.