Margont could already picture himself caught right in the middle of generalised shooting.
‘But, Your Excellency, you’re going to set off exactly the kind of insurrection you’re trying to avoid!’
That will never happen! Faced with superior manpower, they will give themselves up without resisting.’
‘That’s exactly what they won’t do!’
‘Our decision is taken! At the critical moment, if one of the fanatics wants to open fire, it’s up to you to make them see reason. You should let yourself be arrested along with the others. You’ll all be taken to different prisons. Each prisoner will be alone in his cell. Well lock you up too, so as not to arouse their suspicions about you. But of course, you will be freed immediately afterwards.’
‘And Charles de Varencourt?’
‘He will also be freed. But a little later, after we’ve established that he really is on our side. If we discover that he failed to pass on any information, he’ll find the key to his cell at the bottom of the Seine.’
‘I’m going to have to examine Count Kevlokine’s body.’
‘We knew you were going to ask that. This time the civilian police got there first. Unfortunately they discovered the symbol of the Swords of the King. I’ve personally made sure that they won’t broadcast the fact. There’s a policeman waiting for you in the next room. He will take you to where the count’s remains were found. Everything has been left as it was found. You will find Inspector Sausson there - he’s also from the civilian police so he does not know that my secret police are on the trail of the royalists. He only deals with criminal investigations. He will receive you alone and tell you everything he knows. I have expressly forbidden him to question you and he does not know who you are or why you are involved ... He has understood that, as far as he is concerned, you don’t exist.’
‘But that might not be true! The civilian police also sell information about royalists. I run the risk that someone sees me at the scene of the crime, and describes me physically—’
‘You have nothing to fear, because with your help we’ll be able to annihilate the Swords of the King very soon. You may leave now.’ Margont reached the door, but then turned back.
‘Your Excellency, may I know whether Paris is threatened?’
Joseph was stupefied by his insolence; Talleyrand was amused. The lieutenant-general wanted to reprimand Margont and tell him that there was no risk to Paris, but he was so tangled up in his anger and his lies that it was the truth that emerged from his mouth.
They’re coming
He then added firmly: ‘So make sure that we’re not stabbed in the back while confronting the Allies.’
CHAPTER 25
THE policeman said nothing as he took Margont to the Marais, not far from Place des Vosges. He marched sullenly ahead without looking back once; perhaps he was hoping to lose him ‘accidentally’. He was so put out by having to look after this officious parallel investigator that when they arrived and Margont asked him to go to find Medical Officer Jean-Quenin Brémond at the hospital Hotel-Dieu, he replied with disarming indolence, ‘I’m afraid I won’t be able to find him.’
The words were like flints rubbing together in Margont’s mind, causing sparks of fury to light his eyes. The man quickly changed his mind and hurriedly set off to find the doctor.
Behind its sober facade, the house harboured a stunning luxurious interior. There was a Mazarin desk covered in brass marquetry, a gold table with a white marble top, silver candle-sticks, Dutch paintings, Gobelins tapestries of mythological scenes ... Margont felt as if he had opened an oyster apparently like all the
others, only to find pearls rolling in every direction at his feet. Count Kevlokine did not seem to have led the difficult wandering life of the leaders of the Swords of the King. What’s more, he ran far fewer risks. Had he been picked up by the police half an hour earlier Monsieur de Talleyrand and Joseph would have received him in the Tuileries Palace. Rat-ridden cellars for the ultras, palaces for the moderates.
A man came over to Margont. He was twenty-five or twenty-six, well turned out and fresh-faced with an impatient, slightly aggressive manner. ‘I’m Inspector Martial Sausson.’
‘Delighted to meet you,’ replied Margont without introducing himself.
‘I’ve been told not to ask who you are, why you are investigating or whether you have any information that I don’t—’
‘Exactly.’
Margont thought he could almost see black clouds of anger emanating from Sausson.
‘Here’s my report, Monsieur Unknown. This morning a servant by the name of Keberk comes to work for his employers Monsieur and Madame Gunans, a rich bourgeois couple, well, not so rich now that the Emperor has imposed a blockade on England. The Gunans made a fortune in maritime trading. Keberk tries to open the servants’ door with his key. It doesn’t open, which is very unusual. At night his employers bar the entrance, but early in the morning they remove the bar so that Monsieur Keberk can enter using his key when he arrives. It is the first time he has encountered such a problem in all his fifteen years of service. Keberk is alarmed and knocks at the door, shouts through the windows then runs off to tell the police that his masters have been murdered. As the house is in my area of jurisdiction, I come in person, accompanied by two of my men. I look about and discover that a shutter at the back has been forced open. I take the decision to enter the house with Monsieur Keberk. I find no sign of the Gunans. But I do discover the body of a man whom Monsieur Keberk says was called Monsieur Melansi, a friend of his masters. I use that word “masters” because that’s the word Keberk used. But I recognise
immediately that the victim is Count Kevlokine, who everyone has been searching for and whose description had been circulated to all the police stations in Paris. Monsieur Keberk seems not to understand when I tell him this. I think he was fooled by his employers about the man’s real identity. I follow the procedure required when Count Kevlokine is spotted - I immediately inform the King of Spain, His Majesty Joseph I.’
He finally drew breath. Lord knows he had spoken quickly!
‘Up until that point everything had passed off normally. But then an investigator named Palenier suddenly bursts into my police station. He hands me a letter signed by His Majesty Joseph I himself, giving me the most peculiar orders ...’
He tried to find a more diplomatic way of putting it. The most astonishing orders I have ever received. In summary: I must touch nothing, I must await a mysterious unknown man - you! - whom I must tell everything I know without asking any questions! And -the bitter cherry on the cake - Palenier then takes the letter back out of my hand. When you have gone I am to - by order! - forget everything, as if you never existed!’
Margont could well understand Sausson’s fury; he had felt the same way at his first meeting with Joseph and Talleyrand. It was like looking in a mirror and seeing his image of ten days ago.
The policeman went on even more hurriedly: ‘I interrogated Monsieur Keberk while I was waiting for you. His employers received many visitors: society contacts, friends, clients, relatives, debtors, creditors ... He claims not to know whether the Cunans were in contact with royalists or not. But I’m sure they were; why else would Count Kevlokine be at their house? He had been staying here for a week, never went out, but had streams of visitors. It was a good hiding place. He would have been expected to find refuge with monarchists, or aristocrats ... not with an apparently unobtrusive bourgeois couple. I’m going to do my best to find out who all those visitors were, but it’s not going to be easy. There were several people every day and Monsieur Keberk is giving nothing away. I’m waiting for reinforcements from the Minister of Civilian Police, to help me find out more. My two theories are as follows.