Capcir Spring (22 page)

"The fact that you have been burgled and warned off could mean that there must be a great deal of money at stake on the project whatever it is. I have found that when something means a lot of money people can behave in ways that are out of character to make sure their plans go through." John continued, "When I met Edouard I warmed to him. He seemed a bit of an old rogue but there are many businessmen who are like that. Up to a point you have to be sharp to survive in business and that means being prepared to use whatever means are necessary to defeat the competition. But I didn't think of him as evil or wicked. But if he is faced with the prospect of loosing a large amount of money he may change and get a little nasty."

Their discussions had got them no further. But the beers were ice cool and the shade of the umbrella welcome as they watched the people milling about the village square.

"Look there is Edouard's assistant" Mary exploded in a loud whisper. He was walking along the opposite side of the square and heading for the car park. "Let's follow him!"

John gulped down the last of his drink in one mouthful and stood up, leaving the money for their drinks beside the empty glasses on the table. "What do we hope to gain by this exercise" he asked her as they walked briskly out of the square and also towards the car park.

"I have no idea" she replied quickly "but you tell me at this moment something else that we can do! I feel that we must do something. I sense things coming to a head and in some way I am at the centre of events even though I don't know half of what is happening. And anyway in films they always follow people and find out what is going on. Perhaps its time for us to do a little detecting!"

John grunted, indicating he hoped his disapproval but made no further protest as they got into the Metro. They slunk down in their seats and watched in the mirrors their target in his four-wheel drive truck edge out of the square. Mary gently pulled out into the road and begun the pursuit.

"I've never followed a car before" she confessed with a wicked grin, "but from the films I've seen I think the secret is to stay far enough behind to not arouse their suspicions but close enough to not loose them if they make a sudden turn."

"Hmm" grunted John. "Suppose he is going to drive to Paris to visit his granny? How far do we go before we give up and head for home?"

"Be sensible." Mary snapped, "He must be working as it is now working hours. He works for Edouard. Edouard has probably sent him on some errand. Perhaps it is completely innocent. But anything that helps me to understand Edouard's business interests may help me work out what is going on. If you keep moaning I'll stop the car for you to get out."

"Sorry I grunted. I'm just not used to living out scenes from action films. If I had to compare my life to a cinematic experience it would not be an action film. It would be more like one of those long foreign movies in black and white where not much happens but people are thinking out loud all the time on screen."

They both laughed. They followed the vehicle at what Mary thought was a discreet distance. It headed out of the village and down the road towards the lake.

It was a quiet time of the day at a quiet time of the year but there were enough other cars on the road to reassure Mary that she was not especially conspicuous. The tourist season was just about to begin and though there were few British cars on the road, her car was a discreet dark blue and unless you saw the number plates, the GB sticker or the right hand drive it blended in with the local traffic. In the open countryside they could remain along way behind and still have a very clear view of the red truck heading down the long, gentle hill in front of them.

"When he gets near to the lake he could get lost in all those woods." volunteered John.

“I don't think so," snapped Mary quickly. "The road through the woods is very straight and we will see him turn off from a long way back."

The driver seemed to have no awareness of being followed as he gave a clear signal with his indicator that he was about to leave the main road. He drove quickly through the woods on a small track. Mary pulled up and stopped where the track left the main road.

"It goes down to the side of the lake. There is a boat and windsurfer hire centre down on the shore and a little café. It is all shut up at this time of year. There is a big parking area and picnic site in amongst the trees on the shore. If we wait a moment then we can go down and park some way away from him then follow him on foot. This is a one way track. He can only drive straight down to the end and then come straight back. The centre and picnic site are by the end of the dam. There is no chance he is cutting through anywhere."

"Don't get too carried away with this playing spies stuff. People in spy films have guns and they go bang and people fall over dead. And in real life that hurts. If this guy is a real bad guy he might have a real gun.

"We are tourists in a tourist picnic site. The fact that we are here at the same time as him is not something that will make him suspicious. He knows we are in the area. Why should he worry about seeing us. I reckon that he is here for a clandestine meeting. Perhaps he is going to see Mr Big, some international criminal or drug dealer. We are only a short distance from the frontier with Spain and Andorra. Its the sort of remote spot that they'd choose."

"Your fertile imagination is running away with you Mary. Spain is in the EC too and there are no border controls these days. He has probably come down here to eat his lunch sitting by the lake. Maybe even he has got a girl friend. Perhaps he is having an affair with someone he can't meet in the village. No there's a thought. How about him and Edouard's wife."

Mary burst out laughing. "Now who has an overactive imagination? Priests are not supposed to suggest things like that!"

"The Parish Priest is one person in a local community more than anyone else who knows all the gossip. And the frustrating thing is that they are not allowed to share it with a living soul. Their vantage point often means that they can see situations and relationships that will explode long before they do but the seal of the confessional means they are powerless to do anything openly about it. And so we have many priests involved in Machiavellian manipulation, political intrigue, dropping whispers in the right ears and generally interfering while at the same time denying they do anything of the sort. That was partly why I went into counselling. There we do not pretend to have absolute confidentiality. We have to be supervised and all our cases have to be discussed with our supervisors. It helps us keep things in proportions."

"What did your supervisor make of Kate?" asked Mary.

"Ouch" exclaimed John, "You are quick to spot and penetrate humbug."

He remained silent, wondering if he had really kidded even himself that he was so good that he could work the system to ensure that he was always appeared in the right. Brenden and Josie had been his supervisors. They had asked penetrating questions about where he was going in his sessions with Kate. But it had become almost a game to tell them the complete truth as far as possible but never really let them know what was going on behind those closed doors. A new thought then struck him. Would Mary ever trust him if he had so blatantly admitted to being unable to be honest in the past.

They drove slowly down the narrow track through the trees towards the waters edge. It was some time before they could see the lake but soon the woodland opened out and they could see the picnic area on the shore. The red vehicle was nowhere in sight. They arrived at the deserted shop and windsurfing centre and Mary stopped the car. The debris from the end of last season was all around but no attempt had been made to start sorting things out for the coming summer season. There were a few parked cars, all deserted by their owners who were probably on walks around the lake.

"Where can he have gone?" mused Mary. She restarted the car and drove on, the track continuing past the picnic site and swinging round towards some thicker bushes. Mary pulled the car off the edge of the track onto the grass, switched off the engine and said "I think we should now walk."

"Have you any idea where he is or where we are going?" asked John incredulously. "We lose him and you park on the grass in the middle of a wood and say we now walk!"

"I've been here before. The end of the track is just round this corner. There is a metal gate across the road to stop you driving any further as the track continues over the dam. No cars are allowed to drive on the dam without permission. It is just for walkers. At least that is what the notice read last time I was here."

They got out and Mary led them into the bushes. They pushed their way through some thick undergrowth and came out at the other side of the thicket looking at the scene that Mary had been describing. There was the red and white painted metal gate across the road as Mary had predicted and parked right up against it was the vehicle they had been following. The driver was sitting in his seat finishing smoking a cigarette. There was no one else in sight. They crouched down in the bushes. They were 20 yards away from the truck at the edge of the cover. In front of them was open grassland covered with dead leaves.

"We can't get any closer without him seeing us." said Mary, a note of clear disappointment in her voice.

"Why should we want to?" asked John. "I could crawl up on my hands and knees if you like and sniff his cigarette ash to see if we can see which brand he uses. Or I could just jump up an walk across and say `hi, its a nice day to be in the country. What are you doing here old chap!' I guess he is having trouble with his girlfriend and he has come down here to get away from it all and think things over by himself".

Mary lashed out and slapped him across his bare arm.

"That hurt!" he said, managing with difficulty not to raise his voice above a whisper.

"It serves you right. I sometimes wonder if you take me seriously. Cynicism is all right up to a point and even sometimes quite humorous, but some can go too far. You are near the limit."

"I take you seriously when you are doing serious things but this.. I mean, squatting down behind a bush watching a man smoke a cigarette is bizarre."

"Bizarre it may be but look over there." she pointed across to the dam. Two figures were walking quickly across the dam towards the parked truck.

"Girlfriend trouble huh!"

"Sorry Mary" muttered John sheepishly. How far he wondered had he been taking it out on Mary because of the way he was feeling about himself.

As the two men come closer they thought that they recognised them.

"Are they are travellers from the campsite." Asked John, staring hard at the newcomers. "They look very like the two who went over to the car that drove up late last night to sell cannabis. What was it Mark said their names were?"

"Leon and... no I can't remember the other."

They were carrying a large blue canvas hold-all between them. As Leon and his friend came to within a few yards of the truck, the door was opened and Edouard's assistant got out. He slammed the door shut behind him, extinguished his cigarette under his foot, and climbed across the barrier onto the private road. In just a few strides the three men were standing together on the top of the dam.

"I wish I could lip read," whispered Mary. "There is no way we can see anything except their body language from this distance."

As soon as the three men grouped together an animated conversation began. Mary and John watched for signals as to the topics of covered but although there was some arm waving and what looked like some strong bargaining, they heard nothing. After a lengthy discussion, one of the travellers opened the blue hold-all and lifted out a roll of maps and a small fawn coloured case.

"My stolen maps and laptop computer" burst out Mary, barely remembering to speak in a whisper and seized by a sudden urge to do something but, at the same time, frozen to the spot and unable to make a move. "How I wish we were closer and could hear what they are saying."

"Unfortunately this is real life and our cover ends her. If there were a hedge running along we could risk crawling along behind it but if want to remain hidden we have to stay here. Mary, I am really sorry I mocked.”

She turned and flashed a quick smile at John. "Forgiven," she said. "Look he is getting out his wallet." It looked as if a deal had been struck. He pulled out a fat wallet from the pocket of his jeans and was counting out a pile of notes to the man with the bag. When Leon had the cash safely in his hand he let go of his grip on the blue hold-all.

The transaction was not yet over. Edouard's assistant had something else to ask Leon and his friend. From the look on their faces and their body language they could see that the two were not keen on the proposal. There was again a fairly lengthy discussion but eventually it ended with some more notes being counted out.

There were no handshakes to acknowledge the deal. The driver turned and quickly made his way back to his vehicle. He started the engine immediately, and revving noisily, he turned, sending gravel from the roadside flying in the air and drove at speed away from the scene. John and Mary remained crouching in the bushes.

"At that speed he wouldn't have even seen your car tucked away round the corner" mused John.

"The danger of being discovered is not from that quarter" whispered Mary urgently, motioning John to crouch even lower. He saw through the leaves that Leon and his friend were not going to return across the dam but were walking towards them. They were cutting the corner off the track and their new route would bring them very close to the bushes where John and Mary were hiding.

They could not move without being spotted. And if they stayed still the two would walk with a couple of yards of them and would be sure to see them. John suddenly had an idea. He reached across to Mary and pulled his arm round her so that he was holding her close and at the same time covered her mouth with his lips. Moving round as he did so he ensured that the back of his head was all that would show to the passing walkers. Mary wriggled but almost immediately understood the plan. They were in France and people would never stare twice at a couple in the bushes if they were behaving as couples in bushes were expected to behave.