Capcir Spring (24 page)

"At dawn, while you my dear Mark were fast asleep, I set out across the hills to the old ruined chapel. It only takes about half an hour if you now the tracks through the forest. But although I was there very early I was not the first to arrive. A large Spanish Land Rover had already parked near the ruin and two surveyors were fiddling around with some fancy, modern looking surveying equipment. I watched from the bushes, eager to learn what I could about what was going on. They were speaking Spanish with a rough Barcelona accent and it was a little difficult to follow but it seems that they had a job to do and one was more sure than the other that they were in the right place. I crept through the bushes until I was only a few metres from them. But however close I dared go I could not get close enough to see the plans that they kept unrolling and rolling up again to properly locate themselves. From what I could hear and see they were trying to orientate the map to the local landscape so that they can plot on the ground the precise measurements and gradients of the draft ideas on their sketch plan. The ruin was a crucial part as it is the point of reference for them and the sketch plan was based somehow around this.

"But I realised that I would have to get closer. This was perhaps my only chance to find out what was really going on. I watched carefully and after a little while they rolled up the sheaf of plans and put them in the back of the Land Rover and took the surveying equipment and large clipboards over to the ruin. Then they went over to the side of the valley, making notes and tramping down the grass and hammering in little wooden pegs all over the place. I was fuming at the desecration of the sacred space, but I have learnt about self discipline so I stayed calm and cool. But this was very difficult as it felt as if they are doing something unpleasant to a part of me and my natural reaction was to rush out and use any way I could to remove them.

"But they then seemed to have got themselves properly orientated and they headed head off up the valley striking out and up the hill side through the woods away from the track.

"This was my chance. I crept up to the vehicle, scanning the valley all the while to make sure they weren't returning. I hadn't seen them lock the back with a key but them it might have central locking so they only had to do the drivers door. But no. Luck was with me. The back door was unlocked. I climbed in and knelt in the luggage area and opened the roll of plans. It took some time to work out what they were all about because the sketches were very rough and annotated in tiny Spanish script. But eventually I got clear picture of what it was all about."

"But then I looked up and saw the two Spaniards were heading back towards the vehicle, along the track. They must have cut round from the woods. I couldn't get out now without them seeing me as the back door of the Land Rover was in their line of vision. I crouched down in amongst the junk, timber pegs, spades and wires strewn across the luggage space floor. I realised that if they didn't come too close they wouldn't see me. I reached forward and pulled up the catches to unlock the drivers and passenger door. I was half forming in my mind a plan to roll over the seat and out of the front door while they came to the back and be away in the bushes before they would see what had happened. My heart was beating very fast. Which side would they come to. They knew they had left the back open. But now that the front doors were unlocked I would have to make a split second decision, vault over the bench front seat and leap out of the front door and run for it if they opened the back. Perhaps though they would return to the front then I would just have to kick the back open from where I had pulled it to behind me and run. I had various plans for escape rushing through my head. But I knew that the most important thing would be if I could manage to slip away unnoticed. I knew that it was important that they didn't know that I knew what their plans were. I didn't want their bosses knowing yet that I knew all about the project. I must have a head start on them if I was going to be able to put into action the plan that was forming in the back of my mind. They come up towards the Land Rover but didn't come to it. They carried on past. Something had caught their attention.

"I decided to risk popping my head up and looking around. They had walked right past the vehicle and were now standing about twenty metres in front talking together and looking down the path towards the village. Then a strange and for me miraculous thing happened. They picked up a box that they had left on the grass and between them carried it back up the hill where they had just come down. This was my chance and I edged backwards and pushed back the Land Rover rear door slowly and quietly and then I dropped silently onto the ground. I eased the door slowly and silently closed, worried that it might make a loud click but there was no sound and then with a skip and a jump I was back again inside the bushes.

"Immediately I regretted that I had not brought one of the sketch plans out with me but I knew that I had to be sure that they thought the project was still secret. I watched you two, John and Mary come into the valley shortly afterwards but I didn't have time to risk having a word with you without being seen. I wish that I had had some way of warning you or getting a message to you but I had left my car in the village and I knew I had a long way to go and a great many things to do. I wondered what you would make of their activities. I didn't even know if you would be able to understand them. I found that as I looked round the valley I could begin to picture the nightmare of those plans in my mind so I headed off at double speed through the woods taking the direct route to the village where I had left my car. My mind was now set on one thing. I had to cause the biggest stir that ever had been seen in this sleepy valley. It was as if I had effected a sudden inner transformation. I now had a mission. I was a campaigning environmental activist and self righteous part time employee of the ADDSN. And I had lots to do!"

"I drove at breakneck speed, much faster than my poor old Citroen is used to, down to Prades, the regional office of ADDSN. There I spent the rest of day on the telephone. My intention was to throw so many stones as I could into the pool so that the ripples wouldn't die down for a fortnight. I worked my way systematically through our official departmental phone book and then I started on my personal contact book of people in various organisations who owed me a favour. I spoke to the forestry department, my head office in Paris, The National department for protecting ancient monuments, and the local history and conservation societies, and the history and archaeology departments of the Universities of the Midi. I also contacted several journalists and environmental campaigners I know. I called in a favour too with an investigative reporter from the regional early morning television news show. Tomorrow there will be such a commotion that Les Angles won't know what has hit it."

John, Mary and Mark had listened without interrupting as Andre related his days activities but they were now all bursting to know what he had failed to tell them. Mary could barely hold herself back as she asked the question on all their lips. "Andre, what is going on?"

Andre took another long slug from his beer bottle before he replied. John admired Andre's sense of timing. He should have been on the stage.

"It is an ambitious development scheme for restoration of chapel and other ruins to make a large stone chalet restaurant. The flat site round the chapel will be mostly a car park. The side of the valley, where those two surveyors were putting in their pegs today, will be opened up by a new chair lift and the creation of two new ski runs to link this new centre in with the whole ski lift system of this mountain. The chapel will be lost, turned into a stone chalet restaurant. The valley of peace destroyed. The cross country ski routes destroyed. And all so that. Mr Edouard's business empire will become even bigger. I don't know what ends he will go to get this scheme through, but none of the authorities had been consulted. Even though he is a very important local man there is a mass of red tape and procedures that will have to be gone through. Perhaps he thought that if he presented the final scheme with the backing of the local people he would have a good chance of getting all the necessary approvals. Certainly this areas lives from tourism. Before the area was developed it was a very poor farming and forestry area. The locals have tasted wealth and some of them are greedy for lots more. And I expect many of the locals would see the prospect of new jobs as very important. And if you have the money and know the right people you can usually get what you want wherever you want it. Little things like lady archaeologists who want to preserve a ruin on his development site and Nordic ski representatives are a threat to him and he will not be over concerned about what happens to us."

So I'm a threat to him thought Mary and shuddered. She went cold. Hadn't James said something similar to her. He saw her as a threat. The silly games of playing detectives that she had been fooling around with earlier that very afternoon now made her flesh creep. John looked tall, strong and protective at her side. He said "I'll stay beside you and keep an eye on you until you leave here".

"Thank goodness I'm planning to be away from here tomorrow" she added looking up at John appreciatively. John for his part was feeling very protective and as he looked down on her he was almost over come by a swoon of affection. Years of training taught him to keep it hidden and act normally.

Mary told Andre what had happened that afternoon and how the two from the camp had been involved with Edouard in the burglary. She added that she was now convinced that they were plotting something against either herself or Andre. Then she asked Andre directly,

"Have you any reasons to be suspicious of those two fellow travellers of yours?"

"I accept that they are druggies and probably have been involved in some small time criminal activities, if you'll excuse me referring to your burglary as that, but I don't see them as any kind of threat. Edouard and his assistant will use people like that for their running around and little dirty jobs but they'll not be in on anything important. I have known the two for several months. They came originally from Toulouse and we share some common acquaintances. On the fringes of legality and society they may be but if you dig around an encampment like this you'll find all sorts."

Mary was not convinced but though she tried again to get Andre to share her concerns, especially for his own safety but his laid back, dismissive approach made her give up.

"So what now?" asked John.

"I think we all need a good nights sleep." suggested Andre. "Mary, the people from the local history society and the universities and the department for ancient monuments will all want to speak to you so I've told them where to find you."

"But I've moved. I'm staying at John's chalet for my last night here as my lease expired today."

Andre cast a swift sidelong glance at Mark as if confirming some earlier private conversation and then said,

"Don't worry, I didn't know your address so I gave them all the address of the flat lettings agency."

"And of course I told them where I could be contacted for the remainder of my stay here."

"And perhaps you will be able to stay for a few more days if these people want to discuss in detail your research findings. It is all important evidence in the case for the preservation of the valley."

Mary grunted non-committally. "Perhaps " she said.

"Come on now" said John, "I'm preparing you a meal tonight!"

They left the camp together, and as they are driving off they noticed. Mark starting preparations by the camp fire. He must have cooking duties that evening too.

John's chalet seemed a haven of peace and normality after the excitement of the day. John was tired and so prepared a much simpler meal of pasta and the contents of a tin than the special casserole that he had been planning. But he opened a bottle of the best wine that he could find in the local supermarket.

"It's amazing to think that this may be my last night here." Mary mused over the wine. "We seem to have got into a comfortable routine together. I'm going to miss this place and I am going to miss you."

"How do you know I won't try and hitch a lift back to England with you?"

She smiled. "It is going to be a long lonely drive." Somehow she was hoping that this would not be the end and she sensed that he felt the same. They spoke little, enjoying the simple pleasure of being in one another's company. They both realised that they felt at peace together. Yet at the same time both understood that they each had deep underlying insecurities and concerns as to how far it is safe for their relationship to go. But also in each of them was a longing for companionship born out of loneliness. They each realised that in the other they had discovered something creative and stimulating but they were both unsure as to the way forward.

As they were scraping the last ice cream from their dishes, a frantic knocking on the door disturbed their mostly silent communion with each other.

John opened the door cautiously. It was Mark. He entered, breathless and perspiring heavily from running up the hill to the chalet. He was and in a state of panic. He was so breathless and agitated that it was some minutes before they had calmed him down enough to get any coherent words out of him.