Murder on Brittany Shores (11 page)

‘Bonjour, Madame Nuz, Commissaire Georges Dupin from the Commissariat de Police, Concarneau.'

He hadn't meant to be so formal. Solenn Nuz smiled anyway, a big, open smile. She was a beautiful woman, he had to agree with Nolwenn there. And it would actually have been hard for him to guess her age.

‘I know.'

Dupin had of course known that she knew.

‘We are about to investigate what happened to the three men whose bodies were washed up on Le Loc'h this morning.'

‘I know.'

‘You also know who they are then?'

‘Lucas Lefort. And probably Yannig Konan. They were here together yesterday evening. They're often out together. Mostly on Konan's boat. But in fact only ever the two of them. Do you know who the third person is yet?'

Solenn Nuz spoke in a very familiar way, as if they already knew each other.

‘No, we don't know yet. I had hoped you might be able to help us. Was it just the two of them, Monsieur Lefort and Monsieur Konan, the whole evening? Was nobody with them?'

‘I saw them talking to a few people. But in an evening here almost everyone speaks to everyone else once. At the bar. At the tables. Also, because you always fetch your own orders, there's always a lot of commotion.'

Solenn Nuz gave him a meaningful look.

‘Lucas Lefort was interested in very young women and there are a huge number of them here during the season. The sailing courses. You understand.'

‘I understand. But did Monsieur Lefort not a “steady” girlfriend recently?'

Solenn Nuz cast the Commissaire an amused look. It was clear that she would not answer this ludicrous question.

It took Dupin a moment.

‘What's really important is this: was there someone who was recognisably a part of their group? Who came or left with them?'

‘No. Definitely not.'

‘Can you tell me the time span the two of them stayed at your bar?'

‘I think from about seven to nine. Thereabouts. In the evenings things really kick off at around six. And we close at one. But a storm started up last night. Anyone who still wanted to get back made a move quite quickly. So a bit before nine. The two of them left then too. They were amongst the last to get going, if I'm not mistaken. But you should speak to my daughters again. And to other customers. There was a lot to do yesterday evening.'

‘Was it as full as today?'

‘It was pandemonium.'

Dupin estimated there were about thirty people there that day. There wasn't room for many more.

‘The annexe isn't open in the evenings?'

‘There's a terrible draught. And there's no heating. It's just something for during the day. For the height of summer. We have plans to change that by doing a bit of renovating,' she said, an open laugh crossing her face again, ‘but it's going to be a while. The bureacracy…'

‘Did you speak to Monsieur Lefort and Konan yourself, did they say anything to you?'

Dupin had to make an effort the whole time to speak quite loudly. Solwenn Nuz, it was clear, did this as a matter of habit.

‘No. I didn't speak to either of them. I didn't speak to anyone for very long yesterday, a few words here and there.'

‘Were Konan and Lefort here often?'

‘Lefort was here regularly and Konan came maybe every third or fourth weekend. Konan was rarely here on his own, once or twice a year perhaps.'

‘Who did the two of them speak to? Maybe they told someone what they had planned.'

Solenn Nuz reflected for a moment.

‘I'm sure I wasn't aware of everything. I'm constantly in the kitchen. Sometimes for long stretches too.'

She made a curt gesture with her head towards the passageway behind her.

‘Lefort with a young woman. A sailing school student probably. That was right at the beginning and, I think, again at the end. Also with Maela Menez briefly, as far as I could see. Muriel Lefort's assistant. His sister, the head of the sailing school.'

‘I'm aware.'

Dupin had fished out his notepad, placed it on the counter along with the bic and begun to make notes in his notoriously idiosyncratic style, which made the pages into a kind of chaotic work of art.

‘In theory, Maela Menez is Lucas' assistant too, but Muriel handles the sailing school's affairs, not her brother. Maela is accompanying Muriel to the pathologist on the mainland as we speak.'

When Solenn Nuz said ‘mainland', it sounded like she was speaking about a continent far away. But it had seemed that way to Dupin all day too.

‘Does anyone else come to mind?'

‘They were sitting in the corner then. The new mayor of Fouesnant, Monsieur Du Marhallac'h, was sitting at the table directly beside theirs. I think they chatted too.'

‘Du Marc…?'

‘Du Marhallac'h. It's simple.'

She of course pronounced the tongue-twister without any trouble.

‘During the season, he's also out here almost every weekend, a keen angler. That's how it is – during the day they're at sea and on their boats, in the evenings at my bar. He's here this evening too. He's sitting over there. At the same table as yesterday.'

She pointed openly at an unremarkable, middle-aged man at the other end of the room, who was clearly having a heated conversation with another man. The affable old sailor from midday was now sitting right next to him, this time without a newspaper, but alone as before.

‘Yes, we have a series of regulars here in the
Quatre Vents.
'

She said this last sentence with undisguised pride. It was clear she knew her customers. Knew them well.

‘Half of our world here is absolutely familiar, the other half is made up of participants on the sailing and diving courses and the tourists who come to go boating, fishing or snorkelling.'

‘Do you remember Lefort and Konan speaking to anyone else?'

‘Konan also spoke to Kilian Tanguy. A member of the diving club. An amateur archaeologist. And to his wife. He was standing at their table, I don't know how long for.'

‘Monsieur Tanguy was here yesterday evening too?'

‘Oh yes, with his wife. Lily. They're practically always out here in good weather. And we had a fantastic weekend. The loveliest of the season so far. Like today. And then the severe storm came. But even that's normal. – I think that's as much as I can remember off the top of my head. But I'll have another think. And I'll ask my daughters.'

‘Thanks very much, Madame Nuz. This is really important. We will speak to all of these people soon. From that we really might learn something that will help us make progress. Did you know Monsieur Lefort well?'

‘We didn't have much to do with each other. Even though I've known him a long time. I've been living on the islands for ten years now. And I used to come here a lot, even before that.'

‘Incidentally, who is the old man sitting next to Marcha … sitting next to the mayor.'

Dupin had asked the question out of sheer curiosity.

‘That's Pascal, my father-in-law,' she responded with great warmth in her voice. ‘He was here yesterday evening too. He's always here. He lives with us. Has done for some years now. Since my mother-in-law died.'

There really were quite a few conversations to be had now. Dupin was annoyed not to have brought Riwal or Kadeg with him. Madame Nuz watched him.

With the noise level, Dupin could only hear it faintly, but his mobile was ringing.

Savoir again.

‘Where are you, Monsieur le Commissaire?'

The noise of the bar was of course audible, even at the other end of the line.

‘One moment. I'm going outside.'

Reluctantly, Dupin stepped outside.

‘You want to tell me that the third man drowned, like the two others?'

It sounded more sarcastic that he'd intended. Investigating the death was the right thing to do.

‘The serum is headed towards pink. The blood is already slightly haemolytic, the corpuscles have begun to dissolve. That means that the detectable substances have already diminished somewhat, it…'

‘Savoir, what are you saying?'

‘Benzodiazepines. Benzodiazepines can be detected in the blood serum in a reasonably significant concentration.'

‘What does that mean?'

‘I had the toxicology tests done using high-pressure as a quick method. Normally…'

Dupin raised his voice.

‘I want to know what that means!'

‘Benzodiazepines were detected in Lefort's blood. They're a group of strong sedatives. You'll know Valium. Or Lexotanil. Another twenty-four hours and and it would no longer have been possible to detect, the corpuscles would have been…'

‘What? He had what?'

It had not been a proper question.

‘He had a not insignificant amount of benzodiazepines…'

‘I understood.'

Dupin stood as though rooted to the spot. Savoir took up the thread again.

‘I don't think he took that kind of dosage intentionally, he would have had to know how that ends, in combination with the alcohol that we could detect…'

‘Was it a lethal dosage?'

‘As I said: he died by drowning. But the dosage was undoubtedly high enough to produce severe disorientation and a serious loss of coordination. And that definitely has considerable consequences if you have to handle a delicate navigation by boat with an impending storm.

‘How severe do you think the effect was?'

‘It's hard to say. It depends on too many factors and the exact amount of benzodiazepines in the blood can no longer be determined. The only thing that can be said is that it was considerable and definitely manifested itself in the symptoms I just mentioned. And as I said: you must take into account the additional alcohol consumed in no small quantity, it was a good 1.5 millimetres…'

Dupin had not really been listening during Savoir's last few sentences.

It was murder. They were dealing with a murder!

‘Bloody hell.'

‘Excuse me?'

Dupin rushed to try and get his thoughts in order.

‘Have you analysed all three of the men's blood?'

‘We could detect benzodiazepines in Monsieur Lefort and Monsieur Konan, that alone makes an accidental misuse unlikely. We couldn't detect anything in the blood serum of the third dead man.'

Dupin's thoughts were racing. In all directions.

‘How long do these drugs take to work? I mean, after taking them: how long before an effect occurs that you really feel?'

‘Half an hour. Not longer. But then things go quite fast. At first you just feel a bit odd.'

‘Can these substances be dissolved in liquids? In drinks, I mean?'

‘Very easily. They dissolve quickly. You can dissolve them in a small amount of liquid and add them to something else without any difficulty – food or drink for instance, neither would be a problem. You can't taste it.'

It was a cunning murder, carefully thought through.

‘Can you comment on the time of death yet?'

‘No, and it won't happen quickly either. Can you narrow down the timings from your end yet?'

‘At the moment I would say that the boat might have capsized after around quarter past nine yesterday evening. And probably not later than quarter to ten or ten o'clock. But please keep this new information to yourself for now, Docteur Savoir.'

‘As you wish.'

‘Thank you, Docteur.'

Dupin hadn't moved an inch. He was staring motionless at the staunchly majestic chamber lying there and at Fort Cigogne opposite. Everything was exactly as it had been a few minutes ago. But for him and for the case, everything had changed. Dramatically. Dupin broke away and walked towards the beach. He felt slightly dizzy. Mechanically, he felt about for his phone.

‘Monsieur le Commissaire, good to…'

‘It was murder.'

‘Excuse me?'

Nolwenn's ‘Excuse me?' came very softly.

‘I need Riwal and Kadeg. I want to see the two of them here as quickly as possible. But don't say anything about the new situation yet. I want it to stay between us for the time being.'

There was no specific reason for this, it was essentially Dupin's way of keeping some things back for now. To have everything under control.

‘I will have to inform the Prefect immediately – urgently and on your behalf.'

That was unfortunately true, there was nothing for it.

‘All right, good.'

Dupin almost hung up. But Nolwenn needed some more information. For the Prefect, but especially because it was always good when Nolwenn was up to speed.

‘Somebody administered a large dose of valium or something similar, benzodiazepines, to Konan and Lefort, presumably here in the
Quatre Vents,
probably some time between half eight and a little before nine, enough to result in severe coordination difficulties relatively quickly, which would explain a shipwreck. At Guiautec, on the edge of the chamber, a diver discovered a sunken boat. We must establish as quickly as possible who it's registered to. Then we'll have the third man.'

‘And were there no benzodiazepines present in the third man's blood?'

‘No.'

‘Then Lefort or Konan must have been steering the boat. But why wasn't the third man, who owned it, doing that? If one of the two had noticed that they were coming over strange, wouldn't they have been able to hand the steering over?'

That was a good question.

‘That … no idea. They were probably the insured sailors, especially Lefort of course – Lefort knew every rock here. They had already seen the storm looming. And then the drugs quickly started to take effect. And on top of that they had been drinking and we're not talking a small amount. People overestimate themselves even more when they've been drinking.'

He thought it sounded plausible to a certain extent, this on-the-spot improvisation of his. Even though it was pure speculation.