The Châtelet Apprentice (35 page)

He turned towards the fireplace where only Sanson's shadow could be seen.

‘… has given a learned demonstration of how, far from being stabbed, the doctor was in fact poisoned and then suffocated with a cushion. Of that we are certain. But who could have wanted Descart dead?'

He went up to Semacgus, who was looking down at the floor.

‘You, Doctor. You were Descart's exact opposite. Your way of life and your outspokenness were in contrast to his hypocritical piety. You may argue that those are not grounds for
killing him. But in addition to this there was your professional rivalry. You belonged to opposing schools of thought and we know how much hatred such quarrels can generate. Besides this, Descart threatened your interests. You were at risk of being banned from the medical profession as you were only a navy surgeon. Your whole life would have been turned upside down. What is more, you were rivals for what convention forces me to call Louise Lardin's affection. He had caught you with her. I know very well that you claim to have discovered the body but there is nothing to prove that you didn't arrive a few moments earlier and commit the crime. You returned home leaving time for your small-footed accomplice to … let's say … set up the scene.'

Monsieur de Sartine let out a little sigh of relief.

‘Your constant lies do not help your cause, Semacgus,' Nicolas continued. ‘You are a suspect but too many
assumptions
crowd out the truth. Everything points to your guilt. However, in this
mise en scène
there are many reminders of the still life laid out in Montfaucon. The truth resides perhaps in a hidden lie.'

Semacgus was unable to control the twitching of one of his eyelids.

‘Luckily for you there is this invitation from Dr Descart, which on reflection has no justification. It's a torn-off scrap of paper, undated and unsigned and with no address, which arrived at your house in very odd circumstances. I am not saying it's a forgery; there is no doubt it is in the doctor's handwriting. But I maintain that it is a part of a letter sent by Descart to his mistress Louise Lardin, the contents of which have been misused to invite Dr Semacgus to the house in Vaugirard. That means, Monsieur,
that I accuse Madame Lardin of the murder of her cousin Descart.'

‘I have no doubt, Monsieur Le Floch,' said Sartine, ‘that you will immediately back up this bold statement with conclusive proof, as you are moving very quickly from one culprit to another …'

‘Nothing could be simpler, indeed. Why is Louise Lardin a suspect in her cousin's murder? Let us think it through with her. I am convinced that the plot at the Dauphin Couronné was prepared and hatched by Lardin with his wife's full agreement. But the commissioner was unaware of something that Louise Lardin had discovered by chance. I deserve no credit for finding it out because all I needed to do was put some pressure on Master Duport who was, I should emphasise, both Lardin's and Descart's notary. He told me that he had informed Madame Lardin – though he immediately regretted doing so, given her reaction – that her cousin Descart had just drawn up a will that left his estate to Mademoiselle Marie Lardin. I do not believe that this piece of information was passed on to the commissioner. On the other hand it gradually took over Louise Lardin's mind and gave rise to a diabolical idea: getting rid at a stroke of a husband she despised and a cousin she loathed. She would help the commissioner make his disappearance plausible in order to murder him more easily. At the same time she would implicate Semacgus in a killing of which he was innocent. Descart had to be disposed of because ultimately there was nothing to guarantee that he would be accused of the commissioner's murder. There were too many unknown factors. Lastly, in an ever more vicious attempt to confuse matters, Louise Lardin had worn her stepdaughter's shoes when she went to Vaugirard. As she has
bigger feet she walked awkwardly, a fact noted by a police spy who saw her leave Descart's house after she had ransacked it to find …'

Monsieur de Sartine began to cough. Nicolas stopped himself in time.

‘To find … the will. What was the point, you may ask, of going to so much trouble? She needed to have some escape routes. Should the situation become dangerous for her, the accusation could be turned on Marie Lardin, the new heiress. Once Descart had been eliminated Commissioner Lardin's daughter had to be got rid of at all costs. That was why she was drugged and then abducted and taken to the Dauphin Couronné, destined for a vile trade that would dishonour her and ensure that she was never heard of again. At that point Louise Lardin, the grieving widow and distraught stepmother, would reap the rewards of her crime, entering into Descart's inheritance and disappearing with her favourite lover, the blackguard Mauval.'

Louise Lardin rose to her feet. Concerned about her intentions, Bourdeau approached her.

‘I protest!' she exclaimed. ‘I protest against the abominable accusations of this Le Floch fellow. I am innocent of the crime. I had the misfortune to have lovers. That much I admit. But I killed neither my husband nor my cousin. I have already told Monsieur Le Floch that the commissioner was killed by Dr Semacgus during a struggle after my husband had found us together on the morning of Saturday 3 February. My only mistake was to give in to his pleas to conceal the body Monsieur Le Floch found in the cellars of my house.'

‘It is quite natural for the accused to protest their innocence,' Nicolas continued unperturbed. ‘But I hadn't finished my
demonstration and we need to go back over the details of the commissioner's death. It so happens that Louise Lardin displayed, one after the other, two contradictory attitudes to her husband's disappearance. First she played the role of the loving and worried wife, then, in the second stage she showed the cynicism of a courtesan now free to boast of her debauchery and to admit her estrangement from a husband she despised. The second attitude was a response to suspicions that had arisen as a result of the investigation. She had to face up to them. In doing so she deflected these same suspicions, which then became difficult to sustain against a woman capable of such frankness. We find once again this evil intelligence at work, this making use of the facts to render them meaningless. So what did Commissioner Lardin really die of? Monsieur de Sartine, with your permission I would like to question the man best placed to enlighten us.'

He pointed towards Sanson. Monsieur de Sartine signalled his agreement and the executioner appeared in the flickering torchlight. Of those present, only Semacgus and Bourdeau knew what lay beneath the exterior of this very ordinary-looking man, whom Nicolas avoided calling by name.

‘Monsieur,' he asked, ‘what did Commissioner Lardin die of?'

‘Carrying out a post-mortem on his body provided clear proof that he died of arsenic poisoning,' stated Sanson. ‘Dead rats found near the body had perished in the same way after feeding on him. The details of the post-mortem …'

‘Spare us the details,' said Sartine.

‘Might the substance employed,' Nicolas continued, ‘be the same as that used for Descart's murder?'

‘Exactly the same.'

‘In your opinion, for how long had Commissioner Lardin been dead?'

‘Given the state of the body and the place where it lay, it's difficult to give an answer. However, I think the body had been there for more than a week.'

‘Thank you, Monsieur.'

Sanson bowed and went back into the shadows. Nicolas turned towards the Lardins' cook.

‘Catherine, were there rats in Rue des Blancs-Manteaux?'

‘You know very well there were, Monsieur Nicolas. A real plague. I never stopped trying to get rid of them.'

‘With what means?'

‘I had a jar of arsenic.'

‘Where was it?'

‘In the pantry.'

‘It is not there any more. It would be a very odd sort of struggle between a deceived husband and his wife's lover that ends in poison being swallowed. What Madame Lardin has told us is not credible. Her husband was poisoned as a result of a carefully hatched plot, for plot it was from the very beginning, as I shall now prove.'

Monsieur de Sartine had gone back to his armchair and, cupping his chin, was staring admiringly at the young man fired up by his demonstration.

‘There was a plot, as I say,' Nicolas continued, raising his voice. ‘I assert that Mauval, Louise Lardin's lover, was given the task of recruiting the two blackguards who were to slit
Saint-Louis's
throat. He arranged a meeting between them and those behind this plot on the building site of Place Louis XV. There
they were to meet three people wearing masks and black satin capes. Carnival provides useful opportunities … Master Vachon, your tailor, Lieutenant General, but also Lardin's, made four black capes for him to order. But let us do our sums. At the Dauphin Couronné Semacgus was, on an evening such as this during Carnival, already wearing a mask. Lardin, also in a mask and cape, makes one. Descart wore a mask and cape – the one La Paulet sent him, along with the invitation – and that makes two. What about the other two? One for Mauval makes three. And the other for Louise Lardin, four.'

Louise Lardin got up, foaming at the mouth, and started yelling.

‘You're lying, you bastard. Prove it.'

‘A strange request from someone who's supposed to be innocent, but there's no point in shouting. I shall prove it. Let us examine the sequence of events that evening. At around ten o'clock Rapace and Bricart were waiting at Place Louis XV with a cart and two barrels. Soon after that three masked strangers joined them. Instructions were given and an advance on the reward was paid. They were driven to Rue du Faubourg-
Saint-Honoré,
near the Dauphin Couronné. A carriage arrived shortly before midnight. Semacgus went into the brothel. This is when his coachman, Saint-Louis, was lured into a trap and stabbed. The two accomplices cut up the body beside the river and put the pieces into the two barrels. When questioned the two criminals tried to claim that it was Lardin who had just been killed. However, at midnight Semacgus, Lardin and Descart were together. We now know when Lardin was killed and, in addition, the exact time at which Saint-Louis died. His watch, which was broken in the struggle, was found in Rapace's pocket.
It had stopped at four minutes past midnight. Between a quarter past midnight and one o'clock in the morning Descart, Lardin and finally Semacgus left the Dauphin Couronné. Lardin was the first to arrive back at Rue des Blancs-Manteaux. He was the second victim of the plot after Saint-Louis
.
He was poisoned by his wife and Mauval, who had hurriedly returned from Place Louis XV. His body was put in a secret underground passage where it would be eaten by rats and quickly become
unrecognisable.
A few days later some game was hung in the cellar to cover up the suspicious smell. Everything was then done to make life impossible for the cook, Catherine Gauss, who might have suspected something. Marie Lardin would be abducted and I myself, the lodger, would naturally be thrown out of the house. Yes, there was a plot and I maintain and uphold my accusations against Louise Lardin.'

Louise looked him up and down contemptuously. Then she turned towards Sartine.

‘I appeal to you, Monsieur. None of this is true. Let me be shown the proof as promised.'

‘So be it, Madame. You want the proof, but I've got something much better than that – a witness. You remember the meeting arranged at the building site of Place Louis XV and those two men with whom you negotiated the gruesome murder of an innocent man. Remember the storm that was brewing that evening, with westerly gusts heralding that snow would come in the night. You cannot have forgotten that one of those gusts undid your hair and almost tore off the mask covering your face, revealing enough at least for one of the men in question to remember your features. In some situations details imprint themselves on the memories of even the least observant people.

Louise Lardin was wringing her hands and shrieking:

‘It's not true.'

‘You know very well Madame, that, unfortunately for you, I am not lying.'

Nicolas turned towards Bourdeau.

‘Inspector, please bring in the accused.'

Bourdeau opened the door, raised his hand and gave a signal. Then the heavy silence hanging over the assembled company was broken by the ringing echo of faltering, unbalanced footsteps resounding on the flagging of the ancient building. The noise became louder and merged with the pounding of the hearts of those present. Suddenly Louise Lardin got up, pushed Nicolas aside and, grabbing the silver stiletto Monsieur de Sartine had been toying with some time earlier, stabbed herself in the heart with a loud cry and collapsed. In the doorway stood old Marie, aghast and with a cane in his hand.

Nicolas broke the appalled silence that followed this scene.

‘She knew that Bricart had seen her face that evening. She also knew about the old soldier's disability and the sound of his wooden leg. She was sure that he was going to recognise her.'

‘It is appropriate that a case as grim as this, based entirely on falsehood and deception, should end so dramatically,' exclaimed Monsieur de Sartine.

With the help of old Marie, Bourdeau quickly ushered out those present and, after Sanson and Semacgus had confirmed she was dead, sent for assistance and a stretcher to remove Louise Lardin's body. It would join the other corpses that lay in the Basse-Geôle, including those of two of her victims and of Mauval, her lover.

Nicolas and the Lieutenant General of Police stayed behind alone. There was a long silence between the two men until in the end Nicolas said:

‘I think La Paulet should be released, Monsieur. She could be useful and she's played fair by us. She is, as we know, rather a good backup for the police. As for the rest …'

Monsieur de Sartine was by now on his feet. He went up to Nicolas and put a hand on his shoulder. Nicolas stifled a cry: it was the shoulder that had been wounded by Mauval's sword.