The Provence Puzzle: An Inspector Damiot Mystery(53)

“I heard a crack of sound in the shrubbery and thought it was some animal moving about…” The special lens at the center of every detective’s mind was bringing images into focus. “And, of course, your friendship with Monsieur Tendrell explains how he knew I was here yesterday. He mentioned it this evening, when I saw him at the Auberge.”

“I was the one who told him. Allan frequently drives over after dinner. But Jenny has no idea that I exist.”

“Tendrell has been painting here, hasn’t he?”

“Working on my portrait. His version of the de Mohrt faces you’ve seen in all those ancestral paintings. Allan should be arriving at any moment. Perhaps, meanwhile, you’d like a glimpse of my laboratory?”

“I would!” He started to rise.

“Don’t get up, Monsieur! You can see from where you’re sitting.” He reached down to the console again. “Probably the finest private laboratory in Europe!”

There was a metallic sliding sound, and the heavy tapestry moved back to reveal a solid wall of plate glass.

The Comte pressed several buttons on the console.

Lights flashed in an elaborate modern laboratory where everything seemed to be made of glass or chromium. Colored vapors flowed through twisting tubes, and sparks darted across curiously shaped machines. Small animals, roused by the lights, stirred under transparent domes. No sound came from beyond the wall of glass.

“I had a scientific mind, even as a small boy, and read every book in grand-père’s library. Then, in Paris, during my long convalescence, some of the top professors from the Sorbonne became my tutors. I studied everything! Greek and Latin, as well as the modern philosophers and scientists. English literature, in addition to the French and Russian. At first I was terribly discouraged and depressed. Life seemed completely hopeless. Until I finally realized that I had no desire to die. Once that decision was reached, I devoted every hour to science. Especially the technology of outer space—probably because of my earth-bound legs—electronics, and of course atomic and solar energy. Energy fascinates me! When I returned here from Paris, I brought a staff of the finest young technicians and engineers along with me. They installed the audio system you heard earlier and built this laboratory for me…”

“Most impressive!”

“I could probably make a solar bomb device in there, but of course I never shall! I am interested in life—not death. I’m busy in my laboratory for long hours every day, with two assistants who live on the premises.” He touched the console again.

Damiot heard the tapestry sliding across the glass wall. “Then you’re not alone here?”

“Certainly not! I have people to work with me during the day, dine with me in the evening, and argue with me most of the night. We have some delightfully complex and esoteric conversations! And, of course, there are others who look out for my physical comforts. After the death of grand-mère I dreaded coming back to the Chateau, but during her fatal illness she made me promise that I would live here. My doctor, a specialist in matters of the spine, flies down from Paris whenever I need him. Which happens less and less frequently…” He glanced past Damiot, beyond the circle of light. “Ah! Here’s Pouchet!”

Damiot looked around, the back of his head paining slightly as he turned, to see the tall figure of the old man, wearing a dark suit and holding a sleek gray mastiff on a leash.

Fric-Frac jumped down and ran, barking, toward the huge animal.

“Fric-Frac!” Damiot called. “Come back here.”

“It’s all right, M’sieur Inspecteur.” Pouchet laughed, leaning down to pat her head. “They will be friends.”

“Lautrec likes other dogs,” the Comte explained. “It’s people he doesn’t care for. At least most people.”

“You call him Lautrec?”

“He has such magnificent legs! I couldn’t resist naming him Lautrec. I’m sure that Monsieur Toulouse would approve.”

Fric-Frac had seated herself next to the mastiff, who lowered his great body to collapse majestically beside her. Now he was licking the top of her head with his enormous tongue.

Damiot smiled. “I thought I heard more than one dog barking.”

“Pouchet keeps another mastiff in the kitchen. Her barking is useful to cover Lautrec’s, and if anyone sees him roaming through the grounds, they think he is Pouchet’s dog. But it is Lautrec who keeps intruders out and accompanies me when I hunt. The other dog is very old. Never goes outside. But she can still bark!”

Damiot glanced back at the caretaker, standing erect beside the mastiff.

“Pouchet tells me…” the Comte continued.

He saw the old man turn at the sound of his name, his left ear toward the Comte.

“…your father used to drink pastis with him.”

“That’s right!” Pouchet nodded. “We sat on the kitchen steps behind Chez Damiot whenever I walked down to the village. Madame Damiot, your mother, would bring two glasses on a tray and…”

A buzzer sounded, softly but urgently.

“That should be Allan!” The Comte set his glass down. “There are signals on a master control panel when anyone enters the Chateau. Lights flash as he passes through each room.”

“I’ll go and meet M’sieur Tendrell.” Pouchet looked toward the Comte again. “Should I leave the dog here?”