CHAPTER 13
Noubel didn’t go into the cave. Instead, he waited outside in the grey shade of the rocky overhang, red-faced.
He knows something’s not right, thought Alice. He tossed an occasional comment to the officer on duty and smoked cigarette after cigarette, lighting them from the butt of the last. Alice listened to music to help pass the time. Nickelback blasted into her head, obliterating all other sounds.
After fifteen minutes, the man in the suit reappeared. Noubel and the officer seemed to gain a couple of inches in height. Alice took off her headphones and put the chair back in its original position, before taking up her place at the entrance to the tent.
She watched the two men come down from the cave together.
‘I was beginning to think you’d forgotten me, Inspector,’ she said, when they came within earshot.
Noubel mumbled an apology, but avoided her eye.
‘Dr Tanner, je vous présente Monsieur Authié.’
Close up, Alice’s first impressions of a man of presence and charisma were reinforced. But his grey eyes were cold and clinical. She felt immediately on guard. Fighting her antipathy, she held out her hand. After a moment’s hesitation, Authié took it. His fingers were cool and his touch was insubstantial. It made her flesh creep.
She let go as quickly as she could.
‘Shall we go inside?’ he said.
‘Are you also with the Police Judiciaire, Monsieur Authie?’
A ghost of a reaction flickered in his eyes, but he said nothing. Alice waited, wondering if it was possible he’d not heard her. Noubel shuffled, awkward in the silence. ‘Monsieur Authié is from the mairie, the town hall. In Carcassonne.’
‘Really?’ She found it surprising Carcassonne was under the same jurisdiction as Foix.
Authié took possession of Alice’s chair, leaving her with no choice but to sit with her back to the entrance. She felt wary, cautious of him.
He had the practised smile of a politician, expedient, watchful and non-committal. It did not reach his eyes.
‘I have one or two questions, Dr Tanner.’
‘I’m not sure there’s anything else I can tell you. I went through everything I could remember with the Inspector.’
‘Inspector Noubel has given me a thorough summary of your statement. However, I need you to go through it once more. There are discrepancies, certain points in your story that need clarification. There might be details you forgot before, things that seemed insignificant at the time.’
Alice bit her tongue. ‘I told the Inspector everything,’ she repeated stubbornly.
Authié pressed the tips of his fingers together, ignoring her objections. He didn’t smile. ‘Let us start from the moment you first entered the chamber, Dr Tanner. Step by step.’
Alice jolted at his choice of words. Step by step? Was he testing her? His face revealed nothing. Her eyes fell to a gold crucifix he wore around his neck, then back to his grey eyes, still staring at her.
Since she felt she had no choice, she began once more. To start with, Authié listened in an intense, concentrated silence. Then the interrogation started. He’s trying to catch me out.
‘Were the words inscribed at the top of the steps legible, Dr Tanner? Did you take the time to read them?’
‘Most of the letters were rubbed away,’ she said defiantly, challenging him to contradict her. When he did not, Alice felt a burst of satisfaction. ‘I walked down the steps to the lower level, towards the altar. Then I saw the bodies.’
‘Did you touch them?’
‘No.’
He made a slight sound, as if he didn’t believe her, then reached into his jacket. ‘This is yours?’ he said, opening his hand to reveal her blue plastic lighter.
Alice went to take it, but he drew his arm back.
‘May I have it please?’
‘Is it yours, Dr Tanner?’
‘Yes.’
He nodded, then slipped it back into his pocket. ‘You say you did not touch the bodies. However, before, you told Inspector Noubel you had.’
Alice flushed. ‘It was an accident. I knocked one of the skulls with my foot, but I didn’t touch them, as such.’
‘Dr Tanner, this will go more easily if you just answer my questions.’ The same cold, hard voice.
‘I can’t see what — ’
‘What did they look like?’ he said sharply.
Alice felt Noubel flinch at the bullying tone, but he didn’t do anything to check it. Her stomach twisting with nerves, she did her best.
‘And what did you see between the bodies?’
‘A dagger, a knife of some sort. Also a small bag, leather I think.’ Don’t let him intimidate you. ‘I don’t know, since I didn’t touch it.’
Authié narrowed his eyes. ‘Did you look inside the bag?’
‘I’ve told you, I didn’t touch anything — ’
‘Except for the ring, yes.’ He suddenly leaned forward, like a snake about to strike. ‘And this I find mysterious, Dr Tanner. What I’m asking myself is why you should be interested enough in the ring to pick it up, yet leave everything else undisturbed. You understand my confusion?’
Alice met his gaze. ‘It caught my eye. That’s all.’
He gave a sardonic smile. ‘In the almost pitch black of the cave, you noticed this one, tiny object? How big is it? The size of, say, a one-euro piece? A little larger, smaller?’
Don’t tell him anything.
‘I would have thought you were capable of assessing its dimensions for yourself,’ she said coldly.
He smiled. With a sinking feeling, Alice realised she’d somehow played into his hands.
‘If only I could, Dr Tanner,’ he said mildly. ‘But now we come to the heart of the matter. There is no ring.’
Alice turned cold. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Exactly what I say. The ring is not there. Everything else is, more or less, as you describe it. But no ring.’
Alice recoiled as Authié placed his hands on her chair and brought his thin, pale face close to hers. ‘What have you done with it, Alice?’ he whispered.
Don’t let him bully you. You’ve done nothing wrong.
‘I have told you precisely what happened,’ she said, struggling to keep the fear from her voice. ‘The ring slipped out of my hand when I dropped the lighter. If it’s not there now, someone else must have taken it. Not me.’ She darted a glance at Noubel. ‘If I had taken it, why would I mention it at all in the first place?’
‘No one other than you claims to have seen this mysterious ring,’ he said, ignoring her comments, ‘which leaves us with one of two options. Either you are mistaken in what you saw. Or else you took it?’
Inspector Noubel finally intervened. ‘Monsieur Authié, really I don’t think . . .’
‘You are not paid to think,’ he snapped, without even looking at the Inspector. Noubel coloured. Authié continued to stare at Alice. ‘I’m only stating the facts.’
Alice felt she was engaged in a battle, except no one had told her the rules. She was telling the truth, but she could see no way of persuading him.
‘Lots of people went into the cave after me,’ she said doggedly. ‘The forensic people, police officers, Inspector Noubel, you.’ She stared defiantly at him. ‘You were in there a long time.’ Noubel sucked in his breath. ‘Shelagh O’Donnell can back me up about the ring. Why don’t you ask her?’
He gave the same half-smile. ‘But I have. She says she knows nothing about the ring.’
‘But I told her all about it,’ she cried. ‘She looked for it herself.’
‘Are you saying Dr O’Donnell examined the grave?’ he said sharply.
Fear was stopping her thinking straight. Her brain had given up. She could no longer remember what she’d said to Noubel and what she’d kept back.
Was it Dr O‘Donnell who gave you permission to work there in the first place?’
‘It wasn’t like that,’ she said, her panic growing.
‘Well, did she do anything to prevent you from working that part of the mountain?’
‘It’s not as simple as that.’
He sat back in his chair. ‘In which case, I’m afraid I have no choice.’
‘No choice but to do what?’
He darted his gaze to her rucksack. Alice dived for it, but she was too slow. Authié got there first and thrust it at Inspector Noubel.
‘You’ve got absolutely no right,’ she shouted. She turned on the Inspector. ‘He can’t do this, can he? Why don’t you do something?’
‘Why object if you have nothing to hide?’ said Authié.
‘It’s a matter of principle! You can’t just go through my things.’
‘Monsieur Authié, je ne suis pas certain — ’
‘Just do what you’re told, Noubel.’
Alice tried to grab the bag. Authié’s arm shot up and took hold of her wrist. She was so shocked at the physical contact that she froze. Her legs started to shake, whether out of anger or fear she couldn’t tell.
She jerked her arm free of Authié’s grip and sat back, breathing heavily as Noubel searched through the pockets.
‘Continuez. Depechez-vous.’
Alice watched as he moved on to the main section of the bag, knowing it was only a matter of seconds before he found her sketchpad. The Inspector caught her eye. He hates this too. Unfortunately, Authié had also noticed Noubel’s slight hesitation.
‘What is it, Inspector?’
‘Pas de bague.’
‘What have you found?’ said Authié, holding out his hand. Noubel reluctantly handed him the pad. Authié flicked the pages with a patronising look on his face. Then his look narrowed and, fleetingly, Alice saw genuine surprise in his eyes, before the hooded lids came down again.
He snapped the sketchbook shut.
‘Merci de votre . . . collaboration, Dr Tanner,’ he said.
Alice also stood up. ‘My drawings, please,’ she said, trying to keep her voice steady.
‘They will be returned to you in due course,’ he said, slipping the sketchbook inside his pocket. ‘The bag also. Inspector Noubel will give you a receipt for it and have your statement typed up for you to sign.
Alice was taken by surprise by the sudden and abrupt end to the interview. By the time she’d gathered her wits, Authié had already left the tent taking her belongings with him.
‘Why don’t you stop him?’ she said, turning on Noubel.
‘Don’t think I’m going to let him get away with that.’
His expression hardened. ‘I’ll get your bag back, Dr Tanner. My advice is to get on with your holiday. Forget all about this.’
‘There’s no way I’m going to let this go,’ she shouted, but Noubel had already gone, leaving her alone in the middle of the tent, wondering what the hell had just happened.
For a moment, she didn’t know what to do. She was furious, as much with herself as Authié, at being so easily intimidated. But he’s different. She’d never reacted so strongly against someone in her life.
The shock gradually wore off. She was tempted to report Authié straight away to Dr Brayling, or even to Shelagh, she wanted to do something. She dismissed the idea. Given her status as persona non grata right now, no one was going to be sympathetic.
Alice was forced to satisfy herself by composing a letter of complaint in her head, as she turned over what had happened and tried to make sense of it. A little later, a different police officer brought the statement for her to sign. Alice read it through thoroughly, but it was an accurate record so far as it went, and she scrawled her signature across the bottom of the page without hesitation.
The Pyrenees were bathed in a soft red light by the time the bones were finally brought out from the cave.
Everybody fell silent as the sombre procession made its way down the slopes towards the car park, where the line of white and blue police vehicles stood waiting. One woman crossed herself as they passed by.
Alice joined everybody else on the brow of the hill to watch the police load the mortuary van. No one spoke. The doors were secured, then the vehicle accelerated out of the car park in a shower of gravel and dust. Most of her colleagues went back up to gather their belongings straight away, supervised by two officers who were to secure the site once everyone was ready to leave. Alice lingered a while, unwilling to face anybody, knowing that sympathy would be even harder to deal with than hostility.
From her vantage point on the hill, Alice watched as the solemn convoy zigzagged away down the valley, getting smaller and smaller until it was no more than a smudge on the horizon.
The camp had grown quiet around her. Realising she couldn’t delay any longer, Alice was about to go back up too when she noticed Authié hadn’t yet gone. She edged a little closer, watching with interest as he laid his jacket carefully on the back seat of his expensive-looking silver car. He slammed the door, and then took a phone from his pocket. Alice could hear the gentle drumming of his fingers on the roof as he waited for a connection.
When he spoke, the message was brief and to the point.
‘Ce n’est plus là,’ was all he said. It’s gone.