Final Justice (Lorne Simpkins thriller (Book Three)) (8 page)

‘Do we know why they were here, in France?’ Lorne asked.

‘We have suspicions, nothing concrete, but for the moment I’d like to keep them close to my chest. Is that the right saying?’

Annoyed that he was trying to keep them out of the loop, Lorne probed further. ‘If these murders do lead back to The Unicorn, sorry Baldwin, then what in God’s name were two men, both Finance Ministers in their respective governments, doing here? Why come to a sleepy part of France? No disrespect intended Capitaine, but surely these guys are used to holding talks in major cities, such as London, or Paris, etc, not backwaters like this.’ Her eyes scanned the others, before settling on Michel again, she watched as the expression on his face changed several times as her words sunk in.

Finally, after a few minutes silence, Michel looked up at her, a sparkle in his eyes as he said, ‘That’s very astute of you, Lorne. I can see now why Mr Warner insisted on bringing you here.’

His words knocked her sideways; what had he meant by that? As his words didn’t come with a smile attached to them she couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d reprimanded her in some way. ‘That’s as may be, Capitaine, but it doesn’t tell us why, does it?’

Out the corner of her eye she caught Tony smirking, had he been in the seat next to hers she would have kicked him in the shin.

Michel spotted the smirk, too. ‘Something amuses you, Mr Warner?’ the Capitaine asked, through gritted teeth.

‘No. Not really.’

Michel surprised everyone by pushing back his chair. ‘Very well, I’m drawing this meeting to a close, I suggest we pack our bags and get ready to set off. We will meet again in reception in fifteen minutes.’ He folded up the plans, tucked them under his arm, and headed out of the dining-room.

‘So much for going over our strategy,’ Tony said.

When the Lieutenant followed the Capitaine out of the room without speaking to either of them, they were left in no doubt that
they had either said, or done, something wrong.

‘Idiot!’ Lorne said tutting.

‘What?’

Lorne shook her head. ‘Maybe it was intentional.’

‘What was?’ Tony asked.

‘Him walking out like that, maybe it’s his way of letting us know he’s in charge, "Solely" in charge of the case.’

‘The man’s a bloody idiot if he thinks that. I ain’t gonna put up with that. What about you, Lorne?’

She had an idea where Tony’s question was leading. ‘What about me
what
, Tony?’

‘You know, are you willing to put up with that type of shit from this guy?’

She let out a long sigh. ‘Grow up, Tony. We’re on his patch for fuck’s sake. You know how these things work. His territory, his case, end of.’

‘It doesn’t mean we have to like it though, does it? The guy comes across as being very cagey. We’ve had a couple of meetings with him now and what information has he given us? Two men have been found murdered close to a chateau belonging to Baldwin, in my book that doesn’t amount to much. There appears to be too much talk and very little action, and it’s pissing me off.’

She shook her head in frustration. ‘If you don’t agree with how the case is being handled you know what you can do.’

‘Sounds to me like you had too much French baguette during the night!’

Expelling another exasperated breath she said, ‘I thought, we all had the same goal, Tony, to capture Baldwin. We had our chance in England, let’s see if the French prove to be better than us, huh? At least give the guy a chance, if you had your way he would have been sent to the guillotine by now.’

‘I was just saying …’ Lorne cut him off.

‘I know what you were
just
saying, Tony, but I’m suggesting that for the sake of civilized Anglo-French relationships you learn to bite your tongue and put a leash on that temper of yours.’

Chapter Fifteen

The chateau, situated in rolling green countryside, was less than twenty minutes from their hotel. Arrangements had been made to meet up with the local police and members of the French swat teams at nine that morning. The rendezvous took place half a kilometre from Baldwin’s new residence.

The Capitaine’s car, their car, led the convoy of approximately twenty vehicles, as it meandered its way up the long, narrow, gravelled driveway.

‘This looks too easy,’ Tony whispered out of the corner of his mouth.

Lorne heard his comment but chose to ignore it, more concerned with the hundreds of butterflies that had taken flight in her stomach.

The convoy came to a standstill in front of the large oak doors. She and Tony were ordered to stay in the car, they watched as the Capitaine and the Lieutenant nonchalantly strolled up to the front door as if they were attending a garden fete.

Tony opened the car door. ‘What are you doing? Lorne asked, ‘We were told to stay in the car.’

‘You stay here. I want to see what he says.’

‘He’s French, Tony. You won’t be able to understand …’ She reached over to try and grab his arm, but he’d already shut the door behind him.

Putting aside the fear churning up her insides, Lorne opened her door and got out, she perched on the bonnet of the car alongside Tony.

‘You all right?’

‘A bit nervous I guess, this’ll be the first time I’ve come face to face with him.’ She admitted her eyes still glued to the front door.

‘Hey relax, my guess is the guy isn’t here. Like I said, the drive up here was far too easy. These guys are notorious for shooting first and asking questions later remember. It’s like a graveyard around here.’

The door swung open to reveal a tall, slender man in his late fifties wearing a traditional butler’s outfit. He looked beyond the officers standing at the front door, and a look of disbelief registered on his face. As Lorne and Tony eyed the proceedings, they saw the man shrug then stand aside to let the Capitaine and Lieutenant enter the property.

‘Too easy!’ Tony repeated.

‘Let it go, Tony, it’ll only fester.’

Tony appeared to take umbrage and remained silent for the next ten minutes, until the door to the chateau opened again and the Capitaine and the Lieutenant re-joined them.

They were all settled in the car before Tony spoke. ‘Well?’

‘He was not here.’ Michel stated, refusing to enlighten them further.

Tony opened his mouth to demand a better answer, but Lorne prodded him painfully in the thigh, he turned and gave her a puzzled look. ‘Leave it. Please,’ she mouthed, she watched him slump back in his seat, cross his arms and stare petulantly in front of him, the way Charlie always did when she didn’t get her own way.

The car screeched away, sending the gravel flying in all directions and they headed back to the hotel.

Lorne couldn’t help wondering what would have happened, if all this had taken place on her former patch. Well, for a start she wouldn’t have boldly driven up to the criminal’s house and knocked on his front door, like Tony had suggested, it had all been too easy.
What the hell just happened here? Was Baldwin up to his old tricks toying with the police again? Did Michel really know what he was up against? If Baldwin wasn’t there, where was he?

Back at the hotel the Capitaine instructed the Lieutenant to make arrangements for them to stay another night.

Lorne grabbed her key and set off towards her room with Tony hot on her heels. ‘What the fuck do you make of that?’

‘Now, Tony, calm down.’

‘Calm down! Don’t you dare tell me to calm down, Lorne! Face it, your froggie boyfriend fucked up big time today.’

‘Right, buster, let’s get a couple of things straight here. To start with, he’s not, I repeat, he’s
not,
my bloody boyfriend, and for another, your hands are tied here, Tony, this case is out of your jurisdiction. You knew that when you signed up to help track Baldwin down.’

‘That’s where you’re wrong, Lorne. The Capitaine belongs to Interpol, we are all here as a combined force under the Interpol umbrella.’

They reached her room and she opened the door, Tony followed her in, wanting to continue his conversation. Lorne dropped down onto her bed and eyed him with suspicion. She could almost see the cogs working in his mind, and she could tell she wasn’t going to like what he was about to say. ‘Okay, big man, let’s have it, I’m guessing you’ve been planning something during the trip back.’

‘There’s still no flies on you, Lorne, is there? Despite you being out of the field for the past year.’ He sat down on the bed next to her and his leg brushed against hers, but she saw through him.

‘Stop sucking up and get on with it.’ She smiled, but her stomach was in knots.

‘My suggestion is … we go it alone.’

Chapter Sixteen

Lorne sprang to her feet and turned to face him. ‘I’m sorry, Tony, would you mind repeating that. For a minute there, it sounded like you said something ridiculous like we should contemplate going it
alone
!’

Enouncing every syllable, he repeated, ‘I did. We go it alone.’

‘That’s what I thought you said. Are you bloody crazy? No, don’t answer that, I already know the answer. Shite!’ She paced around the room, first tracing the full width of it, before changing direction, and sweeping across the length of it, coming to a halt in front of him. ‘You’ve finally gone and lost the plot, man.’

Tony laughed long and hard. ‘Yeah, you’re probably right, guilty as charged. But it makes sense, Lorne, you and me as a team. Let’s face it, we can’t do any worse than the
frogs,
can
we?’  

‘Stop calling him,
them
, that. What makes you think we could do any better?’

‘All right, look at it this way. You and I both recognise the operation today was downright farcical. If that had been an English operation there’s no way we would’ve considered turning up at the chateau like that. I know, I know, we don’t have chateaus in England,’ he said, as she opened her mouth to correct him. ‘His reputation alone would make us ultra-cautious. He’s a murdering bastard through and through for fuck’s sake. These guys approached that chateau as if they were on a coppers’ day out, a picnic in the country or something equally as banal. Come on, admit it, you were as frustrated as I was.’ He tilted his head and waited for her to respond.

She waved her hands in the air. ‘All right, Tony, yes, I admit I was as frustrated as you, but I still don’t see what options we have, what can we possibly do about it? Bottom line is we’d be foolish to even consider it. Baldwin’s armed, probably to the hilt, and Michel has already informed us that he has at least twenty men with him patrolling the chateau.’ She plonked herself down on the bed beside him.

‘And that’s another thing. Where was Baldwin today? More to the point, where were all his men? The useless
frog
didn’t even search the place for Christ’s sake.’

‘He went inside the building.’  

‘Yeah, for ten whole minutes. What the blazes could he check in that amount of time? And, how come he and the Lieutenant were the only ones to step foot inside the joint?’

‘What are you getting at now?’

With a note of sarcasm Tony retorted, ‘Now let’s see, we trundle up to the chateau, in broad daylight I hasten to add, only to find Baldwin long gone. Mere coincidence? I doubt it. All we have to figure out is who the possible mole is, the Capitaine, your secret lover, or the Lieutenant.’

‘I’m going to let that one pass, Tony, and I’m warning you if I hear another wisecrack about Michel and myself then I’m on the first plane out of here. Do you hear me?’ She prodded him in the chest.

‘Ouch! Whatever, Lorne, but even you can’t deny there’s something dodgy going on here. Look at what happened back in England, that Lorna girl on your team. Tell me I’m wrong.’

‘Yeah, you’re wrong, it was Laura not Lorna.’

‘Whatever her bloody name was, she still did the business, didn’t she? Disrupted your investigation, and told Baldwin precisely what was going on.’

‘And got herself killed into the bargain,’ Lorne interrupted him.

‘Comeuppance, that’s what that’s called, Lorne. Just desserts. She played with fire far longer than she should have, and got burned in the end.’

‘All right, there’s no need for you to keep going over old ground. What
plan
have you come up with, what’s up your sleeve, agent boy?’

‘How do I know I can trust you? What assurances can you give me that you won’t divulge anything during your secret assignations with the Capitaine?’    

She had spotted a smile in his eyes, and she had an inkling he was just winding her up, so she thumped him hard, so hard she gave him a dead leg.

‘Just so you know, Tony, that was a one off. It’s not something I intend repeating. Now give, my curiosity is piqued at the moment.’

Instead of telling her his plans, as she expected, he rose from the bed and headed for the door.

‘Hey, wait up, agent boy!’

He tapped his nose, opened the door, and stepped into the hallway, turning to wink at her, he said, ‘Leave everything to me, all you have to do is keep the Capitaine entertained for the next few hours, and I’m sure you don’t need me to draw you any diagrams on how you can manage that, now do you, Lorne?’

Chapter Seventeen

The cheeky little shit, what the hell did he take me for, some kind of prostitute?
Lorne tried to come up with a suitable plan to keep Michel occupied for the next couple of hours, but apart from jumping on his bones like a sex starved virgin, she couldn’t think what to say, or do without giving the game away.

A knock at the door disturbed her thoughts, which were dwelling on a plan that included sex.

Christ, this place is busier than Oxford Street during the January sales!

She ran into the bathroom to check her appearance in the mirror then returned to open the door. ‘Oh, Capitaine! I wasn’t expecting you.’ Her words came out in a husky breath, which annoyed her.