The Secret Of The Cathars (2011) (18 page)

“
I have told Sejour that I do not regard it as healthy that this Philip Sinclair should get too close to Mademoiselle Blontard. He has agreed that the woman posing as his wife will attempt to find out what she can about the man’s history and any links to the director.”

The president steepled his fingers and studied them. “What do you think, Marcus?”

“
I cannot see that will do any harm, President.” Heilberg swallowed. “However I think it is necessary for us to take far more positive action than that. I believe we must ensure that the excavation at le Bezu is completely closed down as soon as possible.”

“
And how do you propose that this should be done?”

“
I’m sorry, President, but I see no alternative to making contact with the various top men in Paris. They must be persuaded, er-, I mean encouraged, to change their support for the project. They must be helped to find new priorities for their funding.”

“
Really?” The president looked up at the ceiling and stroked his chin. “This sounds expensive, Marcus.”

“
It will be, President. A lot of people and a number of big organisations may be involved. They will already have expended considerable sums which they may not be able to recover. There will also need to be a lot of personal persuasion.”

“
Just how much persuasion were you thinking of?”

“
Monsieur le President - it could amount to a hundred million euros.”

Charles Robert was appalled. He had always believed that Marcus Heilberg, more than anybody else, was extremely careful with the organisation’s substantial funds. Now they were talking of spending such a massive sum - no doubt much of it on personal bribes. It was all he could manage not to interrupt, when he heard these two leviathans discussing the colossal amounts of money involved as though they were mere baubles.

“
What proportion of our capital does that represent?”

“
It is something over twenty percent of the available liquid funds.” Heilberg took a breath. “However, we must remember that it will be expended to protect a far greater amount of our long-term reserves. And, as you know, we are caring for far more here than mere money.”

The president nodded sagely. “You are right. In that case we must do it. In fact I think we should add a fifty percent contingency to our withdrawals. We cannot afford to fail in this.”

“
Very well, President.”

“
Do we need a full meeting to approve this?”

“
I don’t think that will be necessary,” said Heilberg. “I can be in touch with at least half a dozen of the council today to get their personal backing and I am confident I will get it. Of course Charles has heard the discussion. Can you give me your support, Charles?”

Robert swallowed his objections, realising it would be foolish to fall out with the decision-makers. “Of course, Treasurer.”

“
Call in to my office as you go to sign the voting slip.”

“
In that case you can start moving the funds very shortly,” said the president. “As soon as you have majority approval you can commence approaching the individuals concerned. Will you let me have a list of those you intend to contact, for me to check?”

“
Certainly, monsieur le President.”

“
Many are likely to have direct contact with one or other of the members of the Council. I certainly expect that I shall know quite a few. We must use as many of our personal contacts as we can.”

“
I will obviously do that.”

The president cleared his throat. “It is at times like this that I am grateful for the centralised method of running this country which we enjoy.”

“
Truly, President.” Heilberg stood up. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I should be getting on with my tasks. There is lot to do this morning.” He gathered up his papers and left with them clasped to his chest.

For a long time after he had gone the president seemed almost to doze as he gazed into the distance. Charles Robert had to shuffle his feet to remind the old boy that he was still there.

The president looked at him. “Well, Charles, you must get back to your watching brief in Foix.”

“
Am I doing any good by being there, President?”

“
You certainly are. In fact I think you should instruct young Sejour to report progress to you on a daily basis in future. You should then contact me immediately by telephone if you have any progress to report.”

He smiled gently at Robert’s downcast expression. “Don’t worry, Charles. It is only likely to be for a few more days. It is vital for us that we have a reliable man in place locally. And it won’t do your reputation any harm to have been involved in such a crisis - possibly the greatest in the Council’s history for at least five hundred years.”

Charles Robert breathed a sigh of relief. This was a most unusual softening of the president’s attitude. He began to dare to believe that he might not be blamed for all the things which had gone wrong in recent weeks.

“
One further thing, Charles.” The old man leaned forward. “You have been given an insight this morning into the Council’s most private affairs. I’m sure I do not need to remind you that not a word of this is to leave your lips.”

“
Certainly not, President.”

“
Not even to your wife or family.” The ghost of a smile crossed his face. “Or even to your mistress.”

Charles Robert went slightly pink under his sun-tan. “My lips are sealed, president.”

To cover his embarrassment, Charles rose, picked up his notebook and left without further comment from either man.

- 19 -

By the next day the excavations had expanded considerably. Armand Sejour was working his way down the steps and he suggested that Philip clear the masonry wall which supported the side of the staircase.

Armand had already cleared four steps the previous evening. These turned a complete right angle away from the rock face. He had spoken to Jackie to obtain her authorisation to put in a second trench to follow the line of the staircase and she promised to come down later in the morning to make a decision. Meanwhile he had diverted Philip to digging down to clear the wall beside the steps.

Within an hour Philip had struck a further stone slab at a lower level. He pointed this out to Armand who gave him a trowel and told him to scrape away the soil from the surface carefully while he continued clearing the steps. Jeanette had less to sieve now that they were working with trowels and she came down to join them and shovel soil into the buckets.

After a further half an hour Philip had cleared part of what appeared to be a large slab of masonry - far bigger than a step. As he scraped into the corner it was clear that this flat stone had been put in place later and carefully cut to fit against the wall which supported the steps and against the natural rock cliff which the trench was following. Unfortunately there seemed to be no interesting remains above the slab.

A little later Armand’s clearing of the steps reached down to a similar flat slab at the same level. When both men dug towards each other they met where the steps came to an end. It appeared that they had hit a flat paved area - but an area paved with massive slabs of stone.

“
I think Jackie ought to be told about this,” said Armand. “I had expected her to be here by now. I think you had better go and find her.”

Philip set off up the path. When he reached the main excavation area he was told that she had returned to Quillan to pick up some equipment which had recently been delivered. He explained what they had found as best he could to Lerenard.

“
I will come to inspect,” said the big man.

When they got down to the trench Jean-Luc looked at the expanding area of stone which Armand had uncovered. Philip was watching the man closely and saw his eyes narrow when he bent down to inspect the slabs, as if in recognition. However, when he straightened up again, he merely shrugged.

“
Ah,” he said. “It is only the floor of the room at the bottom of the steps. What finds have you made?”

“
Not very much.” Jeanette indicated the nearly empty trays.

“
I think you are wasting your time here. I will tell the director and I think she will probably close down this area. We could use you more profitably up at the main site.” He turned on his heel and left them looking disconsolately at each other.

After a bit of thought, Philip said, “Have you noticed that the stone slabs have been cut round the bottom of the steps as though they were laid down after the steps were there? I don’t think this is the floor of a room as Jean-Luc suggests. Paving in a room gets worn smooth and is made dirty by the passage of feet. It would be especially dirty at the foot of the stairs where people entered. But this surface looks almost untouched.”

Jeanette translated for him and Armand’s eyes lit up when he thought about it.

“
That is quite correct. I agree that this cannot be paving. But what is it?”

“
I suggest we wait until Jackie sees it. She is much more experienced than Jean-Luc. She may come up with some ideas.”

“
But what do we do until she comes?” Armand seemed to have had his confidence shaken by Lerenard’s dismissive attitude.

“
While we’re waiting for the director,” said Philip, “I think we should clear as much of the paving slabs as we can. That will give her more to look at.”

“
Good idea,” agreed Sejour. “I still believe this may be important.”

“
While you are finishing round the steps I suggest that I dig a narrow trench along the foot of the cliff. That will tell us how big the slabs are and there may be a gap where we can try to see underneath. That might help us decide why they’re here.”

They set to with a will to clear as much of the masonry as far as they could before Jackie arrived. It was nearly lunch-time when she finally turned up. By then Armand had cleared an area nearly a metre wide around the foot of the steps and Philip had dug a trench about half a metre wide on top of the stone slabs and against the natural stone cliff for about three metres. Neither of them had been able to reach an exposed edge of the paving but they had found some tight joints in the slabs which suggested that they were huge pieces of stone approximately three metres long by a metre and a half wide.

When Jackie looked at the masonry they had uncovered her attitude was different to Lerenard’s. She said, “Oh, this is interesting, Armand.”

He put to her the thoughts which he and Philip had discussed about the paved area but her reply was non-committal.

“
It does seem to be a later addition,” she agreed. “But how much later? You haven’t had any luck with finds on top of the paving which might have dated it?”

“
Nothing at all.”

“
Then it seems as though the paving may have been covered over with soil and detritus as soon as it was laid. And it is quite fine work. The joints are very narrow. That would suggest that it is more recent than the rest of the castle. But I can’t shed any light on why it is here or when it was done.”

Philip made his first comment. “If we could find an edge to a slab then we might get a better idea of what it is.”

“
But that is going to mean that you have to clear a lot of soil,” she responded, “and Jean-Luc is right. We can’t really afford to have three of the team involved in a job which doesn’t seem to be advancing our knowledge of the Cathar occupation.”

The other two looked disappointedly at each other.

“
I tell you what,” said Jackie. “You can have the rest of the day here. I suggest you continue the narrow trench against the wall as far as you can. But, if you’ve got nothing substantial to report by the end of the day, I’m afraid I’m going to have to pull you off and use you somewhere else. Is that fair?”

“
OK. That sounds reasonable.”

So they continued the narrow trench, each taking it in turns to dig furiously while the other one cleared the soil and deposited it by the sieve. They worked through lunch, sending Jeanette to collect the food and drink from the main site.

They were still digging away energetically in mid-afternoon when a new woman turned up. Watching her approach down the path, Philip thought she was probably in her forties but still quite slim and fit.

Jeanette greeted her brightly. “Hello. Are you a visitor?”

“
I suppose I am.” She stepped on to the scaffold and handed a visiting card to the girl. “My name is Cesar Renoir. I am a journalist and I’m collecting information for a book about Cathar strongholds. I met your leader, Jacqueline Blontard, recently and she said I was welcome to walk round and take a look. What are you doing here?”

Armand climbed on to the scaffold and took the card from Jeanette and looked at it. It seemed genuine enough.

“
We’re just digging an exploratory trench.”

“
Why down here?”

He shrugged. “Archaeologists often do that sort of thing. They take a look at the land, decide the most likely place to yield information, and dig there, hoping to come up with some finds.”

“
What finds have you made?”

“
Not much,” he admitted. “In fact we’re being pulled off this area tonight. We’re just trying to uncover as much as we can before we finish.”

She seemed interested. “So what part of the castle do you think this is?”

“
Oh, nothing very special. We’re right down in the bowels of the building so it was probably just store-rooms or even a dungeon. But you often turn up interesting finds in the most unlikely places.”

“
Very grand floor for a prison, don’t you think?”

“
Yes,” he admitted. “It is puzzling.”