Body on the Rocks: Crime in the south of France (Madame Renard Investigates Book 1) by Rachel Green

Author:Rachel Green [Green, Rachel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-05-24T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

Enzo was on his way out of the office when his phone buzzed in his pocket. He left Mutt to go fetch the car while he stepped onto the quay.

“Paolo, what’s up?”

“The police called.”

“And?”

A forklift was going by so if there was a response Enzo didn’t hear it. He turned his back on the noise.

“What was that?”

“They want me to go in.”

“When?”

“Tomorrow.”

His mind ran ahead. From the tone of his brother’s voice he could tell he’d already been drinking. “Listen. Stay where you are. I’ll be over as soon as I can.”

Mutt had brought the Mercedes round to the front and was stood waiting, but Enzo went to the driver’s side and took the keys from him.

“I’ll be back in a couple of hours. Don’t wait up.”

It was seven-thirty p.m. and the light was fading when Enzo swung the car up onto the forecourt of garage de Paolo. He parked next to the tow truck and went in through the open roller door. The mechanic was on his way out of the wash room, drying his hands on a filthy towel, and it took no words to establish what was going on: they both looked over to the office where Paolo sat with his feet up on the desk. Enzo could smell the whisky from ten metres. He peeled off a fifty and cocked his chin at the mechanic.

“Close the door on your way out.”

Paolo’s eyes lazily took him in as Enzo stepped into the office, but he uttered no words and kept his feet up on the desk. It was wise to tread carefully when he was in a mood like this, when the darkness had him. From past experience Enzo knew it could go either way. He lit a cigar while he waited for the roller door to finish lowering, and when the clatter gave way to silence he pulled out a chair and sat down. When the workshop lights went out, all that remained was the glow of the desk lamp. He looked into the shadows of his brother’s face and tried to catch his eye.

“You okay?”

Paolo drained his whisky glass. “Never been better.”

“If they had anything on you we’d know by now.”

It looked like the words had gone straight through him but Paolo nodded.

“Has Etienne got rid of the boat?”

“As far as I know.”

“In that case you’ve got nothing to worry about.”

Paolo snorted and stared into the bottom of his empty tumbler. Enzo hated dealing with him when he was like this but it had to be done. He shuffled his chair as far forward as he could.

“Listen to me, Paolo. I’ll take care of this. They had no right to carry out a search. My lawyer’s already got them tied up in knots. By the time he’s finished they’ll be wishing they’d never set foot in this place.”

Paolo reached for the whisky bottle but Enzo got to it first. “Just tell me what happened and I’ll make this all go away.”

Finally, his brother looked him in the eye, a connection made.

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