Crime Fraiche by Alexander Campion

Author:Alexander Campion
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Mystery
ISBN: 9780758279835
Publisher: Chivers
Published: 2011-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 26

Capucine slathered the thick slice of toasted pain de campagne with salty farm butter and then covered it with large dollops of Odile’s bittersweet cherry preserve. She gave a satisfied little sigh and looked around furtively to make sure there would be no interruption.

Just as she licked the dripping preserve from the side of the toast, preparing for her first big bite, she heard the dreaded words, “Madame la Comtesse est demandée au téléphone.”

“Who is it, Gauvin?”

“Monsieur Vienneau, and, if Madame la Comtesse will permit, he seems very upset.”

“Capucine, it’s Loïc. Something terrible has happened. Can I come and see you?” He sounded close to the threshold of hysteria.

“Of course. I’ll be here all morning, or would you like to come to lunch?”

“Not lunch. I’ll be there as soon as I can.” A short pause, then, “Thank you,” awkwardly.

As she went back to her breakfast, she heard the ponderous knocker thump against the front door and Gauvin rush down the hallway to open it. Vienneau stood shyly on the threshold. He was unshaven and smelled of alcohol. It was obvious he had been standing in the driveway and had called on his cell phone.

In the petit salon he refused coffee and sheepishly asked if he could have some Calvados instead. Gauvin brought a small crystal decanter filled with the dark brown liquid and a thimble-sized stemmed glass on a silver tray. Vienneau frowned at the size of the glass and downed two shots in rapid succession. He took a deep breath, shuddered, filled the glass again, and held it between thumb and index.

“Capucine, I’m desperate. Marie-Christine has left.”

Capucine looked at him, waiting.

Vienneau downed two more measures of Calvados.

“She had been even more affectionate than usual for the past few days. I thought things were getting better. You see, after Gerlier’s death I had to spend much more time at the élevage and so often I would come home late. Sometimes I even missed dinner altogether. That upset Marie-Christine. It would upset anyone! And she became a little—how can I describe it?—a little distant. But this week that changed and she was very loving and attentive, clinging almost.”

He gave Capucine a look of almost childish expectancy. She nodded with a small smile.

“Then last night, when I came home, she was in tears. She had been drinking. At first she was inconsolable. I tried to soothe her. We talked for hours. About everything. About nothing. Us. Her parents. The fact that we couldn’t have children. That made her sob hysterically.” He paused, visibly racked with guilt. “Then she seemed to calm down. The storm had passed. I made a cup of tisane tea for her and found some sleeping pills that Homais had given me last year. She took one and went to bed. I stayed with her until she fell asleep. But I could see that she was still restless, changing position and moaning constantly.” He tossed off another tiny glass of Calvados.

Capucine still said nothing.

“I had a bit to drink myself after she went to sleep.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.