Inspector Lafarge 03 The Compromised Detective by Pirate Irwin

Author:Pirate Irwin [Irwin, Pirate]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sharpe Books
Published: 2018-03-15T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

They had dinner at a restaurant on Rue de la Roquette near where Lafarge lived; it was called ‘Le dernier souper’, a name which Lafarge loved for its dark humour as it lay only a few hundred yards from the Père Lachaise cemetery. The dark clouds that had swirled round him immediately after his meeting with Drieu had disappeared.

The film had been very enjoyable, a lively recreation of Balzac’s anti-hero, although Lafarge took solace in the fact there was no physical resemblance between him and the burly moustachioed Swiss actor Simon who played the leading role. Berenice had joked about that as they left the cinema and gave him further comfort by adding she had found his friend strange and he had not put her at her ease.

Lafarge was greeted warmly by the Toulouse-born owners Yves Carentin, a burly good looking man in his mid-40s, and his wife Danielle who was a buxom well-presented and good-humoured woman of about the same age. They had managed to survive through the Occupation, even though their restaurant which was nothing fancy – serving traditional hearty French dishes and good, well-bodied wines – had been closed down by the Nazis on several occasions because a couple of their waiters had been arrested under suspicion of being resistants. However, through a good word here and there from loyal customers, who were also collaborators, they had been able to re-open.

Lafarge often wondered how they managed to have such a big choice on their menu, rationing having reduced much of the population of Paris to spending most of their time queuing. Sometimes they ended up with the door being shut in their faces as the shop had nothing left to sell, and by all accounts things on that score were not going to improve immediately just because Paris had now been liberated. However, he had thought it best not to ask the Carentins about their efficient suppliers fearing he would receive an answer that might oblige him to refer them to their local police station.

Yves brought them over a glass of champagne each and some excellent charcuterie, which they consumed while poring over the menu. Berenice spent a good deal of time looking round the modestly-sized room observing the other customers who were, like them, well-dressed couples. Lafarge remarked he was sorry it probably didn’t match the splendour of the restaurants that she was accustomed to going to with her husband and Colonel von Liebkampf.

She had grinned and said it was not the quality of the restaurant that counted but the company, which had made Lafarge, unused to such compliments of late, blush. That had made her laugh and she had brushed his nose with her finger playfully, setting the scene for a very relaxed and enjoyable dinner where they devoured some foie gras washed down with a fine bottle of Sauterne, and a confit de canard each plus copious amounts of red wine.

Now back at his apartment he had opened a bottle of champagne and

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