Inspector Lafarge 05 The Serpentine Detective by Pirate Irwin

Author:Pirate Irwin [Irwin, Pirate]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-04-29T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

“Madame you claim that Hal Rosenberg asked you to kill me and my family? I find that totally preposterous,” said Lafarge.

Gilbert had first taken Lafarge to the Salpetriere Hospital across the way from Notre Dame to see Maria who was under guard in a private room. The surgeon had said she could not be moved for several days but was well enough to be questioned.

The hospital that once housed largely prostitutes and mad women – their welfare largely ignored and rats looked on them more often than the doctors and nursing staff -- was now open to all and convenient for the police as it was close to the Quai.

Maria – as she would be until her fingerprints were analysed – lay in bed her leg slightly raised and heavily bandaged. Lafarge was once again struck by her beauty despite the scar, although the scowl that clouded her face did not augur well for the interrogation.

However, her opening gambit took Lafarge by surprise in dryly observing how they had both been fooled by the old lady. He had smiled sheepishly and agreed but added he owed her more than Maria did. This provoked a sneer prompting Lafarge to quickly re-adjust to the fact he was dealing with a professional killer and she had let the mask slip slightly before putting it back on quickly.

He now sat at a safe distance from her bed with Gilbert on the other side absorbing what he felt was a fantastical accusation that she and her husband Beauregard had been hired by Rosenberg to murder him and his family.

A smug smile crossed her lips.

“You can find it as preposterous as you like Chief Inspector, but I swear to you that is the truth,” she said.

“He came to you looking for help did he not with regard to his gallery and taking it back from Zilberstein?”

Lafarge nodded. He was not going to lie as it would get him nowhere and he guessed she would clam up if she felt he was.

“Do you have your hip flask on you? I would love a nip of Cognac and a cigarette,” she said taking Lafarge again by surprise at how much she knew about his personal habits.

What alarmed him was that these were the sort of things Zilberstein could not know but Rosenberg would.

“Do you think that is wise after your operation?”

She laughed though it sounded hollow.

“Chief Inspector if I am to die, I would rather it was with the taste of cognac and tobacco on my lips than the after taste of coffee and cheap tobacco waiting for the blade to fall,” she said.

Lafarge could not but agree with her for she would be condemned to death as an accessory to the murder of Inspector Darnell, one of the new intake who had served under General Leclerc and had been engaged to be married to a niece of the great warrior.

He did not inform her of this it would have dashed any hopes she had of clemency and he needed her to be as garrulous as possible.

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