The Secret Of The Cathars (2011) (31 page)

“
You’re right of course. And then he took charge until the police turned up. I believe we were all too shocked to have been much use to anybody without him telling us what to do. It was as if he’d been doing things like that for years. And he said he had authority to use the gun. Do you think he’s some kind of plain-clothes policeman?”

“
I don’t know. But I did notice, when the police turned up, that he went and had a quiet word with Leblanc before the sergeant took over. I think there must be some sort of special role which he hasn’t said anything about. But what I don’t understand is why he should come and sign on with me as a trainee archaeologist, if he’s got an undercover job.”

“
You seem to have surrounded yourself with personal mysteries. There’s Armand and Lerenard.” He grinned. “And, of course, there’s me as well.”

“
At least we’ve cleared up the mystery about Alain Hebert and the journalist.”

“
I gather Cesar was taken to the hospital in Carcassonne. Have you heard how she is?”

“
I asked Maitre Amboisard this morning. He said she’s in a bad way. They don’t think the knife had completely destroyed any vital organs but she’d lost a lot of blood and her body had gone into shock by the time they’d got her to hospital. As a result they couldn’t operate on her. They gave her a local anaesthetic to enable the knife to be removed. And they’ve got to give her a few days intensive treatment before they can find out what sort of a repair work they have to do on her. It sounds as though her chances are no better than fifty-fifty.”

Philip shook his head. “I don’t know whether she wants to survive now. She’s lost her father. She seems to have been in love with the murdered Alain Hebert. Also I presume that technically she’s at least committed manslaughter.”

“
That’s right. And she’s also been guilty of helping this criminal organisation which her father used to run and which has carried out I don’t know how many crimes in Marseilles. Perhaps she can claim that she was coerced into it by threats of what would happen to her father if she didn’t go along with them. But, if she recovers fully, I can’t see how she can escape a long stay in jail.”

“
Not a very bright future.”

“
No.” Jackie’s face was set in a grim expression. “What I can’t forgive her is showing those thugs where to capture Andre. He’d done nothing wrong. They just wanted to use him to close down the excavations.”

Philip reached out and grasped her hand. “I’m sorry, Jackie. There’s nothing that can be done to bring him back.”

“
I know.”

She was quiet for a long time. But when he looked at her she wasn’t crying.

At last she spoke again, showing she had moved on emotionally. “On the plus side, I suppose that if she lives she’ll be able to provide the first-hand evidence to get Mickey and Gustav put away for premeditated murder. That should remove two of La Force Marsellaise’s thugs for a nice long time.”

“
What’s happened to them for now?”

“
They’ve been taken to a high security prison near Toulouse.”

Philip grinned. “Well, that’s relieved Sergeant Leblanc of one problem. Now he’s only got to look after Pierre.”

“
Why didn’t that man go with the other two?”

“
Well, he didn’t actually do anything wrong yesterday,” said Philip, “except that he was a part of Montlucon’s gang who cut their way in to the treasure room. So I don’t think Leblanc actually has anything to charge him with at the moment. No doubt he’s sent the details off to Marseilles to see whether they have anything against him.”

“
It was what he told Cesar about her father being killed which made her shoot Montlucon and saved you from a nasty, painful death.”

“
And you after me, I expect. We’ve both got to be grateful to them as well as Armand.” He put his head on one side. “That reminds me - I’m sure Armand wasn’t just there by chance.”

“
I agree with that. When I quizzed him about his role in all this he wouldn’t tell me anything. But when I asked why he had turned up at that very moment, he more or less had to admit that he’d been following us ever since the site closed down. Apparently they were just behind us when we drove past the empty van at the parking place. So he got Jeanette to drop him just round the corner before they reached the van. He saw us go up the path to the castle.”

“
But he didn’t follow us?”

“
No. Because apparently we’d only just disappeared out of sight when he saw two men come back to the van and collect some big crow-bars. This roused his suspicions so, instead of going up to the site behind us, he decided to follow them. It was then that he discovered they’d been cutting this new path through the undergrowth towards the lowest part of the castle walls.” She paused.

“
He told me that he was able to work out that they were getting quite close to the trench you and he had dug earlier in the week and he had a special interest in that trench. Of course, when they reached the wall he found they had set up spotlights and screening round a large boulder which was leaning against the wall. They were working there, clearing an area of bushes and undergrowth. When that was completed he said they used the crow-bars to force the boulder away from the wall and revealed the outside door which led to the treasure room.”

“
That explains why you couldn’t open it when you tried. They must have been making quite a lot of noise but I suppose the wind stopped us from hearing them until they actually got into the room.”

“
And it also meant we weren’t heard knocking the back off that chest.”

“
That’s true.” Philip was silent as he thought of how close they had come to disaster. After a while he said, “Have you found out anything about what’s actually in those storage chests?”

“
Only what’s on the photos we took, and you’ve seen those as well. I took a look in the chest which they’d just broken open but it was full of a fine powdery packing stuff. It was that powder which made you cough. I tried feeling around a bit, but I couldn’t find anything near the top of the chest and I didn’t want to go too deep under uncontrolled conditions in case I damaged something.”

“
Ever the archaeologist.”

She grinned. “There were also half a dozen policemen wandering round, in case you hadn’t noticed. I particularly didn’t want them poking around. That’s why I put the top back on and kept guard near it.”

“
So what’s going to happen now?”

“
I asked Maitre Amboisard about that when I declared an interest in it. He said the information had been passed to Paris. Several high-ups are rushing down today to take a look at it. Meanwhile the entrances to the room have been blocked up and gendarmes are guarding them. It’s when these big noises from Paris turn up that the arguments will start.”

“
Will they break into the chests?”

“
I sincerely hope not. I’ve reserved myself a position on the inspection party when we get back from Prouille. I’ll be there first of all to see that they don’t do anything destructive.” She looked straight at him. “I can still pack quite a punch you know. I have a lot of influential supporters I can call on.”

“
Will they take you seriously?”

“
They’d better. I’ve told Amboisard that it was us who found the stuff. I’ve also told him we removed the back from the first chest in order to provide positive photographic evidence because Leblanc didn’t believe us when we tried to report it to him yesterday evening.”

“
Will that get him into trouble?”

“
I don’t think so. I think he and Amboisard are hand in glove at the moment.” She giggled. “But I’m going to hold that over them to make sure they keep me informed of developments.”

“
That means we’re going to have to rush straight back after we’ve seen Abbe Dugard.”

“
I’m afraid so.”

Philip was thoughtful. “Talking of that, are we going to let him look at the original of the scroll or only let him see the photos and the copies we’ve made?”

“
I’m going to leave that decision to you, Philip.” She leaned back in her seat and stretched. “It’s your property, so you must decide.”

“
He would treat the original with care?”

“
Oh, there’s no doubt about that. I’m sure he will appreciate its importance - probably more than me.”

“
And you can trust him to keep quiet about it? At least for now?”

“
I hope so.”

“
All right. Then I think we’ll risk showing him the original. I suppose it would be a bit of an insult to only let him see the photographs and copies.”

She smiled. “I hoped you would say that.”

So they continued the last few kilometres to Prouille and their hoped-for enlightenment.

- 31 -

Bertrand Dugard was expecting them. He was doing some cataloguing in his office when they arrived so they were invited to go straight in. He treated Jackie to a kiss on the cheek. Philip set the bag down by the desk and found himself shaking a clean hand for a change.

Jackie launched straight into the reason for them being there. “We’ve brought you an old scroll, Bertrand. I think it may be written in Ancient Hebrew. What I hope is that you can give us an idea of what the document is about. Is that all right?”

“
Of course it is my dear. How exciting. I’ll be delighted to help.”

“
I’m sure you’ll agree with me when I say that it is important to contaminate the scroll as little as possible. So I’ve brought a clean sheet to lay it out on. Can we clear your desk and spread the sheet over it.”

“
That’s absolutely correct, my dear. I’m pleased to see that you take so much trouble.” He immediately set about clearing the desk of all its clutter, chatting away happily as he did so. “It’s a long time since I was able to handle something like this. I seem to spend all my time these days down in the bowels of the earth.”

When the table was cleared she lifted the sheet from the bag and spread it over the top. “I’ve brought gloves for us all,” she added.

“
How thoughtful,” said the Abbe. “I don’t know where on earth mine are. And I’m afraid they’d probably be in a dreadful state if I could find them.”

The men put on their gloves and Philip lifted the bamboo tube out of the bag and set it on the sheet-covered table.

“
We think this is at least seven hundred and fifty years old. But personally I believe the contents may be much older.” Jackie peeled back the tapes which held the two halves of the bamboo tube together and lifted the top half clear.

“
My. Oh, my,” Bertrand breathed.

Jackie put on her gloves. Then she lifted the scroll of fabric out of the container and laid it on the sheet. Philip removed the lengths of split bamboo and returned them to the bag, taking out the wooden rule as he did so.

“
Can you hold the top as you did before?” she asked him as she peeled it back.

He placed the rule along the top edge.

“
We think the material may be waxed silk, Bertrand.”

He shook his head. “I’m afraid I would know less than you about that, but I have no reason to think that is incorrect.”

“
You will see that it is still remarkably flexible. This is the third time we have unrolled it and it shows no sign of deterioration. Of course we won’t do it again, once you have seen it, until we have it in controlled atmospheric conditions. However I judged that it was more important to get some idea of what the document is before we seal it away again.”

She continued to unroll it very gently until it was laid out complete in front of him and lying almost flat on the sheet. The old Abbe watched in fascinated silence, his mouth slightly open. His eyes ranged down the columns of symbols. Then he sat down abruptly on his chair.

“
Oh, my God,” he said.

Philip looked at him, checking to see that he was all right. “What is it?”

His mouth opened a couple of times as he leaned against the back of the chair and he repeated, “Oh, my God.”

“
Do you know what it is?” asked Jackie.

He looked up at her with his rheumy eyes. “Oh, indeed I do.”

“
Have you seen something like this before?”

“
Never! But I have heard rumours about the existence of this document.”

“
So what is it?” Philip entreated.

“
It is the list of the kings of Judah.”

“
Oh. Is that all?” His face reflected his disappointment. “I thought all that stuff was in the bible.”

“
You don’t understand.” Bertrand pulled himself to his feet and looked down again on the scroll. “This is
the
list as actually recorded by the high priests in the temple as it happened. You see these circular impressions down the right hand side?”

“
Yes.”

“
Those are the marks of the temple seal which have been applied against each entry and have been dusted with some sort of dye to make them legible. Only the one seal was ever made and it was never allowed to leave the inner chamber of the temple. Those marks completely authenticate this document as the original record of the kings of Judah.”

“
You mean this was originally in the temple in Jerusalem?”

“
I do. If you have this document carbon dated I am confident you will find it to have come from about a thousand years before Christ. In addition you will note that each line is in a different hand and the seal marks are irregularly spaced. I am almost sure that this is not a forged copy.”