Wash This Blood Clean from My Hand

taken for peeping toms. They’re predictable that way, and that’s our one advantage. OK, nothing in the bathroom, they go out and let me get dressed, with the door closed again. While they’re still searching the bedroom, I come out, fully dressed by now and naturally, I leave the bathroom door open. You’re back behind the door by then.’

‘Lieutenant, I haven’t grasped exactly what you mean by “we will be one person”.’

‘Have you ever done close combat training? When someone jumps you from behind?’

‘No.’

‘I’ll show you how it’s done,’ said Retancourt, getting up. ‘Let’s be as impersonal as we can. You have one person standing. Me. Big fat person, luckily for you. And we have another individual, who’s lighter and smaller. You. You are hidden under the bathrobe. Head and shoulders buried in my back, arms tight round my waist, invisible under the robe. To hide your legs, you’ll have to have your feet off the ground and twined round my calves, again shielded by the robe. I’ll stand in the corner, arms folded, feet apart, to maintain my centre of gravity. Do you follow?’

‘Christ Almighty, Retancourt, you want me to flatten myself to your back like a monkey?’

‘Or like a flatfish even. Flatten is the right word. It will last only a few minutes, two maximum, I’d say. It’s a tiny bathroom, they won’t take long to check it out. They won’t be looking at me, I won’t be moving. Nor will you.’

‘They’ll see me, Retancourt, it’s too awkward.’

‘No they won’t. I’m a big woman. I’ll be wrapped up in my bulky robe, wedged into the corner, looking out. My skin will be wet, so I’ll put a belt on underneath for you to hold on to, then you won’t slip. You can fix your wallet on it too.’

‘I’ll be too heavy,’ said Adamsberg shaking his head. ‘I weigh 72 kilos, you know. It’s madness. It’ll never work.’

‘It will work, commissaire, because I’ve done it before. Twice. For my brother, when the cops were after him for one thing or another. When he was nineteen, he was about your size, and he weighed 79 kilos. I put on my father’s dressing gown, and he clung on to my back. We managed four minutes. If that helps to reassure you.’

‘Well, if Violette thinks it will work…’ said Raphael looking slightly panicky.

‘If she says so,’ Adamsberg said.

‘We have to agree on one thing. If this is going to work, we can’t cheat, and risk getting discovered. Total realism is our best bet. I really will be naked in the bath, naturally. So I really will be naked under the bathrobe. And you really will be clinging to my back. You can wear undershorts, but nothing else. Clothes make it more likely you would slip, and also they’d stop the robe looking natural.’

‘The folds would look awkward, you mean?’ said Raphael.

‘Precisely. We can’t take that risk. I realise it’s embarrassing, but I really don’t think this is the moment to be prudish. We must be agreed on that before we start.’

‘It won’t bother me,’ said Adamsberg, ‘as long as it doesn’t bother you.’

‘I brought up my four brothers, and in extreme circumstances I think embarrassment is a luxury. These are extreme circumstances.’

‘But damnit, Retancourt, even if they leave you and your room without finding anything, they’re not going to give up the search. They’ll go through the Hotel Brebeuf with a toothcomb.’

‘Yes, of course.’

‘So even after this vanishing trick, I won’t be able to leave the hotel.’

‘No, Raphael will leave,’ said Retancourt, pointing to his brother. ‘Or in other words, you will leave, as him. You leave the hotel at eleven o’clock, wearing his suit, shirt and tie, and shoes. I’ll cut your hair in advance, to look like his. It’ll work because from a distance, you’re very alike. But they’ll be looking for you, dressed in your usual scruffy style. They’ve seen a smart businessman in a suit enter the hotel at ten-thirty. If he goes out again at eleven, they won’t bother about him. The businessman, that’s you commissaire, will just go to his car.’

Both Adamsbergs, sitting side by side were listening attentively to the lieutenant, almost subjugated. Adamsberg was beginning to take in her plan, based on two elements which were usually in contradiction: audacity and finesse. Together they made up an unpredictable force, like a battering ram with the delicacy of a needle.

‘What then?’ he asked, as the plan began to revive him.

‘You take Raphael’s car, you drive to Ottawa, and park it at the corner of North Street and Laurier Boulevard. You take the eleven-forty bus to Montreal. The real Raphael will leave much later, in the evening, or even next morning, depending when the cops give up watching the hotel. He’ll pick up his car from Ottawa and go back to Detroit.’

‘But why not do it more simply?’ asked Adamsberg. ‘If Raphael were to arrive before Laliberte’s phone call, I could take his suit and car, and get away before they raise the alarm. He could leave straight away by bus. Then we don’t do all the close combat stuff in the bathroom. When they turn up, we’ll both have gone.’

‘Except that his name will be on the register, or if he has just come as a visitor, his brief visit will be noticed. We’re not complicating things for fun, commissaire, but so as not to drop Raphael in the shit. If he arrived before the alarm, he’d certainly be traced. The cops will ask the receptionist and hear either that Raphael Adamsberg came in, but left immediately, or else that a “visitor” asked for you. Either way it’ll alert them. They’ll quickly realise about the substitution and pick Raphael up in Detroit, and arrest him for helping you escape. But if he arrives after the rooms have been searched and you’ve been reported missing, he won’t be noticed among the arrivals, and can’t be held responsible for anything. In the worst-case scenario, if the cops check and find his name later, all they can accuse him of is coming on a return visit to see his brother, and to his surprise finding he’s missed him, which isn’t a crime.’

Adamsberg looked at Retancourt.

‘Of course, you’re right,’ he said. ‘Raphael must come later, I should have thought of that. I’m a cop myself, so why can’t I think clearly any more?’

‘You can’t think like a cop for now,’ Retancourt replied gently. ‘You’re reacting like a criminal on the run, who tends to panic, not like a policeman. You’ve changed your territory, you’re on the wrong side, and the sun’s in your eyes. You’ll revert to form once you’re back in Paris.’

Yes, thought Adamsberg, a wanted criminal whose reflexes just tell him to run, without being able to see the big picture or follow through on details.

‘But what about you? When will you get away?’

‘When they’ve finished searching the area and realise they’ve lost you. They’ll stop searching and put out an alert to the roads and airports. I’ll join you in Montreal as soon as they’re off the premises.’

‘Where in Montreal?’

‘With a pal of mine. I’m afraid I don’t have holiday romances, but I do try to have a friend in every port, because I like it and because you never know when you might need a little help from your friends. Basile will provide us with a safe house.’

‘Perfect,’ murmured Raphael, ‘absolutely perfect.’

Adamsberg nodded silently.

‘Raphael,’ said Retancourt, getting up. ‘Can you find me somewhere to sleep? I’d like to rest, we’ll be driving all night again.’

‘You’d better get some sleep too,’ Raphael told his brother. ‘I’ll go out and buy this bathrobe.’

Retancourt wrote down her measurements.

‘I don’t think the two cops will follow you,’ she said. ‘They’re more likely to stay on watch outside the building. But come back with some food bags, bread, vegetables and so on, it’ll look more convincing.’

Lying on his brother’s bed, Adamsberg found he was unable to sleep. His night of 26 October was jabbing into him like a physical pain. Drunk, on the path, furious with Noella and with the rest of the world too. Furious with Danglard, Camille, the new father, Fulgence, a great ball of hate which he could no longer control, and which had been inside him for some time already. Then coming across a forester’s fork. What better implement for digging up saplings? He could have seen one when he was talking to the watchman or when he was walking through the