‘This man interests me. Come on, Danglard, we’re going to tell him his wife’s been killed. Now that one of our victims has a near relative in Paris, we can at least see how he reacts.’
Louis-Augustin Le Nermord’s reaction was very simple. Still bleary-eyed from sleep, on hearing what they had to say the diminutive scholar shut his eyes, put his hands on his stomach and went very white about the lips. He dashed from the room, and Danglard and Adamsberg heard him retching somewhere else in the house.
‘Well, at least that’s clear enough,’ said Danglard. ‘He’s in shock.’
‘Unless he took something to make him throw up when he heard the entryphone.’
The man returned, walking gingerly. He had put on a grey dressing-gown over his pyjamas and had evidently doused his head under a tap.
‘We’re extremely sorry to bring you this news,’ said Adamsberg. ‘If you would prefer us to ask our questions tomorrow…’
‘No… no. Please go ahead, messieurs. I’m listening.’
The little man was trying to maintain his dignity, Danglard noted, and he was succeeding. His posture was upright, his brow large, and his cloudy blue eyes were steadfastly fixed on Adamsberg’s face. He asked them whether they would mind if he lit his pipe and did so, saying that he needed it.
The light was dim and the pipe smoke heavy in the book-lined room.
‘You study Byzantium?’ said Adamsberg, with a glance at Danglard.
‘Er, yes, I do,’ said Le Nermord, looking slightly surprised. ‘How did you know?’
‘I didn’t. But my colleague here recognised your name.’
‘That is kind of you to say so. But please, tell me about
‘We’ll give you more details when you’re feeling a bit stronger and better able to hear them. It’s already bad enough to find out that she’s been murdered. We found her lying inside a blue chalk circle in the rue Bertholet, in the 5th
Le Nermord nodded. His features semed to lose definition. He was looking older already. It was painful to see.
‘“Victor, woe’s in store, what are you waiting for?” Is that it?’ he said in an undertone.
‘Not exactly, but near enough,’ said Adamsberg. ‘So you know about the chalk circle man?’
‘Who doesn’t? Doing remote historical research doesn’t shield you from contemporary life, monsieur, even if you’d like it to. But I can’t believe this – I was talking about this maniac with Delphie, that’s Delphine, my wife, only last week.’
‘Why did you talk about him?’
‘Delphie was inclined to defend him, but I felt nothing but disgust for him. Some ghastly joker. But women don’t see that.’
‘It’s a long way from here, the rue Bertholet. Was your wife visiting friends?’ Adamsberg continued.
The man thought for a long while, at least five or six minutes. Danglard wondered whether he had really heard the question or whether he was going to fall asleep again. But Adamsberg signalled to him to wait.
Le Nermord struck a match to relight his pipe.
‘Far from where?’ he asked in the end.
‘Well, far from home,’ said Adamsberg.
‘No, on the contrary, it’s quite near where she lives. Delphie lives… lived… on the boulevard du Montparnasse, near Port-Royal. Do I need to say more about that?’
‘Yes, please.’
‘She left me nearly two years ago to go and live with her lover. He’s a pathetic, stupid, insignificant character, but of course you won’t believe that, coming from me. You can judge for yourselves if you see him. It’s been upsetting, that’s all I can say. And now I live in this barn of a place on my own. Like a fool,’ he said waving his arm at the room.
Danglard seemed to hear a catch in his voice.
‘But you still used to see her?’
‘It was very hard to try and do without her,’ answered Le Nermord.
‘You were jealous?’ asked Danglard, without trying to be tactful.
Le Nermord shrugged.
‘Well, monsieur, you get used to anything in the end. I should say that Delphie had been unfaithful to me for twelve years on and off, with a series of lovers. I didn’t like it, of course, but I’d given up arguing. In the end you don’t know whether it’s self-esteem or love that makes you angry, but the anger dies down eventually, and you end up meeting for lunch now and again – we talk politely, and it’s sad. I’m sure you know this kind of situation by heart, messieurs, I won’t spell out the story of my life. Delphie was no better than she should have been, and I was no hero. I didn’t want to lose her for ever. So I had to accept her rules. I confess that I couldn’t stand her latest lover, the stupid one. As if she was doing it on purpose, it was the worst of the lot that she was keenest on, so that was when she decided to move out permanently.’
He raised his arms and let them fall on his thighs.
‘So,’ he said. ‘That’s it, really. And now it’s over.’
He closed his eyes tight, and stuffed his pipe with more tobacco.
‘You’ll have to provide us with a statement about your movements this evening. That is indispensable, I’m afraid,’ said Danglard, as usual not beating about the bush. Le Nermord looked at them in turn.
‘I don’t understand. You mean it wasn’t this lunatic killer who…’
‘We don’t know who it was,’ said Danglard.
‘Oh, no, messieurs, you’ve got it wrong. All that comes to me from my wife’s death is a hole in my life, desolation. As far as money goes, since I’m sure you’ll be interested in that, most of her money, and she had quite a bit, goes to her sister, and indeed so does this house. Delphie had decided that was what she wanted to do. Her sister’s always been hard up.’
‘Nevertheless,’ Danglard repeated, ‘we still need an account of your movements. Please.’
‘Well, as you saw, there’s an entryphone in this house and no concierge. So who could tell you whether I’m telling the truth or not? But… well, until about eleven, I was planning my lectures for next year. You can look, they’re in that stack of paper on the table. Then I went to bed, read for a while, and went to sleep until I heard the buzzer. But nobody can confirm any of that, can they?’
‘More’s the pity,’ said Danglard.
Adamsberg was letting him run the interview now. Danglard was better than him at putting routine but upsetting questions. Throughout their exchange, he kept his gaze on Le Nermord, who was sitting opposite him.
‘Yes, I see,’ said Le Nermord, rubbing the warm bowl of the pipe against his forehead, in visible distress. ‘I do see. A husband betrayed and humiliated, the new lover who stole away his wife. I understand there are these classic scenarios. Oh God! But do you always have to go for the most obvious solutions? Don’t you ever think there could be more complicated explanations?’
‘Yes,’ said Danglard, ‘we do sometimes. But I have to say that your situation appears to be delicate.’
‘I appreciate that,’ agreed Le Nermord. ‘I just hope for my own sake that I’m not going to pay the price for any errors of judgement by the police. I suppose this means you want to see me again?’
‘On Monday?’ suggested Adamsberg.
‘Yes, all right, Monday. I suppose, as well, that there’s nothing I can do for Delphie now? You’re holding her.’
‘I’m afraid so, monsieur. Sorry.’
‘Will there be a post-mortem?’
‘Yes, I’m afraid so.’
Danglard let a minute pass. He always let a minute pass after any reference to a post-mortem.
‘For Monday,’ he went on, ‘please think about what you were doing on Wednesday 19 and Thursday 27 June. Those were the nights of the two previous murders. You’ll be asked that. Unless you can tell us now.’
‘No need to think,’ said Le Nermord. ‘It’s quite simple and sad. I don’t go out at night. I spend every evening writing. Nobody lives with me to confirm that, and I don’t see much of my neighbours.’
They all sat nodding, without knowing why. There are moments when everyone just sits nodding.
