All the Devils Are Here
- Автор: Пенни Луиза
- Серия: Chief Inspector Gamache #16
- Год: 2020
- Язык: английский
- Год: St. Martin's Publishing Group
- ISBN: 9781250145253
- Жанр: Другие детективы
Электронная книга - «All the Devils Are Here». Краткое содержание книги:
On their first night in Paris, the Gamaches gather as a family for a bistro dinner with Armand's godfather, the billionaire Stephen Horowitz. Walking home together after the meal, they watch in horror as Stephen is knocked down and critically injured in what Gamache knows is no accident, but a deliberate attempt on the elderly man's life.
When a strange key is found in Stephen's possession it sends Armand, his wife Reine-Marie, and his former second-in-command at the Sûreté, Jean-Guy Beauvoir, from the top of the Tour d'Eiffel, to the bowels of the Paris Archives, from luxury hotels to odd, coded, works of art.
It sends them deep into the secrets Armand's godfather has kept for decades.
A gruesome discovery in Stephen's Paris apartment makes it clear the secrets are more rancid, the danger far greater and more imminent, than they realized.
Soon the whole family is caught up in a web of lies and deceit. In order to find the truth, Gamache will have to decide whether he can trust his friends, his colleagues, his instincts, his own past. His own family.
For even the City of Light casts long shadows. And in that darkness devils hide.
“Sure. Our nephews have one. You remember last Christmas, they were playing it? It looks like a solid tower but is actually made up of lots of small pieces, like little logs. You pull out one at a time, trying not to have the whole thing collapse.”
“Right. Stephen and Plessner were playing financial Jenga. Pulling out tiny pieces of companies one at a time. He was a wily one.”
Reine-Marie wondered if Armand realized he’d just, for the first time, referred to Stephen in the past tense.
“Which companies?” she asked.
“Mrs. McGillicuddy’s studying the buy orders, but it’s complex and many are numbered companies.”
“He wanted to control them?”
“Or just one. It’s possible the rest are camouflage, misdirection.”
“Is one of them GHS?”
“Non.”
“No,” she said. “That would be worth far more than even Stephen could raise. And the directors would definitely notice a hostile takeover, no matter how subtle. But he could be buying up one or more of the subsidiaries.”
Armand pointed at her. Got it.
That was his thinking, too.
“But why?” And since there was no answer, she asked another question. “Is that why you stopped at home to get the annual report? To see if any of the companies are listed?”
“Yes. But the report doesn’t name any of its holdings.”
“If there are any,” said Reine-Marie.
“Well, we know of at least one. SecurForte. And I suspect there are many more.”
But there was another piece of information he had found out from Mrs. McGillicuddy. He waited for the shouts from the table next to them to reach a crescendo before leaning close to Reine-Marie.
She leaned in.
“Six weeks ago Stephen wired huge amounts into his bank account here in Paris. The funds were frozen, of course, following the anti-money-laundering laws. But they’d be available to him as of tomorrow morning.”
She knew her husband and could see there was more to come. “Go on.”
Armand paused, wishing he didn’t have to actually say it. He studied her eyes. So familiar, he knew every fleck. Had looked into them at all the high, and low, moments of their lives together. As he stared into them now.
“The money’s in the Banque Privée des Affaires.”
Reine-Marie became absolutely, completely still. They were alone now. Far away from the shouts of laughter, the clink of cutlery, the scraping of chairs on marble floors. The murmurs of discreet waiters. Far away from the familiar.
It was just the two of them, in the wilderness.
“Daniel’s bank?” she whispered.
“Oui.”
“So Daniel knew, knows, what they were doing?”
“I don’t think so. I doubt Stephen would’ve told him. There was no reason for Daniel to know. And the less he knew, the better.”
“Why would Stephen involve Daniel at all? If he thought it was dangerous, why in the world would he drag Daniel into it?”
“He wouldn’t. I think at the time, six weeks or so ago, the only danger Stephen probably saw was that his carefully laid plan would collapse. That he’d fail. But he’d never have thought any of this would happen.”
“Five weeks ago Daniel’s name was put on the archive request for Stephen’s war file. That’s no coincidence. Something happened. Someone noticed.”
Armand exhaled. “I think you’re right. Stephen miscalculated. As soon as they threatened him with that file, he knew he had to be more careful. Which was why when he came to Paris he stayed at the George V. Laid low.”
“But still they got him. Monsieur Plessner’s dead and Stephen’s in a coma. Oh, God, Armand, is Daniel in danger?”
“No. If they were going to hurt him, it would’ve been that same night they attacked Plessner and Stephen.” He took her hand. It was freezing cold. “They’re setting him up, but they need him alive for that. They won’t hurt him.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. He’s safe. Especially if he can be convinced to go to Commander Fontaine and tell her about Alexander Plessner and the venture capital. That will prove to them he has no idea what’s really happening.”
Reine-Marie snatched up her phone. “I’m going to call and make him do it.”
But he stopped her. “Let’s get in a taxi. Call from there.”
Reine-Marie strode down the long corridor, almost breaking into a run.
“Hôpital Hôtel-Dieu, s’il vous plaît,” said Armand.
Reine-Marie had the phone to her ear and was listening to the ringing. Ringing.
Paris slid by, unseen.
She looked at Armand, who was watching her. “No answer.”
“Try again.”
She did. Still no answer. The hospital was up ahead. She called Roslyn, who confirmed that Daniel had left a couple of hours earlier, but she hadn’t heard from him. And no, she didn’t know where he’d gone.
“Armand?” said Reine-Marie.
“We’ll find him.”
His mind was racing. Where could Daniel be? He’d been so sure, genuinely certain, that SecurForte, or whoever was behind all this, needed Daniel alive.
Didn’t they?
Dear God, didn’t they?
The taxi pulled up to the entrance to the hospital. Armand was on the phone. He no longer cared if he was giving himself away.
“Claude? Armand. Can you tell me if there’re any reports of violent crimes in the last couple of hours?” He was pale as he asked, holding on to Reine-Marie’s eyes. “Accidents? Where?” He held up his hand to reassure Reine-Marie. “Merci. No, just checking. Merci.”
He hung up. “A woman fell off her bicycle and was hit by a car, but will recover. Nothing else.”
“But that doesn’t mean—”
“I know.”
“We have to find him. There must be a way.”
“There is.” Armand stared at his phone. About to do something he loathed. Something he knew Daniel would find hard to forgive.
But there was so much unforgiven already—what was one more violation?
He pressed the app. And waited, staring at the screen, as it changed to GPS. To a map of Paris. To the île de la Cité.
“But it’s not working,” said Reine-Marie. “It’s showing our location.”
“Oui.” Armand stared up. At the façade of the old hospital. “Daniel’s here.”
The cop at Stephen’s door let them in. Daniel was sitting beside Stephen’s bed. With one hand, he held Stephen’s hand. In the other, he held his phone.
And Armand saw the outrage in his son’s eyes.
CHAPTER 32
“We need to talk,” Armand said to Daniel as soon as they’d returned to Stephen’s suite at the George V.
Jean-Guy was there and introduced his colleague Séverine Arbour.
They greeted her, but before Beauvoir could explain, Armand said, “Excusez-moi,” and turned to Daniel. “Come with me, please.”
Armand walked up the stairs, but Daniel stayed behind until his mother said, “Go. Please.”
His father had asked him, in the taxi over, if he’d gone to see Commander Fontaine, but Daniel had refused to answer. As he’d done since he was a child, when angry, Daniel clamped shut. Refusing to talk. To make eye contact. To acknowledge anything and anyone.
Now he slowly followed his father up the stairs while the others exchanged glances.
Honoré was having a nap in the second bedroom, and Roslyn had taken the girls into the courtyard garden of the hotel for afternoon tea.
Those in the living room tried not to listen, but still, they heard enough.
“What?” demanded Daniel when they got into Stephen’s bedroom and his father had closed the door.