Free Speak Softly My Love by Louis Shalako Page A

brittle,
and fragile, also a member of an alien species), she just didn’t
turn his crank as the Yanks would say.
    One day he’d called his solicitor. He made a new will,
leaving every one of his relations very small legacies. The rest
went to feed hungry children in China. On some level, there must
have been some element of self-regard. But for the most part, he
just didn`t give a shit anymore. His estate wouldn`t be enough to
make even one of
the family rich, and so why do it?
    Why
bother?
    That
pretty much said it all.
     
     

Chapter Ten

     
    They had
an appointment. They’d finally gotten through to her. So far
Monique was fully cooperative.
    “ We’re just trying to get a handle on where he might have
gone.” Hubert, as usual, was solicitous, gentle and considerate.
“How much time did he spend at home, anyways?”
    “ Oh, ah. Hmn.” The rapidity of it startled her.
    That
much was clear as she hemmed and hawed, leading them into the salon
and making sure they were comfortably seated.
    “ Didier spent a considerable time on the road, of course.” Her
eyes were calmer when she looked at him again.
    Hubert
had given her something to chew on.
    Tailler
wondered how he was going to like his role. There was nothing for
it and they must get on.
    “ Okay. Before he left, how long had he been in
town?”
    “ Ah—three or four days.”
    “ How long had Didier been away?” It was pressure, gentle at
first but Tailler was relentless. “Just before that?”
    “ He was gone for four days—five nights, kind of.”
    He
nodded. That was easily understood, he’d taken the night train
coming and going.
    “ Where did he go, exactly? Did he tell you?”
    “ Mâcon. It’s in the Beaujolais country.” She mentioned the
name of a hotel, and he jotted that down, Hôtel du Nord.
    “ Okay, so the time before that—how long was he home for? And
would you be able to sort of write all this down for us? Would you
mind doing that for us?” Tailler cleared his throat. “Can you give
us his itinerary, as far as you know it, for the last month or
so?”
    Her hand
went up to her mouth and then came down.
    “ I suppose so. Of course. A few places, maybe.”
    “ Did you ever drive him to the train station?”
    “ No. We don’t have a car. He calls a taxi.”
    “ The same one every time?”
    “ I think so.” She supplied the name of a firm and Tailler
wrote it down.
    He would
check a phone book for that.
    “ Did he take a taxi that night? The last time you saw
him.”
    Fresh
tears glistened in her eyes.
    “ I—I think so.”
    “ Are you sure?”
    She
looked at him.
    “ Yes—Didier wasn’t the sort to take the bus.”
    “ Very well, Madame.” His pen made motions on the
page.
    They
gave her a moment to compose herself. She was on the verge of
tears.
    “ Did you ever have any reason to believe that Didier might
have been cheating on you?” It was like a slap in the face, and
Tailler looked away.
    Somehow
he dragged his eyes back and she was glaring at him, cheeks
flaming. It wasn’t even the question so much, it was the way he
said it. She sat, erect, hostile and yet ashamed of her lack of
control over herself.
    “ No! Never.” She bit down, hard, and yet he could see the
thought bottom out somewhere inside there and she came up short—all
those absences.
    Her face
came back and there was something new there.
    Fear.
    Anger.
    Disgust.
    The eyes
glittered.
    “ No. He would never do that to me.”
    Hubert
stepped in.
    “ We’re trying to find out who might have been his closest
friend. Can you think of anyone? What about the people at
work?”
    She took
a breath and mentioned a name.
    “ Edmond. Barrault. Another salesman. They went drinking
sometimes or so they said—” Now she had doubts, which Tailler
himself had been responsible for introducing. “He was at head
office, of course, and they traveled together
sometimes.”
    The lady
gave him yet another suspicious look. She was having the same
thought at