An Uncertain Place

XXI

AS HE WALKED BACK FROM DR JOSSELIN’S HOUSE, ADAMSBERG turned over in his pocket the squashy little silk heart. He stopped under the porch of Saint-François-Xavier’s to call Danglard.

‘Commandant, it doesn’t make sense. That code in the love letter, it’s all wrong.’

‘What love letter, what code?’ Danglard asked cautiously.

‘The one from Vaudel. “Kiss lover”. The message for the old lady in Germany. He just wouldn’t say that. He was old, he was cut off from the world, he was a traditionalist, he used to drink Guignolet, sitting on a Louis XIII armchair, he just wouldn’t write “kiss lover” on a letter. No, Danglard, and especially not if it was a last message to be read after his death. It’s too cheap for his style. He wasn’t going to write silly slogans like you get on toy hearts.’

‘Toy hearts?’

‘Never mind, Danglard.’

‘Nobody’s above doing silly things, commissaire. Vaudel was eccentric.’

‘Silly things in Cyrillic script?’

‘If he liked secrets, why not?’

‘Danglard, this alphabet, is it only used in Russia?’

‘No, it’s used in other Orthodox countries in Eastern Europe; it’s a Slavonic alphabet, derived from ancient Greek.’

‘Don’t tell me where it comes from, just tell me if it’s used in Serbia.’

‘Yes, of course it is.’

‘You told me you had an uncle who was a Serb. Were all those cut-off feet Serbian too?’

‘I’m not sure they were my uncle’s, actually. It was your story about the bear made me think that. They could be someone else’s.’

‘Such as?’

‘Well, a cousin maybe, or a man from the same village.’

‘But it is a Serbian village, isn’t it, Danglard?’

Adamsberg could hear Danglard banging his glass down on the table.

‘Serbian word, Serbian feet, are you trying to make something of it?’

‘Yes. Two Serbian signals in a few days – that doesn’t happen very often.’

‘They have absolutely nothing to do with each other. Plus, you didn’t want us to have anything to do with the feet in Highgate.’

‘The wind’s changed, commandant. What can I do? And right now, it’s blowing from the east. Find out what this “kiss lover” stuff could mean in Serbian. Start by investigating your uncle’s feet.’

‘Look, my uncle didn’t know many people in France. And certainly not any rich legal eagles in Garches!’

‘Don’t shout, Danglard. I’ve got tinnitus and it hurts my ears.’

‘Since when?’

‘Since Quebec.’

‘You never said.’

‘Because before it didn’t matter. Now it does. I’ll fax you Vaudel’s letter. Think, Danglard, something starting with kiss. Anything. In Serbian.’

‘Tonight?’

‘He was your uncle, wasn’t he? We’re not going to leave him inside the bear.’