Dead Horsemeat

Monday 4 September 1989

Meeting of the Drugs Squad section leaders in the office of the new director. Daquin goes up with Dubanchet, they’ve known each other since training college at Saint-Cyr-au-Mont-d’Or and have a number of shared experiences, plus a sense of complicity between them.

‘Well, have you met the new boss yet?’

Pulls a face. ‘Careful… wait and see.’

They enter. The director steps forward to greet them, shakes their hands, smiling. Slim, dark suit, hair plastered back, a distinguished air that makes him look more like a prefect than a cop. He’s definitely one of them, but he’s spent most of his career in ministerial circles.

The five or six superintendents in the office greet each other with silent nods. The director says a few words about how delighted he is to work with them. Daquin senses the unspoken message behind the smile, it’s almost tangible. The man is on his guard. And the meeting begins.

From the start, the discussion centres on cocaine. Consumption is soaring in Europe, heroin-cocaine bartering between the Italian and Colombian mafias, the place is awash with dirty money, there must be no compromise with the agents of death. Following the Paris summit and the setting up of the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering, we need to see results. The powers that be are counting on us. Our colleagues in the antinarcotics department seized a big haul in August. Fifty-three kilos of cocaine. We have to do better.

‘Fifty-three kilos, but no dealers,’ says Daquin. ‘I’m not sure we want to repeat that kind of operation.’

The director looks miffed and evokes the Drugs Squad’s track record over the last two years. Dubanchet leans over to Daquin:

‘Do you reckon the DEA supplied the stuff?’

‘It’s possible, France is crawling with their agents at the moment. Then something went wrong.’

The director mentions the two spectacular hauls made last year. And, three months ago, the arrest of Buffo, the mafia boss, on the Riviera thanks to close teamwork with other police departments and following a lengthy investigation …

‘A hasty arrest,’ interrupted Dubanchet. ‘I was there. Impossible to prove drug trafficking, he’s inside for cigarette smuggling. A fiasco, actually.’

‘On a tip-off from the DEA,’ adds another superintendent.

‘We must be thorough and cautious,’ concludes Dubanchet.

Daquin watches the chief who’s chain smoking. Relations are going to be strained.

Now, let’s move on to the case in hand. At the end of the meeting, Daquin speaks:

‘According to two of my informers, there’s heavy cocaine consumption in horseracing circles. I’d like to take a few days to check out these leads.’

‘Fine. Keep me posted.’