Twenty blue devils

Chapter 11

"Good day,” Gideon began in his slow, careful French. “We are Americans. My friend is a special agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation-"

"And does your friend possess identification?” asked the civilian clerk without discernible interest.

Gideon translated the request for John, who slid his card over the marble counter. The clerk, less than awestruck, nodded magisterially at Gideon to continue.

"My friend would like to examine a death report concerning an accident on Raiatea a few weeks ago-"

The clerk frowned. “There has been no notification from the FBI concerning this."

"No, my friend is here in a personal capacity, about a family matter, you see. He hopes that-"

The clerk's expression had hardened. “Such files are open only to official inspection. I am sorry.” He began to turn away.

"I understand, but in this case an exhumation request has already been filed, and we thought-"

"For that you must see the department of health, not the police."

"I understand,” Gideon said again, “but my friend has reason to think that a murder may have been committed. We assumed the police would be interested."

The clerk was finally impressed. “I think you had better talk to the commandant,” he said stiffly. “Wait here, please.” He went to a telephone at the back of the room.

"What'd he say?” John asked.

"He said we'd better talk to the commandant."

"Fine.” John turned an accusing eye on him. “Hey, what was all that 'mon ami, mon ami' stuff? You're not taking any responsibility for this, are you? You're putting everything on my shoulders, aren't you?"

Gideon laughed. “You better believe it."

They had arrived a few minutes earlier at the gleaming white headquarters of the Gendarmerie Nationale de Polynesie-Francaise, commandingly situated at the head of the avenue Bruat, Papeete's most beautiful, most Frenchified boulevard. A broad (by Tahitian standards) thoroughfare, it was lined with one-and two-story government offices and screened by leafy, arching trees that had already been mature when Gauguin had sipped absinthe in their shade before wearing out his welcome in the better French social circles of Papeete.

The gendarmerie itself was the largest of the buildings, a handsome, two-story structure conspicuously flying the French tricolor, surrounded by its own tropically landscaped grounds, and encircled by a wall of iron grillwork and white stone. Notwithstanding its corrugated tin roof, it made an imposing presence.

Inside as well as outside. The lobby was immaculate and austere, with nothing on the walls but a simple, marble plaque inscribed in gold:

Hommage aux gendarmes

Victims du devoir

"What's devoir? ” John asked.

"Duty,” Gideon said as the clerk returned to the counter. John nodded approvingly at the plaque.

"The commandant can see you now,” the clerk told them.

He pressed a buzzer to let them through a gate in the counter, then motioned them to precede him through a door labeled Brigade des Recherches.

John's brow wrinkled. “Research? Who needs research?"

"It means investigations, ” Gideon told him.

Once beyond public scrutiny, the gendarmerie was notably less grand. The upper floor was a warren of cramped offices, most of them shared, and a small, untidy common room-an expanded passageway, really-with a couple of chipped plastic tables and an enormous, illuminated Coke machine that took up half the space. They had to weave their way through four or five sprawling, blue-uniformed gendarmes taking a break at the tables, smoking, drinking coffee, and gossiping.

The decor was basic police station, with battered, shabby furniture and floors covered with linoleum that had been nothing much to begin with and that had now seen more than its allotted span of years. The dull-green walls were almost hidden by charts, posters, and curling scraps of paper stuck on with pushpins, and were scuffed and blackened where shoes or hands or oily heads or the backs of chairs had come into repeated contact with them.

Other than the posted messages in French, the only feature that would tell an observer that this was not a police station in New York or London was an abundance of fresh, fragrant flowers-jasmine, frangipani, gardenia-that lay on desks and file cabinets. While the smells of police stations in London and New York were frequently memorable, they were unlikely to include frangipani.

Like those of the other offices, the commandant's door was open, revealing a room only a little larger than the rest, about twelve feet by twelve, but comprising a small enclave of refinement. There were no posters, charts, or tacked-up notes. Two antique lengths of brown-and-red tapa cloth and a pair of richly carved, wooden canoe paddles hung on the unmarred, peach-colored walls. A bank of four tall windows looked down the tree-canopied length of avenue Bruat to the bustling harbor five blocks away. The heavy desk was oiled teak, with nothing on the sheet of glass that covered it but a single letter, a marble pen-holder, a small gold pendulum clock protected by a bell jar, and, in one corner, a mass of hibiscus and gardenia arranged on a banana-leaf base. In all, it was the office of a man of taste, serene and inviting.

Its occupant was a small, dapper man in his fifties who was going rapidly over the letter with his forefinger. He nodded to himself, signed with three or four elegant, looping strokes, placed the sheet in a tray on the credenza behind him, and removed his reading glasses to examine the two newcomers with eyes of a startlingly clear blue, penetrating and intelligent. His hair, thick and gray, was brushed softly back in a way that made the most of the distinguished-looking wings of white at his temples.

"I am Colonel Bertaud,” he said in French-accented English. “Sit."

John and Gideon sat.

He extended a forefinger and leveled it at the clerk. “Go, Salvat."

Salvat went.

"Your names?” His voice was surprisingly beautiful, as mellow and vibrant as a plucked guitar string, with a hint of irony in the inflection, or perhaps it was in his expression or even his posture.

They gave him their names.

"Now, then. What is this about a murder?"

"Well, of course we don't know that there's been one,” Gideon said, treading carefully. Bertaud was being pleasant enough, but there was something about him that suggested that kid gloves were a good idea.

John, being John, had no such compunctions. “It's about a man named Brian Scott, Colonel, an American-"

"Yes, I know who Brian Scott was, Mr. Lau. I am familiar with the investigation into his death. I am also familiar with the finding: not homicide, but an accidental death due to a fall."

"Yeah, I know that. But who did the investigation? Some guy out on Raiatea, right? Let's face it-"

The skin around Colonel Bertaud's eyes twitched once. He rose from his desk, walked to the window, and stood looking down on the boulevard, his hands clasped behind him. He was shorter than he had appeared in his chair; no more than five feet six inches tall, and somewhat hippy and short-legged when seen from behind. His uniform, like that of the other gendarmes, consisted of a pale blue shirt and dark blue pants. Unlike the others, however, he wore a perfectly knotted tie rather than leaving his shirt sensibly open at the throat, his pants were full-length trousers, not the rather skimpy shorts that were standard issue, and he had on a dark blue jacket, well cut to make the least of his absence of waist, and fitted out with a gleaming Sam Browne belt.

Either he was something of a martinet, thought Gideon, or he was well aware that his was not the type of build that would be at its best in a pair of short shorts. Gideon was betting on some of both.

The colonel turned from the window to look coldly at John. "Brigadier-chef Didier on Raiatea is extremely competent. I have full confidence in him.” He paused, then said in that suave, sardonic voice: “ And I approved the report personally."

Even this was lost on John, who plowed ahead. “Well, yeah, I'm not criticizing him, but there are certain things you don't know…"

Bertaud listened without expression while John told him about his suspicions, about the accidents on the plantation, about the old gangland associations. To Gideon it sounded freshly outlandish; he could imagine what Bertaud was thinking.

When John was finished, Bertaud turned blandly to Gideon. “Is he really with the FBI?"

John, finally stung, flushed. “Yeah, I'm with the FBI,” he said angrily, “and all I need to know from you is a: Are you going to let us see the report or not? And b: What's going on with the exhumation order?"

"There is no exhumation order, I'm afraid."

John's mouth opened and closed. “There-"

Gideon cut in. “I understand that it would have been filed with the health department. Let's see, that would probably have been-"

"There is no exhumation order with the health department."

"Now look, Colonel,” John said, “Nick Druett told me he filed one. Are you telling us-"

"Your uncle did file such a request. Subsequently, he withdrew it."

"Withdrew!" John exclaimed, jumping to his feet and leaning with both hands on Bertaud's desk. "Why?"

"I suggest you ask him. Now, gentlemen, as enjoyable as this has been, my time is limited and I must-"

"Let's go, Doc,” John said abruptly.

Gideon rose. “Thank you for your help, Colonel."

"One moment more, please, gentlemen,” Bertaud said. The transparent blue eyes held them. “I hope you will enjoy your stay in Tahiti, but I remind you that you are on French soil. I will tolerate no interference in island affairs. This is understood?"

John returned his stare. "Oui, mon colonel!" he said.

And clicked his heels and saluted.