Blowback

Chapter Twenty-two

Madame Fraysse seemed a little shadowed around the eyes this morning, as if perhaps she had not slept. But in response to Enzo’s enquiry, she professed to have slept the sleep of the dead. She took her seat opposite him at the breakfast table and her smile seemed very slightly forced.

She had her back to the view, as if all these years of exposure had made her immune to it. But Enzo could hardly take his eyes off it. The weather had changed again. The wind was coming straight down from the north, and it had blown away all those leaden rainclouds that swept into western Europe across three thousand miles of Atlantic Ocean. The cloud cover was high, and broken, allowing sunlight to flit across the plateau in ever shifting patterns of gold and green and brown. It was the constantly changing and unpredictable nature of it that was so compelling, perhaps like Madame Fraysse herself, although it was her Delphic quality that intrigued Enzo most.

He watched her pour her infusion of tisane into an elegant china cup, and sip gingerly on it through pale lips. Steam rose in wreaths around her mouth. He said, “You told me the day I arrived that Marc would make frequent trips up to Paris to record radio or television interviews.”

“That’s correct.”

“And he drove all the way back down in time for lunch?”

“Sometimes, yes.”

“That’s quite a drive, Madame Fraysse. About four hours, according to Google maps.”

“I suppose that would be right. Although Marc liked fast cars, and pushed them to their limits, Monsieur Macleod. I’m sure he probably cut thirty to forty minutes off that.”

“Even, so… a round trip of seven hours or so before lunch… When would he find time to record the interviews?”

She cast him a curious look, as if she thought he might doubt her. “He sometimes went up the night before. He would see service underway then head off. He was a regular on the Tele Matin morning show on France 2. And that goes out live. They would slot him in anywhere between seven and eight. And then he would be on the road home. Very occasionally he would leave for Paris late afternoon, for an appearance on one of the late night round tables. And as for recording… well, he was a big enough name that the broadcasters would accommodate him. I’ve seen him set the alarm for two, to get up to Paris for six, and then be back by midi.”

“Why did he feel compelled to do these broadcasts?”

“If you are wondering if it was ego, then I would have to say yes. To an extent it was. But there was also a very practical purpose in them, monsieur. Marc understood that if you were going to draw customers to a restaurant tucked away in a remote corner of the Massif Central, then you would have to keep it in constant view. If you own a restaurant in Paris, it is not hard to fill it, especially if you have three stars. But out here…” She glanced out at the view. “If you are stuck away out here, then you have to persuade the mountain to come to you.”

Enzo nodded and refilled his coffee cup, before reaching for another croissant. “What else did Marc do in Paris, Madame Fraysse?”

She pushed up her eyebrows, but he could see in her eyes that her surprise was not genuine. “What do you mean?”

“I understand that Marc was fond of putting money on horses. In fact, more than fond of it. It was a daily ritual.”

Whatever warmth the chef’s widow might have shown Enzo when he first arrived vanished now, along with the sun as it slipped behind a passing cloud. Her tone was frosty. “I’m not sure that I understand the point you are trying to make.”

“I was just wondering if he ever went racing when he was up in Paris.”

“I have no idea where you heard that. But it is absolutely untrue.”

“I didn’t hear anything, Madame Fraysse. I’m just asking.”

Her face had become quite flushed, and she was containing her anger with some difficulty. Whether it was real or feigned, Enzo couldn’t tell. But he noticed that the dark smudges below her eyes had grown penumbrous. “Yes, he enjoyed the odd flutter.” Her voice was brittle but controlled. “Everyone knew that. But there was no question of his having a problem. None at all.” She pushed her cup away and rose stiffly. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a very busy morning ahead of me.”

Enzo watched her stride away across the dining room, then turned back, compelled by the view to gaze out over the kaleidoscope of color that characterised the plateau. And he wondered about her use of the word “problem”. The thought may have been in his head, but while he had not actually given voice to it, she had.