Dead Horsemeat

Thursday 12 October 1989

‘The dates of Transitex deliveries to Chantilly tally with the departure dates of Thirard’s lorry for Italy. We’re going to bring Transitex down, taking a few precautions in case things go wrong, of course.’

‘If we act now, we’ll never incriminate Perrot and Pama.’

‘I don’t see it that way. Listen carefully. Ballestrino, Perrot and Thirard are part of Jubelin and Pama’s entourage, where we also find Nicolas Berger and Annick Renouard. The detective’s ABC tells us that such coincidences are no accident. Right. But we don’t know how these different pieces fit together. For the time being we have hardly any evidence to implicate all these good people, and, as they are cautious, we won’t easily find anything. Our only chance is to take the initiative and force them to react. Which we will do in bringing down Transitex. Convinced, Lavorel?’

‘Not really.’

‘Too bad, I’m sorry, but I’ve made up my mind. We’ll review the situation afterwards. The delivery should take place during the coming week, but we can’t be sure of the date. So we’ll keep Transitex under surveillance. And if the vet puts in an appearance within the expected time frame, we’ll pounce. Now, open your notepads, we’re going to organise this down to the last detail.’