Cezanne's Quarry (12 page)

He staggered on. The letter would forever be a knife wound in his heart, tearing at him, humiliating him. No one must ever see it, even if it cost him his life. If only he had destroyed it instead of burying it at the foot of the mountain. Somehow he had known, even then, that he was burying their love there, forever.

M
ARTIN RETURNED TO HIS CHAMBERS
in a gloomy mood. He had been deceived. He doubted that the maid had told him everything she knew, and he was absolutely certain that Westerbury had lied to him. Not only was the note beckoning Solange Vernet to the quarry missing, but so was a letter that she had spent hours writing just before she died. A letter that Westerbury had kept hidden from him. A letter that had become Solange Vernet’s last testament.

Martin needed some good news, and Old Joseph did not provide it; quite to the contrary. The greffier’s report only gave Martin a compelling reason to confront the Cézannes immediately, for it revealed that Paul Cézanne was in the habit of evading authorities and getting away with it.

In 1870 the artist had fled Aix to avoid military service during the Prussian War. When the gendarmes searched the family estate for the deserter, his parents claimed they did not know where he was. It turned out, Joseph noted in the margins of the copied police report, that Cézanne spent the war just twenty-five kilometers to the south, in a village on the Mediterranean called l’Estaque. Cézanne’s lack of patriotism apparently had not turned the Aix establishment against the family. In 1871, after the French defeat, his father Louis-Auguste got elected to the new Republican municipal council, despite the fact that he was seventy-two at the time and had not even offered himself up as a candidate. Then the city records show that Cézanne
père
nominated his son for an arts commission. This had probably been a way to provide Paul Cézanne with a salary, for, according to Joseph, the census consistently listed him as an “artist” or “painter.” Nothing had come of the proposal for a commission and, as far as Martin knew, nothing had come of the art either.

Even so, the Cézannes were a formidable family, and he was unlikely to find the son without their help. The father had gone from haberdasher to banker in rapid order, and owned a town house as well as the eighteenth-century noble estate, the so-called Jas de Bouffan. Striving to be helpful as always, Joseph had translated the Provençal as the “Habitation of the Little Puffs of Wind.” Martin set the report aside and pulled at his cravat. He hoped, on this endlessly still, hot afternoon, that the Jas would live up to its name.

Martin decided to go alone. There was no reason to put up a sign of force when he could not possibly round up enough men to prevent an escape or smoke Cézanne out of a hiding place. Instead, Martin thought ruefully, he would have to rely on his youthful charm. Older women seemed to take to him. He brought out all their maternal and match-making instincts. For once, this might work to his advantage.

Before leaving for the Jas, Martin searched through the material evidence in his cabinet. Just as Arlette LaFarge had said, there were no gloves. Why? The scrap of canvas found at the quarry offered one answer. If her gloves had been stained with paint, there would have been a motive to get rid of them. All the more reason to haul in Cézanne. Martin stared at the painting fragment, fixing it in his mind. He would be looking for a match at the Jas.

It took less than an hour to get there, walking due west of town past neat, fragrant, freshly scythed wheatfields. When he reached his destination, Martin took a moment to scrutinize the Cézanne estate through the tall iron fence that separated it from its neighbors. The Jas de Bouffan was not a welcoming sight. Its gardens, in stunning contrast to the well-tended farms he had just passed, were a jumble of neglect, overgrown and desiccated. Even the three-story mansion beyond them looked a little off-kilter. Half of the top floor seemed to have an upward tilt. Before pushing open the heavy barred gate, Martin slapped the dust off his coat and pants and retied his cravat. He wanted be presentable, even if the Jas was not.

As he made his way up the driveway, Martin noted that the Cézanne property extended well to the west and back of the house. Presumably, Louis-Auguste was one of the richest men in Aix, yet he had let his holdings fall into a deplorable state. The orange stucco on the house was chipped and peeling, as was the dark green paint on the shutters. The whole place seemed closed off, hardly inhabited. Yet Martin knew the Cézanne family was there. He moistened his lips with his tongue and took a few deep breaths before pounding the knocker against the thick wooden door.

A woman wearing a crimson dress and white apron answered the door. She was a country girl, younger, bigger, and healthier than Arlette. Martin tipped his hat, introduced himself, and was left standing in the hallway while the maid went upstairs to find “the mistress.”

Finally, a tall middle-aged woman descended and invited him into the large, darkened salon behind the wooden doors on his left. “You’ve come to hear about our complaint. Good,” she said, as she pointed to an easy chair.

Already he was on the wrong footing. He had expected an older woman, and he certainly had not come with the intention of appeasing the household.

“You are Mme Cézanne?” He hoped not.

“No. Mademoiselle. Marie Cézanne. But I do most of the managing around here for my mother and father.”

“Ahh.” He forced a smile. She looked for all the world like an older version of Marthe DuPont. Straight back, dark hair piled at the neck, plain navy blue dress, a cross protecting her bosom. “I’ve come about a number of matters, but I will also need to speak to your mother.”

“I don’t see why—”

“Murder is a very serious business.”

That brought her up short.

“I don’t see what we could possibly have to say about murder.”

“Please, I will need to speak with everyone who witnessed the disturbance and—”

“So she’s really dead then,” Marie Cézanne said, ignoring his last words. “That’s why that man was shouting and carrying on last night.” Without waiting for him to respond, she left the room, closing the double doors behind her.

While he waited, Martin grew increasingly anxious that someone was warning Cézanne about his presence. Martin finally got up and, feeling a little foolish, pressed his ear to the door. Hearing footsteps and female voices, he made a quick retreat. This time an old woman entered with Marie and the maid.

Mme Cézanne, a shorter, plumper version of her daughter, was more cordial and forthcoming. “So, a serious business, monsieur le juge. I hope you understand that causing a disturbance is serious too, especially since Papa is so ill. And, as we told your officer, Paul is not here.” She smiled as if she had just told him all he needed to know. “It’s hot. Would you like something to drink?”

“Water would be fine.”

“Jeanne, water for everyone,” she announced, as if this were an act of singular largess.

“And so. . . .” She and her daughter sat before him, in two straight chairs on either side of a small round table. Their hands lay folded on their laps as they waited for him to start.

What Martin desperately wanted to know was whether or not Paul Cézanne was in the house or on the grounds. If they had plans to protect him, as they had done during the war, they were not likely to tell Martin anything until he got them on his side. He cleared his throat and took out his notebook.

“I’m sorry about what happened. I’m sure the inspector also expressed—”

“Not really,” Marie said, righteously.

“Do you know who the intruder was?”

“Why, Mr. Westerbury, of course.” Marie again.

“How did you know that?”

There was a pause, then both spoke at once. “Paul—” said the mother; “I—” began Marie. They stopped, glanced at each other, and fell silent.

“Paul
told
you it was Charles Westerbury?” Martin asked, turning to Mme Cézanne.

She looked down and nodded, realizing her error.

“Then Paul must have been here at the time.”

Another nod.

“Was Paul here when my inspector arrived?”

“Oh no, no. He took off early this morning and he hasn’t come back.” She said this with great conviction.

“Do you know where he went?”

“No.” This was Marie.

“How can that be?” he said to the sister.

She shrugged. “He goes off and paints all over. He takes provisions, he carries his paints and easel on his back, and just goes.”

“When will he return?”

“Sometimes he’s gone for days.” This was the mother’s contribution to their story.

“If he is here or if you know where he is—”

“We don’t.” Marie again.

Martin sighed. Paul Cézanne could be anywhere. In the very next room, hiding in a cupboard. Or behind a tree. Or even, as they alleged, off painting. As long as they were united against him, he had little chance. He need to change course, and quickly. “Then what were you going to say before?” he asked Marie. “Did you know Westerbury?”

She glanced at her mother. “I knew of him.”

“I mean, had you ever met him?”

Marie sat up tall, defiant. “I went to one of his lectures.”

“Only one?”

“I didn’t find it that interesting.”

“Really, I’ve found Westerbury to be quite a talker.”

“Yes, and a godless charlatan.”

“Really? Westerbury told me—”

“My confessor told
me
that the lectures were a campaign of irreligion. There is no need to teach women about new, unproven so-called ‘science.’ And Paul knows that Westerbury is a charlatan. Paul has known Fortuné Marion for years. Fortuné teaches geology at Marseilles. They used to paint and hunt fossils together. We don’t need some foreigner to come in and exploit our environs.” Having delivered herself of her priest’s and brother’s opinions, she sat back, arms folded, daring Martin to continue the discussion, any discussion. He should have known he would get nowhere with the sister.

The water arrived just in time. Martin accepted a glass from the tray presented by the maid and took a long swallow. He wrote down, “who attended Westerbury’s lectures?” if only because writing gave him something to do that looked serious and official. Marie Cézanne’s little speech and the uncomfortable silence that followed were all too reminiscent of those long pauses at the DuPont table, when Marthe, her sisters, her parents, and his own dear mother waited in vain for his assent to one of M. DuPont’s reactionary declarations about church and state. Martin took another slow draught to fill the time as he thought up some way to win over the mother. Only then did he become aware that the walls of the salon were covered with paintings.

“May I?” he stood up.

“Oh, yes.” Mme Cézanne rose. “Marie, pull the curtains so that M. Martin can see Paul’s work. We close them,” she explained, “to keep out the sun in the heat. We sometimes forget all this is here. He did them so long ago.”

The movement of the heavy drapes coughed up swirls of glittering dust as the bright sunlight streaming through the tall windows illuminated the walls of the salon. Martin took his time circling the room. He was looking for a match with the quarry fragment. And trying to figure out something to say that would please the mother. The strange amalgam of crude works painted on the walls did not make this an easy task. There were allegorical pictures, portraits, illustrations of religious themes, and even a naked male torso. Oddest of all were the five pictures in the alcove, which could be lit up by gas lamps. Four of them were festive depictions of ill-proportioned women in various postures and dress. The fifth, in the center, was a portrait of a man reading the newspaper.

“That’s the four seasons. They’re the earliest, copied from magazines,” said Mme Cézanne, who had stuck to Martin’s side. “And that,” she pointed to a darker panel that divided representations of spring and summer from winter and fall, “that’s Papa.” Martin approached to take a closer look at the father’s portrait. At this point, the artist seemed to have reduced his palette to two or three colors. Strangest of all, Martin discovered when he bent slightly and squinted hard at the bottom of the four seasons, someone had signed each of the panels with the name of the great painter Ingres.

“That was a joke.” Marie had crept up behind them.

“Ahh.” Martin smiled at the mother. “These are all done directly on the wall, then, making this a lovely eighteenth-century drawing room, with frescoes.” This was a lame compliment, but the mother did not seem to mind.

“No, I don’t think so,” Mme Cézanne answered, pursing her lips. “More like practice, trying things out. Papa even got a little upset when Paul did the nude, because of our daughters. But art is art,” she added brightly.

Indeed. The only problem was that none came even close to matching the piece of canvas that Franc had found in the quarry. And none could be construed as having anything to do with Solange Vernet.

“Are there more?”

“Oh, yes, dozens and dozens. Paul has gotten better and better,” the mother assured him.

“Are they here?”

“Paul doesn’t like anyone to disturb his things.” Marie was still hovering behind, ever alert.

“I would like very much to see them.”

“Oh, he’s very insistent on that. Even we—”

“Yes, even we,” echoed the mother, “dare not touch anything.”

The other paintings were in the house somewhere. But how was he going to get to see them without a full-scale confrontation? “Perhaps later,” Martin murmured, heading back to his chair.

“I don’t think so,” Marie’s voice rang out behind him.

“Please,” he took up his notebook again. “I have a few more questions.” He could probe what they knew about Cézanne’s love affairs before he tried to see the paintings again.

The sister stood stock-still at the end of the room until her mother bade her over. “Come, Marie. Let’s help out the young judge. Get this over with.” The mother sat down and folded her hands in her lap again. Marie complied, but remained standing by her mother’s side.

“You know of Charles Westerbury then,” Martin began. “Had Paul ever talked to you about a woman named Solange Vernet?”