The Man with the Lead Stomach (33 page)

Nicolas was startled. ‘I told you in confidence about my last meeting with him. I am still convinced that he had a secret
agreement
with Madame de Pompadour. You know how everything was made so easy for me. Perhaps she pleaded on his behalf. Oh! Not directly, of course …’

He could not bring himself to go on. For days a terrible suspicion had been haunting him. Nicolas had thought long and hard about the real role played by the favourite in the whole business. He had been struck by the way in which the Life Guard had immediately confessed to his heinous crime. Everything had happened as if he had felt sure that he would not be prosecuted and that his crime would be overlooked. Or perhaps he
entertained
the hope of obtaining a pardon from a higher power. It was likely that the message that Nicolas had taken to the favourite had resulted in indulgence of a kind, if it could be considered any kind of indulgence to be hanged instead of broken on the wheel.

In what final act of bargaining had Nicolas been the innocent go-between? Truche de La Chaux must have known that although he could not save his life the circumstances of his execution were still negotiable. But it was terrible to harbour a suspicion deep down that the Marquise de Pompadour might have organised behind the scenes a fake assassination attempt against the King. Spurred on by her hatred of the Jesuits, driven by her jealousy towards the King’s young mistresses and sincerely concerned about the real threats to her lover’s life, she might have been trying to pin the blame on the Jesuits and the pious party.
Yes, that was just possible. He tried to banish these dreadful thoughts from his mind and concentrated on what Monsieur de Noblecourt was saying.

‘He might have revealed something incriminating; torture does make even the most hardened talk. That is perhaps the secret behind the lessening of his punishment. Anyway, the Ruissec case and the derisory attempt on the King’s life are not going to make the Jesuits’ situation any easier. People say their fate is sealed, and even if they are innocent in this, calumny will do its work!’

‘There is a great deal of unfairness in the criticisms levelled against them.’

‘I agree. There is more enlightenment in them than amongst all those musty Jansenists who have been addling our brains for the last forty years. They will be driven out of the country, Nicolas, you’ll see. Their educational work will be destroyed. And we are all their pupils! In the end the person to benefit will be the King of Prussia.’

‘In what way?’

‘Consider the great-grandfather of our present king. He revoked the Edict of Nantes. What was the result? The most brilliant and the most useful young men of the reformed religion went into exile, in Prussia in particular. You’ll see, the same will be true of the Jesuits. They will go recruiting in the lands of the North and will teach generations to come to hate us.’

‘Who will replace them in France?’

‘That is a pertinent question, but I fear it is not the one that will be asked … But, Nicolas, you were at Versailles yesterday. Tell me about it.’

‘Monsieur de Sartine took me to see Madame Adélaïde, so that
I could give her back in person the jewels that we found in the Life Guards’ barracks.’

‘That was a noble gesture on the part of the Lieutenant General of Police and one that does not surprise me coming from him. What of Madame?’

‘Madame was very kind. She invited me to her hunt.’

‘Good gracious! You are on the way up! Provided,’ he said with a smile, ‘that you manage to stay in your saddle.’

Nicolas was gazing at Rue Montmartre, which was gradually filling with the morning crowd. The sounds of passers-by and carriages in the street reached them. He thought of all those individual destinies. He himself would soon forget the
protagonists
in this sinister case, even if the sad figure of Truche de La Chaux in his cell would long linger in his memory. Soon the old capital would be alive again with the masks of Carnival. Other tasks awaited him. He finished his chocolate. The final mouthful had a bitter-sweet taste, much like life itself.

Sofia, July 1997–February 1999

First I wish to express my gratitude to Sandrine Aucher for her competence, carefulness and patience in typing the text. I am also grateful to Monique Constant, Conservateur en Chef du Patrimoine, for her unfailing help and her discoveries in the archives of the period. Once again I am indebted to Maurice Roisse for his intelligent and detailed checking of the manuscript and for his useful suggestions. Finally I wish to thank my publisher for the confidence he has shown in this second book.

Jean-François Parot
is a diplomat and historian. His Nicolas Le Floch Mysteries have been published to much acclaim in French. The first novel in the series,
The Châtelet Apprentice
, was enthusiastically reviewed on its publication in English.
The Man with the Lead Stomach
is his second novel.

Michael Glencross
lives and works in France as a translator. His most recent translations into English include
The Dream
by Emile Zola and
Around the World in Eighty Days
by Jules Verne.

The Châtelet Apprentice

The First Nicolas Le Floch investigation

Jean-François Parot

Translated by Michael Glencross

France 1761. Beyond the glittering court of Louis XV and the Marquises de Pompadour at Versailles, lies Paris, a capital in the grip of crime and immorality …

A police officer disappears and Nicolas Le Floch, a young recruit to the force, is instructed to find him. When unidentified human remains suddenly come to light, he seems to have a murder investigation on his hands. As the city descends into Carnival debauchery, Le Floch will need all his skill, courage and integrity to unravel a mystery which threatens to implicate the highest in the land.

‘A terrific debut … brilliantly evokes the casual brutality of life in
eighteenth-century France’
Sunday Times

‘Jean-François Parot’s evocation of eighteenth-century Paris is richly
imagined and full of fascinating historical snippets …’
Mail on Sunday

‘Has all the twists, turns and surprises the genre demands’
Independent of Sunday

‘An engaging murder mystery that picks away at the delicate power
balance between king, police and state.’
Financial Times

A Grande Armée murder featuring Captain Quentin Margont

June 1812. Napoleon begins his invasion of Russia leading to the largest army Europe has ever seen.

But amongst the troops of the Grande Armée is a savage murderer whose bloodlust is not satisfied in battle.

When an innocent Polish woman is brutally stabbed, Captain Quentin Margont of the 84th regiment is put in charge of a secret investigation to unmask the perpetrator. Armed with the sole fact that the killer is an officer, Margont knows that he faces a near-impossible task and the greatest challenge to his military career.

‘Combines the suspense of a thriller with the compelling narrative of a war epic’
Le Parisian

‘Cabasson skilfully weaves an intriguing mystery into a rich historical background’
Mail on Sunday

‘… an enthralling and unromantic account of Napoleonic war seen from a soldier’s perspective’
The Morning Star

‘… vivid portrayal of the Grande Armée …’
Literary Review

‘Cabasson’s atmospheric novel makes a splendid war epic …’
The Sunday Telegraph

A Grande Armée murder featuring Captain Quentin Margont

May 1809. The forces of Napoleon’s Grande Armée are in Austria. For young Lieutenant Lukas Relmyer it is hard to return to the place where he and fellow orphan, Franz were kidnapped four years earlier. Franz was brutally murdered and Lukas has vowed to avenge his death.

When the body of another orphan is found on the battlefield, Captain Quentin Margont and Lukas join forces to track down the wolf who is prowling once more in the forests of Apern …

1661 is a year of destiny for France and its young king, Louis XIV.

Cardinal Mazarin, the prime minister who has governed throughout the king’s early years, lies dying. As a fierce power struggle develops to succeed him, a religious brotherhood, guardian of a centuries-old secret, also sees its chance to influence events.

Gabriel de Pontbriand, a young actor, becomes unwittingly involved when documents stolen from Mazarin’s palace fall into his hands. The coded papers will alter Gabriel’s life forever, and their explosive contents have the power to change the course of history for France and Louis XIV.

Fact and fiction combine in a fast-moving story of intrigue, conspiracy and love set in seventeenth-century France.

‘… has all the life, spirit and momentum of the best historical novels’
Le Figaro

‘The heroes of the book are the stars of the era: Molière, La Fontaine, Colbert … a book to savour’
Paris Match

‘A suspense-filled mystery, a cross between the Three Musketeers and the Da Vinci Code’
Europe 1