Tangled Web, page 30
‘So the eye donor is not here?’ said Mary.
‘Balard said not, ‘I don’t even know if the donor is here in Paris, or whether they are flying in the tissue from abroad.’
‘Were you able to help the police with the Trools’ whereabouts at all?’ asked Gordon.
‘I know where they are staying if that’s what you mean. They’re at a hotel in the Marais, the Pavillon de la Reine in Place Des Vosges. But I’m afraid that’s as much as I could tell the police or you for that matter. Might I ask what these people are wanted for?’
Gordon ignored the question and said, ‘Presumably the police have already been to the hotel by now.’
‘I would suppose so,’ replied Balard.
‘Would it be a terrible imposition to ask you to telephone them on our behalf?’ asked Gordon.
‘Not at all.’ Balard looked in his desk diary for some notes he had made earlier and called the number he found there. After a conversation lasting some minutes he put the receiver down and said, ‘They are coming over. The inspector would like to speak to you personally.’
‘Did they say whether they have the Trools in custody and whether they had a child with them?’
Balard seemed puzzled. ‘The inspector said that they had interviewed the couple, but said nothing about holding them. He didn’t mention anything about a child, but when he heard that you were here, he seemed interested. I think he want to ask you some questions.
Gordon shrugged and said, ‘Maybe it’s for the best. We might as well all put our cards on the table.’
The police arrived within ten minutes, during which Gordon and Mary were served with coffee and plied with subtle questions. Balard, sensing that something was seriously amiss, was becoming increasingly anxious about the apparent involvement of his clinic but Gordon did not see this as a reason for telling him anything. Instead he tried to assure him that there was no question of the clinic being under any suspicion if what he had told them was accurate.
‘You have come from England today?’ asked the tall, rangy man introduced to them as Inspector Le Clerc. ‘Wales, actually,’ said Mary.
‘Ah yes, Wales,’ agreed Le Clerc. We had a call from Inspector Davies in Wales, asking for our assistance in a case of child abduction but I think there must be some misunderstanding. We found the couple easily enough but they did not have any child with them. Apparently they came with a child but she is their daughter; she is a patient here in the clinic, awaiting an operation.’
Gordon felt vindicated over his decision to come to France. This was just the kind of misunderstanding that he feared might happen. He said, ‘They arrived with their child two nights ago?’
‘Oui,’ replied the inspector.
Gordon turned to Balard and asked, ‘When was the Trool child admitted to the clinic?’
Balard checked his patient records and said, ‘Six days ago.’
The inspector looked bemused. Gordon told him about the earlier trip and said, ‘It wasn’t really their daughter they arrived with two nights ago - it was the baby they’d abducted.’
The Inspector, who was now fully in the picture, remarked gravely, ‘I’m sure there was no sign of a child being with them when we interviewed them at the hotel. But, in the light of what you’ve just told me, we’ll go back there now and question them further.’
‘Maybe that’s not such a good idea,’ said Gordon thoughtfully. ‘If Anne-Marie is being held somewhere else, we could be in trouble.’
‘But surely if the police turn up on their doorstep with you in tow, they’ll see that the game’s up and they’ll confess?’ said Mary.
‘It’s what will happen to Anne-Marie if they don’t that concerns me,’ said Gordon.
‘What do you mean?’
‘Anne-Marie is the key to the whole case against the Trools. That fact alone puts her in danger. Without her, there is very little in the way of evidence against them. In fact, about the only thing we’re left with is the money that Sonia paid into Ranulph Dawes’ account and he’s now dead so they’ll probably be able to concoct some story to explain it. Thinking we know why he was paid the money is a long way from proving it.’
‘So you think they might try to get rid of Anne-Marie if they can’t go ahead with the operation?’ asked Mary.
‘Yes … I really do.’
THIRTY
‘What do you suggest?’ asked Le Clerc.
‘I’m trying to imagine what the Trools must be thinking right now,’ said Gordon. ‘They’ve had a visit from the French police, which must have shaken them, but from what you’ve said, you just asked a few routine questions and then went away again, apparently satisfied with what they’d told you. They don’t know anything about us being here or of the conversation we’ve just had.’
‘So?’
‘I’m hoping there’s a real chance they will have seen no reason to change their plans and the operation will stay scheduled to go ahead in two days time. That being the case, I think if your men were to keep watch on the hotel and follow the Trools whenever they go out, it’s my guess they’ll lead you to where Anne-Marie is being held.’
‘That makes sense,’ agreed Le Clerc.
‘What sort of place do you think they’ll be holding her in?’ asked Mary.
‘It really has to be a hospital or possibly another clinic,’ said Gordon. ‘Under deep sedation probably - to simulate coma conditions. Then when they’re ready, they’ll bring the coma to a fatal conclusion and bingo! They’ll have their donor.’
‘But that is outrageous!’ said Balard. ‘There is no question of my permitting such an operation to be carried out in this clinic. I will telephone these people and make it clear that there is absolutely no point in going ahead.’
Gordon shook his head and said, ‘You mustn’t do that, Doctor. You’d just be telling them that they’d been found out, in which case they would almost certainly kill Anne-Marie and dispose of her body to save their own skins.’
‘Doctor Gordon is right,’ said Le Clerc heavily. ‘It would be better if you were to behave as if nothing were wrong should they phone or come here in person.’
‘Presumably they will come to visit their daughter?’ said Mary.
‘Good point,’ said Gordon.
‘Very well,’ agreed Balard.
‘And don’t say anything at all about this to any member of staff,’ Le Clerc ordered. ‘Just so they behave normally too. In the meantime, I will see that a watch is mounted on the hotel. He turned to Gordon and Mary and asked, ‘Where will you be staying, Doctors?’
Gordon looked at Mary, realising that it was something they hadn’t considered at all. ‘I’m not at all sure,’ he said, feeling stupid. ‘We came straight here.’
‘In the circumstances,’ said Balard, ‘You are both welcome to stay overnight here at the clinic. We have guest rooms for relatives of our patients.’
Gordon and Mary accepted the offer with heartfelt thanks.
‘Good, then I’ll know where to find you,’ said Le Clerc approvingly.
The policeman left and Gordon and Mary were shown to adjoining rooms on the third floor of the clinic. It had started to rain outside and puddles of water were reflecting the lights of the traffic as Mary came back through to join Gordon in looking out of the window. ‘We’re going to need some toilet things,’ she yawned. Her night duty and today’s mad journeyings were catching up with her. ‘Maybe we can find a supermarket open?’
Gordon seemed very distant. Mary asked him what was wrong.
‘I’m having second thoughts,’ Gordon confessed. ‘I’m thinking that maybe I’ve underestimated Trool: maybe he will change his plans in the light of the police visit.’
‘How so?’
Still looking out of the window, Gordon said, ‘The police may have spooked him into doing something earlier than he’d planned.’
‘Like what?’
‘Like getting rid of Anne-Marie.’
‘But he’s so close to the operation,’ she protested. ‘All this planning, all this waiting … Surely he’ll keep his nerve!’
‘All he needs are her eyes,’ said Gordon. It sounded brutal and it shocked Mary.
She looked at him in horror. ‘You mean he’ll remove her eyes and then get rid of her body as a precaution?’
Gordon swallowed and said, ‘That has to be the plan in the long run anyway. The police may just have persuaded him to do it sooner rather than later.’
‘But surely the eyes alone will be proof of his guilt,’ exclaimed Mary.
Gordon shook his head and said, ‘I think not. By any scientific criterion the eyes are his daughter’s own eyes. Anne-Marie is a clone, remember.’
‘My God, do you think he could actually get away with it?’ exclaimed Mary.
‘He could pretend that he’d managed to clone his daughter’s eye tissue in vitro and grown it up in the lab.’
‘But I thought that was impossible?’
‘It is but he could claim a breakthrough. Without the existence of Anne-Marie as evidence, no one could prove otherwise.’
The phone rang and Mary picked it up. After a brief conversation in French she put the phone back down and said, ‘That was Inspector Le Clerc. The Trools checked out of the hotel about an hour before the police got there. They did not leave a forwarding address.’
‘Oh shit!’ Gordon’s worst fears seemed to be about to come true. ‘Did he say what they’re doing about it?’
‘Just that they were doing their best to find them.’
Gordon started to pace nervously. ‘We’re going to be too late,’ he muttered. ‘Too damned late.’
Mary could think of nothing positive to say. There was nothing they could do as far as she could see, but enforced inaction was not going to make the waiting any easier. ‘Maybe we could start ringing round all the hospitals and clinics in Paris?’ she suggested, but her voice faltered as it occurred to her just how many of them there must be. ‘Maybe not,’ she conceded. The suggestion however, triggered off another thought and she said, ‘But we could ask their hotel!’
‘Ask them what?’
‘Ask them if the Trools made any telephone calls while they were staying there. Surely they must have called this other clinic at some time?’
‘Brilliant!’ said Gordon. ‘But we’d better get the police to do it; the hotel won’t give out that kind of information to us. You call them; your French is a lot better than mine.’
He stood by anxiously while Mary called the police and asked to be put through to Le Clerc. He watched her expression change from excitement to disappointment. She put down the phone and said dejectedly, ‘They already thought of that. The Trools did not use the hotel phone at all.’
‘Damnation,’ said Gordon. ‘But it was still a good idea. Try to come up with another one!’
The pair of them sat fidgeting, willing the phone to ring and bring them news, while outside the rain beat against the window. It was to be another thirty minutes before the phone did ring but even then, it wasn’t the police with more news; it was Dr Balard.
‘Mrs Trool has just arrived to visit her daughter,’ he announced in an exited whisper.
Gordon’s throat tightened and he felt the beginnings of a cold sweat break out on his forehead. ‘We must speak to her,’ he said. ‘Can you arrange it?’
‘Come down and wait in my room. I’ll see to it that she comes here before she leaves the clinic.’
‘We’ll be right down. You’ll inform the police?’
‘Of course.’
Gordon turned to Mary and said, ‘Sonia Trool is here to see her daughter. We can’t afford to just let her walk away. We must try to find out from her where they’re holding Anne-Marie.’
‘Something tells me that isn’t going to be easy,’ said Mary.
‘It might be our only chance,’ said Gordon.
Gordon and Mary waited for over forty minutes in Balard’s office before voices outside the door told them that Sonia Trool was about to be shown in. Balard indicated that they stand against the back wall to the side of the door and they did so before a knock came and Balard said, ‘Come in.’
‘You wanted to see me, Doctor?’ asked Sonia Trool as she came in, confident and looking as elegant as ever.
‘Actually, we did,’ said Gordon, pushing the door closed and standing in front of it. Sonia turned and looked shocked but only for a moment. She smiled and said, ‘Dr Gordon, what a surprise. What brings you here?’
‘This is Dr Hallam from Ysbyty Gwynedd in Wales; we’ve come here to take Anne-Marie Palmer back home with us. Where is she?’
‘I’m not sure I know what you are talking about, Doctor. Wasn’t Anne-Marie Palmer the baby who was murdered by her father back in Wales?’
‘No, she’s the baby you and your husband paid Ranulph Dawes to clone so that your child could have her sight restored,’ said Gordon. ‘Now, where is she?’
‘This is bizarre,’ protested Sonia. ‘I’ve never heard such nonsense in all my life.’ She made a move towards the door but Gordon blocked her way.
‘Let me past,’ she demanded.
‘Where, Sonia?’
‘Dr Balard, would you please call the police!’ said Sonia.
‘They are already on their way, Madam,’ replied Balard, ill at ease with what was going on in front of him.’
His reply brought another little flicker of uncertainty from Sonia but again she recovered well and said, ‘Good, then I’ll be able to have these people charged with keeping me here against my will.’
‘Do you deny that your child is here to have her sight restored?’ Gordon asked her.
‘Of course I don’t deny it,’ retorted Sonia. ‘A donor has become available and tissue is being flown in.’
‘From where?’
‘I didn’t ask,’ replied Sonia. ‘I … find that sort of thing just too upsetting.’
‘And you are such a sensitive soul, Sonia,’ said Gordon.
Sonia’s eyes flashed with anger.
‘Where’s James?’
‘Mind your own business,’ snapped Sonia.’
The police arrived and Le Clerc came into the room.
‘Inspector, these people are harassing me. I wish to leave,’ said Sonia, making a move towards the door but finding her way still blocked, this time by Le Clerc as well as Gordon.
‘Not just yet, Madam,’ said Le Clerc. ‘I need you to answer a few more questions for me.’
‘She won’t say where they’re holding the child or where her husband is,’ said Gordon.
‘Then perhaps you would be kind enough to empty out your handbag, Madam,’ requested Le Clerc politely.
‘This is outrageous,’ stormed Sonia, who looked for a moment as though she might explode but on seeing that Le Clerc seemed less than impressed with her histrionics, she capitulated quietly and emptied her bag out on Balard’s desk.
Le Clerc sifted through the contents that comprised mainly make-up items and paper tissues from what Gordon could see from his sentry position in front of the door. ‘No cards, no notebook,’ said Le Clerc.
‘But a mobile phone,’ said Mary.
Le Clerc looked at her and smiled. He picked up Sonia’s phone and started to check the call register as Sonia’s face began to register panic. Le Clerc muttered to himself, ‘UK, UK, UK … France.’ He pressed the call button and put the phone to his ear. He listened to the reply without saying anything then he switched the phone off. Still without saying anything, he took out his own phone and said into it, ‘Get me the address of the Clinique Martin, will you?’
Sonia collapsed down on to a chair in front of Balard’s desk and started sobbing loudly. ‘Le Clerc said to Gordon and Mary, ‘Let’s go. We can get the information in the car.’
As they left the room, the gendarme who had been stationed outside was sent in to take charge of Sonia Trool. Gordon and Mary got into the back of Le Clerc’s car while he and the driver sat in the front, waiting for the address of the clinic. It seemed unnaturally silent, apart from the sound of rain on the roof and the driver’s fingers drumming quietly on the steering wheel. Thirty seconds later the information came through and Le Clerc snapped, ‘Rue Dauphine!’
The silence changed in an instant as the car’s klaxon filled the air and flashing lights cleared the way ahead as the car leapt forward to start carving its way north through the evening traffic. Mary had to close her eyes on several occasions when the driver seemed to head for gaps that weren’t there in her view but always – and usually at the last moment, one opened up. When they were racing up the Boulevard San Michel, the driver asked Le Clerc, ‘Which end of Dauphine?’
‘Nearest the river,’ replied Le Clerc, who had been seeking the information on his radio. They reached the head of San Michel and turned west along by the river to finally enter Rue Dauphine on their left. The car drew to a halt outside the brightly-lit entrance to the Clinique Martin, its sign illuminated above its ambulance bay and flanked by two red crosses. It was clearly a much larger clinic than the St Pierre and larger than many small hospitals back home, thought Gordon.
They all went in together. The reception desk was staffed by two young ladies wearing smart maroon uniforms with their names displayed on enamel badges and with a red cross nestling below angel wings on their collar. Le Clerc did the talking after showing his ID to each in turn. He asked about Trool and was rewarded with what sounded to Gordon like a comprehensive reply. He didn’t catch all of it but Mary did and she whispered to him, ‘Trool is here … he’s with his patient who has been in a coma and is now close to death. He can’t possibly be disturbed at this time … his patient’s life is hanging in the balance … A theatre has been prepared in case Dr Trool feels there is a chance that an operation might save her life … ‘
Le Clerc turned to Gordon, uncertain of his ground and feeling ill equipped to make any kind of judgement on his own.
‘We have to stop him,’ said Gordon. ‘Right now!’
Le Clerc turned back to the receptionists and demanded to know Trool’s whereabouts in the hospital.
