“Most of the night walking around,” he said, holding her, stroking her dark red hair, cradling her head against his shoulder ... and aching, “chasing down cadaverous clerks, listening to animated nonsense, and drinking coffee disguised as sour mud. Les Classiques was a waste of time; it’s a zoo.
The monkeys and the peacocks put on a hell of a show, but I don’t think anyone really knows anything. There’s one outside possibility, but he could simply be a sharp Frenchman in search of an American mark.”
“He?” asked Marie, her trembling diminished.
“A man who operated the switchboard,” said Bourne, repelling images of blinding explosions, and darkness and high winds as he pictured the face he did not know but knew so well. That man now was only a device; he pushed the images away. “I agreed to meet him around midnight at the Bastringue on rue Hautefeuille.”
“What did he say?”
“Very little, but enough to interest me. I saw him watching me while I was asking questions. The place was fairly crowded, so I could move around pretty freely, talk to the clerks.”
“Questions? What questions did you ask?”
“Anything I could think of. Mainly about the manager, or whatever she’s called. Considering what happened this afternoon, if she were a direct relay to Carlos, she should have been close to hysterics. I saw her. She wasn’t; she behaved as if nothing had happened except a good day in the shop.”
“But she was a relay, as you call it. D’Amacourt explained that. The fiche.”
“Indirect. She gets a phone call and is told what to say before making another call herself.”
Actually, Jason thought, the invented assessment was based on reality. Jacqueline Lavier was, indeed,
an indirect relay.
“You couldn’t just walk around asking questions without seeming suspicious,” protested Marie.
“You can,” answered Bourne, “if you’re an American writer doing an article on the stores in Saint-Honoré for a national magazine.”
“That’s very good, Jason.”
“It worked. No one wants to be left out.”
“What did you learn?”
“Like most of those kinds of places, Les Classiques has its own clientele, all wealthy, most known to each other and with the usual marital intrigues and adulteries that go with the scene. Carlos knew what he was doing; it’s a regular answering service over there, but not the kind listed in a phone book.”
“People told you that?” asked Marie, holding his arms, watching his eyes.
“Not in so many words,” he said, aware of the shadows of her disbelief. “The accent was always on this Bergeron’s talent, but one thing leads to another. You can get the picture. Everyone seems to gravitate to that manager. From what I’ve gathered, she’s a font of social information, although she probably couldn’t tell me anything except that she did someone a favor--an accommodation--and that someone will turn out to be someone else who did another favor for another someone. The source could be untraceable, but it’s all I’ve got.”
“Why the meeting tonight at Bastringue?”
“He came over to me when I was leaving and said a very strange thing.” Jason did not have to invent this part of the lie. He had read the words on a note in an elegant restaurant in Argenteuil less than an hour ago. “He said, ‘You may be what you say you are, and then again you may not.’ That’s
when he suggested a drink later on, away from Saint-Honoré.” Bourne saw her doubts receding. He had done it; she accepted the tapestry of lies. And why not? He was a man of immense skill, extremely inventive. The appraisal was not loathsome to him; he was Cain.
“He may be the one, Jason. You said you only needed one; he could be it!”
“We’ll see.” Bourne looked at his watch. The countdown to his departure had begun; he could not look back. “We’ve got almost two hours. Where did you leave the attaché case?”
“At the Meurice. I’m registered there.”
“Let’s pick it up and get some dinner. You haven’t eaten, have you?”
“No ... “ Marie’s expression was quizzical. “Why not leave the case where it is? It’s perfectly safe; we wouldn’t have to worry about it.”
“We would if we had to get out of here in a hurry,” he said almost brusquely, going to the bureau. Everything was a question of degree now, traces of friction gradually slipping into speech, into looks, into touch. Nothing alarming, nothing based on false heroics; she would see through such tactics. Only enough so that later she would understand the truth when she read his words. “It’s over. I’ve found my arrows. ...”
“What’s the matter, darling?”
“Nothing.” The chameleon smiled. “I’m just tired and probably a little discouraged.”
“Good heavens, why? A man wants to meet you confidentially late at night, a man who operates a switchboard. He could lead you somewhere. And you’re convinced you’ve narrowed Carlos’ contact down to this woman; she’s bound to be able to tell you something--whether she wants to or not. In a macabre way, I’d think you’d be elated.”
“I’m not sure I can explain it,” said Jason, now looking at her reflection in the mirror. “You’d have to understand what I found there.”
“What you found?” A question.
“What I found.” A statement. “It’s a different world,” continued Bourne, reaching for the bottle of scotch and a glass, “different people. It’s soft and beautiful and frivolous, with lots of tiny spotlights and dark velvet. Nothings taken seriously except gossip and indulgence. Any one of those giddy people--including that woman--could be a relay for Carlos and never know it, never even suspect it A man like Carlos would use such people; anyone like him would, including me. ... That’s what I found. It’s discouraging.”
“And unreasonable. Whatever you believe, those people make very conscious decisions. That indulgence you talk of demands it; they think. And you know what I think? I think you are tired, and hungry, and need a drink or two. I wish you could put off tonight; you’ve been through enough for one day.”
“I can’t do that,” he said sharply.
“All right, you can’t,” she answered defensively.
“Sorry, I’m edgy.”
“Yes. I know.” She started for the bathroom. “I’ll freshen up and we can go. Pour yourself a stiff one, darling. Your teeth are showing.”
“Marie?”
“Yes?”
“Try to understand. What I found there upset me. I thought it would be different. Easier.”
“While you were looking, I was waiting, Jason. Not knowing. That wasn’t easy either.”
“I thought you were going to call Canada. Didn’t you?”
She held her place for a moment. “No,” she said “It was too late.” The bathroom door closed; Bourne walked to the desk across the room. He opened the drawer, took out stationery, picked up the ballpoint pen and wrote the words:
It’s over. I’ve found my arrows. Go back to Canada and say nothing for both our sakes. I know where to reach
you.
He folded the stationery, inserted it into an envelope, holding the flap open as he reached for his billfold. He took out both the French and the Swiss bills, slipping them behind the folded note, and sealed the envelope. He wrote on the front: MARIE.