Faby stared at her computer screen and rubbed her eyes. Beside her was a notebook in which she was recording the main facts of Genet’s career. She also had a printout from an Internet site operated by the Galerie Ville Haute in Vaison. Much like the fictionalised version written about in Knox’s story on “Chalmers”, the webpage featured a photograph of Michel Genet in a white shirt, unbuttoned to reveal a thick mat of grey chest hairs and a gold cross. His expression was a study of cool: a cross between a youthful James Dean and an aged Samuel Beckett, with his spiky grey hair and requisite look of disdain. The bio had the same wording in a book on regional art she had on her desk.
Michel Genet
born Aix-en-Provence, 1954
Genet studied at the Université Paris 1 Panthéon – Sorbonne. Initially interested in philosophy as well as painting, Genet’s early artistic influences included Kandinsky, Mondrian, Moore and Picasso. Whilst Genet later rejected much of the Abstract influence, Kandinsky has remained a continued inspiration, as seen in Genet’s striking use of colour and the use of humorous juxtaposition in his work. Genet held a lecturing position at the Universiténde Provence Aix-Marseille from 1986 to 2004, and has spent time in Italy, Germany and Iceland on various fellowships. Genet sees himself as a traditional painter, asking his subjects to sit for many hours in his studio, or else painting landscapes in the open air. However, the sharp lines of his work recall the modernist preoccupation with geometric forms, and there is a subtle reminder of his earlier Abstract phase in his use of unusual angles in seemingly straightforward figurative works. Since 2004, he has devoted himself to painting full-time in his studio in the village of Piégon just outside of Vaison-la-Romaine. His works can be purchased at a number of galleries in the town centre.
Reading this, Faby wondered whether there was an Icelandic connection to be explored, whether his choosing Birna to clean his house might be relevant to his earlier interests. She knew enough about men to imagine such fixations. In any case, it was a new piece of information to explore, and one certainly to inform Sauveur about. For now, she pressed on, looking for other sources. What was it that Knox had written in his book about Sally’s methods? The net could host official items, but also facts about a person’s life that they might prefer hidden. Somewhere in the world of art there might be someone with a motive to kill Genet.
She spent two hours following the threads of any references to Genet she could find online. There were details of exhibitions held by Genet in various galleries in the Drome region and further afield. There were repetitions of the same biography in various artzines. Genet seemed to have found his niche in Provence, with little serious academic commentary attached to his work. Reading between the lines, having rejected an academic career and poured scorn on contemporary painting, Genet was considered something of an outsider from the art establishment. His works obviously sold reasonably well — Benjamin was currently working his way through a folder of sales figures supplied by Genet’s accountant — but commercial success seemed to come at the cost of critical acclaim. Sauveur’s take on this was that while for some men this would not be an issue, it was the sort of thing likely to grate on someone like Michel Genet, whose reputedly robust ego likely hid a more fragile personality than appearances suggested.
For Benjamin, all this business about Genet’s art was a distraction from the more likely cause of events. What he had proposed at the morning meeting was that they ask Juge Rodriguez for a search warrant to go over not only Blake Knox’s residence again, but also Birna Aronsdóttir’s place of stay. His current theory was that the pair had either killed Genet for money, or that perhaps they were trying to blackmail him over something that they had uncovered. What exactly that was, was still unknown. He was certain it involved something sordid on Michel Genet’s part. What was it that the Capitaine had said? As soon as he was finished going through the finances, Benjamin intended to ask Sauveur if they could go back to Genet’s house and search again for anything photographic, pornographic perhaps, that might link Michel and Birna and Blake together.
The package Henri delivered to Sauveur’s desk was tempting to open. From the address on the back he guessed its contents: printouts of the hard drive of Genet’s computer. That should make interesting viewing, Benjamin thought, much more interesting than a half-baked crime novel written in Australian English.