Just then, Capitaine Émeri, looking deeply alarmed, came into the room and shook Adamsberg’s elbow.
‘Mortembot has just found his cousin Glayeux dead. Murdered!’
‘What? When?’
‘Last night apparently. The police doctor’s on the way. And you haven’t heard the worst – his skull was split open. With an axe. The murderer is returning to his original method.’
‘Are you thinking of the Vendermots’ father?’
‘Obviously, it must have started everything. A brute creates brutality all round him.’
‘But you weren’t even living here when that happened.’
‘Doesn’t matter. Ask yourself why nobody was ever arrested for that at the time. Or why perhaps somebody didn’t want anyone arrested.’
‘Who do you mean by “somebody”?’
‘Round here, Adamsberg,’ Émeri said in a strained whisper, while Danglard escorted the count out of the room, his shirt having been removed, ‘the only real law is what the Comte de Valleray d’Ordebec wants. He has the right of life and death on his estate and far beyond, if only you knew.’
Adamsberg hesitated, remembering the orders he had received the previous night at the chateau.
‘Look at the facts,’ Émeri said. ‘He needs your prisoner to treat Léo? He gets him. You need an extension for the investigation? He gets that too.’
‘How did you know I’ve got an extension?’
‘He told me himself. He likes you to know how far his writ runs.’
‘But who would he have been protecting?’
‘It was always thought one of the kids had killed the father. They found Lina wiping the axe.’
‘She hasn’t denied that.’
‘She couldn’t, it was all stated at the inquest. But she might have been wiping it to protect Hippo. You know what his father had done to him?’
‘Yes, the fingers.’
‘Hacked off with an axe. But Valleray could have decided to kill the monster himself, to protect the kids. What if Herbier knew that? And what if he decided to blackmail Valleray?’
‘What, thirty years later?’
‘He could have been doing it for years.’
‘But what’s that got to do with Glayeux?’
‘Just a bit of local colour to cover his tracks.’
‘But you’re suggesting that Lina and Valleray are in league. She announces that the Riders have come through, so that Valleray can get rid of Herbier. And all the others, Mortembot, Glayeux, whoever, are red herrings to get you chasing after some local maniac who believes in the Hellequin cavalcade and is carrying out His Lordship’s wishes.’
‘Well, it fits, doesn’t it?’
‘Possibly, Émeri. But I’m inclined to think that there is a maniac out there, someone who takes the Riders seriously. Either one of those seen with them who’s trying to save his skin, or someone who thinks they might be a victim in future and is trying to win favour from Hellequin by serving him.’
‘What makes you think that?’
‘I don’t know,’ Adamsberg admitted.
‘It’s because you just don’t know the people round here. What did the count offer you if you could cure Léo? A work of art perhaps? Don’t hold your breath. He does it all the time. And why is he moving heaven and earth to get her treated?’
‘Because he’s fond of her, Émeri, you know that.’
‘Or to find out what she knows?’
‘Christ, Émeri, he almost fainted just now. He wants to marry her if she survives.’
‘That would be convenient, wouldn’t it? A wife’s testimony couldn’t be taken in a court of law.’
‘Make up your mind, Émeri, whether you suspect Valleray or the Vendermots.’
‘Vendermot, Valleray, Léo – they’re all part of the same gang. The Vendermot father and Herbier were the diabolical side of it. The count and the children are the seemingly innocent side. But if you mix the two you get a damned unpredictable mixture, with some clay thrown in.’