86 Avenue du Goulet (A Samantha Jamison Mystery Volume 3) by Peggy A. Edelheit Page B

“What about him?”
    “What did you think of him and his wife, as a couple?”
    His face transformed to one of warmth. “They were completely devoted to each other. Simone loved those gardens and her husband, Alain, very much.”
    I turned to Claudine. “And the drowning tragedy?”
    Her demeanor altered to one of utter sadness. “Oh, it was horrible what they went through with little Sophie.”
    “And afterwards, when Madame Curat fell?”
    Her head snapped up sharply. “You know about that?”
    “Yes. It must have been a shock to you.”
    Paul frowned. “It was never the same. In particular with Curat, too much death, then and now!” He stood. “If you will excuse us, we have much work to do.” So did I.

 
     
     
    Chapter 29
    Another Angle
     
     
    I leaned back from typing my notes trying to meet another deadline. I was in what I referred to as, multiple book-deal hell, figuring out how to weave all these pieces together into a book for my publisher already knowing it wouldn’t meet my editor’s expectations. When she got a hold of my books, I referred to it as bloodletting. I could just visualize all her sidebar comment balloons filled with deletions, corrections, and not so gentle suggestions, and I might add, not so delicately put, either.
    Okay, so I deserved some of those comments.
    I’m not going into what my agent, Sandra had to say.
    After all, a mystery built around pet murders wasn’t exactly people murders. Here I was digging around for more clues, but in my heart I knew that this was not going to be the juicy, edgy mystery I had hoped for.
    I had been at it for more than an hour. There had to be another angle I wasn’t considering. The more I delved into the past, the more confused I became. And the more confused I became, the more questions I had concerning this whole network of deaths, both past and present, human and animal that I felt were connected, and still left with so little to go on.
    Either no one really knew much and couldn’t honestly tell me anything, or there was something more going on behind the scenes that no one wanted me to find out.
    Which was it? …Or was it a combination of both?
    Everyone seemed to be offering me little to go on. And what little I had so far, was opening up a completely different set of secrets that no one felt comfortable discussing. What were they all afraid of?
    Was there one more major thread I wasn’t seeing yet?
    The neighbors all confirmed that the police didn’t have the time to investigate the finding of animal bones in an old garden. They were too busy with arson in the forests that surrounded the campgrounds, pickpockets, muggings, and any number of other offenses attributed to the tourist areas during the high season.
    Claudine and Paul told me that they didn’t hear anything from their cottage because it was located at the farthest point from Curat’s property line, but what about when they were working inside and outside Martine’s house?
    Her house was twenty feet from Curat’s property line and there were several more feet to his house. His gardens were on the opposite side and went up the hill. When in Martine’s house, off and on all year round, they must have seen something, or at least heard something, even if the gardens were on the other side of Curat’s villa.
    On past visits to Martine’s, I noticed the couple never said much and went about their daily routine, doing their job. They blended into the background. Not only were they well paid, but also had a house to live in for free.
    Like Luc, after a while, you forgot they were always moving about. And that was exactly why I thought both Claudine and Paul, and Luc as well, knew more than they were willing to reveal. Being part of the background, they became invisible, and so people spoke more freely, not editing their words or actions around them.
    Was it an unspoken loyalty code of silence the three of them respected? Did they hear or see more than was intended and