He found the farmhouse and parked out front.
He抎 never thought a trip here necessary. He抎 been kept informed of Tallard抯 case covertly, along with a report on all activities梬hich, to this day, had been minimal.
The day was warm and sunny. Before leaving the car he removed his white collar. Better not to announce his profession so openly. He stepped out and approached the front door and noticed it ajar.
He stopped.
This was foolish. He should not be here. But it had to be done. He was the only one who could make this inquiry. Especially considering that someone else apparently knew all about this problem.
He stepped to the door and knocked.
No reply.
揕ouis,?he called out. 揕ouis.?
He pushed the door inward, which squeaked on its hinges. He stared into the small unlit den, everything all awry, as if from a struggle.
Then he saw Tallard.
Bound to the kitchen table, the body limp, head dangling down from one edge, the mouth and eyes wide open, the tongue protruding.
He stepped inside and approached the table.
Tallard was dead.
Which solved a whole host of problems.
And he would be thrilled by the fact except for what lay atop the body.
Two crosses. Made of wood. Both painted yellow.
The color brought context to the message.
When the Inquisition came to southern France to eradicate Catharism, repentant first offenders were ordered to forever wear a yellow cross on their clothes, called las debanadora, which meant in Occitan 搑eels?or 搘inding machines.?The term came from the Cathars comparing the cross to a reel and line, by which the wearer could be hauled in at any time for a second offense.
And that meant the death penalty.
Its presence here, eight hundred years after the fact, lying atop a Catholic corpse, was meant as a signal.
The other yellow cross, lying beside it, completed the message.
Many mistakenly called it the Cathar cross. The image was for sale in every tourist shop across the Languedoc as a supposed Cathar souvenir. But it had nothing to do with the Cathars. It was the Cross of Occitan. The heraldic design was first used in the coat of arms of the counts of Forcalquier, in the twelfth century, and by the counts of Toulouse on thirteenth-century coins and seals. It later spread to other provinces. Such a cross, upon a blood-red background, still made up the flag of modern-day Occitania. It was also found in the emblems of Midi-Pyr閚閑s, Languedoc-Roussillon, and Hautes-Alpes, as well as in countless cemeteries and at country crossroads.
Old and new.
Atop the body of a sexual deviant. A priest of the Roman Catholic Church. He closed his eyes.
Dear God.
What was happening?
Chapter 23
Carcassonne
Bernat抯 phone signaled an incoming call from Andre. He抎 stationed the young man outside Father Tallard抯 farmhouse, among the trees, to wait and watch.
揌e came,?Andre told him when he answered. 揟hen left in a hurry, with the two crosses.?
Perfect. Exactly what he wanted to happen.
揥ere you able to record him??
揑 have a full video and pictures. His presence is well documented. He removed his collar before entering.?
揕ittle good that will do him.?
He prided himself on being quite knowledgeable about Cathar history and philosophy. But there was one other subject he抎 become an expert on too. Gerard Vilamur. He抎 studied that prelate for a long time and knew, without question, that once the archbishop saw that video he抎 go straight to Tallard. He抎 have no choice. That was why he抎 so carefully phrased the text that accompanied it, and edited out the last part where Tallard admitted that Vilamur knew it all.
That, he would save for the next message.
The idea right now had been to draw the archbishop to the scene and create more incriminating evidence.
揝end me the video,?he told Andre. 揟hen head back here.?
He ended the call.
Things were on track with Vilamur.
And also in Ghent.
No one, other than Sister Deal, himself, and the curator, had laid eyes on the original Just Judges since 1934. Of the twelve panels for the Ghent Altarpiece only one had been stolen, then its back side returned, so only the Just Judges itself would be gone.
Why?
Investigators had pondered that mystery for a long time.
As had he.
What later generations would call the Hundred Years?War raged from 1337 to 1453. It pitted the English, along with some rebellious French allies, against the remaining French nobles in a struggle not only for territory but over who should be the rightful king of France. Over the course of 116 years, five generations of kings from two rival dynasties fought incessantly for the throne of the largest kingdom in western Europe. By 1429 it had devolved into a battle over whether Henry VI of England or the French dauphin, Charles, would assume that throne.