Cara Black - Murder in Clichy

NOTE:

The Clichy quarter referred to in this work

is the area surrounding Place de Clichy, not the suburb.

IN THE STOREFRONT CAO Dai temple under the red lanterns, her foot asleep, pins and needles up and down her legs, Aime Leduc struggled to keep her spine straight, thumb and pinky together, in the half-lotus position. Her partner Ren, a dwarf, sat with a look of total concentration, in perfect Lotus posture, in the mens section. But Aimes brain flashed with lines of computer code and throbbed with an ache for an espresso. No blank slate of tranquility for her with sirens hee-hawing on the quai and the Seine fog curling over the skylight. As the blue-robed priest struck the gong, the sigh of relief she exhaled mingled with the mindful breaths and musk of incense surrounding her.

Three weeks, Ren, she muttered, and I still cant meditate!

Shed tried and failed breathing exercises, a new practice shed begun with Ren Friant, her business partner, after her optic nerve had been damaged the previous month during an assault. It had seemed like a good time to begin to live healthily.

The ten or eleven women in yoga pants, from the nearby Universit de Paris, grabbed their books and headed for the door. Ripe fruit scents from the tiered altar offerings clung to the velvet curtains that kept out the cold. The swish of a broom wielded by Quoc, the temple custodian, an older Vietnamese man, filled the foyer.

Mindfulness, Ren said, rolling up his meditation mat, think of it like that. Try to concentrate. Dont give up, Aime.

Ren was right, of course. But the calmness and tranquility she sought remained as elusive as a wisp of smoke, even though her bouts of blurry vision had receded. She had her sight now, most of the time.

From the rear came Linh, a slender Vietnamese nun, in a Mandarin collared white ao dai tunic with matching trousers, smiling, her palms together in greeting. Middle-aged, her black hair in a bun, crows feet lines fanned from her eyes as she smiled.

Forgive me, weve worked on this before, Linh said, an undertone of sibilance just perceptible in her accented French. Next time, Aime, be open to the divining board; thats a form of meditation.

Like a large wooden ouija board, the divining board stood near the all-seeing divine eye, the Cao Dais symbol, a huge globelike eyeball suspended over the altar. Mediums used it to communicate with the spirit world in sances and in prayers to a pantheon of divine beings, including the Buddha, Confucius, Lao Tzu, and Jesus Christ. Crystal candelabras, brass drum bowls, yin and yang symbols, and peacock feathers adorned side altars.

Merci , Linh, she said, grateful for help from the nun shed met only last week.

Pictures of Victor Hugo and Sun Yat-sen lined the walls. They were venerated as saints in this esoteric sect, whose philosophy was a potpourri of Hinduism, Christianity, Taoism, Islam, and Buddhism. A sign reading VAN GIAO NHAT LY, meaning All religions have the same reason, faced her. Aime inhaled the peacefulness of the small, makeshift temple, wishing that tranquility would stay with her.

She paused with Ren at the table littered with leaflets describing meditation courses and a solicitation for signatures to a petition.

Were hoping to build a real temple, Linh said, watching Aime. Our lands were confiscated in Vietnam. Members of our sect were executed.

Wed like to help, of course, Aime said, after signing. Ill pass around your petition.

But theres something more important, Linh said. Her face crinkled in worry; there was a slight tremor in her eyelids. Your application says you have a detective agency. Can you contact someone for us?

On a good day we contact encryptions, viruses, and hackers invading computer systems, Ren said, grinning.

Linh pulled a creased paper from her sleeve. What about this man?

Aime saw the scribbled name Thade Baret; no address, just the 17th arrondissement, and a phone number.

Hes sympathetic... he helps our cause. Can you give him something from me?

As I said, we want to help, Aime said. But Linh, you dont need us to telephone him or to meet him...

Politics, Linh interrupted, shaking her head. My father was a judge years ago in Saigon. The regime denounced him and blacklisted our family, which still remains under surveillance. My younger brothers in prison for political dissent. His children have been denied visits to him. Even here, in Paris, they watch me.

Watch her?

Please understand, Aime said, wariness intruding. I want to help, but what our firm does is computer security.

How much?

Non, Linh, its not a question of money, its simply not my field, Aime said, feeling awkward. Linh had helped her, a novice, in her struggle with meditation, and now....

But I read about you... how you found a killer in the Bastille while you were blind .

Embarrassed, Aime wished the newspaper articles had never appeared.

Its complicated... Linh continued, eyelids once more fluttering nervously.

In what way? Aime said. The meditation room was becoming chilly.

Linh pulled an envelope from her robe and said, In my country we suffer anonymous denunciations by a network of informers, detentions without trial. Priests and nuns from our sect, or anyone with a political agenda that could threaten the government, live in fear. Please, just give him this from me.