Mr. Clarinet

"Here's what I need from you: first up, I want to make as little noise as possible coming back. No one outside your most trusted can know I'm in the country."

"I'll have some people meet you on the runway, take you out through the military exit."

"Good. Next: I'll need a good car."

"OK."

"And a gun."

The morning of his departure, he'd taken the Beretta apart and dropped its components in Pétionville's open sewer holes.

"Consider it done."

"Thanks. I'll call you before I leave."

"OK."

"And another thing, Vincent—same as before, this is still my gig. You let me run things."

"Understood," he said.

"See you very soon."

"Indeed," Vincent said. "Oh, Max?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you."

Part 6

Chapter 62

CHANTALE HAD JUST finished loading two cases into the back of her Fiat Panda and locking the door to her house when he walked up to her and tapped her shoulder.

"Max!" she jumped with shock and gasped when she saw him, a confused smile tripping across her lips. She was dressed in jeans and a light blue blouse, small gold studs in her ears, a thin chain around her neck, and minimal makeup, the look one of formal informality. She took traveling seriously.

"Where's Allain?"

"He's gone. Left the country," she said, worry creeping into her face. He was blocking her way to the car. "I'm going too. My plane's leaving in a couple of hours and I really want to beat the traffic, so…"

"You aren't goin' nowhere, Chantale," Max pulled out the Glock Vincent Paul had handed him when he'd picked him up at the airport.

She panicked.

"Look, I didn't know anything was wrong until yesterday," she said. "Allain came by early in the morning. I'd just woken up. He told me not to go back to the bank because he was letting me go. He said something had gone wrong and he had to go talk to the family lawyers in New York. He didn't know when he'd be back. He gave me a receipt for a money transfer to my Miami bank account. Said it was my golden handshake."

"Did you try and find out what had happened?"

"Sure. I called a couple of friends in the bank, but they didn't know anything. They didn't even know I wasn't coming back."

"How much did he give you?"

"Not as much as you."

"How much?" he insisted.

"A million."

"That's a lot of money, Chantale."

"Allain's a generous guy."

"What else did you do for him apart from being his personal assistant?"

"Nothing!" she snapped. "How dare you—"

"Where's Charlie?"

"Charlie? I don't know."

She looked scared, but she didn't seem to be lying. Had she even guessed Allain was gay?

"How much do you know?" Max asked. "What's Allain been up to since I've been gone?"

She scrutinized him, trying to read him, work out his angle. He tapped the gun against his leg impatiently.

"He's been doing a lot of money transfers. I overheard him yelling at someone on the phone about the time some of them were taking. I took a couple of calls from banks in the Caymans, Monaco, Luxembourg…"

"Do you know how much money?"

"No. What is going on, Max?" she said.

Max handed her a copy of Gaspésie's teenage mug shot.

"Ever see him with Allain?"

"He's a boy," she said.

"He grew up. Look hard. His name might be—"

"—Shawn Huxley?" she offered.

"You know him?"

"Yeah. He said he was a journalist, and an old friend of Allain's."

"How many times did you see them together?"

"Two, three times at the most. He always came to see Allain at the bank. He was there just last week. He asked me if I wanted to come water-skiing with him that weekend. He's been renting Allain's beach house."

"Where's that?" Max asked.

She told him. It was three hours away. He asked her to write down the directions.

"Do you know anything else about Huxley? Did you ever hear what they talked about?"

"No. I know they laughed a lot the last time they met," she said, then her expression darkened. "Did Allain and Huxley kidnap Charlie?"

"Why d'you think I'm back?"

"That's impossible!" she said.

"How well d'you know Allain?" he asked. When she didn't reply, he told her what he knew for sure, watching her face express first surprise (Allain's sexuality, Huxley's true identity), then disbelief (that Vincent was Charlie's father); then complete bewilderment (all of it at once) took over.

She leaned against the wall, unsteadily, as if about to faint. Max gave her time to settle herself.

"I don't know anything about any of that, Max. I promise you."

Their eyes met.

"I want to believe you," he said. He'd been taken in by Allain, Huxley, and Gustav. He didn't want to add her to the list.

"I've told you all I know. I just want to get out of here. I just want to catch my plane. Please."

"No." He shook his head and took hold of her arm. "You're missing that plane—and every other plane until this gets cleared up."

"But I don't know anything."

He took her onto the sidewalk and beckoned to the car parked behind his. A man and a woman got out of the back and came over.

"Keep her in the house until you hear otherwise," Max said. "Treat her well. Don't hurt her."

Chapter 63