CHAPTER 87

At Château Villette, Lieutenant Collet reviews Interpol faxes while waiting for evidence that might clarify the night’s events. André Vernet’s records show nothing suspicious: he appears to be an educated, respectable banker with no criminal history and a public reputation tied to electronic security.

The only useful Interpol result concerns Teabing’s servant, Rémy Legaludec. A PTS examiner reports that Rémy has a minor criminal record involving petty crime, theft, and evasion, suggesting he may have been living at the château partly to avoid police attention. Collet orders the information forwarded to Captain Fache.

A PTS agent then summons Collet to the barn, not because of a body but because of an unexpected discovery. The agent explains that a worn, muddy ladder indicated regular use, so he raised it to inspect a hidden hayloft above the barn floor.

Collet climbs into the loft and finds an immaculately kept, concealed computer workstation with CPUs, a monitor, hard drives, an audio console, and advanced electronics. A senior agent explains that the equipment is a sophisticated surveillance listening post, stocked with miniature microphones, photoelectric recharging cells, nano drives, and other components comparable to police technology.

The agents show Collet a compact bugging device capable of recording and transmitting audio indefinitely through radio signals and a roof antenna. Collet notices hundreds of dated audio cassettes, proving the system has been used extensively, and asks what target is being monitored; the agent begins to explain that this is the strangest part of the discovery.