Chapter 10 – Roger Does Some Detecting
The Junes had a deal with Glissy, that she didn’t have to tell them about her past. This included who she is, who she was, her job, her employers, and even what the hell she was doing in their house at 3:45am with a Walther PPS in her hand. The Junes exude flexibility of mind. At the same time, they also tend to be the, ‘Don’t fuck with us type.’
The deal didn’t preclude the Junes from finding out about her in other ways. If the woman had a lawyer present during the deal making, the lawyer certainly would have included a provision against this in the agreement. But since Glissy had been dealing while sitting in her underwear, taped to a chair, she can be forgiven for not thinking of everything. The next day at breakfast, before Catherine came downstairs, Gwen and Roger agreed that Roger should look into the matter.
Roger was a Charleston gentleman whose primary occupation was having fun with his wife. They traveled, and they sported, and they partook of aristological events. They had been well-off before the Hermitage caper, but now they were very well-off. And they still had a climate controlled warehouse full of Russian artifacts, ready and waiting to be sold to a certain type of Russian expatriate who might want to come to Charleston to avoid those Russian winters that regularly seemed to stretch into May.
Occasionally Roger did other things, one of which was playing detective. He had done this professionally for a few years in his younger days, and sporadically since then, when some odd or interesting case or cause came his way. Not too long ago someone had tried to swindle his auntie out of some money by selling her a fake Heppleworth table, and Roger had dealt with that. The faker and swindler was none other than Little Jinny Blistov, who had graced their house the evening before. How Jinny had transformed himself from adversary to friend was in interesting story for another time. Now, though, Roger was going to employ his detecting skills to find out about Glissy.
There are two types of detectives. On the one hand are Sherlock Holmes and Nero Wolfe. This type sits or walks, thinks about a multitude of facts, and deduces a conclusion. On the other hand we have Columbo and Spencer, who are like Jack Russell terriers, doggedly scurrying around dumpsters, trying to scare out the rats and cats that might have a clue stuck in their teeth. Roger was of the first type, of course. He left the house after lunch, dropping Gwen and Catherine at Middleton Place for a stroll around the famous gardens. He headed back downtown to The Battery, where he took his own stroll, which usually facilitates his thinking.
He walked the promenade, looking out over the harbor waters, his round, Kevin Costner style sunglasses filtering out the glare. Where had Glissy come from, and what was it that she was after in the June’s home? Was she working for someone else, or herself? A Russian woman with a gun and a sense of humor, in their home, at night. Uninvited. A looker. Black Italian underwear. Expensive. Gutsy. Roger let his mind roam, trying to see the improbable as well as the likely, trying not to prejudice the analysis in a way that would lead to an erroneous conclusion. One mile along the Promenade, turn around; two miles along the Promenade, turn around; three miles, four miles.
The fourth mile did the trick. It became clear to Roger that the woman had to be associated with the Hermitage caper. But, not necessarily in the obvious way. The obvious association was as a Russian government agent, sent to hunt down those who had stolen state property. In this scenario, somehow, privately, she had learned about the Junes and their team, had tracked them to Charleston, and was intent on revenge.
Roger was like Sherlock Holmes and Nero Wolfe in that he employed rationality and logic to an analysis, but he was better than them, because after this thinking phase, he had the capability to turn himself over to the intuition phase, something he had learned from his wife. Gwen lived her superior life based on her sense of intuition, which is a special blend of thinking and feeling. Intuition is elevated knowing.
Mile five along the promenade was intuition mile, as was mile six. At the end of that walk, and the turn around, Roger knew the woman was not a Russian government agent. He figured the Russian government would get a lot more mileage out of making the Hermitage heist public, and thereby embarrassing the American government, than just killing the perpetrators in their beds. If this was accurate, and Roger knew it was, then who was Glissy working for?
Roger figured the six mile stroll and the elimination of one likely scenario was enough work for one day, and headed home. That evening over cocktails he told Gwen his thoughts, and she concurred. She told him to keep at it. When it was her turn to talk, she told him about her walk through the gardens with The Deneuve.
Catherine had told her about her LA project. When she left Charleston she was heading there to meet with Spielberg. One of his myriad projects was to produce a short documentary film about Champagne. His wife was nuts about the stuff, so he had become nuts about the stuff. He wanted to do a small film about its history, allure, and world-wide fame, ala Ken Burns’ documentary, but on a smaller scale, and he had asked Catherine to act as creative consultant. He wanted to understand the place in French culture held by the wine, and how it was part of France’s heritage, and Catherine had said yes, of course. But now there was something new. There was something new in Catherine’s mind that had not been there yesterday. Something new had been created in the June’s living room the night before.
Gwen said, “Want to hear about it?”
Roger blinked his eyes, yes. He was interested in everything about Catherine. Not only was she beautiful, she was a special human being. She influenced everyone around her. It was something about her entire being that captivated men and women. Men are especially vulnerable, yes, but women too.
Gwen said, “She’s going to tell Spielberg she wants to do a second film with him about Champagne, not a documentary. A film, with her as the actor, and him as director, not producer. About the wine and about the heritage. About Champagne and people: men, women, love, sex, fun. People drinking and loving the wine for hundreds of years. Get it?” And she smiled the smile of the knowing.
Yeah, Roger got it. Catherine was going to LA to influence Spielberg to make a film he had not conceived. Roger thought she would succeed, because she was The Deneuve, and not even Spielberg would be able to resist her.
Gwen said, “This thing with Catherine, it happened last night, in the living room. It happened when she played the game with Jinny.”
“What happened?” Roger asked.
“When she did the thing with Jinny, that’s when she knew she wanted to do a film about French culture, about Champagne, with Spielberg. That’s when she decided she wanted a movie.”
Roger said, “A Spielberg movie conceived in our living room. Unbelievable.”
Roger knew the film would be made. He knew Spielberg would agree. That’s the way things happen around The Deneuve.