The Marseille Caper Read Online Free PDF

American standards), the bathrooms (vast, marbled, and well lit), the four-poster bed (for its degree of firmness and bounce), and the views through the long windows. “Sam, what is that on the hill over there? There’s something shiny on the top. Looks wonderful.”
    Sam went over and stood behind her, massaging the back of her neck while he studied the view to the northeast. In the distance he could see the massive basilica which he had come to know on his previous visit to Marseille. He cleared his throat and assumed his most professorial voice. “That is Notre-Dame de la Garde, constructed in the neo-Byzantine style, and crowned by a golden statue of the Virgin. She is over thirty feet high, and known locally as ‘La Bonne Mère,’greatly loved for her miraculous qualities. In the tower is a bell that weighs eight tons. The bell is called Marie-Joséphine. The clapper is called Bertrand. The …”
    “Sam, you’re full of it.” She gave him a peck on the cheek. “I’m going to take a quick shower, and you could do with a shave.”
    Fifteen minutes later, showered and changed, they were sitting with Claudine on the terrace. Below them, the sea, glittering in the sun, was dotted with sailing boats. On the low wall of the terrace, two seagulls were conducting a raucous squabble over a withered morsel of something mysterious and long dead.
    “Look at those guys,” said Elena. “They’re huge. They’re like turkeys.”
    Claudine poured coffee. “If you believe what you hear, we also have sardines the size of sharks. Everything in Marseille is bigger, and if it’s not, we pretend it is. I think it is like your Texas, non ?” She smiled and shook her head. “Now then. Here are your phones, each with four names in the memory: Monsieur Reboul, Olivier, myself, and, of course, you have each other’s numbers in there. Monsieur Reboul asks that you call him sometime today to check that everything is OK. Here are some business cards for Monsieur Levitt, identifying him as vice president of Van Buren Partners. And here is a member’s pass to the Cercle des Nageurs, the swimming club. It has an Olympic-sized pool and a nice restaurant, which is very agreeable for lunch. And finally, when you have finished your coffee, perhaps we can go inside and see the project model that will be used at the presentation.”
    The model had been set up in the dining room, taking up most of the long oak table, and it precisely matched Reboul’s earlier description of a low, crescent-shaped range of apartments overlooking a garden that led to a marina. Sam was immediately struck by the attention to detail, even down to the colors of the shutters and the miniature residents strolling between tiny trees in the garden or having a nautical moment among their tiny boats in the marina. The only thing missing, he thought, was a snug little bar overlooking the sea. But on the whole, he was very pleased with what he saw. It would fit in with the coastline, it wouldn’t add an ugly concrete stump to the skyline, and it would provide homes for hundreds of Marseillais. Reboul’s architect friend had done well.
    Sam was wondering what it would be like to live there when Elena called out across the room. “Don’t forget this is a vacation day. Claudine thinks we’d like Cassis, and Olivier’s waiting outside to take us. How about it?”
    “This is the life,” said Elena, adjusting her sunglasses and leaning back in her seat as the car crept back down the Chemin du Roucas Blanc. Cassis was only thirty kilometers away, the sun was high in the sky, and she hadn’t thought about the office all morning. “Somebody once said that it takes you years to accept hardship and bad luck, but only twenty-four hours to get used to comfort and good luck. Chauffeurs, housekeepers, maids—I love it.”
    It showed. The last time Sam had seen her this relaxed had been during a few days they had stolen in Paris. He wasbeginning to think that the very fact