Chapter 10: Plots Plans and Schemes

“Marie Curie is my heroine,” Chloe said. “She was the reason I went into biomedical chemistry...”

“But Marie Curie was a physicist.”

“And a chemist. She is the only woman to have been awarded two Nobel Prizes, one for physics with her husband in nineteen oh three and one for chemistry in nineteen eleven. It was her single mindedness and dedication that drew me to her and the fact she worked at the same level as her husband in their research. They won the Nobel Prize for physics at a time when females were considered to be merely child bearers, child rearers, and inferior to men in every way. She had an exceptional and brilliant mind and I thought I would emulate her as I was well ahead of my peers in school. However, at university I soon discovered I was neither brilliant nor exceptional but merely excellent.”

Chloe was not being boastful. She had a BSc with Honours in molecular biology with a special leaning towards DNA studies.

“I met a man who I recognised was a genius. He has a theory that certain genes and genomes in human DNA hold the key to longevity and was doing research on the subject in his spare time. His is the Chief Scientist of the Occitan Regional Medical Board in Castelnaudary, a shy, diffident sort of man who needs someone to push him to achieve true greatness. I decided I was that person and would marry him and work with him to develop his theory, as Marie Curie did with her husband. With my driving force, research assistance, domestic support, and love behind him he would be propelled to the top of his profession and be awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine.”

“Is the man you are talking about Paul Devereaux? I remember you said your boss could well be your husband.”

“Yes, Philippe. Paul was my quarry and I soon had him lusting after me. But I wanted marriage before I let him into my quim, until then he had to make do with tasters and sippers, with an occasionally gulper.”

“Ehh?” Chloe could have been speaking Swahili for all I knew as I hadn’t the faintest idea of what she was talking about. She realised I was completely in the dark and explained.

“When I was a teenager I once visited Jersey, one of the English so called Channel Islands that lies off the Cherbourg Peninsula, where I met an English sailor on leave. Every nice girl loves a sailor but every nasty girl -- which I was- shags a sailor, which I did many many times.”

“I can well imagine that, but what are tasters and the others?”

“The sailor told me that the English navy give their sailors a daily ration of rum, although to be more accurate it is watered down rum known as ‘grog’. The grog ration, ‘the tot’ as it was known, had to be drunk by the recipient on the day it was issued but there was a long tradition that favours between shipmates were repaid by using ‘grog’ as a currency. A small favour, giving a shipmate a cigarette when he’s got none or something like that, earns you a taster, which is just enough to wet your lips from a tot. Standing in on a duty for someone would earn you a sipper, a small mouthful from a tot. A gulper, one swallow from a tot, is earned by a realty big favour like letting your girlfriend sleep with a shipmate.”

“So how did that rather archaic barter system work out between you and Paul Devereaux. What favours did he do for you or vice versa?”

Chloe chuckled at vice versa. “It was a favourless system. When I thought it applicable I would allow Paul access to my tot. A taster was a full on kiss with some tongue. A sipper would be a hand job and a gulper –well, you should be able to work that out for yourself!”

“And Paul was happy to go along with this system?”

‘Yes, he was putty in my hand, sometimes more viscous than putty, of course. I had him hooked and was reeling him in to gaff him for marriage when his mother lowered the boom on any suggestion of he and I becoming a couple because I was a Roubaix. To say I was annoyed would be, well, I was ready to kill the bitch but couldn’t think of a way to do it where I wouldn’t end up in Centre pénitentiaire de Rennes for the best part of my life so I went to Plan B.”

“What was that?”

“Paul obeyed his mother and dumped me and I went looking for a man, any man. An hour after meeting Lorenzo in the Yellow Canary club we were screwing each other’s brains out in his pied-à-terre shag pad in Castelnaudary. I was like a bitch on heat and he wanted me to move in as his mistress. Lorenzo told me his father was a Deputy in the National Assembly and said he intended going into politics, possibly taking over his father’s seat when he finished his army career in three years’ time. I decided I would be the woman behind a great man and determined to marry him and ensure he became President of the Republic!”

“You have great expectations of your husbands, Chloe. One to be a Nobel Prize winner and another to be President of the Republic. Did Lorenzo Masséna know of your plans for him?”

“Yes -- not to be President. I suggested prime minister as a first step. When Lorenzo discovered my father was Pierre Roubaix he and his father were overjoyed and we were engaged two months after our first meeting.” She gave me an apologetic look. “I’m afraid when you came back to Castelnaudary I let my lust for sex over rule my scruples. I shouldn’t have strung you along thinking I was unattached and I apologise, in fact I have been apologising to you every time we go to bed.”

“I accept your apology, but keep on apologising! So what happened with Plan B?”

“My father was the wrong Pierre Roubaix. He is the black sheep of the family rather than the Pierre Roubaix who represents Clermont-Ferrand in the National Assembly. When Lorenzo’s father discovered my father was the man who frequently castigated and ridiculed him in the Patriotes Eveille he ordered Lorenzo to divorce me.”

“Just a minute. You say Masséna wanted to divorce you, but when you told him that you wanted to divorce him he slapped you?”

Chloe gave a great sigh. “When Lorenzo first told me I was to be divorced I was shattered. I had no idea he had married me merely to get political support from my Uncle. I thought that he loved me. He said he loved me and I believed him.” She heaved another huge sigh. “When I first met Lorenzo I was depressed, badly shaken by Paul’s rejection and at a low ebb mentally and emotionally. I would have jumped into bed with and married Quasimodo in the state I was in. Being wanted by a handsome, well-mannered, man who introduced me to some kinky sex practices rebuilt my self-confidence and self-esteem. The first months of marriage were wonderful before Masséna senior...”

“His given name is André, like the general,” I interjected, peeved that Chloe had been so enamoured with Lorenzo Masséna.

“General who?” She asked, a bewildered look on her face

I waved a hand, “Never mind, continue with your sad saga.”

“Then I discovered I was pregnant. When Lorenzo told his father he was to be a grandfather it mollified the old bastard somewhat, but then I lost the child and to add insult to injury I was told there was no chance of me conceiving again. André Masséna told Lorenzo to start divorce proceedings while he, André, looked for a suitable brood mare replacement. Masséna junior dutifully obeyed his father, and then went looking for a bitch in heat – several bitches in heat.”

“What did Masséna state was grounds for a divorce?”

“Misrepresentation. Marriage under false pretences, but Amy said there is no such thing and the papers were returned to Lorenzo who still hasn’t told his father. Lorenzo has moved most of his things out of the apartment but is still paying the rent.”

‘And you are still sleeping with him,’ I thought bitterly.

Chloe didn’t notice my suppressed anger and jealousy and continued with the story. “By now I had realised Lorenzo wasn’t President or even prime minister material. He was as much under his father’s domination as Paul was under his mother’s, but Paul wasn’t destined to become a leader but rather a discoverer. Lorenzo wasn’t man enough to defy his father and wouldn’t be strong enough to rule. So I was stumped – shackled to a father-dominated quim hound. Then I heard a whisper from friends in Toulouse that Madame Richelieu-Devereaux was terminally ill. I went to Toulouse to see for myself. It was true. The She Devil hasn’t long to live and with her out of the way I knew I could get Paul back under my control. Paul is currently engaged to a milksop of a girl his mother had approved but who would be more hindrance than help in his career. I excel in my job, and when I visited him in his laboratory hinted that I would be willing to be his research assistant and life assistant. Paul’s eyes glowed in pleasure and anticipation and the trap was baited.”

“So Plan C is to wed Paul Devereux and become his right hand woman in the laboratory?”

“Yes, and his on top woman in the bedroom, but first I must divorce Lorenzo, citing him as the guilty partner in the marriage. I need to be divorced by the time Madame Richelieu-Devereaux shuffles off this mortal coil, or at least be in the position as the offended party in a divorce case. Paul will marry me as soon as my divorce is made final. Amy is a first rate family law practitioner and will make out my case. She will also become the mother of Paul and my children!”

I sat up in surprise as that bombshell exploded. “Amy is to be the mother of Paul’s children?”

“Of course she is. I’m barren and need a surrogate mother to carry Paul’s genes to the next generation.”

“But Amy doesn’t even know Paul.”

“Before this weekend is over Paul will have had gulpers plus from Amy, although neither are aware what is about to happen to them. They are as innocent as babes in the wood, the little darlings. I love them both to bits!” Chloe’s face was bright with pleasure as she contemplated her future.” I know they will fall in love. They are made for each other and they both love me. I told Paul that Amy has had a crush on him from what I have told her about him, and I’ve told Amy Paul has had a crush on her after seeing the photograph of her and me taken at university. I dropped not so subtle hints that I would understand if they took advantage of their feelings. They won’t be able to help themselves, and will then feel guilty for succumbing to their lust. I will take advantage of their guilt, and their love for me, to bind them in my web and bend them to my purpose.”

“You won’t feel jealous that Amy is being...?”

“Am I jealous that you and Amy enjoy each other? Of course not. I know you don’t love her and she doesn’t love you.” She paused and then looked at me with a serious expression on her face. “You and I are extraordinarily similar, Philippe. We can be fond of people but don’t possess the being in love characteristic. But we do feel a responsibility towards those people who we value. I value, feel affection for, have a fondness for Amy and Paul and I also feel a responsibility towards them. I have the same fondness and affection for you, but I know you can look after yourself and thus I do not feel any responsibility towards you. Do I make any sense?”

I nodded. I knew exactly what she meant. I had affection and fondness for Sybil but also felt a sense of responsibility towards her. I had similar feelings for Ferdi and Alfie Hinds, even for Chardonnay, along with guilt.

Chloe smiled as she saw I had taken her views to heart. “You and I don’t fall in love, Philippe. We hold each other in respect and lust but not love. However you also feel guilt as well as responsibility. Guilt is something I’ve never felt.”

‘Can there be responsibility without guilt?’ I thought, but chose to ask another question. “What about Lorenzo, don’t you feel guilty for cheating on him?”

“Not one bit. I kept to my marriage vows long after he had broken his.”

“Did you continue sleeping with Amy after you married him?”

“Well of course I did. Amy would have wilted if I hadn’t continued our relationship.”

“So you did commit adultery before he did.” I rested my case like a seasoned prosecutor.

“I certainly did not.” Chloe was unperturbed by my judgement. “According to Amy, who knows about the Law, adultery occurs when a married man has sexual relations with a female not his wife, or a married woman has sexual relations with a man not her husband. Thus I did not commit adultery until you and I enjoyed sexual relations and that was many months after Lorenzo first played hide the sausage with a female other than me.” She stretched languorously. “Enough talk and more adulterous action I think.”