Ah... Beautiful Paris

Chapter 8

Instead of the luxurious cars that used to park at esplanade in front of the house, the place was now crowded with two police cars and a forensic team van. Julian, still in shock from what he had seen that same morning, had not been able to tell much to the police.

Koiranos had spoken with the man in charge and he had ran away from the house as fast as he could, letting go of his original idea of asking for a place to set his people while they removed the body.

A terrible idea was forming inside Julian's head as he watched the men return from the forest for the fifth time. “Do they know who he is?” he asked softly to Koiranos, busy reading a book, uninterested at whatever was perspiring in his own house.

“A tourist maybe,” he answered nonchalantly. “They never respect the signs and they clearly say 'no trespassing' or 'don't leave the road'. This is a mountain region.”

“I almost broke my neck down there, sir. Lýkos saved me.” Julian said.

“You should also stay in the paths,” Koiranos admonished him. “Lýkos considers you as a member of his pack.”

“What if he is Professor...?” Julian couldn't finish the sentence.

“It's a possibility,” Koiranos shrugged. “A DNA test will tell. The body is too decomposed to say anything at this point.”

Julian watched with horror how his employer returned to his book, not caring at all about his former employee or perhaps lover, maybe upset that his peace had been disrupted by so many people asking questions or stomping over his pristine garden.

“People die, Julian. It's in their nature,” Koiranos said without rising his eyes from the book. “Never grow too attached to anything or anyone as everything wither.”

“Lucia told me that the Professor Morgenthau was a friend of yours, sir,” Julian whispered.

“Yes, indeed, but he is gone now. There is nothing I can do.”

“Don't you feel his...?”

“Death? We cannot be sure about that. I felt the void he left when he was gone. Many things were left undone,” he sighed. “A real pity, he was not ready for it.”

'How can you be so cold?' Julian wanted to scream but he knew better than to fight with the man who paid for his food. He only watched how Koiranos continued to read in silence.

“You don't even miss your own mother and brother. Who is the coldest one of us?” Koiranos said. “I don't judge you,” he shrugged. “In fact, your own aloofness is a good trait for your future.”

“I never had a close relationship with her. I was most of the time with my grandmother. It was very bad for me when she died,” Julian protested, upset that he was considered to be some sort of iceberg when he had so many friends and was so well-known.

“Yes, but you were expecting it. It's the natural law. The death of a leader is always mourned. In your case, there was no other leader for your family. It's logical it was so easily disbanded.”

“We are people, not a pack of wolves,” Julian rose his tone slightly.

“Yes, that's what people say,” Koiranos smirked. “But wolves teach us something true. A pack remains together as long as all roles are well established and nothing but the pack matters to its members. Outsiders are just that. We shouldn't care about them. They only hinder our own pack progress.”

Julian only watched the man as a lump formed in his throat. He was not sure what he had really meant. Did Prof. Morgenthau never form part of “their pack”, and now Julian was really a part of it? Did that mean that Koiranos was beginning to think on him as a suitable lover? Were Koiranos and Lýkos his “new pack”?

So many questions and he was as clueless as the first day.

Fear and disgust gripped his heart when he saw one of the forensic team member approach the house with a large plastic bag in his hand. Julian guessed by the colours that it was the jacket he had seen. He felt as a cold draft washed him over as he took two steps away from the window, his primal instincts telling him to stay away from death's path.

The loud shriek he heard coming from the kitchen told him it was Prof. Morgenthau's beyond a doubt. Feeling many years older than in the morning he turned around.

“Lucia seems to have identified the clothes, sir. It was no tourist after all.”

“Then I should phone Professor Morgenthau's cousin and inform her. Lucia should be able to take care of the repatriation of the body to Germany. Tell her to arrange our trip first before she does the other.”

Julian stood motionless.

“Go now!” Koiranos rose his voice and the boy looked at him horrified that he was only thinking on his holidays when a man had been laying dead in his own garden for so many years.

“It was an accident,” Koiranos repeated with a firm voice. “You almost fell into that pit but Lýkos saved your life. There is nothing else to think about.”

Julian only nodded and left the room, getting ready to comfort the woman whose whimpers he could hear in the distance.

* * *

Julian could still see in his mind's eye the bright police cars lights. The coroner had loudly labelled the cause of death as an accident mostly based on his testimony than in any other physical evidence. Julian couldn't understand how the man could be so sure about it without performing the customary autopsy. The last time Prof. Morgenthau had been seen was in the early afternoon when he left the house. Probably he drove with his car to Lisbon, returned home by bus late at night and lost his way on the path to the house with fatal results.

Julian couldn't understand how Lucia had said to the police that “he was fine and calm. Nothing strange about him,” when she had told him a complete different story a few hours ago.

But many years living in the hoods had taught Julian to distrust the police at first sight.

He kept his mouth firmly shut as he took good care that Lýkos didn't bite anyone.

'It's probably nothing. Old fucker got drunk and couldn't tell right from left,' the boy told himself as his hatred of the deceased man grew beyond any reason or measure. The mere thought that someone had been in that bed before him drove him mad.

“Is everything fine?” he heard a male voice saying, and turned around to find the inspector who had been interrogating him in the afternoon, standing in front of him.

“Yeah, I'm all right,” Julian lied.

“You still look green. First body, uh?”

“One so rotten, yes,” said Julian. “I could have slipped down there. The dog saved me,” he whispered, looking sicker a the memory.

“Do you take care of this animal?” the man asked and pointed his finger to the attentive wolfdog. “Does it have a permission? These half-breeds are dangerous to have around people.”

“I don't know. Ask Mr. Koiranos.”

“I'd wish, but my superiors would kill me if I “disturb him any more than necessary”,” the man smirked. “Has it been into trouble recently?”

“No, Lýkos is a nice dog,” Julian said. “Like a puppy.”

“It's not what I've heard. It has quite a record for an old dog. Six police complaints for assault in the past eleven years. ”

“Since I'm here, he has done nothing. He's a good dog and he's not old.”

“Then why the hurry to fly to Paris?”

“I've just graduated and Mr. Koiranos said he needed a holiday, before all this happened.”

“Aha. Who's the dog's vet?”

“I don't know. He's never ill,” Julian replied puzzled by the strange question. “I guess he already had all his vaccinations as pup.”

“Are you telling me that a fourteen year-old dog has no vet? No sicknesses? In human years, it's a very old dog but he looks as a young puppy. Isn't that a bit odd?”

“I take good care of him,” Julian answered. “Is the dog on trial, inspector?” he asked ironically.

“Maybe. Tell Koiranos this isn't over yet.”

Julian watched the inspector in shock and his lips drew a very thin line. “Good bye, sir,” he only said and the man sneered.

“Fucker,” Julian mumbled when he saw through the window the man enter in his car. “Well Lýkos, you have to tell me the brand of your beauty cream. You look like a puppy, yet you are a very old dog. Older than the pyramids,” he joked with the animal as he caressed its sides. “Shit! I have to warm the dinner or the boss will kill me.”

* * *

Julian was surprised that his normally antisocial boss had decided not to dine at home. For the first time in almost five years, he had just said: “We eat at the Axis. I have to get used to that if we are going to Paris.”

His surprise turned into shock when he saw Koiranos return to the kitchen dressed in a good sport jacket and he had to run to his room to get the tie and jacket reserved for the examinations. He gaped as his boss simply took the keys of the Mercedes that was kept in the garage and Pedro used to drive around so the car “wouldn't rust”.

Much to his astonishment, Koiranos could drive very well and knew where the Axis was, what the valet parking was and needed no reservations to sit in the restaurant in the middle of the high season. In fact, the maître knew his name and seemed to be genuinely impressed that he was there.

'Being a rich crackpot makes you famous. Do people know you because of your craziness or your money?' He remained silent as Koiranos clearly told the waiter that he didn't want any sauce in his meat or anything with starches near his food. 'He's really mad about his diet,' thought Julian but said out loud “the same, please.”

He felt uncomfortable, displaced as he didn't know what to say under the circumstances. Should he ignore all what had happened that afternoon and just speak about their trip? Should he tell a little about his University and plans for the future? Will he have to pay for the Master's degree now that his salary would probably increase or Koiranos would pay for everything up to his doctor's degree? Should he ask about the library and the old books? Yes, that was the course of action, considering that Koiranos only minded his dinner and bluntly ignored the adoring looks he got from many women in the room.

“Sire?” Julian asked shyly and Koiranos rose his eyes from the dish. “You mentioned you had very old books. I'm afraid I don't know much about their preservation. Should I start to look for a study course or something in that direction?”

“No, it's pointless at this momet. The people in charge of the books' maintenance should come in a month or two. Everything is well protected in the shelves. As long as you don't take the volumes out, there should be no problem. Leave it for after visiting France.”

“Was Prof. Morgenthau not working...?”

“At his insistence I agreed to digitalize my books. If he is dead, there is no need to continue with the project.”

“What should I do then?”

“Keep the modern section in order, take care of buying the necessary books to keep it updated and find there all what I'll ask you to find.”

Julian only nodded and stared at his dish, puzzled by the man's change of heart. “Jürgen was very different from you and not what we needed at home,” Koiranos said softly. “It's a pity what happened to him but in a way, he looked for it.”

Julian fixed his eyes in Koiranos'. “He had too much faith in Modern Science and in a way, that was his doom. He was not ready to accept things how they are and that depressed him. Men

“How are things?” Julian asked.

“First, you have to be humble enough to accept that you are only a piece of a greater conception. Not everything can be explained nor need to be. Instinctively, you know and respect that. Jürgen thought he could shape the world to what he had learned in school and was not ready to learn that his beliefs were not the only answer to everything. I've seen you with Lýkos in the forest and you can communicate with each other or you have learned to follow him or where to look. You understand that he's not a simple dog.”

“Lýkos is more human than many people I've known. I mean, he's more clever than many of my friends,” he corrected himself in no time.

“What is the difference between man and animal?” Koiranos fixed his eyes and Julian gulped.

“I don't know any longer,” he admitted.

“There was a time when there were no differences between us. Man tried to be the animal and learn from it.”

“All primitive societies have totemic or anthropomorphic deities,” Julian said in no time. “It's the hunter who becomes the lion or the lion who adopts the man's character. In advanced societies like ours, that knowledge is almost forgotten.”

“Yet you still listen to the birds to see if the sing or not to know if there's a storm coming.”

“Learnt that from Lýkos. Better than Google Weather Forecast,” Julian answered looking quite amused by the remark. “Don't take me seriously. My grandmother used to say I was not civilized at all,” he answered with a soft smile. “I need a smartphone to look normal,” he joked strangely relieved.

“Don't think any more on Jürgen. What is past, is past.”

“Yes, sir,” Julian answered earnestly. After all, the man was out of his life for good or bad and competition was better off. He only was dying to know how close he and Koiranos had been. As far as he was concerned, Julian was “family” or “part of the pack” and the other was not.

End of story.

“Do you think Lýkos will like Paris?” Julian asked. “Is it not too crowded with cars and people?”

“He was several times already in Paris, but perhaps I should leave him here and ask Pedro to bring him to St. Étienne. He likes there more. For some reason, he's not allowed to be in the metro or in the Louvre.”

“St. Étienne?”

“It's the name of a property I have near Lascaux. It is in the valley where the Vezère River joins the Dorgogne River.

“Lascaux in Aquitaine? Where the prehistoric caves are?” Julian asked surprised.

“I like very much caves or being underground. It's a pity Lýkos is not allowed to ride in the metro. He also likes them.”

“I would like to see the reproduction that there's nearby. The original caves are closed to the public now,” Julian suggested.

“If you want, you can go,” Koiranos said with a shrug.

“I thought you liked caves.”

“It's not the same.” Koiranos beckoned the waiter with an imperious move of his hand and dropped some notes over the little silver tray he was offered without looking at the bill. “Let's go,” he said and left the restaurant without waiting for Julian.

* * *

'What am I doing here if Lýkos stayed in Sintra?' Julian pondered with a mix of surprise, awe and happiness. Surprise because his main duty in this world had been to look after the wolf-dog and he had been left behind. Koiranos had “spoken” long with the animal in a very strange language that Julian didn't believe it could be French and Lýkos had finally “accepted” his fate. Awe because the large house his employer had in the middle of Paris was for him in the category of the “filthy super-rich”, placing Koiranos well far away from his expectations. Happiness because if Lýkos was not there, then he had been finally “promoted” to “man-sitter”.

'Loony as he is, he looks great,' Julian thought as he watched his boss follow the butler towards his rooms, leaving him alone in the middle of the large Turn of the Century foyer. A middle-aged woman quickly entered in the room and said something to him in French, making a gesture to follow her.

Still overwhelmed by his bedroom's grandiose airs, Julian stood in a corner and watched how the woman unpacked his luggage, brought from the airport on a separate car. The army of servants in the house seemed to be larger than the “humble abode” in Sintra. He felt displaced and feared to knock a china vase down, probably worth the price of his old flat.

“Where is Mr. Koiranos?” Julian asked very slowly, hoping the maid would understand him.

She slurred something very fast in French, and Julian inwardly groaned as he couldn't understand a single word. “Bibliothèque?” he asked in hopes Koiranos would still stick to his daily rituals.

She nodded and walked out of the room with Julian in trail. He had no time to glimpse at the magnificent decorated tall ceilings or the antique furnitures he passed by. 'If Scorsesse wants to film Bel Ami here, he wouldn't need to spend much in sets,' Julian briefly thought as he was almost shoved inside the library. Koiranos sat in one of the large Chester sofas looking fascinated at a cheap metro plan leaflet he had extended over a coffee table.

“You can always go anywhere with the metro nowadays,” he mumbled to himself. “I mean, it's a very large network,” he clarified, slightly upset at Julian's gaping face.

“One of the biggest in the world, but the one in Madrid is larger, or at least, that's what our politicians used to tell,” Julian commented to hide his discomfort.

“We could go to the Louvre with the metro and dine at the Café d'Anglaterre,” Koiranos said, strangely looking excited like a child at his idea, nothing that could be compared to the utterly bored expression he always wore.

“I think it was closed when Émile Zola died,” Julian answered, remembering the place mentioned in two novels he had had to read for an university paper. “Or maybe the patrons destroyed it in a skirmish during the Dreyfuss Affair.”

“Maybe we should look for something else,” Koiranos frowned.

“Perhaps we should buy an updated Paris City Guide. One for this century.”

“Don't be so fresh, young man,” he growled and Julian took two steps backwards as the voice was unearthly. Knowing how impressed Julian was, Koiranos preferred to joke over the matter. “Or I'll leave you at Au Nain Bleu without any money,”

“What's that?”

“A famous toys store where you used to leave the children with their nanny. Had very beautiful toys and dolls.”

“What would I do there?” Julian couldn't help to blurt.

“Yes, it was a bad idea. You could be mistaken with one of them,” the man mumbled and rose from his sofa. “Let's go now.”

* * *

“Dan Brown says that Mary Magdalene is buried here,” Julian commented to break the heavy silence that had engulfed them since they had entered in the Museum and directly walked towards the underground floors. “Well below the Louvre foundations or nearby.”

“Who?”

“It's a very famous writer, sir” Julian was surprised that the normally encyclopaedic Koiranos didn't know the writer.

“Who is buried here?” Koiranos asked again.

“Mary Magdalene, but that's a legend!”

“Who is Mary Magdalene?” Koiranos buffed this time.

“Jesus Christ's wife! Or at least, that's what the novel says. Or something like this. The Da Vinci Code.”

“Jesus was married?” Koiranos asked in shock. “I thought we had left that nonsense in the past.”

“It's just a best seller, sir,” Julian said acidly. “It's nonsense. The film was very boring.”

“Good. If we start again with this “I descend from the Gods” story we will be in a lot of trouble again.”

Julian thought the phrase was weird, but he said nothing as he fixed all his attention on the small black Sumerian statue well protected under a glass. “I never thought these things could be real,” he whispered.

“Why do you say so?”

“I saw their photos in the books and here they are. This king looks so full of life and peaceful.”

“I can guarantee you that his life was not peaceful at all. Many other cities rivalled to be on his city's place. What you see it's the stone's spirit.”

Julian gaped at him.

“Well you can call it heart too,” Koiranos said nonchalantly, ignoring the wide eyed boy, just gaping at him. “You may call me by my Christian, -he chuckled at the word as if it were the greatest joke on earth-, name.”

“Yes, sir,” Julian answered and grimaced at his mistake. “What is your Christian name?” he asked shyly as he couldn't remember seeing it in the bank papers or any other envelope he had touched.

“Ah,” Koiranos thought for a long time. “You may call me Orion. People said that it was what fitted me the best.”

“Orion like the constellation?”

“Orion as hunter in Greek. Koiranos means commander,” he added softly.

“Are you Greek?”

“No, I was born here. I kept the Greek names for me and Lýkos because we both enjoyed very much our time there,” he said as a matter of fact and Julian couldn't help to think that it must had been a hell of a holiday if the man was so fond of it. 'If I'd had his money and looks, I'd kind of set the island on fire.'

“Seeing the heart of the stone is a good sign. Not many men kept that ability after their childhood is over,” Koiranos said. “To see the paintings in the caves at Lascaux, you have to feel them first. A copy is nothing compared to what you can experience once you return to the underground. The meaning and power of the drawings are totally lost if you don't feel the stones and the ground. An underground cave is a vortex.”

“Vortex to what?” Julian asked but Koiranos was walking away, towards the Mari's Lion. He sighed and slowly walked towards the man, his gaze completely lost in the contemplation of the sculpture. “Sometimes, I don't understand you, Orion,” he said softly, not hoping he would hear him.

But he did and the grey stormy eyes scanned him. “You are not much older than me, but you speak as if you were, I don't know, eighty, maybe ninety years old. I can't follow you now.”

“That's because you're still young, but you learn fast.”

“I'm not so sure of that,” Julian said softly, shocked that for the first time he felt close to the man, as if an invisible wall had crumbled down. 'I'm in love of a total jerk.'

“I am much older than you. Much, much older,” Koiranos replied softly. “Likewise,” he added shyly.