The Sun King Conspiracy Read Online Free Page A

we have dissolved?’
    Colbert nodded.
    ‘Activate them. The Jansenists are peaceable, but those … Too bad, they will all pay together. Consider summoning a meeting of the assembly of clergy to regulate this affair officially, and cleanse the churches of the sectarians who are lurking within. But first, intensify your investigation. You have a free hand, Colbert,’ Mazarin added firmly.
    Then, seeing the carnivorous smile which had appeared on his confidant’s face:
    ‘On this specific matter, Colbert, you have a free hand. Right, let us come to the subject of the theft. I want to know everything. I must have precise details if I am to have a clear understanding of these infamies.’
    Colbert breathed deeply but did not answer.
    ‘Well, Colbert?’ demanded Mazarin impatiently.
    ‘The thing is, Monseigneur, there is something even more serious than the fire and that man’s criminal character …’
    Mazarin paled.
    ‘These malefactors, Monseigneur, were not targeting the library, but your own apartments. They entered your apartments,’ he specified when he saw the Chief Minister’s incredulous expression.
    Mazarin grew increasingly angry as he pictured the assailants in his own private rooms, their hands sullying the precious items of furniture he had chosen and accumulated over the years.
    ‘Within my walls!’ he roared. ‘How far did they go? They did not enter my bedchamber, did they?’
    Colbert lowered his eyes.
    ‘Yes they did, Your Eminence. And your office. That is where Roze was when they attacked him.’
    Mazarin’s complexion changed suddenly from pale to deathlywhite. Alarmed, Colbert thought that the Cardinal had been taken ill, and was about to rise and call for help, but Mazarin indicated that he should remain seated. He recovered his breath.
    ‘Continue. They took papers, did they not?’
    Colbert nodded.
    ‘Which ones? From where?’
    Mazarin was almost shouting.
    ‘There is great disorder, Your Eminence, and we do not yet know everything, particularly as Roze was filing the papers in accordance with the orders you had given him. But they took a number of accounting documents from the two sealed chests which stand against the wall, of that Toussaint Roze is sure. Before he lost consciousness, he also saw them breaking open the inlaid writing desk …’
    Colbert broke off at the Cardinal’s ice-cold sigh.
    ‘He mentioned several folders of correspondence, two of beige leather and another dark red …’
    A long shudder went through the Cardinal’s body.
    ‘And also a few coded files. I have asked him to give us a precise inventory as soon as possible.’
    The Cardinal did not react and lay still for a long time. Then he sat up a little and shook his head gently.
    ‘Who knows about the deaths and the robbery?’
    ‘Roze, four of your most reliable guards, Molière and a few of his actors. There is nothing to worry about there. The former are trustworthy and we have sufficiently frightened the performers with references to matters of State and the prospect of a trip to the Bastille … The premiere of the play is tomorrow, and they would rather keep silent than endanger their show, of that I am sure. Doubtless it will all filter out at some point, but we have a little time before then.’
    ‘Good. Ensure that the troupe also receives a gratuity from me. It can only help to keep their mouths shut. As for the rest, Colbert, leave no stone unturned: this search must be speeded up. I want those papers. Our enemies are many, we know that. They are powerful, all the more so since we do not know who they all are. Nothing must be overlooked, nothing, in the quest for what they have stolen. This is a most perilous time: news of my illness and the robbery itself, these mean that we are no longer safe. Colbert, my interests and therefore yours depend upon the swiftness of our agents. And perhaps a great deal more than that,’ murmured Cardinal Mazarin, looking straight at Colbert.
    Without a