‘You mean dangerous?’
‘Dangerous?’ he asked, his long face wrinkled in a mocking smile. ‘Yes.’
‘Are you speaking about what happened to your superior, Monti?’
The young man seemed surprised. ‘If you know about that, then you understand my concern,’ he said, and sat back, satisfied he had made his point.
‘What about Savoire, does he know?’
‘Savoire?’
‘Look, let’s not play games. I know that your name is not Vincent Varas but Pierre Plantard, and I know that Alpha Galates is just a front for another group started by Monti and De Mengel. I also know that after Monti’s murder, this Dr Savoire took his place, and that now there are differences between Savoire and De Mengel, am I right?’
The young man made a considered nod. ‘Yes, you are correct, and yes, there are always differences.’
‘Ideological?’
‘Ideological, esoteric, especially esoteric, monsieur . . . it is the way of the world that there are hierarchies! Those higher on the ladder wish to keep things secret in order to maintain their position, while those who are lower want things revealed so they can rise higher.’ He smiled sardonically. ‘But Monti didn’t believe in ladders. That is to say, he believed he could do what he liked.’ The man ashed his cigarette thoughtfully. ‘And for the most part, he got away with it.’
‘Does he have something to do with this Le Serpent Rouge?’
‘Some years ago there was a rumour circulating about it. Apparently, a man in possession of the grimoire came to Paris looking for a buyer. Monti was intrigued and made some inquiries that came to nothing. Whoever it was, he had come and gone, perhaps he sold the text privately and then disappeared again. Years later Aleister Crowley hired Monti to find it. He told Monti he knew someone who would pay any amount for information. Any amount, do you understand?’
‘Who’s Aleister Crowley?’
‘Aleister Crowley? Mon Dieu! He is the head of OTO – Ordo Templi Orientis, a conventicle of magicians. Everybody knows who he is!’
Rahn smiled coolly. ‘You said he wasn’t buying it for himself?’
‘Oh no! In those days he was bankrupt, living off the good graces of his followers. No, he wanted it for someone else.’
‘A collector of books?’
‘A collector, yes, but not of books. You see, Monsieur Rahn . . .’ Plantard paused. ‘There are certain people in this world who collect secrets. Such people invariably need others, who are brokers of secrets, to supply them with what they crave. Monti was such a man, a trader of secrets, and he performed this task for Aleister Crowley and for others. To do this job, he had to belong to a number of groups; some might say he was a serial joiner of esoteric societies. Anyway, as you can imagine, these groups compete intensely for the really good secrets – those that can lure the most distinguished members. That is why he could do as he wished. To put it simply, Monti was good at his job and in high demand. Over the years, he devised ways of learning what other men knew and also ways of knowing what other men knew about what he knew. Despite his cleverness, however, he could not uncover any information about Le Serpent Rouge. So he decided to take a gamble – he whispered into the right ears that he had met the owner and that the man was willing to sell it. He was hoping to flush the real owner out of his hiding spot, for owners of things like that are always on the lookout for copies. Perhaps they are afraid that the copy they have is not the original and they must test it by comparison, or they may just be interested in buying the copy to increase the value of the original.’
‘But in doing that he would also have flushed out those who wanted the book at all costs?’ Rahn said.
‘Yes, a difficult situation, as you can appreciate, considering Monti did not have the book, nor did he even know for certain that it existed.’
‘And you think this led to his murder?’
‘Officially, no. Unofficially, who could know?’
‘And so, does it exist?’
‘The truth is, it is no longer relevant, Monsieur Rahn. A man has been murdered for it and this has made the idea, the dream that it exists, a commodité. Even now, a dozen groups have circulated that they have knowledge of it. Some purport to have part of it, others to own the entire manuscript.’
‘So why did De Mengel send me to you? Didn’t he know about Monti’s game?’
‘De Mengel? Of course not! De Mengel and Monti may have been behind Alpha Galates but they walked in different circles. Monti was a man of many faces and gave his loyalty to no group, while De Mengel was, and still is, a member of the Société Alchimique in France and this society is closely affiliated with a sister society in England called the Society for the Study of Alchemy and Early Chemistry. You see, Monsieur Rahn, De Mengel, one could say, is working with those English Lodges who are in no way desirous to have anything to do with Aleister Crowley. They see themselves as legitimate scientists, while they see men like Aleister Crowley as cheap magicians – Satanists. No, De Mengel did not know anything about what Monti was doing.’