‘When we know, we’ll tell you.’
‘Ach, don’t try my patience. Prisoner 220374 was sentenced to death by his comrades. Haven’t I a right to know the reason and you a duty to tell me?’
‘There are two glasses on that tray, Generaldirektor, and we both need answers. Where is she?’
‘My Sophie? Available as always. Now look …’
‘No, you look. My partner and I believe Renee Ekkehard was drugged and then hanged, and maybe we’ve a good idea who did it and why, and maybe we don’t, but before I say anything further, who have you sent to that Karneval to take care of Louis?’
Such concern was touching, and hadn’t Paris’s Gestapo warned of it? ‘No one, mein Lieber. Why should I trouble myself when there are others who desperately want silence?’
‘Colonel Rasche?’
Deiss and Paulus had at least accomplished something. ‘I think you and that partner of yours will discover that suddenly our Otto regrets entirely having asked for you, and that he has much to hide and knows others are now fully aware of this and will use it if necessary.’
They really were at each other’s throats. ‘Is Werner Lutze with him?’
‘His Oberfeldwebel, his constant companion, the one who takes care of so much? Now sit, please. Have a shot of our schnapps. Sophie … Sophie, mein kleiner Liebling,’ he called out. ‘There is no need for you to find refreshed bandages and iodine. Herr Kohler can’t possibly have cut himself on that barbed wire as Lagerfeldwebel Dorsche has insisted, but bring a little snack for our guest. The Hiriwursch-pork and beef sausage I smoke myself, Kohler. The Schiffala also, the pork shoulder with the hash potatoes. My cook, one of the farm’s women, is always most generous. Some sauerkraut too, Sophie, and the Zewelewai, an onion flan. Coffee afterward and strong. He looks hungry and probably is.’
They were at the door of the wagon and St-Cyr knew there was no stopping them. Torch in hand, Rasche entered in what would have been a shower of glass had the mirror not been caught. ‘KOHLER … WHERE IS KOHLER?’ he demanded. Oberfeldwebel Lutze was right behind him, a Schmeisser crooked in his good arm.
‘Taken.’
‘SCHRIJEN?’
‘Apparently.’
‘Werner, those two must have come for him.’
‘Your detectives,’ said St-Cyr. ‘I had no chance to stop them. Neither of us were armed.’
‘Why was Eugene Thomas sentenced to death by the others? Come, come, don’t waste my time!’
‘We’re not certain. Hermann and I really haven’t had much of a chance to …’
‘Do you think I’m a fool? What did Kohler find in that cage of theirs? Did Dorsche miss something?’
‘This, I think, and these.’
A carving and a wad of wet newspaper. ‘Anything else?’
‘Are they not enough, Colonel?’
‘That bead of solder?’
‘When and if Hermann and I are able to …’
‘Kaysersberg,’ muttered Rasche, but would Kohler have been forced to tell Diess and Paulus everything? ‘What’s all the rest of this rubbish?’
The bits and pieces were indicated. ‘Evidence, Colonel. My pockets always seem to carry a bankroll of it just as did those of your second victim.’
‘Werner, close the door. Let’s hear what this one has to say.’
Rasche nudged the glossy peak of his cap up and let his dark blue eyes flick over everything, missing nothing now. ‘Renee Ekkehard, Colonel. You lied to us. You knew she was coming out here on that Saturday because you had telephoned the Fraulein Schrijen to arrange a ride for the girl.’
Mirrors tossed her reflection back and forth, distorting her even more hideously, thought Rasche. They made the eagle and swastika on his cap expand only to quickly contract and fold in on itself as he set the torch down on the coffin lid and took out his pipe and tobacco pouch, then found his matches.
‘That telephone call, Colonel …’
‘I was detained. Something had come up.’
‘What, exactly?’
‘We had learned that Alain Schrijen was to arrive unexpectedly on the early afternoon train. As Kommandant, I’m not without my sources. Stationmaster Krencker and I often go fishing.’
‘And?’
‘As I had some business to discuss with the boy but had said I would drive his fiancee out to the Karneval, I then had to find her a lift. The Fraulein Schrijen said it would be no problem, that the firm had a lorry in the garage. She then apologized for any inconvenience she might have caused by her not being able to go there herself as planned.’
And what would Renee have whispered had she been alive? wondered St-Cyr: You see not only how he gets around things, Inspector, but how he has emphasized who really was responsible. Aren’t boy, fiancee, lorry and planned all well chosen? ‘And this business you had with the Untersturmfuhrer-SS Schrijen, Colonel?’
‘The Gauleiter Wagner, myself and the Generaldirektor Schrijen are to officiate at the opening ceremonies of the Winterhilfswerk fund-raiser on Saturday, 6 March, at 1000 hours. Kommandant Zill and Schutzhaftlagerfuhrer Kramer were also to have been included but through some oversight on the Fraulein Ekkehard’s part, the pressures of work perhaps, an invitation had not been sent. Wanting to correct the matter, I was going to ask the Untersturmfuhrer-SS Schrijen to personally carry my formal invitation and apology to the quarry camp on his return the following day, Sunday, that is, 31 January.’
Clearly the colonel is no ordinary adversary, is he, Inspector? she would have whispered. ‘Wanting to correct the matter,’ and avoid any unpleasantness? ‘Boy,’ now becomes Untersturmfuhrer- shy;SS but the colonel doesn’t blink an eye at your having corrected him? He even reminds you of the date of leaving so that you will think what you must. Werner is watching everything too, isn’t he? Ready at a moment’s notice and ever loyal but would he do things to protect his colonel that even that one hadn’t sanctioned? Isn’t this what you are now wondering?
St-Cyr was still waiting for more, thought Rasche, and had let a hand come to rest on the edge of the verdammt box, forcing him to look at her again; therefore it would have to be said plainly. ‘Unfortunately I was detained and when I got to the station, the Untersturmfuhrer-SS had already left in his car. The Fraulein Schrijen was, however, still waiting for a bus and only too glad to take the invitation to her brother. I was able to offer her a lift back to the Works but she declined. A matter of some errands in town, I think. I then returned to my office at the Polizeikommandantur.’
Step by step, Inspector, the Mademoiselle Ekkehard would have said, thought St-Cyr, but notice, please, how he has deliberately left out any mention of Sophie’s being greatly distressed and nearly in tears. Alain suddenly arrives and there has to be a change of plan? She has to give up the use of his car, must drive it to the station when it’s badly needed, has to then send me to the carnival instead and has to wait for a bus not knowing what must happen?
And now a hand-delivered message to Natzweiler-Struthof when of course the Polizeikommandantur’s telex or telephone would have done just as well. ‘Colonel, by your own admission, you didn’t bother to search for the Fraulein Ekkehard until the following Tuesday. Forgive the persistence, but I find that hard to believe.’
There must be no hesitation. ‘I sent Werner out to look for her.’
‘When?’
‘At about 1600 hours on that Saturday, the thirtieth of last month.’
And again he’s taking care to give you the times, Inspector, and emphasize the date, but didn’t Sophie tell you that the lorry from the Works returned here at about 5.00 and waited a good half-hour, its driver repeatedly honking the horn? Bien sur, Herr Lutze could have left by then, but please don’t forget that a man like the colonel is inevitably one step ahead. ‘And yet you told us that Herr Lutze and his wife were quietly asking around town if anyone had seen her?’