Ach, gut, he had finally got their attention, thought Frensel. ‘I, too, have received such a medal and commendation-five of them to be precise. In the Netherlands alone, Kohler, and well after having relieved those diamond firms and traders of all they said they had, you understand, I took from those held for transit at Westerbork and Vught more than 250 million guilders of gem diamonds.’
Even at 10 guilders to the pound sterling, that was still 25 million pounds and Louis would have figured it out too.
‘Or at 4.4 American dollars to the pound, Hermann, about 110 million dollars or roughly now on the black bourse, at let’s say 100 French francs to the dollar, 11 billion francs.’
‘And more than enough, eh, to pay the Reich the 500 million a day they are now demanding in reparations, which are then, of course, immediately used to buy up all the loose diamonds and other things on offer.’
‘You’d be surprised where some of those Schweinhunde thought to hide such things,’ said Frensel, ripping off a chunk of baguette to mop up juices. ‘A specimen of no name, but bare and bent over the table, had 187 carats up the one and 356 up the other, and both coming out her eyes.’
Oona and Giselle were at the mercy of such, Chantal and Muriel, too, and Gabi but neither Louis nor himself could dwell on this. They had to push these two and Ludin to get what they could before it was too late. ‘And you’ve been keeping the traders in Lisbon, Madrid and Zurich happy, have you?’ he asked Frensel.
The laugh was rich and full, felt St-Cyr, for Reichsmarschall Goring had insisted on fencing such stones, the Reich desperately needing foreign exchange and gold, since few, if any, countries would accept Reichsmark. ‘Tungsten from Portugal and Spain, Hermann. Watches, microscopes and other precision instruments from the Swiss. Ball bearings, too, and machine tools.’
‘Guns, Louis, even those on the Messerschmitt ME 109s that fired the cannon shells Oona and her husband and children had to dodge during the exodus. But the Swiss do need our coal to keep warm and to run things, so fair’s fair and we’d better not question the matter.’
‘Wolframite, Kohler,’ said Johannes Uhl, sucking on a tooth.
‘The name tungsten goes by,’ said Frensel, stabbing a potato to slice off a morsel to add to the cabbage. ‘Tungsten carbide is next to diamond in hardness and it, and its steels, if I may say so, are fast replacing many of the uses of industrial diamonds and putting certain people out of work. Grinding powders, Kohler. Grinding wheels, too, and wire-drawing dies. All formerly done by using industrial diamonds. I personally have it on the best of authority-the Reichsmarschall himself, you understand-that the Luftwaffe are having great success with tungsten-carbide, armour-piercing shells. Instantly they destroy the Russian T-34 tanks, making the Soviets shit themselves.’
‘But … but there isn’t nearly enough of it,’ interjected Uhl, lifting the spoon he had taken to using on the sauce. ‘The supply is vastly limited and the cost astronomical, especially when smuggled into France and shipped to the Reich. Wolframite concentrate’s price just keeps shooting up and up and now fetches more than 130,000 Swiss francs a tonne, so the industrial diamonds I attend to still have a very definite place in our war industries.’
‘An iron, manganese tungstate, Hermann, containing the industry-accepted sixty percent tungsten oxide. The British own some of the mines in those supposedly neutral countries of Spain and Portugal, and as a result it often has to be carried in sacks on the back and sometimes across not one but two borders at night and in the rain if lucky.’
‘Or if you wish it,’ went on Uhl, ‘28,886 American dollars, so you can, I trust, understand why the Reichsmarschall, who is also my friend and superior officer, requires what that girl knows and is carrying.’
And yet more information, felt St-Cyr, knowing Hermann would have felt the same.
Timidly dipping a crust into the vichyssoise, Ludin thought to sample it. Instead, he reached for the bitters and said, ‘Josef Meyerhof also gave her, and this we know, Kohler, his family’s life diamonds.’
He having had to cough up the information probably. ‘And knowing this, even though you and that no-name SD colonel had a Spitzel aboard who left dribbles of coins for you to follow, you let her leave Amsterdam?’
‘We had to wait until Meyerhof’s contact person was finished dealing with her,’ said Ludin.
‘But by then she was already on her way?’
‘In a stolen Wehrmacht truck, but this we did not learn of until later.’
‘And in another note left for you by that Spitzel?’
‘The first such note, yes, but one that I didn’t leave with the coins for that Jew-lover Oona of yours to find.’
‘Louis, that’s why all the so-called secrecy. That’s why it hasn’t kept Rudy de Merode and his gang from trying to follow us everywhere we go. That was Sergei Lebeznikov who just ducked into the kitchens, wasn’t it?’
After having had a good look at who had come all the way from Berlin. ‘He’ll be asking the waiters if anything further can be added to what he has already discovered, Hermann.’
‘They and the other gestapistes francais must be wanting a share, or maybe even all of it if they can get to her first.’
Lenz and Merode could well be useful, thought Ludin. ‘Meyerhof was director of the Amsterdam protection committee, Kohler. As such, he had the names and locations of all those they had blacklisted for selling to the Reich. He also made frequent trips to Paris before and even right up to and into the Blitzkrieg, so would have had plenty of opportunity to illegally bring diamonds here to hide.’
‘Thousands and thousands of carats, Kohler. Gems-industrials, too, of course,’ said Frensel, having shoved his plates aside to rest forearms on the table, hands clasped tightly. Big hands, swastika knuckle-dusters in gold too.
‘Millions,’ said Uhl. ‘I personally have uncovered the lies in the record books of all such firms. Each paper of high quality industrials, each packet or cloth bag, was to have been weighed and recorded, you understand, but many were not and I have recovered thousands they attempted to hide from me.’
Taking out a silver toothpick, Frensel went to work as he said, ‘As I have myself, Kohler. Those diamond Jews were a close lot. All decisions were done in committee and no one else was ever allowed in, but no longer, of course. Now we have put a stop to it and to them.’
‘There was a handkerchief,’ said Ludin, having shoved the soup aside. ‘A bit of childhood embroidery. This has not been mentioned, Kohler. Why is that, please?’
Rocheleau must have told him everything and some. Dismayed by the request, Louis had begun to fish about in his coat pockets. Laying the empty cartridge casings on the table, he then found the slugs only to go back for more.
‘Ach, I have it, Chief,’ said Kohler. ‘It was drenched and I simply shoved it away. Perfume, but I can’t tell which. Maybe you can.’
And a ‘breather,’ as the Americans used to say in that other war. ‘It’s called Sleeping, Hermann. It’s one of Schiaparelli’s. Very delicate, very feminine, and indicative of its user but not as decisively so as Molinelle’s No. 29 or Muriel’s Mirage.’
‘But will it help to lead us to her if she does manage to get past the controls and into Paris?’
‘Ah, one never knows, does one, mon vieux?’ said Louis, quickly shy; pocketing it. ‘Even the smallest of things can open up an investigation. One tries. One simply never gives up and it is, after all this talk of diamonds, still very much a murder investigation. Gestapo Boemelburg has ordered us to find the killer of those two bank employees, meine Herren, Osias Pharand as well.’
‘My boss and his,’ said Hermann. ‘Herr Uhl, to give us some idea of what is really involved, what’s the current price of the lowest grade of industrial diamond?’