‘Is it?’ demanded Hermann.
‘Thirty percent, mon vieux. We’ve yet to go over the rest, but there are olives from Provence that we missed, and this too. It brings tears. It’s the greatest of the blue cheeses. My Agnes had a terrible passion for it. Ah, excusez-moi, the first wife. I seem to keep thinking of her of late. There’s also some Picodon. This one’s either from Departement of the Drome or the Ardeche, the name itself taken from the langue d’oc. It means spicy.’
‘But indicates travel from much farther afield, eh,’ said Hermann, ‘and why is that, Monsieur Gregoire, given that those vans of yours have definite limits to their travel?’
Yvonne, as usual, had been absolutely correct, felt Gregoire, and now this madness of Hector’s was going to bring all of them down if not careful. ‘Deniard had relatives from Saint-Remy-de-Provence who are now living in Paris. Perhaps if you were to ask them after the reception, they could tell you …’
‘Inspectors, can this not wait?’ demanded Bolduc.
‘Murders never do,’ said Louis, ‘but if I must, let me remind you all that this is most definitely a murder inquiry.’
With the Abwehr all but gone and worrying about its last days, the Hoherer SS and Polizeifuhrer Oberg would have to deal with these two, felt Bolduc. Yes, Oberg and his deputy. The full force of the avenue Foch, even if he himself had to go down on the knees! ‘Then begin by telling us what happened at those ruins. Deniard hit squarely on the forehead before being shot?’
Hector would demand the obvious, felt Yvonne, therefore she would have to get him the answer he needed. ‘But hit by whom, Inspectors?’
‘And isn’t that the one Herr Kaltenbrunner’s Sonderkommando are after?’ asked Gregoire. ‘Well, isn’t it, and if so, who was it?’
‘Louis, I think I’d better visit the toilets.’
Clearly Bolduc was to be left out on a limb, felt St-Cyr, but care must be taken not to rush things. ‘Mademoiselle, messieurs, Hermann and me were able to pick up the trail of that van prior to its arrival at the ruins.’
‘Where?’ demanded Bolduc, his fists clenched.
‘Berru lookout where it was joined by the gazogene-powered truck in which rode the killer, and since both were carrying goods bound for the marche noir, perhaps you’d be good enough to tell us what had been arranged.’
‘Since the one, slow as it must have been, chased after the other only to find those two trusted employees of yours chasing after someone else,’ said Hermann, having hustled Jacqueline Lemaire back to the table.
‘Did they have a disagreement with that someone?’ asked St-Cyr.
‘A severe one,’ said Kohler. ‘It must have been. Mischief certainly. Rape, probably, so start talking.’
Had Jacqueline said something she shouldn’t, wondered Bolduc shy;. ‘Me, I have no idea of what you’re saying. How could any of us? Deniard and Paquette wanting to fool around with whom?’
‘Tell them, Mademoiselle Lemaire,’ said Kohler. ‘If you don’t, I will.’
With but that look of his, Hector would destroy her if he could, felt Jacqueline, but she would have to answer, have to endure Yvonne’s faint and knowing smile, Georges-Arthur having unclasped his hands to place them flat on the table in judgement. ‘Annette-Melanie Veroche.’
The stupid chatte would say it! thought Bolduc. ‘What the hell was that girl doing in one of my vans, Jacqueline? Come, come, let us have the proof of it.’
It was all over for her. Everything! Hector would kill her now if he could.
‘Well?’ demanded Bolduc.
‘Hitching a ride,’ said Louis, ‘but now that we have a name, mademoiselle, could we not also have an address and a little more?’
One must grin and throw out the hands in a gesture of goodwill, felt Bolduc. ‘Look, Inspectors, it’s really a very simple matter. Annette-Melanie had to go home to Rethel last December to visit her mother who was desperately ill in hospital with pneumonia. You both must know how things are at the Kommandantur during the pre-Christmas rush. A day, two days, three probably in the line-ups and then the quotas, the turn-down. Me, I …’
‘Let her hitch a ride in one of your vans,’ said Louis, ‘so as not to have to bother getting the necessary ausweis: the laissez-passer and sauf-conduit.’
‘Was it the same van, Monsieur Bolduc?’ asked Hermann.
‘It was,’ said Yvonne, having laid a hand gently over those of Georges-Arthur which again had been clasped.
‘Then, I take it, that girl knew of both Deniard and Pacquet,’ said St-Cyr.
Somehow Yvonne and himself had to save the bank, felt Gregoire. ‘They would have recognized her, but neither Mademoiselle Rouget nor myself were aware of what was going on behind our backs.’
‘You …’ began Bolduc.
‘Monsieur, must I caution you?’ said Louis.
‘And is she the person that Sonderkommando are after?’ asked Hermann.
It would have to be admitted so as to gain time, felt Bolduc. ‘We have been led to believe so, yes, but have not yet said anything of it to others. Like yourselves, we have been trying to put two and two together.’
‘Good,’ said Kohler. ‘First by asking questions of those two overseers and friends of yours who are swimming in the know because they have to be even though the Abwehr is on the skids, and now by the two most recent clients of this one’s escort service.’
But did it go even deeper than that? wondered St-Cyr. There was only one way to find out, though not here. ‘Show them the letter from Kaltenbrunner, Hermann. Let them see that if they say anything of this matter to anyone but ourselves, the Reichssicherheitschef shy; will hear of it.’
‘Inspectors …’ said Yvonne, taking the letter.
‘Save it,’ said Hermann, taking it back. ‘Mademoiselle Lemaire, the address of this person who must have witnessed the murders?’
Hector would be only too glad to see her body dragged naked from the Seine, she having been beaten, violated, all those things so as to but increase the gossip, felt Jacqueline. Georges-Arthur, he simply looked at and through her as though saying, You fool, and Yvonne as if, Salope, now you’ve really done it to that future ‘husband’ of yours, haven’t you? But there was her pride, most certainly. ‘Inspectors, let me show you since she lives in the very building where I have my office and have a file on each of my escorts, as well as every client that one has sent to me.’
Both Yvonne Rouget and Gregoire seemed relieved, felt St-Cyr, as they looked questioningly at their chairman who gave them but the cruelest of nods. ‘Then for now, we will break off this discussion. Be prepared to answer fully and truthfully when time-our time-allows.’
‘Jacqueline is far too upset,’ said Bolduc. ‘Perhaps if Yvonne were to …’
‘She can’t come with her, can she?’ said Kohler. ‘Since everything we do has to be kept a secret none of you had better reveal.’
It was Arie who took the stitches out and gave her a pair of light grey gloves from which he had cut each of the first joints and re-knitted them perfectly; Aire who said he was glad to see her back safely and that she was to keep the bike and leave it here if needed; Aire who asked if she had found things okay at her place.
There was no sign of Etienne.
‘He’s gone to move his wife and children. I told him he had to, that I’d stay to help you if needed.’
‘He’s not coming back, is he.’
‘We were going to split up anyways, but after what you said of Frans, we both knew he should get out of Paris while he could. This war, this Occupation is going to end, Anna-Marie. It’s months now, not years. It has to be, and when they’re kicked out, the Moffen will be far from friendly, and the locals, the collabos or not, every bit as bad. Stay clear of those who have been helping you. Go to ground as soon as you can. Don’t get mixed up in anything more. The SD, SS and Gestapo want you, and unless you’re awfully careful, they’ll get you.’