Hermann always would grasp at straws, even that Walter would continue to back them. ‘Oberg must have known we were not only on that train but that Walter was planning to assign us to the investigation.’
‘That little Blitzmadel of his is one hell of a shot. Rudi wouldn’t have said so otherwise. Not Rudi. SS floodlights will make night into day in some stinking passage. That girl will be right behind us and guess who’ll come out of it smelling of roses?’
‘Informants, Hermann. Indics gave Oberg prior notification of the locations of those two attacks.’
‘The Agence Vidocq?’
‘We shall have to ask them.’
‘Oberg can’t have let the chief in on it, can he?’
And stubborn to the last. ‘We’re deliberately assigned to two assaults that give us examples of what’s been happening. Then later on in the evening are found because we are on Talbotte’s roster for the evening and fun is fun, so are sent to the academy for a further example.’
‘Only to then find that Giselle was to have been taken, Louis. She wasn’t to have gotten away.’
‘But ourselves conditioned to the severity of the problem and all too willing to go along with Oberg’s using her.’
‘Knowing that we couldn’t refuse, that an order was an order.’
‘Let’s go back through things. Let’s get it all straight if possible. The academy victim is taken at …’
‘You’re forgetting Lulu.’
‘Ah, bon. Madame Catherine-Elizabeth de Brisac, whose hotel particulier overlooks Parc Monceau, loses her beloved terrier. The dog is held for a time that must be determined, but then has its scant remains hastily buried on Thursday afternoon at just before closing.’
‘The academy victim is then abducted at about 1930 hours, but we still don’t know from where. The Lido maybe.’
‘He escapes but briefly and is killed by 2030 or 2100 hours.’
‘Three assailants. His fingers, Louis. What did they do with them?’
‘The Seine most probably.’
‘Here, give me a drag and I’ll light us another. And at 2313 hours Elene Artur-it has to have been her-is forced to put in a call to the commissariat, having first tipped off Le Matin. The academy victim may or may not have been a pimp, but she most likely didn’t use one, and beyond those two phone calls there is, at present, only two connections with this earlier murder.’
‘The killers must have been known to each other, at least in part, and the one who wore the red ribbon was involved in both it and the Trinite assault. Earlier he took a taxi ride to size things up from the Cafe de la Paix, and then must have hurried to get to the police academy which implies he had an SP sticker and an allotment of petrol.’
‘Elene Artur must have been a distinct embarrassment Oberg could well have decided had best be removed, Louis.’
‘And where better to do it than in the judge’s flat.’
‘But with him finding her, not us.’
Such things were always done behind the scenes and the Intervention-Referat were very much a part of them. Hardened criminals but also men drawn from the ranks of the Milice now, and still others, especially here in Paris, from among the Parti Populaire Francais, the PPF of the fiery orator and would-be Hitler, Jacques Doriot.
‘But well before the rue La Boetie killing, Hermann, Madame Adrienne Guillaumet finishes teaching her night class at the Ecole Centrale.’
‘And is taken to the passage de la Trinite.’
‘Time 2145 to 2150 hours. No later.’
‘The Drouant attack then takes place at 2352.’
‘With plenty of time for the one with the gut to have got there from place de l’Opera but perhaps not enough beforehand for that one to have been involved in the academy killing.’
‘The break-in at Au Philateliste Savant is then committed at between 0020 and 0030 hours.’
‘But with insufficient time for the Drouant assailant to have got there from the restaurant. Not on a night like that, but plenty of time for the Trinite assailant, if needed.’
‘Mud from the sewers.’
‘Fish-oil margarine, but an ample supply from where, Hermann?’
‘The black market probably. In any case, none of the killings and assaults are thought to be related to the stamp robbery, and that’s probably why we weren’t suppose to have been assigned to it.’
‘Perhaps. And early on Friday afternoon Giselle leaves Madame Guillaumet’s flat to find you. She pays Madame Chabot a little visit and …’
‘Was turned away, wasn’t she?’
‘Banished.’
‘Somehow she discovers she’s being followed.’
‘And switches her coat …’
‘She would never have done a thing like that had she known what would happen.’
‘Of course not, but that victim is then discovered in the passage de l’Hirondelle at around 2000 hours.’
‘Was it bad?’
‘I couldn’t identify who it might be beyond taking a look at the earlobes. Oona confirmed that Giselle had had her ears pierced some years ago but that they had become infected, no doubt due to wearing fake silver wires, and that she had sworn off wearing such earrings.’
‘And the little scars had then grown in place.’ How had Louis forced himself to find them?
‘Perhaps the hobnailed boots of our Legion d’honneur wearer are the same, Hermann. Armand may be able to confirm but I don’t envy him the task.’
A deep drag was taken and held for the longest time. ‘And Giselle, Louis? Was the rage shown in the passage de L’Hirondelle meant for her, or because it wasn’t her?’
It was a good question but caution had best be used. ‘I … I don’t know, mon vieux. I wish I did and that she was safely here between us.’
8
All along the Champs-Elysees, right to the Arc de Triomphe, the last rays of the sun were caught among the naked branches of the chestnut trees. Kohler eased off on the accelerator. Hadn’t Louis marched down this avenue in the Armistice Day parade of 1919 and in every one of them since until the Defeat? Didn’t he love the view?
‘Hermann, hurry up!’
And never satisfied! ‘I thought you might need to see it.’
‘A last time? Don’t taunt a patriot. You know the view’s been spoiled.’
They passed the Hotel Claridge whose belle-epoque facade welcomed generals and holders of the Knight’s Cross, especially its U-boat captains. Velos and velos-taxis were everywhere, but there were more cars here, of course, for hadn’t the Occupier a love of the avenue too?
‘We’ll hit the Arcade together, Hermann. You into the Lido after those who try to avoid us, myself into the office.’
And so much for his having backup. He was out the door before the engine could be switched off. He was into the Arcade, moving through the foot-traffic. ‘Louis …’
‘Quit dawdling. This is Surete business.’
And hadn’t one of those been impersonated?
A cafe, a sugar-cake from that same belle epoque, formed an island in the Arcade and even though this partner of his knew of it, Louis jabbed a finger that way and said, ‘An entrance to the Lido is in there,’ as he hit a glass-and-oak-panelled door with gilded lettering, went in and momentarily disappeared from view.
The Agence Vidocq.
‘St-Cyr, Surete, mademoiselle. Your director first and then a Monsieur … Come, come, Herr Hauptmann Detektiv Aufsichtsbeamter, since you don’t obey orders, what the hell was the bastard’s name?’
‘M. Flavien Garnier, Monsieur l’Inspecteur Principal.’
And given like a parrot or a mouse. ‘Well, mademoiselle?’