Unfortunately Louis wasn’t present to vote on the matter but a can of pipe tobacco might help, along with six packets of Lucky Strikes and a good 10,000 Reichskassenscheine, the Occupation marks at twenty francs to the mark.
‘And a wad of American dollars just in case,’ he muttered to himself.
Only then did he see the chewing gum. Four packets of Wrigley’s spearmint, one of them open and missing two sticks.
‘Louis. . ’ he blurted, for Louis wasn’t going to like what he’d found, that was for sure.
As he looked up, Kohler saw the keyboard again and this time his heart really did sink, for there definitely were two keys to every one of those verdammten locks, and certainly the lift-gate lock hadn’t been tampered with but opened with its key. Weber would have checked the board after learning of Mary-Lynn Allan’s death, but could well not have noticed beforehand if one had been missing.
The same for the Chalet des Ânes. It was that or Weber himself who had used them, the chalet killing then having taken care of everything.
‘And two missing sticks of chewing gum. . ’ It was not a happy thought.
To all questions there had been but obstruction, thought St-Cyr. Bien sûr it had been a mistake to have grabbed Weber’s wrist and threatened to break his arm, a greater one to have insisted that Hermann make use of the opportunity and leave them, but now. .
Matthieu Senghor and Bamba Duclos, terrified of what the Untersturmführer might well do to them, still waited to lift Caroline Lacy’s body on to the stretcher. Weber, the flap of his holster unfastened, smoked yet another cigarette, the two armed guards ready at the wide-open doors. Clearly he was trying to decide what to do: kill them or leave it.
‘Untersturmführer, since you feel Colonel Kessler should have called in detectives from Vittel’s Kripo nearby, why, please, did he not do so?’
This souvenir of Verdun, this irritating, infuriating sûreté was going to pay for what he had done! ‘Verdammter Schweinebulle, ask him, don’t ask me.’
‘He left no note of advice for us on the death of Mary-Lynn Allan?’
Desperate now, this sûreté was waiting for it, as were the blacks. In Paris, Gestapo Bömelburg would lift an eyebrow at their loss, those of the SS on the avenue Foch giving little other than grateful smiles, since their two most hated troublemakers in France would have been conveniently dispatched, such was the reputation of this flying squad of Bömelburg’s, these seekers of the truth. But there might be questions.
‘Well?’ came the insistent demand.
‘None.’
‘Untersturmführer, is it that you no longer wish to assist Hermann and me with this investigation?’
‘Gott im Himmel, I am head of security here and must be consulted at every step and yet am simply to be ignored and then manhandled?’
‘I’ll speak to Hermann. When we move Mademoiselle Allan’s body, we’ll tell you everything.’
‘But only what you want. Admit that the delay in your getting here caused the death of this one.’
The corpse was nudged with the toe of a jackboot.
‘Gut, we understand each other completely,’ said St-Cyr. ‘Bitte, mein Lieber Untersturmführer, where were you on the night Mary-Lynn Allan was pushed?’
‘LIEBER CHRISTUS IM HIMMEL, DO YOU WANT A BULLET?’
‘Please just answer.’
‘La Maison de Roussy on the avenue de Châtillon. It’s very good. They look after you. No taste is discouraged. Little birds of fourteen and fifteen can be found because they want to be, but since you and Kohler are confined to the camp, you will have to take my word for it.’
Patience. . one must have patience with one such as this. ‘A name-someone who can state under oath when you arrived at that brothel, how long you dallied, and when you left.’
‘After fucking two little French girls who were only too willing?’
‘Please just answer.’
‘Noëlle and Brigitte wouldn’t want to have to swear to anything, not after the time I gave them.’
And smirking now. ‘Madame de Roussy then?’
The head was tossed as if struck. ‘That old boot? Ach, she doesn’t write anything down but numbers because she can’t and has been told not to anyway. All she does is hand out the yellow cards each putain has to sign and date.’
In case of venereal disease. ‘Then those will have to do.’
‘Unfortunately I no longer have them. Our resident doctor has, but since he is home on leave, you will have to take my word for it.’
‘Then please tell me if you knew beforehand that this girl was to have met someone here. You have your sources.’
‘My informants?’
‘Isn’t Jennifer Hamilton among them?’
Kohler would have let him know this. ‘Her lover-isn’t that who you mean?’
‘Of course, Untersturmführer.’
‘Ach, I did hear of a possible meeting and that this one had thought the death of Fräulein Allan no accident, but in the constant flood of gossip I’m subjected to, I paid no attention.’
‘Even though it was forbidden for any inmate to enter this or all such other buildings?’
‘Girls will be girls. Contrary to what Colonel Kessler thought, they are not able to police themselves-a matter Kommandant Jundt and I are taking steps to rectify.’
‘Yet this girl was not only convinced Mary-Lynn had been pushed. She saw what happened, Untersturmführer, and was convinced that she not only knew who had done it but that she, herself, was to have been pushed.’
The blacks hadn’t moved a hair but had shuddered inwardly at every word. ‘Perhaps it is that she confided in the wrong person-have you and Kohler even thought of that?’
Weber had constantly moved from Matthieu to Bamba and back again, often standing close to them. ‘What really happened after Caroline Lacy went missing, Untersturmführer? As head of security you must have been made aware of the girl’s absence.’
Thinking it had gone unnoticed, this Frenchman had dared to undo that shabby overcoat of his and the jacket so as to make the Lebel 1873 he was carrying a little more accessible. It would do no harm to answer, but was he really ready to die while defending two black Kammeradin from that other war? ‘Frau de Vernon got Frau Parker to speak to Kommandant Jundt. That had to wait until morning and only then was a search of the grounds made, the girl soon found.’
‘By whom?’
The fun could now begin. ‘By one of these blacks.’
Ah, merde. ‘Which one?’
‘That one.’
‘Sergeant Senghor, please run through it for me. Leave nothing out, no matter how insignificant.’
Weber wasn’t going to like it, thought Matthieu. ‘One half of the chalet’s door was slightly ajar, Chief Inspector, the padlock hooked through the eye of the hasp but obviously open and as if replaced in a hurry. I knew at once that it wasn’t right. I entered, found her, and touched nothing.’
‘Was she just as she is now?’
There was a nod. ‘I reported it to the Untersturmführer Weber, who then went to see for himself.’
‘Touching nothing?’
‘That I do not know. Like the rest of my men, he simply kept me waiting in the cold. He entered, took a long time-fifteen minutes at least, maybe twenty-and then came out but said nothing to us, only walked along our line, pausing to stare at each of us and demanding that we look at him before ordering that the chalet be placed under guard to await your and Herr Kohler’s arrival.’
‘You and your men were then sent to get on with your other duties?’