‘And?’
He had taken the datura bottle from that shelf and pocketed it. ‘Brother Étienne reluctantly prescribed the jimsonweed. We call it that because the settlers who first found it in America lived near Jamestown, Virginia. The name then became a contraction of that. It can, of course, cause terrible highs. Everyone knows of this and has been warned of it by him.’
He reached for the little white porcelain mortar and pestle Madame had also kept in her suitcase, and brought it up to a nose that was full and robust, his dark brown ox-eyes never once leaving her. He did have a mustache, full and thick and dark brown, but didn’t look so frightening after all, which could only cause her to worry all the more.
‘Madame,’ said Nora, ‘would grind a few of the seeds and then add them to the shredded, dried leaves and stems to make a batch of Caroline’s cigarettes. Maybe five at a time. This place. . the ever-present. . ’
‘Dampness. The walls have mould on them, the windows their hoar frost. Nothing ever really dries, does it? Not with so many of you indoors most of the time. Did smoking those cigarettes help her?’
‘A lot. Brother Étienne said that for centuries the Nubians had been using the dried leaves like that to treat asthma. It opens the bronchioles.’
This herbalist, this bell ringer, was getting more interesting by the moment. ‘And the nettles?’
‘The alfalfa seeds, as well. Both are sources of vitamins and minerals, particularly Vitamin A.’
‘Did Caroline Lacy also suffer from night blindness?’
That lack of Vitamin A. ‘It often took her ten minutes to get back her sight when going from a lighted room into darkness.’
‘But here the corridor lights, though infrequent and of low wattage, are left on all night?’
He was on to things already. ‘Unless the Boche turn them off as a punishment or simply to show us who les gros légumes really are.’
The big vegetables, the big bosses, the Oberbonzen, and of course the Bonzen. ‘Your name, mademoiselle?’
‘Nora Arnarson. Well, actually it’s Arnora Arnarsonsdottír, but my grandparents simplified the matter.’
‘Icelandic?’
Few would have known this. ‘On my father’s side. Mom’s French Canadian-a Métis.’
‘Half-and-half French Canadian and native North American Indian, but you’re American?’
‘As are my parents and grandparents on my father’s side. You can go back three generations in his family, if you like. Gimli, Manitoba, in Canada first, and then Houghton, Michigan.’
She had a fierce way of saying it, as if to say, Don’t you damn well challenge me or I’ll take my lacrosse stick to you. Her hair was light auburn with streaks of still lighter blond. It was cut short, worn well off the shoulders in a style reminiscent of the ’20s, parted high on the left and feathered back to curl behind the ears, framing a sharpness whose nose and slightly parted lips matched the instant alertness of dark blue eyes. Hermann would have said, Don’t be so hard on her. Even in a heavy turtleneck and cords, she’s a catch.
‘I’ll be twenty-six years old next Wednesday, Inspector. I’m not married and don’t even have a fiancé anymore. My life is in suspension, and I have no money, since our government, unlike the British, doesn’t send us any and I’ve none myself, and I happen to think you people who collaborate with the Boche are just as bad as them and a lousy bunch of sons of bitches. You’re both going to lose this war and when you do, we’re going to beat the shit out of you.’
‘Ah, bon, we understand each other. It’s always best. Now, please, this cedar box of Madame’s. All the while we’ve been talking, you’ve been giving it hesitant glances.’
Shit! ‘Brother Étienne told Madame to keep it safely locked away, which means of course, Inspector, that you have somehow unlocked her suitcase.’
Her chin was sharp, the throat tight, and again that defiant fierceness had leapt into her eyes.
‘Would you be good enough, then, to open the box for me?’ he asked, and she knew that she couldn’t refuse, that to do so would be to confess.
‘Listen, you. We all knew of it.’
‘But that is not what I asked.’
Salaud! her look seemed to say. Crossing the room, she undid the string and opened the lid but caught a breath. ‘There. . there were three of the dried seed capsules lying side by side. They all but filled the box.’
Wincing at having instantly betrayed herself, she glanced sickeningly from him to the remaining two capsules whose prickly brown casings had opened to expose the flattened, oval- to kidney-shaped seeds that were black to dark brown and each from two to three millimetres in size. Then she looked at him more steadily. ‘Madame. . ’ she began.
‘Kept a key to this suitcase on her at all times, but its spare hidden in the room in case the other was lost or stolen. Did you find it as I did?’
‘No! I’d. . I’d never think of. . ’
‘Mademoiselle Arnarson, please, let’s not waste time. The seeds. . ’
‘And the fruit are the most poisonous parts of the plant and contain from zero point two to zero point four percent hyoscine and hyoscyamine, which means atropine and scopolamine also. Brother Étienne didn’t want to give those capsules to Madame. There were far too many seeds, maybe six hundred in total, maybe as much as twelve hundred, but Madame. . ’
‘Can be very forceful?’
He was standing so close to her now she could feel the presence of him. ‘Caroline’s family are stateside-in America, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. We’ll win this war because of people like them, not just our boys.’
‘Iron and steel.’
‘And money, Inspector. Caroline’s family is loaded.’
‘Yet their daughter was left behind to end up here.’
‘Their youngest daughter, but perhaps you’d best ask Madame why that happened.’
Even though one of the enemy to her, and tarred with that and the Gestapo’s brush, Hermann would somehow have gotten through her armour. He’d have smiled at her, encouraged those little nuances of male-female jockeying, would have asked of her home, her family, her state of well-being-anything so as to show that he really did empathize and would eventually have broken down that barrier of hatred and caution, but time and patience sometimes didn’t allow for such things, and Hermann was a sucker for any female and could easily become putty in the hands of such a one as this.
‘Tell me about the first victim, mademoiselle. Tell me if you think she, too, was murdered.’
He was pocketing the little box of datura, wasn’t going to leave it in Madame’s suitcase, but had he sensed that she, herself, had been involved in that first tragedy? If so, how could she make him understand? ‘In the beginning, like everyone else but Caroline, I thought it an accident, but now. . ’
‘Since the death of Mademoiselle Lacy.’
‘Oui. Inspect-”
It was Hermann.
‘Louis, you’d best leave that and come with me.’
Wielding brooms, canes, billiard cues, knives, boards-anything they could have laid hand to-they were crammed into the foyer and crowding the corridor that led to the steps to the cellars, and in a rage. Having rushed the doors en masse, they shrieked, yelled, jeered, and bellowed at the Americans in French and in English. ‘ESPÈCES DE SALOPE! ROULEUSES! VIPÈRES!’ Fucking bitches, sluts, serpents. . ‘COME UP AND TAKE WHAT WE’RE GOING TO GIVE YOU!’
As one, wearing hats, scarves, overcoats of every description, the colours faded by the years of use, the ‘delegation’ ceased its racket at a shout from its leader, and collectively turned to look up.
A ripple of what must be happening ran down into the cellars to silence the Americans.