with them before I have to leave for this little town called what is it? ah
yes, St Denis. Not the prettiest or most unusual of names, but Im quite sure
the Minister and I shall both be thoroughly charmed.
J-Js office was in spartan contrast to the man.
J-J
was overweight and looked
scruffy inside his crumpled suit, but his desk was clean, his books and
documents all neatly filed, and his newspaper precisely aligned with the edges
of the low table where they sat, drinking some decent coffee that Isabelle had
made in her own adjoining room.
J-J
had kicked off his shoes and smoothed his
hair, and was riffling through a slim file that Isabelle had brought him. She
looked cool and very efficient in a dark trouser suit with a red scarf at her
neck, and what looked like expensive and surprisingly elegant black training
shoes with flat heels and laces. She looked at Bruno levelly, with a very faint
and disinterested smile, and he felt a touch of embarrassment at the fantasies
of her he had conjured up after she left his cottage.
Theres something odd about this military record of the victim, said
J-J
. It
says he came onto the strength of the First French Army for pay and rations on
28 August 1944, listed as a member of the Commandos dAfrique. That unit was
part of something called Romeo Force, who had taken part in the initial landings
in southern France on 14 August 1944, and they seized a place called Cap Nčgre.
Our man is not, apparently, listed as a member of the original assault force for
the invasion. He just appears on the strength, out of nowhere, on 28 August at a
place called Brignolles.
I called the military archives and spoke to one of the resident staff,
Isabelle took up the story. He told me that it wasnt uncommon for members of
Resistance groups to join up with the French forces and stay with them
throughout the war. The Commandos dAfrique were a Colonial Army unit,
originally from Algeria, and most of the rank and file were Algerians. Theyd
taken heavy casualties at a place called Draguignan, and were keen to bring
their numbers back up to strength with local Resistance volunteers. Since our
Hamid was Algerian, he was signed up and stayed with them for the rest of the
war. In the fighting in the Vosges mountains in the winter, he was promoted to
corporal, where he was wounded and spent two months in hospital. And then, when
they got into Germany, he was promoted to sergeant in April of 1945, just before
the German surrender.
And he stayed in the Army after the war? Bruno asked.
Indeed he did, said
J-J
, reading from the file. He transferred to the twelfth
regiment of the Chasseurs dAfrique, with whom he served in Vietnam, where he
won his Croix de Guerre in the failed attempt to rescue the garrison at Dien
Bien Phu. His unit was then posted to Algeria until the war ended in 1962 and
the Chasseurs dAfrique were wound up. But before that, along with some of the
other long-serving sergeants and warrant officers, he was transferred to the
training battalion of the regular Chasseurs, where he remained until he was
demobilised in 1975 after thirty-five years service. He was hired as a
caretaker at the military college at Soissons after one of his old officers
became the commander.
So whats so strange about it, J-J? Bruno asked.
We cant find any trace of him in the Resistance groups around Toulon, where he
was supposed to be before joining the Commandos. Isabelle checked with the
Resistance records. Since it was useful after the war to be able to claim a
fighting record in the Resistance, most of the unit lists were pretty thorough.
And theres no Hamid al-Bakr.
It might not mean much, Isabelle said. There arent many Arab names in any of
the Resistance groups and not many Spanish names either, although Spanish
refugees from their civil war played a big part in the Resistance. But the
records for the two main groups, the Armée Secrčte and the Franc-Tireurs et
Partisans, tend to be fairly reliable. He could have been in another group or he
may have slipped through the net. He might even have used another name in the
Resistance it wasnt uncommon.
It just nags at me a bit, like a loose tooth, said
J-J
. Once Hamid was in the
Army, the records are impeccable, but we cant track him before that. Its as if
he just turned up out of nowhere.
Wartime, Bruno shrugged. An invasion, bombing, records get lost or destroyed.
And I can tell you one thing from my own military service. The official records
may all look very neat and complete because thats how they have to be and how
the company clerks file them. But a lot of the paperwork is pure invention, or
just making sure the books balance and the numbers add up. What we know is that
he served for thirty-five years and fought in three wars. His officers respected
him enough to take care of him and he was a good soldier.
Yes, I know all that, said
J-J
. So Isabelle tried to look back a bit
further.
We asked the Marseilles and Toulon police to run a check, but theres not much
left of the files before 1944 and they had nothing, Isabelle said. The date
and place of birth that he listed in Army records was back in Oran in Algeria on
14 July 1923. The chap at the archives said a lot of the Algerian troops listed
that birth date because they didnt know their real birthday and that was the
easiest date to remember. Birth registers for Algerians were pretty hit and miss
in those days, even if we could get access to the Algerian records. And we dont
have a date for his arrival in France. As far as we can tell, he had no official
existence until he turns up with the Commandos dAfrique.
Ive been pushing this because Im not sure about our two suspects, said
J-J
.
I talked with each of them separately for a long time, and I just dont feel
confident that they did it. Call it a hunch. So I had Isabelle check back into
Hamids history to see if there were any clues there that might open other
possibilities.
Tavernier seems happy to go ahead and press charges, Bruno said.
Yes, and Im not comfortable with that, not with the evidence we have so far,
said
J-J
.
As I said in the meeting, Id also like more evidence, said Isabelle.
That makes three of us, said Bruno, but there doesnt seem to be much other
evidence of any kind, either to incriminate them or to steer us anywhere else.
See if you can get anything more on our mystery man from his own family. He
must have told them something about his childhood and growing up, said
J-J
.
Otherwise, were stuck.
CHAPTER
16
The Mayor was quietly furious. Less than an hour remained before the event began
and two of his most reliable standard bearers had decided they would boycott it.
This was bad enough, but it was the first time in living memory they had turned