Mireille would have gone into the Kitchens Tower next to the Latrines to get her overcoat and things, but she hadn’t put the coat on, had she?
‘She’d have had to take one of the candelabra with her unless she had left a torch with her things. But who put out the other candles, and did that person or persons then call out to her, because sure as hell, she must soon have put out her own light.’
Still desperate for a cigarette, he searched the side pockets of the Renault but found only maps. ‘Was it Frau von Mahler who called out a warning to her, Nino? You must have heard it. Xavier had released you by then so that the sound of your clochette would lead him to her.’
Had he killed that girl? Had he done so for Madame Simondi?
‘Artemisia absinthium — that’s wormwood to us, Nino. You take the leaves and flowers and pound them in a mortar along with angelica root, sweet flag root, the leaves of dittany of Crête, aniseed, the fruit of the star-anise and other aromatics. You macerate everything — soak it in a high-proof alcohol and let the mixture sit for eight davs before distilling, which gives an emerald green liqueur. To this you add more of one of the essential oils; anise most probably — my partner loves it — and voilà, you have l’Extrait d’Absinthe, the milk of the gods, he’d probably call it. Pure knock-out elixir. How close was Xavier to that woman, Nino? Did she tell him things she’d tell no one else? Did she offer him a job for life as her little companion if only he’d take care of a certain problem, but not like he’d taken care of Adrienne?’
Nino whined and snuggled closer, didn’t raise her head.
‘Being under the empire of alcohol is no fun, my friend, but as sure as we’re sitting here awaiting a disaster, that woman would have been in really bad shape. The shakes like you wouldn’t believe. That’s why Xavier had to do the killing for her; that’s why he took you with him. An accomplice! He played on your loyalty and innocence. He forced you into it.
‘The reed warbler’s nest!’ he cursed, startling Nino. ‘I forgot all about it, didn’t I? You and Xavier had been over to the Îie de la Barthelasse and were on your way home. That’s how it was, and how you came to be in the Palais when it happened. You found the damned door open.’
Again he anxiously searched the darkness for Louis, but there was no sign of him.
Von Mahler looked at the revolver St-Cyr had promptly given up and placed on the desk not nearest to himself but to the one he had intended to kidnap.
‘Four things, Colonel, that’s all I ask you to listen to.’
‘Agreed.’
The door to the office had been closed; the secretary had been told to leave and ordered to remain silent.
‘First, your wife planned to kill herself and had purchased a Belgian FN semiautomatic on the black market, and most probably in Paris on one of her periodic journeys there for medical help. She knew you were very fond of Mireille and that, in her mind at least, the girl would make an ideal replacement for herself.
‘Second: two weeks after Adrienne de Langlade’s body was freed by the flood, Frau von Mahler took a Cross of Lorraine from beneath the lapel of Mireille’s overcoat. This, though she hasn’t admitted it, must have made your wife very afraid for your as well as your children’s wellbeing. A résistante, a frequent visitor and close friend of the family? The Gestapo would most certainly have been interested in such an association should it ever have come to light.’
Was St-Cyr trying to blackmail him? ‘And the third thing?’
‘Dédou Favre was arrested by Alain de Passe in the early hours of Monday.’
‘Verdammt! What is this you’re saying? De Passe …?’
‘Colonel, the reward of one hundred thousand francs was paid. Xavier turned the boy in. It’s my belief that he didn’t act alone, but was compelled to do so, not out of loyalty to the Reich, but to Bishop Rivaille, Madame Simondi, her husband and the other singers. Like all of them, he didn’t want that girl destroying everything they had.’
‘And the fourth thing?’
Von Mahler would deal with de Passe in his own sweet time, thought St-Cyr. ‘Your wife knew something of what Mireille intended to do. She went to the Palais either to protect or to stop her. She had already told the girl you would refuse to act as the third judge, so was certain in her own mind you wouldn’t be there. She has also admitted to having seen someone, Colonel, even if you think it too dark, and hasn’t denied being there, but again I must remind you that as well as being a friend, the girl was very much a threat that couldn’t be overlooked.’
‘And you want me to ignore an order from Gestapo Mueller? You must be mad.’
‘Doesn’t the Army still believe it’s above the Gestapo and the SS, or has it finally come to take orders from them?’
The High Command and upper echelons of the Wehrmacht still distrusted and despised the Gestapo and the SS with a vengeance and were extremely jealous of the Führer’s misplaced trust in them. ‘How certain are you of this pistol you say she has?’
‘Very.’
‘Then let us hope she hasn’t shot herself because if she has, you will be held responsible.’
10
No sentries stood in the darkness outside the Colonel’s house. Unchallenged, Kohler anxiously nudged the Renault as far out of sight as possible. ‘Louis, this isn’t right. First we have a meeting after curfew on the bridge and von Mahler tells us it never happened, and now he’s given his boys time off to warm their toes.’
‘And I’ve been an even bigger fool than I thought. Was he there at the mill when that girl was drowned, Hermann? Isn’t this really the reason his wife found it so necessary to go to the Palais on Monday night? Are they both covering things up as well?’
It was a heartfelt plea for answers. Von Mahler had had to get along with the local establishment. And sure he was pissed off about what de Passe had done with Dedou but had also wanted to talk to the boy before anything untoward had happened. Another cover-up, was that it? wondered Kohler.
‘It’s all in the rebus, Hermann. The Archer points his arrow; two fishes are joined but swim in opposite directions; the sign of the Twins often lies beside them.’
‘Genèvieve Ravier and Christiane Bissert?’
‘The Colonel … Was he seen with those two at the picnic?’
‘Did he make mischief with them, Louis, and help those bastards drown that girl, or close his mind to it?’
Nino had to pee but her paws were still too sensitive to the cold and Hermann had to help her. Dogs and horses had always been his friends. He had a way with them. A natural. ‘Come on,’ said St-Cyr gently. ‘Let’s go in and get this over with. We haven’t long until the audition.’
At 2200 hours …
*
‘In the Middle Ages and the Renaissance,’ said Marie-Madeleine hesitantly, ‘the five-pointed star, the pentacle, was thought to be the most powerful of talismans and was worn not only to protect one from all enemies but to give long life, peace of mind and harmony. Mireille was convinced of this.’
Frau von Mahler had yet to say a thing. The belt was laid out on a table, the order book and pomander were beside it. Von Mahler was looking decidedly uncomfortable.
‘The tiny silver bells were to ward off the devil with their sound,’ went on the former nun, her fingers lightly touching them as if in doing so she could bring back her friend. ‘This button in which the capital letter I intersects another, has the letters A, G, L, A in the quadrants so formed. Ate Gebir Leilam Adonai. Thou art mighty for ever, O Lord. People wore this in the fourteenth century to protect them from fever and … and other things.’
‘Against lies?’ asked Louis sharply. Kohler sat in an armchair with Nino at his feet. Frau von Mahler sat some distance across the room with the Colonel nearby, but the woman had yet to look up. She was composing her thoughts, was deciding on what and what not to say.