"You were cleaning up loose ends for Villard," I said. "Just like you were doing here, fetching his briefcase like a trained dog. And what did he do? How does he reward you?"
I let go of his arm and pushed him down onto the bed.
"He uses you for a shield, gives you up, and runs for it. He cared more for that briefcase than he did for you."
"What do you want of me?" Mathenet said, his voice catching.
"I want you to hang for the murder of Sergeant Joseph Casselli."
"You cannot prove that-"
"You're right, not on the basis of those cuts alone. If that were all I had, I'd shoot you right now. Anybody here mind?"
"Never had much use for coppers, never mind Frog coppers," growled Duxbury.
"I'll do it," said Diana, the pistol clasped between her hands.
"Miss," Banville said, "perhaps you should wait outside-"
"Perhaps you should mind your own damn business," she snapped back. She looked up, angry, her lips compressed and her eyes narrowed, staring Banville down, daring him to offer assistance or sympathy again. He didn't.
"As I was saying," I announced, trying to get the interrogation back on course, "all we need to do before bringing charges is to find out who stitched up your wound and thought up the shrapnel story."
"What does your hospital staff know of war wounds?" Mathenet said dismissively. "You Americans know nothing and act as if you know everything. France has been in this war since it began!"
"I don't think a crooked, murdering Vichy cop should speak for
France. Not for men like Colonel Baril and the Dupree brothers! Did you kill Jerome Dupree as well?"
"No." He started to protest, then caught himself. "I think I recall a Dupree from the prisoner's list, but he was reprieved at the last minute."
"Who did kill him?"
"I know nothing about that."
"Where is Villard's outpost in the desert?"
"I have not been there."
"I didn't ask you that. I asked you where it was."
"Truly, I do not know. I have never been there," Mathenet said with a desperate edge to his voice. It was hard to tell if he was lying. He sounded sincere, but I couldn't tell for sure.
"Were you Villard's second in command?"
"He was my superior officer, yes."
"No, I mean in his smuggling and ransom operation. I have written proof of this racket." That caught him by surprise and deflated him. His head fell back into his hands.
"He should not have left me."
"It was a lousy thing to do," I agreed.
"I thought coppers stuck together," said Duxbury.
"They do, in the States. A guy would never toss a fellow officer to the wolves."
Mathenet may not have quite understood the part about wolves, but he got the point.
"He left me because he thought he had what he wanted," Mathenet said, with a hint of pride. He raised his chin and looked me straight in the eyes for the first time.
"So, you outsmarted him?"
"He's too pathetic to outsmart anyone," Diana said, in disgust.
There was nothing I wanted more than to take her in my arms and comfort her. I could still hardly believe I had found her. But dealing with Mathenet wouldn't wait. He was off balance now, having been abandoned by Villard after being clonked on the head by me. Now, when he was softened up, was the time to get him to cooperate. The way to accomplish that was to convince him I was his best and only hope. That was going to be hard to do with Diana threatening to blow his brains out with his own gun. It made it hard for him to concentrate.
"Excuse us for a minute," I said to Mathenet. I glanced at Duxbury, then back at Mathenet. Duxbury nodded and moved in front of the door.
I walked over to Diana and put my arm around her shoulder. "Let's go outside," I said.
She shrugged off my arm. Her lips were pressed together yet she was trembling. She was on the verge of breaking down but pride wouldn't let her lose her self-control. She looked at Mathenet and at me. Her mouth opened as if she was going to say something. Nothing came out. She wheeled and walked out of the room. I followed her i outside.
She stood in the courtyard, her face lifted to the sky. Her eyes were shut.
"This is the first time I've been outside since you saw me in that courtyard in Algiers," she said. Her voice was calm, her face relaxed. She seemed to have left her tension inside.
I moved close to her and took her hand, still holding the gun, in mine.
"You don't need this anymore," I said. "We'll protect you."
"Nobody protected me from Villard," she said. "Who else was looking for us? What took you so long?"
I didn't expect to be thanked for her rescue, but I wasn't prepared to answer that question. She pulled her hand away.
"Things got complicated. And we didn't want to blow your cover," I stammered to a halt.
"My cover didn't matter. We were all working for the Allies. Those students risked their lives. With thousands of troops coming ashore why couldn't you just… just come and get us?" Her voice broke and she turned away from me.
"I'm sorry, Diana. Harding said you'd be freed as soon as they worked out a deal with Darlan."
"A deal? They're making a deal with that fascist? What was it all for if they're making a deal with these people?" She gestured with the pistol toward the barracks, Mathenet, her memories. "Why did we attempt a coup? People died, you know, Billy."
"Diana, I don't make the rules. I would have come for you sooner, but I had my orders. Once I knew the smuggling operation was connected to Le Bar Bleu and this depot-"
"How did you know I was here?" she asked.
"We found orders at police headquarters in Algiers directing Villard to bring the prisoners here, and then move them to another base in the desert. Do you know where that is?"
"No, but I heard him talk about it. We were supposed to be taken there in a few days. He was waiting for some kind of shipment first. But wait a minute, I don't understand. You knew Villard was bringing the prisoners here. But how did you find out about his smuggling operation?"
"There was a theft of supplies from the army hospital in Algiers, and two murders. I found a notebook page, with the name of Le Bar Blue and a password on it: Le Carrefour, the crossroads. We figured the bar was a hideout for the smugglers, so Harding had me sent, along with the British Commandos, on this mission to capture Bone. We've taken the town… I mean the commandos have."
Diana's squinted and her forehead wrinkled. She was trying to work something out, but it looked like she was having trouble. She'd been drugged and couldn't have been thinking clearly. Which was why I wanted to get that pistol away from her. She paced back and forth, holding her free hand up to shield her eyes from the sun. She scuffed up dust, kicking at the ground as she thought.
"What you're telling me, Billy, is that no one cared enough to come after us right away."
"What do you mean?" I asked, knowing exactly what she meant.
She confronted me. "Villard was stealing drugs from the army, so they sent you after him. I only happened to be here."
"You're right." There was nothing else to say. I could explain about how I angled to be sent to Bone, how I would have lied through my teeth to come after her, but it didn't matter. She knew how the war worked.
"So the rest of the prisoners, the ones no one will ransom, what happens to them? Does anyone care if they live or die?" Her voice rose into an hysterical pitch.
"Diana, you were on a mission. It failed. It wasn't your fault. You're safe now-"
I knew as soon as I spoke the words that I'd made a mistake. It was the same thing that had happened to her before, as a FANY on the destroyer laden with evacuees from Dunkirk. She was caring for the wounded on deck when they were hit, and sunk. She had been on a mission. It failed. They died in the water. It wasn't her fault then either. But here she was, still alive, while the others were dying. It seemed as if it was long ago, in another world, but it was really not quite six months ago, in England, that she had told me about her nightmares. She stood on the deck of a sinking destroyer, and huge waves would wash the wounded overboard. She'd try to save one and just miss him as he went over the side. Then another, and another, until the destroyer sank while she floated, peacefully watching the bobbing heads disappear, one by one.