Ernst had heard something of this; not all the barracks gossip was about him. ‘So you exploit her.’
‘No, not at all. I help her out with the ration. Sometimes a bit of chocolate for the kid, that sort of thing. I tell the lads to go easy when they come requisitioning from her little ploughed-up garden.’
‘And in return?’
He grinned. ‘Let me tell you about Mrs X. She’s older than us, Ernst. Late thirties. But she’s a strong-looking woman, tall, with a rangy frame. Dark hair, dark eyes. A certain quality, a sad autumnal beauty. And deep, heavy breasts.’ He took his hands off the wheel to mime this.
Ernst glanced back uneasily at the children. Cowed, they looked away.
Heinz said, ‘We all do it. And I mean, if not for that, why do you stay with these people in their miserable farmhouse? Look, I’m not mocking you, Ernst. I really want to know.’
‘I feel responsible, Heinz. It’s something like that.’
Heinz laughed. ‘Responsible for what? You didn’t order Sea Lion.’
‘No. But that wretched family has been torn apart. They wouldn’t be if we weren’t here, would they?’
‘These two seem to be embracing the occupation readily enough.’
‘I think they’re looking for stability,’ Ernst said. ‘Their mother and father are barely speaking, and the baby— let’s just say, I think these two look to me as a pole of order.’
‘Ha! There you go again. You take yourself too seriously, you know, Ernst. Obergefreiter Trojan, the successor to Nietzsche! Come on. Stop thinking so hard, and just give the girl a seeing-to. I can see she’s longing for it. And probably you are too.’
But there, at least, Heinz was wrong, Ernst thought. He had the latest letter from Claudine in his jacket pocket. He could feel its sharp corners pressing through his shirt to his skin, this little artefact that had been sent from her hands to his. And after the celebrations were done for Trafalgar Day, the latest in the military government’s endless stream of ‘morale-boosting’ memorial days, he had every hope that he would be able to fulfil the arrangement he had made with her, to slip away before the curfew and—
There was an explosion up ahead, a sharp crack. The truck ahead of them stopped suddenly, and Heinz had to brake. Ernst was thrown forward.
‘Shit,’ Heinz said.
‘I told you we were driving too close.’
There was a rattle of brisk orders, all in German. Ernst saw troopers, Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS, jumping down from the lorries. The vehicles began to rumble forward, but only so they could be pulled off the road.
Heinz leaned out of the car, trying to see ahead. ‘What do you think that was, a Woolworth bomb?’ An auxiliary special, a bit of gelignite in a biscuit tin.
‘Could be.’
‘Bloody auxiliaries. We might be here for hours while they search the ditches.’ Waiting for room to move forward, Heinz dug a crumpled packet of cigarettes out of his vest pocket. They were Camels, an American brand, and Ernst wondered how he had got hold of them. ‘Smoke?’ Ernst took a cigarette, and tucked it behind his ear. Heinz turned to the children, and forced a smile. ‘You?’ he said in English.
Alfie, still nervous, grinned and said, ‘Ta.’ He leaned forward and took a cigarette.
Viv was shocked. ‘Alfie, Mum will kill you. Tell him, Ernst.’
‘How’s she going to know? You have a light, Herr Obergefreiter?’
Heinz laughed and struck a match.
There was another crump, and more shouts. A blunt, ugly shell went sailing over the column from right to left, landing harmlessly in a wheat field.
‘That’s a spigot mortar,’ Heinz snapped.
‘Get down,’ Ernst said to Viv and Alfie. He made them crouch in the belly of the car.
There was another boom, the whistle of another shell, and an explosion this time. There were angry shouts in German, and the pop of rifle fire.
XV
That Tuesday night, with the clock past eleven, George set off on his curfew beat around the town centre. He started out from the town hall and worked his way down towards the sea front, taking in some of the side streets on the way.
The October night was crisp, the air fresh; he wondered if there might be a nip of early frost. And it was quiet enough for him to hear the rush of the waves on the shingles, a sound which, he had learned in the last couple of years, was just like the noise a house made when it collapsed, shaken back to its component bricks by a bomb. No sound but that, and a few German voices, all male, a bit of laughter. There was nobody else around, nobody English anyhow, save for plodding coppers like George. The civilian curfew was eleven, and midnight for the German troops.
The town, his town, wasn’t quite what it had been even a year ago. Most of the streetlights were out, but not all; the blackout wasn’t quite as strictly enforced as it had been before the invasion. You would see chinks in blackout curtains, glimpse parlours and kitchens dimly lit by the low-voltage supply, people straining one last cup of tea out of much-reused leaves before bed. In a few houses he saw the glow of televisions.
In the shopping streets, the walls were plastered with propaganda posters, most of them showing smiling British and German workers standing shoulder to shoulder in the face of a horde of rat-like Bolsheviks. That was the thrust of the propaganda nowadays, stressing the unity of occupier and occupied against a common enemy - and George knew there was an element in the town who agreed with it. And here was another novelty, an official sign plastered onto the door of the Marks and Spencer store in Queens Road: JUDISCHE GESHAFT - JEWISH Store.
He checked his watch.
And he saw a figure. A woman in a black, slim-fitting coat, with a dark hat, a scarf perhaps. She seemed to be heading towards the railway station. Her heels rapped on the cobbles with every step, a bright sound, remarkably loud in the dark.
George hurried after her. He called softly, ‘Miss! Hold on. Police - don’ t be alarmed ...’ This was why George was out now, along with other senior officers. If there were any curfew-breakers it was better for a bobby to take them quietly into a cop-shop for the night, rather than to leave them to the mercy of the German security services.
But the woman was hurrying now, heading deeper into the dark. She cut up an alley, out of his sight.
‘Damn,’ he muttered. He began to run, and he put his whistle to his lips, just in case.
When he turned into the alley, he almost collided with her. She had stopped dead, out of sight of the main drag. There was just enough light from a dimmed street lamp for him to make her out. She was quite young, he saw, mid-twenties. She was dressed smartly but sensibly. Her rather square face showed strength.
She looked at him, amused. ‘Are you all right, Sergeant Tanner?’
‘I don’t get out of breath running ten yards, don’t you worry. Now look here, Miss—’
‘Doris Keeler.’
‘I’m quite sure you know all about the curfew. Whatever you’re up to I suggest you come with me ...’
There was a half-smile on her lips. ‘Three, two, one.’
‘Oh. How did you know my name?’
‘Mary did say you could be a little low on the uptake sometimes.’
Mary?’
‘Mary Wooler. A mutual friend, Sergeant Tanner.’ She held out her hand.
Confused, he took it and shook. ‘Now look here,’ he said, trying to regain control of the situation, ‘I’m not sure what your game is, but the curfew is no bloody joke. So whatever you want from me—’
‘Just a couple of minutes. That’s all. If any Boche come by you can make a show of taking me in. Please hear me out, Sergeant. You’d do that for Mary, wouldn’t you?’
He frowned. ‘I wouldn’t use words like “Boche round here. But you’re not from around here, are you?’
‘I grew up in Colchester. Still live there, or at least I still have a flat there; I’ve been inside the protectorate for months. That’s where I met Mary, in Colchester, during a raid. I u
sed to be with the ARP.’
‘Used to be?’
‘Things happened. I got fed up with the war, and decided to do something a bit more active. Look, Sergeant, Mary wants your help. And the people she’s working for.’
‘Who, the WVS?’
She smiled. ‘Not them. MI-14. Military intelligence.’
‘I don’t believe you! Mary?’
‘Do you remember a man called Ben Kamen? An Austrian.’
‘Of course I remember him. Little chap. Friend of her son Gary’s.’
‘Yes, and of Hilda’s.’
Hearing his daughter’s name felt like a blow to the stomach. ‘Go on.’
‘MI-14 believe Kamen is being held in an SS facility at Richborough.’
‘Where’s that?’
‘Kent. And they want him out of there.’
‘Why?’
‘Well, I don’t know, and I don’t need to know. But it was important enough for MI-14 to contact us, through me - I already knew Mary, she mentioned my name - and she suggested I should get hold of you, and ask for your help.’
‘Whoa, whoa.’ He held up his hands. ‘And this “us of yours, I suppose—’
‘I can see you’ve guessed.’
‘The auxiliaries.’
‘We call ourselves the resistance.’
‘Well, I bloody don’t. I have to deal with the consequences of your cowboys-and-Indians indulgences.’
‘You’re talking about the reprisals.’
‘Yes, I’m talking about the reprisals,’ he said grimly. ‘When the leaves fell last winter and they cleared out most of you lot with your “scally wagging, I cheered, I can tell you. And you’re all a pack of lefties anyhow as far as I can see.’
She wasn’t perturbed by this. ‘It’s true a lot of the leaders fought for the Republicans in Spain. In fact, Ben Kamen did, you know. But it’s the methods they brought back from over there that count now, Sergeant, not the politics.’
He glanced around, making sure they were still alone. ‘I know the bloody Germans have got to be fought,’ he hissed. ‘I lost a daughter to this war. It’s a question of how to fight them. I’m a Sussex copper, Miss Keeler. I keep the peace, that’s my job. What makes you think I’d be any use running around in Kent? Is it just that I know Mary Wooler?’
‘Well, partly that. And the fact that you’re sleeping with an SS-UNTERSCHARFUHRER.’
He felt his blood rise. ‘You know about that, do you?’
‘You’re not exactly discreet. And nor is she. She boasts about it!’
‘So what does Julia have to do with it?’
‘It’s just that she is a close colleague of SS-Standartenfuhrer Josef Trojan. And he is involved in experiments at Richborough. Experiments for which he needs Kamen, for some reason.’
‘What kind of experiments?’
‘I don’t know,’ she said simply.
‘And you want me to deceive Julia, somehow, so you can get close to Trojan, and Kamen. Is that it?’
‘Pretty much. Why, does that give you a moral problem?’ She laughed. ‘I mean, you’re sleeping with an SS officer!’
‘What is this - blackmail?’
‘No, no. I’m just trying to understand.’
‘I don’t pretend to understand it myself,’ he admitted. ‘Call it lust if you want. Must say I thought I was past all that.’
‘Maybe it’s the uniform,’ she said archly. ‘And what does she want? I mean, she could have her pick of iron-muscled young SS officers, couldn’t she? No offence, but—’
‘I think she’s lost something too,’ he said. ‘She’s lost her soul, mucking about with all those bloody Germans. Her English soul. So here she is with me. I mean, you can’t get much more English than a copper, can you?’
‘You’re a decent man, Sergeant,’ said Doris. ‘If I can see that, she must.’
‘Best not to talk such rubbish.’
‘All right. But the question is, will you help us?’
‘I don’t know. You clowns in the auxiliaries—’
‘Look, if you won’t do this for Mary - and you certainly won’t do it for me - won’t you think about it for the sake of Hilda’s memory?’
George felt his fists bunch. ‘Don’t you bloody talk about Hilda!’
XVI
In the end, it was well after eleven by the time Ernst turned up at the Royal Victoria Hotel, a little way out of the centre of town at St Leonards. And she was later still.
He had booked a table in the restaurant, and he sat, self-conscious as he waited. An unctuous waiter came to take his order, speaking in smooth German; Ernst asked for a bottle of French wine, for he thought it would please Claudine. The waiter brought him a list, the names in German and the prices in Reichsmarks and sterling, and Ernst picked a bottle, more or less at random.
There were plenty of uniforms here, mostly higher rank than his, and a few civilians, business types perhaps, come to investigate the investment opportunities the Reich insisted were to be found here in the protectorate, all blandly ignoring the curfew rules that confined lesser folk. One civilian sat alone at the table next to him, drinking brandy, reading a German-language edition of the Albion Times. Everybody spoke German, including the staff, although Ernst detected the stiff strain of an English accent a few times, expensive British types mingling easily with their conquerors.
And then she came in, swaying through the polished wood of the hotel bar as if she owned the place, defying the curfew herself. She wore a slim-fitting dress and what looked like silk stockings, bright red stilettos, a powder-blue jacket, and a small hat like a trilby set at a teasing angle. Her lips, red like her shoes, were the brightest thing in the room. She drew glances, covert and otherwise, from every man in the room. But she made straight for Ernst.
He stood as she approached. ‘I can’t believe you’re here - I mean—’
‘I know.’ She leaned over the table, letting him kiss her cheeks.
He smelled perfume and face powder, a scent that wasn’t like the schoolteacher he had known in Boulogne at all, but under it there was something, a deeper animal scent that he had never forgotten. She sat easily, crossing her legs. She snapped her fingers, and a waiter brought her a glass and filled it.
He said, ‘It’s so strange seeing you here - it’s so different.’
‘Well, nothing’s the same, is it? Even if you stand still, it all changes around you. That’s the war, I suppose. Look, have you got a light?’ She produced a slim case of cigarettes.
He fumbled for a match. Oddly he was reminded of the incident in the car, when Heinz had offered Alfie a cigarette. He had lodged the children with an aunt in Hastings for the night; he would take them home tomorrow. It was hard to think of that strange other family of his now; it was another category of reality, he thought, separated from the universe that contained the woman before him. ‘I’ve never seen you dressed so well—’
‘Though you’d rather see me undressed.’
The forwardness of that took him aback. ‘A schoolteacher’s pay must be good under the Reich.’
‘Well, I wouldn’t know,’ she said.
‘You gave up your teaching? What are you doing now?’
‘Oh, you know, this and that. A bit of translating; there’s plenty of opportunity. It’s just all so different now, Ernst. I mean, to be a teacher in the middle of all this - how is one meant to explain the war to a child?’
‘You used to say teaching was the highest calling.’
‘Well, we all say things that don’t stay said, don’t we?’ There was a slight edge to her voice. ‘Are you staying here, in the hotel?’
‘Oh, no. This is much too grand for me. I’ve lodgings for the night, a “bed-and-breakfast.’ He used the English phrase. ‘And you?’
‘I’m in a sort of hostel. Look, if we want to go somewhere the hostel will probably be best. The people are discreet - you know.’
Again that seemed oddly forward. He glanced around the bar, hoping that n
obody was overhearing. The man with the newspaper sipped his drink, his face concealed.
She reached out to take his hand. ‘Oh, let’s not be shy. Look, I’ve been longing to see you. I got all your letters. I kept them.’
‘You did?’
‘What an extraordinary time you’ve had. You should turn it into a book one day.’
‘Well, it’s not over yet. Besides - I meant those letters just for you.’
‘I know. I imagined you thinking of me, even under such circumstances. I was touched.’ She was looking into his eyes; she was as lovely as ever.
Yet there was something insincere about her. He saw it, in that moment. He pulled back.
‘Why, Ernst, what’s the matter?’
‘I’ll tell you what’s the matter.’ The dapper civilian at the next table folded up his newspaper. ‘He’s smelled my aftershave on you, that’s what.’ It was Heinz Kieser.
‘Heinz, you bastard, what are you doing here?’
‘Spying on you. What do you think? I wanted to see if the lovely Claudine really existed. There are no secrets in the barracks, you know! And now here she is, and well, well.’
‘Look, just leave us alone, will you?’
‘And guess what,’ Heinz went on, ‘it turns out I already knew her after all. Except she didn’t tell me her name was Claudine, did you, darling?’
‘Go to hell,’ she said.
Ernst said, ‘I don’t understand. What are you talking about, Heinz?’
‘She’s en carte.’ He used the French phrase. ‘Why don’t you show him, Marie? Show him your card. Come on!’
Claudine dragged hard on her cigarette, glaring at him.
Heinz grinned and stood up. ‘My work here is done, I think. Look, don’t take it bad, son. We’ve all been there.’ He patted Ernst’s shoulder, but Ernst brushed him away.
When he had gone, Claudine stared at the tip of her cigarette. ‘Well. This is awkward.’
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