The Officer's Prey tnm-1

by Armand Cabasson

  ‘So if Fidassio is the murderer, and if Nedroni knows about it, he might be tempted to cover up for him. Let’s add Nedroni to our list as a possible accomplice.’

  ‘Fidassio has a weak spot: gambling. He bets a lot and owes money to several officers. He’s deliberately slow to settle his debts, so sometimes they diminish because the creditor dies. I’ve found out that he owed a large amount to a certain Captain von Stils – I don’t know what regiment he belongs to – and to Lieutenant Sampre, from the 108th. But in the fighting at Mohilev, Sampre was trampled by one or two Russian battalions. Eventually his body was fished out of the river, at the foot of the dyke he’d been trying to storm.’

  ‘Have you discovered how much Fidassio owed Sampre?’

  ‘Five hundred francs.’

  ‘Oh, as much as that! I want you to find this von Stils for me.’

  Lefine went purple with anger. ‘How about finding him yourself?’

  ‘Colonel Pégot is infuriated by my comings and goings. He’s ordered me to limit my movements.’

  ‘But how am I going to find this von Stils fellow in the middle of hundreds of thousands of men?’

  ‘Don’t be so defeatist. The name von Stils could be Prussian, Austrian, Bavarian, Saxon or from Baden or Württemberg. The Austrians and Prussians are too far away, so start with the Confederation of the Rhine.’

  Lefine’s face was a picture of woe. Margont pretended not to notice and explained his plan.

  ‘Find this von Stils and send him to me. I’m going to put it about that Sampre had asked me to recover the debt for him in the event of his being killed so that I could send the amount involved to his family. Von Stils and I will then both go and find Colonel Fidassio.’

  ‘Poor Fidassio. He’s going to find himself once more saddled with a debt of five hundred francs that he thought was dead and buried.’

  ‘What else have you discovered?’ asked Margont calmly.

  Margont knew that a tensing of the muscles was the first sign of annoyance in his friend but he had rarely seen him clench his fists and hold his arms to his body so tightly. It was like a leather strap shrivelling up in the sun.

  ‘Captain, our corps arrived here after all the others. If we don’t look for somewhere to stay now, we’ll end up sleeping in the open.’

  ‘We’re investigating a murder and you’re talking to me about a comfortable lodging?’

  Lefine suddenly went for him, like a cat leaping at a bird.

  ‘I almost got myself cut in two by a cannonball because of this investigation! Have you ever seen someone getting sliced up a yard away from you like a log being chopped?’

  Lefine stopped shouting. He was surprised to find himself still standing, leaning so far forward that he was holding on to his friend’s chair with both hands.

  ‘Forgive me, Fernand. Come on, we’ll go and find ourselves some decent quarters for the night. And something to eat, as well.’

  Lefine slowly straightened up.

  ‘Like a log, I tell you.’

  CHAPTER 18

  IV Corps had been ordered to find quarters in the suburbs of Smolensk. Now everyone was fighting for the best places. Lefine and Margont’s accommodation was beyond their expectations. Piquebois, Saber and a certain Captain Fanselin had taken over nothing less than a palace. Lefine stood awestruck in front of its yellow façade decorated with white stucco. The pediments of the windows were overladen with elegant arabesques. Broad columns with acanthus leaves framed the door, and smaller classical columns rose up from the balcony to support the overhang of the roof, which was crowned by a cupola. Despite its originality, the palace had adhered to the traditional rules of houses of the Russian nobility. The main building was linked to two wings by semicircular galleries, thus creating an elegant space at the foot of the edifice. Unfortunately, the right wing had burnt down.

  Saber, overjoyed at having found accommodation worthy of him, was in full flow.

  ‘It’s the residence of a family of Russian aristocrats of Polish extraction, the Valiuskis. They’ve stayed on. I’ll introduce you. They love the French! The count has only one aim, for the Emperor to deprive Russia of the area from the Niemen to Smolensk and recreate Greater Poland. He even said to me: “Remember, there’ll always be enough room in Poland to bury all the Russians found there, either dead or alive.” He’s having a banquet prepared for us.’

  ‘A banquet?’ repeated Margont, sceptical at the prospect of such delights.

  ‘You should see their daughter! Such noble beauty …’

  Saber could already see himself as a general, Count of Greater Poland, spending the summers in ‘his’ palace in Smolensk and wintering in Paris.

  ‘But it took some doing, I can tell you. The building was swarming with cuirassiers when we arrived. So I went to find their lieutenant to explain to him politely that these quarters had been allotted to the 84th Regiment and he sent me packing. Me, Lieutenant Saber!’

  ‘That’s unthinkable!’ Margont exclaimed, pretending to look shocked.

  ‘I swear to you it’s true! I returned with Piquebois, and a Red Lancer, who also wanted to settle in here. You should have seen how Piquebois sorted them out. There were ten cuirassiers in the drawing room, so Piquebois planted himself in the middle and exclaimed: “Good God! My lodging’s crawling with silver-shelled beetles!” Then he grabbed the lieutenant by the sleeve, just as if he were picking up a real beetle by the leg! He dragged him outside with such confidence that the other fellow acquiesced without complaining. It almost led to a duel when Piquebois added, “A big mouth but a small sabre.”’

  ‘Oh dear! I hate it when he starts acting the hussar again.’

  ‘A cuirassier began to protest but our Red Lancer yelled: “What the hell are you doing here in your fancy get-up? Out! Obey orders!” when he had no damned right to be there either.’

  At that very moment the lancer came up to them. He bowed politely. He had a strange bearing, bow-legged as if he were permanently in the saddle, with or without a horse. Ever the cavalryman. His auburn hair hung down in small plaits and his moustache curled up at both ends.

  ‘Allow me to introduce myself: Captain Edgar Fanselin, 2nd Regiment of the Chevau-Légers Lancers of the Guard commanded by General Baron Édouard de Colbert-Chabanais. Ten years of loyal service and morale always excellent. Long live the Emperor!’

  ‘Long live the Emperor!’ exclaimed Saber and Margont a few moments later.

  Fanselin was a handsome man and seemed amiable enough, but there was something intense about him. It was the look in his eye. It was impossible to define this something, or to give it a name, but its presence was undeniable.

  ‘To whom do I have the honour of speaking?’

  ‘Captain Margont, 84th …’

  But Fanselin had already embraced him before immediately releasing him.

  ‘He has the Légion d’Honneur and the rank of Officer, what’s more. He’s a man of courage! Lieutenant Piquebois told me about you just now.’

  The three men walked as far as the entrance to the palace, followed diffidently by Lefine, who didn’t know if he could accompany the officers into the central building or whether he had to make do with the left wing that the soldiers and NCOs had taken over. Margont motioned to him to join them and the sergeant’s face broke into a smile once more. Captain Fanselin explained how, as he was walking through the city, he had decided to settle himself here – and nowhere else. His tone gave the impression that it would be more difficult to dislodge him than ten cuirassiers. Saber could not take his eyes off the flamboyant uniform. The short jacket – the kurtka – was crimson and decorated with a blue breastplate. A blue stripe ran down the sides of the trousers, which were also crimson. The headgear was a chapka of red linen with a white plume.

  Is a general of the Red Lancers more or less prestigious than a Polish general and count? wondered Saber.

  The majestic-looking entrance hall was of white marble. Statues of muses or goddesses stood
next to armchairs with embroidered upholstery. A red and gold stucco frieze, close to the ceiling, matched a colossal gilded chandelier containing fifty or so candles. Paintings depicting the inevitable classical ruins decorated the walls. Saber flung his sabre and shako on to an armchair and, pointing at a tall double door, invited his friends to follow him. He already considered himself at home. Captain Fanselin seemed to want to examine each canvas.

  ‘Look at the effect of calm produced by this colonnade in the middle of this park. The place doesn’t exist and yet how I would like to be there.’

  ‘If you like the painting so much, Captain, take it,’ said Lefine.

  ‘You have a sense of humour, Sergeant,’ Fanselin guffawed.

  Lefine couldn’t see what a sense of humour had to do with his suggestion. Fanselin turned round and spoke to Margont enthusiastically.

  ‘The world is full of misery, but when I see these artistic masterpieces I say to myself that all is not yet lost. Like you, I have suffered from this gruelling march. However, I have no regrets and I shall often think of all these peasants whose world will never extend further than the patch of land they cultivate.’

  In the next room they were confronted by a double flight of steps. At the sides were two doors framed by still lifes. An elderly man suddenly appeared from the right-hand door. The bald crown of his head was encircled by an abundance of grey hair. He looked like a Caesar with a garland of grey laurels. On his huge nose was a pince-nez behind which sparkled small brown eyes. He was dressed in black trousers and a pearl-grey shirt over which he wore a mauve waistcoat.

  ‘Count, allow me to introduce my—’

  Saber broke off when he saw the joyful expression on the other man’s face. Even his wrinkles seemed to smile.

  ‘A Polish officer!’ he exclaimed, embracing Fanselin.

  ‘You are mistaken, Count. I am French. It’s my Polish-style uniform that has confused you. I am a lancer of the Guard.’

  ‘If you are a lancer then you are at least half Polish. The lance is our national weapon,’ replied the count.

  It was obvious from the warmth of the introductions how pleased the count was to welcome the Frenchmen. The burnt-out villages seemed a distant memory. No matter how friendly Count Valiuski tried to be, he still radiated an aristocratic authority. It was evident in his discreetly refined and assured gestures, in the modulations of his voice, which was husky with age, in his confident air. Such manners had been fashioned day after day by a sophisticated education, the result of generations of careful thought. Margont felt there was something familiar about the count but he was unable to say what.

  ‘Please forgive me for not arranging for my major-domo to welcome you but he has left. Half of my servants fled the city when your army’s arrival was announced. The rest are in the kitchens or preparing your bedrooms. Dinner will be served at eight o’clock, if that is convenient to you.’

  That was convenient to everyone. Here everything was convenient to everyone.

  ‘Please excuse me but I must go and settle some important matters and talk to my wife and daughter, whom you will meet this evening.’

  ‘Your French is remarkable,’ Saber complimented him.

  ‘All the French are remarkable!’ retorted the count.

  He quickly walked away, exclaiming: ‘Long live a free Poland!’

  A servant accompanied the Frenchmen to their bedrooms. His eyes were red from crying. He did not utter a word. Fear tightened its grip on his throat, like a foretaste of the noose. Margont thought that Russian propaganda must have spread the rumour that French officers enjoyed testing the sharpness of their sabres by decapitating prisoners and that they loved to hang the servants after breakfast, which of course consisted of a roasted new-born baby. He handed the Russian a coin, which he took, trembling and utterly confused. So he wasn’t going to be killed? He was being given a tip? Where was the trap?

  Margont examined the marquetry furniture closely. The four-poster bed looked so comfortable that it might have been an evil spell. Sleeping Beauty must have lain down on a similar mattress, which would explain her story. In the tapestries, handsome gentlemen were depicted bowing to ladies, who were pretending to be flattered or whispering to one another behind their fans. The statue of a centaur decorated the mantelpiece. It symbolised Russia’s untamed spirit.

  Margont stood stock-still in front of a mirror. He thought he looked thin and tired. But he had that determined expression that came with critical times, a look that was too harsh, too severe and surly. Even a slightly forced smile scarcely softened its sternness. What if this campaign stops at Smolensk? he wondered.

  He went across the corridor to Lefine’s room. Through the windows he could see the soldiers from his regiment. In the area at the foot of the palace a bear keeper was making his animal perform tricks, and dozens of infantrymen had formed a circle around the spectacle. Thunderous applause greeted the bear as it got back up after a forward roll. They were as happy as sandboys.

  Lying on his bed, Lefine was gazing at a painting he was holding. But what he was really examining was the gilt frame.

  ‘You’ll lose one stripe for each painting that goes missing,’ Margont warned.

  Lefine casually put the picture down on his bedside table.

  ‘Not interested. I thought you were Irénée. He’s furious I’m here. When he took his shako off just now I thought he was expecting me to put it on a hat stand for him. It wouldn’t surprise me if he told me to clear off.’

  ‘Well, if that does happen, send him to me and we’ll soon see which of you will be the first to leave. You’ve got your palace, so now you can finish off your report.’

  But Lefine remained motionless, studying the cherubs chasing one another in the clouds in the stuccoed world of the ceiling.

  ‘What for?’

  ‘What for?’

  ‘Why are we searching so hard for this colonel? Because he’s killed someone? So what? How many deaths have there been since the start of this campaign? Ten thousand? Twenty thousand? No, far more. And that’s nothing compared with what will happen when we encounter the whole Russian army.’

  Lefine was sincere. A part of him really had been cut in two by that cannonball.

  ‘You’re going to tell me that the soldiers are fighting for “valid” reasons,’ he went on. ‘Their country, their ideas, glory, for social advancement … Well, that’s exactly it. It’s because of your fine ideas that you’ve been so keen on this wretched investigation from the start, but if we take on a colonel, we risk having our lives buggered up.’

  ‘Fernand …’

  ‘Buggered up! With a snap of his fingers a colonel can have us transferred to a nice little French outpost miles from anywhere in the middle of the Spanish countryside. We’ll take over from the sentries who had their throats slit by the guerrillas the preceding week, before our own corpses are replaced the week after … But a colonel doesn’t even need Spain to get rid of us. He needs only to send us both on a foraging expedition and the Cossacks will enjoy nailing our remains to the fir trees for the crows to feed on.’

  ‘Prince Eugène is supporting us.’

  ‘Politicians and princes only ever support themselves! If you were so sure of the opposite, you’d have told our dear prince that we suspected a colonel.’

  Lefine was beginning to turn red as if the words he was saying were going back down his throat, blocking and obstructing his breathing.

  ‘If the Russians don’t get us, this investigation will! And you know that perfectly well. That’s the worst thing about it! But dear Captain Margont is on the side of justice – he can’t stand the idea of heinous crimes going unpunished. You’re the plaything of your ideals.’

  ‘Well, we’re all the playthings of something or someone. Better to be the plaything of my ideals than of greed.’

  Margont stood still after giving this stinging reply. Being attacked for what he believed in body and soul put him on the defensive. For the moment he c
ould handle it but if he were provoked further he might become dangerous. Lefine sensed this.

  ‘Nothing will make you give up this investigation except a bullet between the eyes. That’s the radical way of dealing with fanatics. Despite all those years you spent with them, those Holy Joes forgot to tell you that the good Samaritans always end up being tortured and hacked to bits by the crowds they wanted to save. And afterwards they become martyrs and people light candles to ask favours of them.’

  A few moments of silence elapsed before Margont spoke.

  ‘I don’t think I have the right to ask you to do more than you’ve already done. You’re free to let this business drop.’

  Fernand smiled a sad smile, more depressing than tears.

  ‘I can get out of this business whenever I like and I won’t lose any sleep over it. It’s you I want to extricate from it before it’s too late.’

  ‘That’s a waste of time.’

  ‘What a fanatic! It’s absurd! Why should we risk our lives for a few crimes when there’s butchery right, left and centre? Find me one sensible reason to continue.’

  ‘If we don’t arrest this man, he may do it again.’

  ‘So what? One more death just means three more spadefuls of earth in a common grave. What difference will it make?’

  ‘It will make a difference to the women we save.’

  Lefine sat on the edge of the bed. ‘Yes, that does mean something.’

  Then, suddenly, he resumed his report, speaking quickly to prevent dark thoughts from interrupting the course of his life again.

  ‘Colonel Maximilien Barguelot is thirty-nine. His father died when he was a child. His mother and two sisters live in Amsterdam but he has settled in Paris and leads a life of luxury. He attended the military academy at Pont-à-Mousson, then took part in a large number of campaigns. He distinguished himself at the battle of Austerlitz where he was said to have been wounded but he never mentions this episode. He served in Prussia, Spain, Austria … He enjoys an excellent reputation among officers … who don’t serve under him. He’s not liked by his men because he openly despises them. He takes his sycophants with him everywhere and they move up a rank once they’ve flattered him sufficiently. He claims to be descended from a long line of Dutch and French military men: some are said to have liberated Copenhagen, others America. There’s no way of knowing if it’s true. He does speak Dutch. That’s been confirmed. He married a beautiful and rich heiress and owns a château near Nancy. He was promoted Officer of the Légion d’Honneur … but in December 1808. Surprising, don’t you think?’