by Pirate Irwin
Thus with some trepidation he returned to headquarters hoping to avoid any uncomfortable reunions with Leguay or Bousquet. Fortunately neither of them were around, nor Massu, as he did him the courtesy of swinging by his office only to be told he would be in later as he was attending to a personal matter.
Lafarge then had the pleasure of being able to commandeer a car for himself and decided the best thing he could do was to go back to Suchet’s apartment block and pay a visit to Mathilde, the pleasure loving lesbian maid. It was time to confront her over de Chastelain's different version of events.
Surprise was the strongest element he possessed and he wasn’t going to waste a phone call on her, that was even if she was still working for the new proprietor of the apartment.
Suchet hadn’t left a will, even in wartime young starlets didn’t expect to be a name on the long list of the dead, and flats where murders have taken place have a grisly value. He imagined some ghoul had stepped in and bought it from her estate and would like to have kept a maid on, especially one of Mathilde’s looks and bearing.
However, it was Lafarge who was surprised when he arrived at the elegant block of flats and saw the name on the buzzer which had been Suchet, and had now been replaced by none other than his old acquaintance von Dirlinger.
Aha so someone has benefited materially from the murder, Lafarge thought.
Still it was puzzling, if not a little morbid, that the German would wish to leave the security of the Lutetia and move into the flat belonging to his dead mistress, a crime for which he remained a suspect.
However, perhaps Lafarge’s enforced absence had been a good thing after all. For believing the case to be buried one of the suspects had moved in to the crime scene itself.
Even better for him and his desire to wrap up the case as quickly as possible. He might be able to question two of the small number of people he needed to speak to, under the same roof, and perhaps within minutes of each other, if von Dirlinger had not already left for his office.
He could not ascertain whether Mathilde was still in residence as maids, even high born ones, were not deemed worthy of having a buzzer or a name plate.
Visitors for such people – who were not openly encouraged to receive them – had to rely on the benevolence of either the concierge or another owner to be allowed access into the building.
Lafarge struck lucky as the door was held open for him, after he flashed his badge, by a smart looking gentleman. Lafarge decided that Mathilde would remain as his first target, and if von Dirlinger was not in when he descended he knew where he could find him, unless of course he was away on business.
Thus he rode the elevator up to as high as he could go – they didn’t of course go as far as the hired help’s level for they could walk the rest of the way – and thanked his good fortune he didn’t cross von Dirlinger as he made his way up the final flight of stairs.
He knocked twice before he heard the bolt being withdrawn and Mathilde’s attractive face poked itself round the door. She looked extremely surprised to see him, whether it was a pleasant or nasty surprise he couldn’t tell. However, he made it clear he wanted to come in and just for official purposes he flashed his ID card. She opened the door wider allowing him to enter.
For a maid, albeit an untrained one, the place was a mess when he compared it to how Madame Grondon kept her equally small living quarters, but he wasn’t there to pass comment on how she looked after her room.
It was just he had remembered how tidy it had been the night he had slept there, but he conjectured maybe it was because she had had a late night and hadn’t been bothered to put things away.
He ambled over and leant against the wall, which had the only shaft of natural light coming into the apartment from a skylight type window which slanted down.
He shuddered to imagine what would happen to her if there was a fire. Scrambling up to try and open that window was challenging enough if one was just opening it for air but if you were in a panic lord knows.
For the moment, though, all he was interested in was having the best possible position to observe how she reacted to his questions, of which there were not many.
Although it was already 10 in the morning he was surprised that she was still dressed in her silk dressing gown and not dressed for work. Indeed it didn’t look like she would be wielding the feather duster down at Colonel von Dirlinger’s apartment any time soon.
She sat down on her bed, crossed her legs, and lit a cigarette, reaching back to get an ashtray from the side table.
He had to admit the past year had not been kind on her looks. She looked stressed, tired and wrinkles had sprung up around her eyes and by the sides of her mouth – perhaps the effects of her carousing late into the night with Suzy Solidor, or maybe just age, surmised Lafarge.
“Not going to offer your old bedmate a coffee?” smiled Lafarge.
If he was hoping for either a smile or a cup of coffee he was to be disappointed on both counts. All he got was a thick cloud of smoke hitting him full in the face.
“Wow haven’t seen so much smoke since I came under fire in 1940,” he joked but again it fell on fallow ground.
Christ, thought Lafarge, well I’m going to have to play the tough guy now, for she looks as if she can’t wait for me to leave and my jokes haven’t broken the ice.
“Didn’t think I would be seeing you again Lafarge,” she said all of a sudden.
“Well thank you for your warm welcome Mathilde. It makes me wonder whether I shouldn’t have left it like that. All the same as you are a key witness in a murder enquiry I think it would be remiss of me not to come back and ask you further questions regarding the death of your former employer, don’t you?” asked Lafarge.
She shrugged her shoulders with total indifference and stared down at the floorboards.
“Well, I see that you treat your new employer with a more relaxed attitude than Marguerite Suchet, judging by your informal look at this hour of the morning,” chided Lafarge.
“What’s it to you? You’re not responsible for coming round and telling me what to do, it’s none of your business.
“The colonel is very flexible about the hours I work and besides we are more friends than employer and employee.
“We go to the club most nights anyway which means I don’t get back till late. So I’m hardly going to rush to get out of bed and start cleaning up after him, when he’s probably sleeping it off too,” she said.
Very cosy arrangement thought Lafarge, wish Bousquet had been like that with me, though, of course that was never likely to happen.
“Gosh Mathilde I could almost see you killing Marguerite just to have better work conditions,” said Lafarge.
“That’s not even funny Lafarge. Can you just get on with it so I can get ready,” she said.
“For a start Mathilde you can address me as Chief Inspector, not as Lafarge,” he said, trying to assert himself.
“Secondly I have the authority to charge you with obstructing the course of justice or of giving a false account to a police officer, both of which carry penal terms. While you may not be inside for long I can make it extremely uncomfortable for you.
“For if it was to become common knowledge about your sexual predilection you will suffer badly,” he said.
“You bastard! You’re as twisted and manipulative as all of them. I didn’t trust you from the first time I set eyes on you with your fake charm and macho attitude, why not even drink softened you,” she said.
“Yes, well I can accept that from you, because of course you are antagonistic to men so you are bound to have a rather jaundiced view.
“Nevertheless you are still obliged to answer my questions, and count yourself lucky that my macho side hasn’t seen fit for me to denounce you as worthy of a pink star to the Nazis, which of course I can still do,” he said.
She looked alarmed at that remark and fear swept over her hard but attractive features.
“Don’t think that von Dirli
nger would put himself out to save you either. He’s probably done enough for you anyway and he may not in any case be in a strong position to speak up for you once we have finished here,” he said.
That appeared to have the desired effect for she was co–operative for the next 20 or so minutes as Lafarge went over the events of the night of the murder.
Her version replicated pretty much the first account she had given him and all of de Chastelain’s, save for one key part and this was where she once again retreated into her obstructive mode.
“De Chastelain said that you didn’t accompany him down the stairs when he went to see whether Marguerite’s guest had left, is that true?” asked Lafarge for the third time, his patience beginning to wear thin.
“I don’t have to answer it. This is not a court of law,” she said, her eyes flashing.
“No, it’s not Mathilde. But if I bring the person to justice then you will have to answer such a question and there you will be under oath and liable to be charged with perjury if you obfuscate in a similar manner.
“So I would advise you to tell me. Not only will it make it easier for you in the long run it will also go some way to me finding who the killer of your former employer was. Surely you want that?” asked Lafarge.
She pouted, twirled her hair and all but squirmed on the bed as she sought to extricate herself from an increasingly tight corner, giving Lafarge some enjoyment at her discomfort.
“Okay okay. I accompanied de Chastelain down the stairs when he went to see whether Marguerite was alone. In fact I went ahead of him just so that he was hidden by me if her guest was still there or came out the door. Which is exactly what happened,” she said.
“And?” asked Lafarge after there was a long enough silence to indicate that she felt that was a satisfactory answer.
“Well as he told you, somebody did come out the door.”
Lafarge tapped his foot on the floorboard pushing her to come out with it all. She looked at him with contempt but she knew she had little choice.
“It was your great friend René Bousquet. And yes as de Chastelain told you he said goodbye in both French and German.
“I imagine that they, that is he, Marguerite and the colonel, were discussing the whereabouts of the jewels, so it can’t have been the most pleasant of discussions.
“The rest you know, de Chastelain finding her body and then you being sent off to track him down and deliver him back here which of course you didn’t,” she said.
Lafarge nodded and reflected on her account, which was good news and bad at the same time for it seemed unlikely that he could pin the murder on Bousquet.
Of course as he had remarked to de Chastelain he could have been covering himself, if anyone had been around, by saying goodnight so publicly, with Marguerite’s corpse lying inside.
However, whichever way he looked at it Bousquet was still bang to rights over being implicated in the burglary. That was good enough to get him sacked and hopefully charged too. Von Dirlinger now looked the most attractive target to charge with murder.
“So you can confirm von Dirlinger was there too?” prodded Lafarge.
“Yes, he told me he was. But insisted that she was still alive when he left,” she said.
“That’s what they all say Mathilde!
“No, I am afraid you may be looking for your third employer in a short period of time, though, as you appear to bring bad luck, one employer dead and the other in jail, the next owner may prefer you leave,” said Lafarge.
She flashed another contemptuous look at him, which didn’t bother him in the least for now he had all he needed to go after the two main protagonists, an eyewitness attesting to the fact they had both been there on the night of the murder.
However, the problem was what to do with Mathilde. For going on past experience anyone who was a threat to Bousquet or von Dirlinger didn’t have a long life expectancy. If he were to drop her name as the witness then he was putting her at risk.
He didn’t like her, indeed he didn’t trust her, but he was damned if she was going to be prevented from testifying.
He could of course charge her for obstructing an investigation and witholding evidence but then she would be right in the middle of Bousquet’s vipers nest and be easily disposed of.
Similarly there was a problem in offering her protection. He could hardly bring her over to his apartment with Aimee there, and Madame Grondon really would have a fit with two strange women living in what she considered somewhat grandly her domain.
No, the best he could do was to ask Huariau to keep an eye on the apartment block, but he wouldn’t tell Mathilde unless she informed von Dirlinger.
Instead he told Mathilde that she would have to look after herself until he had charged both men and warned her that she could be in danger, but she didn’t seem too concerned.
“Really inspector, I have all the protection I need. Why do you think I’m still alive and living here?”
Lafarge scratched his head and thought about it but she put him out of his misery.
“Because Karl trusts me. That is why I got the job with Marguerite in the first place.
“It wasn’t just to get me some work. I had to look out for his interests too, be his eyes and ears, keep a note of who came to see her when he wasn’t around and if she had any dubious acquaintances,” she said.
“However, I insist that I knew nothing about what took place in her flat the night of the murder. As I told you, von Dirlinger informed me he was there, and I also believe him when he says he didn’t kill her.
“He was infatuated. It wasn't a case of him keeping her sweet until they sold the jewels, and as far as I can tell he didn't seem to be too concerned they had disappeared.
“As for de Chastelain I trust his account as well but it would have been better for you if you had brought him back to Bousquet. Indeed it would have been better for everyone.
“I would be very careful with what you accuse him of, because you have no protection and you could well be arrested should you go to the Lutetia with such accusations.”
Lafarge thought about this and acknowledged that walking into the headquarters of Nazi intelligence in Paris and accusing one of its senior officers of a serious crime might not be one of the wisest things he had done.
But unless he confronted von Dirlinger he would not be able to resolve the case satisfactorily.
“Thank you for your advice Mathilde, and thank you for at last being honest with me,” he said.
“However, I would turn your advice on its head and say to you is von Dirlinger the sort of protection you need now?
“I mean you’re an intelligent woman. You must hear people say that the Germans are no longer certain of winning the war, that they are now in a fight just to survive and their enemies are massing on many fronts.
“It will only be a matter of time before the Allies attempt to take France and then do you seriously think von Dirlinger’s thoughts are going to be to take you with him!
“I sincerely doubt it. No, he will leave you to the mob that will take its revenge on those who helped the enemy, for the Germans will not be around to take the force of their anger. I don’t even think he will shed one tear for you as he drives off towards the border, that is of course if he is still alive,” said Lafarge.
She looked pensive for a moment as his words sank in, then stood up and wandered over to her small cooker to see if there was any gas still left with which to heat the water.
“I appreciate your counsel inspector, but last time I looked around I didn’t see anything but German uniforms guarding the buildings, marching through the streets or parading as they like to do down the Champs Elysees,” she said.
“Yes the ‘good guys’ might feel they are in sight of winning but there is a world of difference between that and them actually being here.
“Until then I think it would be wisest to keep one’s opinions to oneself and not to overplay the threat of what might happen in a year or mo
re’s time.
“Besides after what von Dirlinger tried to do to you and will no doubt try again I would bet against you witnessing the day when Paris is liberated.
“I think that you have a lot to thank me for Inspector, not just my honesty, and that in itself requires you to be there for me,” she said.
Lafarge was intrigued and wondered what she had done to deserve his protection...
“Do I? And what is this great debt that I owe you Mathilde?”
“You remember the night you stayed over and then came upon Bonny in the apartment?”
“Yes of course I do,” answered Lafarge.
However, he wondered whether he remembered it more for failing to persuade Mathilde that being heterosexual was actually quite fun, or that he had found his sister’s loathsome lover ransacking Marguerite’s apartment looking for the jewels.
“Well von Dirlinger set all that up.
“When he learnt that I wasn’t going home with Suzy that night and you were accompanying me home he became very agitated in case you stayed over. He had told Lafont and Bonny about the jewels and asked them as they were experts in, how would one put it delicately, ‘finding such things’ to go to the apartment.
“Well Lafont was too drunk so Bonny came. If I let you stay I was to keep an eye on you.
“However, if you were to go down the stairs to the apartment then I was to follow and to take care of you, I was to say your name get you to turn round and shoot you with your own pistol.
“I was to claim that you had tried to force yourself on me after luring me into the apartment on the pretext of your investigation and I had defended myself.
“It was von Dirlinger’s creative side, although others might call it paranoia. He wasn’t certain you would go after de Chastelain, that you were keener to shadow him.
“It made him feel exposed and he believed that if you discovered one of the Lafont gang in the apartment you might get them to talk and it would lead back to him.
“Of course the fact you are here now is because I am not going to shoot dead a policeman. I don’t trust Karl to the extent that he would have backed me up.
