HS04 - Unholy Awakening (23 page)

In the pavilion, discussion of the merits of the game continued passionately as money changed hands. The players disappeared from view by means of a small door at the far end of the hall. Lavedrine opened a gate and led me down onto the playing area. As I took in the immensity of the space, he laid his hand on my arm. ‘Let’s give them a minute or two,’ he said, walking slowly towards the door. ‘It is the players’ dressing-room, where they wash and change.’

Lavedrine burst into the place a few minutes later, and I had no choice except to follow him. Two large brass basins were bubbling over a charcoal stove, giving off a lot of steam. Lavedrine pushed me forward with his elbow, calling out as we advanced into the steam-filled room: ‘Congratulations to you all! The victors obviously, but also the losers, lieutenants Carnet and de Blaine, who worked so hard and gave the winners such a splendid game. I am certain that they’ll have their sweet revenge in the very near future.’

The four players were naked, more or less. One still wore his drawers, another had a towel draped around his waist. The other two wore nothing. They were standing beside the basins, washing the sweat from their bodies, soaping their torsos and legs, massaging their stiff muscles. Their pale skins glistened in the half-light. Their faces were drawn and tired after the exertions of the game. They stared at us, then glanced among themselves.

‘Who are you, monsieur?’ one of the winners asked, wrinkling his brow as he took in Lavedrine’s unusual garb and dangling earring. ‘What are you doing in here?’

‘Colonel Lavedrine,’ he said lightly, looking around him with a smile, as if his name was a sufficient explanation of his presence there.

The players exchanged another look, but not a word was said. Clearly, they were surprised, whether by his name or his rank. Even so, despite their state of undress and the steamy atmosphere, they pulled themselves up and stiffened their backs, attempting to assume some semblance of military respect. Sweat trickled in gleaming trails down their faces, necks and chests.

‘At ease, messieurs,’ murmured Lavedrine, sitting down on a wooden bench hard up against the wall. ‘I wish I could say that sporting sentiment brings me here, but that would not be the whole truth. The losers are about to be subjected to a second match of hard serves and difficult parries. You’ll have to answer the questions that this Prussian magistrate, Procurator Hanno Stiffeniis, and I would like to ask you.’ He nodded his head in my direction, but he never took his eyes from those men for a single instant. ‘We are investigating the murders of members of the Eleventh Hussars. Which of you belong to that regiment?’

The eyes of all four men flashed with alarm.

‘We are with the Third Fusiliers, Monsieur le Colonel. Does that mean we can go?’ one of the winners asked uncertainly.

‘It means that you
must
go,’ Lavedrine replied.

His casual dress, the rank that he claimed, the supreme disdain with which he ordered them about, had an effect on those men which was almost hypnotic. The ones who had been dismissed turned away, slipping on their trousers without worrying to dry themselves.

‘Go on, get out,’ he added gently.

The two men ran, picking up their boots, socks and shirts, throwing their jackets over their shoulders, bumping into one another in their hurry, stopping only to salute Lavedrine, knocking their naked heels together, before they rushed out of the door.

The other two did not move.

They were naked, clasping the cloths with which they had been cleansing their bodies to cover themselves. Water dripped and gathered in puddles around their feet. Their eyes followed Lavedrine as he stood up, stretched him self, then moved to another bench, which was just a short way away from the pair of them. I knew exactly how they felt. He had played a similar trick on me the night before. I saw the muscles tighten in their jaws, the uncomfortable bobbing of their Adam’s apples.

The situation was made all the more alarming by the stiffening penis of the fellow on the right, and his useless attempts to hide it beneath the flannel that he was holding. He flushed bright red, covering his face with one hand, his sex with the other.

Lavedrine said nothing.

He sat back comfortably with his shoulders against the wall, crossing his arms as if expecting to be entertained. He was purposely intimidating the men, and his tactics were formidable. He would get what he wanted without much ado, I thought. My presence was an intentional part of his strategy. I was blocking the doorway, which was the only way in and out of that room.

‘Messieurs,’ he began calmly, letting the word echo around the room. ‘Philippe Gaspard was murdered the other week. Henri Lecompte was attacked and almost lost his life in similar circumstances. You knew them both, of course. They are fellow officers, and you all belong to the same regiment. Another corpse was found last night. Another officer from the same regiment. Another officer that you both know. Sebastien Grangé.’

He paused, studying the reactions on their faces.

‘I see you are not shocked. The news is out, as I imagined. I wonder whether you will be surprised, then, if I tell you where his body was found? Do you know the other side of the river?’

The two men stared at one another, one still clutching his genitals, though his embarrassment seemed to have collapsed. They shook their heads in unison.

‘Have you never been inside the Black Bull tavern? The ale is excellent, I believe.’

Again, they moved their heads from side to side.

‘Grangé’s body was discovered in a small cottage close by.’ He sniffed theatrically. ‘You would not believe the horror of his wounds. It was not a pleasant sight. There was blood, messieurs. A river of blood. From here,’ he said, touching two fingers to his neck. ‘Just like Gaspard and Lecompte. And like you all, messieurs, Grangé belonged to the Eleventh Hussars. Other officers of the Eleventh will certainly die.’

He paused, and turned his gaze on me.

‘That’s why we are here. Myself, and Procurator Stiffeniis. It is our job to stop these killings. That’s why I was sent for by your commanding officer. To save others in the regiment from the same fate. But that will depend on you, messieurs.’

He placed his hands on his knees and he sat forward.

‘So, what might Grangé have been doing in a house on the wrong side of the river? And why would anyone wish to murder the officers of your regiment?’

Lavedrine joined his hands like a priest at prayer, and waited for them to speak.

The two men exchanged a look, and the man on the right spoke up. ‘Grangé disappeared some time ago, Monsieur le Colonel, but no-one knew where he might have gone. Everyone in the mess believed that he had deserted, sir.’

Lavedrine half-closed his eyes. ‘Carnet and de Blaine. Which one are you?’

‘Alphonse Carnet, Monsieur le Colonel,’ the man replied, standing stiffly to attention. This was the same man who had suffered an involuntary erection. Now, his member was limp, while his face was pale and anxious.

Lavedrine’s expression was impassive, apparently indifferent, as if they were both in full dress-uniform. And yet, I thought, it could not be pleasant to stand naked, answering awkward questions, before a French colonel and a Prussian magistrate who were there to investigate the murders of your comrades-at-arms. Again, I recalled my own embarrassment the night before. Shame and subjection were evident in their readiness to answer him. They were in his power, there was no question of it.

‘Desertion? Was there any reason to suspect such a thing?’

‘In truth, there was,’ Carnet replied without a moment’s hesitation.

‘Is that so?’

‘De Blaine and I knew the victims,’ Carnet went on. ‘We also know Lecompte, though we’ve not seen much of him or them in the past couple of months. This fortress is not suitable for military exercises. It’s too close to the town, and though there are many rooms, they are all small and cramped. Except for the
longue paume
court, of course. We move out into the countryside when it’s time for military training. And yet, the fort must always be manned. Each brigade goes out in turn for three weeks. Here in Marienburg…’

He stopped in mid-sentence and looked pointedly at me.

‘You can speak freely, Lieutenant Carnet. Procurator Stiffeniis is here on the orders of General Layard,’ Lavedrine lied.

Carnet nodded. ‘In Marienburg, we are working on the maps, sir. Drawing up the battle plans. Here, we are collecting and collating strategic information for…for future campaigns.’

‘Go on, Carnet,’ Lavedrine encouraged him. ‘You had not seen much of your fellow officers before the killing started, you said. Why was that?’

‘De Blaine and I came back from training a month ago, sir. Gaspard, Grangé and Lecompte were preparing to leave the fort. It was their turn—’

‘Did you not see them when they returned to Marienburg?’

‘Officers returning from the country are given a week’s leave, monsieur. Many remain in the fortress, but others do not. We did not see them…’

He paused, and threw a sly glance towards his tennis partner.

‘But?’ Lavedrine put in sharply.

Carnet took a deep breath. ‘But we did hear something. There was gossip in the regiment.’

‘About the three of them?’ Lavedrine asked quickly, leaning forward.

Carnet jerked his head in the direction of his companion. ‘De Blaine told me, monsieur. I did not hear it myself.’

Lavedrine nodded. ‘Good. De Blaine?’

De Blaine made a loud noise, blowing out a raspberry through his lips.

‘There was talk in the mess, colonel. While they were out in the country, there was trouble in the house where they were lodging…’

‘Trouble?’

‘Between one of the lieutenants and the people living in the house…’

‘Do you know which officer it concerned?’

De Blaine shook his head. ‘No-one uses names for fear of being called to account.’

‘Challenged to a duel,’ added Lavedrine for my benefit.

‘Might that be the cause?’ I asked. If duelling had led to the deaths of two men and the wounding of a third, I would be free to return to Lotingen.

De Blaine shook his head again, and this time he laughed. ‘Oh no, Herr Procurator. The one thing you can’t keep secret in a regiment is a duel.’

‘Who was living in that house in the country?’ Lavedrine asked quickly.

De Blaine looked at me before he answered Lavedrine. ‘Prussians, monsieur.’

‘Their house had been requisitioned, then?’

Both men nodded, then Carnet spoke. ‘Like many other houses in that area. As I told you, monsieur, the officers are sent to that area for special training. They lodge with the local people, or they camp on the land. When we heard that Philippe Gaspard had been murdered, we thought it was the work of Prussians, monsieur. And the news that Grangé’s corpse was found on the other side of the river, in a place where the Prussians live, seemed to confirm what we had feared.’

Lavedrine stood up, walked across to one of the brass pots, and plunged his hand deep into the water. ‘The water is now getting cold, I’m afraid,’ he said, beckoning for de Blaine’s towel, examining the man’s naked body while drying off his hand. ‘It won’t do much to ease your aches and pains. You are not in pain, I hope?’

Both men opened their mouths to reply, but he was too quick for them.

‘So,
if
the killers are Prussians, and
if
they had it in for those three officers, the second lieutenants of the fourth, fifth and sixth brigades, then you and the other officers have naught to fear, though you all belong to the same regiment. Is that what you think?’

Carnet and de Blaine shifted uncomfortably.

‘Well?’ insisted Lavedrine, rubbing his hands together as if he were cold.

The room was definitely chillier, like the water, and they were naked still. The sooner they told Lavedrine what he wanted to know, the sooner their suffering would be ended. In the manual for Prussian magistrates, this sort of interrogation is known as ‘goading’.

‘Sh…should we be afraid, sir?’ Carnet’s lips were quivering as he spoke.

Lavedrine did not reply immediately.

He stretched again, massaging the back of his neck with his fingers, closing his eyes as he did it, shifting his head, as if to demonstrate to those two men the pleasure that he took in it, while the muscles in their arms and legs were growing stiffer and stiffer. ‘I think you should be very careful,’ he said at last. ‘I mean to say, if a Prussian attacked Lecompte, I can make no sense of the fact that he refuses to admit it. They are, Herr Procurator,’ – he bowed his head to me and smiled – ‘the enemy, after all. Instead, he tells me nothing of the sort. He was attacked at night, in a dark and deserted alley, by an unseen assailant. What harm would there be in saying that the attacker was a Prussian? He would win my sympathy! His reticence leads me to conclude that you should all be afraid. If there is a murderous conspiracy within the ranks, any officer who offends will pay with his life. Did those officers belong to a secret clique? A duelling or drinking club? A Masonic lodge? A group of religious fanatics? I’ve been doing some research this morning. More than three hundred French soldiers have died for all those reasons, and in similar mysterious circumstances.’

The two young men were shivering now, perhaps with fright. Like Lecompte, I thought, they might have been too frightened to admit what they knew.

‘I suppose that it is possible, Monsieur le Colonel,’ murmured Carnet.

‘Gentlemen, this is not the time for tergiversation. Do you know the word?’ he peered closely at them. ‘I came across it first in the Italian form. According to the Great Dictionary it means “a state of being evasive”. Danger hovers over you. Especially if the source of that danger is French. I will repeat the question. Do you know if those three men belonged to any military group in particular? And is it a group to which you, and the other officers in your regiment, subscribe?’

‘No, monsieur. There are many groups and many different loyalties within the army. One joins or not, belongs or not, as one desires. Many men belong to a dining or a drinking circle, and quite often the members of these clubs are considered to be rivals,’ de Blaine admitted in a voice which was trembling.