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‘Et ton amie, ça va?’ she asked casually – How’s your friend?
I looked away, sed, couldn’t arette and choked, haven’t ss After awas not a happy ending
She swore softly in French, a single violent word of disappointment Then paused and asked, ‘Elle est morte?’
I nodded Yes, she’s dead
‘Viens,’ Engel said, scraping back her chair ‘Allons Viens rave; te dire’
If she had been about to cart me off to prison I don’t think I could have refused – Cos to tell you? No choice
I stood up again in Engel’s cloud of s, just as well as it always panics el patted the thick wad of paper folded next to her ashtray, rewith Käthe’s ID
It was el clicked into English al back into French only e passed anybody It’s dead weird talking to her in English, she sounds like a Yank Her accent is American and she’s pretty fluent Suppose Penn did tell o
We came round the corner of the back lane and into the Place des Hirondelles, the town hall square, full of ar sentries
‘I’ve got h’
I nodded and followed She kept talking the whole time – wea walk and a sether She doesn’t wear a uniform – she’s just an employee, she doesn’t even have a rank We walked across the cobbles in front of the town hall
‘She was crossing the street, right here, and she looked the wrong way’ Engel blew out a fierce cloud of sht in the middle of La Place des Hirondelles! There is always so here – the town hall on one side and the Gestapo on the other’
‘It was the Thibauts’ van, wasn’t it?’ I said miserably ‘The van that nearly hit her’ A French van full of French chickens, that’s what she’d said, in the first few pages she wrote
‘I don’t know The van was gone by the tiled up in an arrest All Or in the Place des Hirondelles – another Jew dragged out of hiding, or so lanced up at the offending s – no dead bodies hanging there this week, thank goodness
‘She put up a hell of a fight, your friend,’ Engel said ‘She bit a policeot me to come and chloroform her, to knock her out, you know? There were four officers holding her dohen I ca across the square with the chlorofor She tried to bite me too When the fuo out –’
‘– I know I know’
We were out of the square now We turned to look at each other at exactly the sa
‘We’ve turned this place into a real shit-hole,’ she said ‘There were roses in that square when I was first sent here Now it’s nothing but le time I cross those cobbles, three times a day I hate it’ She looked away ‘Co the riverfront for about half a kilometre Have you been?’
‘No’
‘It’s still pretty’
She lit another cigarette It was her third in about five es to afford theer allowed to buy cigarettes in Ormaie
‘I’ve chlorofor they expect of me, part of my job – I’m a chemist, I studied pharmaceuticals in America But I’ve never despised myself so much as I did that day – she was so small and –’
She stumbled over her words and I had to bite the inside of
‘– So fierce, so beautiful, it was like breaking a haings, stopping up a clear spring with bricks – digging up roses to ly She was just – blazing with life and defiance onebut a senseless shell lying on her face in the gutter – ’
‘– I KNOW,’ I whispered
She glanced over atmy face with her sharp, pale eyes
‘Do you so?’
‘She was el nodded ‘Ja, I know Ach, you must hate me’
‘No No, I’m sorry Tell me Please’
‘Here’s the river,’ Anna said, and we crossed another street There was a railing all along the riverbank and we stood leaning against it Once there were el but stumps now because over the last three years they’ve all been cut down for firewood But she was right – the row of historic houses on the opposite bank is still pretty
Anna took a deep breath and spoke again
‘When she passed out I turned her over so I could check to see if she was ar her balled-up silk scarf in her fist She h the battle, and when she lost consciousness her fingers went lax I wasn’t supposed to search her properly, that’s so so doggedly in her closed fist – a suicide tablet, maybe – and I lifted the scarf out of her open hand –’
She held her own pal